Because golfers come in all shapes and sizes and have differing strengths and swings, one-size is definitely not suitable for all.
Imagine Paula Radcliffe having to run the London Marathon wearing deep sea diver's flippers or England's football flyer Theo Walcott trying to leave a defender in his slipstream while shod in a pair of diver's boots. Incongruous, isn't it? Not to mention impossible.
It's a scenario, however, that, in the world of golf, is not dissimilar to buying one-size fits all, off-the-peg clubs from a discounted, price is right, sports superstore or via the internet.
Quite simply, though, because golfers come in all shapes and sizes and have differing strengths and swings, one-size is definitely not suitable for all. How, for example, can pint-sized comedian and keen golfer Ronnie Corbett use the same clubs as the increasingly gargantuan John Daly?
Karsten Solheim recognised just that shortly after he founded PING half a century ago and it was brought home to this hacker during a custom-fitting session at the company's European headquarters in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.
"What's your putting like?" enquired Nick Boulton, a PGA professional and PING's customer and consumer services manager. "Let's see you use your putter."
Boulton, a typically long-serving PING employee with 20 year's service behind him, must surely have concurred with my assessment of 'terrible' as a succession of balls either scuttled past the target or finished embarrassingly short of it. Thankfully, he was too polite to confirm the obvious. Perhaps, though, considering the number of golfers custom-fitted at the centre, he 's had plenty of practice!
Not least because the centre is fully booked for weeks in advance: on average 21 golfers go through the custom-fitting process every day, some of whom come from mainland Europe. Others, from nearer parishes, could have bought their clubs from their local PGA professional but want to be custom-fitted at PING's 'mission control' - just for the experience and the day out. But wherever the custom-fitting is performed, the PGA professional does not lose out on the sale of the clubs and neither does it increase their price.
Having spotted my head was not over the ball at address, he diagnosed that my putter, the source of much frustration and some intemperate language for almost two decades, was too long.
Meanwhile, instead of commenting on my putting ills, Boulton opted to find a cure for them. And, having spotted my head was not over the ball at address and I was reaching out to hit it, he diagnosed that my putter, the source of much frustration and butt of some intemperate language for almost two decades, was too long.
A shorter PING model plus some tips on striking the ball proved the point within seconds. Not that, after an hour - the time it usually takes to custom-fit someone with a full set of clubs - I needed any convincing. I was sold on the concept within seconds of three physical measurements - my height, the distance from my wrist to the floor and hand size - being taken.
Boulton then consulted the PING Color Code Chart to find out which of the dozen lie angles corresponded with my measurements. The chart features twelve colours - from gold (3.75° flat) to maroon (4.5° upright) - each separated by 0.75° and Boulton explained: "Finding out the lie angle is the first thing we do. This establishes how upright the club should be and we can progress from there."
The whole process had taken just over an hour; making the clubs takes a little longer, but not much.
Progressing from there involved hitting a succession of shots on the fitting centre's range at the PING-owned Gainsborough Golf Club with a variety of seven-irons, all of which had the same lie angle and length but different shafts and head weights.
These were struck under the watchful gaze of Boulton and a Trackman that, using radar and hooked up to a laptop, measured my swing speed, how far the ball carried and travelled and in what direction. From this Boulton was able to determine what shaft - constitution and flex - most suited my game and stood the best chance of effecting more consistency, if not an improvement, in it.
Loaded with actual readings for the seven-iron, the software was able to calculate the settings for the rest of my irons, including a pitching and sand wedge.
The exercise was then repeated for custom-fitting me with hybrids, a driver and, finally, the putter. Having done that, Boulton then collated all the stats and information on his laptop and e-mailed the order to the PING factory a mile away.
The whole process had taken just over an hour; making the clubs takes a little longer, but not much. Once the order has been received, either from Boulton and the three fitters at Gainsborough or a PGA professional who has been trained and has the equipment to custom-fit, the company aims to have the clubs, built to the customer's exact specifications at no extra cost, delivered to him within 48 hours.
PING fulfilled that objective in my case. However, as for whether my new clubs help me reduce or eliminate undesirable shot patterns, like hooks and slices, allow me to play closer to my full potential, and do not warrant the description 'weapons of mass frustration', it's very much a case of watch this space.
13 February, 2009 | By Adrian Milledge