Belfry vs Scott Gourlay

[scottac20]

Afternoon all,

I've finally saved up enough money to upgrade my ageing i5 irons (and possibly my driver) and I'm planning to go for a custom fit in February when most manufacturers will have released their new ranges.

I'm a bit of a Ping fanboy and I'm considering going to the Belfry as they seem to have lots of different options there and my Wife has a course near there in February that I can driver her down to (via the Belfry obviously).

My other option is that I live just outside Edinburgh and I've heard lots of good things about Scott Gourlay. I like the fact that he will custom fit the shaft grip etc and not just use a manufacturers stock shafts but I'm not so sure about the variety of manufacturers that he can offer.

Can anyone who has used either of these give me an idea of what their like and whether they would recommend them or not?

Thanks in advance.

 

[hovis]

I cant speak for the other places but can tell you the belfrys ping room is top notch and so are the fitters. They use practice balls not range ball so you get to see a true ball flight too.

 

[CMAC]

Isn't Pings main place at Gainsborough?

The main difference could be if you can see the actual flight of the ball over hitting into a sheet and letting the laptop tell you the stats.

 

[thecraw]

Both have merits however if it was me I would only go back to Scott for a shaft fitting. His technology and knowledge is second to none however as I say I would only use his excellent service to get the correct shafts as I was never sold on my head choice and it ate away with me until I sacked it.

 

[Hacker Khan]

I was fitted at The Belfry, excellent experience, lots of bays to hit into the driving range from, flight control monitors, lot's of clubs to choose from, even though I am a lefty. And they did not push me towards the most expensive set.

I think they charge £50 for a fitting but you get that back against the cost of any clubs you buy. And the clubs were competitively priced as well, so it's not as if they add another £50 onto the cost of the clubs.

 

[DAVEYBOY]

What would be the deal if I was to go for a shaft fitting for my rescue? Would it be £50 plus the shaft? Do they do shaft fittings for a club I already own?

 

[full_throttle]

Davey, try four ashes golf centre for the shaft fitting

 

[MGL]

Scott Gourlay. He will make sure they are actually BUILT properly as well as do a good fitting. The guys at the Belfry might be good at fitting but once the order goes in, you are at the mercy of whoever builds them, which is not what you want. Pings are not well built IMHO - I usually find problems on every one I work on, including some very expensive custom orders coming in direct from the US.

 

[Oddsocks]

I can also remember someone posting some very negative feedback after a ping fitting at the belfry,

He paid for the clubs, waited weeks only to find that they had not even been ordered from ping and the belfry had fed him nothing but ball crap for over 3 weeks

 

[GB72]

I have been to the Belfry and probably would not go again. At the time I was happy with the experience but now I know more I am not so impressed. When you book in for a fitting you get a strict hour. I went in with little idea of what head I wanted for my new driver so wasted most of the time trying the different manufacturers heads then got little time to try shaft and loft options in the best ones. I am sure that the Belfry is a reasonable option if you go in with some idea of what you want but do not think that you have infintite time to try all the options from all the club makers. Certainly when I went (and this is a few years ago) you were in for one hour exactly and that was it.

Compare that to a club fitter session. Ok the one I went to had one make available but we spent over an hour and a half just trying shaft and loft options. I am sold on the club fitter route. If you have the option of going to see Scott Gourlay I would go down that route. I have not had a fitting with him myself but the bloke who fitted my clubs says that he is probably the best in the UK.

 

[pbrown7582]

I can also remember someone posting some very negative feedback after a ping fitting at the belfry,

He paid for the clubs, waited weeks only to find that they had not even been ordered from ping and the belfry had fed him nothing but ball crap for over 3 weeks

I remember this too. If you are serious about getting Pings I would venture to UK HQ @ gainsborough

 

[MetalMickie]

But remember you cannot deal direct with Ping. The appointment will have to be made via a pro' shop or retailer and you are then committed to just one manufacturer.

 

[MetalMickie]

Davey, try four ashes golf centre for the shaft fitting

+1 to the above. The club fitting/repair business is called Club Class & Phil is your man.

 

[Tommo21]

I’ve known Scott for years and I would not go anywhere else. He’s also got most of the top brands now….

The reason why he didn’t in the past was he wanted to be able to get the heads only, then fit whatever shaft combination he/you wanted. Some manufacturers didn’t like that but they do now.

Scott has shafts to die for, trust me and he will only sell what works, so trust him.

Just a couple of weeks back I picked up a set of Mizuno MP53 with rifle shafts. Didn’t like the rifles, went to Scott and he swapped over the shafts from my TM to the MP53 and visa versa. No questions asked, job done next day christmas eve.

Trackman is so good these days, you can trust the figures.

 

[Foxholer]

Check with SG whether he does Ping fittings and make your decision the basis of his reply. I'd predict he will say 'No', so you then have the choice of a fitting without Ping or one with only Ping.

I'd personally go the SG way, having had successful fittings from similar fitters - and MGL's comment isn't the first I've seen/heard about problems with Ping builds.

 

[Phil2511]

My pro ordered a custom set of i20s for a member and within a month 3 of the weights had fallen out of the back of the heads.

Needless to say customer was not best pleased and the pro was annoyed with Ping as he had to take a pile of grief due to Pings neglect.

Seen a few sets of Ping and TM this year that hadn't had the correct length of grip tape put on the shafts and the grips started to peel back and split after only a couple of months or so.

 

[Fish]

I think you should go with Scott Gourlay, mainly because of any after-sales you may need and whilst it may be convenient when taking your wife to a course and visiting the Belfry which due to its size and turnover of fittings will have a varied review of good and not-so-good experiences, I think being able to revisit someone should something need tweeking after you have received your new clubs close-by would be a major factor for me.

I think you would possibly receive a more personal experience from Scott also and not be "on the clock", so to speak.

 

[thecraw]

I think you should go with Scott Gourlay, mainly because of any after-sales you may need and whilst it may be convenient when taking your wife to a course and visiting the Belfry which due to its size and turnover of fittings will have a varied review of good and not-so-good experiences, I think being able to revisit someone should something need tweeking after you have received your new clubs close-by would be a major factor for me.

I think you would possibly receive a more personal experience from Scott also and not be "on the clock", so to speak.

You wont get better after sales or customer service than Ping - FACT. Ping will also alter clubs for you again. So much nonsense being spouted on here about Ping. I've used Ping for 21 years and won't be moving ever. Woods and irons are excellent.

 

[Fish]

You wont get better after sales or customer service than Ping - FACT. Ping will also alter clubs for you again. So much nonsense being spouted on here about Ping. I've used Ping for 21 years and won't be moving ever. Woods and irons are excellent.

I have not said they do not offer any kind of poor service or after-sales. It may well be the case that they do offer an excellent service but, my point is due to the OP's location any minor tweeks he may need can be done with a local visit rather than sending a club off for a few days or week turn around.

I have had to take a club (Ping) back to my pro just before Christmas which were all fitted last year and I've been very happy with them but the edges of the head have started to peel away and he has had to obviously send it off to Ping, that wouldn't be the case with Scott and any turnaround would be much quicker IMO.

This is why I wouldn't consider Scott myself however good he is and would consider the Belfry (15 minutes away) or Ping in Lincolnshire due to my location.

I don't think I would use my pro again as he is biased or more focused to Ping (like you )and I would want to widen my choice when investing so much money but locality for a swift after-sales would be a factor for me to consider.

 

[Hickory_Hacker]

Gourlay wins ... Why go all the way down there when he's up here? What happens if say after a month that you want something tweaked? It's better to be local when your having scatter brain thoughts than to have a 4/5 hour drive!

Good luck