Recommended Local Club Fitters

[Maverick]

Recommend your local club fitter here.

[mayassa]

My local fitter is Dicks they use a CG2, I would think I could do it myself.

[Maverick]

You can certainly learn how to do it yourself. Hopefully some knowledgeable folks here will share some of the techniques.

[mayassa]

I am going in for a free fitting at Dicks tonight. The local guy in the store mentioned if I bought the clubs at Dicks the fitting is free. I will post how it went, if nothing else I can watch how its done.

[fhann]

I test and fit for 13 major variables that impact the performance of the golf club.

Here is a URL for a PDF file of Tom Wishon's "12 Myths That Could Wreck Your Game".

Go to "Myth #11 - I Was Fitted At A Big Box Store" - Pages 27 through 29. It nicely outlines what a good custom fitting entails.

http://wishongolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/New-12Myths-PDF-2014.pdf

Frank Hann
Engineered Golf

[Maverick]

Cool. Curious to know what's all included with the free fitting.

[hobokengolf]

Frank,

That's a nice link & article. I got my start in the business building clubs (circa 1997) - and more recently (around 2009) I gave up trying to convince my clients that what the Callaways, Taylormades and Dicks of the world are selling is completely wrong. Unfortunately Tom Wishon doesn't have millions of dollars to market this information and the big box stores and OEM manufacturers have a vested interest in consumers buying the wrong clubs: someone who purchases the wrong clubs will likely buy replacement clubs sooner than someone who is perfectly fit.

One thing that was not stressed enough and is (in my opinion) the biggest flaw in the big box store/OEM "fitting plan" is the marriage between head weight, club weight and shaft flex.

It typically goes something like this - after hitting a demo of a 46.5 inch adjustable hosel driver at a big box store, consumer plops down $275 + they trade in their previous driver. A few weeks later they go back to the store frustrated that they can't control this new driver and the big box store cuts the driver down to 44.5 inches. Now the shaft plays a bit stiffer, the swing weight is lighter and while they now make better contact than they did with it at 46.5 inches - they're now getting shorter distance than their previous 45 inch driver. They come to me for "free advice" and I try my best to explain it to them and offer them a fair cost for a fix on this existing club. Before committing they insist on going back to the big box store to see if the big box store will stand behind their wrong advice - but the big box store allows them to exchange the club for 90% of the $275 (remember they also traded in their previous driver, so they've lost that) - and they wind up with a slightly better fit combination of non-fit club.

This was very general - but last year this EXACTLY happened to a prospective customer (he didn't spend a dime in my shop and the dollars I specified above are just my estimates). I estimate he spent just a little less than $300 out of pocket (altogether) plus gave his previous driver (Rocketballz original) - figured out (in his mind) that he didn't like the brand new SLDR as much (when in fact, it was just a poorly fit club for him) - and finished the transaction with a Rocketballz Stage 2 driver!

[mayassa]

Well after my hour fitting session at Dicks I could honestly say it was worth the time. I spent ten minutes warming up on the CG2 with my 7 iron and hitting a pretty good 10 yard dispersion of center at about 120 - 138 yards. Then the fitter put the board down and impact tape on the face and sole I hit for ten hits consistently hitting out toward the toe about 1/2 inch from sweet spot and way over on the heel of the sole. We moved on to 1 deg flat and both measurements improved came into sweet spot by a 1/2 inch and moved toward the center of the sole. changed shafts to a 1/2 shorter and hit again this time it pulled it in another 1/4 inch on the face and little more on the sole. He changed it out to a 2 degree flat and kept the shorter shaft, started swinging away 9 out of ten shots on the sweet spot and hitting dead center of the sole. My dispersion came in to about 4 yards of center and range constant at 136-142. I had some mid size grips put on and picked them up today. They look great and I defiantly think it was worth my time and money. Cost 1/2 off all services cutting the shafts $4 piece and grips $10 piece the fitting costs 49 but he waived it. I'm going to be hitting them in a little while then will post more impressions here.

I get what everyone is saying about going to a professional first not a big box store, but who in the world does that for a first set of clubs? No one does that much research, you go for the shiny farckle and learn to hit them the best you can.

[Maverick]

Thanks for posting your experience May. Sounds like I'm going to have to drop your handicap by a few strokes...hehe

[mayassa]

I went to the range yesterday and hit a big bucket, I forgot who said the Foresight Performance Software was generous but they are right. I'd say it off by 10 yards in distance over every club in my bag. But overall I'm very happy with the results, I'm hitting straighter with my long irons and more on the center of the face.

[Maverick]

Nice. Now go play in this weeks tournament. hehe

[Bubba22]

We have Golftown here locally. They use the GC2 for fitting. I think some stores have the About golf system but they also have the GC2.

[mthunt]

Aaron from Foresight told me all the golftowns replaced the about golf with foresight.

[Bubba22]

Our Golftown her still has 1 bay with About golf sims. They had 2 GC2 but one broke so they have kept the About golf sim.

[Bentley]

We have a TaylorMade Performance Lab in town, which is just awesome. I think it costs between $300 and $400 depending on location. They do an absolutely tour quality fitting using very cool technology of your full set of clubs - woods, irons, wedges and putter. They will custom make and tweak TaylorMade equipment for you within 48 hours, or they can give you their recommended specs so that you can order from whatever manufacturer you want.