Callaway sizes up the perfect fit for clubs

Tag : angle fitting

"This is Callaway and we featured every club in the line, thenewest on the market, but there's no selling going on here," saidCPGA professional Steven Pike, who manages the centre and conductspersonalized fitting sessions. "If people like Callaway clubs,that's great, but what we do is provide the most accurate swinganalysis possible of an individual, give him (or her) theirspecifications and then they go to any golf store they want to buywhatever club manufacturer they want."
The centres are standard throughout and utilize the same technologyto fit tour professionals: computerized analysis, high-speeddigital photography and the expertise of a certified club-fittingspecialist.
"The analysis is 100-per-cent accurate," Pike said. "With it, we'reable to analyze all the factors related to the swing, clubheadspeed, ball speed, angle of attack, launch angle as well as therate of spin on the ball, carry distance and total distance."
Pike emphasized having basically sound mechanics is a prerequisiteto a proper analysis and said he's the first to tell an individualwith poor mechanics to seek out a teaching professional firstbefore returning for a complete club fitting.
"There's no point trying to fit someone whose mechanics aren'tgood," he said. "The whole idea is make the golfing experienceenjoyable and no matter what clubs you have, if there's somethingwrong with a person's swing, they're not going to enjoy it."
An analysis and club-fitting session takes approximately 45 minutesand, in addition to personal specifications, you receive a swingphoto analysis booklet and have access to an online video of yourswing that you can see in freeze frame and/or full motion.
The cost is $60 and part of the proceeds benefit the JenniferAshleigh Children's Charity, a national foundation providingassistance to families with special-treatment requirements, medicalexpenses and other needs.
The centre is located at 161 Barr St. in St. Laurent on thesoutheast side of Côte de Liesse Blvd. To book an appointment,call Callaway Golf Canada customer service at 1-800-387-7000.
In the slammer: A 26-year-old resident of China's Zhejiang provincehas been sentenced to three years and six months in jail, and finedapproximately $58,000 for selling counterfeit golf equipment.
The U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group -comprised of Acushnet Company, Callaway Golf, Cleveland Golf, NikeGolf, PING and TaylorMade Golf - successfully brought the caseagainst Hou Bo, owner of the Sports Goods Shop & Hong Kong OrientSporting Goods Co., Ltd.
He was arrested by the Yonghang Municipal Public Security Bureauand was prosecuted in February, but the sentence was handed downtwo weeks ago.
Holes-in-one: Jason Schwartz, Hillsdale (Woodside), 162-yard 15th,8-iron. Shari Kogan, Le Diamant, 162-yard 13th. Lionel Greenberg,Pinegrove, 165-yard sixth, hybrid 4. Line Guignard, Pinegrove,165-year 12th, 7 wood.
He said it: "I don't think this champion has anything to worryabout with asterisks etched next to his name."
- Royal & Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson on Irishman PadraigHarrington winning the British Open in the absence of world No. 1Tiger Woods. Harrington shot 32 in his final nine holes in near50-kilometre-per-hour winds to repeat Woods's feat of back-to-backchampionships.
rphillips@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008