Does Not Getting Fit Affect Play?

[johnclark12]

Hey guys,

I have been playing for about 6 years now, see my swing here - MY SWING

Ever since last summer when I bought new irons off of ebay (did not get fit) I just can't hit them. They skid across the ground or if they do get air they go straight right. With my driver and hybrid I am not having any issues and can hit straight and long. Does not getting fit have that drastic of a difference that you will see horrible shots like this?

[rehmwa]

The right shaft is so important - Getting fits helps immensely.  I suspect the converse is true.  (if you find a competent fitting anyway, not just the sales job type at the outlets).  It's night vs day with my latest fittings (woods and hybrids), so there's one data point.

[Piz]

If golf was played with one club...it would still make a difference, to an individual, which one club that was.  Sure...we could get accustom to anything...but we would find that we liked this one better than that one et cetera.  Switch to multiple clubs and the difference is greater.  Now our clubs have to work in concert with each other.  A wedge that suits one set of irons may feel odd when paired with another set.  The same is true for drivers, fairways, and hybrids.  So yeah...fitting does matter.  

P.S.  Learning to use what you have matters more.  A good guitar player can make just about anything sound decent.  And they will have a much better understanding of what they like, and don't like, about a particular instrument.  That allows them to make more informed decisions when it comes to equipment changes and/or acquisitions.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, johnclark12 said:

Does not getting fit have that drastic of a difference that you will see horrible shots like this?

It's unlikely. Your problems sound like they're swing issues. A properly fit set of clubs will optimize your launch conditions and dispersion, but they don't fix swing issues.

[Groucho Valentine]

I agree with what rehmwa said, getting the shaft right is very important. More so than the club head. So getting fit can be very advantageous. You've been in the game for 6 years now and probably have some idea about what youre doing with the swing, even though it looks like you might need to address some overswing and fundamental things . So even if you just get fitted for shafts and get them installed into your older clubs, id say its time. 

 

Edited April 22, 2019 by Groucho Valentine

[dennyjones]

Were you at least fitted for lie, loft and length?   To eliminate some variance, take them to a golf shop and have them statically fitted.   I agree with @billchao.   

[pganapathy]

That depends on how badly suited they are to your game.  If the shaft is bad, it can affect ball flight a lot more than the head.  Then there is a question of how upright the clubs are.  Ping have the dot system.  A club that is too upright or too flat for you will lead to you hitting off centre every time you swing, unless you adjust your swing to the club.  It is better to adjust your club to the swing rather than your swing to the club

Edited April 22, 2019 by pganapathy
typo

[arturo28mx]

For my game, the most important factor in fitting was SHAFT WEIGHT. Shafts that are too heavy or too light ruin my swing. For me, lie angle, shaft length, shaft flex, etc. were secondary.

[Patch]

Getting fitted for golf clubs is always a good thing. 

I once heard a pro golfer remark that playing with fitted clubs was like walking in fitted shoes. Being fitted is more comfortable. 

[Tiga Tiga Woods Yall]

My opinion, fitting aren't worth much unless you are an elite player. I read a post a while back where someone did two fittings and got two different results.  Then people were telling him, the fittings weren't bad, you must have been swinging differently each day.  Either way, it's a prime example of how fittings aren't worth much for the average player.  The placebo effect is real and sometimes expensive. 

[klineka]

16 minutes ago, Tiga Tiga Woods Yall said:

My opinion, fitting aren't worth much unless you are an elite player. 

Nonsense. An elite player can perform with any club you put in front of them.

The same can't be said about higher handicap golfers, who need all the help they can get. It's possible for a higher handicap to gain 20-30 yards of carry from just a driver fitting, especially if they were in an off the rack 9 degree model and the fitter gets them into a 12 degree model or something.

You're basing your opinion on one post of someone's conflicting results of a fitting while ignoring the thousands of average golfers that get custom fit every year and the positive results that come out of those custom fittings.

Edited May 1, 2019 by klineka

[Tiga Tiga Woods Yall]

1 minute ago, klineka said:

Nonsense. An elite player can perform with any club you put in front of them.

The same can't be said about higher handicap golfers, who need all the help they can get. It's possible for a higher handicap to gain 20-30 yards of carry from just a driver fitting, especially if they were in an off the rack 9 degree model and the fitter gets them into a 12 degree model or something.

Nonsense.  Elite players can actually detect and utilize the small differences from shaft to shaft.  High handicaps cannot.  And if you need to pay a fitter to tell you that more loft on your driver will give you more carry, well, fork over the money, I guess.

[klineka]

2 minutes ago, Tiga Tiga Woods Yall said:

Nonsense.  Elite players can actually detect and utilize the small differences from shaft to shaft.  High handicaps cannot.  

A high handicapper is going to hit a Project X Rifle 7.0 iron shaft drastically different than they would a regular flex graphite iron shaft.

There's a difference between placebo effect and measurable, quantifiable differences in results on a launch monitor.

6 minutes ago, Tiga Tiga Woods Yall said:

And if you need to pay a fitter to tell you that more loft on your driver will give you more carry

If it was that simple then why doesn't everyone hit a 15 degree driver? It's not that simple.

7 minutes ago, Tiga Tiga Woods Yall said:

well, fork over the money, I guess.

A good number of places waive the cost of the fitting if you purchase the club through them, so if you were already planning on buying a club, it wouldn't actually cost you anything extra.

Do you have any other sources or data points to back up your opinion that fittings are only beneficial for elite players or is your opinion based on one forum post?

[ChetlovesMer]

I've always subscribed to the theory that's it's more the Indian than it is the arrow. 

I will say this. An Edel putter fitting can pay huge dividends. Having a putter you know you can aim at the hole fills you with confidence and unclouds your mind. 

A driver fitting CAN help. But, I would argue the time on the trackman is almost more valuable than the fitting itself. I always get fit anyway, because it's free when you are buying a new driver. But again, I've rented a bunch of drivers in my life and hit them all pretty similarly. 

As far as irons go... a dry fitting is probably fine. I've rented irons a dozen times and played about as well with them as I play with my own. 

I've seen ads that say a 36 handicap will save 6-10 strokes by being fit for their clubs... I think that is a bunch of bunk. Unless the golfer is just totally in the wrong type of clubs, the lesson the fitter is giving them is probably way more important than the fitting itself. 

A fitting can help. Yes, but I personally don't believe its this magic stroke saving elixir that the golf industry is trying to tell you it is. You should get fit for your equipment if you can, if you can't at least do a dry fitting and order your stuff with the correct specs. 

One more thought, if your fitter tries to tell you there isn't a cost neutral shaft that fits your swing, that you have to drop an extra 100, 200, or even 300 or more dollars on a "Custom Fit" shaft. Find a new fitter. 

[Tiga Tiga Woods Yall]

Actually, for an average golfer it is that simple.  Someone has a 95mph swing speed  and hits low screaming drives with a 8 degree xstiff shafted driver. They don't need to pay someone to tell them where they went wrong with their purchase. And if the fitting is free, sure what the heck.  I take a free pet rock, but I'm not paying for it.  

Listen, I'm not saying a fitting doesn't have some benefit, but it's more times that not it's negligible. 

Half the crap in my bag I don't need. I would probably be just as well off if I hit my Taylormade muscle backs from the 80's.  So, do what makes you happy.

[saevel25]

7 minutes ago, Tiga Tiga Woods Yall said:

Listen, I'm not saying a fitting doesn't have some benefit, but it's more times that not it's negligible. 

I disagree on a large picture view. You do not want to be fitting Titleist MB irons into a golfer who can't get the proper yardage gaps because they don't have the swing speed to get the most out of the clubs. In the end, getting fit helps.

I wouldn't put it as negligible.

[klineka]

10 minutes ago, Tiga Tiga Woods Yall said:

Listen, I'm not saying a fitting doesn't have some benefit, but it's more times that not it's negligible. 

What are you basing that statement on?

Golf Digest disagrees with you 

"8 out of 9 tested golfers improved 1.7 strokes added 21 yards off the tee and 13 with the irons"

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/clubfitting-casestudy-hennessey#ixzz2uvaSQlep

 

From TruSpec Golf FAQ: 

"Is my handicap too high for this to benefit me"

"Most likely, no. We have fit players of all abilities, from Major Championship winners to players with handicaps over 36. If you can make contact consistently, get the ball in the air most of the time, and have any sort of pattern to your shots, there is a good chance a fitting will benefit you. Some players may feel their swing is not consistent enough, but research has shown that the majority of a player’s impact patterns are actually very consistent from swing to swing, and only a couple variables have any significant amount of change."

[Tiga Tiga Woods Yall]

Golf is all about confidence.  If shiny new things give you confidence, it will help your score.  We all fall victim to it.