Tried to get fitted for irons today

Im not going to say what store it was but I went to get fitted for irons today. I looked at a few clubs and asked if I could hit them. The guy taped them up for me and then that was it, he was gone. Dont know if I could blame him though, this is an extremely busy store and he was the only guy on the floor. I honestly couldnt tell the difference anyway hitting the ball into a net. They have a launch monitor there but I have to say it doesnt seem to be too accurate. I dont have much faith in the thing. I could go to my local driving range but the prices are very expensive. Maybe ill go there and use them to test out irons and then head to E-Bay where I love to shop. I play Callaway Big Bertha 2002's now but Im really getting sick of the extremely wide sole on the bottom. From a tight lie its not the best club to have, I hit alot of thin shots. From the rough as well its not the best. Im looking more for a club with a thin leading edge but that is forgiving. Anyone have any thoughts or opinions. Thanks.

Finn07,

Give my good friend Max a call at Custom Golf of Connecticut. 800-804-5754

They're great, one of the best shops in the country and they're right next door. They'll treat you like a tour pro, no taped up irons and you'll have their undivided attention.

http://www.golfpsychos.com/Index.htm

I don't know if it's that same store or not, but I went to a golf store on central ave in westchester ny once, when I was going to get fitted for irons. The guy just tapped up the sticks, and said hit it. Walked away. Returned after ringing up sales for this busy store, then looked at the computer screen and said:

"Well, I think we have a winner".


What should one expect from a fitting? Should they measure your arm length, and height? Should they look at your swing? Swing Speed. Or is the quality of the fitting equal to the price: free fitting with purchase?

Anyone on the forum everhad a good fitting experience? What should a person expect?

IntheTwenties, I hope to give every player I, or one of my technicians, fit a top quality experience. We first begin with narrowing down the clubs the player wants. Usually customers have a very good idea of what club they want to purchase. Then we hit them all and see if they really like the club and if it meets all their expectations. Once we decide on a brand, we take static measurements. Wrist to floor, hand size (for grip diamater). That's a good starting point, but that's all it is. The most important part is the dynamic fitting. First with a six iron, I have the player hit a variety of lengths with contact tape on the face of the club and we find the longest club the player can reliably hit dead center. From there we tape up the sole and hit a variety of lie angles until we find the one that hits dead center. Shaft brand and flex I determine by watching the player swing and having them hit a few different brands. From there we order the set of irons in the correct lie, length, and shaft. Once the irons arrive, they are measured for loft, lie, and length to be sure the company didn't make any errors. Again, I'll have the customer hit every iron off the lie board to make sure they are all correct. Then the golfer plays rounds for a month or so, and we follow up with a call to make sure ball flight and performance are what they want and if there are any loft gap issues. Obviously that's a lot of work for the shop, and fittings can take upwards of 1.5 to 2 hours. We have to charge for that kind of service, our fee is $100 for an iron fitting, but is applicable to any purchase made through our store. That's a top notch fitting. Several places offer it, and it's worth it if you want to take advantage of truly proper fitting.

tpgolf,

Great question. I'm glad you asked. As you likely know, length and lie are very closely related. For each half inch of length you add or subtract, the club plays a degree upright or flat respectively. Therefore, if you pick lie first and then change length, dynamic lie can change as well and leads to yet another change. That is why I always fit for length first and then lie.

I ran into something really interesting with regards to being fit myself. First off, I've never been fit at the level of detail that's been described here, they usually measure, then put a lie sticker on the bottom of a club and tell me to swing. Every set I've ever been fit for comes back as standard lie, standard length and then I get them on the course and hit them inconsistently.

After the CG4 episode, I was out on the course with a demo 6 iron and I was hitting some of the most consistently good shots I've ever had, one after another after another; that 6 iron was 2 degrees upright and standard length. I took the iron back to the shop and asked to be fitted, they put the lie sticker and contact tape that specific club and it came back right in middle on both accounts. Turns out I'm fit for 2 degrees upright, standard length.

I guess I must have been making small, unconscious changes in my stance to make the club I was hold work. Do you guys, as club-fitters ever run into situations like that?

I love the Titleist 775.CB's. They are, without a doubt, the best irons I have ever played. Very pleasing to the eye, forged cavity backed club. Forgiving, yet not as fat as the Callaway's. I recently swithche from the 2004 Bertha's to these. Man, what a difference. Read Eric's review on the clubs. They are a nice step up from the "brick on a stick", yet are more forgiving than a muscle back club. My ball flight is so much more pure now. The Bertha's shot the ball up so fast. I never liked the ball flight. With these 775's, the ball takes off lower and rises to it's peak. Beautiful ball flight, good from the rough, great on a tight lie. I had a Pro V1 back up on me w/ a 5 iron yesterday. Unheard of for me to do that w/ a Bertha. These boys will be in my bag for a while. (I use 5 - P and also have 3 Vokey Spin Milled wedges as well, to finish out the set. Talk about spin!) Stay away from Golf Galaxy and the other warehouses. Go to your club. Get fitted w/ a lie board and some tape on their range. They are not a expensive as you may think. It was cheaper for me to buy my clubs at my home track than to get them from a big box. It will be tough to find clubs to fit your specs on ebay, unless you are standard or close to it, but give it a try. You can save a lot there. I am a Cameron junkie and have bought many putters from there. Good luck. TRY THE 775's!! YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPOINTED!!!

Length, lie angle and grip are pretty basic stuff any shop should do. The real trick is finding the right shaft for your swing in terms of composition, flex/frequency, tip softness, kick point,swing weight and spinal alignment. There are so many shafts out there, its a tough task at best. Go with a fitter who has lots of shafts which just screw into your desired head and see what happens. This is what Titliest, says their fitting van does. None of their gear is marked, only numbered, so folks are no put off that the shaft is marked R, S, XXXXS light or half an inch short or long. You should also know Titliest says this process is not really necessary for 15+hcps because their swings do not repeat enough to get the benefit and a store lie, grip and flex fitting is okay.

Is this an acutal quote? Because I'm unable to find reference of any such information on their website.

My understanding is that club-fitting, regardless of handicap, can only help improve the play and therefore the enjoyment of the sport for

all participants. Clubfitting is not specific to low handicappers/scratch golfers, nor should that train of thought ever be implied.

Hi,

I wanted to share my recent fitting experience, as well.

I went to a store and was able to get some good attention from the guy working there, he seemed knowledgeable and was a nice guy... He took all of the static measurements and then I got him to get about 4 different irons (all of which I was considering)... He fit me using the Ping G5 (same as my first fitting at a local course)... I could not hit anything though, and I was not at all consitant on my swing and contact with the ball... I told him that, but what can you do in this situation?

Anyway, he comes back with standard length which is great, stiff steel shafts based on my swing speed which is fine, standard loft which is ok, I guess, but 4 degrees upright?? I was still not hitting anything on centre...

I really think that 4 degrees upright is a pretty severe change and I don't want to buy clubs based on a poor performance when trying them out...

Is this something that any of you clubfitters see often, a really bad performance hitting it off the board in a store?

I did not order the clubs after this and now am very confused because the first guy I saw fitted me with regular flex graphite and standard length, loft, and lie...

I really want to get new irons but now I am so confused I have no idea what to do...

I read that in Erik"s wonderful article in the archives here about the Titleist fitting van and rereading now I see they like to stop fitting at about a 10 hcp. What you read on the website for Titleist is in store fittings for basically off the rack clubs which is highly reccommended for all players.