Steve Bergum: Women have harder time finding just-right club fit

There are precious few questions about golf I can’t answer – correctly, or otherwise.

So I was a bit perplexed the other day when my son called, at the request of a female co-worker, to ask me what kind of women’s clubs I would recommend she purchase.

Women’s golf clubs?

I couldn’t even fake it.

I bought my non-golfing wife a set from the end-of-season clearance aisle at a local department store three years ago, thinking she might become enamored with the nifty little shamrocks etched on the back of the irons, or the pearl-colored heads and shafts on the driver and fairway metals.

Bad buy.

She has yet to lift them off the spike in our garage wall, which is where they have been hanging since the day I brought them home.

I also have a male friend who used to carry a Jackie Pung 3-iron he kind of liked – until he learned Jackie Pung was a woman golfer and not a Las Vegas nightclub performer. And I even know a local pro – again, a male – who used to be pretty handy with a Lady Bug putter.

But that’s about as deep as my knowledge of women’s golf clubs runs.

In hopes off masking my ignorance and helping out my son’s co-worker, I turned to Golf Magazine, which published its annual Club Test in its May issue.

Bad buy, again.

I leafed through the magazine, reading comments from more than 50 amateur golfers who tested 55 different models of new clubs by hitting 72,000 balls. When I had finished, I realized not one woman had been included in the testing.

I was starting to think women might be getting a little shortchanged when it comes to golf club design and marketing, so I called Patti Marquis, the head professional at The Links in Post Falls, to check out my theory.

“Don’t you think it’s amazing?” she asked, when I told here about Golf Magazine’s 2007 Club Test. “And there’s a lot of ladies playing golf out there.”

Still, Marquis admits that manufacturers have come a long way in developing and marketing clubs for women in recent years.

“I’m really dating myself,” said Marquis, who has been playing golf for more than 40 years, “but when I first started I was playing Mickey Wright clubs, which was one of only two or three models available.”

According to Marquis, Wilson Sporting Goods, which made her Mickey Wright’s, also manufactured Patty Berg model clubs.

“And Louise Suggs had just signed on with McGregor, so McGregor was making ladies clubs, too,” she said. “But you had to special order them and wait months. There were never any on the racks.”

Today, you can walk into almost any clubhouse or golf discount store and find sets of women’s clubs. But the selection, Marquis pointed out, remains limited – as does the number of female sales associates with a working knowledge of what women should look for in a golf club.

Among the women’s club manufacturers rated highest by Marquis are Adams, Henry Griffitts and Lange Golf, a Palm Desert-based company that makes only women’s clubs.

“Cobra makes wonderful golf clubs for ladies, and Titleist does, too,” Marquis added. “Most of the major manufacturers, like Taylor Made and Mizuno, they all make ladies clubs these days.

“But you’re not going to find them in most golf shops. You’re going to have to special order them.”

So what should women, especially those new to the game, consider when buying clubs?

Weight, shaft flexibility and grip size, according to Marquis.

“A normal lady who just wants to start with men’s clubs will usually find them too long, too heavy and with grips that are too big,” she explained. “But other than that, they’re perfect.”

Instead, Marquis suggests women look for lightweight, graphite-shafted clubs with an L (Ladies) flex. The driver, she said, should ideally range in loft from 13 to 16 degrees to make it easier to get the ball airborne.

Some beginners might even consider cutting back on the number of clubs they carry.

“Most new golfers don’t need 14 clubs in their bags,” Marquis said. “I think all that does is get them confused. In fact, when new golfers come to me with a full set, I tell them to take every other one out.”

Grip size, Marquis added, is also extremely important.

“With most women’s clubs, the grips are pretty good,” she said. “But there are a lot of women out there with really small hands, and for them, even the women’s grips are too big.”

In such cases, Marquis recommends going with a set a kids clubs.

“When the person only weighs 95 pounds, even ladies clubs are going to be too heavy and too long,” she explained. “I’ve had some really small ladies that I’ve set up with U.S. Kids clubs, which are shorter, much lighter and have even more flexible shafts.”

The kids-club option is much better than the old fix of simply cutting off a regular-sized club. And the fact that more and more professionals are getting involved in custom fitting clubs for women is a major plus, as well.

“Obviously, we’ve come a long way,” Marquis said. “But I still think there’s a long way to go – a really long way.”