Custom fitting flawed?

[backwoodsman]

I play off 18. I've been to be custom fit. In fact, I paid quite a lot of money to be fitted. Do I regret it? Not a bit of it.

I got the heads & shafts, and grips that suit me. We tried different flexes, the regular suited me. The fitted said things along lines of "you're not doing "X" - we can probably improve that with a lighter shaft". Tried a lighter shafter - improvement. Tried even lighter - less improvement. Go back to previous. Etc, etc. Tweaked loft a little and fitted the grip to suit my hand shape, Went through it with irons, wedges & hybrids. I now know l have the best fit that suits me. And to be fair, the fitter did say "Well, we've achieved some improvements but that's the best l can do - the rest is up to you, lessons & practice". Which is perfectly true. And he did suggest we didn't fit for the driver & woods "You're not hitting it consistently enough to make sensible recommendations "

So is it worth it for high handicappers? Most definitely. But there is an element of truth that you need some degree of consistency in the swing.

 

[PJ87]

When I got my current irons I had an American golf custom fit .. free of charge

I picked a set I liked and the fitter picked a set of irons similar to my own that he thought would suit

We tried them all out. I said I don’t mind trying graphite shafts.. he said my speed would suit them but after seeing me hit with steels he said I actually perform well with them so would say stick (even tho they cost less than graphite)

We tried my own ping g15s
Then tried the ping g series that he picked and the titliest ap1s that I picked

They all performed pretty much the same

He said what set suit your eye the most.. the titliest .. that was that I got them

Since I’ve had them gripped with undersize grips and now my irons are the best part of my game. Very straight and consistent

I’d say that fit was worth it but I wouldn’t pay for one that goes further

 

[Wildrover]

As a custom fitter I find this thread both funny and frustrating that there are so many people out their who think it is a waste of time or they are not good enough.

No matter what standard you play at a CF will be beneficial, the game is hard enough already without using clubs that could be making it even harder.

CF is not just seeing what your good shots are like but also minimising the damage when you hit a bad shot. Most people have a tendency for one particular bad shot to show up, be that a slice, hook or pull etc, and that should always be taken into account during a fitting.

 

[clubchamp98]

I can see that a fitting might be helpful for someone with a consistent swing, but I’ve never bothered as mine varies from hole to hole, let alone round to round. One would hope that any good fitter, when faced with a player who clearly has an inconsistent swing, would say that there was little point in continuing ... other than perhaps testing swing speeds for an assessment of appropriate flex.

This is right.
The main benefit of fitting is it narrows down the choices you have.
So only having three shaft recommendations saves time instead of trial and error ,after all there’s hundreds
.Head shape is usually dependent on your ability level.
Although there are exceptions some just go for looks.
Will fitting make you a better player ? No but it may help along the way.

But using clubs to eradicate a certain shot (slice,hook) can be counterproductive because when you are swinging it good you are fighting the gear effect of the club .
Swings and roundabouts.

 

[lobthewedge]

Custom fitting has its place for the basics - length, lie, flex and grip.

We mortals are far too inconsistent to make any judgement based on an a bucket of balls hit over a couple of hours.

 

[Curls]

Custom fitting has its place for the basics - length, lie, flex and grip.

We mortals are far too inconsistent to make any judgement based on an a bucket of balls hit over a couple of hours.

Really can’t agree with that. My spin with the driver went from 3600rpm to 2600 in an hour. I didn’t get any better. Hit my old driver as well as the ones I was testing. Some of them were awful, dead shafts I couldn’t launch. In the end the ball carried 20 yards average further. The clubs were only a couple of years apart from the same manufacturer. It does work.

Having said that I’m sure if I now went for a fitting with all the drivers I wouldn’t see anything like that improvement. So there’s a time and a place. I wish I’d done it sooner

 

[lobthewedge]

Really can’t agree with that. My spin with the driver went from 3600rpm to 2600 in an hour. I didn’t get any better. Hit my old driver as well as the ones I was testing. Some of them were awful, dead shafts I couldn’t launch. In the end the ball carried 20 yards average further. The clubs were only a couple of years apart from the same manufacturer. It does work.

Having said that I’m sure if I now went for a fitting with all the drivers I wouldn’t see anything like that improvement. So there’s a time and a place. I wish I’d done it sooner

What made the biggest difference - the new driver head or the change in shaft?

 

[Karl102]

He makes some good points.
Thoughts?

Not read the thread as can’t take my eyes off the handsome chap on the front of the video... bet that drive went forum distance on steroids #lythambomber 😂😂😂😂🤡🤡🤡🤡

 

[Curls]

What made the biggest difference - the new driver head or the change in shaft?

Shaft imo. The shape of and materials in the head are broadly similar but switching to that particular stiff shaft (some stiff shafts were impossible for me to play) made the vast majority of the difference. So I can’t make a leap like that again but if you haven’t been fit for the shaft you’re playing you might see a significant improvement in dispersion and or carry

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think getting the right shaft is critical. Personally I struggle with a heavy shaft and so need something lighter. I also have girly small hands and so need to make sure the grips aren't too big for me. As far as a mid-handicapper like me, a fit won't cure my swing faults but if it can narrow the dispersion left and right and front and back it will definitely help.

 

[PJ87]

I think getting the right shaft is critical. Personally I struggle with a heavy shaft and so need something lighter. I also have girly small hands and so need to make sure the grips aren't too big for me. As far as a mid-handicapper like me, a fit won't cure my swing faults but if it can narrow the dispersion left and right and front and back it will definitely help.

Golf pride undersize 👌 they have really helped improve my strike with irons

 

[HamiltonGuy]

Nothing to lose except the extra cost obviously.

I don’t really know anywhere where it costs more. The places that do charge it’s usually about £40 and they take it off your purchase price normally.

I don’t see the issue, surely just getting the correct flex and grip not worrying about everything else is worth it. Your swing may vary but unlikely one minute you swing a driver 85mph and the next 110mph.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I don’t really know anywhere where it costs more. The places that do charge it’s usually about £40 and they take it off your purchase price normally.

I don’t see the issue, surely just getting the correct flex and grip not worrying about everything else is worth it. Your swing may vary but unlikely one minute you swing a driver 85mph and the next 110mph.

I agree. You have a choice. You can pay for a fitting session, as you say usually £40 which clearly pays for the fitters time and expertise. You can then take the results away and shop around or you can order the clubs at the fitting at which point the cost is usually absorbed into the overall cost

 

[DeanoMK]

I was custom fit for Orka irons and it was very thorough and a great experience, I came away very surprised by the results - ultimately the irons I picked were more so on visuals and the shaft on feel but it was definitely worth the money and I'm going back this Tuesday to get a gap test and then will look to sort out something new for the top of my bag.

 

[6535]

As a custom fitter I find this thread both funny and frustrating that there are so many people out their who think it is a waste of time or they are not good enough.

No matter what standard you play at a CF will be beneficial, the game is hard enough already without using clubs that could be making it even harder.

CF is not just seeing what your good shots are like but also minimising the damage when you hit a bad shot. Most people have a tendency for one particular bad shot to show up, be that a slice, hook or pull etc, and that should always be taken into account during a fitting.

I agree with you. I got into custom fitting for myself, did a couple of courses with Diamond Golf, built my own clubs, tweaked them here and there and enjoy doing it. I just recently got heavier grips which would alter the swingweight, so ripped them apart, adjusted the weighting to bring swingweights up, and feel great.

I fitted a 3 hc golfer who struggled with the longer irons, has back issues and has a rhythmic sweeper swing, with Wishon single length irons, lightweight FST 90Reg but tipped to R+. He’s gone from 3.4 to 1.9, shot a gross 66 the other week to get to 1.9 the lowest he’s been. He’s more then happy with his fit, his accuracy/dispersion has improved vastly and loves the concept of them. He’s lost no distance but gained length on his PW which he’s happy about.

We even tried altering his lie angles to more upright but he found they were pulling left too much, knocked them back and is back to his new dual boring steady game.

It’s not about let’s see how far we can get you, it’s about let’s see what we can do to make the poor one’s better.

 

[Orikoru]

As a custom fitter I find this thread both funny and frustrating that there are so many people out their who think it is a waste of time or they are not good enough.

No matter what standard you play at a CF will be beneficial, the game is hard enough already without using clubs that could be making it even harder.

CF is not just seeing what your good shots are like but also minimising the damage when you hit a bad shot. Most people have a tendency for one particular bad shot to show up, be that a slice, hook or pull etc, and that should always be taken into account during a fitting.

It's an issue of consistency though. You could turn up for a driver fitting and slice everything, subsequently get fit with a draw-biased driver. But that could have just been a one off on the day, maybe back out on the course next time you hook everything and your draw-biased driver is now making it worse.

I get what you're saying, but for a decent player even the bad shots are more consistency than a high-handicappers bad shots. For some of us it can be genuinely quite random, and I don't see how you can fit to that.