Indoor or outdoor fitting?

[CbusGolf]

For driver fitting specifically, what’s the better option: indoors on a simulator or outdoors with a launch monitor? Advantage to indoors is you can use a new make/model of your ball of choice, but you don’t get “real weather” results. Outdoors, you are in the real world, but probably hitting old range balls. Anyone’s thoughts would be appreciated. 

[cnosil]

Probably most important to hit gamer balls.   Both will leverage launch monitors.   Some people don't swing well indoors so outdoors would be better.  Weather influenced results should be ignored.  IMO, the only advantage to outdoors is you can see the actual ball flight.  

[MattF]

Outdoors for me. I want to see the actual ball flight.

[GolfSpy_APH]

Always prefer outdoor when possible!

[AusGreg]

Indoor fitting using trackman to narrow down shaft choices, the field testing the two favourites.

[RickyBobby_PR]

Individual preference. Some have issues swing indoors and change their swing, others don’t.

Some want to see ball flight others don’t.

Indoors is controlled environment.

 

[Nunfa0]

For Driver I don't mind, I seem to go better in a bay at a range though. For irons I much prefer outdoors on grass.

[MIGregB]

Yep, outdoors with your gamer would be my favorite. It's just tougher to accomplish, even if your gamer is one of the big 3 or 4 balls; Prov 1, TP5, ChromeSoft, etc. vs. Snell, MaxFli, etc. But I had a chance to directly compare my MaxFli & Snell of choice against Prov's so I have a decent handle on how they compare for me. But if I could actually blindly tell the difference, I guarantee that the handicap mentioned to the left wouldn't be double digit!!

[John Marchetto]

For driver definitely indoors because you can use gamer balls and know distances.  However, I like to fit my irons outside so I can see targets. 6 or 7 iron I can track to the 150 target flag and actually see it. 

[ChuckZ]

I use both, all depending on availability of my fitters and how big of a hurry I am to get a new club.  My outdoor fitter is about an hour and a half away and my indoor fitter is about five minutes from the house.  Both are certified, very qualified and experienced.  Neither has ever failed me in a fitting.  

[B_R_A_D_Y]

Got fit couple days ago at our club’s fitting day when club manufactures set up. BUT we were hitting directly into 30-40 mph winds with 55 mph gusts … eventually blew their awnings over. AND as if that wasn’t enough, the lower portion of the range was flooded I couldn’t see the landing and runout. So while they calibrated the launch monitor and I could see comparison stats between my club & the new one I was considering, I still wish I could have seen a more realistic representation of hitting the driver on the course. I haven’t pulled the trigger because I don’t kno if I trust their calibration. I’d buy it if I could return it. I miss demo clubs. 

[thewaggs]

The biggest problem with indoor simulators and launch monitors is that the “course” conditions can be manipulated for carry, rollout, temperature, etc. I KNOW how I hit my clubs and the few times I went to an indoor facility to try out some new equipment, when I hit my clubs to establish a baseline for the fitter, the numbers were off by a considerable amount! Then when I hit the “new” and improved clubs, they were ALWAYS significantly better! At least outside I can watch the ball flight and even use my rangefinder to check for accuracy on distance in some cases. 

Edited March 27, 2023 by thewaggs

[Chadillac15]

I am very much in agreement with most here. For a driver I much prefer the indoor space. I really want to see my spin with each driver I am testing and prefer hitting a prov1. For irons though, being able to get divots/hit off real grass see the ball flight, and aim at different targets/distances is exactly what I’m looking for in new irons. 

[Genes]

Over the past number of years I have gone from getting fitted by the pga store golf galaxy club champion and lastly true spec golf. 
whenever I got fitted it would always be inside. I live in northern New York which makes things difficult to hit outside in the winter. This being said, I visit Orlando about every other month for the job. I did some research and found a place that does outside fittings. True spec in Orlando does this. It’s a huge benefit as you can imagine. Especially when it comes to a wedge fitting. In my opinion wedge fittings should be done outside. Furthermore, having an outside in clubs in general should always be a preferred method. Some people might disagree and I respect that. My experience showed me that outside makes all the difference in my fitting. 
many clubs will fit out doors as well. Hitting off a mat just doesn’t do the fitting justice. 

[Laker_Long]

For driver, I would choose indoor, ideally with your ball.  I was fit on Trackman indoors with a Titleist RCT ball.  For irons, I would do the opposite (assuming decent balls outside).  I have read a few articles online that said many range mats will product a higher launch angle and lower spin than what you would get hitting off grass.  I like the suggestion of getting fit indoor and then testing the finalist(s) outside after if that is an option. 

[Tim W]

Test outside for sure. Critical to see the ball flight with launch monitors outside.
Compare shafts as well as driver heads. Test my existing shaft with different heads if possible.
I want to test recommended shafts and heads against my gamer.

Test balls after a decision on the driver. Test balls on my home course with irons and driver.

Make sure you do a second test on your new driver. It should match or exceed your first test with the club.

[dinomack99]

I recently got MIS-FIT for a PXG Gen 5 driver. It was about two weeks before Christmas, and I drove 1.5 hours to Pinehurst to fitting van. It was wet and cold that day and I was wearing three layers of clothing. My driver swing was not on, and my slice came out big time. The fitter put me into a XS shaft (my swing speed is 98mph) and 7.5-degree head turned up to 9 degrees to close the face. I was basically fitted into an anti-slice driver when I knew that my driver was relatively straight (sometimes even a baby draw). I shouldn't have pulled the trigger, but I did, thinking that I could always fine-tune later on with a simulator. 2 months later, and I went for a free "tech check" (should have been within 30 days, but weather was a problem). I was fit into a mid-spin stiff driver with a 9-degree head dialed up to 10. BIG DIFFERENCE. All this to say that I would like to be fit outside, but indoors with your gamer is the way to go. I would even say the same for irons. Just test your old irons first to establish a baseline, then swing the new stuff. I don't want to be hitting range balls and making a decision based on that.

[dlm]

Who plays indoors?  I would prefer outdoor everytime.

[GooRoo]

Everything else being equal, I would prefer outdoors. I did a driver fitting Friday, indoors, and the results were completely off base. Teeing the ball on a mat means teeing the ball higher than what I would outside. As a result, I was hitting everything substantially higher (and shorter), than normal. All the club/shaft recommendations were out of what. Now, I'm having to look at doing it again somewhere else...

[RickyBobby_PR]

2 hours ago, John Marchetto said:

For driver definitely indoors because you can use gamer balls and know distances.  However, I like to fit my irons outside so I can see targets. 6 or 7 iron I can track to the 150 target flag and actually see it. 

Are you saying you can’t get distance outside or that you can’t use gamers outside?

Curious if that is knock against indoor driver fittings why wouldn’t it be one for irons especially when iron distance is potentially more important than driver distance?

[dinomack99]

16 minutes ago, GooRoo said:

Everything else being equal, I would prefer outdoors. I did a driver fitting Friday, indoors, and the results were completely off base. Teeing the ball on a mat means teeing the ball higher than what I would outside. As a result, I was hitting everything substantially higher (and shorter), than normal. All the club/shaft recommendations were out of what. Now, I'm having to look at doing it again somewhere else...

I wouldn't have done the fitting. I would have asked them to cut down the tee (assuming it's rubber). I will spend 15 min at a driving range getting the tee height I prefer, and not the 2" poles they have in most every bay.

 

[KNH]

Outdoor!! Ball flight is key along with the numbers

[ajlacombe]

This is a great discussion topic! I think the key is the club/turf interactions,

With irons this is huge because no matter how good the mat is, the interaction will not be the same. For woods, I have a simulator and pretty much everyone has a different indoor swing, AND the tee issue is hard to overcome. Hitting from the plastic castles will not give you the same results, and even if you can peg a normal tee in your mat, it never seems to be the same either.

You can do fittings inside and you can compare A to B easily, but if you want results that are going to more closely match your on-course results, you have to go outside so that everything will the same as when you play.

There are exceptions to every rule/comment, but in general I have found that outdoor is king. If you are hitting range balls versus your ball, then that is another story - the balls need to be decent and close to your ball as well.

[Bosox04]

I prefer outdoor, but I recently had an indoor lesson. It was very good, and interesting to see the Trackman numbers. If I was being fit by someone I trusted, I wouldn’t hesitate to get fit indoors.

[KC Golf]

I think the fitter and the equipment utilized for the fitting are more important than indoor or outdoor.  I think GC Quad is the best LM for fittings. 

That being said, I do think irons and wedges are definitely only good outdoors, since turf interaction is key and feel and look (in the sunlight) as well.

[Franc38]

Outdoors, as much as possible. Alternating shots with my gamers and the new equipment being tested, looking at the numbers and not saying what I want before hands, and then making my decision based on the info of the fitter AND my needs/knowledge/discussions with my pro.

For irons it's a no brainer as hitting from mats does change A LOT compared to grass. Less spin, more speed, turf interaction being very very different.

For woods and drivers there's a bit more of a debate but hitting to an actual target, that I "depth perceive" with wind, and so on makes me adapt a bit. Obviously it's good taking that into account, but it's also good taking these variables out of the equation. So both could do. Actually, I even think that a proper fitting for a driver should be done first in the simulator, then validated on the course, then re-adjusted on sim in required.

[GolfSpy_KFT]

I have done both with driver, and in the optimal world would choose outdoor with my gamer ball. When I did an outdoor fitting a couple years ago with TM, it was at my local club and we used range balls and the results from the trackman didn't seem to add up for what really good swings were producing. The big plus, though, was seeing the ball flight. I did an indoor fitting later that year in the fall and was able to use my gamer ball and saw numbers that correlated better. That was the driver I ended up going with as well. I think as others have mentioned, if you're someone who's swing is affected by being in the enclosed simulator type space, go with an outdoor fitting so you aren't having any swing thoughts, intentional or unintentional, that may impact your results of the fitting.

[Ernie111]

I did indoor because I wanted to get new shafts for my golf clubs. I prefer outdoor. 

[Mrs Golf]

I had my first iron fitting about a 2 weeks ago and I specifically chose outdoors. A LPGA golfer said that you get more percussion and pound on your hands using a indoor turf. Outdoors give you the true feel and the soft soil gives you a better feel

[tony@CIC]

My best fitting (driver and irons) was at Windmill in Macedonia, Oh. Their 'fitting room' has a garage door that opens up onto the range. And for fittings they use new or relatively new Bridgestone practice balls. That combined with the Trackman was the best of both worlds. Even on a cold or breezy Ohio day you didn't have to layer up and you could see actual ball flight. My worst fitting was at PGASS here in Sarasota, indoor with a questionable fitter.