Fitting without an existing club

[mynerds]

Hi all - I've been a hyper-casual golfer for over a decade, predominately spending my time socially at ranges and 9-hole public courses. I recently started taking lessons and playing more consistently to enjoy the game more.

Up to this point, I've only ever owned a hodgepodge set of irons, a hybrid, a putter, and a driver predominately assembled from clearance selections at big box stores or second-hand bins from Play It Again Sports. I hadn't considered getting fitted previously because to me, a club was a club was a club. I was advised at the end of a lesson last year to add a hybrid to my bag and picked up a used TaylorMade Burner Superfast Rescue 4 hybrid (the only used left-handed hybrid in the store) that would charitably be labeled "Poor" condition. I took it to the range and loved it. It was the first time that a club felt "good" and made me wonder if my other clubs were a poor fit.

I plan to schedule a fitting for my entire bag, and it seems the consensus is to not do an entire bag fitting in a single session. If I were to schedule a fitting for fairway woods, I wouldn't have anything to bring other than my well-worn hybrid. It looks like some fitters offer the option to fit the entire long game of Driver/FW/Hybrid in one sitting, but again I wouldn't have a FW to bring as a baseline.

Is there any issue in scheduling a fitting that includes a fairway woods without having a club to be fit against? I'd prefer to not buy a random club that I anticipate being immediately replaced, but I also can appreciate the need to know my own tendencies with a club before going to a fitting. Appreciate any insight you can share!

[cnosil]

12 minutes ago, mynerds said:

Is there any issue in scheduling a fitting that includes a fairway woods without having a club to be fit against? I'd prefer to not buy a random club that I anticipate being immediately replaced, but I also can appreciate the need to know my own tendencies with a club before going to a fitting. Appreciate any insight you can share!

I don't see an issue with what you are proposing.   If you don't have a FW wood it isn't a big deal and I would approach the fitting to simply find a club that would exist between driver and hybrid or the club after your FW. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

You can still get fit without any clubs just fine. Existing clubs are used to get a baseline of your current setup and to see if there are clubs in the fitting that can beat them.

without clubs they will use the interview process to pick a combo to start with then go from there to get your dialed in

[McGolf]

As was posted above, RB is correct. The fitting process should be about finding the spec for your game and then applying it to the clubs available. 

If there is a club in the bag you cant do without, or just want to try, then as already suggest hit yours to make sure there actually is a club that can beat it. 

I have had a golfer come in that I fit a few years ago and still cant beat the performance by a margin that wouldn't suggest getting a new stix.

 

Edited March 29, 2022 by McGolf

[ChitownM2]

Since you're in the Chicago area, check out Mistwood Performance center if you are interested in doing a full bag fitting.  They will break it into as many sessions as you want and it is much cheaper than truespec or club champion.  Assuming you aren't looking for hitting a bunch of exotic shafts and plan to stick to what the manufacturers offer, they should have everything you would realistically want.