(Editor's Note: Charlotte Mayorkas, a rookie on the LPGA Tour in 2007, is filing entries for her LPGA Tour Diary throughout the season. If you would like to suggest topics for Charlotte, or ask questions about the Tour life, send them to golf.guide@about.com.)
Golf is a game of personal preference. Each golfer has her likes and dislikes. When it comes to golf club selections, some players are keenly particular about the make and model of their clubs, while others are indifferent.
I spend a lot of time with my golf clubs, more time than I would care to admit. The actual size and shape are very important to me.
When I first started playing golf at age nine, my family had no clue which golf clubs would be best. No one in my family played golf. My first clubs were given to me by my first instructor, Rosanne Caulder-Isom. She gave me a used set of Wilson Spalding clubs and they happened to be blades. So from then on, I've had this strong propensity toward the "butter knife" look.
My 2006 season on the Duramed Futures Tour ended in September. Even though I loved my clubs, I just felt like I needed a change. I had been using my Mizuno MP-37 irons since my college days at UCLA, and they looked it - check out the worn-down grooves in the photo on this page and next. So began my search for the perfect set of blades and the beginning of the clubfitting process.
Visiting Titleist
Shawn Cox, my longtime coach, contacted some of the major club companies and arranged fitting appointments for me. My first fitting was with Titleist at their test facility in Oceanside, Calif. It sits on acres and acres of lush beautiful fairway. It's a gated facility and quite exclusive. They have numerous fast-rolling greens covering every type of breaking putt imaginable. All I can say is that I'm renaming the facility "Golfer's Paradise."Cliff Walzak, Manager of Golf Club Fitting, was in charge of my appointment. We began by taking only my 8- and 5- irons out of my bag. Lofts and lies were checked. They put tape around the bottom of the shaft so that the computer was able to pick up the precise direction of my shots and detect the exact location where my ball landed. And the tape on my shaft helped determine which shaft was best for me. I hit a lot of shots with the 695 MB blades using a variety of shafts. With the help of a team of five, including Shawn, I selected the 695 MBs with a Nippon shaft.p] My old driver, a Titleist 905S, had endured a long summer on the Duramed Futures Tour. Players would comment, "Charlotte, do you know that your driver rattles?" I would explain that a piece of epoxy had gotten loose inside of it. The rattling had started early on when I first received the club and it had been spined. I named my little rattling epoxy friend "Bob." It is really sad for me, but it was time for Bob to retire. The new Titleist 905R with a Fujikura Z Com Six shaft came into my bag. The 905R clubhead is a little larger than what I was used to, but the ball flight, launch angle, and spin are ideal for me.
According to a Golf Digest article, the launch angle of most golfers should typically range from 10 to 15 degrees. Golfers with a slow swing can get more distance with a higher launch angle. Spin rate for a "driver ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 revolutions per minute."
I toyed around with the Titleist clubs for awhile. The 695 MBs are great clubs, but the iron face felt a little "soft" for me upon impact. It's hard to describe what "soft" feels like, but again, golf is a game of personal preference and there was just something about the feel when the ball hit the club that wasn't quite right for me. I was accustomed to my Mizunos, which felt "harder" at impact.
Next Stop: Cleveland
Shawn then contacted Cleveland Golf. Cleveland headquarters and factory are located in Huntington Beach, Calif. I worked with the Tour Representative, Brent Newsome, and had a wonderful experience. They took me right into the workshop where they put all the clubs together for Tour players. It was really impressive! Cleveland has perfected building a set of clubs in around 20 minutes. The irons I selected were the CG1 Micro Mill. The CG1 Micro is a true blade with no slight cavity in the back and a very, very thin top edge.We went over to Cleveland's indoor test center. Using one of those virtual megasized golf screens, I stood in front of it, hitting a couple of irons with a variety of shafts. Once you find a head you like, it comes down to finding the best shaft that fits you. This can sometimes be a grueling process.
Next Page: Visiting Callaway, TaylorMade
