Vendor fitting day - what should I expect?

[pakman92]

My local Golf shop has a bunch of vendor fitting days which are by appointment only.   My understanding is that vendors will be utilizing the fitting bays they already have in the store.   I'm booked for 45 minutes for both driver and iron fitting with Callaway this Thursday.   I've never been to one of these before.    Other than being limited to Callaway heads and limited assortment of shafts, should I expect anything different than a regular fitting?

[dlow206]

Besides the fact that it is specific to an OEM, the quality of fitting is really dependent on the specific fitter. I had OEM fittings that were just ok, but an Edel fitting that was really great. 

[AzRoger]

The OEM fittings that I've been to were OK but on reflection, after going through a Club Champion fitting, they were limited. Not a Club Champion salesman, I had some issues with them to, but they were willing to share hardcopies of the Trackman comparison data between my current clubs and tested clubs, wasn't able to get that with the OEM fittings. Club Champion also had a lie bending machine next to the test bay and would bend the clubs during the fitting to dial in the right lie angle, doubt you'll get that at the OEM fitting, the OEM fitting may have only standard lie clubheads to test. Did notice you have a real nice set of current clubs, are you expecting to find something better? Maybe your current clubs just need to be tweaked if you're having issues.

[pakman92]

1 hour ago, AzRoger said:

The OEM fittings that I've been to were OK but on reflection, after going through a Club Champion fitting, they were limited. Not a Club Champion salesman, I had some issues with them to, but they were willing to share hardcopies of the Trackman comparison data between my current clubs and tested clubs, wasn't able to get that with the OEM fittings. Club Champion also had a lie bending machine next to the test bay and would bend the clubs during the fitting to dial in the right lie angle, doubt you'll get that at the OEM fitting, the OEM fitting may have only standard lie clubheads to test. Did notice you have a real nice set of current clubs, are you expecting to find something better? Maybe your current clubs just need to be tweaked if you're having issues.

Thanks.  I have little interest in buying anything at this time.  If the rogue st drivers blow me away, perhaps.  I have never hit callaway irons and I’m curious.     

[RickyBobby_PR]

45 minutes for iron and driver probably isn’t enough time for a good fitting for both. My last driver fitting was just under 45 mins, we got my setup dialed in pretty quick on the head and loft, that was the first 15mins. The next 20-25 minutes we’re spent on fine tuning with shafts and adapter settings. We got it down to three shafts using 5 shots each and 3-5 with each setting. We spent time going back and forth on them before nailing down the right combo. 
 

My last iron fitting was 30 mins.

Typically with an OEM fitting day with an appointment you are going to get the ful focus of the rep rather than where he’s dealing with several golfers at a time just hitting clubs and asking questions. The rep will have all the heads offered at retail plus most if not all the stock and upgrade shafts they offer. They will go thru a fitting process with you to find the head, shaft and adapter setting that optimizes your ball flight.

For irons the rep will also have all heads in varying lie angles and all shafts. They will get you in the right iron head, lie angle and shaft that optimizes your iron ball flight.

[chisag]

On 3/6/2022 at 8:41 PM, pakman92 said:

 I've never been to one of these before.    Other than being limited to Callaway heads and limited assortment of shafts, should I expect anything different than a regular fitting?

 

... If you already know your tendencies and what works for you OEM fittings are usually very good. The biggest drawback is what I would call "unusual" shafts. I had a Cally fitting and got to hit the AD-IZ6 in S/R flex and it was a perfect fit. I already knew what shafts I wanted to hit and the fitter was all in, although he did have me hit a stock shaft just for comparison. At My Stealth fitting last week they only had AD-IZ shafts in s-flex and x-flex, not even a 50gm r-flex and he said "Quite honestly most want a stock shaft that doesn't cost extra. You are the very first person to ask for that shaft in a S/R or R flex so we stock what is the most popular shafts. After hitting the Ascent in the 60gm r-flex I do think the IZ in r-flex would really be a great shaft for you". Of course I am not going to spend an additional $250 on a shaft I have not hit and for all I know the Ascent could give me better numbers or close to equal numbers and save $250. 

... The above said, if the OEM fitter has to start from scratch and/or you aren't hitting the ball consistently or like you normally do, he has much more to figure out and being short on time could very well happen.  I have never had an OEM fitter dealing with anymore than 2 players and more often than not, just me. 

[RichL85]

You all had a better experience than I did. I ended up getting pushed to the side so the employee of the course that was hosting the event could use the launch monitor for his personal long drive contest. Over the course of an hour I hit a total a two driver heads, 3 shafts, and two iron heads with my usual shaft. No data to work off, no recommendations, no real attention at all. Sad I didn't get to attend the Taylormade event instead of Callaway. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

9 hours ago, RichL85 said:

You all had a better experience than I did. I ended up getting pushed to the side so the employee of the course that was hosting the event could use the launch monitor for his personal long drive contest. Over the course of an hour I hit a total a two driver heads, 3 shafts, and two iron heads with my usual shaft. No data to work off, no recommendations, no real attention at all. Sad I didn't get to attend the Taylormade event instead of Callaway. 

That’s a course and/or course employee who doesn’t care about their customer. I’ve never been to a demo day where the rep or staff got in the way of a fitting. 

[pakman92]

I just got back from the Vendor fitting appointment.  It ended up being driver only.  45 minutes wasn't long enough for both.   It was not a great experience.    First, he wasn't set up yet.  I was his first appointment so it's understandable.   He had trouble setting up Trackman 4 in the hitting bay so we needed help from the in store fitter.  

He wasn't interested in seeing how I do with my current driver.  Red flag #1.    I asked him, I would like to hit my driver first.  He agreed it's a good idea.   I noticed that the spin #s in italic, he said it's OK.  Red flag #2.  I insisted and the store staff pulled out RCT's from the drawer in the bay and we were off again.   I wanted to see dispersion data, he couldn't figure it out, Red flag #3.  After hitting my driver, he handed my Rogue ST MAX with a shaft weight similar to mine which is good.  He told me that this head is similar to my Mavrik head.   I noticed that he hasn't tag this as a new driver in trackman which would be needed to do comparison.  Surprised, he couldn't figure it out.   Red flag #4.  I gave up on the fitting and decided to just test out heads in default setting.    

Rogue ST MAX was a very forgiving (at least in terms of left to right dispersion).  It seemed just as long as the Mavrik, but I was starting it out straighter and drawing it less.   There appear to be fewer blocked shots to the right which i hate.    I'm not really sure if I hit it that much better than the Mavrik since the fitter couldn't figure out comparison feature of Trackman software.  Duh....   Another big thing I noticed was how the Rogue ST Max sat.  When I sit my Mavrik down, it naturally rotates open (maybe 3 deg?) quite a bit so I have to be sure to hold it square and not let it rest on the ground.  Rogue ST Max sat very square on its own.   I asked the vendor fitter to put my current shaft in the Rogue ST MAX head and results were even better.   I should really see if I can try this head in a proper fitting environment.

Rogue ST MAX LS resulted in too many knuckle dives along with some bombs.  It felt significantly less forgiving too me.   I would have love to played around with loft and shaft choices, but we were out of time.  

 

 

 

[chisag]

26 minutes ago, pakman92 said:

I just got back from the Vendor fitting appointment.  It ended up being driver only.  45 minutes wasn't long enough for both.   It was not a great experience.    First, he wasn't set up yet.  I was his first appointment so it's understandable.   He had trouble setting up Trackman 4 in the hitting bay so we needed help from the in store fitter.  

 

... I have only done one fitting in a store and all that told me was how the T200's felt. If I am not outdoors where I can see my ball flight, the fitting doesn't really help me at all. I know some do well indoors but I am not one f them. Hopefully you can find another outdoors where they bring all their own equipment and do a much better job imo. I have another Callaway driver fitting tomorrow at The Raven which is also the home of True Spec golf. 

[pakman92]

2 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... I have only done one fitting in a store and all that told me was how the T200's felt. If I am not outdoors where I can see my ball flight, the fitting doesn't really help me at all. I know some do well indoors but I am not one f them. Hopefully you can find another outdoors where they bring all their own equipment and do a much better job imo. I have another Callaway driver fitting tomorrow at The Raven which is also the home of True Spec golf. 

Good luck with your fitting.  Wish you a better experience and hope you find the perfect driver.

[chisag]

4 minutes ago, pakman92 said:

Good luck with your fitting.  Wish you a better experience and hope you find the perfect driver.

... Thanks, pretty sure I am sticking with the Sim2 Max but I need to hit the Cobra LTDx before reaching a final decision. Last Cally fitting he didn't really want me in the LS head and that is the one that interests me. He had me hit the 9* and after 2 swings put me back in the Max and I wanted to try the LS 10.5* but we ran out of time. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

40 minutes ago, pakman92 said:

I just got back from the Vendor fitting appointment.  It ended up being driver only.  45 minutes wasn't long enough for both.   It was not a great experience.    First, he wasn't set up yet.  I was his first appointment so it's understandable.   He had trouble setting up Trackman 4 in the hitting bay so we needed help from the in store fitter.  

He wasn't interested in seeing how I do with my current driver.  Red flag #1.    I asked him, I would like to hit my driver first.  He agreed it's a good idea.   I noticed that the spin #s in italic, he said it's OK.  Red flag #2.  I insisted and the store staff pulled out RCT's from the drawer in the bay and we were off again.   I wanted to see dispersion data, he couldn't figure it out, Red flag #3.  After hitting my driver, he handed my Rogue ST MAX with a shaft weight similar to mine which is good.  He told me that this head is similar to my Mavrik head.   I noticed that he hasn't tag this as a new driver in trackman which would be needed to do comparison.  Surprised, he couldn't figure it out.   Red flag #4.  I gave up on the fitting and decided to just test out heads in default setting.    

Rogue ST MAX was a very forgiving (at least in terms of left to right dispersion).  It seemed just as long as the Mavrik, but I was starting it out straighter and drawing it less.   There appear to be fewer blocked shots to the right which i hate.    I'm not really sure if I hit it that much better than the Mavrik since the fitter couldn't figure out comparison feature of Trackman software.  Duh....   Another big thing I noticed was how the Rogue ST Max sat.  When I sit my Mavrik down, it naturally rotates open (maybe 3 deg?) quite a bit so I have to be sure to hold it square and not let it rest on the ground.  Rogue ST Max sat very square on its own.   I asked the vendor fitter to put my current shaft in the Rogue ST MAX head and results were even better.   I should really see if I can try this head in a proper fitting environment.

Rogue ST MAX LS resulted in too many knuckle dives along with some bombs.  It felt significantly less forgiving too me.   I would have love to played around with loft and shaft choices, but we were out of time.  

 

 

 

Personal preference is to be hitting outdoors or at least from inside a bag to outdoors. Indoor fittings aren’t optimal imo. You don’t get any idea of actually ball flight and it solely has to be the numbers one relies on which for some may not register like peak height and descent angle or launch and how it translates into the ball flight.

This is the problem with any OEM demo day fittings. You have to rely on how good the rep is to get a good fitting. Unless one is familiar with the rep from past experience it’s going to be a crap shoot. There are several brands here who have had suspect qualified demo day reps, and some brands who do a good job promoting within you may have a good demo day rep one year and not so good the next. What I’ve noticed in this area is the sales reps have been doing less and less of the demo days and relying on their staff to do them. 

[chisag]

On 3/11/2022 at 10:23 AM, pakman92 said:

I just got back from the Vendor fitting appointment.  It ended up being driver only.  45 minutes wasn't long enough for both.   It was not a great experience.    First, he wasn't set up yet.  I was his first appointment so it's understandable.   He had trouble setting up Trackman 4 in the hitting bay so we needed help from the in store fitter. 

  Rogue ST MAX was a very forgiving (at least in terms of left to right dispersion).  It seemed just as long as the Mavrik, but I was starting it out straighter and drawing it less.   There appear to be fewer blocked shots to the right which i hate.    I'm not really sure if I hit it that much better than the Mavrik since the fitter couldn't figure out comparison feature of Trackman software.  Duh....   Another big thing I noticed was how the Rogue ST Max sat.  When I sit my Mavrik down, it naturally rotates open (maybe 3 deg?) quite a bit so I have to be sure to hold it square and not let it rest on the ground.  Rogue ST Max sat very square on its own.   I asked the vendor fitter to put my current shaft in the Rogue ST MAX head and results were even better.   I should really see if I can try this head in a proper fitting environment.

Rogue ST MAX LS resulted in too many knuckle dives along with some bombs.  It felt significantly less forgiving too me.   I would have love to played around with loft and shaft choices, but we were out of time.  

 

... Again, sorry your experience was so ... so ... so  . What a difference a good fitter outdoors can make and I apologize in advance for my completely different experience. So I had my 2nd Callaway fitting today and it was such an excellent experience. I was booked for 1/2 hr but he kept me a full hour. I got very lucky because this guy was really, really good. My playing pard was being fit for an entire bag and when my fitter said after just a few swings "You have excellent hands. I'll bet you are very good at pitching, chipping and putting" and my pard said "He gets up and down from anywhere and when I think I may win a hole he hits it to tap in range and holed out too many times to count". I thought that was amazingly observant for just watching a few driver swings.

... My smash factor was constantly 1.50 to 1.51 and when I would miss a little he would say "A little in the heel? A little on the toe? I can tell by the sound and your swing before seeing the numbers come up" and he was always right. But the most awesome thing was he put me in sooooo many different shafts. After watching me hit my Sim2 Max he said he had a good idea what will work but just in case he wanted me to hit some shafts that may not be perfect on paper but what the he!!, you're here and I have the shafts so lets try 'em all! Unfortunately this was the "lite kit" so not as many options as my last fitting with Callaway. If I didn't get a good trajectory with a mid/high straight ball or slight draw he took it back after 3 swings. So we hit about 5 different shafts before he said he thought the Graphite Design HD would be a great fit, but after 2 swings he said "nope" although I insisted on hitting one more and got a good result and he said "You just aren't timing this shaft as well so lets not change your swing to fit the shaft, lets find the shaft that fits your swing". Next up was the Ventus Red Velocore and again OK but not ideal. My previous favorite shaft the Graphite Design AD-IZ was also really good in a stiff flex but he did not have the S/R flex and was not surprised I loved that shaft because I am right between R and S. Then he wanted me to try the RCH 55 stiff flex and it was the best shaft I had hit so far. Honestly I was shocked. He put me in the Tensei AV r-flex which is pretty much the same as my current gamer the Tensei Raw Blue in r-flex and I was a little surprised that the RCH was just a little better. Finally he changed the Tensei AV 65 to a stiff flex and it was just magical. He smiled and turned to the other fitter and said "Told ya!". After watching me swing my driver without knowing what was in it, he put the Tensei AV aside as it was his best guess. I told you this guy was good. 

... Finally he put me back in some of the shafts that worked well just to be sure and after 2 swings with all of them, he put the AV stiff flex back in and the magic returned. It was just a perfect fit. I did all this testing with the Rogue ST LS head in 10.5* and I asked should we hit the standard ST or Triple Diamond or the 9* loft in the LS and he said no need, he knew from my first few swings the LS in 10.5* was gonna be the head. Most of the shafts that did not fit me as well resulted in about 240ish total distance. the RCH and Tensei AV stiff flex had me at 255+ with a good 10 yds more carry distance, but the Tensei had a better feel and little tighter shot pattern. Spin was 1800-2400 depending trajectory and shaft but the Tensei AV was right around 2200 consistently. If I would have paid $100 for the fitting I would have been very pleased but for free it was the bet fitting experience I have had to date. He also gave me a dozen Chrome Soft X because he said he enjoyed the fitting so much and really got to use his expertise because my drives were pretty consistent. I would add my first Rogue and Stealth fittings were good and I was swinging OK, but today I felt really good so that certainly helped. 

... AND first fitting my playing pard ever did and I had to book it for him and force him to go because he knows zero about equipment and just doesn't care although he knew his equipment sucked, but hit the ball better than he ever has in his life with clubs that actually fit him. DUH! He bought a full bag of Callaway clubs LOL. I asked him what heads and shafts they fit him in and he had no idea    but really loved whatever they were. The only thing I knew was they went with the Tensei AV in r-flex and the regular ST head and he thought maybe that was a mistake because that was the same as mine and I hit it so much farther than he does.  I asked did he love it when he hit it? He admitted it was the best driver and shaft he ever hit and when I started telling him the LS is a completely different head and the Tensei AV is a s-flex while his ... and saw his eyes glazing over like I was a chemistry teacher giving a lecture on rock formations and the symbols for each of their layers on the Periodic Chart. 

... What a great day. (sorry again pakman )

[pakman92]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

 

... Again, sorry your experience was so ... so ... so  . What a difference a good fitter outdoors can make and I apologize in advance for my completely different experience. So I had my 2nd Callaway fitting today and it was such an excellent experience. I was booked for 1/2 hr but he kept me a full hour. I got very lucky because this guy was really, really good. My playing pard was being fit for an entire bag and when my fitter said after just a few swings "You have excellent hands. I'll bet you are very good at pitching, chipping and putting" and my pard said "He gets up and down from anywhere and when I think I may win a hole he hits it to tap in range and holed out too many times to count". I thought that was amazingly observant for just watching a few driver swings.

... My smash factor was constantly 1.50 to 1.51 and when I would miss a little he would say "A little in the heel? A little on the toe? I can tell by the sound and your swing before seeing the numbers come up" and he was always right. But the most awesome thing was he put me in sooooo many different shafts. After watching me hit my Sim2 Max he said he had a good idea what will work but just in case he wanted me to hit some shafts that may not be perfect on paper but what the he!!, you're here and I have the shafts so lets try 'em all! Unfortunately this was the "lite kit" so not as many options as my last fitting with Callaway. If I didn't get a good trajectory with a mid/high straight ball or slight draw he took it back after 3 swings. So we hit about 5 different shafts before he said he thought the Graphite Design HD would be a great fit, but after 2 swings he said "nope" although I insisted on hitting one more and got a good result and he said "You just aren't timing this shaft as well so lets not change your swing to fit the shaft, lets find the shaft that fits your swing". Next up was the Ventus Red Velocore and again OK but not ideal. My previous favorite shaft the Graphite Design AD-IZ was also really good in a stiff flex but he did not have the S/R flex and was not surprised I loved that shaft because I am right between R and S. Then he wanted me to try the RCH 55 stiff flex and it was the best shaft I had hit so far. Honestly I was shocked. He put me in the Tensei AV r-flex which is pretty much the same as my current gamer the Tensei Raw Blue in r-flex and I was a little surprised that the RCH was just a little better. Finally he changed the Tensei AV 65 to a stiff flex and it was just magical. He smiled and turned to the other fitter and said "Told ya!". After watching me swing my driver without knowing what was in it, he put the Tensei AV aside as it was his best guess. I told you this guy was good. 

... Finally he put me back in some of the shafts that worked well just to be sure and after 2 swings with all of them, he put the AV stiff flex back in and the magic returned. It was just a perfect fit. I did all this testing with the Rogue ST LS head in 10.5* and I asked should we hit the standard ST or Triple Diamond or the 9* loft in the LS and he said no need, he knew from my first few swings the LS in 10.5* was gonna be the head. Most of the shafts that did not fit me as well resulted in about 240ish total distance. the RCH and Tensei AV stiff flex had me at 255+ with a good 10 yds more carry distance, but the Tensei had a better feel and little tighter shot pattern. Spin was 1800-2400 depending trajectory and shaft but the Tensei AV was right around 2200 consistently. If I would have paid $100 for the fitting I would have been very pleased but for free it was the bet fitting experience I have had to date. He also gave me a dozen Chrome Soft X because he said he enjoyed the fitting so much and really got to use his expertise because my drives were pretty consistent. I would add my first Rogue and Stealth fittings were good and I was swinging OK, but today I felt really good so that certainly helped. 

... AND first fitting my playing pard ever did and I had to book it for him and force him to go because he knows zero about equipment and just doesn't care although he knew his equipment sucked, but hit the ball better than he ever has in his life with clubs that actually fit him. DUH! He bought a full bag of Callaway clubs LOL. I asked him what heads and shafts they fit him in and he had no idea    but really loved whatever they were. The only thing I knew was they went with the Tensei AV in r-flex and the regular ST head and he thought maybe that was a mistake because that was the same as mine and I hit it so much farther than he does.  I asked did he love it when he hit it? He admitted it was the best driver and shaft he ever hit and when I started telling him the LS is a completely different head and the Tensei AV is a s-flex while his ... and saw his eyes glazing over like I was a chemistry teacher giving a lecture on rock formations and the symbols for each of their layers on the Periodic Chart. 

... What a great day. (sorry again pakman )

Lucky you!!!!!  I’m glad it worked out great for you.  I guess it’s a hit and miss with these vendor fitting days.  Only hope that true spec or club champions have better lots of fitters. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

7 hours ago, pakman92 said:

Lucky you!!!!!  I’m glad it worked out great for you.  I guess it’s a hit and miss with these vendor fitting days.  Only hope that true spec or club champions have better lots of fitters. 

Club champion is hit or miss. You will find better fitters with TruSpec. You will be hitting towards a range and can see ball flight. Only downside to TruSpec that I can think of is they don’t fit stock offerings so everything will be upcharged shafts.