Equipment

10 takeaways from Callaway’s club tinkering podcast

Published

10 years ago

Apr 30, 2016

In Callaway’s latest series of podcasts, the team talks with Gerritt Pon, Senior Club Performance Analyst, an industry veteran and fitting specialist who has personally built clubs for Phil Mickelson. The three audio files run roughly 50 minutes in length (total), so we extracted some of the more valuable/interesting pearls of wisdom from the Fitting Room podcast series. Want to hear the entire interview? You can find the full series on the Callaway Media Productions website.

The topics covered range from beginner to advanced. Here’s a selection of the quality information from the talk with Mr. Pon, which range from the most basic information to advanced topics.

Where tinkerers should begin

Pon says that loft and lie are the most important part of any sort of club tinkering for amateur golfers. Proper loft and lie can take a golfer from hitting shanks to striping it, which is more than can be said for almost all other adjustments.

Lie angle rules of thumb

Generally, if a player is consistently missing right, s/he ought to be playing clubs that are more upright. Likewise, if the golfer misses left, a flatter lie is necessary.

The first wood adjustment to make

Pon adjusting a driver at the Ely Callaway Performance Center (Photo courtesy of Callaway).

Callaway recommends that before making any adjustment to the moveable weights in their woods, golfers should dial in an optimal loft.

Swing weight basics

Every two grams of weight added to a club head adds one swing weight point, so shortening a shaft an inch changes swing weight by six points. Adding weight to a wood head can be done externally (using lead tape) or internally (with glue injected into the club head). Also, weight can be added to the grip end to reduce swing weight, but different rules apply. It takes five grams of weight to lighten the swing weight by one point.

Who tinkers?

Tinkering seems to be more correlated with personality type than handicap. For example, tour pros span the range from massive tinkerers to not really making many equipment adjustments.

Interesting fact about different-colored grips

Pon says he’s found different-colored models of the same grips can weigh different amounts.

Spin 101

With respect to spin, when a club spins too much, the ball will balloon. When it doesn’t spin enough, the ball will tend to fall out of the air.

So you want a 55-degree wedge?

In making a 55-degree wedge: Better to weaken 54 than strengthen 56 for most golfers, as the 54 would have more bounce. Weakening a club makes the leading edge look straighter. Strengthening adds more offset. Pros tinker most with their wedges ahead of major championships, particularly the Masters (where players prefer less bounce).

Phil Mickelson: club builder

Phil Mickelson ground his own lob wedge for the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. He wanted a 64-degree with zero degrees of bounce.

The Callaway OG wedge

Roger Cleveland has made a special OG “Office Grind” wedge for Callaway employees: 64 bent to 60, ground to zero bounce.

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Ben Alberstadt

Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game. Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms. Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.

8 Comments

sumsum

May 2, 2016 at 9:55 am

Callaway production team :

“Is your ball going left?! Just flatten the club!

Is your ball going right?! Just raise the lie up!

At Callaway we think the Shaft doesn’t matter, Head / offset don’t matter, grip doesn’t matter, hell your swing doesn’t even matter. Just adjust the lie and you are on your way to straight shots all day!!”

……morons

Reply Report comment
- Desmond
  
  May 3, 2016 at 1:12 pm
  
  Who’s the moron?
  
  You might look in the mirror.
  
  It states “where tinkerers should begin…”
  
  “Begin” is a key word.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Mad-Mex
    
    May 3, 2016 at 9:58 pm
    
    So sumsum, from your post it appears your knowledge of golf clubs would one were you have designed many clubs, so, what is your most successful design?
    Let me guess,,,,, NONE?
    
    Reply Report comment
JustTrying2BAwesome

May 1, 2016 at 4:35 pm

Haha OG wedge. I love it

Reply Report comment
B Clizzle

May 1, 2016 at 1:28 pm

Callaway should research better adhesive or how to glue the heads properly…
Clubs I bought last year have have the heads fall off
8 iron three times and the rest twice
Never gonna stray from ping again

Reply Report comment
- Ming Yeung
  
  May 1, 2016 at 6:07 pm
  
  funny thing you say that, i found the callaway and tm woods on the non adjustable heads were the most difficult to remove, took me at least twice as much heat and elbow grease to even break the dark expoxy. ping irons i found to be the easiest to remove. mizuno irons took the longest to remove
  
  Reply Report comment
  - B Clizzle
    
    May 1, 2016 at 7:08 pm
    
    Well I just know I see a little gap near the ferrule and head…then after one swing the head is twisted
    And I don’t leave them in my car
    They stay at the course
    
    Reply Report comment
Tex

May 1, 2016 at 1:20 pm

But what is Roger Cleveland’s feelings on the XE1 bent to 60?

Reply Report comment

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