No set of clubs has been expertly fitted unless the clubs have the correct loft and, in particular, the correct lie. Loft and lie have major influences on ball flight, and golfers are becoming more aware of their importance to shot accuracy and distance.
To fit loft and lie effectively the serious club-fitter must invest in a clubhead bending machine, with an outlay of around £500. While this is expensive, a ‘loft and lie’ service can be a great source of income. If £30-40 is charged per set, it wouldn’t take long to recoup the outlay and to make a healthy profit.
Plane and simple
It is a common misconception that it is the heel or the toe that digs in to the ground that causes the directional problems, when in fact it is the result of both lie angle and loft, or the ‘Face Plane Tilt’. If the toe is raised at impact the face points to the left, and vice versa if the toe is down at impact. It is the same principal that occurs when playing a shot from a side hill lie: the ball above the feet causes a pull and a ball below the feet flies to the right.
As the loft increases, the lie of the club becomes more influential to the angle of the face at impact, so it is more important to ensure correct lie in the shorter, scoring clubs than in the mid and long irons, and it is of almost no relevance in the woods.
Tape recording
There is only one true way to fit for lie, and that is by using a hitting board and masking tape. By getting a golfer to hit half a dozen shots from a lie board with a piece of masking tape on the sole of the club, the marks left on the tape will indicate the true lie required, regardless of the golfer’s height, wrist-to-floor measurement or posture at address. Marks left on the toe side of centre require the club to be more upright, while marks on the heel side require a flatter lie.
Golf club manufacturers have traditionally made their sets of irons with one-degree increments between clubs, becoming more upright the shorter the clubs become. However, there are no standard lie angles in the industry and so one manufacturer’s irons may vary by up to two degrees from a competitor’s equivalent.
The best way to fit a complete set of irons is to test each club in turn and make the adjustments accordingly. Because the shafts get progressively stiffer as the club becomes shorter, there is no reason to assume there will be any pattern to the amount of shaft drop between clubs. In fact, when fitting the lie of each club individually, it may result in two or three clubs having exactly the same lie. Rarely will there be convenient, uniform increments throughout a set.
To fit club lies properly takes time and expertise, which is why it should be charged for accordingly.
