The personal fitting process of Henry-Griffitts

A week back, I wrote an entry on my anticipated fitting with a regional Henry-Griffitts teacher. That is correct and not a typo, a teacher. I was as stumped as you might be, reading this. I visited their website and found one menu item that read “Find a Certified Teacher.” Thanks to a previous photography commitment, I knew that Pennhill Golf Club’s head professional is a certified teacher and clubfitter with H-G. With the next closest teacher some five hours away, the 2 hour drive to visit Corky Buckham in Bradford, Pennsylvania made a whole lot more sense. One email (or was it a text? a phone call? I can’t recall) later and the session was appointed, the wheels set in motion.

Let me ask you one question: How long do you imagine a club fitting session might take? I guessed one hour. You will have to wait to find out if I was correct until the end.

Corky Buckham and I rode to the range, where the H-G fitting cart waited. He asked me questions about the clubs I currently use (Mizuno irons, Titleist driver, Nike hybrid and fairway metals, Ping wedges) and examined the wedges that I had brought with me. Assessing my height for a starting point, he handed me an iron and had me swing away. Over the course of the session, Corky Buckham would unscrew the clubhead from the shaft, assemble another one, put a black piece of tape on the sole (to determine where and how the club was striking the plastic hitting plate) and place a ball-strike-sticker on the clubface, to determine where the ball hit the clubface…over and over and over. We worked our way through different lie angles (flat, standard and upright,) shaft types and stiffnesses, and clubhead styles (super perimeter weighted, perimeter weighted, and muscleback.)

Imagine your last visit to the eye doctor. It goes something like this: Which looks better, A or B? B or C? A or C? … And on and on, until you find the proper prescription. Consider Corky Buckham and his fellow H-G certified teachers your golf equipment opthalmologists. By the end of the session, which included a putter and driver fitting, my only concern was determining how I would pay for the equipment. Once that was resolved (pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it turns out), the order was place.

The sticks should arrive on my island soon. When they do, I’ll head out and won’t stop swinging until they take the place of my regular bag of tricks…errr, sticks. I’ll keep you posted on my progress. We’ll see if we can make a dent in that 3.7 USGA index!!