Hello and Thanks for viewing my guide! I hope that you find the information here helpful to you but if you have any questions about fitting that are not answered here, please feel free to email me through eBay & I will gladly answer any questions you have. I have been playing golf, teaching golf, building & fitting clubs for over 14 years now and there is nothing more pleasing to me than helping someone better their golf game & a proper fitting set of clubs will set you on the right path! Once you know everything is fitted to you, you have more confidence in your equipment & can concentrate more on your game & not be concerned about ANY issues with your clubs.

PING FITTING:  The best method is to buy a set fit specifically for you, not straight off the rack at a golf shop. If you are looking to purchase a new set of PING irons or want to know what color code of PING fits you best, this is a 2 part process. You get web-fit or have a (static fitting) through their site or your local golf shop. Part 2 is the dynamic fitting that will consist of your local golf pro observing you hitting balls, your stance, and having you hit off of a “lie board”. I highly recommend this process for those who are not familiar with what club fits them the best. I also recommend doing this at an outdoor range and not hitting into a net that’s 10 feet in front of you inside a golf shop….get outside & observe the ball flight the entire way. I know of all the cool new indoor golf simulations out there & the Vector launch monitor system, I’ll discuss that in a moment, but you can not simulate being outside.

Understanding the PING color coded fitting system / OLD & NEW color charts:
Along with the lie angle within their color code is shaft length, which is measured by height & wrist to floor measurements. This is pretty accurate in MOST cases but also why you should have the static AND dynamic fitting. I'm 5'8" with 33.5 wrist to floor which indicates a red dot, "now .75 deg. flat" on the new chart & standard shaft length. I actually play orange dot, 2 deg flat, with + 1/2" shafts. Hitting off a lie board (below) will help you figure this part out.

THIS IS THE NEWEST PING CHART WITH NEW YELLOW & PURPLE COLOR CODES!
Maroon Dot - 4.5 Degrees Upright
Silver Dot - 3.75 Degrees Upright
White Dot - 3.0 Degrees Upright
Green Dot - 2.25 Degrees Upright
Yellow Dot - 1.50 Degrees Upright
Blue Dot - .75 Degrees Upright
Black Dot - Standard Lie Angle
Red Dot - .75 Degree Flat
Purple Dot - 1.5 Degrees Flat
Orange Dot - 2.25 Degrees Flat
Brown Dot - 3.0 Degrees Flat
Gold Dot - 3.75 Degrees Flat

THIS IS THE OLD FITTING CHART
Maroon Dot - 5 Degrees Upright
Silver Dot - 4 Degrees Upright
White Dot - 3 Degrees Upright
Green Dot - 2 Degrees Upright
Blue Dot - 1 Degree Upright
Black Dot - Standard Lie Angle
Red Dot - 1 Degree Flat
Orange Dot - 2 Degrees Flat
Brown Dot - 3 Degrees Flat
Gold Dot - 4 Degrees Flat

Already have a set of PING irons...but they are not the right color code for you, the lie angle or (color code) can be bent in a loft & lie machine to fit you. Same rule applies with the new color code, I play Orange dots, from the old chart being 2 deg. flat. If I were to get a new set based on the new chart then orange would be 2.25 deg. flat. I know 2 deg is what I need so I would bend them .25 up if even necessary. If you do bend them you will need to check them more often to make sure the lie angle or loft (if you choose) remains the same. In short, the PING manufacturing process allows the clubs to be bent easier than any other club I have worked on. I have taken a PING iron and bent it 6 degrees each way and then back to it’s original position. A lot of clubs will not tolerate this kind of manipulation due to the way the metal is tempered during the manufacturing process. After bending the irons in a proper loft & lie machine….about $2 per club at your local golf shop…Playing once a week I would check them every 6 months at a minimum. They probably won't change if you don't bend them much but being OCD myself, I recommend checking them every 3 months because, Hey!...It is your golf game were talking about. Consult your local golf shop about bending your irons, specifically any brand other than PING, to the desired lie angle as some brands & hosel types may not be bent over a certain # of degrees without risking cracking or breaking the hosel.

HOW TO know if you have the correct lie angle on your current clubs!
If you already KNOW you have the proper shaft at the proper length for your stance & arm length or if you have a different brand of clubs all together, then you can get yourself a lie board and some swing path / impact tape strips, just Google swing path strips or impact tape strips or search on eBay. Most lie boards do not require the use of tape but it's easier for some to recognize the impact marks on the tape rather than just the iron itself. Apply the impact tape to the sole of the club making sure the tape is centered in the sweet spot between the heel & toe of the club and hit about 8-10 balls off the lie board, checking the marks on the tape after each hit. 10 hits is about the most you will get out of each strip. Hit the lie board like you were taking an average divot to ensure good marks on the tape. Make sure the lie board is on a good solid flat surface to get accurate feedback. I like to stick 4 tees almost all the way in the ground, 2 in front & back of it against the edges, so it does not move forward when striking it. What you want to see are the markings on the sole right in the sweet spot or center of the impact tape strip in between the 2 lines. Marks that are out toward the toe indicate you need to have a more upright lie angle while marks toward the heel of the club indicate needing more of a flat lie angle. Use them throughout all of your irons checking consistency. Again, Consult your local golf shop or local pro about bending your irons to the desired lie angle as some brands & hosel types may not be bent over a certain # of degrees without risking cracking or breaking the hosel.

Swing Path /  Impact Tape Strips                Lie Board
          


What shaft flex do I need?
Just as a general rule I like to use an 8 iron and the driver for an example instead of a 5 or 6 iron as most do simply because most golfers are more familiar with those 2 clubs. Steel Shafts: If you hit your 8 iron 150 yards EVERY TIME or your drive over 250 yards EVERY TIME, you are in the market for a stiff flex shaft. Anything 20 yards under those distances go with a regular flex and anything in that 20 yard gap is a transition from regular to stiff so go with the stiff. Graphite Shafts: I mainly recommend these for Juniors, Seniors, Ladies, any golfer with joint pains and of course in all of your Fairway woods & Drivers just for that extra kick, otherwise it's steel shafts for consistency. Guaging yardages is basically the same as above but consider swing speed more when choosing your graphite shaft. Typically swing speeds under 90mph will warrant a regular flex, over 90mph will be a stiff flex, 110mph and over an extra stiff flex. These swing speeds vary between each shaft manufacturer based on their independent criteria. Graphite is not as consistent of a material as steel so there is not a standard in the industry for what constitutes a Regular or Stiff flex in graphite like there is in steel. All the more reason to use the Vector Launch Monitor discussed next, when trying to choose the correct graphite shaft. Also have your graphite shaft "pured" or "spined" to provide optimum performance & just so it's "not in your head" that it could be better. It may seem minor or maybe not worth it to some, but it works. This process helps to align the shaft so that is most stable when reaching the impact position. Golfsmith offers this service on new in stock shafts for about $13, or more expensive options to send your own shaft in to them. I have had the opportunity to put see the puring machine at Golfsmith in action and it's a very sweet computerized & accurate system. I have also had the same results by puring them myself. We used to spine our arrows with bearings in archery for the same effect. There is a seller on eBay offering a manual golf shaft spine tool that is very affordable & very well built in my opinion. If your into working on clubs or tweaking your own it's nice to have. A manual one won't print out a nice before & after graph, but will work perfectly none the less if it's built correctly.

Swing Speed, Ball Flight, Ball Speed & Trajectory!
This is where the Vector Launch Monitor comes in. For swing speed only there are quite a few electronic swing speed meters out there that are quite affordable and work fairly well for the sole purpose of analyzing swing speed.

If your wanting to tweak your game greatly, I highly recommend using a Vector Launch Monitor. This unit will analyze your ball speed, launch angle, back spin, side spin & side angle helping you choose the ultimate loft and graphite shaft for your driver, the most effective loft on your irons, and best golf ball to suit you. The indoor ball flight analysis shows down range, off line, flight time, max height and total distance and the new Vector Pro also incorporates video swing analysis. I liked to use this outdoors as well but for some it may be hard to find a facility that uses it outdoors. A lot of franchise golf shops these days have one of these in their indoor fitting area and if that is the only place you can find one....USE IT!

If you found this guide helpful please vote YES below...and if you have any questions about fitting, on any brand of clubs, just inquire through eBay & I will respond as quickly as possible. THANKS!

Fairways & Greens to you!