Where do you get your iron lies and lofts adjusted?

[Yellow Jacket]

When I lived in the midwest, there was a used club retailer called 2nd Swing that had Mitchell Machines in store that you could use, free of charge, and I used them once a year to check/maintain my iron lofts/lies. However, no place in Atlanta will let me use their machines, even if I pay the adjusting cost, for "health and safety reasons", whatever that's supposed to mean. There are so many horror stories of people having their irons damaged by having their clubs bent at Golfsmith or PGA Tour Superstore, and it's simply too expensive when they take no liability for the damage. Surely there must be a better option than risking damage by a retail employee making $10/hr.

[Backspin9]

I have my own little shop at home and my own Mitchell machines (irons and putter) but I know what you mean. It's hard to find someone you can trust to do a good job. The short answer is to look around and buy your own machine. You can find them on the auction site and Mitchell also sells reconditioned machines that are as good as new. Aside from that, maybe find a small private shop or someone at a golf club that can do the irons for you. Those places are getting harder and harder to find with the proliferation of the big box stores but hopefully you can find one close by.

[jplroper]

I bought a used Mitchell and set it up in the basement. Aside from that I know of a guy at the local Nevada Bob's who is a good club mech., I would just ask around and find a guy like that in your area.

[Hidalgo]

You're in Atlanta and can't get adjustments made by a reputable fitter? Are you kidding me? Call the Pro Shop at East Lake and ask them who they recommend. If that doesn't work, call Atlanta CC and inquire.

As for the "Health & Safety" issue, I totally agree with them. They don't know you. They do know that they can get sued if you injure yourself. If you're insulted by their refusal to let you use their equipment you need to take a business course there at Ga Tech and learn about corporate liability concerns. We would never, ever let anyone outside the business use our equipment because of liability issues.




.

[finalist]

I would love to buy a quality loft lie machine, but the pro shop I use charges so little it's not worth me buying my own machine.

[Yellow Jacket]

[quote name='Hidalgo' timestamp='1401550695' post='9402479']
You're in Atlanta and can't get adjustments made by a reputable fitter? Are you kidding me? Call the Pro Shop at East Lake and ask them who they recommend. If that doesn't work, call Atlanta CC and inquire.
[/quote]
It's not a question of finding a reputable fitter; Cool Clubs' Atlanta location is attached to the course I frequent but I'm not going to pay $75 for something that not only I can do in 15-20 minutes but would actually prefer to do myself.

East Lake's recommendation was PGA Tour Superstore.

[quote]
As for the "Health & Safety" issue, I totally agree with them. They don't know you. They do know that they can get sued if you injure yourself. If you're insulted by their refusal to let you use their equipment you need to take a business course there at Ga Tech and learn about corporate liability concerns. We would never, ever let anyone outside the business use our equipment because of liability issues.
[/quote]
It's a Mitchell Machine, not a buzzsaw. I can't even imagine how you could hurt yourself using it.

Corporate liability concerns are the result of a spuriously litigious society, but that didn't develop organically. The same type of people who say you need to cover your a** are the ones who actually promote the frivolous litigation. It's not axiomatically necessary for liability risk to always exist, especially with something as trivial as adjusting lofts.

[Hidalgo]

If it isn't worth $75 to you, then remember that nobody is forcing you do get it done. Of course ..... their machine was free. As is their rent. And their salaries. Like I was saying about the business course .............................

And remember a while back when some idiot sued McDonalds (and won!) because they dumped their hot coffee in their lap? The cup didn't have the proper warnings printed on it .............

Yeah, it's just a little 'ole machine. No need to worry about it. Ever seen a hosel break when you're putting pressure on the bar? Obviously, you haven't. Just another reason not to let a person that the insurance doesn't cover to use the machinery.

In all honesty, I can't imagine a stranger getting all in a wad because he can't walk into a store and demand to use their machinery. Who do you think you are? I wouldn't ask to use the machines in the stores where they know me by name and know that I have a machine at home! Your attitude is way off base if you're upset because a company won't let you use a piece of equipment that they purchased for a lot of money ... for the purpose of making money. If they allowed every hacker in town to use the machinery they might as well not even have it in the first place.

And where did you copy those big words from?



.

[BIG STU]

[quote name='Backspin9' timestamp='1401535368' post='9401651']
I have my own little shop at home and my own Mitchell machines (irons and putter) but I know what you mean. It's hard to find someone you can trust to do a good job. The short answer is to look around and buy your own machine. You can find them on the auction site and Mitchell also sells reconditioned machines that are as good as new. Aside from that, maybe find a small private shop or someone at a golf club that can do the irons for you. Those places are getting harder and harder to find with the proliferation of the big box stores but hopefully you can find one close by.
[/quote]i guess I am lucky I am like you i have an older Silvestri loft and lie machine in fact they did not make many of them before the owner and inventor got sick and shut down the company. In fact Scratch golf had 2 of them and one was for sale here on the BST forum a few years ago. I do all my own stuff

[Nessism]

For a number of years I bent clubs using a home made iron vice and spec gauge. It was sort of a pain to have to unclamp before measuring so I bought a Golfsmith Ultimate loft/lie machine a couple years ago when they went on sale. At any rate, Golfworks and Golfsmith both sell inexpensive iron bending equipment that works fine as long as you are not in a big hurry. Saves tons of frustration with having to run to a shop to get the work done. Doing the work yourself assures it's done right too.

[Shambles]

Personally speaking, I doubt the necessity of checking the loft and lie yearly even for forged clubs. You would have to be digging a trench to change the loft and lie of a set. People in general simply do not use their clubs often enough to even come close to needing these yearly checkups. If they did, they would more likely be more interested in buying a new set as the plating would wear out from use. It only takes about 4,000 hits to wear a spot on the face of a plated club, and you have to look close to see it.

However, if you truly feel the need, pay someone with a machine to do the job but be sure to sit on his shoulders while he does your clubs. Since you already know how to do the job, if you pay attention, you have a pretty good chance at intercepting mistakes before they cause damage.



Shambles

[Hidalgo]

Shambles, it depends on the clubs. I play 100+ rounds a year and mine get checked about every 90 days. From time to time I find one that has moved a little. I would say that if I didn't check them, it would probably take 200 or so rounds for anything to get messed up enough to cause a problem.

[finalist]

^ agreed.
My last set of 1018 carbon forged Scratch SB-1s had over a hundred rounds in them and easily a few hundred practice sessions on mats mostly. I finally got the whole set checked at the best shop in town (real pro guys) and only 3 or 4 irons from the entire set of 10 were off by a degree or two. However, I do find my lob wedge will move from a 60 to around a 57 more quickly than my other sticks.

[Shambles]

[quote name='Hidalgo' timestamp='1401574961' post='9404013']
Shambles, it depends on the clubs. I play 100+ rounds a year and mine get checked about every 90 days. From time to time I find one that has moved a little. I would say that if I didn't check them, it would probably take 200 or so rounds for anything to get messed up enough to cause a problem.
[/quote]

I won't say you're wrong or right.

I can say you are not alone in that position. A regular L/L check up has been recommended long before I was even aware of such a game as Golf. Regardless, having had the experience of bending clubs and being intimately aware of how hard it is, I find it very difficult to accept that these things lose their loft and lie within a year of even heavy use. More often, because of the terrible temptations that confront us regularly in mass media and on sites like this, we will be changing clubs long before loft and lie can be affected even by a digger who plays off hard pan.

Personally speaking, I'm more afraid of the guy who touches my clubs than of them changing through regular use, which is why I keep my eyes open for the good guys.

Like I said earlier, if that's what it takes to float your boat, spend the money. Peace of mind is a precious thing especially for golfers in a tight spot.



Shambles

[Backspin9]

I think with forged irons it depends on if they're hit off of range mats a lot and even then they won't move very much. I check mine about every 3 months but that's only because I can. Most of the time they're only off 1/2* degree or so, if at all, and that little amount doesn't really affect contact or ball flight. We are not Iron Byrons and nobody makes the perfect swing every single time. Most OEM's have a tolerance of +/- 1 degree, sometimes more, and my thinking is that if I can keep them within 1/2* that's pretty darn close.

For all practical purposes, getting them checked and adjusted at the start of each season would suffice for most people.

[Hidalgo]

[quote name='Shambles' timestamp='1401620471' post='9406165']

I won't say you're wrong or right.
[/quote]

No "wrong or right" to it. [u]Mine[/u] come out of adjustment at times. It's a fact.
[quote]

Personally speaking, I'm more afraid of the guy who touches my clubs than of them changing through regular use, which is why I keep my eyes open for the good guys.

[/quote]

Agreed. There are a lot of "employees" out there who have no idea what they're doing.

[Hateto3Putt]

I stormed out of my mechanics garage the other day when he wouldn't let me use his rack and air gun so I could rotate the tires on my car.

 

I'm like "WTF"? It only takes 15 minutes and you charge $30? You don't need a degree in physics to rotate freaking tires!