If the club fits, smash it baby
With technology, club fitting became an important part of golf. Initially limited to professionals, customized clubs are now accessible to any golfer
Golf club fitting is quite common nowadays. While the majority of golfers still play with off-the-rack items, more and more players discover the benefits of having their clubs measured and customized to their specific swings. It wasn’t too long ago that customizing clubs were limited to mostly repairs. Re-gripping, replacing shafts when they broke or got too rusty, or bending clubs a few degrees and grinding soles were what club repair shops did. We still see some of these shops today, and for basic services like regripping, I think they are still ok.
With technology, club fitting became an important part of golf. Initially limited to professionals, customized clubs are now accessible to any golfer. My first encounter with Jake Ong and Custom Clubmakers was at their former shop in Makati. It was 2007 and I was looking at a new set of irons. I was eyeing a set of blades from TaylorMade in their Makati Golf branch, their TP blades to be exact and got curious about one of the shops in Makati golf. I noticed Jake Ong speaking with and doing a fitting for a client. I listened while hitting demo clubs and after Jake’s fitting session, chatted with him about getting fit myself. He guided me through the basics and even helped in picking the right specs for clubs I was about to buy. Makati Golf was quite near my office then, and I spent quite a number of afternoons and early evenings there, hanging out, letting the rush hour traffic pass before heading home.
After purchasing the irons I liked, I went straight to Jake to have them checked, grips measured to my specs, lies and lofts adjusted. I also wanted to check my driver shaft and was looking to replace my shaft with something better fitted to my swing speed and how I loaded the club. To my surprise, Jake told me not to replace my shaft as he thought it was already a good fit. He just rearranged a few weights on my driver to get better launch and spin numbers, and to counteract my typical shot shape when I missed. That left quite an impression on me. There I was, raring to purchase a shaft from his shop, when he stopped me and told me not to. I wasn’t used to people letting a sure sale go out of integrity and honesty. I am sure Jake doesn’t remember that instance, as he is just a naturally decent guy. But for someone who is used to being offered all sorts of clubs in pro shops and driving ranges, Jake’s honesty left an impression on me.
I would come back to Jake for all sorts of things, sometimes just to chat with him and James when they aren’t busy. I’d sometimes watch them build sets, measure shaft frequencies, bend, re-shaft, grind soles, change ferrules, any and everything that has got to do with customizing golf clubs. Even when they transferred to Mandala Park along Shaw Boulevard, I’d still drop by with or without clubs. Every time I’d have a new club or set, I’d drop by to make sure they were adjusted to my specs.
When I told Jake I would like to interview him for Tribune Golf, I intentionally brought my set just in case there was an available slot for a fitting. Luckily, I came on a less busy day, although there were a few sets getting worked on. I’ve known Jake since 2007 but it was the first time I asked about his story. So while I was getting ready for my fitting and in between swings, I found out more about the man, the club fitter to the top pros, top amateurs, and to run-of-the-mill golf nuts like me.
Jake started his golf industry journey here in the Philippines, for the then local distributor for Titleist. It was the early 1990s and an opportunity came up and he left and worked in Hong Kong for Barry Harris, the founder of Custom Clubmakers. That was 1995. In 1998, Francis Go put up Custom Clubmakers in the Philippines in Shaw Boulevard, and Jake would go back and forth between Manila and Hong Kong to train club fitters here and kept his stint in Hong Kong, by then servicing the Asian Tour.
In 2003, Francis convinced Jake to stay and put up another branch, Custom Clubmakers in Makati Golf. Jake’s reputation as a master club fitter grew and his clients now include the who’s who in Philippine golf, most notably, top pros Angelo
Que and Miguel Tabuena. With Jake’s advocacy of promoting junior golf, he has also helped build sets for most of the top juniors and amateurs who until today, come to him not just for club work, but as their friend. These include former junior standouts who now have made their way to the PGA and LPGA tours — players like Yuka Saso and Tom Kim have at one time or another, passed thru Jake for their fitting needs.
So back to my fitting… After just three swings with my 7-iron, Jake said my slight pulls were not a swing flaw but because of the lie angle of my irons and swing weight. After a little bending and some weight added to the head, I was back to my stock fades. We went through my entire set and he suggested I replace my hybrid to a weaker lofted one to close yardage gaps.
A few swings with the driver and Jake said my shaft was perfect, but proceeded to change the loft and weight settings to produce better launch and spin numbers. The master that he is, it doesn’t involve trial and error anymore. A few swings, one adjustment and that’s it, the desired numbers are achieved. I had a perfectly tuned set after a session and when we saw each other the next day at a club launching, he asked how my game went. I said the clubs were perfect but my short game was crap. He laughed and said that’s something he can’t do anything about. That’s Jake Ong, a pioneering club fitter in the country, but more importantly one of the nicest guys in local golf.
A few swings with the driver and Jake said my shaft was perfect, but proceeded to change the loft and weight settings to produce better launch and spin numbers.