Is driver fitting worth it??????

[JoshM]

A good fitting can help out your game quite a bit. The issue is not just finding a good fitter but also replicating your normal swing during the process. If you are going to do it, make the most of it. Go to the range or play a couple times and try to find your swing. On fitting day, take the time to warm up and maybe hit a few dozen balls to get the feeling. Try to hit the ball as you would on the course. Don't try to kill like you're trying to get high score or something. If you swing it differently in front of the simulator, you can easily cause more harm than good. 

[BringerofRain]

1 hour ago, Bosox04 said:

I did a Titleist fitting that turned out to be a bad fitting. I was fit into the TSR4 driver, and the great strikes may be longer than my Ping G400 Max, it is nowhere near as consistent. I spoke with the Titleist rep, and he said it was just as forgiving as the TSR2, which I responded that that was impossible since the 2 is 460cc and the 4 is 420cc. He then said I wanted to pick up distance, which I responded that distance without consistently was worthless. Just an overall bad experience.

I am guessing the titleist fitting was fairly costly to be put into the wrong driver. 
 

Have you gone back to the Ping? 

[Bosox04]

35 minutes ago, BringerofRain said:

I am guessing the titleist fitting was fairly costly to be put into the wrong driver. 
 

Have you gone back to the Ping? 

I am still using my Ping G400, and I’ll be looking to trade my Titleist for something. Its initial cost was $600, and I’m sure I’ll lose money on the trade. If I do another fitting, it won’t be brand specific. I did a few fittings with other companies over the last year, and none of the other companies tried to sell me anything. In fact, they said the results and numbers were close enough that I really didn’t need to buy anything. The Titleist guy was a salesman, Mizuno,Ping, and Srixon were actually interested in my game.

[BigBoiGolf]

On 12/12/2023 at 2:34 AM, BringerofRain said:

My driver recently snapped on the car ride to the course which means I am in the market for a new driver. Fun yet depressing. Loved the F9. 
 

I am considering going to get fitted. While I think the experience could be fun it is a little pricey. 
 

My biggest question remains is it truly worth it getting fitted as an amateur. As an amateur my swing is consistently changing  and I doubt the club I got fitted for would be exact same specs  3 months into the future. 
 

I am curious to see what everyone thinks. 
 

Thank you for the input. 

 

Do you have a consistent driver swing? Most of the time when you're doing fittings, it's important to set goals for your fittings to actually have real world tangible results. The sad truth is there's a bit of funk in fittings that can work out great in the sim bay, but not even show up in realistic golf.

My recommendation is to target a shaft weight and bend profile and playing length. The reality of driver head is that they're very similar, but people overfocus way too much on them, when the head is more of a tuning project once you find a loft that should match up pretty decently into your launch conditions.

A decently close driver head will help you out of course, but a decently close golf shaft is transformative for your game. I myself had sporadic issues with delivery at 60/65 grams, when I went into the 75/80 gram territory, I was absolutely annihilating the ball.

A word of caution on adjustable hosels:

While they can be a rough way to affect launch, adjusting the hosel changes the angle at which the graphite shaft exits the head, which changes the relative shaft position in relation to its CG, which will HEAVILY affect your release or how you frame the ball up in your posture. The reason why people tell you to not adjust lofts on irons beyond 2 degrees, besides the potential structural failure of the hosel, is because it does the exact same thing.

Edited December 18, 2023 by BigBoiGolf

[BringerofRain]

Update!!!!!!

 

For anyone that is curious I went and got fitted today and I found the results to be surprising. 
 

My old Specs 10.5 degree adjusted to 9.5. 60 gram, extra stiff. 
 

New Specs, 8 degree, 70 gram,  extra stiff 

I was surprised to be put into an 8 degree driver as this has to be abnormal. Based on all the number the fitter assured me this is the correct driver spec for me. 
 

Swing speed was 110 to 115. 

[Preeway]

Interesting indeed. Very curious to hear more about your results on the course. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

On 12/18/2023 at 6:05 PM, BigBoiGolf said:

My recommendation is to target a shaft weight and bend profile and playing length. The reality of driver head is that they're very similar, but people overfocus way too much on them, when the head is more of a tuning project once you find a loft that should match up pretty decently into your launch conditions.

Most fitters including the best in the business disagree that the head is a tuning project. Also heads aren’t the same. CG placement and weight affect launch and spin. Some heads work better than others for each individual. Read various fitting reviews and how different heads didn’t work for the golfer. The shaft is the tuning aspect of the fitting. The head is used to get the ball in the right launch window. Every fitting I’ve had including by those who work at Ping hq start with the head. First it’s head type using Ping g400 as the example lst head, max head and regular head. Then loft. Once that was settled then use various shafts to find the right feel and to tweak the launch and spin.

correct that finding the right weight and to an extent bend profile but it’s really the stiffness profile. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

8 hours ago, BringerofRain said:

Update!!!!!!

 

For anyone that is curious I went and got fitted today and I found the results to be surprising. 
 

My old Specs 10.5 degree adjusted to 9.5. 60 gram, extra stiff. 
 

New Specs, 8 degree, 70 gram,  extra stiff 

I was surprised to be put into an 8 degree driver as this has to be abnormal. Based on all the number the fitter assured me this is the correct driver spec for me. 
 

Swing speed was 110 to 115. 

Do you have your numbers from the fitting?

What did the fitter say was the reason for the 8° head? 
 

What head and shaft were you fit to?

[BringerofRain]

3 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Do you have your numbers from the fitting?

What did the fitter say was the reason for the 8° head? 
 

What head and shaft were you fit to?

While I do not have the precise numbers on me here is the gist.  
 

Backspin: ranged from 2500- 4000.  However the vast majority was right around 3000. 
angle of attack was 3 degrees up.

ball speed: 160-170 

My launch angle occasionally reached 18 degrees  

The launch angle is the main reason for 8 degrees. I was told I was getting a ballon effect because of the high launch angle. With the 8 degree driver I was closer to 10-13 launch angle on most hits. 
 

I was fit into the Callaway paradym triple diamond. With the Mitsubishi Kai’li shaft.
 

I thought triple diamond would be too unforgiving but I was assured that my contact was center of the face enough where thats the driver i should play.   

My absolute biggest take away was my angle of attack. Two years ago I got driver numbers and my angle of attack was 7 degrees down. Ever since that day I been fighting to have a more upward angle and according to the fitter I have exaggerated it too much where I was losing distance with a high spin ballon drive  

I will end on this I am excited to see whether the fitting will help my game. I would say the triple diamond has a 50/50 shot of crashing and burning and losing 15 balls a round or driving the 400 yard green uphill against 20mph wind  

The one thing I know for sure is my scramble team will be hyped when I come to the long drive hole  

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

16 minutes ago, BringerofRain said:

While I do not have the precise numbers on me here is the gist.  
 

Backspin: ranged from 2500- 4000.  However the vast majority was right around 3000. 
angle of attack was 3 degrees up.

ball speed: 160-170 

My launch angle occasionally reached 18 degrees  

The launch angle is the main reason for 8 degrees. I was told I was getting a ballon effect because of the high launch angle. With the 8 degree driver I was closer to 10-13 launch angle on most hits. 
 

I was fit into the Callaway paradym triple diamond. With the Mitsubishi Kai’li shaft.
 

I thought triple diamond would be too unforgiving but I was assured that my contact was center of the face enough where thats the driver i should play.   

My absolute biggest take away was my angle of attack. Two years ago I got driver numbers and my angle of attack was 7 degrees down. Ever since that day I been fighting to have a more upward angle and according to the fitter I have exaggerated it too much where I was losing distance with a high spin ballon drive  

I will end on this I am excited to see whether the fitting will help my game. I would say the triple diamond has a 50/50 shot of crashing and burning and losing 15 balls a round or driving the 400 yard green uphill against 20mph wind  

The one thing I know for sure is my scramble team will be hyped when I come to the long drive hole  

 

I had a feeling it was due to spin and launch.

It sounds like you may have been adding loft to have those numbers. Do you know what your dynamic loft was before the fitting and after?

Glad the fitter got you into something that helped launch and spin. The loft, head and shaft being unexpected is why I say fittings are worth it. People wouldn’t choose certain heads or shafts based on the marketing for who they are “designed” for and end up picking based on their perceptions of what’s needed based on handicap, ball flight or something else. Then they go get fit by a good fitter and are surprised by what actually works for them compared to what they thought would work

[BringerofRain]

3 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

I had a feeling it was due to spin and launch.

It sounds like you may have been adding loft to have those numbers. Do you know what your dynamic loft was before the fitting and after?

Glad the fitter got you into something that helped launch and spin. The loft, head and shaft being unexpected is why I say fittings are worth it. People wouldn’t choose certain heads or shafts based on the marketing for who they are “designed” for and end up picking based on their perceptions of what’s needed based on handicap, ball flight or something else. Then they go get fit by a good fitter and are surprised by what actually works for them compared to what they thought would work

I do not know what the dynamic loft was before and after the fitting. 
 

You make a great point based on my perception and what I was fitted into. Without the fitting my absolute last choice would have been an 8 degree triple diamond. 
 

I will provide an update if I end up in anyone’s front or back yards or drive any greens in the future.

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, BringerofRain said:

I do not know what the dynamic loft was before and after the fitting. 
 

You make a great point based on my perception and what I was fitted into. Without the fitting my absolute last choice would have been an 8 degree triple diamond. 
 

I will provide an update if I end up in anyone’s front or back yards or drive any greens in the future.

Thanks. For the spin you were getting either dynamic loft was high and/or you were hitting low on the face. With the higher launch it was probably a combo of the two.

the shaft is probably helping with that and the lower loft is helping with spin.

i was just curious if it had changed at all

hope you have good success on the courses 

[dlk1putt]

My two cents. In the same way that there are good golf teachers and bad golf teachers, there are good fitters who truly know what they are doing and there are bad fitters who do not. And then consider that the fitters are generally paid on some sort of commission basis. 

Then there is this consideration. A friend of mine's son became a fitter at a Club Champion. I asked him what were the formalities involved in him becoming a fitter at Club Champion, and basically it's a six week class. Do I believe you can learn how to be a good club fitter in six weeks? No. I do believe you can learn it on the fly, so my point being, I'd ask the fitter how long he's been doing it, and perhaps even ask for references of golfers that have had positive results from the individual's fitting.

 

Last point...if you do get fitted, do it outside, not into a simulator. Nobody swings the same hitting into a simulator than they do hitting "for real" outiside.

[cnosil]

6 minutes ago, dlk1putt said:

 

Last point...if you do get fitted, do it outside, not into a simulator. Nobody swings the same hitting into a simulator than they do hitting "for real" outiside.

What data are you leveraging to back this up?  There are people that do struggle with an indoor seating,  I find that my performance indoors is a good representation of outdoor performance, so that refutes your “nobody” statement. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 hours ago, dlk1putt said:

Last point...if you do get fitted, do it outside, not into a simulator. Nobody swings the same hitting into a simulator than they do hitting "for real" outiside.

Not true. Plenty of people have no issues swinging indoors.

Ive seen and fit players that don’t swing the same outside on a range that they do on the course and even worse when you put them thru a fitting. 
 

3 hours ago, dlk1putt said:

Do I believe you can learn how to be a good club fitter in six weeks? No. I do believe you can learn it on the fly, so my point being,

Learning in a course increases the ability to become a better fitter and speeds up the process. Learning on the fly will take time as you need to spend the time studying, trying to find someone to ask questions too.

Yes a good fitter isn’t someone with 6 weeks training or 6 weeks of learning on the fly. Good fitters like any profession develop their skills over time and continuously learn and grow even after becoming good fitters

[Bosox04]

On 1/5/2024 at 10:25 AM, dlk1putt said:

My two cents. In the same way that there are good golf teachers and bad golf teachers, there are good fitters who truly know what they are doing and there are bad fitters who do not. And then consider that the fitters are generally paid on some sort of commission basis. 

Then there is this consideration. A friend of mine's son became a fitter at a Club Champion. I asked him what were the formalities involved in him becoming a fitter at Club Champion, and basically it's a six week class. Do I believe you can learn how to be a good club fitter in six weeks? No. I do believe you can learn it on the fly, so my point being, I'd ask the fitter how long he's been doing it, and perhaps even ask for references of golfers that have had positive results from the individual's fitting.

 

Last point...if you do get fitted, do it outside, not into a simulator. Nobody swings the same hitting into a simulator than they do hitting "for real" outiside.

I was fit for my irons inside, but after everything was done to get the best numbers, we took the club outside to see the ball flight. I have always been fit outside, but this inside/ outside combo seemed to work. Not too sure I would do a strictly inside fitting.

[GolfSpy_APH]

Yes, definitely worth it. That being said make sure you are prepared for the fitting, have a discussion with the fitter prior or while warming up about expectations, typical ball flight, budget and more to get the most out of your fitting!

[PrismFlopper]

I did a swing lesson and fitting at PGA store and it was fantastic in my opinion. I got a lot of work on my swing and I know we can all get the “ the new club will fix my game” attitude and they brought out a lot of great adjustments to clean up my swing. I didn’t end up buying the club cause I want to do a few more lessons to really clean up the swing, but the6 never once pushed me to buy the club. The6 saved all the info so when I’m ready I can make the purchase. They recommended that once I do purchase the club that I do a lesson so we can dial it in but overall a great experience. 

[Bosox04]

On 12/17/2023 at 11:09 AM, Bosox04 said:

I did a Titleist fitting that turned out to be a bad fitting. I was fit into the TSR4 driver, and the great strikes may be longer than my Ping G400 Max, it is nowhere near as consistent. I spoke with the Titleist rep, and he said it was just as forgiving as the TSR2, which I responded that that was impossible since the 2 is 460cc and the 4 is 420cc. He then said I wanted to pick up distance, which I responded that distance without consistently was worthless. Just an overall bad experience.

A follow up on my fitting: The same Titleist fitter did another fitting day at my course, and worked with me to help make the driver more playable. He spent a fair amount of time, and made it marginally better. He was back today, and he walked past me like I was a piece of furniture. Never asked how the driver was doing. I’m going to a golf shop to trade it in tomorrow, and if I ever buy another piece of Titleist equipment, it won’t be fit by this guy.I always thought very highly of Titleist, but this experience has changed my thinking.

[RickyBobby_PR]

46 minutes ago, Bosox04 said:

A follow up on my fitting: The same Titleist fitter did another fitting day at my course, and worked with me to help make the driver more playable. He spent a fair amount of time, and made it marginally better. He was back today, and he walked past me like I was a piece of furniture. Never asked how the driver was doing. I’m going to a golf shop to trade it in tomorrow, and if I ever buy another piece of Titleist equipment, it won’t be fit by this guy.I always thought very highly of Titleist, but this experience has changed my thinking.

btw forgiveness comes in different ways. A driver can be “more forgiving” when it comes to moi measurements but if that leads to too much spin with a bad launch angle it’s not going to be that forgiving and will be worse than a driver that doesn’t spin as much
 

So you decided to buy the driver even though you felt it wasn’t as good as your current driver and it’s the fitters fault?

then you want someone who does hundreds of fittings to remember you months later and because of this slight you are going to get rid of the driver. 
 

. 

okay 

[Bosox04]

20 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

btw forgiveness comes in different ways. A driver can be “more forgiving” when it comes to moi measurements but if that leads to too much spin with a bad launch angle it’s not going to be that forgiving and will be worse than a driver that doesn’t spin as much
 

So you decided to buy the driver even though you felt it wasn’t as good as your current driver and it’s the fitters fault?

then you want someone who does hundreds of fittings to remember you months later and because of this slight you are going to get rid of the driver. 
 

. 

okay 

I’m getting rid of the driver because I don’t like it. Today is the third fitting day he’s done at our club in the last three months, and I have participated in two of them.I bought my driver based on it out performing my current driver on that particular day. It just did not translate to the course. I didn’t expect the fitter to remember my name , but I thought he would recognize me. 

Edited January 12 by Bosox04

[Rob Person]

Ive learned a few more things since last reading this. I am now in the "get fitted" category section. I went and demo'd a few new drivers today. They were all setup the same based on my swing speed. (Unsure of shaft specs)

I think it would benefit me to get properly fitted. I saw a massive increase in my distance just from swinging these newer clubs. The one thing I was told was that an indoor fitting places you in a static environment, and outdoor testing will alter your mental aspect of your swing. I may have to drive 45 minutes to go to a place that offers both.

[RickyBobby_PR]

26 minutes ago, Rob Person said:

Ive learned a few more things since last reading this. I am now in the "get fitted" category section. I went and demo'd a few new drivers today. They were all setup the same based on my swing speed. (Unsure of shaft specs)

I think it would benefit me to get properly fitted. I saw a massive increase in my distance just from swinging these newer clubs. The one thing I was told was that an indoor fitting places you in a static environment, and outdoor testing will alter your mental aspect of your swing. I may have to drive 45 minutes to go to a place that offers both.

They each have their advantages and disadvantages.

Indoor you are in a controlled environment and the elements won’t impact the results good or bad. You have a consistent and guaranteed level stance. Some people don’t swing well indoors so that could hurt the results. Also the elements aren’t accounted for and also you don’t get to see the actual ball flight. 
 

Outdoors you get to see ball flight, elements may work in your favor or against you if the weather is less than ideal.

Depending on what launch monitor is used indoors you make get some inaccuracy compared to outdoors.

 

[BringerofRain]

I am awaiting the arrival of my new driver the smoke Triple diamond and playing with my a buddies M1 in the mean time. 
 

My confidence is low. All of a sudden I am fighting this over the top swing which while I always had a slight in to out swing but nothing like this and the fear of the triple Diamond is real going into the woods although 300 yards into the woods. 
 

I am trusting the fitting process and will find out if my fears come true in a couple weeks. 
 

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, BringerofRain said:

I am awaiting the arrival of my new driver the smoke Triple diamond and playing with my a buddies M1 in the mean time. 
 

My confidence is low. All of a sudden I am fighting this over the top swing which while I always had a slight in to out swing but nothing like this and the fear of the triple Diamond is real going into the woods although 300 yards into the woods. 
 

I am trusting the fitting process and will find out if my fears come true in a couple weeks. 
 

 

Have you looked at your current swing on video and that’s showing you are over the top or are you basing it on ball flight or something else?

[BringerofRain]

18 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Have you looked at your current swing on video and that’s showing you are over the top or are you basing it on ball flight or something else?

I have seen it on video. I know I had to video it when I was trying to swing it like a baseball bat and I was still fading the ball. 
 

[BringerofRain]

It has been awhile since I brought up the original topic is driver fitting worth and I wanted to provide and update with my new driver. 
 

As a brief reminder I was skeptical about driver fitting because as an okay amateur I feel my swing is constantly changing as I chase perfection in the perfect swing. So I figured why get a fitting if my swing will change in 3 weeks time. However after some thought and the overwhelming positive response I went and got fitted. 
 

To my surprise I was fitted for a Ai Smoke triple Diamond 8 degree driver 70 gram shaft. This would legit have been at the very bottom of my expectations list. 8 degrees triple diamond sounds Psychotic to me. 
 

I have now played 3 rounds with the new driver and I have to admit I am driving the ball significantly better than 3 weeks ago. My confidence has skyrocketed every time I set up to hit driver and the results are 100 percent differnt. 

Previously I was slicing or over fading the ball a problem I didn’t have until recently. Now my miss has been a pull left but playable or for some reason a top. I can honestly say I have topped the ball more in the last 3 rounds than all of 2023 and when I mean top I mean the ball is going less than 100 yards. Yes I had the occasional top in the past but it was a 150 yard top which is fine. I can reach most par 4s with a 3 wood from that range. 
 

This seems to happen only the first 2 or 3 holes then it goes away. I chose to believe this is because I have had zero time to warm up the last few rounds and going in cold but still dont love it on the first tee. 
 

Overall my distance and accessory have been noticeably better and I am thrilled with the AI smoke 3D. 
 

As for driver fitting  while I am still skeptical and wouldn’t say it’s a must have for every golfer. I cannot argue the results and plan to win a few long drive contests in the local scrambles. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

57 minutes ago, BringerofRain said:

As a brief reminder I was skeptical about driver fitting because as an okay amateur I feel my swing is constantly changing as I chase perfection in the perfect swing. So I figured why get a fitting if my swing will change in 3 weeks time. However after some thought and the overwhelming positive response I went and got fitted. 
 

This is one of the biggest misconceptions in golf. Our swings don’t change that often. The ability to make out compensations change due to many factors from sleep, hydration, how we are feeling that day, side, tight, loose, etc. we make the same swing movements each time. Amateurs think because they have different ball flights on back to back swings or over the course of a round they somehow have an inconsistent swing. It’s not just how they compensated for where the club was. It’s probably one of the biggest things holding people back from playing better and going to get fit 

Even someone who is working on their swing isn’t going to change that often. My specs are the same as they were when I was a mid/high handicap with no lessons to a single digit who took about a dozen or so lessons over the course of 5-6 years.

Your results are another example of why fitting is important. The things we as golfers wouldn’t consider when it comes to loft, head type, shaft based on marketing terms like forgiveness, launch and spin characterizations and how bad most golfers are at diagnosing their issues, are what good fitters will find and put into the golfers hand and get them better results 

Congrats on getting fit and finding success.