Golftec iron fitting

[Haile]

Yesterday, I had my first iron fitting ever. I’ve only ever been fit for a driver. I take lessons at my local golftec. I’ve made a world of progress and my driver feels crazy good to me. So, I figured irons were next. I’m what some refer to as an equipment nerd since I read about almost everything that’s on the market. I went in thinking I knew what I wanted. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’m fortunate enough to have a sim at home that’s accurate enough. I know most of my average numbers. I’ve been gaming a set of Taylormade sim max since I started 4 years ago. They have a regular flex graphite shaft. However, I’ve had a sneaking suspicion that they’ve been holding me back a bit. I’ve picked up so much swing speed in the last year but I never felt like I could just swing my irons. Yesterday I was proven right. After a 10 minute discussion about why I was there, the guy went  to their wall and picked 3 iron heads and two shafts. Both in steel. The first head was a callaway apex pro with 105gram stiff steel shaft. It felt okay. A little numb for my taste. The second was a jpx from mizuno with the same shaft. I made some swings. He flat out told me to quit holding back on my swings(we have an honest relationship that I appreciate). He said these aren’t your clubs, just swing the thing. I went from an average of 87 to 93 because I didn’t have to worry about anything being overly springy or snappy. Next we moved to the mizuno 223 with the dynamic gold 120g shaft in a stiff flex. From the first swing, I was in love. This is what it’s supposed to feel like? Almost no swing thoughts? I tried a titleist t150 next. I’ve determined that brand isn’t for me. I couldn’t hit their driver either. Which sucks because they make some nice looking clubs. But, for whatever reason, I just can’t swing them. We tried a few more head and shaft combos including extra stiff. But that brought my spin down too far. Yeah it was cool gaining an extra club length. But, I want the ball to stop. The fitter agreed. Also, my problem of way overdrawing and way overcutting the ball was not to be found. Yes I could still go too far in either direction. But nowhere near the extremes I had. I learned a few important things I think. The first is that reading about the equipment is good for informational proposes only. The feel could be worlds apart. I learned that swing specific equipment really does make a huge difference. Do I have things to work on? Oh my goodness yes. We discussed that too. I’m losing up to 12 yards because of my lack of attack angle. But that’s for a different day. I also learned that getting fit is probably one of the most important things you can do at some point. I’ve been putting it off because of the horror stories. But numbers don’t lie. Their “optimizer” puts you wherever you want to be. The only issue I had was that everything is based off of a 7 iron only. I would really have liked to have tried a 4 or 5 iron. I’ve never swung a 4 iron. I currently have a hybrid for that club. He told me to stick with a hybrid if it’s comfortable. I believed him so that’s what I’m doing. I also learned that I need to get back in the gym. I was out of gas by the end of the fitting. Well over 100 swings and I was tired. They didn’t have another appointment behind me so what was supposed to be 60 to 90 minutes turned into 2 hours. I hit some other stuff just for giggles. I hit a blade for the first time ever. When you connect, I get it man. It felt and sounded great. But, you gotta be at least a little bit of a sociopath to play those things. You can’t miss at all. Half a ball out of center and it feels like it came off the chrome in the toe. Anyway, if you’re reading these stories, just go get fit. You don’t need some 3rd party thousand dollar shafts and custom whatever. Just go see about things. I spent $150 to have evidence that I need new irons. They eliminate that cost if you buy clubs. There’s no pressure to buy because they sell services like lessons and fittings. I’m somewhat frugal so I’ll probably look for slightly used set in the combo that worked or something. Or, I may just bite the bullet and order the things. He gave me a month to decide and he’ll refund the $150 anyway. 

[Rob Person]

What a great experience you had it seems! You may be able to find a deal on the heads you like and the shafts that work for you separately with enough scouring of the webs. But one of the key things is if you buy from him, they will be able to make adjustments to the clubs for you as well.  The downside is you pay more on site, shaft upgrades, etc.

[Haile]

2 hours ago, Rob Person said:

What a great experience you had it seems! You may be able to find a deal on the heads you like and the shafts that work for you separately with enough scouring of the webs. But one of the key things is if you buy from him, they will be able to make adjustments to the clubs for you as well.  The downside is you pay more on site, shaft upgrades, etc.

I thought it was a really good experience. Just the 7 iron was weird but I’m not the expert. It’s probably good enough for my game. But yeah, I’m still debating on how I want to buy them. There are pros and cons on each side. I may go through them for simplicity and somewhat of a warranty/guarantee. 

[cnosil]

5 hours ago, Haile said:

Just the 7 iron was weird but I’m not the expert. It’s probably good enough for my game. 

Places that can/will fit you with every club in a set are very few.   Part of the reason is that is an iron that most people can swing well and it eliminates the need for the stores/fitters to have all the heads and shafts available.   Typically once you buy the set you go and get a gapping session to dial in the distances with the clubs.  

[Haile]

12 hours ago, cnosil said:

Places that can/will fit you with every club in a set are very few.   Part of the reason is that is an iron that most people can swing well and it eliminates the need for the stores/fitters to have all the heads and shafts available.   Typically once you buy the set you go and get a gapping session to dial in the distances with the clubs.  

Well that makes a lot of sense. I didn't really think about the after. Now that I know that, the 7 iron thing only isn't weird at all. Thanks for the information.

[revkev]

Nice review and reminder - I also recently had an iron and wedge fitting at golftec. They don’t offer every brand but certainly enough - did they use mizuno shaft optimizer out of curiosity - since you tried those irons?  They didn’t with me but I also didn’t try mizunos - we quickly zeros in on a choice between Ping and Taylor Made - from two different categories of irons I terrain fly enough.
 

As a suggestion for anyone reading this while you are highly unlikely to be able to hit the other irons in a set you can always go and do some scouting at a retailer that carries the clubs you were fit for. In this case you could go somewhere that carries the irons you were fit for to at least eye ball a wedge and a 5 iron - my biggest concern with the Pings that we decided on was what the shirt irons would look like - I couldn’t stomach the sight of my G30 short irons and was overjoyed when I got rid of them a few years later even though I hit them fairly well. The G430’s are much better looking - not as nice as my players distance irons that they are replacing but nice enough that I’m not repulsed - and the upgrade of technology from 5 years ago is helpful for me.  

[KC Golf]

8 minutes ago, revkev said:

Nice review and reminder - I also recently had an iron and wedge fitting at golftec. They don’t offer every brand but certainly enough - did they use mizuno shaft optimizer out of curiosity - since you tried those irons?  They didn’t with me but I also didn’t try mizunos - we quickly zeros in on a choice between Ping and Taylor Made - from two different categories of irons I terrain fly enough.
 

As a suggestion for anyone reading this while you are highly unlikely to be able to hit the other irons in a set you can always go and do some scouting at a retailer that carries the clubs you were fit for. In this case you could go somewhere that carries the irons you were fit for to at least eye ball a wedge and a 5 iron - my biggest concern with the Pings that we decided on was what the shirt irons would look like - I couldn’t stomach the sight of my G30 short irons and was overjoyed when I got rid of them a few years later even though I hit them fairly well. The G430’s are much better looking - not as nice as my players distance irons that they are replacing but nice enough that I’m not repulsed - and the upgrade of technology from 5 years ago is helpful for me.  

I have never tried a Golftec fitting,  After two lacklustre OEM fittings, I may give this a shot.

[revkev]

Just now, KC Golf said:

I have never tried a Golftec fitting,  After two lacklustre OEM fittings, I may give this a shot.

Like any fitting it’s only as good as the fitter - however regardless of who that is you will be able to hit clubs from multiple OEMs side by side - that’s a huge plus in my book. 
 

BTW I had a similar experience with the Titleist T series irons to the OP. I went in thinking I would like the T350’s - their online fitting thing was suggesting their T150 - didn’t hit either well.  The one thing I was unhappy about was that they don’t offere Srixons. 

[NM01]

3 hours ago, KC Golf said:

I have never tried a Golftec fitting,  After two lacklustre OEM fittings, I may give this a shot.

Go to a trusted independent fitter or find an oem whose rep or demo staff have good reputations. Titleist is using very qualified fitters who are also teaching pros.

An independent fitter usually isn’t trying to make a sale and has a lot more experience.

The fitter makes or breaks the fitting. Then it’s about how well the golfer communicates with the fitter

i personally would never use golftec for a fitting or lessons 

Edited June 22 by RickyBobby_PR