What's a good come back....

…to fitters when they question why you’re going so flat?

I really have no comeback and I can just see them trying to contain their laughter and disbelief.

I have had things like, “where did you get these lies from? off the internet” to “any flatter and you may as well play baseball”. I’ve also been asked "who my coach is and whether he is an accredited pro.

If I was Lag I suppose I could just plop a ball down in front of them and flush a 2 iron but I’m not…I’m more like Charles Barkley actually.

PS> This is just a light hearted post but if I can get just 1 good comeback out of it then I’ll be happy.

When you get a good comeback let me know, lol. I’ve tried explaining that Hogan, Norman, etc played very flat/heavy irons… but then I get a look like “… and what, you think you’re Hogan?”

Tonight I got this email from a local builder. I asked him to build me a driver… 43", S400 steel shaft tipped 1", D4 swing weight.

Dear Mr. X:
My name is John S, and I operate R-----T Golf.
Yes, I could build the club you describe. But before I price it, I would like to discuss this with you further because this is an unusual club by modern standards.

A different builder I spoke with last week about bending my 4* flat irons to 6* flat said: “What you are doing is so far out of the realm of normalcy I don’t even know what to say.” Made me feel like an idiot. I can’t get into an argument every time someone makes a stupid comment so I just took my clubs and walked out. I’ll take my business elsewhere.

I need to save up for a loft/lie bending machine.

I need to save up for a loft/lie bending machine.

Indeed!!

My club guy has no problems with doing "our " kind of work, but what was interesting as i watched him…

he says…“I used to do 10 of these a week…you are the first one I have bent in 10 years”…

bent
bob

I just tell them that I don’t care if they snap because I only spent a few dollars on them anyway and I am using them for practice and to develop my swing a certain way.

The guy I get them bent thru was concerned with snapping them, but he’s been pretty cool about it. We bent my Apex PC 3-iron EIGHT DEGREES because it was pretty upright to begin with.

I do agree, I would like for more fitters to just warn the customer about them possibly snapping and it not being their liability and then just shut up about it. I don’t need to give you my money and have my balls busted over it as well.

3JACK

How about:

“I’d rather not pay extra for thinking, just bend or don’t.”

“They’re for my brother, he’s only 4 foot tall.”

“I play at a goat track and need to dig the ball out of holes all the time”

The problem with the loft/lie machines is they’re so flippin’ expensive and hard to justify the price for such rare use. Even bending bars are over a hundred bucks.

But I think I might get a bar and just park the car on the clubhead. It’s not rocket science.

Just say …
that you have a wide stance and long arms… and that you are paying him to bend them … not paying him to tell you what to bend them to

My club maker didn’t break my balls too much when I asked him to bend mine 6 degrees flat but had to remark at the end that I was the only one on the planet with such flat clubs…

I read Anths first post, thought about a reply, couldn’t come up with one, then headed to the pro shop to bend some irons.

No questions, he said he’d try one first, show me it, then do the rest tomorrow, did it and handed it over to me. I’m supposed to look at it and see how it feels to which he said “I just hope these aren’t for you!” I replied “wow, that feels soooo weird … do them all please.” No more questions, he was pretty cool about it and will probably see 2 more sets in the next couple of weeks if these are playing right.

But yeah, I have nothing good to reply without trying to start some argument going.

I would just say "what about Hogan and Trevino? … well I guess you’re right… they weren’t exactly normal ball strikers now were they?

Then if you get the standard… “but you’re too tall for that”
you can reply, "well I just utilize my height to my advantage by flexing my knees a lot through impact, creating a lot more vertical ground pressures than most could handle… that’s why they are going 6 down… should I be back in about an hour? or pick them up on my way to work tomorrow?

[quote=“lagpressure”]

[quote Then if you get the standard… “but you’re too tall for that”
you can reply, "well I just utilize my height to my advantage by flexing my knees a lot through impact, creating a lot more vertical ground pressures than most could handle… that’s why they are going 6 down… should I be back in about an hour? or pick them up on my way to work tomorrow?[/quote]
Brilliant! Nothing better than the ruth hey. I’m going to use that line because I reckon they will be so bamboozled that they will just shut up and do what I ask.

I wasn’t happy with the 3deg flat I had the Hogans bent to the other day so I rang around and found another clubfitter. I strengthened lofts and 5deg flat, he did comment about how flat they were once he had done the work but for the most part he was cool with it.

I talked to him a bit whilst he was working on them and it turns out that he loves tinkering with old gear and from time to time he re-finishes and re-whips persimmons for himself and is happy to for me to take mine to him. He also couldn’t say enough about how good the old Hogans were and he actually told me (without any prompting from me) that blades are real clubs and there is no real difference in the design and maufacture of old blades and new blades. He actually said, "why would anyone spend $1000 on Mizunos when for $300 they can re-shaft and re-grip clubs like these Hogan’s which will perform as good and if not better. Mind you he sells brand new Mizuno’s and Titleists too, so it was refreshing to find someone tha hasn’t been corrupted by the OEM’s and the almight dollar. I was actually talking to him about titanium dirvers and he was saying that he he buys older small headed Titleists for himself as he can’t hit the big ones…here is a pro with access to the latest and greatest and when he plays he does so with some old gear.

Needless to say that he is going to see a lot of business from me fron here on out. Not only that, he was more than happy chatting away and I reckon that I can go and see him on any day when he is not busy and even without me buying anything he would be happy to chat for hours about this stuff.

By the way, the lofts and lies that the first club fitter were supposed to have bent the to the other day were so far off what they should have been it’s not funny. He printed out the specs for me and some differed by 1deg whilst other differed by 4.5deg from what they should have been. Now I don’t know if there are differences in the way loft and lie machines measure…but even so the differences couldn’t have been more random.

I actually emailed Pippolo about this experience earlier today what I said in my email is that finding a good club fitter is like finding a good mechanic, thankfully I have found one. :smiley:

Anyway I have 9 holes on Friday and 18 holes on Sunday to give these flatter, stronger Hogans a good test run so I’ll let you all know how I go.

I’ll be happy to give him some business too anth, let me know who and where he is. Maybe I can get another set bent while we bend his ear :slight_smile:

“Just do your f***in job!”

That should do it. :smiley:

Tell him you like your balls approached from a shallow angle and that you were told he was the local club Bender…

Got my irons back, and was a little nervous, since I am so tall and I’ve just bent my irons so flat. However, got them home and took some practice swings and I love it. It promotes everything we are learning here and I can’t wait to hit them on Thursday. Now the woods…

Isn’t it amazing when you suddenly find a fantastic resource right under your nose?!!!

After Trackman had posted here and I asked if they had a facility in Ireland I discovered there was one only a few miles from where my folks live! Its an indoor one hitting into a net but you can’t have everything!

I also find that the place will bend my irons for £2.50 per club :smiley:

When I asked him if he’d bend clubs 6 degrees flat he asked - “Are you trying to get the same setup as Mr Hogan?” :smiley: :smiley:

To cap it all off they are the official Miura reps in Ireland and will custom build me a set which will include whatever shafts I choose being SST pured :smiley:

They start by building a demo iron which you obviously try. Once happy they build the set to your exact specifications, they also use trackman to help create spacings etc.

One month after you purchase they offer a free opportunity to check everything is ok with the specs.

£1200 for the full service which isn’t cheap but it does give me something to aspire to.

A great day for me - I’m putting the Hogan Bounce Soles in the boot of the car to get adjusted. Will be a maximum of £20 and will give me a great set of irons for practicing with.

I’d say, “My schwantz is so long and thick - the only way I can get my hands past it on the follow through is to keep them low…real low. Do you want to see it? My swing that is.” :wink:

Bom, I like the “my balls like a shallow angle of attack”. Very nice.

Captain Chaos

Cheers, Cap’n… high praise from your good self… I was hoping someone would get it… I was certainly pleased with it!

My pro shop has a machine, and I am sure Mikey thinks I’m a bit nuts but we just bend 'em :laughing:

And pout in 35g of tungsten powder into a vega wedge to get it E4 :astonished: :astonished: :astonished:

Here’s a comeback…

“I am fed up of hiiting it left and not compressing it so I am rebuilding my golf swing to hit it as the greats did…”