What is ‘custom fit’ ?

Jaco

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Just that…..I hear it mentioned in reviews for irons and on some sets offered by retailers.
 
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You hit balls, the fitter's job is to find the correct shaft, length, lie, grip etc to suit your swing. A proper fitting for a driver or set of irons takes circa 1 hour.

If you don't know which clubs you want it is a chance to compare different irons, woods etc directly against each other.
 

Imurg

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It's making sure the clubs/shafts are the right length, weight and flex and weight for your swing.
You can add making sure the lofts and lies of the clubs are correct
And making sure the grip is the correct size and shape.
Then making sure, when you get them, that they go the correct distances and making any minor tweaks .

Some places will do all of this, some will do just some of it.
 

Ethan

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It is a range of things but basically trying to match the characteristics of the club to optimise your performance with them. at its simplest, it might be clubbed design, loft and shaft flex, but could work all the way up to detailed analysis using launch monitors, lasers and sensors of a range of various exotic shafts, adjustment of loft, lie and head weight, shaft length and orientation, grip size and orientation, clean gapping, ball choice etc etc.

in some cases, retailers offer it to help sell clubs, and it can be a marketing tool, and other fitters offer it as a standalone paid service with no obligation to buy kit.
 

Backsticks

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And while to be looked at with an open mind, is probably best thought of as similar to reiki, homoepathy, or other alternaitive medicines as being without any sound scientific basis. But many enjoy the process itself and seem to believe in it.
 

Jaco

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Thank you. So it’s finding the best set of irons for you, rather than altering a set you’ve already chosen? They don’t alter the clubs?
 

Ethan

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Thank you. So it’s finding the best set of irons for you, rather than altering a set you’ve already chosen? They don’t alter the clubs?

Retailers usually don't. They can order altered loft and lie from the manufacturers. More experienced fitting specialists can adjust clubs, add shafts not available from the manufacturer, spine align the shafts and all kinds of expensive stuff.
 

Ethan

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And while to be looked at with an open mind, is probably best thought of as similar to reiki, homoepathy, or other alternaitive medicines as being without any sound scientific basis. But many enjoy the process itself and seem to believe in it.

That is not fair. Homeopathy is made up nonsense, but a club with the wrong lie for you will push or pull the ball, and a shaft that is too heavy won't get the club headback to the ball properly. That isn't imaginary woo.
 

BigPhil14

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Thank you. So it’s finding the best set of irons for you, rather than altering a set you’ve already chosen? They don’t alter the clubs?

It can be both, however depending on what clubs you currently have there is only so much that can be altered. Different metal/construction types allow for different levels of post manufacturing manipulation. Beyond that, you are looking at different shafts etc

It's one of these things that some people swear by, and some people think is a marketing scam. The reality is it probably somewhere in between. For me, it helps to ensure you have the right type of club head to help your game (eg. unlikely to be of benefit to have something very unforgiving as a high handicapper and something with no feel as a low handicapper) and ensures you have the most suitable weighting, shaft length and shaft stiffness etc. I would argue that the more consistent your swing is the more you stand to gain from it as it can be more honed, however everyone will gain something from having a fitting rather than something that is off the shelf (that's not to say that the off the shelf clubs might actually be the correct fit, but at least you know). Plus, it's also a fun day out hitting loads of different clubs, seeing which you like the best and seeing how it influences numbers.
 
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Banchory Buddha

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And while to be looked at with an open mind, is probably best thought of as similar to reiki, homoepathy, or other alternaitive medicines as being without any sound scientific basis. But many enjoy the process itself and seem to believe in it.
This is dreadful "advice"

There is a ton of data behind a good club fitting, and endless changes you could make to clubs if you really went to town.
 

HowlingGale

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For most handicap golfers, unless they're physically extreme in height etc, it's smoke and mirrors.
That's basically what the podcasters are saying. Mark Crossfield even goes so far as to say a 'fitting' should be a golf lesson where you try out different clubs.
My problem is that I have clubs that are between 8 and 11 years old. They weren't really fitted, certainly not with a trackman or GC quad or whatever. I have no idea what my swing speed is never mind ideal spec. A fitting would maybe give me a quicker route to getting some idea about that. However I know I'm so inconsistent what might suit one day won't suit the next.
 

evemccc

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I’ve been ‘fitted’ for two clubs from a pretty highly-regarded fitter (plus visited the Titleist place in St Ives) - I have to say that the end result is at least as good as I had hoped it would be, but I have no idea if a standard club pro with access to Quad/Trackman wouldn’t be as good — and cheaper?

Equally, I have never had the opportunity to be ‘fit’ for length of shaft nor grip, simply asked to choose which grip I liked.

I always buy the same grip because that is what I am used to
 

evemccc

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Lie/loft can be played about with in lessons as part of a lesson, in fact a good pro would suggest this if he/she felt that the lie angle was causing pushes
 

HomerJSimpson

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Turn up, try the clubs you are interested out and the fitter will try to find the optimum shaft/head including lie angles to suit your swing. One downside is if you are still having lessons and your swing is progressing and changing, the fit you get may not represent the swing a few months down the line
 

Banchory Buddha

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Turn up, try the clubs you are interested out and the fitter will try to find the optimum shaft/head including lie angles to suit your swing. One downside is if you are still having lessons and your swing is progressing and changing, the fit you get may not represent the swing a few months down the line
Can't agree Homer, both you and the fitter should be trying as many options as possible.

When I was fitting, the biggest obstacle I came up against were Titleist and Taylor Made fan boys who refused to try anything else, or even if they did, and results were obviously better, would have nothing to do with it and still went TM/Titleist.

Now yes there's a proviso there, in that you may think they feel awful or look awful, and therefore will find them off putting, and I'd fully accept that is also part of a fitting (personally speaking I love the wood/hybrid range of Callaway, but those shovel irons of their's, never for me)
 

Bunkermagnet

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Surely any adjustment made to a club (including grip thickness) is by nature fitting the club to you as it's no longer bog standard.
Just to be clear, I would advocate fitting when going for new clubs, especially irons, as we are all different physically and need subtle changes to allow us to get the best out of our game.
 
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