What’s the only piece of equipment used on every single golf shot? We often ask this question of our clients in the bay and it never fails to stump 3 out of 4. Answer: your golf ball!
If you were to rank the pieces of golf equipment that can have an impact on your ball’s spin rates, we’d say #1 – the ball, #2 – the club head’s design, #3 – the club head’s static loft, and #4 – the shaft. Yet, despite this, very few people ever actually go through a ball fitting. We make it a point to have demo balls on hand from all of the leading manufacturers to be able to use throughout our other fitting services.
For this reason, your club’s should be fit to your ball, not the other way around with emphasis on the feel and performance in your scoring clubs (putter & wedges) rather than your driver.
To demonstrate this point, we’ve seen a high-spin balls (e.g., Mizuno RBTourX or Bridgestone BXS) produce iron spin rates in excess of 1,000+ rpms more than comparable low-spin balls (e.g., Titleist left dash ProV1 or TaylorMade TPX). You would be hard pressed to produce a bigger spin differential by changing any other piece of equipment.
Excluding the ball, what clubs should you fit first? That answer really depends on your game and what you struggle with.
If you’re someone that regularly loses strokes due to errant tee shots or is having a hard time getting to par 4 & 5’s in regulation because of your lack of length then you’d likely benefit greatly from a driver or driver shaft retrofitting. Depending on the course you’re playing, you’re likely hitting your driver anywhere from 10-14 times per round. That’s a lot of potential upside if you can change a few big numbers on your scorecard into bogeys or better.
Conversely, if you’re someone that drives the ball fairly straight but has a terrible time on the putting surface then you’re someone that may benefit greatly from a putter fitting. Virtually every touring professional plays a putter that’s been custom fit to their stance, stroke, etc., yet it’s one of the least fit pieces of equipment across Amateur golfers. Did you know that across all handicaps, your putter accounts for ~40% of your total strokes throughout a round? Three putt avoidance is often the difference between low handicappers and mid to upper handicappers. If you’re consistently pushing or pulling putts you’d likely benefit from matching up the toe hang of your putter with the natural arc of your stroke. If you’re someone that regularly misjudges putt weights then you may benefit from adjusting the swing weight of your putter and/or switching into a more modern high-MOI design.