How to blend distance and accuracy

It’s a common clubhouse debate; what would regular club golfers prefer? Distance off the tee or accuracy. In the past, the wrong combination of loft and shaft might have given you great distance but dubious accuracy, or vice versa. Essentially, you were sacrificing something. But Paul Rymer, Ping Fitting Centre Supervisor – who has over 15 years of fitting experience with the iconic brand – thinks you can now have both.

“If you focus on just one thing, such as maximum distance, then you’re kidding yourself. You should also put a premium on accuracy. We see a lot of people come into the fitting centre with the perception of what loft and shaft flex they need; this is often based on what they’re currently playing. The most common fault we see in amateurs is a preference for lower lofts. The majority of golfers require higher lofts to match their launch angle, ball speed and spin rate.”

But it’s not just about getting the correct loft…“The shaft has a big part to play in this as well. The G25 is aimed at all levels of golfer; hence we offer four loft options. Each loft can be fine tuned by +/- ½ degree, which allows us to precisely fit the golfer to a loft that is best suited to them. We also use our propriety shaft which is designed with an optimum flex. This is married precisely to the torque and weight characteristics best suited to the person’s swing speed,” added Paul.

Michael Vrska, Wilson’s Global Director of Golf, agrees. “You’ll get the right driver by optimising launch angle, ball speed and spin rates. Those parameters are what controls ball flight and if a player gets those right through a proper fitting, they will have a great driver. Forgiveness is certainly a factor as well, and it would be nice if the golfer liked the look of the club at address, but getting the right ball flight is far and away most important, especially for drivers.”