myGolfDNA (TourIQ) TESTIMONIAL – Club Fitting and Custom Club Building

[kontesto]

As some of you may know, I had a set of Nakashima NX-1 heads waiting to be shafted up. After much deliberating, I decided to visit Harry Schiestel (TourIQ) up in Wingham, Ontario on recommendation from another member on the forum. Given the current weather, I cannot comment on the performance of these clubs, but I can offer a testimonial to the club fitting and build process with Harry. Once it warms up, I will post a full review on the clubs.

If you take a look at Harry’s website (http://www.myGolfDNA.com), you can easily tell that this father and son team know the game and know it well. After perusing the site for a while, an overarching theme of quality, consistency and minimal variation is evident and given Harry’s personal credentials, being a Six Sigma Black Belt and a Director of Quality, this is not surprising. Having been trained as a Six Sigma Green Belt myself, I was intrigued at how anyone was able to use process improvement methodology, typically used in a mass-manufacturing context, to build custom golf clubs, and then extend this same knowledge to the reduction of stroke average. Needless to say, I was very skeptical. After seeing the results of Harry’s work on his son Duane, I was slightly less skeptical but I was not convinced that the team of Harry, Duane and Dwight were any different than me taking the clubs to a local fitter to have them assembled.

I decided to email Harry and ask him about the entire club making process, specifically how it was done, and how much it would cost. His knowledge on the subject is “Profound” and he was able to debunk all myths I had regarding custom clubs, as well as club fitting. I drove up to Wingham the first weekend in January.

When I arrived, I noticed immediately that Harry’s shop is nothing short of a tour van. After the usual formalities, Harry sensing I was still a skeptic began to explain some of their sophisticated technology for me to witness first hand. After a few visual demonstrations about shaft alignment and flex change within the same shaft, I began to understand the advanced technology being deployed. The most convincing was the Laser FLO display where he showed me how a shaft traditionally aligned acts at impact (resulting in less distance and reduced accuracy), as well as the statistical study he designed and authored on this subject. They have even compiled a 60+ page portfolio (intellectual assets) on innovations they’re invented over their personal journey to improve. At this point I was sold on their unique club fitting and build capabilities.

The following work was performed for me by Harry (TourIQ) at myGolfDNA:
Ø Nakashima NP-1 Driver and 3-Wood FLO’ed and reshafted
Ø Nakashima NX-1 Irons (3 to PW) built to specification, with Harry’s private label True Temper steel shafts weight sorted, frequency calibrated, swingweight matched, with Pro-Soft vibration dampening inserts, and Loft and Lie angles adjusted (for consistent yardage gaps)
Ø 3 Titleist Vokey Wedges reamed to accept parallel tip steel shafts, and then rebuilt to perfectly match my Nakashima iron set (frequency slope, swingweight, Pro-Soft inserts, loft and lie, etc.)

Harry finished the clubs in good time but given my hectic schedule I was not able to pick them up until now. This past weekend I drove back up to Wingham to pick the clubs up and visit Harry and his son Duane. I noticed immediately that my newly built NAK’s were in immaculate condition. I had heard stories of other club builders scratching clubs and leaving grip glue and epoxy residue on the shaft but the heads, shafts and grips were flawless. Harry began to explain all that he had done and some of the intricacies of the club making process. Despite the butter soft NX-1’s, he was able to fit the clubs to my exact requirements. He then revealed his Build Sheet as to the actual specifications of each assembled club (length, swingweight, frequency cpm, total weight, loft and lie, etc.) and the minimal variance across the entire matched set. While building my set he has documented over 300 measurements in total (covering all phases of the dial-in and assembly process), so if a club is ever lost, stolen or broken it can be replicated to perfectly match my existing set.

I was fortunate enough to meet his son Duane (forgedblade) as well on this trip. Knowing he was an incredible golfer (+ handicap) I decided to ask him a few questions about some swing issues I noticed on my recent trip to Arizona. After only 6 swings, he was able to recognize a total of 6 issues (pertaining to my fundamentals and the swing itself), which he felt was holding me back from reaching a new plateau, regarding my goal to reduce stroke average to a single digit level. He described the changes and the resulting consistency that would result in terms that were easy to comprehend and I expect simple to change.

When I left their shop, not only did I have my new NAK’s and rebuilt Vokey’s in hand, but they also gave me the following reference documents:
Ø The Game of Golf – 100 Methods to Improve™ (Cause & Effect diagram on “How to Improve”)
Ø My Personalized Custom Clubfitting Form (player interview, game status, tempo, goals, etc.)
Ø CP Index™ (Clubs “Balanced & Blueprinted”) – lists Final Inspection data on every club built

Harry’s work was well worth the long drive from London. I would highly recommend him to any man, woman or child. Send him an email and he will gladly help you out with your club fitting dilemmas. I already have him working on a few other things for my 2007 bag. Throughout this process, Harry has become my “Club Builder of Choice”. Take my word for it, you will not be disappointed on what myGolfDNA delivers. I do not have a single doubt in my mind that Harry (TourIQ) is simply the “Best” anywhere (Canada and abroad). This man is a “Genius” when it comes to club fitting, custom club building, disciplined problem solving (strategies on “How to Improve”), and his workmanship is simply “Amazing”.

I’m now outfitted with custom clubs, plus the knowledge and confidence to reduce my stroke average.

KaM

[Golfbum]

I hope those new irons work well for you. I am pretty impressed with what you have written in this report.

[sharkhark]

Wow, kontesto! Loved the way you described the process. Actually read like a story where I was very interested in reading through completely. Thanks for the info!

[TourIQ]

Wow, kontesto! Loved the way you described the process. Actually read like a story where I was very interested in reading through completely. Thanks for the info!

If kontesto's day job doesn't plan out, he could always moonlight as a 'freelance author'.
Seriously sharkhark, I was taken back when I read his play-by-play for the very 1st time.