This is such a great video. The importance of the conversational aspect of the fit, consistent ball, the matching of club head and shaft from a feel and performance aspect. Gary has been a top player for so long, and a wonderful insight into his thinking along with that of the fitter. 👍
It has taken me days to watch this 15 minutes at a time, but worth it. Looked Gary up. Maybe some viewers don't know him, but he is one heck of a golfer. Represented England a record 218 times as an amateur, won The Amateur Championship (the British amateur championship) in 1991, and beat Tiger Woods (!!!) in the Walker Cup singles in 1995. Woods was young then, but had won the US Amateur championship in 1994 and played in the Masters in 1995, so Gary's win was no mean feat. Gary has also had three European Senior Tour wins, so we are watching a very accomplished player. And, if you will allow me to digress just a bit, he is also an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) but we don't have to call him Sir Gary. And he attended Giggleswick School. Shades of Harry Potter. But joking aside, that is a very serious and prestigious school, founded in 1499 by James Carr. Message to Gary: don't give up, time to win again, look at what Bernhard Langer just did at age 65.
That's all very impressive, but I find it amazing that he started golf age 3, had a handicap of 23 aged 18, then his handicap went down 50 percent per year, his godparent was Peter Aliss, he is a very short hitter, other players were hitting it 60 to 100 yards further, however he had a great short game
Hi Austin Thanks for watching. We used to do a lot of club work with Tony Johnstone and Tony used to play his PW and all wedges the same length as his 9i.
Played with GW a couple of times his short game was truly world class when you think he’s only carrying a 3 wood 200 yards to compete at the top level is incredible
As for shafts, have you tried the Swiss TPT shafts. Looks like some very intelligent technology has gone into them. No roll wrapping but continuous automated process that produces no seams or spines. Extremely thin prepreg. High and low launch versions in each weight. You guys looked them over at the 2023 PGA Show and did a video 3 weeks ago. Ian Fraser the master fitter and scratch golfer at TXG played them in 2022. I'm just an old amateur golfer not a professional fitter, but it seems that sometimes the best way to get the extra things Gary is seeking is this session is to select just one head the player most likes the look, sound and feel of, forget all the other heads, and then go all out trying different shafts, weights, flexes, torques and bend profiles to get the exact launch, trajectory, distance and spin desired. Gary commented that a problem for him is that the shafts he is used to are no longer made. Surely there have been substantial advances and improvements in shaft technology and manufacturing since then. He just has to try out all of them to find the one that feels right and also gives him the extra distance he wants.
A flat lie effectively extends the length of the shaft slightly, by maybe a quarter inch, by placing the center of mass further from the grip. It will also produce a shot slightly more to the right. Conversely an upright toe will effectively shorten the shaft just a bit by bringing the center of mass closer to the grip, and will produce a shot slightly more to the left.
Hi John. That’s correct. Approximately 4° lie angle change yields 1/4” change in length. Not forgetting of course abkut 1.25 swingweight point too which could be very detrimental to performance. Thanks for watching.
@@Precision_Golf Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated. I learned about this from watching videos by master fitter Ian Fraser at Tour Experience Golf (TXG). I am fascinated by the physics and dynamics of this little weight at the end of a stick (LOL) and these videos with, as Gary said, the numbers. That and also the biomechanics of this sport, having watched dozens and dozens of videos on reprogramming swings from DrKwonGolf and his biomechanics analyses. Just in case you don't know him, Dr. Young-Hoo Kwon is the director of the biomechanics laboratory at Texas Woman's University in Denton just north of Dallas.
The Stealth Plus Titanium in a test I just viewed by The Average Golfer with the younger, hard hitting club pro is not really longer than the Standard, and was much harder to hit even for the pro. The standard would probably be a better choice for Gary. It was surprisingly long.
Wow, Gary's swing and contact on the face would make a robot jealous. Great to see for an average golfer like me. Not surprised to see him investigate graphite shafts to reduce wear and tear. But somewhat surprised to see how many game improvement heads he is trying. He commented that he prefers a soft feel to a hard, clicky one. So I wonder why he hasn't tried one or two of the many heads by Miura. Or some of the very interesting new heads such as the ProtoConcept irons forged by Endo of Japan. Lydia Ko has won using their CO-5 players distance 7 through 9 irons and CO-7 game improvement 6 iron. They also make a CO-1 forged muscleback blade and CO-3 forged players cavity back, but Ko is clearly thinking in the same terms as Gary about type of heads. She chose the ProtoConcept irons over Mizuno and Srixon. She uses the AeroTech SteelFiber FC70 shaft in her irons, and she plays Pro V1X.
The Miura heads create an issue from a build point of view due to head weights being heavy and Gary plays longer than standard so swingweight would be very heavy indeed and prohibitive for him to swing. The Proto Concept series do not currently have much distribution in the UK and Gary being seniors tour does not get the support that the main tours do and Lydia being an ex World No1 and US based has better access to these products. The game improvement heads add that but more ball speed for him and he is looking in principle to gain as much distance as possible. I hope I have covered everything?
@@Precision_Golf Thanks ever so much for taking the time to reply in such detail. I greatly appreciate it. I hope the ProtoConcept irons will make their way in the UK, their technology seems really good. Would probably have to be a player not committed to a sponsor contract with one of the big makers. I realize Gary said he has a deal with Titleist. There are some other interesting irons. Steven Alker has done well on the PGA Champions Tour using New Level 623-CB Forged irons 5-PW. In 2022 he won every fifth tournament he competed in and won the Charles Schwab Cup. The look like a good iron to check out. The Takomo irons of Finland are also getting great reviews, though I don't know if any pros are using them. They are a direct to consumer company. But they have a great forged muscleback blade 301 MB, a forged players cavity back 301 CB, a forged cavity back 201, and a hollow body game improvement max distance 101 and players distance hollow body 101T. They offer KBS shafts. The cool thing about them is the price: US $459 for a set of 101s, US $589-659 for a set of 201s, and US $649 for the 301s. You can also buy heads only, for example US $450 for a set of the 101T players distance heads. They ship worldwide.
It is said the fitters beard grew 3 inches that day. He had the patience of Jobe. Gary could use any irons. The answer he is looking for is in the gym. Very much enjoyed it.
Just watched the whole fitting in one go… love the way Gary went from customer to fitter by the end of the session 😂 No doubting his pedigree and prowess within the amateur ranks, but the sheer lack of speed he has always had, would never transfer that well to the pro ranks. Great player on firm fast courses with legendary short game, but on anything other than links style or shorter tracks, he simply can’t compete at the very highest level imo. Thoroughly enjoyed the video regardless 👌
Amazing someone with that swing, ball striking, club head speed & club path can get so low as an Am and was able to compete and win against the very best amateurs
Oh sure sure you can try any three-way one as long as it’s a standard but you want you wanna play a little bit longer shaft like a half inch and inch yeah we got standard in training club as you want as long as the standard
Great fitting session. If Gary wanted to increase his ball speed he Needs to lengthen his backswing. Short always had a tendency to get quick. Can’t argue with his ability, a fantastic amateur career, and also now in the pro ranks.Interesting enough his 3 practice swings with his wood were spot on.
Great video....just out of interest and i know he plays for a living but I noticed he plays the ball really far back in his stance and that didn't change as he moved to his woods?? Only when he hit driver did he move his ball forward!!! You kept commenting on him needing more loft and he was saying he gets a lot of run out and he was struggling with peak height........with him playing the ball to far back he will be struggling with exactly that. I play the ball far back and tend to de-loft the club but I'm more of a compressive striker than Gary ...I hit with a piercing ball flight for somebody with his low speed and being a sweeper of the golf ball he would be much better suited to just nudging the ball slightly further forward. Not a knock he is clearly a very talented professional golfer and I'm a crap golfer that lays bricks for a living but it was something that jumped out at me on the forward facing camera.
Golfers will always gravitate to a ball back in stance orientation when a low attack is an issue in their game. Gary is working in technique with his coach to address this from a body structure orientation rather than band aid fix of changing ball position orientation. We are always very hesitant to making any changes to a clients technique during a fit as it can change the whole DNA of a golfers mechanics. We love hearing your thoughts and appreciate sharing them. Happy New Year 🥳
@@Precision_Golf thanks for reply....yea I get that i totally understand and wasnt implying you tell him to change his ball position during a fitting he is clearly great at swinging in a repetitive manner time after time and that ball position is something he is comfortable with. My point being was his struggles are indicative of his ball position which is to far back....sometimes its not reinventing the wheel but a simple change of ball position was all I was eluding to! 👍
This is something that he has developed over many years in the same way Colin MOntgomerie has always played most of his set from a relatively central position in his stance (only changing vey recently). If Gary gets what he feels is better contact from this position then this will outweigh for him the advantage of ,moving the ball forwards as it will affect his technique and consistency of strike. The principle of moving it forward absolutely makes sense from a flight point of view but for players of that level who have done things that way for such a long time it can be a very problematic thing to change as the loss of performance in the transition period can be seen to outweigh the potential benefits long term (especially if in Seniors golf long term is really only as few years!)
@@Precision_Golf yea i totally get that and I understand about the idiosyncrasies of golfers certainly good players.....hey listen im a 24 handicap hacker that can't hit the middle of the club for toffee and plays like a man with no arms so I stand corrected and you guys are certainly the gurus of club fitting and swing dynamics 👍 keep up the great work love all your videos and look forward to watching future content 👍
All fitters hear this all fitters hear this. We are tired of going to get fitted and you not have any longer shafts for us to try. We’re done getting fitted cause you can’t fit us.
I’m so glad the fitter didn’t back down over the conversation about lie angle. Great to see the full fitting process.
😬 Thanks for your post. Interesting fit wasn’t it. All the best. James
This is such a great video. The importance of the conversational aspect of the fit, consistent ball, the matching of club head and shaft from a feel and performance aspect. Gary has been a top player for so long, and a wonderful insight into his thinking along with that of the fitter. 👍
Really appreciate your very kind feedback, many more great live fittings to come in the coming weeks.
It has taken me days to watch this 15 minutes at a time, but worth it. Looked Gary up. Maybe some viewers don't know him, but he is one heck of a golfer. Represented England a record 218 times as an amateur, won The Amateur Championship (the British amateur championship) in 1991, and beat Tiger Woods (!!!) in the Walker Cup singles in 1995. Woods was young then, but had won the US Amateur championship in 1994 and played in the Masters in 1995, so Gary's win was no mean feat. Gary has also had three European Senior Tour wins, so we are watching a very accomplished player. And, if you will allow me to digress just a bit, he is also an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) but we don't have to call him Sir Gary. And he attended Giggleswick School. Shades of Harry Potter. But joking aside, that is a very serious and prestigious school, founded in 1499 by James Carr. Message to Gary: don't give up, time to win again, look at what Bernhard Langer just did at age 65.
Hi John. So pleased you enjoyed watching this. Yes, quite the accomplishment! All the best. James
That's all very impressive, but I find it amazing that he started golf age 3, had a handicap of 23 aged 18, then his handicap went down 50 percent per year, his godparent was Peter Aliss, he is a very short hitter, other players were hitting it 60 to 100 yards further, however he had a great short game
Great Video!
Fantastic video content,always followed Gary's career.thankyou.
👍
Great point by Gary regarding the longer wedge providing more options than a standard length wedge. Excellent video! Really good.
Hi Austin
Thanks for watching.
We used to do a lot of club work with Tony Johnstone and Tony used to play his PW and all wedges the same length as his 9i.
Played with GW a couple of times his short game was truly world class when you think he’s only carrying a 3 wood 200 yards to compete at the top level is incredible
Unbelievable talent. So accurate with his FWs
As for shafts, have you tried the Swiss TPT shafts. Looks like some very intelligent technology has gone into them. No roll wrapping but continuous automated process that produces no seams or spines. Extremely thin prepreg. High and low launch versions in each weight. You guys looked them over at the 2023 PGA Show and did a video 3 weeks ago. Ian Fraser the master fitter and scratch golfer at TXG played them in 2022. I'm just an old amateur golfer not a professional fitter, but it seems that sometimes the best way to get the extra things Gary is seeking is this session is to select just one head the player most likes the look, sound and feel of, forget all the other heads, and then go all out trying different shafts, weights, flexes, torques and bend profiles to get the exact launch, trajectory, distance and spin desired. Gary commented that a problem for him is that the shafts he is used to are no longer made. Surely there have been substantial advances and improvements in shaft technology and manufacturing since then. He just has to try out all of them to find the one that feels right and also gives him the extra distance he wants.
Hi John. Many thanks for your message. Yes, we are very familiar with that range of shafts. The new gold series will be in the studio in April.
Great video guys - fascinating insight
Thanks Colin. 👍🏻
HD quality will be up shortly. This was a 74GB upload
Totally agree with Gary. I think wedges are too light. Weight of the wedge should be something you can get right, just as important as the bounce.
We completely agree. Thanks for sharing.
Re the 3 wood, what about a ball that launches a bit higher as opposed to the loft? And also the shaft, some of which launch higher than others.
The ball can be a difficult one for professional players to change due to short game knock-on effects but shafts can help with launch slightly too.
A flat lie effectively extends the length of the shaft slightly, by maybe a quarter inch, by placing the center of mass further from the grip. It will also produce a shot slightly more to the right. Conversely an upright toe will effectively shorten the shaft just a bit by bringing the center of mass closer to the grip, and will produce a shot slightly more to the left.
Hi John. That’s correct. Approximately 4° lie angle change yields 1/4” change in length. Not forgetting of course abkut 1.25 swingweight point too which could be very detrimental to performance. Thanks for watching.
@@Precision_Golf Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated. I learned about this from watching videos by master fitter Ian Fraser at Tour Experience Golf (TXG). I am fascinated by the physics and dynamics of this little weight at the end of a stick (LOL) and these videos with, as Gary said, the numbers. That and also the biomechanics of this sport, having watched dozens and dozens of videos on reprogramming swings from DrKwonGolf and his biomechanics analyses. Just in case you don't know him, Dr. Young-Hoo Kwon is the director of the biomechanics laboratory at Texas Woman's University in Denton just north of Dallas.
That was fantastic
The Stealth Plus Titanium in a test I just viewed by The Average Golfer with the younger, hard hitting club pro is not really longer than the Standard, and was much harder to hit even for the pro. The standard would probably be a better choice for Gary. It was surprisingly long.
Thanks for your comments John, quite possibly! Thanks for watching.
Wow, Gary's swing and contact on the face would make a robot jealous. Great to see for an average golfer like me. Not surprised to see him investigate graphite shafts to reduce wear and tear. But somewhat surprised to see how many game improvement heads he is trying. He commented that he prefers a soft feel to a hard, clicky one. So I wonder why he hasn't tried one or two of the many heads by Miura. Or some of the very interesting new heads such as the ProtoConcept irons forged by Endo of Japan. Lydia Ko has won using their CO-5 players distance 7 through 9 irons and CO-7 game improvement 6 iron. They also make a CO-1 forged muscleback blade and CO-3 forged players cavity back, but Ko is clearly thinking in the same terms as Gary about type of heads. She chose the ProtoConcept irons over Mizuno and Srixon. She uses the AeroTech SteelFiber FC70 shaft in her irons, and she plays Pro V1X.
The Miura heads create an issue from a build point of view due to head weights being heavy and Gary plays longer than standard so swingweight would be very heavy indeed and prohibitive for him to swing.
The Proto Concept series do not currently have much distribution in the UK and Gary being seniors tour does not get the support that the main tours do and Lydia being an ex World No1 and US based has better access to these products.
The game improvement heads add that but more ball speed for him and he is looking in principle to gain as much distance as possible.
I hope I have covered everything?
@@Precision_Golf Thanks ever so much for taking the time to reply in such detail. I greatly appreciate it. I hope the ProtoConcept irons will make their way in the UK, their technology seems really good. Would probably have to be a player not committed to a sponsor contract with one of the big makers. I realize Gary said he has a deal with Titleist. There are some other interesting irons. Steven Alker has done well on the PGA Champions Tour using New Level 623-CB Forged irons 5-PW. In 2022 he won every fifth tournament he competed in and won the Charles Schwab Cup. The look like a good iron to check out. The Takomo irons of Finland are also getting great reviews, though I don't know if any pros are using them. They are a direct to consumer company. But they have a great forged muscleback blade 301 MB, a forged players cavity back 301 CB, a forged cavity back 201, and a hollow body game improvement max distance 101 and players distance hollow body 101T. They offer KBS shafts. The cool thing about them is the price: US $459 for a set of 101s, US $589-659 for a set of 201s, and US $649 for the 301s. You can also buy heads only, for example US $450 for a set of the 101T players distance heads. They ship worldwide.
Super interesting stuff to get inside the head of an elite am.
Glad you enjoyed it Ray.
It is said the fitters beard grew 3 inches that day. He had the patience of Jobe. Gary could use any irons. The answer he is looking for is in the gym. Very much enjoyed it.
😂 Thanks for watching. 👍🏻
How'd you get a word in
Thanks for watching Gerry 😁
Just watched the whole fitting in one go… love the way Gary went from customer to fitter by the end of the session 😂 No doubting his pedigree and prowess within the amateur ranks, but the sheer lack of speed he has always had, would never transfer that well to the pro ranks. Great player on firm fast courses with legendary short game, but on anything other than links style or shorter tracks, he simply can’t compete at the very highest level imo. Thoroughly enjoyed the video regardless 👌
Amazing someone with that swing, ball striking, club head speed & club path can get so low as an Am and was able to compete and win against the very best amateurs
More accurate with his 5 wood than most amateurs with a wedge in hand. So impressive
Oh sure sure you can try any three-way one as long as it’s a standard but you want you wanna play a little bit longer shaft like a half inch and inch yeah we got standard in training club as you want as long as the standard
Great fitting session. If Gary wanted to increase his ball speed he Needs to lengthen his backswing. Short always had a tendency to get quick. Can’t argue with his ability, a fantastic amateur career, and also now in the pro ranks.Interesting enough his 3 practice swings with his wood were spot on.
More accurate with his 5 wood than most with a short iron! Thanks for watching Keith.
What a great player .. very good video.. seem to remember he is 6.ft 3.. with an ego to match...
Thanks for watching Jack
Great video....just out of interest and i know he plays for a living but I noticed he plays the ball really far back in his stance and that didn't change as he moved to his woods?? Only when he hit driver did he move his ball forward!!! You kept commenting on him needing more loft and he was saying he gets a lot of run out and he was struggling with peak height........with him playing the ball to far back he will be struggling with exactly that. I play the ball far back and tend to de-loft the club but I'm more of a compressive striker than Gary ...I hit with a piercing ball flight for somebody with his low speed and being a sweeper of the golf ball he would be much better suited to just nudging the ball slightly further forward. Not a knock he is clearly a very talented professional golfer and I'm a crap golfer that lays bricks for a living but it was something that jumped out at me on the forward facing camera.
Golfers will always gravitate to a ball back in stance orientation when a low attack is an issue in their game. Gary is working in technique with his coach to address this from a body structure orientation rather than band aid fix of changing ball position orientation. We are always very hesitant to making any changes to a clients technique during a fit as it can change the whole DNA of a golfers mechanics. We love hearing your thoughts and appreciate sharing them. Happy New Year 🥳
@@Precision_Golf thanks for reply....yea I get that i totally understand and wasnt implying you tell him to change his ball position during a fitting he is clearly great at swinging in a repetitive manner time after time and that ball position is something he is comfortable with. My point being was his struggles are indicative of his ball position which is to far back....sometimes its not reinventing the wheel but a simple change of ball position was all I was eluding to! 👍
This is something that he has developed over many years in the same way Colin MOntgomerie has always played most of his set from a relatively central position in his stance (only changing vey recently). If Gary gets what he feels is better contact from this position then this will outweigh for him the advantage of ,moving the ball forwards as it will affect his technique and consistency of strike.
The principle of moving it forward absolutely makes sense from a flight point of view but for players of that level who have done things that way for such a long time it can be a very problematic thing to change as the loss of performance in the transition period can be seen to outweigh the potential benefits long term (especially if in Seniors golf long term is really only as few years!)
@@Precision_Golf yea i totally get that and I understand about the idiosyncrasies of golfers certainly good players.....hey listen im a 24 handicap hacker that can't hit the middle of the club for toffee and plays like a man with no arms so I stand corrected and you guys are certainly the gurus of club fitting and swing dynamics 👍 keep up the great work love all your videos and look forward to watching future content 👍
@@TheTraditionalGolfer thanks. All the best for 2023 and beyond 👍🏻
All fitters hear this all fitters hear this. We are tired of going to get fitted and you not have any longer shafts for us to try. We’re done getting fitted cause you can’t fit us.
Thanks for your feedback @tellwilliams4493