Free club fitting after buying clubs?

I was in Dicks the other day and asked about their trade-in program.  The conversation came around to a sale they were having on TaylorMade clubs and I asked something about getting the shaft length adjusted (I'm about 6' 2" tall.)  He said they didn't offer those clubs in different shaft lengths.  I said I would think it over and as I was leaving he said that when you buy clubs, they do a free fitting.  But isn't that the wrong order?  Don't you do a fitting to figure out what you need?  And if they can't get different length shafts for the clubs I "just bought", what good is the fitting?

So am I misunderstand what a fitting is for or was this guy just throwing out all the sales  pitch materials?

thanks

-matthew

Thanks for confirming what I thought I knew.  The guy was nice, but seemed a little uncomfortable; maybe he was new to the golf department.

They were most likely selling clubs that were in inventory and no longer being manufactured so they couldn't offer custom orders on them.  In general you should be fit first (it's typically $50 fee that is waived if you order the clubs) so that when the clubs are ordered they are customized to your requirements.  Ideally you'd try a number of different clubs you'd be interested in purchasing and narrow the choices down to 1.  Then In addition to shaft length they should determine shaft stiffness, lie angle, grip size.

Probably.  The clubs in question were TaylorMade RocketBallz and they had one set in the back.  I originally went in to try on shoes and asked to hit some balls with the shoes on.  I really liked the club they handed me and that started the conversation about the trade-in program.

He may have also just misspoke and meant that I could do a fitting and if I bought the clubs they would waive it.  I was trying to get out of the store at that point anyway so didn't ask for clarification at the time.

So here is how it worked for me yesterday at DSG. I went in to look at some irons, and the sales guy asked if there was anything I wanted to hit. I spent about an hour hitting several different brands of GI irons, during which time he explained that if I was serious about wanting to make a purchase he could do a fitting, which was included in the purchase price. We didn't talk about a fitting without a purchase, but I think I saw something in their Pro shop about $50 for a fitting.

I decided I was going to make a purchase, and we did a fitting. He then determined shaft flex, club length and proper lie, and adjusted the lie angle on two different  brands of 7 irons so I could narrow down my choice. After I decided which brand I wanted, he then spent the next 1.5 hours adjusting and tweaking the lie on each iron after I hit them on a lie board with impact tape.

The fitting was waived at the time of the purchase.

I was very happy with my experience, and love the new irons.

Congrats, sounds like a good experience.  What irons did you buy?

I ended up getting Taylor Made Speed Blades. I really like them so far, and have no regrets.  To be honest, the Speed Blades weren't even on my radar screen but I'm happy with my decision. I took a valuable lesson away from this process, and that was not to get hung up on any specific brand and buy what fits my game.

Does anyone know if the club fitting is something that all DSG stores do or is it one of the specialties that specific stores offer? I ask because when I look up my store's details there are "specialties" like bikes, CO2 filling, guns, racquets but nothing listed for golf.

It's a tough question to answer because they're really lowering their involvement in the golf business. They fired all their PGA pros and now the golf sections are staffed by non-golfers or non-pros, subject to your particular store and when you go in. My local Dick's doesn't even have the new Callaway Big Bertha 815s in stock. No Nike Vapor clubs either. So the answer even a year or so ago was "pretty much all do it." Now, even if your store does fittings, you're not necessarily in great hands. You might be, but it's not necessarily the case (and they were hit or miss even in past years, but now it's really catch as catch can). Unless there's something on sale or it's the only game in town, you're better off going to a specialty retailer like Golfsmith or to a dedicated custom fitter.

Well sure.  But then you probably should not expect the special sale price.

it would seem that a post--purchase fitting..

all you can expect is to get the lies adjusted

maybe the grips resized - but I'm sure they'd want to charge you for the grips too

shaft length?  I guess only if you want them shortened

always best to ask the rep just what, exactly, does he consider a 'fitting' to consist of - at a store like that, it might vary from rep to rep....

I wouldn't interpret free fitting with a purchase to mean the fitting comes after you buy the clubs.  I think that means that if you're going to buy clubs, they'll do a fitting for free.

A fitting at Dick's is probably very limited though.  They probably just let you hit a couple of clubs and tell you which one you hit best based on their crappy projector thing.  They might tell you whether you should get the stiff or regular flex, and maybe they'll change the settings on an adjustable driver.  They're not going to sell you specialty shafts, different lengths, or mess with the loft/lie angles.  I could be wrong, though

Yeah... Not too sure about Dick's when I'm actually getting fitted. I would try GolfSmith or Edwin Watts. Normally GolfSmith finds some way to give you $50 off every time even when there is no sale (which there rarely is no sale). And that sounds awfully wrong. Sometimes I'll walk right into a store, and they normally will let me hit some balls and fit me even when not purchasing any merch.