A long fitting story at Club Champion with a different ending – so grab a cup of coffee

[tony@CIC]

It's only fitting (pun intended) that my 10,000 post on the best golf equipment site be about my driver/wood fitting yesterday at Club Champion. Some background info: Wife and I golfed Sunday and looks like I pulled the hamstring on my left leg. But, no worries, my wife brought along plenty of aspirin, tylenol and a bullet to bite on for pain management.  

Some additional background as this isn’t my first fitting.  My first was in 2019 which coincided with being selected as an 'Official Tester' for Ping 410SFT. Based on my numbers and a sorrowful driver swing, my fitter put me into an Alta R Flex 65G stock shaft. My avg. 2019 numbers:

 

Swing Speed	Attack Angle	Ball Speed	Spin Rate	Carry	Side
81.2	-4.6	115.6	3334	172.4	13.3R

 

I was back in last year for the new irons and focused only on those since the 410 driver and recently acquired 410 hybrids were working ok – not getting the distance I wanted from the driver but dispersion was a heck of a lot better than my previous GBB driver. It's now 2021 and my wife and I got paired up a few weeks ago with a master fitter from Club Champion. I decided this might be the year to dial in the top end of the bag, so I scheduled a fitting with him.

 We arrived at the Brandon Fl facility with probably too much warm-up time (remember the hamstring issue). I eased into it with my Volkey SW and 7i. Both numbers were pretty close to spot on so I was comfortable that their Trackman wasn’t juiced. Leg at that point wasn’t feeling too bad, but then, it was time to swing the big club.   I was clearly struggling swinging the 410. My current driver swing speed is around 82-84 mph. Today the SS across all shafts was about 78 mph (with a low of 74). FYI, both the fitter and my wife asked if I wanted to reschedule, but noooooo I wanted to get it done as we’re headed back to Ohio in 10 days. Time to bite on that bullet for pain management.  

Started out with a baseline with the 410 and the Alta. We tried about 10 different shafts. One was a clear winner for dispersion: Oban Devotion. However, distance is not as good as the Alta. Now it’s time (FYI, I’m now popping Tylenol as well) to try different heads: Ping 425 (no difference at all to the 410), Titleist, Cobra, Taylor Made, etc. The last combo was a clear winner; Taylor Made SIM 2 Max D with the Oban Devotion shaft.

 Here’s where it get’s really interesting, the Taylor Made/Devotion combo was a close second to the numbers at the start of the session (410/Alta shaft) for distance and even though I had probably hit 100+ balls by the time I tried the TM combo. Dispersion was quite a bit tighter with the Taylor Made.  But, Alex our fitter asked do you really want to spend $800. to get roughly the same result for distance? Point well taken.  

We then went onto my 5 wood, a King F-9 with a UST Helium 49G shaft. After hitting several balls, it made my driver results a bit embarrassing as I’m hitting the 5 wood (set at 17*) almost as far as my driver today. The fitter’s response? He wasn’t surprised given my swing I was hitting my irons and 5 wood well and not the driver. What’s a nice way of saying operator error? FYI, my stock Helium shaft ended up  being the best option for that club.

Conclusion: Instead of trying to solve my problem with a new driver or shaft I’m spending the money on lessons. I give our fitter at CC a lot of credit for not trying to convince me that a new shaft or new head/shaft would give me miraculous results.  Will I go back to him next fall – absolutely! Stay tuned

[RickyBobby_PR]

Thanks for sharing and glad you had a good experience.

Good approach of getting lessons to improve the driver results/swing.

 

[Middler]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Many people would be better served with lessons first, then maybe fitting - but it’s a little hard to predict here. I’ll leave it at that.

An interesting similarity. I was also fitted for an Oban Devotion shaft, but unfortunately I bought it (declined the Mavrik head). The CC rep I worked with didn’t hesitate to recommend a new $950 driver, and told me my dispersion would be much improved with the new shaft (and my Rogue head) - they have a guarantee (largely useless). I keep detailed stats, and after over six weeks using the Oban shaft, my distance was unchanged and my dispersion was measurably worse. I went back and forth a couple times between my OEM shaft and the Oban, and the Oban never got better. I finally sold the Oban on eBay for a small fraction of what I paid...

[Kenny B]

Sounds oh so familiar Tony!  My fitting at True Spec in Oct. 2019 was similar.  The fitter couldn't find a driver combo that was significantly better for me than my stock off-the-shelf Bridgestone.  Nearly two years later I am still using it, but after lessons with Monte, I know that I am hitting it further.  Dispersion has not been a problem for me, just distance.  That's why I am now looking at new drivers; has my swing changed enough to make a difference?  Will find out shortly.

I think you will find when you take lessons that it doesn't take much change to start seeing results.  The change may seem awkward and you will hit bad shots because you are doing something different than what you are used to.  Don't give up!  When the change because more familiar, you will start hitting the ball better; much better than before.  Then get fit next winter!!

[tony@CIC]

16 minutes ago, Middler said:

Thanks for sharing your experience. Many people would be better served with lessons first, then maybe fitting - but it’s a little hard to predict here. I’ll leave it at that.

An interesting similarity. I was also fitted for an Oban Devotion shaft, but unfortunately I bought it (declined the Mavrik head). The CC rep I worked with didn’t hesitate to recommend a new $950 driver, and told me my dispersion would be much improved with the new shaft (and my Rogue head) - they have a guarantee (largely useless). I keep detailed stats, and after over six weeks using the Oban shaft, my distance was unchanged and my dispersion was measurably worse. I went back and forth a couple times between my OEM shaft and the Oban, and the Oban never got better. I finally sold the Oban on eBay for a small fraction of what I paid...

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience - guess you can find salespeople in any business who are just interested in making the sale. FYI, I've taken driver lessons before  but now fear that they're comparable to this particular pro's fitting recommendation which is Ping (that's all he sells). Been in touch with a new instructor based on @MattF's recommendation and looks like both my wife and I will be scheduled for lessons in May. 

In the meantime I just may be hitting that 5 wood off the tee  . 

[Middler]

9 minutes ago, tony@CIC said:

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience - guess you can find salespeople in any business who are just interested in making the sale. FYI, I've taken driver lessons before  but now fear that they're comparable to this particular pro's fitting recommendation which is Ping (that's all he sells). Been in touch with a new instructor based on @MattF's recommendation and looks like both my wife and I will be scheduled for lessons in May. 

In the meantime I just may be hitting that 5 wood off the tee  . 

The methodology he used was suspect, but I didn’t realize that until after the fact, and the CC rep didn’t know any better - he was following CC’s direction. I learned an expensive lesson.

I think I’ll start another thread to solicit fitting advice - what is the best methodology?

[Kenny B]

8 minutes ago, tony@CIC said:

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience - guess you can find salespeople in any business who are just interested in making the sale. FYI, I've taken driver lessons before  but now fear that they're comparable to this particular pro's fitting recommendation which is Ping (that's all he sells). Been in touch with a new instructor based on @MattF's recommendation and looks like both my wife and I will be scheduled for lessons in May. 

In the meantime I just may be hitting that 5 wood off the tee  . 

Not a bad choice if it keeps you in the fairway.  My driver is only a little longer that my 9-year old 3W, but I don't hit my 3W any straighter so I never use it off the tee unless there is a "reason" in the way.  

[Shapotomous]

1 hour ago, tony@CIC said:

It's only fitting (pun intended) that my 10,000 post on the best golf equipment site be about my driver/wood fitting yesterday at Club Champion. Some background info: Wife and I golfed Sunday and looks like I pulled the hamstring on my left leg. But, no worries, my wife brought along plenty of aspirin, tylenol and a bullet to bite on for pain management.  

.......

Carl Spackler wasn't the greenskeeper there was he??!!

Sounds like you had a good fitter!  I like the lessons approach as the next step.

[russtopherb]

Thanks for the writeup and sharing the experience with us!

I had a somewhat similar thing happen to me - I went to Golfsmith to buy a driver and I had some Christmas cash on hand for the fitting and purchase. Long story short, the guy I had the appointment with said he wasn't comfortable fitting me into something based on the way my swing was. He recommended I go grab some driver lessons then come back closer to the season after I'd been swinging for a bit.

Then they went out of business! The end. 

[Rickp]

It's only fitting (pun intended) that my 10,000 post on the best golf equipment site be about my driver/wood fitting yesterday at Club Champion. Some background info: Wife and I golfed Sunday and looks like I pulled the hamstring on my left leg. But, no worries, my wife brought along plenty of aspirin, tylenol and a bullet to bite on for pain management.  
Some additional background as this isn’t my first fitting.  My first was in 2019 which coincided with being selected as an 'Official Tester' for Ping 410SFT. Based on my numbers and a sorrowful driver swing, my fitter put me into an Alta R Flex 65G stock shaft. My avg. 2019 numbers:
 

Swing Speed	Attack Angle	Ball Speed	Spin Rate	Carry	Side
81.2	-4.6	115.6	3334	172.4	13.3R

 
I was back in last year for the new irons and focused only on those since the 410 driver and recently acquired 410 hybrids were working ok – not getting the distance I wanted from the driver but dispersion was a heck of a lot better than my previous GBB driver. It's now 2021 and my wife and I got paired up a few weeks ago with a master fitter from Club Champion. I decided this might be the year to dial in the top end of the bag, so I scheduled a fitting with him.
 We arrived at the Brandon Fl facility with probably too much warm-up time (remember the hamstring issue). I eased into it with my Volkey SW and 7i. Both numbers were pretty close to spot on so I was comfortable that their Trackman wasn’t juiced. Leg at that point wasn’t feeling too bad, but then, it was time to swing the big club.   I was clearly struggling swinging the 410. My current driver swing speed is around 82-84 mph. Today the SS across all shafts was about 78 mph (with a low of 74). FYI, both the fitter and my wife asked if I wanted to reschedule, but noooooo I wanted to get it done as we’re headed back to Ohio in 10 days. Time to bite on that bullet for pain management.  
Started out with a baseline with the 410 and the Alta. We tried about 10 different shafts. One was a clear winner for dispersion: Oban Devotion. However, distance is not as good as the Alta. Now it’s time (FYI, I’m now popping Tylenol as well) to try different heads: Ping 425 (no difference at all to the 410), Titleist, Cobra, Taylor Made, etc. The last combo was a clear winner; Taylor Made SIM 2 Max D with the Oban Devotion shaft.
 Here’s where it get’s really interesting, the Taylor Made/Devotion combo was a close second to the numbers at the start of the session (410/Alta shaft) for distance and even though I had probably hit 100+ balls by the time I tried the TM combo. Dispersion was quite a bit tighter with the Taylor Made.  But, Alex our fitter asked do you really want to spend $800. to get roughly the same result for distance? Point well taken.  
We then went onto my 5 wood, a King F-9 with a UST Helium 49G shaft. After hitting several balls, it made my driver results a bit embarrassing as I’m hitting the 5 wood (set at 17*) almost as far as my driver today. The fitter’s response? He wasn’t surprised given my swing I was hitting my irons and 5 wood well and not the driver. What’s a nice way of saying operator error? FYI, my stock Helium shaft ended up  being the best option for that club.
Conclusion: Instead of trying to solve my problem with a new driver or shaft I’m spending the money on lessons. I give our fitter at CC a lot of credit for not trying to convince me that a new shaft or new head/shaft would give me miraculous results.  Will I go back to him next fall – absolutely! Stay tuned

Great job, I like the Fitters attitude.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[RollingGreens]

Hats off to Alex for going with the numbers and common sense approach.  Now let's figure out what to do about that hamstring

[tony@CIC]

2 hours ago, RollingGreens said:

Hats off to Alex for going with the numbers and common sense approach.  Now let's figure out what to do about that hamstring

FYI - clearly my fault as I use to do several stretching exercises from my 'Yoga for Golf' series. But didn't last Sunday - a lesson learned the hard way. 

[RollingGreens]

10 hours ago, tony@CIC said:

FYI - clearly my fault as I use to do several stretching exercises from my 'Yoga for Golf' series. But didn't last Sunday - a lesson learned the hard way. 

I’ll be honest even I’ve gotten into yoga this off-season. Wish I would have done it sooner

[revkev]

Thanks for the write up and congrats on joining the 10K post club!

[Dee 8ch]

Professional club fitting has grown in allure and mystique.  Obviously it's very important to have clubs that fit you.  But, as I learned at another well known national chain of lesson/fitting providers, club fitting, even in the context of an array of technology is as much art as science, once the basics are understood.  

The best driver shaft fitting that I ever had was trial and error through eBay with about five different shafts on my 2010 Taylor Made RBZ head (the stock shaft for that driver sucked for me).   The standout and 7 season gamer was a Project X Blue 5.0.  I am a 20 handicapper who hits it about 220 in the summer.  I don't struggle much with direction. 

Since then, I am gaming a Ping 410, 12 deg, adjusted to 10.5 flat.  Straight as a string and a bit longer than the old RBZ set-up.  

Am I inclined to tweak around with another batch of aftermarket shafts?  Maybe.  But not feeling a great sense of urgency, as my game and swing are improving, even as my old body continues to deteriorate.   #findingitinthedirt