Golf Superstores, Customer Services, Custom Fitting, Club Pros etc

[GB72]

Bit of a long story this crossing several topics that have been 'hot' recently so I thought it was worth telling.

To start at the beginning, I was an idiot, I received some vouchers through work, went to a particular branch of Direct Golf and bought an unsuitable driver, far too low a loft, lots of roll, no carry. I feel for the usual sales crap 'this is the ideal club for you sir' and despite knowing better I had vouchers burning a hole in my pocket and I spent them. After 4 weeks of poor driving even resulting in the driver staying in my bag for the round at Breadsall Priory I had had enough. I emailed direct golf with my frustrations and to their credit they said that I could bring the club back and if something was more suitable they would do a full refund and exchange. So to start with we have the bad side of superstores and some refershingly good customer service.

Now on to part 2, my dad has taken up the game after 10 years away from playing and at he age of 67 he felt that it was time to change his old stiff Lynx Parralax irons. He went to his pro shop and was offered a set of Ping G15s (well at the age of 67 they would be the obvious choice). Now I had armed him with some knowledge about the release of the G20 and that he could expect some discount perhaps. What did his pro say? He would not lower the price but recommended that my dad bought them there and then as stock would be hard to come by. On that note, and as I had a driver to change, we both went to my preferred Direct Golf in Cambridge where we both spent 2 hours hitting balls with no pressure and plenty of good advice. The pros there were great with my dad and really helped him through the options whereas the pro helping me made sure I had tried every driver option before I walked away with one. The service was faultless and we both even had our pictures taken with the Ryder Cup (Sam Torrance was doing a speach evening there and it was on the premises for that). The service today has been faultless and I am a proud owner of a 12 degree Mizuno JPX driver whilst my dad has a new set of Adams Irons (yes they were the best and just pipped the Mizuno MX200s). To add to that I watched my dad (just to remind he is 67 and has not played for 10 years) spank a 4 iron hybrid further than I can hit a 5 wood.

So there we go, to my mind, better service from a golf superstore than a club pro,a great afternoon and 2 happy customers.

 

[0]

Re: Gold Superstores, Customer Services, Custom Fitting, Club Pros etc

excellent story, I think some club pro's want to be golfers not retail salesmen and it shows in their service.
Glad you got fitted properly this time, makes a world of difference

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Re: Gold Superstores, Customer Services, Custom Fitting, Club Pros etc

I think it is refreshing to read about a golf store providing excellent service and also a bit sad that having given your club pro first dibs to make a nice profit he was so intransigent.

 

[Imurg]

Re: Gold Superstores, Customer Services, Custom Fitting, Club Pros etc

That's one of the problems with the big name clubs. Until they're 2 years out of production you'll be lucky to get any sort of discount on them. Let's face it, G15's are still current - for a few weeks anyway - and the G10's are still going for nearly the same, maybe dropping a bit now as they're nearly 2 years out of production.
Good to see DG coming up with the service, even if you got stitched first time round.

 

[GB72]

Re: Gold Superstores, Customer Services, Custom Fitting, Club Pros etc

I was a pitty about the first instance but that was at a new DG and the manager there was very good, he called me and he set up the exchange at the Cambridge store.

It is a pitty that the pro wanted to sell the G15s at full whack despite the G20s and that he saw the appearance of a new range as a reason to quickly but the the old version. My dad would have gone with the pro if he had shown a bit of flexibility.

Anyway, I was pleased he got the works over at DG in Cambridge. I know they are one of the few who sell Adams but at the end of the day he was undecided between the Adams and Mizuno but went with the Adams because the set had 2 hybrids that he was hitting so well (and he is not affraid of a long iron as he has never owned a driver and hit a 2 iron off the tee when he used to play).

I suppose the point here is not necessarily to praise golf supermarkets or slag club pros. What I wanted to point out is that there are good and bad retailers and we should not feel obliged to use one or the other and should be loyal to good service and not just because the happen to be part of a club.

 

[hangover]

Re: Gold Superstores, Customer Services, Custom Fitting, Club Pros etc

I've always had cracking service at direct golf. It's always my first port of call now for anything I need.

 

[GB72]

Re: Gold Superstores, Customer Services, Custom Fitting, Club Pros etc

I was most impressed with the way they treated my dad. He has no idea about current technology and hybrids did not exist when he last played. He went in wanting a set with a 2 iron and came out with a set with 2 hybrids that he loves. The lad also had to breach the hurdle that he did not have the ability or swing like he used to be able to. He spent over 2 hours with him trying everything using observation, launch monitors and a few other gadgets to ensure he got what he wanted.