Q: How do you ship?

A:  Usually by U.S. Postal Service priority mail, insured.  This gets the clubs there in 2-3 days, and I've had great luck with the USPS as my shipper. I also use other carriers such as UPS.

Q:  How do you price clubs?

A:  I start with the component cost, add a fixed figure per club depending on how many I'm making for you (a set has a lower cost-per-club than a single driver), what specifically I need to do to the clubs (such as loft/lie adjustments), and then add the shipping cost to you.

Clubs can vary in cost from under $125 for a simple titanium driver to upwards of $700 for a set of forged irons with 10 clubs. Check these sample prescriptions for examples that should give you a good idea of costs. The best way to get a specific price, though, is to email the Club Doctor with your specific requirements.

Q:  How do I tell what's right for me?

A:  Email me with your questions. The process of fitting a golfer at long distance can be easy or hard, depending on the circumstances. Drivers, fairway woods, utility woods like the Golfsmith "Quickstrike"--they're not hard to do. The major issue with those clubs is fitting the right kind of shaft.

With iron sets, it depends on several factors, including the lie angle of the clubs, the length of the clubs, and so on. One option is to send a favorite club to me; I can then evaluate it and match its characteristics in any set or other clubs you order.

Sometimes, golfers know the specs they want: Frequency, flex, swingweight, length, and so on. These involve little difficulty in getting the right club for the golfer.

If, however, you're new to golf, this is probably not the way you should buy golf clubs--it's best to deal with someone locally who can see how you do with a variety of clubs. Fitting a newbie with clubs via long-distance is no better than the newbie buying clubs "off the rack" at Wal-Mart. Even perfectly-matched clubs that don't fit a golfer won't perform.

Occasionally, I'll mail clubs back and forth in a process of trial and fitting. While this adds to the cost a bit, the end result is far more satisfying.

Q:  Can The Club Doctor cure a slice?

A:  There are many reasons a golfer might slice. One obvious reason is that the golfer's swing causes the clubhead to be open to the swingpath, imparting slice-spin on the ball. This is common with an "outside-in" swingpath that has the clubface facing the target. A golfer can also have a straight swingpath (not outside-in), but have the clubface open relative to that swingpath; this also results in a slice.

But sometimes people tend to slice because their clubs are not fitted correctly with regard to flex. A too-stiff shaft in a club will usually result in a slice. The shaft makes it hard for the golfer to close the clubface through normal swing effects; the clubface stays open relative to swingpath, and the ball curves right.

The cure for that is to reshaft the clubs with the appropriate flex. Sometimes, it isn't flex that is the problem, it's torque, or the resistance of the shaft to twisting. Too low a torque makes a shaft feel and play effectively stiffer, with the same penalties on ballflight.

Not all golfers have the time and money to devote to practice and lessons; for such golfers, much of the "pain" in their game can be alleviated by altering the characteristics of their clubs. Such things as different shaft flexes, clubheads with significant offset, and adjustments to lie angle can make the game much more enjoyable for the casual golfer (see "What is lie-angle..." for an example of how that can work).

Q:  What is "lie-angle" and how does it affect my shots?

A:  Lie angle is the angle between the sole of the clubhead and the shaft. A typical value for, say, a 7-iron would be 62 degrees.

Lie angle matters because a club that does not have its sole perfectly flat to the ground when it strikes the ball will create directional errors in the shot.

Sometimes, people play with too flat a lie-angle; this, effectively, points the clubhead toe-down at impact. This does two things: It opens the clubface slightly (meaning it is pointing to the right), and if the golfer catches turf before the ball, the toe-down attitude of the clubhead will tend to twist it open even more. (And a "too upright" lie angle has the opposite effect).

One golfer I fit last year complained about a tendency for his iron shots to go right, pushes and fades that he'd just come to accept as a normal part of his game. Despite the fact that he'd had this problem for 20 years, it wasn't something he had to accept.

He had an unusual stance: Arms very much away from the body rather than hanging straight down. This, effectively, caused the toe of the club to point down more than it should have. During a fitting session we discovered this tendency using a lie-board (although you could easily see it from how he set up to the ball).

The Club Doctor built him a set of Dynacraft PC3 irons with a 3-degree upright lie angle. This made the angle between clubhead and shaft more acute, and resulted in the toe of the club being more in the air than with his old clubs.

The upshot is that now his shots go straight. As was noted to him at the time, he had two choices in order to fix the problem: change his swing to match his clubs, or fit some new clubs to his swing. As a casual golfer, it's much easier to fit clubs to what you have as a swing than it is to try to change the swing.

Q:  What is frequency matching?

A:  It is matching a set of clubs to a frequency slope so they feel similar across the set in terms of flex.   It involves not only choosing the right shafts, but also sorting them to allow the correct frequency profile.

Q:  What is swingweight matching?

A:  It is matching a set of clubs to have the same swingweight. Swingweight is a different measure of "swingheaviness" than MOI-matching (see below) and is the most common way for people to create a set matched on a particular characteristic. In a swingweight-matched set, the swingweights will be the same for all clubs (with the exception, often, of the wedges, which will be slightly heavier). Many people like this method of matching clubs in a set.

Q:  What is MOI-matching?

A:  MOI stands for moment-of-inertia.  Many clubmakers feel that this gives a better indicator of a club's "swing-heaviness" than does a swingweight measure.  MOI-matched clubs often have a smaller-than-usual clublength difference as you move up and down a set of irons, with a difference of  .375-.400 inches between clubs instead of the usual .500 inches between clublengths that is typical of swingweight matching. Another way to MOI-match is to adjust clubhead weights (via added lead weights inside the shaft tip) while leaving the normal 1/2" progression in length from club to club.

In an MOI-matched set of clubs, the swingweights will ascend from lowest in the long irons to highest in the wedges, as opposed to swingweight matching where the swingweights are the same throughout the set.

Q:  What is aligning the shaft?