Club Fitting for Junior Golfers

In the hands of a competitive junior golfer, the right equipment will speed up development, lower scores, and add to the overall enjoyment of the game. Poorly fitted equipment, on the other hand, will contribute to poor contact, erratic ball flight, slow progress and, ultimately, discourage younger golfers. Therefore, as parents and coaches, it’s essential to make sure juniors have equipment that works for their game.

Specific Guidelines
In recent years, the options for younger juniors has increased but it still is limited relative to the options available for older juniors and adults.

Buying the right clubs is a challenge especially for growing and developing junior golfers. The investment, physical changes, and shifting golf swings only add to the challenge. Thanks to the experience from hundreds of fittings, we know the steps to take and the mistakes to avoid to help you make a good club-buying decision. The list below is a quick summary of the recommendations we make to the parents of students. These recommendations are geared towards younger players.

 

1. Choose clubs that are shorter, lighter, and softer as opposed to clubs that are longer, heavier, and stiffer. We often remind parents that young golfers should grow out of their clubs rather than grow into their clubs. Long, heavy, stiff clubs can produce movement patterns that will need to be reversed as golfers get stronger and faster. As an added warning, don’t give your kids adult clubs that have been cut down.
2. For younger golfers with slower swing speeds, favor irons that increase launch and reduce the amount of roll after the ball hits the ground. Higher ball flight increases both carry distance and the chance of holding a green after landing on it. Driver fittings require a balance between carry distance and roll. With slower swing speeds, it’s best to maximize total distance (carry and roll).
3. Don’t buy from retail outlets but instead use a qualified fitter that has access to a TrackMan launch monitor. Retail outlets often have relatively inexperienced employees handling the fitting process and it’s not uncommon for their launch monitors to produce “amped up” numbers to sell clubs. I also recommend testing clubs on the course even if that means slowing down the fitting process.
4. It usually makes sense to refrain from buying clubs that attempt to correct for swing issues. For example, buying a club with a large offset or a closed club face would discourage a young player from learning how to properly square the club face and might make it difficult to learn how to hit a shot with an open club face. I would suggest that your child’s swing coach be involved in the fitting process to ensure that the new clubs compliment the changes that the coach is trying to make with your son or daughter’s game.
5. From a technical standpoint, there are a handful of critical parameters that should be considered to get a proper fitting. Club speed, ball speed, launch angle, carry distance, dispersion, land angle, and spin rate should be measured and evaluated. An experienced club fitter with have the best chance of blending all the information together to arrive at a good decision. A club’s aesthetic appeal and feel are also important and should be considered toward the end of the fitting process.