JTCLUBS in San Francisco
Custom Clubfitter and Clubmaker
Golf Swing Analysis
Professional GOLF CLUB FITTING in San Francisco since 2006, specializing in Miura Golf irons and wedges. We measure how your swing tendencies affect golf club performance using a FlightScope X3 radar launch monitor and video analysis. The optimum combination of shaft and club head design for your game is identified and every club is hand built in our state-or-the-art shop.
PUTTER FITTING with our QUINTIC ball roll research system uses a high speed camera at 720 fps to measure every nuance of how the putter face contacts the ball through the impact zone. Measurements are made at a level of detail that eyes can't resolve in real time. Easy to understand data provides a rational strategy for refining your technique and selecting the optimum putter more effectively than any other technology. Quintic is golf's reference standard for putting.
Our custom putter fitting includes all current models from Lie Angle Balanced (L.A.B.) Golf, putters from LA Golf, and the modular Evnroll putter system. These brands have developed the most innovative technologies in putting. As much as we love the long ball, the putter is used more than any other club in a typical round of golf, and it has the greatest impact on lower scores and more enjoyment for golfers at all skill levels.
JTClubs helps you play your best golf.
Effective fitting to play better golf reveals how your individual swing traits interact with club weight, balance, and shaft stiffness distribution to affect your golf movement pattern. Local stiffness regions (as below) are reflected through the entire length of the shaft to yield an overall bend character. Golfers react uniquely to that bend character during the entire swing. Launch monitor measurements allow us to fit shafts with optimum bend profile to your swing mechanics. This approach overcomes limitations of simple tables and letters.
Our FlightScope X3 radar launch monitor makes direct measurements of key club and ball path parameters (e.g. shown below, upper left panel) that describes ball flight (upper center panel; D-Plane, T.P. Jorgensen 1999). Measuring changes in club speed and rate of acceleration prior to impact reveals shaft and technique effects on clubhead stability (lower panels) and shot dispersion (projected ball grouping, upper right panels). When clubhead speed is at a maximum at impact, the rate of change in acceleration should be at a minimum.
In the iron fitting shown below (multiple shots, each panel), we see data for a popular OEM clubhead on a "tour issue" shaft (lower left panel), a forged custom head on the same model shaft (lower center panel), and both custom head and custom shaft (lower right panel). Changes that improved the consistency of clubhead speed and acceleration into impact reduced shot dispersion (upper right panels). This analysis, unique to FlightScope, helps identify the best shaft/clubhead combination to improve club performance.
In driver fitting (data shown below) two players with similar swing speeds, ball spin, and smash factors tested the same clubhead model with shafts having the same flex and weight but with different stiffness profiles. The driver shaft data in the left panel shows closely reproducible speed and acceleration profiles that reach maximum values at impact. Close ball grouping (shot dispersion) is the result (right panel, blue).
The central panel shows clubhead speed in most swings consistently reached a maximum substantially prior to impact associated with an early decrease in the rate of acceleration. The clubhead rebounded into impact at slightly different angles yielding a wide shot dispersion (right panel, orange). However, two swings with the same shaft and club had a relatively smooth increase of speed and acceleration into impact due to a subtle change in technique. The goal in shaft fitting is to find the shaft with minimal shot dispersion and maximum distance.
The FlightScope X3 radar launch monitor provides a direct trace of clubhead's path, speed, and rate of acceleration as it approaches the ball in the impact zone. It's a dynamic measurement in real time incorporating effects of multiple forces acting on clubhead and shaft. Micro-movements of the clubhead revealed in the graphs indicate clubhead stability in the impact zone is a major factor for shot-making consistency and accuracy.
Measuring shot grouping, loft and lie angles, and distance gaps between clubs reveals the playing efficiency of your current set and shows which clubs may need adjustment. In this analysis of a player's swingmatched set, the data below shows attention is needed at both ends of the set before further refinements are made. We use a dynamic method that indicates club lie angle and clubface-ball contact then measurements are made with dedicated professional gauges. To understand how your set performs, there is no substitute for this analysis.
Every club in your new or re-shafted set is custom built with highest craftsmanship to the exact specifications indicated by your individual fitting results. Our shop is equipped with top industry-standard machines for measuring shaft EI stiffness distribution, deflection, stable bend plane, torque, MOI, and loft/lie angles to ensure your new clubs yield maximum consistency through the entire set. This attention to detail at every step in fitting and building benefits all golfers.
Why play MOI-MATCHED CLUBS? All golfers respond to subtle differences in the balance of weight and flex in a club during the swing. A few grams difference in weight or a fraction of an inch change in the club balance point (located near the clubhead) can affect impact with the ball. In a MOI-matched set, every club is built to have the same swing force (energy) generating full power with each club. We use a dedicated instrument to measure that force for each club to build beautifully matched sets. Long irons and short irons have a similar feel that makes it easier to develop a more consistent swing. All clubs in your set play equally well.
In contrast, SWINGWEIGHT-MATCHED sets are built using a single arbitrary balance fulcrum position for all clubs, typically located 14 inches from the external end of the grip. This method began as a simplified standard way of building clubs that's become a manufacturing convenience for bulk production. Because a slightly different level of force is needed to swing each club in these sets, long and short irons feel different, getting in the way of swing consistency. "Swing-weight matching is only partial matching." (T.P. Jorgensen, The Physics of Golf, 2nd edition, 1999). It contributes to difficulties many golfers have with long irons.
JTClubs builds WEDGES to maximize feel and responsiveness. MOI-matched wedges for specific playing conditions enhance your short game when built with responsive shafts fit to your game instead of something that feels like rebar. A set of wedges with shafts in the style of the highly desirable Rifle "Spinners" yield feel and performance preferred by top players.
As much as 25% of swings by golfers at all skill levels will be made with wedges in a typical round. Wedges swings will be made over a wide range of speeds in many different turf conditions requiring various levels of control. For example, wedge play in bunkers with soft sand benefits from a different sole grind than when the bunker surface feels like hard pan. Having a couple of extra wedges allows you to select the right sole grind for different course conditions.
PUTTER FITTING. The putter is the most used club in the bag, often more than a twice as much as a driver. To give the putter the attention it deserves, JTClubs uses a state-of-the-art QUINTIC Ball Roll putter Research System. It uses a high speed camera to measure the details of what happens when a putter impacts a ball. The data reflect true playing performance of the putter since no device or extra weight is added to the putter.
In our studio setting you hit a few typical putts that represent your game, and at 720 fps every key nuance in the way the putter face controls the roll of the ball through the impact zone is captured. More than 50 parameters are measured, and data explained in graphs, illustrations, and setup performance feedback. You learn how individual stroke traits determine the outcome of a putt, how effectively your current putter functions, and which putter specifications fit best.
In putter fitting we can measure in detail the effects of different putter shapes, graphite or steel shafts, overall or component weight, putter length, balance, grip size on your putting stroke. Direct measurements reveal the actual effects of hosel (neck) offset on clubface balance (e.g., toe hang) and putting accuracy to find your optimum putter setup instead of relying on misinformation and myth.
Measurements at this level of detail are empowering. They reveal what already works in your putting. You learn how your putting tendencies affect the way the putter controls the initial roll of the ball. You learn options for achieving better results on the putting green. It's for all golfers at all skill levels. It's a putting analytics dream for understanding and refining your short game.
THE JTClubs DIFFERENCE. All clubfitting and club building is done in our shop individually, personally, and customized to every golfer we help. The most effective tour-level modern technologies are applied at every step to achieve performance consistency on the course in the real world of playing golf. As an independent fitter/builder we have the freedom to select the components and methods that work best for each golfer. We love the game, we play what we build, and we love helping golfers achieve their goals.
Contact us for comprehensive professional clubfitting and golf swing biomechanics analysis are offered in a wide range of personalized options for players of all ages and skill levels.
JTClubs is located within San Francisco, conveniently close to nearby world-class golf courses. Send an email to jtclubs@gmail.com and let's schedule a fitting session. Testing putters with our QUINTIC system is a great way to start. Highly informative, easy to understand, enjoyable, saisifying -- it's what putter fitting should be.
JTClubs - expertise - craftsmanship - integrity