Lead or trail arm for fitting? (one arm significantly longer)

[Tax77]

I've never noticed until tonight, standing straight up with my back against the wall at attention my right arm is almost 1 and a quarter inches longer than my left lead arm. Pings charts has me in a red dot for my right hand and a black dot for my left hand. I don't think I'm buying irons anytime soon, just curious of which arm is the most important when it comes to length and lie of the club at impact. I'm assuming its my right hand?

 

Is this a common thing btw or am I some mutant with really weird arm and shoulder structure? Whenever I look at myself swing I've always wondered why my right shoulder isn't lower at address. I'm thinking its my long right arm and short left arm. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Tax77

[Stuart_G]

First of all, keep in mind that those kind of static fitting charts are really just a starting place for the fitting process, not a hard and fast rule.   The final decision should be made based on actually hitting the clubs at different lengths.   And the mid-irons don't really help much in that respect.   it's the short and long ends of the set where you will see any potential difference or problems.   The way you grip and set-up the club to the ball, your posture and many other aspects of your swing can play a part above and beyond the WTF measurement.

 

So I'd start with the shorter length and test to see if the shortest irons (and particularly wedges) aren't getting too short for your preferred posture.   If there is no problem, you're good to go.  If there are some problems, go longer until the problems go away.

 

The next step ideally is to test the longest irons to make sure they are not getting too long.  That usually shows up not with a posture issues, but rather with a problem getting consistent center face contact.

 

As always, there is a very tight relationship between playing length, shaft weight, and swing weight.   So you need to make sure you have a good fit for the other two before you know if the playing length is the problem or one of the other specs is the true source of any problems.

 

[bluedot]

6 hours ago, Tax77 said:

I've never noticed until tonight, standing straight up with my back against the wall at attention my right arm is almost 1 and a quarter inches longer than my left lead arm. Pings charts has me in a red dot for my right hand and a black dot for my left hand. I don't think I'm buying irons anytime soon, just curious of which arm is the most important when it comes to length and lie of the club at impact. I'm assuming its my right hand?

 

Is this a common thing btw or am I some mutant with really weird arm and shoulder structure? Whenever I look at myself swing I've always wondered why my right shoulder isn't lower at address. I'm thinking its my long right arm and short left arm. 

 

If you're a mutant, then I am, too; same situation, same difference in the same arms.  And it has thrown fitters at times, too, at least at the start of the process.  At the most recent Ping iron fitting I did, which was my first with that particular guy, he was positive that my previous fitting had been wrong, at least based on the static chart.  We went thru the process and came out with the same exact setup, which sort of surprised him.

 

As Stuart G says, the static chart on the Ping site should only be a starting point, and a good fitter will pretty quickly resolve that issue, and the difference between black and red is only a degree anyway, I believe.  I don't mean that one degree isn't significant; only that it isn't a hard problem for a good fitter to deal with.