The Golfing Polack

Friday, June 8, 2007

Nancy Lopez Golf Clubs - Great Choices For Women Golfers

Until recently it was "one size fits all" for women golfers. Since most major golf club companies had less than 10% of their sales in ladies golf clubs, they offered women few if any choices in club length, shaft flex, swing weight, etc. LPGA Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez has come to the rescue with an excellent product line for women golfers.

Club Fitting for Women

The company offers at least a basic level of on-line club fitting, which is far better than nothing. They have several lines of clubs, and through some general questions about how often a woman plays golf, and in general how athletic she is, a particular line of clubs is suggested. From there grip size is determined based on a woman's glove size. Based on how tall a lady is, club lengths are suggested. More will be said about this length issue shortly, as most women play clubs that are too long for them, as do most men. The last step is to choose a shaft flex based on swing speed. Once again, most golfers, both men and women, tend to play with shafts that are too stiff, so a lady might choose to go with more flex than the formula suggests. Those choices are available, fortunately, including shorter club lengths. So the options are there. A custom club fitting would do a lot more, but the above system is so much better than the old "one size fits all" mentality.

Extensive Choices of Clubs

Nancy Lopez golf clubs come in a choice of sets. There are two main product lines, Lopez clubs and Ashley clubs, the former being top of the line. Each category has several choices as well. The available sets are very intelligently put together, using a blend of woods, hybrids and irons that make sense for most women who often have problems getting the ball high enough into the air. Several sets have woods and hybrid clubs until the 7 iron, for example. One set offers woods and hybrids and no iron clubs until the pitching wedge. It is not surprising that a player like Nancy Lopez knows that most women have no business trying to hit a 3, 4, 5 or even 6 iron. Most men shouldn't be hitting 3 and 4 irons either, for that matter.

Available for both Left and Right Handed Players/Driver Length

Nancy Lopez golf clubs are available for both left and right handed players in most of the models. They also offer titanium drivers for women with high enough swing speeds, and that is another plus. One note of caution is in order, however. As mentioned earlier, most people, both men and women, play with golf clubs that are too long. People think they will get more distance with longer clubs, so golf club companies sell them what they want. What is gained in more distance, however, is often lost in less accuracy and hitting the ball less consistently. Nancy Lopez golf clubs do have a "Petite" option which is an inch shorter, so most lady golfers might do well to opt for that. To illustrate this point, consider the following. The average driver length on the men's PGA Tour is 44.5 inches. Yet the driver in a standard off-the-shelf set of clubs is typically 45 inches for men and 44 inches for women. If the best players in the world are using an average of 44.5 inches of driver length, what in the world are normal, far less skilled amateurs doing using longer clubs? Tom Wishon in his excellent book "The Search for the Perfect Golf Club" goes into this issue in great detail. Fortunately the smaller lengths are in fact offered to ladies with Nancy Lopez golf clubs, so once again the vast majority of women should be using those smaller clubs. In order to know what length to choose, however, one has to be aware of this issue.

Conclusion

Nancy Lopez golf clubs are truly a revolution in ladies golf clubs. They are certainly the next best thing to custom fitting and having custom clubs built. Check them out on the web by doing a simple search for "Nancy Lopez golf clubs".

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