my first custom fitting experiance

[MVP]

All very weird. If the first place didn't put you on a launch monitor, how could they know your speed to choose the correct flex? That alone is strong enough "evidence" to reject the goods IF what you asked for was a proper fitting.

1/2" longer and 2 degrees upright is the "old chestnut" for players 6.0-6.2. If I owned a golf shop and some tall-ish geezer came in, this is what I'd flog him!!!

Sounds to me like you got the M&S version of fitting, measure the collar and off you go. If you weren't put on a machine, you were sold a lemon......

go and give 'em hell!!

Ok you cant beat seeing the actual ball flight. a launch monitor is ok for certain test. In my opinion it is great for drivers but not so necessary for an iron fit.

A 'Good Experienced Fitting Pro' Is what you need.

They can tell you what shaft flex you need by eye and ball flight feed back. because they are true professionals, unlike some juniors in AG etc etc



Im 6ft 3 Real golfer and my custom fit is 2 deg flat for my irons. If anyone wants to know why theres pages of previous custom fitting threads. If you can sift your way through the abuse you'll find some very good info.

 

[thecraw]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

WHAT DID I TELL YOU ALL THE PING CHART LIESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

THE PING CHART LIESSSSSSSSSS

Yes thats right, the Ping chart is at fault for the Taylor Made Irons not being fitted properly!!!!!!! How dare Ping make their irons differently to Taylor Made.

You have a bee in your bonnet because you made the same basic mistake by only measuring from wrist to the floor and got no further assistance in buying your Ping irons. That was your fault not Pings fault.

Like previous posters I have nothing other than positive feedback from my Ping custom fit sessions.

Get over it.

 

[billyg]

I had a read of that GB. Thank you. It was perhaps the most informative and forthright site on fitting I have seen.

Two questions if I may:

1) my other half is keen on having hybrid style irons as a basis to build a new set of irons on. Will this chap take kindly to tunring up with a set already purchased so that he can 'fettle' them without wanting to ditch the whole set? ( I know he offers a pro tour bus experience but just wondered what you thought as you have worked with him?)

2) would this be comparable or superior to a branded club fitting suite experience. For example, I contacted the distribution director of Cleveland golf UK who has kindly pointed out to me that Cleveland has opened it's own custom fitting suite at the Belfry national training centre (opened by none other than one Mr. D Howell no less)?

I will no doubt contact the gent for his thoughts but just wondered if you might have anything to add.

anyone got a take on this?

 

[tpred]

Well said thecraw.
I think the time has come for mikeh or someone at gm to run a feature on custom fitting.Perhaps a Q&A with a pro and someone from a fitting centre so we can all fire some questions at them.Also id like some of the non doubters to go for a fitting session at either ping.the belfry,titleist or what other manufacturers they like cos they are all free.
The only cost will be your time.(and perhaps some petrol)
But believe me it will be worth it.

 

[GB72]

My first advice would be to email John Whitehead and tell him what you want. He will get back to you and chat about what he can do. He certainly made no effort to sell me anything and, for example, when I bought my driver he asked that I bring any of my failed purchases with me to see if he could do anything with them first. I felt that I was consulted every step of the way and at the end he asked if I wanted to go ahead with some, all or none of his recommendations.

 

[GB72]

tpred, I like the idea of an article on custom fitting as nearly every retailer is claiming to offer this experience but not all do. I fell for it when I bought my first set of irons from a store owned by a well known online retailer. Some spotty teenager watched me hit 2 or 3 balls, said 'those seem fine' and sent me on my way. At the time I knew no better and thought that I had been fitted. It was only when I went back to the store a couple of months later to buy a wedge and was told that it needed to be longer with a lie adjustment (and this was also deduced with no measuring and no balls having been hit) that I began to smell a rat.

Would like to see an article whereby a professional club fitter is sent to various retailers to rate the service being offered.

 

[billyg]

Sorry to disappoint you thats a terrible shame. but this guys post has proven a point i been trying to make so any evidence to back me up is good.

So you thought you would make it at someone elses expense and in a style much beneath the qualities one might expect from an 'old hand'?

Quite how such tale of misfortune, when juxtaposed against a stream of barely literate diatribe constitutes some sort of universal principle of truth is astounding.

Its not the guys misfortune im gloating on...

Really? sounds like the,' it wasn't me fault your honour, the drink just took me over and before I know it he was lying on the floor in a pool of blood'...defence.

Derisory.

its people realising the ping chart is not a true fit, so they should not even represent it as such.

And who prey tell is suggesting that it is? and even if they were, using a Ping chart to fit TM clubs would neither confirm nor disprove such a contention. I can only conclude that at some point in the past you have had an unfavourable fitting experience (the inclusion of which eponimous chart must have played a major part).

Would that you were treated with more fairness and help than that you profess to offer eh?

Custom fitting ------ A source of adrenaline..... ...just kidding.

Quad Erat Demonstrandium

 

[MVP]

Billy G

Do you think your Signature is appropriate to take the piss out of someones Death.

Is it funny?????

When a member of your family dies im sure you'll have the same laughs then.

 

[MVP]

PS

TALK MODERN DAY ENGLISH YOU IDIOT YOU DONT LOOK BIG YOU DONT LOOK CLEVER WE DONT THINK YOUR HIGHLY INTELLIGENT COMPARED TO US JUST BECAUSE YOU USE BIG WORDS!!!!!

 

[StuartD]

Trying to get back on topic.

I don't think ping represent their chart as a true custom fit. Any true fitting (by any pro, AG and manufacturer) would only use the chart as a starting reference.

 

[viscount17]

It's simple really. There are no industry-wide standards.
Provided that a club (or ball) is 'conforming' a manufacturer can chose any loft/lie/length/material that he wishes. Neither is there any compunction laid upon him to use the same set of 'standards' between models; that most manufacturers do is for their benefit.

Consequently any fitting carried out against a particular set of irons, eg Ping S58's, is meaningless when applied to any other make and may not necessarily be applicable to Ping G10's.

As has been stated ad infintum (ad nauseum) the Ping fitting chart is a guide only; it gives a 'professional' fitter (by which I exclude the untrained spotty herbert/'gifted' amateur) a start point from which your fitting should begin. Two reasons that the Ping chart is used (misused) by so many are: (1) it was the first, and (2) not all manufacturers provide such a chart.

My view (formed partially by this forum, as much reading as I can find and a limited experience of the fitting process) is that a good fitting should use all the methods at the disposal of the fitter; training, experience, charts, lie boards, launch monitors but most essentially hitting the ball over the distance one hopes to achieve.

 

[thecraw]

Every custom fitting centre I know of starts with basic measurements in order to determin a starting point. That basic measurement includes wrist to floor.

That is the basis that MVP is getting his knickers in a twist over. I dont understand where his problem arises that Ping are at fault over this???

However as a newish member to this forum even I am getting bored of theis custom fit debate and here ends my contribution on the matter!!! ( untill next time. )

 

[Parmo]

As someone in the market within the next six months for irons I really find the information and false information available worrying. I have my local pro offering to custom fit for free but with myself paying extra on the irons that he has available, and trust me he has maybe three or four different sets only for me to try which is restricting. I could go to AG or another outlet of sorts and (by the sounds of it) get a cheap version of a custom fit which may or may not help me, or I could buy my irons online save a load of cash and play with them as standard and learn to get the best from them. Hmmm the choices…

Also I would have thought using a Ping card on TM would have set off alarm bells? Also I would invoice the store for the £35 you paid for them to be checked and you should push for a total refit of them and new clubs with compensation from the store, well that’s what I would do.

MVP stop being an arse.

 

[billyg]

Billy G

Do you think your Signature is appropriate to take the piss out of someones Death.

Is it funny?????

When a member of your family dies im sure you'll have the same laughs then.

PS

TALK MODERN DAY ENGLISH YOU IDIOT YOU DONT LOOK BIG YOU DONT LOOK CLEVER WE DONT THINK YOUR HIGHLY INTELLIGENT COMPARED TO US JUST BECAUSE YOU USE BIG WORDS!!!!!

Thank you. I simply couldn't have come up with examples that demonstrates your obviscation, denial , desperation and guilt more clearly. Actually I could but they are so glaringly obvious to the rest of the forum that it would be mere cruelty for its own sake and you've made quite enough of a buffoon of yourself without further help from me.

Anyway, moving on.

The running article that GM is doing about young Brian Shubrook is quite close to what is needed i.e. lets take a guy thats been struggling with his game and run him through some of the best tools out there to see if we can improve his game. The pay-off being that he competes in a big compo. at the end of it. I for one am rooting for Brian and looking closely at what tips I can glean about this dark art from the stages he goes through.

I think this is one of the only ways that GM could cover this sort of topic because they may run into sponsorship problems if they simply laid out the fact that getting fitted by one path was superior to another ( we know of whom we speak here)

In Brians' case Urban Golf gets good PR in exchange for providing expertise, Brian (hopefully) gets his game sorted and we all get to find out a little bit more about how it all works.

On the other hand it would be good if GM would run something that looked at the different levels of fitting out there from a quick hit into some nets with impact tape on the faces through to the latest launch monitor based technology combined with dedicated services such as GB has pointed out. They could do this without adding any value judgement and let the punter decide for themselves what suits. The combination of time, budget and desired results is going to be different for everybody.

It would be nice to have this laid out clearly once and for all with the results perhaps added to the website after publication so that it can be referred to at leisure.

 

[RGuk]

They can tell you what shaft flex you need by eye and ball flight feed back.

I'm not so sure......My swing sits around the regular/almost stiff catagory (at 95 mph) and I can't beleive anyone could give me the best opinion on shaft spec by watching the ball. That's a crazy idea. That'd be like saying in F1 "let's throw the telemetry computers away and guess "by looking" if the brakes/gearing are right for this circuit".

 

[MVP]

They can tell you what shaft flex you need by eye and ball flight feed back.

That'd be like saying in F1 "let's throw the telemetry computers away and guess "by looking" if the brakes/gearing are right for this circuit".

All in jest. couldnt you find anything more complex to compare a golf swing too. Try a NASA Nagivation system.

 

[RGuk]

I tried to think of a less suitable comparison....but failed!

I'm sure NASA try not to watch their space probes to see if they need stiffer graphite.

(joke)

 

[MVP]

I tried to think of a less suitable comparison....but failed!

I'm sure NASA try not to watch their space probes to see if they need stiffer graphite.

(joke)

My Pro Went to Spec Savers so he can do anything and everything. His vision is so sharp he can tell what flex I need with his eyes closed facing the other way at another range.!!!!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I went through a poor fitting process with some junior shop oik at AG when I was looking form my new irons. When the manager realised £400 worth of potential sale was about to walk out the door he came over and gave me a fall fitting service. I wrote about it at the time so I won;t bore everyone again.

Basically IMO its all about getting someone who knows what they are doing. I'd have total faith in what my pro says if I went to him for fitting but as he doesn't stock any test models of any of the main ranges (X20 R7's G10's etc) I was forced to nearest AG store.

I still remain a firm advocate of the custom fitting process providing you get someone capable of doing it correctly. At the end of the day if you are not convinced about anything (grip, shaft flex etc) ask and if you don't get a sensible answer don't part with your cash. SHop around!