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The Process

Dr. Suttie's and Lotus Golf's

Custom Club Fitting and Teaching Program

The golf industry has tried to use simple non-technology based golf club fitting systems for years with less then great success. The club head speed system they primarily use will satisfy the ego for the big hitters but leaves many of them fighting hooks and slices. The FitChip Swing Frequency Analysis "SFA" system introduced a new pure technological approach to golf club fitting based on the players swing timing.

The "SFA" concept born when Lloyd Hackman decided to use an accelerometer attached to the golf club shaft that would determine the acceleration pattern throughout the swing and could provide, through computer analysis, a swing release timing that could be matched by fabricating a club to the natural frequency that would match that timing. Thus, the unit identifies the exact time for the release of the club and matches the response time between club release and ball impact to a natural frequency of a club which will come back to straight and square during that period. You can find a more detailed explanation of this process at the Link "Specifications" on the Home Page. This is the only golf club fitting system which has the basic purpose of selecting the golf shaft that will return to straight and square at ball impact.

The TrackMan Launch Monitor also plays a big roll in this fitting process. During the shaft pre-fitting or fitting session the launch monitor will be used to record the performance of the current clubs launch angle, ball flight, dispersion and distance.

Once the shaft fitting session is completed a test club with the recommended frequency will be provided for testing and gathering another set of launch monitor data for comparison with the player current club. This initial comparison will show the value of the new shaft frequency especially by reduced dispersion. The comparison of actual launch angle and optimum launch angle will be evaluated and any change in face loft can be tested with interchangeable heads.

Such a golf club fitting will provide the player with maximum performance through club head speed and a club head that is square at impact. Where off the shelf or custom clubs based on the A, L, R, S and X stiffness ranges have wide variation of frequencies in each of these ranges (15 CPM). Clubs built with our system are guaranteed to be built within 2 CPM of the player's recommended frequency. The manufactures stiffness ranges are 15 CPM wide where the most that can be tolerated to maintain the desired performance is 4 CPM. Knowing the exact frequency of each of your clubs allows us to duplicate its exact perfomance if it is lost or broken.

Where is the Club fitting done?

The primary location for this service is the Dr. Suttie Golf Academy at Twin Eagles Golf Club, Naples, Florida and Lotus Golf's shop in Columbus, Ohio. The Fitting session can be a stand alone session or part of a Instructional Package. Dr. Suttie also offers the basic shaft fitting remotely by having a FitChip shaft fitting device mailed to you with instructions on gathering the data. The FitChip is returned and the data analyzed. A test Driver and Six Iron can be built to your recommended specifications and mailed to you for approval. This can also be combined with the remote video lessons offered by Dr. Suttie.

What is a Remote Video Lesson?

You can take a video of yourself and send it to Dr. Suttie for analysis. Dr. Suttie will personally watch your video on the V1 Swing Analysis System and make a Voice Over Analysis of your swing, recommending those changes or adjustments that are needed to improve your swing. This Voice Over Analysis will be recorded on a disc and sent to you. He will also provide you with a link that will enable you to download free of charge the V1 software you will need to play this disc on your computer.

Sign-up at:

www.jimsuttie.com/Internet_Lessons_7debd14750d894a.html

Why is the golf shaft so important?

Knowing how the Golf Shaft works is the important step in shaft selection. The selection of the proper golf shaft is not simple. In the past the best way to make this selection was by trial and error. There are three things wrong with this system of golf club fitting.

1. maintaining a good swing for the time it takes to try all the golf shaft possibilities.
2. The cost if you have to buy all of the golf clubs or golf shafts you want to test.
3. There is a limited range of the golf shaft stiffness available off the shelf for testing ( we find that only 40% of the players that go through our golf club fitting system fall within the range of off the shelf golf shafts).

However, by knowing the time between the shaft release point and ball impact and the relationship of that time interval to the natural frequency of the golf shaft / club, you have the basic starting point for the golf shaft selection. As pictured below the critical golf shaft selection time or kick initiation, with a driver, occurs in a .05 second interval during the down swing. This interval represents the difference between selecting a 170 CPM golf shaft and a 320 CPM golf shaft for the player. Since the FitChip golf club fitting system takes 25 readings during this interval it is by far the most accurate way of determining the proper golf shaft stiffness.

You must also understand that, how much you load the shaft is not important, it is only the time interval that makes this first basic frequency selection. Some people do not grasp this fact but it can be easily proven by putting a shaft in a frequency meter and deflecting it several different amounts, the frequency will always remain the same independent of how much you deflect or load it.

I call this a basic frequency because there must be a correction made to this frequency to arrive at the final golf club fitting or golf shaft selection. The correction is based on the centrifugal force acting on the club head. If the shaft is flexed or curved during the down swing the centrifugal force is trying to straighten the shaft thus reducing the amount of spring action needed to bring the shaft back to straight and square. If there was no centrifugal force the basic frequency would be the answer but since we are dealing with a golf swing that generates club head speed and as a result centrifugal force, we must reduce the necessary spring action or frequency as a function of the magnitude of the centrifugal force. Since club head speed is the precursor to centrifugal force the correction relationship can be derived as a direct function of club head speed. Therefore the relationship will describe the amount the frequency is to be reduced as the club head speed gets greater. This part of the golf shaft mechanics goes against the general golf shaft or golf club fitting theories of the industry, because when two players have the same time interval between release and ball impact the one with the higher club head speed gets a softer golf shaft then the player with the lower club head speed. This is because the player with the higher club head speed is getting more help from centrifugal force and needs less spring action to bring the golf shaft back to straight. Having made this correction you now have the frequency for the club that matches the players swing timing or swing frequency and the perfect golf club fitting.

Register for a Fitting or lessons at: www.golfclubfittingsystem.com