November 4, 2018- by Steven E. Greer, MD
I purchased my Titleist AP3 irons one year ago before a trip to Florida. I knew that I had an upright steep swing and previously had my clubs bent 2-degrees upright, so we did that again. Golf Galaxy simply placed contact tape on the bottom of the club to confirm. It was probably the correct bend back then.
However, over the last 12-months, I have dramatically transformed my swing for the better. I knew something was wrong with this current iron fitting. I reached out to Titleist headquarters and they set me up with a proper fitting.
They sent me all the way to Cincinnati to Miles of Golf. I hate driving and was reluctant to go, but it was worth it.
Matt Green is the fitter. They have a state-of-the-art instruction studio, fitting center, and equipment shop.
What we found, as I suspected, is that I need clubs that are 4-degrees flatter than what I had. I also needed a stiffer shaft because I swing too damn hard.
When I hit a 7-iron with that new shaft and flatter bend, I immediately shrank my dispersion pattern into the size of a green (see video). Bingo! I might hit some greens now finally!
Bending the Vokey wedges made a huge difference too. Now, I know why I had to stand so close to my wedges to hit them well.
The fitting time costs only about $250. The new shafts are only $50 a piece. I highly recommend such a fitting.
I want to thank Ethan Curtis and David Kern of Acushnet Titleist for their help arranging this.
Update November 20, 2018- My newly fitted clubs arrived and I took them to the range for a full TrackMan session. This was the first time that I had hit real golf balls in more than a month, not counting the Miles of Golf session three-weeks ago. So, my old tendencies to get steep and not have the right shoulder complete the downswing crept back in.
However, despite an imperfect swing, I hit the toughest clubs in my bag, the 5 and 4-irons, spectacularly. The 5-iron carried 216-yards with ease. The 4-iron went a whopping 236-yards.
The dispersion was within 10-yards left or right of the target. That is how one hits the long par-3 greens. But I was not even aiming, to be honest. I can be more accurate.
The wedges are much better too. I can really ball strike the short clubs now. The left and right variances, or dispersion, were within 5-yards of the target. That is how one birdies par-4s.
