Conference 7.286::golf

    	Wayne,
    
    	You might be better off to just have the lie chaged on the
    	clubs to a flatter lie. If you shorten the clubs you will
    	be giving up some amount of distance and getting some more
    	accuracy.
    
    	Gene

    Hi,
    There is a very old German pro,in Southern Ohio,who says that there
    is so little difference in the length of "free hanging' arms that
    club lenght is not a concern.Just test his theory by measuring the
    distance from the ground to the finger tips of a sample of people
    and you will see that he is right.
    The important factor is the lie as related to your own swing
    plane.After these factors are evaluated by a fitting expert,there
    is no reason to go to shorter shafts.There will be no benefit and
    maybe a lose of swing weight that will effect your results.
    Tom

    I agree with .2. Height is not the issue. The issue is the distance
    from the ground to the tip of your middle finger when standing with
    youre arms relaxed by your sides.
    
    
    Don
    

    
    	I would just like to add a little more info here. The method
    	mentioned in .2 and .3 to determine club length is one way to
    	get an indication of whether or not a length other than standard
    	might be needed (it is used by Ping and others). My feelings
    	are that length is more a personal choice, as I mentioned in
    	.1, you will lose some distance if you shorten the clubs. The
    	thing that you might want to change is the lie. One method of
    	checking the lie is to stand with the club in your hands as
    	if you were addressing the ball and have somebody slide a
    	business card under the toe and another under the heel of the
    	club (don't force them under) when they stop the center of the
    	distance between them should be at the center of the club. The
    	problem with this method is that you have to assume that your
    	hands will be in this same possition when you actually make
    	contact with the ball, which they probably will not. The best
    	method is to get a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood put it out in the
    	backyard and then put some masking tape on the sole of your
    	irons and hit some balls off the plywood. You can hit plastic
    	balls if you don't have the room to hit real balls. Swing with
    	your normal swing and actually hit the plywood with the club,
    	after you have hit a few balls, look at the tape on the club
    	and see where it is scuffed. If it scuffed towards the heel
    	of the club it indicates a flatter lie is needed - towards the
    	toe a more upright lie...

    	The sheet of plywood should be about 4' X 4' so that you stand
    	on it when hitting the balls...
    
    	Hope this is understandable and helpful...
    	Gene

 I thank you all for your suggestions. The one mentioned in .4 seems
as though it will provide me with some good visual evidence of what
my "problem" is. 

hoping_to_be_a_bogey_golfer...w.w.duso

    Pleze read my note 231 and it will offer cautions.
    Tom