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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Fitting club to player

Steve Christilaw Correspondent

Mike Mengert believes in a custom fit.

Mengert is a partner, along with longtime Spokane professional Gary Lindeblad, in Lindeblad-Mengert Golf, which has been custom-fitting clubs for area golfers since 1996, both at Indian Canyon Golf course and at their shop on Argonne in downtown Millwood.

“We get a lot of support from Gary of course, as well as the pros at Manito and the Spokane Country Club,” he said. “We get a lot of referrals.”

So, why should a golfer be concerned with finding a custom-fit set of clubs?

“The most important thing I tell folks is that taking them out and spending an hour with them sizing them up isn’t going to get them on television playing golf anytime soon,” Mengert said. “I think it’s something that golfers can control. If you go out and get fit properly, you eliminate that as a hindrance. You can worry about your swing, the 7,000-yard golf course or the water hazard ahead of you, but you can step to the first tee, no matter what your handicap, and know that your clubs, at least, aren’t going to hold you back.

“That’s what we’re after.”

Having a set of clubs fit to your particular swing allows a golfer to concentrate on proper technique. That’s important not just for the beginning golfer, but for the lower handicapper as well.

Mengert said he sees even accomplished golfers playing with clubs that don’t allow them to play at their best — either with an improper loft for their game or with a shaft that doesn’t allow them maximum control or distance.

“You just can’t believe sometimes what someone will show up with,” he said. “If your club doesn’t fit your swing, you tend to start making changes to your swing to overcome what the club isn’t allowing you to do.

“Golf isn’t the easiest game ever invented. If you can do something to make it a little easier, that’s a good thing.”

That’s especially true today, when the technology of the game has brought about significant advancements.

It’s been more than a decade since club manufacturers discovered that moving the weight of the golf club’s head, its hitting face, to the outside created a more forgiving club for the average golfer.

That advance alone made for a quantum leap forward.

The next big advance, Mengert said, came in the technology that goes into making a club’s shaft.

“The shafts have just come so far in recent years,” he said. “Not just the steel shaft, but also the graphite shaft has come a long way. The club heads have improved, making the club heads bigger. It just makes life easier for the average golfer.

“I tell people that, if they have a set of irons that are 10 years old and are perimeter weighted and the lie angle is fine for them, they’re fine. The technology in the club head hasn’t changed. You might upgrade the shaft because that has improved a lot over that 10 years, but those clubs are going to work just fine for you.

“With the driver, though, if you have even a 5-year-old driver, you are selling yourself short. They’ve made tremendous improvements in driver technology.”

Mengert said he sees golfers get hung up on a particular name or particular style of club head and overlook finding the correct shaft.

“The other thing is, I see too many golfers trying to hit a driver without nearly enough loft,” he said. “They go out and try to hit a nine-degree club when they should be hitting much more than that. Today you even see professionals out there hitting a 10- or 10.5-degree club and that was unheard of a few years ago.”

One of Mengert’s best tips for beginners is not to worry about how many clubs are in the bag.

“For beginners, there’s not a lot of difference between the 4- and the 5-iron, the 6- and the 7-iron and the 8- and the 9-iron,” he said. “Why not get yourself a good 5-, 7- and 9-iron and learn to play them? Once you learn to play those clubs and you start to see gaps develop where you need a club in between, call me. I’m only a phone call away, and we can always add a club.”