I was underwhelmed by my club fitting because …..

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, Badams69 said:

Valid point, but do keep in mind ...... I'm speaking in the context of myself who targets used clubs, not new.

Fitters aren’t going to spend time doing a fitting with new clubs to then say this setup will be equivalent to Y setup in older club Z because it’s not a guarantee due to design changes that could have impacted head weight and how that would affect the golfer in the fitting. Plus it’s not a guarantee that the older setup can be found by the golfer 

 

1 hour ago, Badams69 said:

Furthermore - just check this thread.  Within reason a solid fitter recommendation can't be much worse in terms of likelihood of success than a supposed real fitting.  

Maybe but maybe not. There are too many variable to say whether a recommendation would work or not compared to a real fitting especially by a good to great fitter. There are more fitters with a title that lack the actual skills to fit than good fitters. It’s why you so so many disappointed ir underwhelmed fitting response and threads around forums.

1 hour ago, Badams69 said:

Fittings are a bit over-hyped anyway.  Lots of good golf played in this world prior to the fitting craze.  Not that it has zero value, but it isn't much more of a guarantee than a solid fitters instincts would be. 

True however what’s launch monitors, adjustable heads, newer shaft and club technology along with fitness have allowed for golfers to be more optimized in their setup compared to pre launch monitor days and the average or below average golfer doesn’t have to settle for something off the shelf and try to fit their swing to it. Low handicap golfers have a much easier time making adjustments to equipment that doesn’t fit them compared got the mid and high handicaps. It’s why fittings benefit the mid to high handicaps more than the low handicap.

But this type of argument is usally made by those who haven’t had the luxury of being fit by a true fitter.

1 hour ago, Badams69 said:

f that is their mindset - my money and their time shouldn't get involved.  I was upfront about who I was as a consumer, but they were not.  They agreed going in and crawfished!

There are two sides to every story,but if this is the case it’s just an example of a not so good fitter 

There’s no fitter that I know that is going to spend time fitting a customer to something that can’t be purchased from their in store stock or ordered thru their accounts with the different brands 

If I was doing a fitting for someone I’m not going for them to something new and then recommend an older setup that might work for them and if it doesn’t have the golfer say that I gave them bad information. 

[bigteesgolf]

I went to a PXG Iron fitting this week and thought I'd come away with everything nailed down.  Instead, I have to go back for a 2nd session.  The first session was scheduled for 1 hour, the second will be 1.5 hrs.  The gentleman doing the fitting was really nice and extremely helpful.  But I think he spent a lot of time educating me on the different clubs and technology when we could have spent more of that time going through the various tweaks.  

I don't know if he was blowing smoke and trying to make me "feel good"...but when he explained that he would need to bring me back he told me that it was because "I had a good swing with consistent ball striking - so there is a lot of small adjustments we can go into to get everything dialed in".  At the end of the day, I definitely believe he wants me to have the right club with the right fit, but  I couldn't help but wonder - how much of this is just "sales pitch"?

I'm not upset about it, the guy was really nice.  And if I'm going to spend $1k+ for new irons that I'll have in the bag for years, I'm perfectly happy taking the time to get them right.  Wondering if the "sales pitch" feeling is common for others?  

[bigteesgolf]

3 hours ago, cksurfdude said:

Absolutely! One of my first fittings .. early in my golfing journey - which is to say I didn't yet fully realize how hard this game is plus how bad I was at it! - was a full bag fitting at a high end custom independent shop.

Silly, I know.

To the fitter's immense credit not only was he extremely patient but his ultimate advice - which he took time to explain carefully, and tactfully, to me - was to take more lessons.

So the fitting itself was disappointing but the ultimate outcome was an excellent learning experience

Pretty awesome they did that for you instead of just selling you a bag of sticks!

[bigteesgolf]

7 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

"because at that point the golfer is starting to make adjustments to get that setup to work for their swing."

Interesting point - during my iron fitting I absolutely did that, but the fitter called me out.  It wasn't about chasing a certain club or distance...it was after an adjustment was made.  My natural shot is a draw, my bad shot will hook or pull too far left. The fitter wanted to play with the lie angle a bit to see if it would straighten out.  My first shot was a bit more than a fade, so I hooded the second one and hit it straight.  He was pretty quick to tell me not to adjust to the club.    

[Badams69]

18 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

 

But this type of argument is usally made by those who haven’t had the luxury of being fit by a true fitter.  - From my experience even recommended fitters are likely recommended by default of being least worst people know of in their area.

There are two sides to every story,but if this is the case it’s just an example of a not so good fitter 

RickyBobby "There’s no fitter that I know that is going to spend time fitting a customer to something that can’t be purchased from their in store stock or ordered thru their accounts with the different brands 

If I was doing a fitting for someone I’m not going for them to something new and then recommend an older setup that might work for them and if it doesn’t have the golfer say that I gave them bad information."     Maybe so - but it was all laid out prior to even booking the session, no benefit for me to book it knowing what I know about me, and their fee was paid.  As opposed to being worked into purchase. If they didn't want to do it, FINE.  But they knew deal and went ahead with session.  They can not want to all day or feel the way you do, that is certainly their perogative. But, if I make my intentions clear - that is their impetus to make their parameters clear also.  Then no harm no foul.

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

15 minutes ago, bigteesgolf said:

Interesting point - during my iron fitting I absolutely did that, but the fitter called me out.  It wasn't about chasing a certain club or distance...it was after an adjustment was made.  My natural shot is a draw, my bad shot will hook or pull too far left. The fitter wanted to play with the lie angle a bit to see if it would straighten out.  My first shot was a bit more than a fade, so I hooded the second one and hit it straight.  He was pretty quick to tell me not to adjust to the club.    

As he should. The fitter is looking for feedback from the golfer and also to see what happens with changes. In that case he probably went extreme in the lie angle then was going to bring back some based on what happened. They are looking for our normal swing.

 

I did a titlesit fitting a few years back. The fitter made a lie and loft changed and I took my normal setup but based on what my eyes saw my body adjusted and changed my swing and the ball flight was not good. He only needed 1 swing to know that wasn’t the setting 

[Shrek74]

I still believe that getting fit is still the best option for playing our best golf with our best club options. But there are reasons why this might not always produce the best results.

1. Fitters vary, by experience and "give a damn." I've found that the most experienced fitters tend to be at the more boutique places, like Cool Clubs, True Spec, and similar - the dedicated club fitting companies. That's not always the case, but in many places that will be the norm. Places like PGA SS and GG will be filled with many part-time employees or those that took a class and are now fitting players. Again, not always the case but it's more likely. PXG can be a mix of both, although they tend to have better fitters than the big box stores and tend to really know their products since it's just the one brand of heads they have to know. My experience also tells me that the "give a damn" factor tends to be higher in the dedicated fitting companies. Again, your mileage may vary but this has been my experience having dealt with both.

2. What head and shaft options are available at the fitter. Most big box stores will have a more limited selection of shafts for the brands they carry. They will have most if not all stock options, but tend to have very few of the upgrades beyond ones that are super popular (Ventus comes to mind). On the flipside, I've heard that one of the more specialty fitters tends to carry all sorts of upgrades and exotic shafts but has very few if any stock shafts. I'm not sure how that works for them, but to me that's a deal breaker. It's worth a call to any local big box store or specialty fitter to find out what they carry, especially if you have a good concept of what you want to test.

Sadly not all big box stores are bad and not all specialty fitters are good. It can be a very hit or miss experience at most places. So going in with a certain level of expectations and completed research ahead of and it time should help get things going in the right direction.

Put your ego aside. Ego costs a large majority of golfers higher scores than they would actually get if they set their ego down and just played the best clubs for their actual game. We'd all love to play the clubs the pro's do, but only an extremely small percentage of amateur golfers actually can. Don't be afraid to play game improvement clubs, if that's where your game is or even if you just want more forgiveness and/or distance than your handicap might suggest. I know single digit handicaps who play clubs like G430 irons because they don't want the punishment they get on the occasional mishit on a blade or CB. So be open to anything and ignore ego.

Truly take time to know your game, and be honest about it both to yourself and to the fitter. This relates to the ego issue above. I'd love to play a better players iron, but that's not where I am yet. So I'm in an iron that's a combo game improvement - player's distance iron while I work on my swing and my ball-striking. I know my driver tends to be hit in the heal a large majority of the time, so I'd ensure my fitter knows that to see if we can find a shaft type and length combo with the right head to help make that better, while I also work on the swing myself. Make notes on your phone or tablet or whatever as you think about things. Have those notes handy for the fitter before the fitting and have an open and honest dialog of where your game is so the don't waste your time or swing count in the fitting.

Research the options you might be interested in. Heads, shafts, grips, brands, etc all need to be reviewed ahead of time. The more info you know about the various brands and where their clubs land in the various categories, the better you'll be. You don't want to waste shots in a fitting with a Taylormade P7MC when you're a 20 handicap. Shafts can be harder to gather information from online, but it's worth the effort especially if you narrow down your clubs to a choice few and know their stock shaft options. If you've found shafts currently or previously that you've done well with, have that information handy to share. It's likely the fitter will have something like a Mizuno shaft optimizer to help get that part going quicker, but knowing you liked a shaft in a previous set does help too.

And know where you want to go with your game in the next 3-5 years. Make note if you're getting lessons and how often. How often do you play and more so how much do you practice are good indications to the fitter your level of impending improvement which can help them find something that works for you today and as your game improves.

Go in with lower expectations but a firm understanding of you, your game, your level of commitment, a budget, and what you're looking for from the fitter. 100% honesty is the only way the fitting will be as accurate as possible and have any hope of having a positive outcome.

Ok, I've rambled on way too long. But hopefully something in this ridiculously long post has value.

[Woodrow72]

My putter fitting lasted almost 2 hours and then had a putter made just to my specs , some of the best money I’ve spent Flanigan Bilt putters 

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, Shrek74 said:

PXG can be a mix of both, although they tend to have better fitters than the big box stores and tend to really know their products since it's just the one brand of heads they have to know.

This goes for every brand and these fitters have year of experience before they were even hired by pxg either prior to the store opening or when the stores opened. The fitter that did my two fittings had been a fitter for over a decade and worked for several of the brands. it’s not different than when you go to a demo day. Most of the reps are above average fitters but some who are only on staff for demo days are hit or miss and they all know their product lines , but the good one like the good ones from pxg aren’t good because they know their product better than someone who does multi vendor fittings, they are good because they understand the golf swing, ball flights laws and have good knowledge of the designs of the shafts and heads and use all their experienced gained over the years to do a top notch job.
 

If you do the tour van fitting at pga superstore or the tour fitting at 2nd swing you are going to get some real good fitters as well. The ones that do the fittings in the bays aren’t as experienced and will be hit or miss depending on their experience and who they learned from. 

1 hour ago, Shrek74 said:

What head and shaft options are available at the fitter. Most big box stores will have a more limited selection of shafts for the brands they carry. They will have most if not all stock options, but tend to have very few of the upgrades beyond ones that are super popular (Ventus comes to mind). On the flipside, I've heard that one of the more specialty fitters tends to carry all sorts of upgrades and exotic shafts but has very few if any stock shafts. I'm not sure how that works for them, but to me that's a deal breaker. It's worth a call to any local big box store or specialty fitter to find out what they carry, especially if you have a good concept of what you want to test.

For the vast majority of golfers no upcharge options are going to work just fine and there will be little to not noticeable difference in performance from an upcharge shaft. 
 

As for the places that only carry exotics it’s a business model to upsell the customer. Also it’s usually the customer who isn’t too worried about the overall cost that will go there.

There are members here who did a fitting and the TM made for ventus shaft performers better than the upcharged aftermarket ventus shaft. 

[Dweed]

Maybe I missed it. Hard getting cell reception while camping. I've read a lot of folks experiences. I do 100% agree, do some research first. What I'm missing is...I haven't read any input from people that consider themselves to be "fitters", whether part time or as part of their current job operations. What do fitters say? What should we be asking and or coming to see you, what expectations should we have?

[GolfSpy_APH]

Unfortunately I can't say I have had a single fitting where I was blown away impressed..in the end they were all fine but none have left me with the ultimate confidence and experience I had been hoping for.

[Jim Shaw]

18 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Unfortunately I can't say I have had a single fitting where I was blown away impressed..in the end they were all fine but none have left me with the ultimate confidence and experience I had been hoping for.

I feel a bit that way as well, the one takeaway from my iron fitting was more about “feedback” with the numbers that I am doing the right things with my swing. 
and how degrees of loft can really be adjusted to delive the required results carry distance wise. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

2 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Unfortunately I can't say I have had a single fitting where I was blown away impressed..in the end they were all fine but none have left me with the ultimate confidence and experience I had been hoping for.

But it’s you come away with some be knowledge? Whether it’s what shafts RIR heads don’t work for you or do work for you? Maybe tendencies you have.

what to ask or look for in your next fitting? 
 

I’ve come away with some nugget of information or maybe a couple from all my fittings. 

[Donn lost in San Diego]

My first was excellent, DOT Golf, Bob Brown, in San Leandro Calif, near the Tony Lima course.  1995, he was near the end of his career I guess beause he disappeared a few years later.  I was on a budget, not a good physique for golf.  He fitted me with knockoffs of the original Big Bertha irons on Paragon shafts.  I used them for a long time.  Next 2 fittings were also good.  Living next to Carlsbad CA, where golf clubs are king, makes fittings a high probabiity of success, no room here for mediocre.  2018, Dan at Carlsbad Golf Center fitted me with Ping I 500 irons on Recoils.  Later Cole Dorfman with PXG fitted me with a PXG 0211 driver in 2021.  3 for 3 Never had a bad experience.  Unlike some lessons, I had a few where I never went back.  Got lucky in lessons twice, Brian Bobbitt in Mira Mesa, and Rob Manning now in Encinitas.  Again, living in golf heaven, I am lucky.  I do lots of reading, scrounge around at thrift stores for bargains, and learn a lot that way too.  I buy clubs to give away to schools.  I go to the range, hit them, then clean them and donate them.  I think Tom Watson's "The Timeless Swing" is the best instruction book, better even than Hogan and Nicklaus.

[Donn lost in San Diego]

1.  Besides doing some research ahead, I think going in you put away all your planned brand preference.  If there are several fitters at your location, ask for advice which one is best for your age, skill, gender, etc.  A fitter who is expert for scratch golfers might not be the best choice for a beginner or a high handicapper.  Get a personality match.

 

2.  Plan a trip here to San Diego and get fitted within spittin' distance of Callaway, Titleist, Taylormade, Cobra, Honma, Aldila, Evnroll, Indi Wedge and Torrey Pines.  If you are going to go somewhere for a vacation, might as well make it a twofer.  Five Golfmart stores here, all with good people, the Del Mar and Carlsbad have outdoors.  

[cnosil]

Interesting responses.  I asked why you DIDN'T like your fitting and were underwhelmed and most people are responding that they had good fittings.  

Basically the reason people  are underwhelmed seems to be that they didn't have a big enough selection and only hit a 6/7 iron.     I find that interesting since I probably would have asked/researched  prior to my fitting what the process was.   

[RickyBobby_PR]

2 hours ago, cnosil said:

Interesting responses.  I asked why you DIDN'T like your fitting and were underwhelmed and most people are responding that they had good fittings.  

Basically the reason people  are underwhelmed seems to be that they didn't have a big enough selection and only hit a 6/7 iron.     I find that interesting since I probably would have asked/researched  prior to my fitting what the process was.   

Some people think they need hours to find a good fit if a club. instead don’t realize a good fitter is going to narrow down the head and shaft choices with in the first 30 mins if it’s a multi vendor fitting like a TruSpec or similar. If it’s a single oem fitting it’s probably 15 mins 

the rest of the fitting is going to be dialing in the choices and starting to eliminate the few options of shafts that aren’t working

 

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Some people think they need hours to find a good fit if a club. instead don’t realize a good fitter is going to narrow down the head and shaft choices with in the first 30 mins if it’s a multi vendor fitting like a TruSpec or similar. If it’s a single oem fitting it’s probably 15 mins 

the rest of the fitting is going to be dialing in the choices and starting to eliminate the few options of shafts that aren’t working

 

Don't disagree.  we read about people that want to hit lots of shots with clubs to get the feel.   We also read about people that want to see ball flight and indoors vs. outdoors.    The point of my post was that the things people are not happy with are things they could have found out prior to even doing the fitting. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

42 minutes ago, Evelyn242 said:

80% of custom-fit golfers hit the ball more accurately and consistently based off of launch monitor tracking data. Golfers who were custom-fit were 22% more likely to see an improvement in their scores of 2 strokes or more per round, and 56% more likely to see an improvement of more than 5 strokes per round.

Source or sources for this data?

[cnosil]

35 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Source or sources for this data?

AI generated data