John - Hi from Calgary!!
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. We got some snow here
this week, and it looks like outdoor golfing could be on it's way out.
We have quite a few indoor ranges, and Virtual Golf ranges here,
though. I was planning to order some stuff, but I have a trip coming
up quite quickly, so won't get around to it till late November.
Anyway, I promised a bit of a report on my new clubs so here goes. I
decided to concentrate more on my experiences with building and
golfing, not distances, etc.
I started playing golf again this year after a 3 year layoff. When I
decided to start again this year (maybe it was not playing for a
while) that I started to notice 'little things' about what I was doing
or not doing. I think I was concentrating more on how to hit the
ball. When I stopped playing (my job entails a huge amount of travel)
I was essentially a bogey player. I have had a lot of lessons and not
really golfed a lot. About 2 years. This year, when I started up
again (I am still trying to figure out why I let work get in the way
of my golf!!), one of the things that I noticed, was that I felt I was
striking the ball a bit harder from what I recalled.
My last set of clubs are custom built and work very well. Aside from
my score, when I picked them up to play, they felt like old friends.
I had the opportunity to try some Titleist DCI's at a pro shop (this
is what started me in the clubmaking direction), and they were fitted
with R flex shafts. They felt much better to me, and I almost bought
them. They were just a bit short for me, though, so I thought I would
just research for a bit. I started looking on the internet and found
Clubmaker-online among some others. The more I researched, the more I
learned about swing dynamics, shafts, etc., the more I started to
think about building my own set.
After a couple of emails to John, I decided to purchase Harvey Penick
Professional Irons, 3-10, SW and LW, True Temper Dynamic Gold Shafts
and Penick Standard Grips. It took me approximately 4 hours to
assemble them. I only made one slight change in assembly instructions
- I cut the shafts to playing length before the epoxy part. Once the
epoxy dried, I only had to grip the clubs.
Did I make any changes to lengths? Yes, sort of - I kept my irons the
same length as my old set (I found they were about 3/4 of an inch
longer than the standard in the Golfsmith catalog) but I changed the
PW and SW play length to the same length as my 9 iron and my LW 1/2"
shorter. I trimmed the tips according to the trim chart.
To say I am happy about my new clubs is only putting it mildly!! I
love 'em!! My previous clubs were fitted with Apollo AP44's and had a
very low bend point. When you swing them, you can feel the clubhead
taking over in the last third of the swing. My new ones don't do
that. They feel very consistent all the way through the swing.
The clubs do require me to swing more precisely. There is a huge
difference in distance from being dead on the sweet spot and being a
little off. They are very forgiving, though - they still keep the ball
going quite straight. Just not far. They are very easy to get used to
- they feel great and they swing great. I attribute a lot to the True
Temper shafts and the heads I am using. When I strike the ball clean,
I don't feel the ball at all - it's just gone!! Overall, the clubs
seem to allow me more control whether I swing normally or when I swing
hard. Distancewise, I am gaining about 1.5-2 clubs on the clean
swings (we won't go into detail on the "other ones"). I haven't
played the wedges enough to really judge the performance, except that
they seem more predictable. One of my big faults (an maybe to other
bogey players) is quitting on my wedge shots. AND, of course, pulling
up short AND then putting more AND then adding to your score. So far
I've put in about 4 rounds with my new clubs plus a lot of driving
range time. It's unfortunate that we now have snow on the ground.
Southside, though........ ( I think I see a golf mecca in the U.S. in
my future!!)
Will I continue building clubs - you bet!! I am planning on building
other sets and tinkering with drivers over the winter. Many of my
golf friends have taken quite an interest in the results of my new
irons. AND, of course, more than willing to be "beta testers" for
whatever I build. I had orginally planned this set to be sort of a
demo set, in one sense, but I'm having second thoughts. I've gotten
very fond of these. Maybe, I'll build "another" demo set.......
Gordon Kamitomo
Calgary, Alberta Canada
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