My first custom first experience.

[mashleyR7]

So i want to get a new set of clubs. I've been using TM Burner 2.0 clubs for a couple of years, just off the shelf clubs. I wanted to get custom fitted but I'm left handed so I knew i'd be limited in some aspects. I visited a company and paid a £25 fee for a custom fit on the proviso that it's taken off any subsequent purchase.

Here's how it went.

I was asked on the phone what I currently used, my handicap and my rough height. When I got there I warmed up with my own 7 iron while he watched me and looked at the results on the flightscope. After a few balls he gave me some clubs to try. A titleist ap2, two mizuno variants and two callaway. After saying my swing speed was on average 86 mph he said I was in the relm of a stiff shaft. My driver and 3 hybrid are stiff shaft as I had been told this before (both I do get one with)

So after hitting 3/4 balls with each club he asked me which ones a i preferred. We were looking at the results of the flightscope and they were average distance with a pretty usual dispersion. I did say that a couple of the clubs felt un comfortable to hit, they felt difficult, off centre and not as easy as my current clubs. Only one of the Callaway felt nice to hit, I think it was the X Hot Pro.

So he nipped of and came back with two TM RBZ Tours. One had a 110g R shaft and one a 114g S staff. I hit one, cant remember which one, and it felt awesome I was so surprised! After hitting a few he started to talk to me about the differences between my clubs and the two new TM's. About the shaft weights and the difference between R and S. It was just these left I felt like I was making a choice between these.

I didn't buy any, still haven't yet.

He didn't do my height or lie or anything else. Is this usual, is this a custom fit?

 

[virtuocity]

I could have done all of the above on to a range for free at American Golf.

Read the Titleist fitting day thread. THAT's a custom fit.

 

[mashleyR7]

Yes thats what prompted me to post. Is that the level of custom fit most places give? Have i been stung or short changed?

 

[Blue in Munich]

So i want to get a new set of clubs. I've been using TM Burner 2.0 clubs for a couple of years, just off the shelf clubs. I wanted to get custom fitted but I'm left handed so I knew i'd be limited in some aspects. I visited a company and paid a £25 fee for a custom fit on the proviso that it's taken off any subsequent purchase.

Here's how it went.

I was asked on the phone what I currently used, my handicap and my rough height. When I got there I warmed up with my own 7 iron while he watched me and looked at the results on the flightscope. After a few balls he gave me some clubs to try. A titleist ap2, two mizuno variants and two callaway. After saying my swing speed was on average 86 mph he said I was in the relm of a stiff shaft. My driver and 3 hybrid are stiff shaft as I had been told this before (both I do get one with)

So after hitting 3/4 balls with each club he asked me which ones a i preferred. We were looking at the results of the flightscope and they were average distance with a pretty usual dispersion. I did say that a couple of the clubs felt un comfortable to hit, they felt difficult, off centre and not as easy as my current clubs. Only one of the Callaway felt nice to hit, I think it was the X Hot Pro.

So he nipped of and came back with two TM RBZ Tours. One had a 110g R shaft and one a 114g S staff. I hit one, cant remember which one, and it felt awesome I was so surprised! After hitting a few he started to talk to me about the differences between my clubs and the two new TM's. About the shaft weights and the difference between R and S. It was just these left I felt like I was making a choice between these.

I didn't buy any, still haven't yet.

He didn't do my height or lie or anything else. Is this usual, is this a custom fit?

No, it's not even close in my book. Lie angle, shaft length, shaft type)material, weight, profile), grip type & grip size seem to be conspicuous by their absence. It sounds like the pro I went to when I got my putter counterbalanced spent more time sorting out the weight in one club than yours did, & didn't charge much more for the fitting AND doing the job than you were charged for this.... well, whatever it was, but it wasn't a fitting.

 

[the hammer]

Did they happen to have the clubs that suited you in stock?

 

[JustOne]

I would suggest that before you get custom fit that you actually decide which BRAND of club you want to hit first before you wonder about the 2 degree lie adjustment or extra wrap of grip tape you might need.

People who go to a Titleist fitting don't try a set of Callaways :thup:

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Not even close to a proper fit and to be honest AG would have done a better job and that doesn't type easily for me. Where did you have this "fit" done. I'd be wanting my money back as I don't think you got value for money

 

[mashleyR7]

i didn't ask really and he didn't push me to buy. I said I wanted to think about it and look around and he just said we'll price match AG and GD etc and to let him know my choice. I must stress that he seemed genuine and a nice guy. I think my point is that I was expecting a fuller fitting service as explained in the Titleist thread so after coming away I was left thinking what is a custom fit does it vary from place to place. Being left handed you can imagine that going to left handed specific place I thought I'd be getting top notch service.

 

[mashleyR7]

I would suggest that before you get custom fit that you actually decide which BRAND of club you want to hit first before you wonder about the 2 degree lie adjustment or extra wrap of grip tape you might need.

People who go to a Titleist fitting don't try a set of Callaways :thup:

Surely though the point of customer fit to find the best club for me, no matter what brand? I went with an open mind to try any club that would suit me and my swing. I did even tell him that i wanted to avoid TM and wanted to try the other brands.

 

[DCB]

I'll bet that was the easiest £25 they made that day. I certainly wouldn't go back there in a hurry.

 

[mashleyR7]

It's a place thats been mentioned on here today homer.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Surely though the point of customer fit to find the best club for me, no matter what brand? I went with an open mind to try any club that would suit me and my swing. I did even tell him that i wanted to avoid TM and wanted to try the other brands.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[JustOne]

Surely though the point of customer fit to find the best club for me, no matter what brand? I went with an open mind to try any club that would suit me and my swing. I did even tell him that i wanted to avoid TM and wanted to try the other brands.

Not really, you basically went to test some different clubs to see which ones you liked the look of, actually having the clubs you like the look of being properly fitted for you is altogether a different process. If you like the look of the RBZ's and you are OK hitting them then get yourself down to a TM fitter and get fitted for a set.... but don't expect them to suddenly suggest you might need to try some Mizuno's.

If you told the guy who you saw today that you wanted the RBZ's and could he check your lie, grip size and possible shaft alternatives and he said NO..... then run!!!!!

 

[mashleyR7]

Just one. This place was a retailer not a manufacturer. Of course I wouldnt expect a TM fitter to suggest other brands to me. I''m not stupid. This retailer boast about holding a full range of LH gear so I went along wanting to try all brands, find models I like, then hone in on specifics to get custom fitted. Well that's what I thought I was getting.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Not really, you basically went to test some different clubs to see which ones you liked the look of, actually having the clubs you like the look of being properly fitted for you is altogether a different process. If you like the look of the RBZ's and you are OK hitting them then get yourself down to a TM fitter and get fitted for a set.... but don't expect them to suddenly suggest you might need to try some Mizuno's.

If you told the guy who you saw today that you wanted the RBZ's and could he check your lie, grip size and possible shaft alternatives and he said NO..... then run!!!!!

That's a demo day where I come from, and you don't pay for those, the manufacturer's put them on FOC to stimulate interest.

And you might be surprised by what a decent demo day will do. Did one at Silvermere, tried a Callaway driver, which was going well, and a Ping driver which I thought was going better. Asked the Ping man if I could take his club down to the Callaway bay, got the Callaway guy to see the Ping results and the Callaway guy said buy the Ping!

 

[chrisd]

Knowing you Mashley, it'd be like going to a tailor and asking if they have a suit to fit " off the peg" and hearing " if we have son, someone's gonna get the sack"

 

[JustOne]

That's a demo day where I come from, and you don't pay for those, the manufacturer's put them on FOC to stimulate interest.

I went to a Callaway demo day and there were only Callaways, I went to a Taylormade one last week and it was only Taylormade stuff in fact I've never been to one where there were mixed brands. Consider yourself lucky!!

Mashley you went to a shop to buy some clubs... not to get a proper fitting, like I said... if you then told the guy who you saw today that you wanted the RBZ's and could he check your lie, grip size and possible shaft alternatives and he said NO..... then run!!!!!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

When I went to my fitting I was given all the brands to try (Mizuno, TM, Ping, Wilson, Cobra, Nike, Cally) and the monitor and trackman told the story. In the end the G25 was the best by a good distance and we played with shafts and lie angle to get the ideal set. I had no pre-conceptions. OK not quite true. I wanted the Cally X-hot Pro, I20 or TM Rocketbladez Tour. Had a go at Mizuno and even WIlson and nothing was off limits. I had a four hour fitting (with breaks) and it was money well spent

 

[Region3]

I'll disagree just to be different. I think it sounds ok so far.

He gave you a few different irons to try and based on your feedback of what felt good and bad, brought out another couple that he thought might suit even though you didn't want to try that brand.

After hitting one of them it felt awesome.

I'd say he did his job pretty well, assuming you wanted to find an iron that suited you and was nice to hit rather than just be sold what he thought you wanted to buy.

To me, lie angle and club length are done when you decide to order.

 

[Foxholer]

To me, that's not a custom fit, though, depending on the time involved, it's also not all that bad a cost - provided you get some sort of voucher/receipt so that a subsequent purchase qualifies for the discount.

They would be flooded with 'testers' if they didn't have some sort of dis-incentive for such browsers. And the credit means it doesn't cost if it's successful.

There's another Lefty specialist at Kingswood (unless that's moved), but a mate had a similar, or maybe worse, treatment from a (possibly different) fitting studio based there.

You should actually agree what your expectations are for a fitting and what the fitter is prepared to provide for their charge.

If it was the Jason I know doing the fitting (I think there are 2 there) he's very good. It's also possible that the fitter can make a leap to what he believes will work without communicating his thought process. Or he may just be getting a better deal from that company!