Custom Irons - what are they worth?

[Sleeman]

Of course, I know the answer is 'it depends', so let me qualify the question.

I've got a set of John Daly Wilson irons bought in '94. I only play a handful of rounds a year (lord, I wish it were more), and occasionally break 90. I'm sure if I played more I'd be closer to 80 than 90 most of the time. I've always hit a stiff shaft better with my drivers and fairway woods, and I'm assuming the same would be true for my irons, but I'm not a club maker so I could be talking out my butt here.

In any case, I'm sure a new set of irons will help, but I don't want to just buy a brand name set and hope for the best.

The main question I have is 'how much will this cost'? If a decent custom fitted set is sub $500, I'd be interested (I saw valleyviewgolf.ca prices 'from $249'), but again, I don't have anything to compare that to. Budget-wise, less is better, but I never let $50 stand in the way of making a better choice.

I trolled around the site for a bit, and saw a few posters, but there appears to be no 'definitive' list of custom golf fitters in Ottawa (though I did find a broken link in an old post that tells me there at least used to be such a list).

In my mind, the alternative is to find a brand-name set and have them fitted for length and lie (e.g. GT has a $375 Burner 1.0 set on sale today).

Thoughts? Anyone have a list of club makers worth talking to?


Cheers,

Sleeman

[Marcos]

Downhillslider on the forum might be able to help you out and he lives out your way.

[orangeTANG]

You could always pay for a fitting at a proper golf fitting center then decide what clubs to purchase. Unless you are adding more expensive components most name brand clubs can be custom ordered for the same price. For example my burner irons I ordered a few years ago had custom length, lie and a nonstandard shaft and grips and they were the same price as off the shelf ones. The fitting was somewhere around 100 at KH and it took about 1 hour. Tested all the different heads, then measurements were done and finally world on finally matching shaft to proper ball flight.

For club builders clubs it would be the same process except in most cases you have more flexibility on what you buy all at once because their components don't change from year to year. I had my wife fitted at Artison a few years ago and got a 5H 7 9 AW. The following year I called and had a lob wedge and 5i built to match. Her irons worked out to around 80-90/ club I believe and if I'm not mistaken that included the basic fitting.