Welcome to this weeks newsletter. With all of our new equipment coming into stock we have been having a play in our indoor Swing Studio and comparing all of the new products.

We have a Srixon Ball fitting Day on Wednesday 19th March from 1pm-4pm

We have 9 20 minute appointments available. So if you would like to find out exactly what golf ball you 'should' be using be send us an email or give us a call. Remember this is a FREE service but appointments will be limited.

Too book your appointment call us on 01548 560715 or click here.

For those who have been in for fitting sessions recently many have been surprised by the complexity of fitting a set of clubs to an individual. Thankfully we take care of all the complicated bits and you only have to hit the balls!

With all the new equipment we are finding it relatively easy to add extra distance onto players shots, especially if their Clubs are older than 3 years old. But with the extra distance we need to make sure that we don't increase the dispersion of the shot, in other words make the shots more wayward.

As well as other factors, one of the main considerations my staff and I must take as Custom Club Fitters is the lie angle of the Club.

What is the lie angle? The "lie angle" of any clubhead is the angle between the center of the shaft and the sole.

The lie angle of irons needs to be properly fit for each golfer for two major reasons. First, the lie angle is a factor that affects the accuracy of the shot. The lie angle is considered to be perfect for the golfer when the sole arrives at impact perfectly parallel to the ground.

If the lie angle is incorrect for the golfer, such that the toe of the clubhead is tilted well up in relation to the heel, the face is automatically pointing to the hook side of the target line. Conversely, if the clubhead arrives at impact tilted with the heel well up compared to the toe, the face of the clubhead is pointing to the slice side of the target line.

The greater the loft on the face of the clubhead, the more off-line the face will point when the lie angle is not correct for the golfer. Thus, the lie angle is much more important to be fit to the golfer in the irons than it is in the woods, since irons have a little to a lot more loft than do woods.

Second, golfers come in all varieties of height and arm length. There is no possible way that all golfers can play their best with the one standard lie angle that is designed on all ironheads. Golfers who buy their clubs from a custom fitter (Us!) will be fit for the proper lie angle on their irons as a normal part of the custom fitting session that custom clubmakers offer. Golfers who buy their clubs standard, off-the-rack, without being fit for lie angle are risking accuracy problems in the form of pulled or pushed shots even when they make a good swing.

Just this week I was checking the lie angles on my own clubs and to my surprise my wedges were not set up in the same angles as my irons. The main reason for this is because my wedges are Titleist and my irons are Callaway. Although they were ordered at the same spec the different manufacturers have different standard lies! Therefore, when I hit my wedges the markings on our special lie tape were towards the heel making them too upright which would also explain why they tended to go slightly left of the intended target.

Thankfully I have recently invested in a loft and lie machine which will allow us to fine tune Clubs efficiently and accurately here in the Proshop. This truly is a fantastic asset for Thurlestone Proshop as we continue to improve our Custom Fitting service to you.

Rest assured my wedges will be changed....and then I have no more excuses. If you would like to discuss our Custom Fitting process and how it could improve your game please contact us.

Have a great week.

Steve, Pete, Joan and Jack