Fitting is it all that?

[Tommo21]

Playing with a scratch golfer today and I got on to the discussion of custom fitting. He said he got custom fitted a few years ago for irons and said they were the worst irons he ever had. He now plays standard irons of the shelf. He states that when getting custom fitted the analyse your best shot and swing at all times, and don't allow for poor shots and therefore it's not worth getting fitted especially mid to high handicapers . I kind of agreed with him at the time, but what is everyone else's opinion

Ps this guy could play golf

He can play golf and talk crap...................clearly he wasnt fitted properly. If the fitter only took his best shots, a scratch golfer, how many bad shots did he hit to be wrongly fitted. A good fitter will take the average from say six shots and with different clubs. Did he not know they were the worst irons before he said yes. A good golfer will know if hes got the right bat in his hands.

 

[Ethan]

Seems a little bit off-hand Ethan! Not had your caffeine fix for the morning yet?

The Ping fitting means any selection won't be 'random'.

I agree that there any number of variables that could have meant the fitting was less than satisfactory.

But I think the number of entries in the answer to 'Who cares?' would be at least 2!

While I believe 'fitting works', I wouldn't suggest that 'every fitting works'.

Well, the OP was advancing the proposition that his mate was fitted properly, but those clubs apparently didn't suit for unspecified reasons, but that 'off the shelf' clubs worked better. I didn't see in the original post where he has a partial fitting, although clearly Pings have a static fitting system. You can still walk into a shop and point at a set and say 'I'll have those'. Maybe his mate did that. We will never know, nor possibly care.

There is also a subtext that a scratch player knows better. That is often not the case.

But overall, the original post just read as an uninformative whine and I will never get back the time I wasted reading it.

Had a nice cup of tea, by the way.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I would always go for a custom fit because I enjoy the process and I really don't see how it can hurt if you get a decent fitting. However, I am also of the opinion that you could do trial and error with off the shelf clubs and find a set you could play perfectly well with - being happy with the bats is the main thing.

You have to remember that the stock shafts are aimed at the masses so unless you are overly tall\short or have a particularly fast or slow SS then off the shelf will probably do you.

When I went to Titleist we tried all sorts of shafts in the driver but ended up with stock shaft but the big thing about custom fit for me is that I know I have the best shaft for me rather than thinking I do. It takes away the urge to chop and change every 3 months.

 

[groundskeeperwilly]

My personal experience:
2 fittings at different places, both recommended different clubs/brands with different shafts despite me thinking that I was hitting best with a 3rd different set (Which I used at both fittings)!

Have tried all 3 for a while-I was equally rubbish with the 2 recommended choices and better with my own choice!

Not saying custom fit is no good because I plan to have another soon but sometimes you just know yourself what will work.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Had two separate fittings so in theory put two different "swings of the day" on it. Both said G25. Both said 2-2.25 degree upright. Two different fitters. One my teaching pro who knows my swing and an independent set up at Pachesham who didn;t know me at all or my preferences or that I'd already had Ping recommended. Still making some bad swings with the new clubs but getting less punished and in my mind, for piece of mind that the clubs are set up as well as they can be for your game, it's worth doing

 

[Jdb2005]

Well, the OP was advancing the proposition that his mate was fitted properly, but those clubs apparently didn't suit for unspecified reasons, but that 'off the shelf' clubs worked better. I didn't see in the original post where he has a partial fitting, although clearly Pings have a static fitting system. You can still walk into a shop and point at a set and say 'I'll have those'. Maybe his mate did that. We will never know, nor possibly care.

There is also a subtext that a scratch player knows better. That is often not the case.

But overall, the original post just read as an uninformative whine and I will never get back the time I wasted reading it.

Had a nice cup of tea, by the way.

I wasn't advancing anything, and ill state again he is not really my mate , he's a guy I got paired with, I asked a question to get an opinion. If u read the OP and wanted to put a constructive opinion fair enough, but throwing the toys out the pram seems a bit harsh and ABSURD!!!, are you Colin Montgomerie in disguise?

My playing partner never put me off one day getting fitted.

Relax and enjoy your tea

 

[Foxholer]

My personal experience:
2 fittings at different places, both recommended different clubs/brands with different shafts despite me thinking that I was hitting best with a 3rd different set (Which I used at both fittings)!

Have tried all 3 for a while-I was equally rubbish with the 2 recommended choices and better with my own choice!

Not saying custom fit is no good because I plan to have another soon but sometimes you just know yourself what will work.

If you don't believe in the clubs you are hitting, you won't hit them well!

 

[CMAC]

If you don't believe in the clubs you are hitting, you won't hit them well!

I'd agree with that 100%:thup:

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

If you don't believe in the clubs you are hitting, you won't hit them well!

I very much believe in my clubs, but still hit them badly. Damn, guess it must be me!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I very much believe in my clubs, but still hit them badly. Damn, guess it must be me!

It's never you, I suspect you are carrying them in the wrong bag :thup:

 

[Driven2Distraction]

I'd agree with that 100%:thup:

^ +1

also - when going for a custom fitting you need to leave all preconceptions about what you might think you want to be fitted for, together with your ego, at the door. Otherwise you'll probably never be happy with the product that's recommended.

Personally speaking - i've only got positive things to say about my own custom fitting experiences - the fitter knew exactly what he was talking about and which of my shonky swings to include or discount in his assessment :cheers:

 

[Sweep]

I have to say that it never ceases to amaze me how a simple question asked on this forum descends into an argument in a very short space of time and with alarming regularity.
In answer to the question, I am not sure if fitting is all that. I was fitted for a driver in '07, so I guess I was quickly on the band waggon, and I was very happy with it. I was also fitted for my Mizuno irons, also happy with them. However, a couple of years ago I had some credit to spend on a time limit so I bought a G20 with the intention of selling it if I didn't like it. Off the shelf, Reg flex 10.5. I hit it well enough to keep in my bag and now no fitter can find a driver I hit better. Similarly, I added a 4 iron to my fitted Mizunos, but the only one I could get had a different shaft and grip. I had the loft and lie adjusted and I hit that club every bit as good as the other irons. So, for me, the jury is still out. I think a lot is down to confidence - if you are told that is the club for you, you believe it - and I think fitting probably takes a lot of the risk away. In other words, considering your build and stats this should be the right club for you, in theory​. And in the end, that is exactly what it is. Theory.

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

It's never you, I suspect you are carrying them in the wrong bag :thup:

Having purchased a new bag to suit the new clubs, I don't think it's think. New shoes are next, and then new tees. And balls. And a glove.

Then and only then will I accept it is me.

 

[Mungoscorner]

I have to say that it never ceases to amaze me how a simple question asked on this forum descends into an argument in a very short space of time and with alarming regularity.
In answer to the question, I am not sure if fitting is all that. I was fitted for a driver in '07, so I guess I was quickly on the band waggon, and I was very happy with it. I was also fitted for my Mizuno irons, also happy with them. However, a couple of years ago I had some credit to spend on a time limit so I bought a G20 with the intention of selling it if I didn't like it. Off the shelf, Reg flex 10.5. I hit it well enough to keep in my bag and now no fitter can find a driver I hit better. Similarly, I added a 4 iron to my fitted Mizunos, but the only one I could get had a different shaft and grip. I had the loft and lie adjusted and I hit that club every bit as good as the other irons. So, for me, the jury is still out. I think a lot is down to confidence - if you are told that is the club for you, you believe it - and I think fitting probably takes a lot of the risk away. In other words, considering your build and stats this should be the right club for you, in theory​. And in the end, that is exactly what it is. Theory.

Excellent post.

 

[Ethan]

I wasn't advancing anything, and ill state again he is not really my mate , he's a guy I got paired with, I asked a question to get an opinion. If u read the OP and wanted to put a constructive opinion fair enough, but throwing the toys out the pram seems a bit harsh and ABSURD!!!, are you Colin Montgomerie in disguise?

My playing partner never put me off one day getting fitted.

Relax and enjoy your tea

Was totally relaxed, pal, but just commenting on the incoherence of the points you were failing to make.

 

[Foxholer]

Was totally relaxed, pal, but just commenting on the incoherence of the points you were failing to make.

Maybe it's less caffeine you need then!

Nothing incoherent about anything stated in the OP! I'm unsure any points were trying to be made - rather opinions opinions canvassed!

Certainly sufficiently vague to raise questions to be answered, but you didn't bother to do so! Just simply attacked your conception of what points you thought the OP-er was trying to make!

The questions I'd ask would be
- "What sort of 'Custom Fit' was the Mizuno one?' - by Mizuno? A Custom Fitter? A Pro? A Golf Store - like AG/DG?"
- "Were the 'off the shelf' purchases really that? Or were they as per the original Pings - which may, of course, have been 'standard' Black Dots so 'standard' would be a 'proper' fit anyway!

Until those questions were answered, there's nothing actually wrong with what the OP was saying - it's merely the equivalent of Data!

So I don't believe 'incoherence of the points you were failing to make' is justified! Just indicating your (perhaps rather too 'blind') bias toward fitting - a position you are quite entitled to have of course!