Getting fit for the right clubs is like getting fit for a suit. Michael Williams pays a visit to golf’s master tailors in Carlsbad.
What if I told you there was a secret facility in a nondescript building in Carlsbad, California where Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, and Rory McIlroy go to pick up their golf clubs? What if I also told you it's called The Kingdom? Sounds like something out of a golf junkie’s daydream. Well The Kingdom is very real, and it’s the crown jewel of TaylorMade’s club fitting program. It’s where the clubmaker’s sharpest minds assemble to help some of the best golfers in the world (and the occasional weekend warrior like me) dial in their clubs, using a mix of video game-like tech and pure engineering expertise. Even though The Kingdom is a totally private experience (not just anyone can roll up and get some new sticks), every golfer should consider getting custom clubs, whether they’re gearing up to play Augusta or their local muni course. It’s like custom tailored clothing—a new suit and new driver are both nuanced purchases. But any good suit has an inch or two of wiggle room; in golf, being off by a millimeter can mean the difference between winning a skin off your buddies or trudging back to the clubhouse in defeat.
Back in Bobby Jones’ day, golf clubs were dead simple: metal and wood. The straightforward concept of the game has remained, but the technology and science that has gone into club development has radically changed. Now that club manufacturers are using space-age materials and advanced technology, there are more factors than ever to consider when shopping for new clubs. And in golf, confidence is everything. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve practiced doing something—you need to trust the wrench in your hand. If all of your equipment is specifically fitted to your swing, it takes away all that insecurity. In fact, it almost feels like cheating.
As a gear junkie, I’ve gone through the club fitting process at a few different places and can comfortably say that from a technology standpoint, nothing comes close to the experience at The Kingdom. It’s also set up like a super exclusive country club—so just walking through the doors is a bit of a rush.
People might not even realize just how many golf club options are out there. In addition to there being 10 major golf brands, there are hundreds of different types of club, shaft, and grip options, not to mention lofts, lie angles, grinds and so on. That’s not even mentioning the dozens of brands from Japan that are making next-level gear that’s not even marketed here. For the gear obsessive, assortment and options are basically unlimited. Is it possible to get a perfectly good set of clubs off the internet? Sure, but the only way to know you’re nailing all the details is to go bespoke.
At The Kingdom, the attention to detail through the process is borderline crazy. There is a private driving range with various target practice greens. Advanced launch monitors, piloted by some of TaylorMade’s most experienced club fitters, are everywhere. There are private hitting bays with cameras mounted at all angles where your swing can be mapped and analyzed as if you’re being uploaded into a golf video game. (TaylorMade gives you recordings of your animated swing on a thumb drive when you leave.) There’s even a private putter room where you can analyze what your stroke to figure out what putter best suits you. Basically, it’s another dimension of the golf universe, one that’s usually only populated by dudes that can drive the ball 400+ yards. Once you’ve gone through the process, you’ve got a bag of clubs designed to optimize your game.
Inside the TaylorMade tour truck.
As I spoke with Wade, new TaylorMade M3 drivers (the one Tiger has in his bag at Augusta this weekend) were being fine-tuned for the upcoming tournament. While it was obvious to see that the pros have a nearly unlimited set of configuration options available to them, it wasn’t anything that’s not available to someone at a TaylorMade fitting. That’s the genius of getting custom clubs. You can get exactly what the pros play if that’s what suits your game and swing.
In the same way that your tailor helps you make the best decisions for fit and style, you need your club-fitter to guide you through the technology of modern golf clubs and the nuance of how they can help your game. You don’t need to be Rory and get your fittings done at The Kingdom to feel good about the fit of your clubs—as long as you have a club fitter you can trust (as well as a good tailor), you’ve got everything you need.