Interview with Mark Shipley

Want2playgolf (W2PG)
Mark, most retailers offer a custom fit service for golfers looking to trade up for new equipment. Isn’t visiting a PGA professional the best way to buy new equipment?

Golf Analysis (GA)
Well interestingly enough, custom fitting doesn’t necessarily mean buying new clubs. The first thing I do at Golf Analysis is to look at the way your existing clubs are set up and see how you hit the ball with them. We will also discuss your golf game to see what your objectives are in the medium and long term.

W2PG
So what are you looking for when the golfer hits some shots on the range with their own equipment?

GA
The key things will be distance (by which we mean carry), dispersion (how widely spread out the balls are) and shot shape. We can also learn a lot about the golfer just by seeing where on the clubface he or she strikes the ball, and the shape of their shot in flight.

W2PG
So once I’ve hit some balls with my own clubs, what next?

GA
Well during this session, I’ll be looking at a number of elements including the lie angle of the club. This is really important because if the club sits too flat, at impact the toe of the club will dig into the ground and the shot will end up going to the right, causing a loss of distance and accuracy. If the club sits too upright, the heel digs in and the sends the ball left, typically taking the loft off the club and causing a shot to fly low and sometimes long. The majority of golfers I see, of all standards need their clubs checked. If you use a forged club, like a Mizuno MP blade or a Callaway X Forged, you should have this checked once a year, more if you play and practice a lot.

W2PG
You say you check the loft and lie of a club – surely the loft of the club is determined by the iron you use?

GA
The key aim here is to check that lofts are what they say they are. Over time clubs can have their loft altered through general play, rattling around in the bag and so on. A check of this can soon ensure that the lofts are correct and that you have the right mix of clubs in your bag. I recently took a brand new set of one of the UK’s Top-2 selling manufacturer’s clubs out of the box and found that all the lofts were nearly a club strong. So while their claim to ‘hit them further’ were correct, the 3 iron played almost like a 1 iron, and for a set of game improvement irons, that’s not really ideal.

W2PG
What other factors can influence how my clubs perform?

GA
The most important component of any golf club is the shaft. This ultimately determines how far, how high and how accurately hit the ball. Most golfers think they have the right flex of shaft in their clubs. The problem is that factory fit shafts all play slightly differently. We measure shaft flex in cycles per minute to be technical for a minute. If we took a club off the shelf in any retailer, there is no guarantee that a Regular shaft actually plays ‘regular’ – if you ever bought a new set of irons and couldn’t get on with them, you’ll understand what I mean.

W2PG
So how do I know which shaft is best for me?

GA
Well I stock over 100 different shafts, steel or graphite, for irons, woods, hybrids even putters. All of these are available for you to try out on the practice range. We never use range balls, always full distance branded golf balls like you might play with at the weekend. So we select a few for you to try out and see how they compare with your own clubs. We look at consistency, ball flight, distance and dispersion to find a shaft that you feel will improve your game and enjoyment. We can try different shafts for your woods, hybrids and wedges if required.

W2PG
Sounds great! But also sounds really expensive……

GA
On average golfers change their irons every 2 -3 years, spending up to £500 in the process. A new set of shafts for your irons will be a lower investment than this and will be guaranteed to work for you every time.

W2PG
We had a few questions emailed in from our members, so here they are.....

Question
I play off 28-handicap – how can you help me?

GA
Well my advice would be to go and see your PGA Professional for a course of lessons, but I can certainly advise you on what to think about buying – even make you a half set of clubs to get you going. As your swing improves, we can look at building you a full set based around your physique.

Question
My short game is inconsistent – how can you help me?

GA
Inconsistency with the shorter clubs is usually a factor of having the wrong lie angle for your clubs, which is easy to remedy. After that I would look at the lofts of your clubs to see that there is a uniform ‘gap’ between your lofts. If your pitching wedge is typically 46 to 48 degrees, most sand wedges are 56 degrees leaving a ten degree gap in your set. This means that playing a shot of 90 yards is difficult. Often golfers include an additional wedge at the expense of a long iron. Finally, I’ll talk to you about your Golf Club and make sure your wedges are set up to suit the conditions. So if you play a links course, we can take some of the bounce off your pitching, sand and lob wedges. If you have a lot of sand in your bunkers, we can find the right sand wedge for you.

Question
I want more distance – how can you help me?

GA
It’s the most common thing I discuss with golfers. What we always agree is that distance comes from accuracy and consistency. In the driver for instance, there is an optimum launch angle that achieves this – maximising carry through the air and then some roll once it lands. Most golfers don’t achieve this launch angle because of too little loft on their club heads.

With the irons it’s more a case of finding a shaft to get the ball in the air and produce backspin rather than sidespin.