Custom fit: Numbers or Feel

[One Planer]

Quick question to the forum when it comes to custom fitting.

Are you one for buying custom fitted clubs based purely on numbers given by Trackman/Flightscope or are you someone that is happy to buy based on the feel and flight of the ball.

From my own point of view, I'm more than happy to spend time hitting a selection of shafts to see what gives me the flight and feel I'm after.

My playing partner is all about the numbers and has freely admitted he's bought clubs he didn't like the feel of but gave good numbers on the tracking gizmo.

With my current irons I was lucky enough that the range I use had a selection of demo clubs of the head I was interested in with different shaft options.

After spending an hour hitting balls with PX 5.5 and 6.0, KBS Tour, TT DG S300 and a TT Dynalite S300 I'd made my mind up which I prefered the feel and flight of.

What about you?

 

[Norrin Radd]

i have never been fitted for irons ,but i have for a driver ,and for me if it didnt feel right it didnt get many swings ,even if the numbers said so.
i ended up with a SLDR.

 

[Bratty]

I tried 8 sets of irons on the range, narrowing them down to three to take into the monitor (it was an indoor AG, so no idea what machine it was).
I hit several shots with all three, and was then handed another club to try. The numbers were better than anything I'd hit, but I couldn't get used to the look of them. They were Nike Covert v2 irons, which hit the ball nicely, but the top line just looked far too chunky.
I then tried another set of irons with my pro on his simulator, and found the numbers slightly similar, but they just felt and looked so much better.
Ping i25 irons in the bag.
So, while I like numbers, I won't compromise on look and feel.

 

[fundy]

Bit of both for me, the numbers are critical but what the club looks and feels like also part of the decision making process, has to be something I like looking down on and feel confident in

 

[Qwerty]

Flight and Feel without a doubt.

On several occasions I've hit balls at a range with a variety of clubs and Shafts on different LMs and visually I've seen better results with one shaft Than the LM was suggesting with another.
Plus the LM can't tell me whether I like the weight, feel and look of the club.

 

[One Planer]

Bit of both for me, the numbers are critical but what the club looks and feels like also part of the decision making process, has to be something I like looking down on and feel confident in

Bit like my friend.

If you got perfect numbers from the LM but they felt horrid, would you buy?

Not judging, just curious.

 

[ruff-driver]

Never been on a proper monitor so my current set up was chosen on feel & looks i guess

 

[Three]

I've had two indoor fittings in UK from undoubtedly one of golf's best companies.
Unfortunately I am firmly now in favour of only getting fit outdoors, hitting balls in a proper environment, ie watching them fly and playing different shots.

The technology is fantastic, but should only be a back up imo.

 

[fundy]

Bit like my friend.

If you got perfect numbers from the LM but they felt horrid, would you buy?

Not judging, just curious.

No I wouldnt, theres clubs out there that give great numbers and look and feel great so no need to sacrifice on it no. I have tried in the past with form over beauty (mainly with ugly putters), never worked out for long.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

At my level, definitely feel over numbers, recent fitting I went with the clubs that gave me less overall distance but most importantly felt better and that gave me more confidence than any numbers.

 

[SammmeBee]

Both.....

 

[Imurg]

Although I'm generally in favour of launch monitor fitting, and I've had plenty, I can honestly say that I've never been able to recreate the performance on the course.
I've played best with clubs I've basically fitted myself using data gleaned from previous fittings as well as seeing the bal flight.
You have to be careful where you try as well, one of our local rnges is quite downhill so its tricky to gauge the flight height.
I'm not saying LMs are overrated but, for me, seeing the flight, looks and feel come first.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I would go based on the results, I'm not one to let appearance get in in the way of a good time.






Just look at my wife...

 

[patricks148]

when i was fitted for the JPX pro a couple of years ago the shafts that gave the best numbers were for the KBS tour, but i didn't like the flight or the feel, so stuck with S300. for the MP4 i went with the rec of KBS Ctaper 120. they felt dead and i thought i had made a mistake in the first few months of having them. now ive gotten used to them they feel superb.

i can see both sides

 

[Tommo21]

Funnily enough, I tend to go by initial looks, although most look good anyway. Feel is something you tend to put near the top when first testing an iron, but after a while out on the course, feel becomes less important.........the reason why I don't bother to much about feel in the first place.

For me, it's how it feels in my hand, how the club sits on the deck, how it feels when swinging. Numbers are not too important because it usually means using a different club, that's all. Besides most modern irons will give good numbers if set up with the right shaft for your swing.

The important thing is getting the gaps right between each club from your 3 wood down to your wedges.

 

[Hobbit]

My last two CF sessions have both been very poor. The first one led to me buying a set of irons that saw posting scores at least 10 shots worse than usual.

i then bought a 2nd hand set off the 'bay, based on a previous fitting, and they were superb.

last year I went for another CF session, funnily enough with the same manufacturer that had done the first disaster, which I ended up cutting short due to the amount of marketing hype and pure bull.

as to feel or numbers; I've twice done it by numbers and the results haven't been good. I now do it on looks and feel

 

[Ethan]

The sensible answer is both. Find something with a feel you like that gives good numbers. On a properly set up LM you can detect differences that the naked eye can't see but if something feels horrible, you might fall out of live with it. That said, I use C tapers which have an oddly inert feel but perform very well so I am sticking with them.

 

[Region3]

I've had 5 sets of irons since I started again.

1. Bought off eBay before I'd even hit a ball when I knew nothing about nothing. Just read a bit about clubs first. Guessed at regular shafts on the basis that I'm not very strong and guessed wrong so they lasted a month or so.

2. Fitted by manufacturer outdoors with vey basic LM. Was torn between 2 shafts and went with their experience and recommendation and chose the one with slightly better dispersion over the one I thought felt slightly nicer to swing.

3. Fitted by a golf store with flightscope hitting balls on an outdoor range. Not much of a fitting as I'd already fell in love with the irons so it was just the shaft. Strangely, the shaft I'd previously liked felt horrible in them and I ended up with a shaft I didn't particularly like previously.

4. Fitted indoors on flightscope by an experienced club builder. I concentrated only on feel and let him worry about the numbers. He narrowed it down to 2 and one of them was the one I liked the feel of most so job done.

5. Done by myself on a range with rubbish balls just based on feel and watching the flight. No LM. The manufacturers rep left the fitting kit with my pro and I spent around 6 hours over 3 evenings trying all combinations of shaft and head.

 

[Junior]

On reflection I don't think I've ever had a set of irons that I immediately got on with. I have been fitted a few times and always focused on the numbers and then tried to 'bed' the irons in.

 

[User 105]

Feel then get them fitted.

I'll try out a number of clubs and then pick the one I like the look\feel of the most then go get fitted for them. I think with most clubs, with a decent fitter, you're going to get very similar numbers anyway so start with something you like the feel of.