Daff
03-04-2008, 07:58 PM
Well, I’ve just got back from my putter fitting at Yes! Golf with my new toy!!
Here’s the rundown of what happened
I phoned Yes! Last week to book my session, 12pm – giving me enough time to get there comfortably from Mid Wales. The receptionist was very polite and took my booking together with the deposit of £50 and explained that if there were any problems she’d phone me straight back otherwise she’d expect me at 12pm on Thursday 3rd April
We arrived at Yes! Golf HQ in Southport just before the allotted time, Scotty Cameron in hand, and met Andrew Sumner (Harold Swash’ grandson), who led us into the putter fitting room and explained that he’d be the person custom fitting me.
On initial inspection, the fitting room looked very impressive. A whole room kitted out with an artificial putting surface, electronic gizmo’s including video cameras, laptop, plasma screen and most importantly - whole racks of Yes! Putters in all shapes and sizes!!!
Andrew explained the process, what would happen, what I’d get out of the fitting and what my level of ability was and what my expectations were. We then got down to business!
First off, we measured the loft, lie and length of my current weapon of choice. As expected it was standard spec – 35” long, 71 degree lie and 3 degree of loft. I then positioned myself in front of the floor mounted video camera and behind the distance marker on the floor and proceeded to hit a number of putts, each stroke being videoed ready for immediate playback. The ball was a two tone ball, hall white and half coloured red (to show, skid, roll, etc)
This initial playback was really interesting and very enlightening! I’d always considered myself a half decent putter, if not a little streaky. The video playback showed exactly what was going on. The stats showed that on top of the 3 degree of loft, my stroke actually added an additional half a degree and my stroke had a nice strike hitting the ball 3.5 degree on the upstroke. The video showed the ball skidding forward, before getting a quarter roll at 21” from the starting point. Wow! The putt had only just started to roll nearly 2 foot after I’d hit it with a relatively good stroke which had, by the way hit it’s target!
We then had a good discussion about the perceived benefits of the C-Groove face, minimal loft of 2 degrees (Yes! Strike to get a loft of between zero and 2 degrees at impact) and what shapes, styles, etc suited me. I was then hooked up to the SAM putting analyser and my whole stroke was analysed. Face angle at address, face angle at impact, putter path, etc, etc. One of the results screen can be seen in the photo below. All very technical, but all beneficial and made really understandable by Andrew. Then started the long course of finding a putter that had the best performance with my stroke.
All the models were tried – some standard models, some brand new models (Donna?), Anser style, mallets, heel shafted, centre shafts, blades, branding irons, counter balanced, short, long, etc, etc! You name it & I tried it!!
We finally settled on a model, the centre shafted Hannah model. I was asked which length I felt most comfortable with, this was measured and we discovered that I performed best with a 34” putter, with a 2 degree flat lie angle. What grip did I want? Tri colour, black, etc? Standard thickness, midsize? In the end I chose midsize, this felt most comfortable and kept the wrists out of the stroke a touch. Within a jiffy this was immediately brought up to the room from the stores downstairs and we tested it again to make sure it all worked as it should!!
I the middle of all this fitting, Andrew found time to give me a little putting lesson. He helped with my alignment, got me to place my hands a little further forward at address and offered encouragement all the way through the process. This made it not only enjoyable, but also highly rewarding – Many thanks Andrew.
Anyway, at the end of the day, I came away with a custom fit Hannah putter. 34” long, 2 degrees flat, mid size grip and a big, broad smile!
It was a cracking day. I’d whole heartedly recommend the experience to anyone, it was all done very professionally but with a very friendly atmosphere. We even had a brief chat with the MD about various putters and pro’s, including the new kid on the block, Ollie Fisher.
Many thanks to Andrew and all the staff at Yes! Golf.:yes:
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/daihurst/YesPutterfitting002.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/daihurst/YesPutterfitting007.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/daihurst/YesPutterfitting008.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/daihurst/YesPutterfitting006.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/daihurst/screencloseup.jpg
Here’s the rundown of what happened
I phoned Yes! Last week to book my session, 12pm – giving me enough time to get there comfortably from Mid Wales. The receptionist was very polite and took my booking together with the deposit of £50 and explained that if there were any problems she’d phone me straight back otherwise she’d expect me at 12pm on Thursday 3rd April
We arrived at Yes! Golf HQ in Southport just before the allotted time, Scotty Cameron in hand, and met Andrew Sumner (Harold Swash’ grandson), who led us into the putter fitting room and explained that he’d be the person custom fitting me.
On initial inspection, the fitting room looked very impressive. A whole room kitted out with an artificial putting surface, electronic gizmo’s including video cameras, laptop, plasma screen and most importantly - whole racks of Yes! Putters in all shapes and sizes!!!
Andrew explained the process, what would happen, what I’d get out of the fitting and what my level of ability was and what my expectations were. We then got down to business!
First off, we measured the loft, lie and length of my current weapon of choice. As expected it was standard spec – 35” long, 71 degree lie and 3 degree of loft. I then positioned myself in front of the floor mounted video camera and behind the distance marker on the floor and proceeded to hit a number of putts, each stroke being videoed ready for immediate playback. The ball was a two tone ball, hall white and half coloured red (to show, skid, roll, etc)
This initial playback was really interesting and very enlightening! I’d always considered myself a half decent putter, if not a little streaky. The video playback showed exactly what was going on. The stats showed that on top of the 3 degree of loft, my stroke actually added an additional half a degree and my stroke had a nice strike hitting the ball 3.5 degree on the upstroke. The video showed the ball skidding forward, before getting a quarter roll at 21” from the starting point. Wow! The putt had only just started to roll nearly 2 foot after I’d hit it with a relatively good stroke which had, by the way hit it’s target!
We then had a good discussion about the perceived benefits of the C-Groove face, minimal loft of 2 degrees (Yes! Strike to get a loft of between zero and 2 degrees at impact) and what shapes, styles, etc suited me. I was then hooked up to the SAM putting analyser and my whole stroke was analysed. Face angle at address, face angle at impact, putter path, etc, etc. One of the results screen can be seen in the photo below. All very technical, but all beneficial and made really understandable by Andrew. Then started the long course of finding a putter that had the best performance with my stroke.
All the models were tried – some standard models, some brand new models (Donna?), Anser style, mallets, heel shafted, centre shafts, blades, branding irons, counter balanced, short, long, etc, etc! You name it & I tried it!!
We finally settled on a model, the centre shafted Hannah model. I was asked which length I felt most comfortable with, this was measured and we discovered that I performed best with a 34” putter, with a 2 degree flat lie angle. What grip did I want? Tri colour, black, etc? Standard thickness, midsize? In the end I chose midsize, this felt most comfortable and kept the wrists out of the stroke a touch. Within a jiffy this was immediately brought up to the room from the stores downstairs and we tested it again to make sure it all worked as it should!!
I the middle of all this fitting, Andrew found time to give me a little putting lesson. He helped with my alignment, got me to place my hands a little further forward at address and offered encouragement all the way through the process. This made it not only enjoyable, but also highly rewarding – Many thanks Andrew.
Anyway, at the end of the day, I came away with a custom fit Hannah putter. 34” long, 2 degrees flat, mid size grip and a big, broad smile!
It was a cracking day. I’d whole heartedly recommend the experience to anyone, it was all done very professionally but with a very friendly atmosphere. We even had a brief chat with the MD about various putters and pro’s, including the new kid on the block, Ollie Fisher.
Many thanks to Andrew and all the staff at Yes! Golf.:yes:
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/daihurst/YesPutterfitting002.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/daihurst/YesPutterfitting007.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/daihurst/YesPutterfitting008.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/daihurst/YesPutterfitting006.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/daihurst/screencloseup.jpg