Club fitting suggestions

[DarthGator007]

Hey all,

 

I’m looking to go in for a driver fitting and have quite a few options around me in Northern Virginia. I have Golftec, Club Champion, Dick’s/Golf Galaxy, as well as a local place called Golfdom. There is also a 2nd Swing about 45 minutes away. My question is, is one place that much better than any other? Does anyone have a really great or bad experience I should consider before going in? As reference I’m about a 10 handicap and play 2x a month.

 

 

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[RickyBobby_PR]

Avoid dicks and golf galaxy. Club champion is a good option as long as you understand their business model and are well prepared when you go in. 2nd swing will be hit or miss unless you pay for the tour fitting they have. If you don’t mind indoors Golfdom in Vienna/Tyson’s is good again if you pay for one of the fitting studios they have. 
 

Westfields is a great option due to being able to hit outdoors or at least from the studio to the range. 1757 is another ok option. 

[LeftyRM7]

I wouldn’t worry too much about where to go, I’d look into actual fitters. Dicks/GG don’t employ actual fitters to my knowledge. CC is 100% about fitting, and GolfTec is more based around lessons. Look at reviews and see if you can find more information on the fitters that work at these places. Club Champion gives you the option to choose your fitter when you book online, so you get a list of fitters. Try to get names, ask around for recommendations, do a little research. The fitter will have a much bigger effect on your experience than the company they work for. The catch is, it can be very difficult to find information on individual fitters.


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[TBT]

Dicks and Golf Galaxy are a joke when it comes to fitting
Club Champion is very good, but VERY Expensive

I don’t have any experience with the other 2


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[dlow206]

I am a bit skeptical of the local club champion in my area. I know multiple guys who have gone there that dont know a ton of equipment and they all come out with Oban iron shafts and VA Composites wood/hybrid shafts. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

The Club Champion location in Fairfax and the one in Rockville have good fitters. I know folks with limited golf club knowledge and a couple with that have been to those locations and have had good experiences. But as part of the initial reply I made understand their process and business model and what you are looking to spend on clubs whether you buy from them or not. This is one of the biggest complaints seen on forums and Facebook groups when it comes to Club Champion. But those who are open with their fitter in the beginning helps the process to be geared towards the golfers budget.

 

 

[LeftyRM7]

The Club Champion location in Fairfax and the one in Rockville have good fitters. I know folks with limited golf club knowledge and a couple with that have been to those locations and have had good experiences. But as part of the initial reply I made understand their process and business model and what you are looking to spend on clubs whether you buy from them or not. This is one of the biggest complaints seen on forums and Facebook groups when it comes to Club Champion. But those who are open with their fitter in the beginning helps the process to be geared towards the golfers budget.

 
 

Yes, fitting is expensive, Club Champion is no different than any other golf retailer when it comes to pricing. You have to establish a budget first, before anything. A lot of people walk in blind and what to find the best equipment for their swing, then get shocked when the exotic shaft they hit cost an arm and a leg. You have to be honest about what you want and what you can afford up front. Any good fitter should go through this interview process first, unfortunately, as others have stated, some just want to make a buck.


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[RickyBobby_PR]

56 minutes ago, LeftyRM7 said:

Yes, fitting is expensive, Club Champion is no different than any other golf retailer when it comes to pricing. You have to establish a budget first, before anything. A lot of people walk in blind and what to find the best equipment for their swing, then get shocked when the exotic shaft they hit cost an arm and a leg. You have to be honest about what you want and what you can afford up front. Any good fitter should go through this interview process first, unfortunately, as others have stated, some just want to make a buck.


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Club champion is about on par with most fitting costs in the DC area when you compare non full bag fittings. Most fittings here will cost betwee $90-150 for 60-90 mins depending on where you go. Their advantage over a lot of places is the array of options they offer especially when you consider they have shafts that aren’t available from some of the OEMs. Example would be someone gets fit for a Ventus red in a titleist driver. That is not something that the customer Go to titleist or another shop to order rom titleist and would require to either get it from club champion or find another club builder. 
 

The club champion options is where the price issue for many comes in. The club is going to cost more from club champion especially if the customer falls into getting the shaft pure’d. So my earlier comment about budget this is what I refer to as well as understanding the business model.

So someone looking for options on fitting locations in northern Virginia has several good options that include the club champion of fairfax and the one in maryland which isn’t that far from northern Virginia.

The rest of the the places in my earlier post all offer the shafts that are available either as stock or upcharge from the OEMs and a customer won’t be fit to something the OEM doesn’t offer both Westfields and Golfdom do club building so there’s somE additional options they can work out with those shops if needed.

It boils down to what the OP is looking for in terms of indoor vs outdoor and budget to include if they want to go the route of having a wider variety of options outside of OEM availability 

[Steven Hogan]

Just Keep it Simple Know what your general fit is going in.  

If you seriously have no clue you will end up with a Huge bill from Club Champion.  They will rape you on price. 

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, Steven Hogan said:

Just Keep it Simple Know what your general fit is going in.  

If you seriously have no clue you will end up with a Huge bill from Club Champion.  They will rape you on price. 

Explain how you know your general fit prior to a fitting?.

[Golfspy_CG2]

4 hours ago, Steven Hogan said:

Just Keep it Simple Know what your general fit is going in.  

If you seriously have no clue you will end up with a Huge bill from Club Champion.  They will rape you on price. 

Joined just 4 hours ago and this is your first post?  Seems like there may be a bit of an to grind to me .  

[englishleather]

Well Thats good info , Just had a Taylor Made fitting  and really wonder if  Club Champoin is worth a $1000 upcharge from not stock shafts on the new Steatlh irons . Laready going for the up charge for shafts . I am a 18 handicap . any thoughts ?

[RickyBobby_PR]

57 minutes ago, englishleather said:

Well Thats good info , Just had a Taylor Made fitting  and really wonder if  Club Champoin is worth a $1000 upcharge from not stock shafts on the new Steatlh irons . Laready going for the up charge for shafts . I am a 18 handicap . any thoughts ?

Depends. Did it work for your swing?

Is it an upcharge  shaft offered by TaylorMade or is it only available via a club builder? If only thru other club builder have you priced it elsewhere?

Do you think it’s worth $1000?

[englishleather]

Thanks for input , Just wresting with $1600 for 6-p and 2 hybrids  VS $2100 ..but even as I type this it does makes sense . I guess having been to

3 independent fitters over the years chasing  the perfect driver ...I need to feel confident about club champs....

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, englishleather said:

Thanks for input , Just wresting with $1600 for 6-p and 2 hybrids  VS $2100 ..but even as I type this it does makes sense . I guess having been to

3 independent fitters over the years chasing  the perfect driver ...I need to feel confident about club champs....

There’s lots of threads around the internet about club champion, their business model of starting with non stock options unless requested. 
 

First only you know if what the fitter recommended is better than what you currently own and if that improvement is worth buying a new club or not.

Second you have to look at what CC is offering in the build with thinks like flowing or spining a shaft. You will find various opinions on this around the internet as well. 
 

Third is what you were fit to in all of your clubs no charge offering, upcharge offering from manufacturer or pure aftermarket. If it’s available from the manufacturer you can save money buy going through them directly except for Ping and maybe Mizuno, or thru a local shop. As well whether you are ok with the manufacturer assembling the club or want CC to do it. There’s lots of information around the web on CC’s quality control which is hit or miss as well as that there are some pretty wide tolerances in the manufacturer builds.

$1600 for 5 irons plus 2 hybrids is about normal price these days so it sounds like you may be in some no upcharge offerings. 

[Golfspy_CG2]

38 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

There’s lots of threads around the internet about club champion, their business model of starting with non stock options unless requested. 
 

First only you know if what the fitter recommended is better than what you currently own and if that improvement is worth buying a new club or not.

Second you have to look at what CC is offering in the build with thinks like flowing or spining a shaft. You will find various opinions on this around the internet as well. 
 

Third is what you were fit to in all of your clubs no charge offering, upcharge offering from manufacturer or pure aftermarket. If it’s available from the manufacturer you can save money buy going through them directly except for Ping and maybe Mizuno, or thru a local shop. As well whether you are ok with the manufacturer assembling the club or want CC to do it. There’s lots of information around the web on CC’s quality control which is hit or miss as well as that there are some pretty wide tolerances in the manufacturer builds.

$1600 for 5 irons plus 2 hybrids is about normal price these days so it sounds like you may be in some no upcharge offerings. 

Have you seen the article that CC posted on it's Facebook page today, dispelling "myths" about them?

It was such a great fluff PR piece, I swear it was wrttten by Dan Synders attorney's     

I was going to post a reply, but then I remembered the age old saying,..."if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"  LOL

 

[cnosil]

6 minutes ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

Have you seen the article that CC posted on it's Facebook page today, dispelling "myths" about them?

It was such a great fluff PR piece, I swear it was wrttten by Dan Synders attorney's     

I was going to post a reply, but then I remembered the age old saying,..."if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"  LOL

 

I saw the post yesterday.   Am guessing all the negative posts are starting to have some effect on their business.    Still not the same effect as someone dying in a fictional TV show after using your product.

[RickyBobby_PR]

6 minutes ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

Have you seen the article that CC posted on it's Facebook page today, dispelling "myths" about them?

It was such a great fluff PR piece, I swear it was wrttten by Dan Synders attorney's     

I was going to post a reply, but then I remembered the age old saying,..."if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"  LOL

 

Haven’t seen but definitely going to check it out today.

Despite golf retail in our area not being great I’m glad that we have multiple quality fitters to choose from in DC, Northern VA and the DC suburbs in MD. Other than the guy around fredrick that had the little shop I don’t know if any fitters off 70 or northern part of 270 or going out towards baltimore and other side of bay bridge. 

We also have some good OEM reps and their demo day reps so most demo days are worth the experience here

[den748]

On 3/30/2021 at 7:23 PM, RickyBobby_PR said:

Westfields is a great option due to being able to hit outdoors or at least from the studio to the range. 1757 is another ok option.

I got fit at Westfields and have nothing bad to say.  I like that I have lifetime lie adjustments too (this reminded me that I need to go get that checked out) Having out onto the range was something I really enjoyed. 

 

I have had several friends get fit at 1757 and have nothing but glowing reviews for it.  I guess there is a guy there that is considered one of the best in the business but that is more hear say from me since I havn't fact checked that.

 

I'd say one of the most important things is to find somewhere that is brand agnostic as best as possible. When I got fit I was asked if I had a brand preference and my answer was "that's why I'm here.  I don't care what brand, just get me right".  And I feel that should be your mind set going in.

[Golfspy_CG2]

18 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Haven’t seen but definitely going to check it out today.

Despite golf retail in our area not being great I’m glad that we have multiple quality fitters to choose from in DC, Northern VA and the DC suburbs in MD. Other than the guy around fredrick that had the little shop I don’t know if any fitters off 70 or northern part of 270 or going out towards baltimore and other side of bay bridge. 

We also have some good OEM reps and their demo day reps so most demo days are worth the experience here

I posted a link to it in the Is Club Champion worth it thread. 

3 minutes ago, den748 said:

I got fit at Westfields and have nothing bad to say.  I like that I have lifetime lie adjustments too (this reminded me that I need to go get that checked out) Having out onto the range was something I really enjoyed. 

 

I have had several friends get fit at 1757 and have nothing but glowing reviews for it.  I guess there is a guy there that is considered one of the best in the business but that is more hear say from me since I havn't fact checked that.

 

I'd say one of the most important things is to find somewhere that is brand agnostic as best as possible. When I got fit I was asked if I had a brand preference and my answer was "that's why I'm here.  I don't care what brand, just get me right".  And I feel that should be your mind set going in.

Yeah, Westfields, Tour Trailer, at least I think that's what they used to be called, is very good.   

Also agree on 1757, I think it's Tim that you're talking about.  Again no personal experience with him, but a couple guys I know who really raved about him.

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

26 minutes ago, den748 said:

I got fit at Westfields and have nothing bad to say.  I like that I have lifetime lie adjustments too (this reminded me that I need to go get that checked out) Having out onto the range was something I really enjoyed. 

 

I have had several friends get fit at 1757 and have nothing but glowing reviews for it.  I guess there is a guy there that is considered one of the best in the business but that is more hear say from me since I havn't fact checked that.

 

I'd say one of the most important things is to find somewhere that is brand agnostic as best as possible. When I got fit I was asked if I had a brand preference and my answer was "that's why I'm here.  I don't care what brand, just get me right".  And I feel that should be your mind set going in.

Those two locations are really good. Westfield’s is one of the best in the area because it’s somewhat outdoor and you can see the ball flight and the guys are really good.

1757 is a great facility. I used to take lesson with Cathy Kim there a few years ago.

Agree if someone isn’t dead set on a specific brand find a place that offers multiple brands.

Indoor facility wise I think Golfdom is at the top 

[QuantumGolf_X]

I was lucky enough last year to find a great fitter at a local public course in my area. It's a small company with a couple bays that face out to the driving range. No nets but all of the technology is there. The fitting was one of the best golf experiences I ever had. I learned so much about equipment and my swing. The best part about the experience was when the fitter asked me about my price range. I gave him a number and he avoided anything that would push my budget. At the end of the day I got a great set of clubs that fit my game and my budget. I got the sense that the fitter really loved what he does and took pride in getting me a set that I would benefit from without killing me on the price.

I have been into GolfTec a few times with free promotions. They have tons of people working in those facilities and I never felt like I got a a personal touch. I also sensed they were trying to sell a specific brand of clubs. I have yet to spend any money with them.

No experience with Club Champion so I can't attest to their services.

Long story short, I would look for smaller fitting companies.