Demo day vs custom fit

[tsped83]

I’m booked in on a Titleist demo day next week, a 45min appointment to hook, slice and sky their latest shiny drivers. Very excited. For those that have had demo day appointments, how does it compare to a custom fit session? Ostensibly a demo appointment is a custom fit, but obviously limited to a sole manufacturer? Thoughts and musings please.

Cheers

 

[fundy]

I’m booked in on a Titleist demo day next week, a 45min appointment to hook, slice and sky their latest shiny drivers. Very excited. For those that have had demo day appointments, how does it compare to a custom fit session? Ostensibly a demo appointment is a custom fit, but obviously limited to a sole manufacturer? Thoughts and musings please.

Cheers

in my experience it depends how busy the demo day is. if the fitter has no one else booked after you it will be like a full custom fit, if he is busy it may well feel on the rushed side and not as extensive a fit with as many options explored, demo day fitters are doing this day in day out so usually are very good

 

[Banchory Buddha]

You've nailed the issue, limited to one manufacturer, which may not be right for you.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

When I bought my irons, I went to all the demo days held at my club. I found the best set up (head, shaft, grip etc & loft/lie) for each manufacturer, and then tried those against each other with my club pro.
I then chose the best of those.

They are useful, if you're looking for new bats, as they should know their product well, and be able to find the best set up for you, within their choices.
It's then up to you to find out if they are the best club for you.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

You are limited to whoever is there on the day, usually limited to one manufacturer. If it is a busy day, there may be a lack of opportunity to try too many different options. You can usually book a slot (normally 30-45 minutes) where you get one-to-one access to the fitter but that isn't always time to try all the options available. I usually go along and try whichever driver/irons I'm interested in and start with a stock R flex and then maybe dabble with a S flex or a graphite and simply use my eyes or something like Toptracer to gauge the differences. It is a tool to get an idea of how you are hitting a manufacturers offering and can help confirm/forget those if you are going to a custom fit down the line

 

[Pin-seeker]

You've nailed the issue, limited to one manufacturer, which may not be right for you.

Is their really much difference between the top manufacturers tho?
All seem to get very similar numbers when tested so should be able to fit the relevant model to you.

 

[KenL]

A full custom fit, even with the same manufacturer, needs to be longer than 45 minutes.
Think it was 90 minutes the twice I have been to Callaway fitting at St. Andrews.
Takes over an hour just for driver.

 

[Bratty]

It's always worth going to demo days to try stuff out and chat with the fitter (if they have time), but a proper custom fit is a very different thing, even with only one brand. For a start, it's usually around 30 minutes at a demo day and anything up to 90 minutes for a custom fit.
They don't always have a great selection of shafts either at demo days.
Sometimes a demo day is good to discount certain models before going to a custom fit, but even then, you may find they recommend something you've discounted, but with a shaft you've never tried.

 

[Banchory Buddha]

Is their really much difference between the top manufacturers tho?
All seem to get very similar numbers when tested so should be able to fit the relevant model to you.

But they all feel very different, and similar numbers off a robot, you won't be a robot.

 

[Wilf]

If it is a Titleist Thursday then I always found these really good and not all that much different to going to the National Fitting centre at St Ives. They have all the shafts etc and heads you need and you are not obligated to buy on the day as you tend to order after through your Pro. As others have said though I knew I wanted Titleist stuff when I went as had already tried a few different demo clubs out from my Pro and had decided Titleist was the best fit for me.

With iron fittings I also try and get a go on the Mizuno shaft swing beforehand so I had an idea what shafts might suit me outside the standard offerings

 

[Wildrover]

There seems to be a feeling that you need to try all the options. A fitting is about using the expertise of the fitter to find the best set up, not trying every option and then seeing which is best. Usually after watching someone hit their own driver you can see what is right/wrong about it and you can see what direction you need to go in.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

There seems to be a feeling that you need to try all the options. A fitting is about using the expertise of the fitter to find the best set up, not trying every option and then seeing which is best. Usually after watching someone hit their own driver you can see what is right/wrong about it and you can see what direction you need to go in.

yes, a good fitter will be able to guide you to the correct clubs based on how you hit your own club. your basic numbers etc - then it's just about fine tuning.

 

[Banchory Buddha]

There seems to be a feeling that you need to try all the options. A fitting is about using the expertise of the fitter to find the best set up, not trying every option and then seeing which is best. Usually after watching someone hit their own driver you can see what is right/wrong about it and you can see what direction you need to go in.

Yes, but narrowing down the clubs that feel good to you, you like the look of when addressing the ball comes first, if you literally couldn't play with a club, no point being fitted. Once you discard the 'not a chance' selection, you can get the best set up and find what actually works.

 

[Foxholer]

I’m booked in on a Titleist demo day next week, a 45min appointment to hook, slice and sky their latest shiny drivers. Very excited. For those that have had demo day appointments, how does it compare to a custom fit session? Ostensibly a demo appointment is a custom fit, but obviously limited to a sole manufacturer? Thoughts and musings please.

Cheers

It's certainly a good starting point. But, as you stated, being a single manufacturer session, I wouldn't (and didn't) buy there and then. I'd certainly remenber the one that felt/worked best for subsequent comparison though. If you go in with the attitude that you aren't going to buy (yet) it also helps focus your mind on what things to 'look' for when you demo other brands.

 

[patricks148]

Only problem iv found with demo days is some of the OEM are just interested in selling a club. I've had mixed experiences, the only one that really was truthful Imo was the old mizuno rep who after trying several new models, his feedback was always its not better or has better results than what I was using at the time. FYI he's no longer in the job?.

 

[Ethan]

I’m booked in on a Titleist demo day next week, a 45min appointment to hook, slice and sky their latest shiny drivers. Very excited. For those that have had demo day appointments, how does it compare to a custom fit session? Ostensibly a demo appointment is a custom fit, but obviously limited to a sole manufacturer? Thoughts and musings please.

Cheers

Pretty much as you say, a custom fit within one brand. The fitter will have a good range of kit, lofts, shaft brands and so on, and will give you a prescription from which you can choose what you like, if anything. I was at a Titleist demo day in October and it was very good, and I bought some kit.

 

[hovis]

A demo day is basically a session where no matter what they will find a way to show you you're playing the wrong club and you should be playing there's. I guarantee they will fit you for a longer more accurate club than the one you're currently using.
I remember one occasion on a callaway demo day where he deleted the best shots from my TM driver and deleted the worst from the callaway one. I had him bang to rights and he just said "you know how it is".

I always go independent. Even then I check they are not affiliated with a particular brand

 

[sweaty sock]

My best fitting experiences have been at demo days. The guys know their product back to front, 30 minutes is plenty for any section (driver, irons, wedges etc) if you need or want more your pro can book multiple slots.

Comments about it being only one company I can dismiss as every company has a selection that can fit every golfer, particularly at our level.

My titliest wedge fitting was an absolute revelation, and far exceeded anything Ive had even from specialist golf club fitting centres...

 

[Banchory Buddha]

My best fitting experiences have been at demo days. The guys know their product back to front, 30 minutes is plenty for any section (driver, irons, wedges etc) if you need or want more your pro can book multiple slots.

Comments about it being only one company I can dismiss as every company has a selection that can fit every golfer, particularly at our level.

My titliest wedge fitting was an absolute revelation, and far exceeded anything Ive had even from specialist golf club fitting centres...

That's simply not the case, a different iron might just work better for different players.

I'll recount a case from my fitting days. As you can imagine I used to try every club extensively myself, I'm not a big Taylor Made fan due to my time fitting, mainly because their delivery times and customer service was awful, nevertheless a sale is a sale, and they are popular.

Anyway, the new first iteration of RBZ's came out. It was an awful iron in comparison to everything else on he market that year (we stocked Titleist, Ping, Mizuno, Callaway, Wilson, Cobra, TM & Ben Ross), but of course got its share of sales, it was *never* the best option for anyone I took in the net, but TM fanboys are TM fanboys.

Until one guy, he was a friend of the boss, a high handicapper, and the boss wouldn't fit friends in case of the "well you fitted me this sh..." blowback. So I got the gig.

We went through everything, guy was hopeless, couldn't find a thing that worked, last resort was the RBZ, it was like he was transformed, for him they just worked.

And that's the thing, especially higher handicappers, it's finding a clubhead that works for you as much as shaft and lie angle etc, cos you're not going to swing consistent enough to get real custom fit benefits, so which stock shaft/head combo see you hit the ball reasonably consistently is the aim. If you're limited to one manufacturer at a demo day, you're not getting the full benefit.

Is a manufacturer demo day better than a general custom fit? 100%. For me, it's go try everything, find the set you get on with best, then rock up for the specific manufacturers demo day to get their full expertise.

 

[Ethan]

That's simply not the case, a different iron might just work better for different players.

I'll recount a case from my fitting days. As you can imagine I used to try every club extensively myself, I'm not a big Taylor Made fan due to my time fitting, mainly because their delivery times and customer service was awful, nevertheless a sale is a sale, and they are popular.

Anyway, the new first iteration of RBZ's came out. It was an awful iron in comparison to everything else on he market that year (we stocked Titleist, Ping, Mizuno, Callaway, Wilson, Cobra, TM & Ben Ross), but of course got its share of sales, it was *never* the best option for anyone I took in the net, but TM fanboys are TM fanboys.

Until one guy, he was a friend of the boss, a high handicapper, and the boss wouldn't fit friends in case of the "well you fitted me this sh..." blowback. So I got the gig.

We went through everything, guy was hopeless, couldn't find a thing that worked, last resort was the RBZ, it was like he was transformed, for him they just worked.

And that's the thing, especially higher handicappers, it's finding a clubhead that works for you as much as shaft and lie angle etc, cos you're not going to swing consistent enough to get real custom fit benefits, so which stock shaft/head combo see you hit the ball reasonably consistently is the aim. If you're limited to one manufacturer at a demo day, you're not getting the full benefit.

Is a manufacturer demo day better than a general custom fit? 100%. For me, it's go try everything, find the set you get on with best, then rock up for the specific manufacturers demo day to get their full expertise.

But if you look at the major brands, Titleist, Callaway, TM, Mizuno, Srixon, they all have a range of clubhead designs from Tour player to duffer, typically a Tour level blade, a players cavity, a players distance club and a easy to flight higher handicappers iron, usually a range of stock shafts designed to cover a wide range of players, a range of custom shafts and the ability to adjust loft, lie, length, grip size and shape. Most players should be "fittable" for most of those brands, and the real difference between them is aesthetics, brand preference and image. I am shopping at present and have probably decided to go for Mizuno (223, probably), but I know I could find a TM, Titleist or Cally that would play much the same.