Fitting Manual

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“With quality clubs, a player of any skill level can improve the quality of his game.”

-Ben Hogan

FITTING MANUAL

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PRECISELOFT™ SYSTEM

PreciseLoft™ System Why we did it… What it is. . . What we can do…

Why we did it...

The new Ben Hogan PreciseLoft™ System is a revolution in the design and manufacture of irons and wedges – the all-important clubs that define our scoring. It has been proven that performance in ‘greens in regulation’ is more important to scoring than earlier believed – more than driving, more than the short game and even putting. The relentless quest for “the longest hitting 6-iron” has compromised the precision and distance control that this part of the game requires.

No golfer has ever exhibited such control of the golf ball, nor hit as many greens as Ben Hogan was known to do. In the 36-hole final of the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills Country Club, Mr. Hogan – at 48 years old – hit the first 34 greens in regulation. Compare that to the fact that on the current PGA Tour, not one pro averages even 3 out of 4. As a whole, tour pros have perfect GIR rounds – 18 in regulation – less than 3 rounds out of a thousand.

One of Mr. Hogan’s ‘secrets’ was in his set make-up. He had even distance gaps between clubs of ten yards in the short end of his set and 15 yards at the long end, just the opposite of what set make-ups today will deliver. He had seven clubs in his bag to navigate the last 150 yards, whereas the modern tour pro often has only five or fewer.

Ben Hogan at the 1960 U.S. Open

That’s because ‘modern’ sets of irons compress loft gaps to three degrees or less in the long end of the set and widen them to five degrees at the short end. Many golfer extend those gaps to six degrees of separation in their wedges. Ben Hogan’s PreciseLoft™ System fixes that problem.

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PRECISELOFT™ SYSTEM

PreciseLoft™ System Why we did it… What it is. . . What we can do…

What it is...

The new FT. WORTH and PTx irons and are offered in every loft from 20-47 degrees. The TK wedges extend that loft precision from 48 to 63 degrees. Each iron bears its actual loft rather than an arbitrary “5”, “7” or “P”. That allows us to re-arrange the lofts in a set of irons to deliver the desired distance gapping – slightly wider gaps at longer range and tighter at short range where scoring occurs.

In addition, we have modified the length differentials at both ends of the set. The two or three longer irons will be 3/4” different in length rather than the typical 1/2”. At the short end of the set length differentials are reduced from 1/4” to 1/8”; these lengths are based on our studies of actual distance delivery in the higher lofted clubs. This allows us to further fine-tune actual distance differences to what is desirable.

The result of these two departures from the industry “norm” is that only Ben Hogan can deliver a full set of approach irons and scoring clubs that deliver increasingly more accurate distance control as you get closer to the green.

Common Ben Hogan Set Make-ups Lower and higher lofted clubs can be left out of sets to fit the number of irons and wedges a player wants to carry.

Low launch progression 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36 / 40 / 44 / 48 / 52 / 56 / 60

( For players with high swing speeds and high launch profiles.)

Low-Mid launch progression 21 / 25 / 29 / 33 / 37 / 41 / 45 / 49 / 53 / 57 / 61

(For higher swing speed players who are looking to optimize trajectory.)

Mid launch progression 22 / 26 / 30 / 34 / 38 / 42 / 46 / 50 / 54 / 58 / 62

(For medium swing speed golfers who are looking for Mid launch profile.)

Mid-High launch progression 23 / 27 / 31 / 35 / 39 / 43 / 47 / 51 / 55 / 59 / 63

(For golfers looking for a higher, yet penetrating launch profile.)

PRECISELOFT™ SYSTEM

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PreciseLoft™ System Why we did it… What it is. . . What we can do…

What We CAN Do...

Only Ben Hogan Golf allows the clubfitter to fine-tune a set of irons and wedges to fit a golfer’s launch angle profile and tendencies. For example, a golfer who has difficulty hitting higher shots can start their set as high as 23 degrees for their longest iron, while a golfer who has no difficulty hitting high shots can start his or her set as low as 20 degrees. Both clubs are built from the same standard length of 39.00 inches.

This allows us to deliver a precise set of irons and/or wedges that will help golfers navigate the course between their “last head cover” and their first iron.

To begin the process, review the total number of “head covers” in a golfer’s set, as it is very common to find that they really do not have enough distance differentials between them to justify all they carry. Better scoring will come from carrying – and learning how to use – more clubs in the higher lofts.

We thank you for being a supporter of the Ben Hogan Golf Equipment Company and sharing the benefits of our PreciseLoft™ System with your golfers.

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FITTING PROCESS

About You This step involves visiting with the golfer in order to get to know their game better. We recommend every fitting begin with having the golfer complete the online HoganFit™ Personal Bag Mapping Analysis experience. This gives you and your golfer a clear picture of the makeup of their “toolbox”. With the HoganFit™ output in hand, you can discuss various topics - their age and handicap, how often they play and/or practice, are they working with an instructor and do they have any physical limitations. All of this will help with club/shaft recommendations.

For example, a golfer who plays recreationally once a month or only a few times a year will benefit from a more forgiving club/shaft combination. A golfer with back issues may prefer a longer club length to help relieve stress on their back.

Your Bag Examining the golfer’s bag will give you additional information about the golfer, so it is important for the golfer to bring their whole bag to the fitting session.

Make sure to examine each club in their bag. The HoganFit™ profile will clearly illustrate the loft progression and inconsistencies. Also, examine each shaft weight and flex in each club. Shaft weight should range from the lightest shaft in the driver and flow to the heaviest shaft in their wedge(s). Check to see if they are playing the appropriate shaft flex for their strength profile/swing speed. The appropriate shaft may not be obvious until later in the fitting when testing shafts.

This examination of their bag will present you with opportunities to outfit the golfer with proper gapping of their clubs and fit them for the proper progression of lofts, shaft weight and shaft flex.

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FITTING PROCESS

Your Game A discussion of the golfer’s game in this section will give you insight into his or her strengths and weaknesses.

What is the best part of their approach shots? Long, middle or short irons? What part of their game do they wish to improve? Are they working with an instructor on their swing mechanics? What part of their bag are they interested in fitting – wedges, irons or both?

A Bit of History Fifty years ago tour players like Ben Hogan carried at least seven clubs that they hit less than 150 yards. In his first book, Power Golf, Hogan gave a yardage chart indicating his regular, minimum and maximum distance with each club. He listed his “regular” 5-iron at 155 yards and indicated he only used his sand wedge inside 40 yards. In contrast, many stronger modern players hit their 9-iron close to 150 yards, giving them only 3-4 club options inside that range.

This is partially a result of the continued strengthening of iron lofts, so that the modern 7-iron is almost identical – or even stronger – than Hogan’s 5-iron. It’s also due to the fact that the modern “power” game has all golfers going at it harder than Hogan and his peers ever did.

The end result of the technology and the changing game is that today’s golfers have had their short range performance seriously compromised.

YOUR FIT

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Your Fit

1. Evaluating for Proper Club Length

How a golf club is measured varies throughout the industry. There is no standard. At Ben Hogan, we measure the length of the golf club from the middle of the sole of the club head to the top grip ring on the grip. That leaves almost 1/4� from that grip ring to the very top of our Ben Hogan grip. Most other companies measure to the grip cap or the top of the grip.

In the fitting process, we want to determine the proper club length first. The length of the club will affect the club lie angle. In the absence of using a launch monitor, we use impact decals to help evaluate the proper length for the golfer. While the golfer is testing different lengths, make sure they are not adjusting their setup to the different lengths. The first shot or two with the different club will be your best indicator. This can be tricky because after a few shots the golfer will start to adapt to what is in their hands.

The proper length clubs will yield fairly centered impact marks on the face. See the below illustrations to help determine proper length.

Marks closer to the heel area indicate the club length could be too long, along with consistent turf interaction behind the golf ball.

Marks fairly centered on the face of the club indicate the proper length.

Marks toward the toe of the club could indicate the club length is too short.

YOUR FIT

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Your Fit 1. Evaluating for Proper Club Lie Angle The proper club lie angle will lead to proper turf interaction and help the golfer launch the ball towards the target. There are several different methods for determining proper club lie angle – lie board and sole tape, artificial turf and sole tape or impact decals with a dry erase marker. We prefer the use of impact decals and the dry erase marker because it can be done on grass and most closely simulates playing conditions.

(Mr. Hogan always stated that the secret is in the dirt.)

As the golfer is testing for proper lie angle, make sure to watch ball flight and check the size and shape of their divots. For this method draw a straight line on a golf ball and set up the line vertical (180°) aligned with their target. The line should be on the back of the ball where impact will be made with the ball.

If the mark on the impact decal is titled toward the toe of the club, this would indicate the club lie angle is too upright. Ball flight may be starting left of the target and divots may be heavier on the heel side. See the illustration to the left showing a mark indicating lie angle too upright.

Ball Flight = Starts Left Divot = Heel Catching

If the mark on the impact decal is tilted towards the heel of the club, this would indicate the club lie angle is too flat. Ball flight may be starting to the right of the target and divots may be heavier on the toe side. See the illustration to the left showing mark a indicating lie angle too flat.

Ball Flight = Starts Right Divot = Toe Heavy

If the mark on the impact decal is straight up and down on the decal, this indicates proper club lie. This means the sole of the club is swinging through impact area flush with the turf. Ball flight should be starting towards the target and divots should be fairly even and square. See the illustration to the left showing mark of proper club lie angle.

Ball Flight = Straight Divot = Fairly Even and Square

YOUR FIT

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Your Fit Below is a chart of our standard iron and wedge specifications.

TK WEDGES LOFT

LENGTH

LIE

TOUR V SWING WEIGHT

TOUR 90/RECOIL SWING WEIGHT

LEADING/TRAILING V-SOLE BOUNCE

44° - 47°

35.75”

64.00°

D3

D2

18° / 4°

48° - 51°

35.50”

64.00°

D3

D2

18° / 4°

52° - 55°

35.25”

64.00°

D4

D3

25° / 5°

56° - 59°

35.125”

63.00°

D4

D3

30° / 7°

60° - 63°

35.00”

63.00°

D5

D4

35° / 6°

FT. WORTH / PTx IRONS LOFT

LENGTH

LIE

TOUR V SWING WEIGHT

TOUR 90/RECOIL SWING WEIGHT

LEADING/TRAILING V-SOLE BOUNCE

20° - 23°

39.00”

60.00°

D2

D1

10° / 2°

24° - 27°

38.25”

61.00°

D2

D1

12° / 3°

28° - 31°

37.50”

62.00°

D2

D1

12° / 3°

32° - 35°

37.00”

62.50°

D2

D1

14° / 3°

36° - 39°

36.50”

63.00°

D2

D1

14° / 3°

40° - 43°

36.00”

63.50°

D2

D1

18° / 4°

44° - 47°

35.75”

64.00°

D3

D2

18° / 4°

FT. WORTH HI IRONS LOFT

LENGTH

LIE

TOUR V SWING WEIGHT

TOUR 90/RECOIL SWING WEIGHT

LEADING/TRAILING V-SOLE BOUNCE

20° - 23°

39.00”

60.00°

D2

D1

10° / 2°

24° - 27°

38.25”

61.00°

D2

D1

12° / 3°

28° - 31°

37.50”

62.00°

D2

D1

12° / 3°

YOUR FIT

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Your Fit 1. Evaluating Proper Shaft & Flex - Using the Ben Hogan Fitting System 1.0 The Ben Hogan Fitting System utilizes a system of quickly interchanging heads and shafts so that you can fit any golfer with a precision set of FT. WORTH/PTx irons and/or TK wedges. The system closely duplicates the feel of a finished club and includes four (4) heads of 37.5 degree lofts. These four (4) heads are set to lie angles of 1º flat, standard, 1º upright and 3º upright according to Ben Hogan standards. Included in the system are seven (7) standard shafts at our standard lengths of 36.25”. There are also three (3) Tour 90 Stiff shafts at lengths of -1/2”, +1/2” and +1” for fitting length. This allows the golfer to experience the proper length, lie angle and shaft performance.

We have chosen a 37.5º lofted club because rather than the industry standard 6-iron, it is closer to the middle of our range of lofts. A fitting with this loft will accurately accomodate both wedges (scoring clubs) and irons. We’ll discuss more details on how to fit wedges in the next section.

These illustrations below show how the head and shaft are assembled with the Ben Hogan Fitting System 1.0.

STEP 1 To loosen the fitting head, hold the head and set the provided tool on the floating nut and turn the tool opposite of the arrow.

STEP 2 Once the head is loosened with the tool, you should be able to use your fingers to unscrew the floating nut and remove the head.

STEP 3 To place the new head on the shaft., you will see a line on the ferrule adapter (we have painted this line for this picture) and it needs to line up with the left hand side of the text on the back of the hosel so the clubface is square.

STEP 4 To tighten the head, use the tool and turn floating nut in the direction of the arrow on the nut..

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YOUR FIT

Your Fit 1. Evaluating Proper Shaft & Flex - Using the Ben Hogan Fitting System 1.0 The proper shaft fit for the golfer will feel light and lively as he waggles the club and swings it. The shaft’s job is to help the golfer deliver the club through impact. A correct fit will produce optimum distance and control. The golfer’s HoganFit™ output will recommend shaft flex based on the distance they input for their 8-iron distance. After evaluating their bag and watching the golfer hit a few balls, the fitter should have a better idea of the shaft material and flex to have the golfer test. Steel shafts and graphite shafts have been getting lighter for your R flex golfer. Watch the golfer’s tempo to help you determine weight – faster, quicker tempo will benefit from heavier shaft. A heavier shaft allows the golfer to feel the club throughout the swing and return the club to impact more efficiently. When the golfer finds a shaft that feels best, is easier to swing through impact and provides consistently performing ball flight, this indicates the proper shaft. A launch monitor can be used to confirm what the golfer is feeling.

Most importantly, let the golfer’s feedback and your observations be your guide.

We chose the KBS Tour V and KBS Tour 90 shafts as our standard shafts because they perform similar to the legendary and popular Apex shafts. The KBS Tour V 120 X flex feels and performs very similar to the Apex 5 shaft. The KBS Tour V 110 S flex feels and performs similar to an Apex 4 shaft tipped 1 inch. The KBS Tour 90 S flex performs similar to the Apex 4 shaft but in a lighter weight. The KBS Tour 90 R performs similar to the Apex 3 shaft.

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SHAFT OPTIONS

Shaft Options Our seven standard shafts included in the fitting system are: KBS Tour-V Flex’s: S, X

KBS Tour 90 Flex’s: R,S

UST Mamiya Recoil 660 Flex’s: F2, F3

UST Mamiya Recoil 680 Flex’s: F4

Other custom shafts that we keep in stock are listed below. These can be added to the fitting system upon request.

KBS Tour C-Taper Flex’s: S, S+

KBS Tour C-Taper Lite Flex’s: S

Nippon Tour 130 Flex’s: X

Nippon 950GH Flex’s: R, S

Nippon 850GH Flex’s: R

True Temper Dynamic Gold Std Flex’s: S300, X100

True Temper XP 95 Flex’s: S300

True Temper XP 105 Flex’s: S300

UST Mamiya Recoil 95 Flex’s: F3, F4

UST Mamiya Recoil 110 Flex’s: F4, F5

MRC Kuro Kage LB 65 Flex’s: A, R

MRC Kuro Kage LB 85 Flex’s: R

Grip Preference & Sizing The grip choice is a personal preference. Our Ben Hogan Performance Plus grip by Lamkin is designed with a slower taper rate in the right hand that makes this grip a little oversized in the right hand. Included in the Ben Hogan Fitting System 1.0 is a box of sample grips that we stock from both Golf Pride and Lamkin.

There is a mixture of standard and midsize grips. Golf Pride has also provided a quick, simple sizing chart that can help determine grip size. Both companies suggest having the golfer choose a grip based on the texture and the feel first. Then determine the proper grip sizing.

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FITTING WEDGES

Fitting Wedges (or the Scoring Clubs) Fit the Gaps Custom fitting of wedges can do more to help golfers score better than just about anything. Very few golfers are carrying a selection of wedges that give them proper loft gapping from their irons. Even fewer have wedges with the same shaft and lenth/lie specifications. Fixing these faults leads to better scoring immediately. The optimum scoring range for most golfers starts with their 9-iron and/or “P-club”. The Ben Hogan Fitting System 1.0 can be used to fit the golfer with a 37.5º lofted club for length, lie angle and shaft. These specs should flow seamlessly for replacing their current wedges with Ben Hogan TK Wedges so that the entire range of scoring clubs are tuned for precise trajectory control, spin, feel and distance precision.

We strongly suggest you begin the fitting process by guiding your golfer through HoganFit, an interactive fitting process on the Ben Hogan Golf website. This is an engaging process that evaluates their current clubs and correct lofts for any golfer based on the provided specifications of their irons. It will blend the wedge lofts to those irons the golfer is currently playing. The fitter can adjust the prescribed loft progression based on the golfer’s ball flight needs and the type of club they are playing.

A screenshot of HoganFit™.

FITTING WEDGES

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Fitting Wedges (or the Scoring Clubs) Continued Fit the Gaps The evaluation of their golf bag will give you an idea of the lofts of their 8-iron, 9-iron and PW. Many recent clubs for better players may have pitching wedges with lofts of 46 degrees with 4 degree gaps between these clubs. Older muscle back and/or small cavity back designs may have a loft of 47 degrees with 4 degree gaps between these clubs. Newer game improvement clubs with larger cavity backs and slightly more offset will have PW lofts of 45 degrees with 5 degree gaps between these clubs. Some super game improvement type clubs get into lofts of 44 degrees and even less for PW clubs with 5 degree gaps between these clubs.

If you have the equipment to measure the loft, lie and length of the golfer’s set-match 9-iron and P-club; this will provde a very accurate starting point for building their set of precision Ben Hogan 15 scoring clubs to optimize their short range performance.

Once you have determined the lofts of their P-clubs, you can quickly determine whether a 4º or 5º difference in lofts will optimize the golfer’s full swing distance gaps.

From the loft of the golfer’s 8-iron, we suggest 4 degree variances for most golfers to build their optimum scoring club set make-up. For most golfers, a set of five scoring clubs with four-degree gaps will yield full swing distance differentials of 12 yards. Likewise, you can widen the gaps to five degrees for golfers who are shorter in distance, or those who don’t want to carry as many scoring clubs.

The most common set make-ups are as follows: P-club 44 45 46 47

Optimum Gapping 48 / 52 / 56 49 / 53 / 57 50 / 54 / 58 51 / 55 / 59

Alternative 5º Gapping 49 / 54 / 59 50 / 55 / 60 51 / 56 / 61 52 / 57 / 62

[NOTE: You will often find golfers to be “loaded up” with fairway woods and hybrids that produce small distance gaps at the long end of their set and too many clubs that fly farther than their 5-iron, or more than 175-200 yards. Any golfer’s scoring – even tour professionals – will benefit from having fewer clubs at that end, and more options and tighter gaps in prime scoring range. Most golfers can eliminate a club or two between their driver and 5-iron to make room for additional scoring clubs and this will help their handicap come down.]