GMFlash

Also - now that I'm thinking about your swing stats - 155 carry with a nine iron means you likely have a 90 mph 7i swing speed - meaning an x-flex shaft like a true temper x-100 is in order.

Evan - I've been a fitter for 10 years and have seen lots of golfer like yourself that are good athletes getting back into the game after a long layoff and needing and wanting new/different clubs on a budget. Lots of thoughts come to mind so I'll bullet point to try to be brief - 1. You can fit yourself in a basic way by doing a static fitting" which is measuring your height with shoes on and your left wrist to floor. Then using the PING fitting chart found on their website your will determine the suggested length and lie of your clubs. PING states that the static and Dynamic fitting match 99% of the time. 2. Get some iron impact tape or foot spray and hit your 7 iron to see if you consistently hit in the same spot on the club, center hosel, or toe - or if you are all over the face. 3. A consistent hosel or toe strike means a further adjustment to club length may be beneficial. (hosel- club too long, toe- club too short. Full ball width away from center is one inch long or short, half ball width is 1/2 inch long/short. 4. If you are all over the face a game improvement (at least) or super game improvement or even ultra game improvement club should benefit your game. 5. To my knowledge, The terms game improvement, super game improvement and so on come from and originated with the Ralph Maltby system of measuring club head characteristics based on their intrinsic design and therefore their inherent "playability" or forgiveness. These numbers can be found on the GOLFWORKS website and will provide a great guide for determining a clubs true playability. I hope the forum doesn't go nuts over this item - the Maltby numbers (MPF) are a great GUIDE - not Gospel - there are nuances that the MPF may not account for but again, excellent guidance. 6. Next comes shaft - based on your size and athletic ability - you likely need a stiff flex shaft and would be able to handle and benefit from a heavier shaft as well. Without getting way into the weeds here of shaft fitting, a standard True Temper S300 shaft should work for you - or something very comparable by KBS or Nippon. &. Regarding club heads - In my experience I find the Srixon Z5, and even the Z4 to be not very forgiving, but if you center strike frequently - then OK. Mizuno JPX 825 are game improvement, JPX 850 super game improvement (I have sets of each). The JPX forged and MP series clubs of any model are basically MPF "players" clubs. I have played many of them, and when I'm striking the ball center and using the correct shaft for my swing (reg flex, mid-high to high trajectory) - they perform as well as anything I've used and very few clubs match Mizuno feel. Mizuno MP-62, JPX 850 forged work. 9. Other clubs for you assuming you're near center of face - Titleist AP2 714, 716, or 718 (numbers refer to the year of production). 10 If you need more forgiveness then Callaway Mavrik, Cobra LTDx, Cleveland CBX or UHX, and Wilson C series are my suggestions. Hope this helps Flash

My experience at Golftec in Columbus O-H-I-O was 7 years ago when the shop was located inside a Golfsmith store. The teacher was very experienced and if I remember right it seemed to me that GolfTec has a method of teaching and fitting that needs to be completely understood by their people. I think not all employees study/understand their methods throughly. Unfortunately I have met more people who have claimed that Golftec has messed them up rather than helped. I did not pursue lessons with them but rather did a basic swing analysis - which was helpful and enlightening at the time. The stories I hear about True Spec in Columbus are very positive, and the fittings seem to be very personable and expert. I know for a fact that they have WAY more experience than the guys currently at the Columbus CC. Club Champion trains their people very extensively, but fitting is still an art and requires good judgement and experience on the part of the fitter. Just because one has access to 50K combinations of clubs and the latest tracking devices, doesn't guarantee a good fitting. As with everything - it comes down to people and their ability and willingness to "fit" instead of sell. Rather than commit to a whole bag fitting, why not start with just the driver? If you're happy with that then continue on after establishing a good relationship with the fitter. Hope this helps.

I live in Columbus and have gone to The Memorial a number of times. I wasn't planning to this year, but after watching the video, I've changed my mind. It's a treat to see the way Nicklaus thinks and the extent of the changes and work as it happens. Thanks Middler for alerting the forum to the video.

Yeah - and looking close I see the moon design feature which does wear over time and use. I agree now that this putter is likely real. Another authentication point is whether the shaft band is intact which are difficult to replicate. Also, I'm not sure if by these years scotty was engraving a serial number on the shaft as is currently done. So that may be another thing to look for.

Mountain man My apologies - My reaction to your putter was based partly on the color as it comes through in your pics. It looks like the honey finish of the earlier models from 2010 and 2011 and so all the things I mentioned above are off. So correcting myself - Looking at the archive pics of 2012 and 2013, your putter looks like those except I still think the top view is off, and the sole of the putter is missing its Moon-like background circle as part of the design. Maybe someone tried to refinish a sliver putter with the honey finish - which I think would be really hard to do properly.

Mountainman I think it is a fake for sure. Lots of clues here on this one. I used to own one and what alerted me right away was the deep milling on the face and the too boxy look from the top view. BUT If you ever want to see if something is fake, go to the scotty website and look through the archives where all scotty's releases are listed, described, and pictured by year of issue. This will educate you as to what to look for. In the case of your putter the following things stand out - and are easy to see by comparing to the archive pictures. 1. California putters with the honey finish were produced in 2009 and 2010. 2. No cherry bombs on the back of this putter model. Archives not picture it but I think it only says titleist. 3. Face milling is way to deep. 4. The weights are also wrong, scotty did not use cherry bomb style weights with this model and did not until later years. They were flat metal disks. 5. The design on the bottom of the putter is entirely wrong. Again, compare to archive. 6. Finally, looking down from the top, the putter has no elegance, seems too long, the shoulders are poorly squared off etc., looking way too machine like. All scotty products are elegant and pleasing to the eye - the minute I saw this one I could tell something was off. Yeah - so I think its fake - The scotty archives are extremely helpful in this regard. Also, you could indeed send it in to scotty shop, they will also document the authenticity for you. Second finally - MGS once did a test between fake and real scotty's and in their testing the fake was better under the test conditions. If memory serves, they took the putters apart and the fake head was lighter than the original, which of course changes the swing weight. In my work in golf retail passing off a fake scotty for a refund is not common, but does occur from time to time. I've seen 4 come into my shop during the 7 years working. Hope this helps. Mike

Going back to the original post - it seems that the OP does understand the basics of fitting as he mentions the correct relationship between length and lie. Reading between the lines a bit, it also seems that the fitters at DSG understand that relationship as well. The assumption is that they potentially did a lie board test and at least a static measurement to come to the conclusion that a flatter lie was needed. The OP did not mention what methods were used to conclude 3 degrees flat. Not only do we not have complete info. as to why DSG recommended only 3 degrees flat rather than some combination of length and lie adjustment, but other factors may be involved. DSG may have been thinking about cost to the customer. To shorten ,the grips either need to be saved (5.99$ ea) or new ones bought and installed (about 10$ per club). Bending alone is 4.99$ per or 32$ for eight. Do the math and the combo adjustment gets expensive. Bending alone is the cost effective option and maybe part of the DSG thinking took this into account. So just for discussion, let's assume that the dynamic fitting (and static fitting) revealed 3 degrees flat and standard length. Then the fitter is doing their job. Let's say it showed 1/2 inch short implying that 2 degrees flat would now work. OK - fine. But other factors like age of the clubs, skill of the golfer, frequency of play, etc. may have made the combo adjustment unnecessary / not preferred by the customer (due to cost). If 3 degrees flat alone works, then DSG can certainly be trusted to make such a recommendation and be reluctant to charge the customer for further adjustments. In conclusion, we do not have enough info to make a clear determination as to whether the DSG fitters can be "trusted". The OP asked a loaded question and got the usual loaded answers regarding what is commonly perceived to be a big box experience. It would be fair and instructive to get the fitting sheet (hopefully it exists) and describe in detail the conversation between DSG and your friend. If the fitting sheet exists, take a pic and post it, and then all the experts on this site can make a recommendation as to whether the DSG fitter did their job and knows their stuff (can be trusted). Sometimes customers just want what they want, even when it is not in their best interest. Either way, it would be great to have more info about the entire situation to make a more accurate determination.