In Callaway’s latest series of podcasts, the team talks with Gerritt Pon, Senior Club Performance Analyst, an industry veteran and fitting specialist who has personally built clubs for Phil Mickelson. The three audio files run roughly 50 minutes in length (total), so we extracted some of the more valuable/interesting pearls of wisdom from the Fitting Room podcast series. Want to hear the entire interview? You can find the full series on the Callaway Media Productions website.

The topics covered range from beginner to advanced. Here’s a selection of the quality information from the talk with Mr. Pon, which range from the most basic information to advanced topics.

Where tinkerers should begin

Pon says that loft and lie are the most important part of any sort of club tinkering for amateur golfers. Proper loft and lie can take a golfer from hitting shanks to striping it, which is more than can be said for almost all other adjustments.

Lie angle rules of thumb

Generally, if a player is consistently missing right, s/he ought to be playing clubs that are more upright. Likewise, if the golfer misses left, a flatter lie is necessary.

The first wood adjustment to make

Pon adjusting a driver at the Ely Callaway Performance Center (Photo courtesy of Callaway).

Callaway recommends that before making any adjustment to the moveable weights in their woods, golfers should dial in an optimal loft.

Swing weight basics

Every two grams of weight added to a club head adds one swing weight point, so shortening a shaft an inch changes swing weight by six points. Adding weight to a wood head can be done externally (using lead tape) or internally (with glue injected into the club head). Also, weight can be added to the grip end to reduce swing weight, but different rules apply. It takes five grams of weight to lighten the swing weight by one point.

Who tinkers?

Tinkering seems to be more correlated with personality type than handicap. For example, tour pros span the range from massive tinkerers to not really making many equipment adjustments.

Interesting fact about different-colored grips

Pon says he’s found different-colored models of the same grips can weigh different amounts.

Spin 101

With respect to spin, when a club spins too much, the ball will balloon. When it doesn’t spin enough, the ball will tend to fall out of the air.

So you want a 55-degree wedge?

In making a 55-degree wedge: Better to weaken 54 than strengthen 56 for most golfers, as the 54 would have more bounce. Weakening a club makes the leading edge look straighter. Strengthening adds more offset. Pros tinker most with their wedges ahead of major championships, particularly the Masters (where players prefer less bounce).

Phil Mickelson: club builder

Phil Mickelson ground his own lob wedge for the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. He wanted a 64-degree with zero degrees of bounce.

The Callaway OG wedge

Roger Cleveland has made a special OG “Office Grind” wedge for Callaway employees: 64 bent to 60, ground to zero bounce.