Custom Fitting

[RedKing]

Hi,

I’ve been a custom fitter for 15 years for multiple brands. I find it interesting to hear the perception of fitting, it’s certainly changed lots since I first trained.

Created a short poll;

How many people have been fitted and if they have did they find it improved their game?

There are now so many fitting centres across the countries, it’s never been more accessible.

Curios to hear thoughts

 

[PJ87]

Hi,

I’ve been a custom fitter for 15 years for multiple brands. I find it interesting to hear the perception of fitting, it’s certainly changed lots since I first trained.

Created a short poll;

How many people have been fitted and if they have did they find it improved their game?

There are now so many fitting centres across the countries, it’s never been more accessible.

Curios to hear thoughts

I got fit for a driver back in January.. my fitter is also my coach. My misses with the club are far less severe and are much longer on poor strikes

Since then have had a few more coaching sessions and on one he just tweaked a setting on it as he thought it might help even more.

70% of it is me and strike but 30% is defo the club . Was worth it

 

[Backache]

My game definitely improved following a custom fit and I am playing with slightly longer irons.

I suspect the improvement or otherwise is highly dependent on how poorly your existing clubs fit your swing

 

[VVega]

The key utility of a fitting process in my opinion is the opportunity to learn by “feeling out” different shaft/head combos, supported by the launch monitor numbers/visual feedback (flight).

Since there is a gazzilion combinations available, a good fitter helps to narrow it down to a practical number of options that can be tested. They can also identify “non-obvious” options, e.g. a low loft driver head for a high handicap player which wouldn’t be advisable normally.

Having said that once you establish your preferences there is nothing wrong with buying “off the rack” if it’s close enough to your preferred spec. Or buying shafts /clubs off eBay and trying them out, provided you know what you are looking for (lower the launch, increase spin etc).

Shame there is virtually no one doing a full wedge fitting. Hitting off the matts + a few shots on the grass is the most I could find even at the brand’s own fitting centre.

 

[elias988]

I'm a huge "don't buy useless stuff" guy, I thought fitting is useless, but that was until I was persuaded by one of my friends, since then I recommend fitting to everyone I know too, since I was known as the guy who don't waste money around I was quite good at convincing folks

 

[CliveW]

I was fitted at a Titleist Fitting Centre for both irons and fairway wood/hybrid. My irons were standard loft/lie/shaft whilst my fairway and hybrid were not. I got on great with my irons (AP2s) but could not manage my fairway clubs and eventually swapped them for Pings.

I recently changed my AP2s for T300s but bought them off the rack after speaking to my pro.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Been fitted several times including at national fitting centres and bought off the shelf. Did the technology really make a difference? Maybe a placebo of new shiny clubs but the idiot holding them still has to swing them and the club doesn't know if it has been fitted or not so can't help thinking it comes down to ability

 

[Orikoru]

I don't see how the benefit of a fitting can be denied really, unless you think you're good enough to hit any club equally well and/or just want to choose your clubs based on looks. I see it as an opportunity to try all manner of different options and clearly see which one works the best before you spend your cash on it.

As Backache said above though, the benefit will be greater if you go from non-fitted to fitted. I have a fitting booked next week to potentially replace my five-year-old fitted driver, so it will be interesting to see what gains can be made on that.

Having said all that, the only clubs I have fitted for in my bag were driver and irons. For wedges I didn't bother, I just chose a forgiving brand & model. My fairway woods I just bought them because I liked the face profile and the rails on the bottom. Putter was just that I wanted to try a face-balanced model so trial and error effectively. But I felt driver and irons had the biggest potential to affect performance and was important to get them right.

 

[Imurg]

My only real issue with most custom fits is that they're done indoors, in a sterile environment, off a flat mat - often with alignment markings.
Don't get me wrong...this is perfect for knowing the absolute performance characteristics of the club but it , more often than not, bears little to no resemblance to what goes on out on the course.
I see little benefit in a full custom fit for my circumstances as there are barely any flat lies on my course..
You're either going uphill, downhill, ball above or below your feet or a combination...making a lie angle fit, for example, almost worthless.....length too, to a degree, as I'm often gripping down or even up to get the right angles.
The way the sole goes through the turf opposed to the mat can also be very different. How good are the grooves at displacing moisture and grass...?
These aspects can't be measured in the studio. The quality of the mats varies hugely
It would be great if fitters had trial clubs available so you can test on your own course before buying..I know some have this availability but to my mind it should be standard.

 

[VVega]

My only real issue with most custom fits is that they're done indoors, in a sterile environment, off a flat mat - often with alignment markings.
Don't get me wrong...this is perfect for knowing the absolute performance characteristics of the club but it , more often than not, bears little to no resemblance to what goes on out on the course.
I see little benefit in a full custom fit for my circumstances as there are barely any flat lies on my course..
You're either going uphill, downhill, ball above or below your feet or a combination...making a lie angle fit, for example, almost worthless.....length too, to a degree, as I'm often gripping down or even up to get the right angles.
The way the sole goes through the turf opposed to the mat can also be very different. How good are the grooves at displacing moisture and grass...?
These aspects can't be measured in the studio. The quality of the mats varies hugely
It would be great if fitters had trial clubs available so you can test on your own course before buying..I know some have this availability but to my mind it should be standard.

Agreed with all above. It’s even more challenging if we consider the ball /technology used.

- Trackman is not the best for indoors(even though they keep improving it)

- Any studio on the range would be using range balls (of various degree of quality) which even with “compensation on” doesn’t show true numbers.

Having said that it’s still much better than nothing as provides enough of the relative comparison between the clubs under the same test conditions.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My only real issue with most custom fits is that they're done indoors, in a sterile environment, off a flat mat - often with alignment markings.
Don't get me wrong...this is perfect for knowing the absolute performance characteristics of the club but it , more often than not, bears little to no resemblance to what goes on out on the course.
I see little benefit in a full custom fit for my circumstances as there are barely any flat lies on my course..
You're either going uphill, downhill, ball above or below your feet or a combination...making a lie angle fit, for example, almost worthless.....length too, to a degree, as I'm often gripping down or even up to get the right angles.
The way the sole goes through the turf opposed to the mat can also be very different. How good are the grooves at displacing moisture and grass...?
These aspects can't be measured in the studio. The quality of the mats varies hugely
It would be great if fitters had trial clubs available so you can test on your own course before buying..I know some have this availability but to my mind it should be standard.

Some of the national fitting centres have the option to hit outside or at least from a bay out to the range and so you can see the effect of wind on flight etc

 

[Springveldt]

I got "fit" for my irons 5 years ago at a local place. Cost me £25 for the session and I wasn't that impressed with it tbh, I guess you get what you pay for. I was hitting range balls off a mat with a Trackman optimizing the numbers. I ended up going to American Golf for a free one as a second opinion and found that to be better as I actually tried out more shafts and found one that brought my spin down from 7000rpm (with a strong lofted 6 iron) that the "fitting" had said was best to just under 6000rpm. I had to go from a 95g regular to a 125g stiff to get the spin down and to stop my irons going 120 feet in the air. That was using the ball I'd normally play with and a GC2 as the launch monitor.

I've never been fit for a driver, at the same time as the irons I hit a few of the newer driver models at the time and found that one of the shafts seemed to work better than the others, I was hitting it straighter, so just bought a 2nd hand driver with that shaft.

Other than that, I've just bought stuff off of Callaway Preowned that had a stiff shaft, 3 wood, hybrids etc.

Maybe I'd improve with fitted stuff but I very much doubt it would get me down from 4.x to scratch, so I'm not sure taking a day off work, driving to someplace that people recommend, buying new gear etc to maybe knock a shot or two off my handicap is going to be worth it.

 

[RichA]

I've had a couple of iron fittings.
Both involved an hour or 2 of hitting balls from range mats, which I generally avoid. The data was so varied that nobody with any integrity would have drawn firm conclusions from it.
Both came up with the obvious recommendation that I had already obtained by punching my measurements into an online tool: 2° upright, +0.5" shaft length.
Both fittings found that shaft weight and flex made little difference for me. Some shafts I liked the feel of, others I did not - that was the only really useful learning point.
I didn't enjoy using the clubs that I bought that were fitted for me. I have had more enjoyment, consistency and success picking up used clubs in my specs.
I can believe that it works for some people but suspect it makes little difference to the majority.

 

[Klimski]

I once got fitted by a club pro who was a ping guy. He advised a (19 year old version of) me to get +0.5 inch and 2 degrees upright lie. My Mizuno irons are in that spec. They seem to work out okay. But I have rented clubs that are bog standard and not really noticed a difference (other than shaft length if they weren't graphite shafted).

 

[PJ87]

My only real issue with most custom fits is that they're done indoors, in a sterile environment, off a flat mat - often with alignment markings.
Don't get me wrong...this is perfect for knowing the absolute performance characteristics of the club but it , more often than not, bears little to no resemblance to what goes on out on the course.
I see little benefit in a full custom fit for my circumstances as there are barely any flat lies on my course..
You're either going uphill, downhill, ball above or below your feet or a combination...making a lie angle fit, for example, almost worthless.....length too, to a degree, as I'm often gripping down or even up to get the right angles.
The way the sole goes through the turf opposed to the mat can also be very different. How good are the grooves at displacing moisture and grass...?
These aspects can't be measured in the studio. The quality of the mats varies hugely
It would be great if fitters had trial clubs available so you can test on your own course before buying..I know some have this availability but to my mind it should be standard.

Guy I play golf with gets his clubs "as new" from golfclubs for cash then tests them and returns the ones that he doesn't like

 

[Voyager EMH]

I had my first fitting in 1969.

My dad unwound the leather grips of 4 hickory shafted clubs, got me to hold them correctly, sawed them off to the appropriate length, then re-wound the grips back on.
What a game-changer that was! Biggest pivotal moment in my golfing.
18 months later I broke 100 at the age of 10 years and 7 months with those 4 clubs. (Par 68, red tees, Barnsley municipal)

Getting clubs that are right for you is very important.

 

[jim8flog]

My last two fittings sessions resulted basically in an off the shelf purchase no real difference other than the choice of the best shaft to suit me.

There was a time when I used to test for the best shaft for myself on course. I had 3 identical 6 iron heads and would put a different one in each go round the 9 hole course with two choosing the best one from the two, drop the less preferred one from the two and replace it with another and do the same. The shafts came from buying up a stock of demonstrator shfts going on ebay

One thing I learnt from doing this is that are several shafts from different companies that are basically the same.

My first ever fitting session back in the 90s taught me a lot.

 

[Crow]

I play all manner of clubs, shafts, lengths, they make little noticeable difference to my scoring.

 

[Klimski]

Someone I know well was gaming an off the rack standard set of King Cobra's - handicap 24 or therabouts. No more than 2 years old. He was advised by his club pro to get fitted - with a fitter that the club pro had ties to. So off he went, spent a day hitting balls and being measured up - and got sold a bog standard spec set of Taylor Made clubs. The whole experience must have cost him around Eur 3000 and has had no impact on his game or handicap. Perhaps it was worthwhile to find out that regular and std are his specs, but it seemed a bit off to me.

 

[Oddsocks]

To the OP, I think history proves that fittings work however I’m interested to hear how you fit someone with an inconsistent swing.

IE a two way miss, multiple faults etc as surely you can only fit for the swing they have that day be it good or bad?