Iron Fitting: Sole Behaviour Before Loft Numbers
An iron has to get through the ground before anything on a launch monitor becomes relevant. On Bermuda that goes tight by late summer, sole width and camber decide more shots than a degree of loft ever will, so that is where this session starts.
Your Current Set Goes on the Machine First
Before a demo head comes off the wall, every iron you own gets measured: loft, lie, length, swingweight and grip size, written into the record. This takes about fifteen minutes and it is routinely the most useful part of the session.
Factory sets ship inside a production tolerance rather than on exact numbers. Add five seasons of Houston golf, a few cart path incidents and a couple of range mats, and a spread of a degree or two across the middle irons is entirely normal. Players who have been fighting a one-way miss for years often find the explanation right here.
Then We Look at the Ground
Sole width, camber and bounce determine whether a club digs, glides or bounces into the ball. A narrow sole with little camber is precise in the hands of a shallow, clean striker and punishing for anyone who arrives steep on a firm lie.
The bays use mats set flush with a strip of natural turf, so contact reads honestly. Mats that sit proud of the surrounding surface let a steep attack angle skid into the ball and flatter the strike. A flattering mat produces a fitting that falls apart on the course.
Lie Angle Off a Board, Not an Estimate
Dynamic lie gets confirmed with tape on the sole and a lie board, over enough repetitions that a single odd swing does not set the number. Static measurements from a chart based on height and wrist-to-floor are a starting point, nothing more.
Getting lie right is unglamorous and it is one of the highest-return adjustments available. Two degrees of error moves the face aim measurably at impact, which is a far larger directional effect than most players expect from a club that looks fine at address.
Length and Weight Progression
Set length is decided by where you make contact, not by a height chart. Once length is set, swingweight is matched through the set so the progression feels continuous, and frequency is checked to confirm the steps are even rather than merely close.
Gapping Built From Carry Medians
The last half hour is the gapping table. We use the median carry of each club, not the best one, because you cannot plan a course strategy around a number you produce one time in twelve.
The table almost always finds one gap that is too wide and one pair of clubs that overlap. Fixing those two things is cheaper than a new set and usually saves more strokes.
What Ends Up on Your Sheet
- Head model and the target loft for every iron in the set
- Target and as-built lie, per club
- Playing length per club and the progression between them
- Shaft model, weight, flex and exact trim
- Swingweight and frequency for each club, with the set progression
- Grip model, core size and tape wraps
- The carry median table produced during the session