New Hippo range offers Custom-Fit irons to fit all budgets
July 26, 2010

Hippo Golf Clubs have always enjoyed a solid reputation as well-made and dependable clubs for the entry level and higher handicap golfer. Now Hippo is joining the ranks of pinoeering clubmakeers with the new Hippo CF (Custom-Fit) range, bringing this increasingly popular, but often costly, equipment choice among club players within a much broader reach.

A genuinely novel and clever concept, the innovation lies in the materials used in the new Hippo clubs that make them less expensive and quicker to fit than has ever been possible outside the big tour events, where you see a dozen or more 18-wheeler workshops run by the major manufacturers to re-engineer touring pros' clubs in double quick time before or during an event.

Made of 17-4 stainless steel, most clubs can be bent to different loft and lie options. Only the better quality manufacturers use 17-4 stainless steel because it is the superior metal to choose. Most, however, are happy simply to bend clubs to adjust loft and lie. But this is a fundamentally flawed idea, owing to the fact that 17-4 stainless steel has a memory and will, over time, simply revert to its original form.

With Hippo CF, this common pitfall is avoided by shipping clubheads from the factory with a range of lies up to 2° either side of standard, while shaft length can be adjusted on the spot within a span of 3 inches either side of standard length to suit the golfer's body and swing.

Finally, a range of grip options means you can choose from under-sized, standard and oversized, depending on which feels best at promoting sensitivity, control and performance for your game.

Hippo is the first value brand to adopt this quick custom-fitting principle, meaning that golfers who would previously have only considered buying box sets can now have a fully customised set of irons in just a couple of hours, with the additional benefit that the golfer can keep his expensive woods, hybrids and utilities and simply slip custom-fitted irons into his or her bag.

“Hippo has always been well-liked by a huge number of club golfers all over Europe,” says Hippo MD Andrew Walkington. “We’ve been behind thousands of men and women taking up the game from scratch, and a large part of the reason is that the clubs are so affordable and forgiving.

“Now we’re determined to take these ‘golfers like the rest of us’ towards a better game by allowing them custom-fitting that they wouldn’t previously have even considered was either important or affordable.”

Expect to pay around £200 in a pro-shop for a set of fitted Hippo CF irons (3-SW), and discover for yourself just how much clubs that are correctly matched to your body can improve your game. You'll hit better shots, and you'll also be able to concentrate on consistency of swing, balance and feedback, without the need to adjust your swing to allow for ill-fitting clubs.

If there's such a thing as a quick fix in golf, this is it, and it won't break the bank either!