How I Build!

The following is a good description of the "Full Blueprint" building process only available through independent club fitters like Conquest Custom Golf, just outside of Cincinnati, utilizing the most up to date techniques when golf club building!

Irons first!  If using taper tips shafts, they are all "pre-trimmed" at the  factory, strictly to speed up the assembly process.   The tip section tends to be stiffer, sometimes a good thing, sometimes not.  Nothing wrong with  that.  Each shaft, regardless of length, weighs about the same.  When using parallel tips shafts, my personal preference, I can create a much more consistent set of clubs.  Each raw shaft weighs about the same and when trimmed at each end of the shaft to attain a general frequency and length, it more or less creates flighted shafts (check out the EI curves of a parallel iron set sometime!).

I take each of the parallel tip shafts, letter them A thru F, G, H, etc, lightest to heaviest as there tends to be a 2 or 3 gram variance.  I then place a 454 gram weight on the tip of the shaft and measure the stiffness of each shaft 15", 25", and 35" from the tip, with a frequency meter, and measure in terms of frequency (stiffness).  I then, with a proprietary frequency sorting program, sort the shafts softest to stiffest.  They tend to vary about a 3rd of a flex (tapers vary even more!)  The softest shaft goes into your longest iron, the stiffest shaft into the shortest iron.  This method will yield a very consistent frequencied set of irons.  Taper tips are a little more inconsistent compared to parallels, but nothing to stress over, I'll use them in a heartbeat if it's best for the golfer!  I just prefer to be in control of the shaft resultant stiffness hence my preference.  If any parallel shaft is off by more than 3/4's of a flex, I won't use it.  This is rare though, as well made shafts tend to not vary more than a 1/4 flex and I only use well made shafts.   ​

I always spine/FLO (flat line oscillate), basically a manual version of shaft puring.  I do this to all shafts when I build any golf club.  This procedure increases center of face strikes an average of about 20% to 25%, a proven fact based on a 2 year study performed about 25 years ago with over a 1000 golfers of all skill levels.

I prefer to MOI Match irons vs Swing Weight Matching them as they tend to result in much more consistent clubs, easily the best feeling irons you can possibly own.  Nothing wrong with swing weighting, it's just a 100+ year old process that only addresses the balance of the club, so I moved on to the 21st century about 15+ years ago when the process was finally refined.  MOI Matching addresses the balance yes, but in addition and more so, it addresses the resistance that each club displays, and matches them.  I use the 6i as it's the longest of the short irons or the shortest of the long irons, depends on how you view it.  Swing weighting just balances a club, not in motion.  There is NO extra charge for this upgraded service!

A swing weight matched 9 iron will take about 3.5% less energy to swing compared to it's swing weight matched 4 iron counterpart.  The 9i weighs maybe 30 grams more!  Now does it make sense to you, that a club that is heavier, is easier to swing than a club that is lighter, in terms of resistance?  I can make your irons display the same resistance!  How can that not be a good thing and it does not cost anymore?  The clubs are considered "MOI Matched" if they are within 1% of each other, however, I do not let them out of my shop unless they are within 1/2 of 1% of each other and many/most times, my final builds are within 1/4 of 1%.  If you truly want swing weight matched clubs, it's not a problem.  I have not built a swing weight matched set of irons, by customer choice in 8+ years.

If you suffer from arthritis, tendonitis, bursitis, etc, in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, or hands, consider Pro Soft Inserts ....... vibration dampening inserts that I can install inside the shaft, seated just below your lower hand, just before the grip goes on.  They weigh less than two grams, virtually having no affect in terms of weight distribution. They absorb 60%-70% of any negative vibration from fat shots, toe shots, tree roots, etc.  They are only $2.50 so they don't break the bank!  

I am not a fan of MOI Matching woods as you do not swing a driver the same way you swing a fairway wood as a general rule where as most swing a 5i the same as a 9i the majority of time.  I tend to swing weight match woods, and obviously I still spine/FLO the shafts to increase the center of face strike frequency.​