Hear me out on this one...

[Imurg]

Custom Fit.
Its a subject that's had more than its fair share of the limelight but I've got a few things going on in my mind about it.
While I'm not saying that it does or doesn't work we've seen very real evidence from ChrisMc that it might not be all its cracked up to be.
Chris had a Titleist 909 fitting at the Titleist centre recently (courtesy of GM) and came away with a driver supposedly fitted to his swing, a driver that would see him finding fairways from now till Kingdom come. But, after a few weeks (and knee surgery that can't have helped) he finds that he can't hit the aforementioned 909 and tries a mates 905 and hits it so well that he buys one in the same spec.

Now if the 905 is going well - and I believe his old G5 too - then something went very wrong at the fitting. This is not an isolated case. I can't remember names but I reckon 3 or 4 others can tell similar tales with different equipment. I was fitted for a set of Ping i3 irons years ago and never played well with them.

So on to my point.
I see custom fit as a snap-shot of your ability at a certain time on a certain day. If you are a handicap golfer (10+) is it actually worth getting custom fit? The fact that you go round in 80+ most of the time suggests that you don't strike the ball consistently. If that's the case why be fitted for a club that you will swing "correctly" only a few times? You may have clubs that are 1 degree flat (for instance). If you do not have a grooved, repeatable swing (ie more often than not its the same!) then your off-swings could mean you need a 1 degree upright for those and maybe even a 2 degree flat for others.
I play off 10 and although my ball striking has improved over the years I know that, given 5 swings, probably 3 of them will be different. Not by much but enough to make custom fit redundant. In this instance a standard off the shelf club has as much chance of producing a decent strike.

Now I know there are custom fit fans out there and I'm not knocking you at all - if it works for you then great - I reckon you're lucky.

All I really know is that if I'd paid for a Tilteist fitting and 2 months down the line the club didn't work I would not be a happy camper.

 

[mono217]

Thats well said I think that CF is more for the lower handicappers.

 

[steveyjd81]

Custom fitting should be for tall and short freaks and single figure handicaps with good technique, average swings are too inconsistent to make a different, spend ya money on a series of lessons

 

[TonyN]

I have always said that C/F is is never aimed at a certain H/C range, rather than people with a repeatable swing.

I think I am very lucky to have one of these and have seen great benefits from C/F.

Had Chris have had more choice to be C/F'd with, would the results have been better? And what I mean by this is rather than just be fit for titleist or just for the 909 head he may have gotten better results from a different manufacturer (Callaway, Taylormade?)

 

[johng]

Previously posted this, a view on C/F from Harvey Penick.


http://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk//showfl...=true#Post35493

 

[viscount17]

I heard the opposite opinion from the club maker who repaired my PW. His view is that C/F is <u>more</u> suited to high and mid handicappers. His argument is that a low handicapper should be able to play with anything.

 

[JustOne]

I think having the right shafts for your swing speed is essential - apart from that I totally agree with your post.

No two swings can ever be the same otherwise Tiger wouldn't miss greens from 100 yards.

My 2 cents.

 

[Macster]

I feel a tad uncomfortable about all this, given the fantastic opportunity that Gm/Titleist gave me, and where it not for the others who also have had issues with the 909, I would put it all down to 'me', and me alone, not swinging correctly with the club.
In fact, had I not tried the friends 905R, and my own G5 again tonight, I may well have carried on and on working on major swing faults I presumably had and trying to find a solution.

I think Imurg may well have a point, given my experience, and that comes from someone who beleived in the CF process 100% previously.

But simply, for me to pick up a friends 905, with a shaft I have never swung before, and indeed go back to my old G5, and find that they both work significantly better for me, quite frankly puts a big question mark over the whole process unfortunately.
Perhaps the Cf process simply cannot be done in an hour or 2, and is something that should be done over a matter of weeks, but that clearly isnt possible, unless your a Pro, with a Tour Van at your disposal every week, week in week out.

Maybe it works for most, and I'm an anomoly, I dont know.
All I do know is that I love the 909D2, and sooo want to hit it well, but just cant.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Imurg i think your spot on.

I've not been cf for any of my gear but my pro did help me choose my driver after i'd had a few lessons to get my swing right.

He wanted to see me strike 7 out of 10 shots consistantly before he sold me one. I like to see the flight of the ball out on the range and not let the stats affect my choice of driver.

Too much info at times can be more of a hindrence than a help.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I have had C/F clubs and to be honest I've benefitted more when I bought my R7's and now my Tour burners off the shelf than I did with my C/F X20's in both steel and graphite.

As with most others I simply didn't have a repeatable enough action and both my X20 sets were 1 degree upright and I'm not sure in hindsight whether I made the same swing 2/10 times at that stage of my game (just coming back after a long layoff).

I think there is definitely a place for C/F and until Chris's post I would have been in the C/F camp. However his experience and looking back over my own has led me to reconsider how much assistance it can give a high or mid handicapper. I think as Justoneuk rightly points out, if you can find the right shaft to suit then that is more or less all you need worry about.

 

[johng]

A good friend of mine who plays off 5 has always used off the shelf clubs - never ever used C/F process.

His only requirement is too get the right shaft (stiff), and apart form his putter all his gear is Titleist, so simillar shafts in all clubs. Just shows the process may be over rated after all,

or on the other hand the 1st team captain (-1) has all C/F gear and recently paid £100 upgrade on a shaft for a Titleist 909, now, his swing is a thing of beauty and elegance - git!!

Don't know what the answer is - I've had both C/F and non C/F and played equally crap with all of it

personally I currently believe that the 1 club you'd benefit from having C/F the most is your putter. Flex doesn't matter, but lie, length, weight and grip sure do. The most repeatable of swings in all the bag - should be easiest to get right and benefit from.

 

[CliveW]

My current set of irons were custom fitted and are standard in all respects apart from grip size. I now know that I could have just bought "Off the shelf" but if I hadn't had the fitting I would have never known if the clubs were correct or not. All in all, it is one less variable to worry about.
Incidentally, I had a two week period in which if I wasn't happy I could them changed. (I'm surprised that Chris didn't have that option)

 

[Smiffy]

I went for custom fitting a few months ago for my MX200's. I guess my swing could be referred to as "repeatable" because its always been crap....
The one area where I think I have benefitted is in the shaft decision. After years of playing graphite, I have now gone back to steel, albeit a lighter option than the standard ones. I had "toyed" with a set of Callaway X18's but the shafts in these felt like girders. The Mizunos feel much better in this respect. Other than a one degree alteration in the lie (flatter) my clubs are standard fare. I am now getting to grips with them, and am striking them well (for me). I still have my doubts about the "one degree flatter" though..I have noticed a tendency for me to push my longer irons, (not a slice but a definite push), which wasn't there with any of my old sets of clubs. I have read that having clubs that are too flat for you can lead to this, but am living with it for the time being. As the custom fitting session was completely free, I don't feel that it was a waste of time at all, and my scores don't seem to be suffering due to the clubs.

 

[USER1999]

I will be intersted to see what happens at Titleist when I go for my 909 fitting. I have used a 909D2 with a stiff voodoo, and loved it, so will be interested t see what they recommend. I may yet ignore them and buy what I have tried before, as I know how I hit it, or may go with what they say. My main issue is that at the moment, I am swinging the big stick like a dog, and so if this swing gets a c/f, the shaft will probably have a right angle bend in it.

I did go to Titleist for my irons, and have been very happy with the results. I am hitting them really well at the moment, so the driver thing is a mystery.

 

[Parmo]

I think CF to a degree i.e. which standard shafts are best reg or stiff is a good thing, but is that custom fitting really or just getting advice on standard kit that's best for you?

I went to AG for a fitting for my irons and then they used a Ping chart which for any other brand is useless, but never the less they did it and the only change was two tapes adding, which I am yet to tell the difference specially when they where changing my swing and stance in store.

If I have the cash for a new driver soon then I will be buying online and getting for as cheap as possible and forgetting about the golden CF, if I was a Cat 1 player and a few yards here and there counted then it would be needed, but not for me anymore.

 

[HTL]

Almost totally agree with you fella. In my opinion the only thing that should be custom fitted is the grip, length and shaft, all the messing about with lofts and angle etc is just not needed, like draw bias drivers? WHY? Learn to play a draw or sort out you slice.

 

[steveyjd81]

Grip size is one thing that everyone should have checked

I wear a small glove but still have an extra layer of tape on my grips

Someone with large glove hands should have at least a midsize grip

 

[haplesshacker]

What I like about this thread is the honesty in which the posters regarding the Titleist / GM CF with the 909 have been.

It cannot be easy to come on here, having had a CF session provided by the mag, and then question the suitability of the product a month or two down the line. It just goes to show that healthly debate is always interesting. Even if a little awkward.

Well done guys. It raises an interesting point.

 

[Macster]

An update: Previous to posting about my problems with my D2, I had emailed Paul at the Titleist Fitting Centre at Brampton, who had been my fitter on the day, and explained my problems.
This morning, he very kindly called me, and we discussed things.
I happily admitted that it was very possibly down to my swing on the day, a cold day, in the middle of a winter when my golf wasn't too regular, and he agreed that may have contributed.
Obviously he fitted me with what he saw on the day, and what we thought was the best result on the day.

However, he was perfectly happy for me to return down to Brampton, very soon, and now that my swing is a little more consistent (hopefully), we could look at other options and do a complete refit, down to changing the Shaft and also possibly changing to the D3 perhaps instead, which is more like the 905R that I have tried recently with great results.

How can I say no ? Very very good of them, and needless to say, an offer I am taking up.

I'll re-post as soon as it has taken place, and can assess what solution we hopefully find.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I think c/f is an interesting topic. Is it necessary - NO, is it likely to be helpful - yes.

I recently had my wedges c/f'd. I though that as my current ones were good makes/models and they were mainly used for half swings it wouldn't be necessary. But once I saw the results on the sticker placed on the sole and club face I was amazed.

I was hitting everything in such a way it suggested my clubs were too short & not up right enough. So I was given some Cally X's to try with the altered angle&length and it seemed to make a huge difference.

I've not got the made up Vokeys (which I opted for in the end) but here's hoping.

So maybe it's fair to say that although our swings may not always be consistent we will stay a similar size & shape so we should fit for this?