How much would you pay for a custom fit?

Not had to pay to date and not sure I would either

Orka fitting was totally free whether I purchased or not, also had subsequent loft and lie checks, gap test etc as well as a couple of stone chips repaired.

Ultimately if there is a decent option not to pay for fitting then thats the route I would go, whether the market allows that long term is not certain tho
 
Would certainly want to know how the hour was going to be spent and what i was getting for my £100 over and above what others offer for free.

One of my big errors was paying for a fitting at the belfry quite a few years ago. Honestly was not much better than Direct Golf, had to be out in dead on an hour and was told not to bother using the voucher against the cost of the club as it would still be more expensive than buying elsewhere. First and last time i pay for a fitting
 
Biggleswade Blue said:
I find the whole thing a bit bizarre.

You'd like to buy a suit sir? Certainly. Now, you can have that one there on the rack, but if you want me to measure you and pick one that fits, it's £50 extra.
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and what of the 20 people he 'fits' all day who just want to window shop and try them on with no purchase after? would you spend all day 'working' for nothing?
 
I can see the point, must be pretty disheartening giving loads of guys use of the range and equipment only to never hear from them again and knowing full well its just going to be purchased if the interweb.
 
CMAC said:
and what of the 20 people he 'fits' all day who just want to window shop and try them on with no purchase after? would you spend all day 'working' for nothing?
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I'm sure it is frustrating. But no different to me taking time to prepare professional scopes of work and quotations for my business, to companies that never come back to place an order, or the car salesman offering test drives but not getting a sale.

The point is that if the exercise has value, unrelated to the sale of clubs, then it can be charged for. If the only value of the exercise is the sale of the clubs, then it should be for free (essentially absorbed into the costs and margins of clubs). I'm not sure all golf shops would actually be overrun with people having fittings, and they would quickly identify who the time wasters are.
 
I think that there should be a charge which is taken off any purchase from the pro/fitter. I've heard of people going through a fitting - even if that's not so in depth but is still 30+ minutes of a pro's time only for them to find a cheaper option on the recommended clubs. I think that's wrong so a charge of say £50 is appropriate but not charged if a purchase is made.

There are exceptions. I have had regular lessons with the same teaching pro for 5 years now. He no longer does retail but when he did would spend some time on with me trying clubs on his launch monitor when I was considering a change (driver). The numbers didn't stack up and he recommended I stuck with what I had.
 
Biggleswade Blue said:
I'm sure it is frustrating. But no different to me taking time to prepare professional scopes of work and quotations for my business, to companies that never come back to place an order, or the car salesman offering test drives but not getting a sale.

The point is that if the exercise has value, unrelated to the sale of clubs, then it can be charged for. If the only value of the exercise is the sale of the clubs, then it should be for free (essentially absorbed into the costs and margins of clubs). I'm not sure all golf shops would actually be overrun with people having fittings, and they would quickly identify who the time wasters are.
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the difference there is you still get paid and so does the car salesman.

I know what you are saying and I don't altogether disagree with your sentiment. A compromise or win win scenario related to a sale might be a good halfway house.
 
I paid £30 for my 90 minute fitting at ping gainsborough. That was for a full bag fit. I also just paid £30 for my driver fitting at a local fitter/pro shop but this was then deducted off the purchase. I had no problem losing the £30 at gainsborough as I wanted the experience of the ping HQ and the piece of mind that everything was right for me. I do believe that any fitting fee should be deducted on purchase.
 
CMAC said:
the difference there is you still get paid and so does the car salesman.

I know what you are saying and I don't altogether disagree with your sentiment. A compromise or win win scenario related to a sale might be a good halfway house.
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I genuinely don't follow here - who pays me, or the car salesman if no-one buys my services or his car?

I'd have though any decent pro/salesman would be delighted to have a prospective customer one on one for an hour or two for a "custom fitting" as it is a hot lead, and if the pro/salesman is any good, it's a great opportunity to make a sale. Seems odd to need to charge for it. I'd test drive cars before playing of the dealers against each other once I'd decided what I wanted. But if one was closer to home, had been personable, informative, helpful, straightforward, professional they'd be at a huge advantage, assuming their price was in the ball park.
 
I paid £120 for 2 hours for an iron fitting at Precision Golf in Egham and felt like it was a waste of time and money. It was interesting to get some Trackman results, but I felt it was overpriced for what it was and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
 
Tiger said:
:rofl: great answer
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You can have that one :D

I think my JPX800 3h was £90 new, but I had some AG vouchers burning a hole in my pocket. I tried it out on their launch monitor (firing down a range, not into a curtain) and quite liked it, and was the best out of the G20 and Cobra one that I was testing at the same time. I know I've said that I think that fitting is important, but £100 for one club is extortion.
 
woody69 said:
I paid £120 for 2 hours for an iron fitting at Precision Golf in Egham and felt like it was a waste of time and money. It was interesting to get some Trackman results, but I felt it was overpriced for what it was and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
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Interested to know why? Can understand the monetary side of things, but time?
 
I paid £40 for a full bag 2 hour fitting with a clubmaker who then built my Orka's. The clubs cost £495 for 3-PW forged blades so total cost of £535 I thought was very reasonable. Equivalent Mizunos or Titleists etc would have cost about £800.
 
Piece said:
Interested to know why? Can understand the monetary side of things, but time?
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I hit my 6 iron for about 20 shots. He then made a judgement based on the results what set of irons would work best for me in terms of shaft and loft etc, so immediately reduced the choice from 100's to 3 or 4 that met that criteria. He offered me 3 or 4 so I could then pick a couple I liked the look at aesthetically. I hit a few shots with each of those and that was my custom fit. This was all decided from an indoor trackman, hitting into a net off a mat. Just felt like it was a waste of time for me.
 
Biggleswade Blue said:
I genuinely don't follow here - who pays me, or the car salesman if no-one buys my services or his car?

I'd have though any decent pro/salesman would be delighted to have a prospective customer one on one for an hour or two for a "custom fitting" as it is a hot lead, and if the pro/salesman is any good, it's a great opportunity to make a sale. Seems odd to need to charge for it. I'd test drive cars before playing of the dealers against each other once I'd decided what I wanted. But if one was closer to home, had been personable, informative, helpful, straightforward, professional they'd be at a huge advantage, assuming their price was in the ball park.
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The ethos of custom fitting has evolved. In its infancy, it was a novel idea, sold on the premise that it would make your game better. Armed with that knowledge, most manufacturers offered free fitting knowing that the curiosity of the punter searching for a better game would walk through door under the 'no obligation to buy' scheme. After all, why charge for a service that no-one understands thus there's no incentive to try it out? Continuing, the punter, seeing a marked improvement, couldn't get their cash out fast enough thinking they'd found the holy grail to improvement. Bingo, lots of new sales.

Since then, LM and custom fitting are far more prevalent and understood. Punters are more wise and use fits to 'check their data' v new gear, and often are repeat client so their gear is already fitted, only looking to tweak. Offering a free service will only attract tyre-kickers, wasting the fitters time by constantly checking new gear without any real intention of buying. Consequently, fitting is now effectively sold as a service and mainly chargeable in its own right dependent on the level of fit, where you go, etc. knowing that a serious client is more likely to buy the clubs with post-fit discount.

Further, the discount off the price of new gear is obviously to encourage you to purchase through them, effectively saying the fit's 'free'; that's open to debate if the RRP is over inflated anyway. :)

IMHO ;)
 
woody69 said:
I hit my 6 iron for about 20 shots. He then made a judgement based on the results what set of irons would work best for me in terms of shaft and loft etc, so immediately reduced the choice from 100's to 3 or 4 that met that criteria. He offered me 3 or 4 so I could then pick a couple I liked the look at aesthetically. I hit a few shots with each of those and that was my custom fit. This was all decided from an indoor trackman, hitting into a net off a mat. Just felt like it was a waste of time for me.
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Fair enough. From what you say, that took two hours?!! Did they have silver dots on the balls per chance?
 
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