The Loft and Lie Blues

[TommyD69]

I have a set of Titleist Tour Blades that are around 15 years old. I bought them used at least 10 years ago. I love these clubs! But, over the years the lofts and lies have "moved". It's a natural thing with forged clubs, and periodically, the loft and lie of each club should be checked.

I can't find ANYBODY (willing to think outside the box) to do this!

I contacted a major golf retailer (name withheld) who has a loft and lie machine. They do "club fitting", they also do club repair. When I asked the guy if he could "bend my clubs", he said, "well, you will have to leave them here for a couple of days". WHAT!?!???! I said I wanted to be there when they bent my clubs, but alls he said was "you will have to leave them here a couple of days". Isn't that like a tailor making you a suit while your not there?

Another TECH place said the same thing, except that it would be 4 or 5 days because they were so busy. They also told me that it was $5 a club. I was OK with that. So, I told the guy, I wanted to be there when the clubs were being bent... Ya know, like a club fitting....

DING DING DING... OK he says, we can do that, but you have to make an appointment. I'm OK with that. Then he says, that will cost $105. I'm thinking, well, I'm OK with that too. So I say, that is "all inclusive right"? I get a long silence, then he says "yes... plus the $5 per club"..... HUH!!?!?!?!?

I don't need the Doppler radar to tell me how far my clubs go, I need to swing my clubs on a board to get the right lie for ME (not the lie from the Titleist web site), I also want the lofts "tweaked" slightly.

Isn't there ANYONE who can loft and lie my clubs, and NOT be an "operational thinker" at the same time?

Trapped in Cleveland

[glebert]

I guess I'm not understanding why you want to watch him bend your clubs. I hate working with someone looking over my shoulder, so I can't blame them. If you want to check their work have them verify the loft/lie in front of you on one or two clubs after they are bent. But that is just me.

[basesloaded190]

although i do agree that i hate when people want to watch me re-grip their clubs or what not, its not the end of the world. Charging that much to bend and check lies is kind of outragous. I know for a fact that it only takes a minute or so a club and is very easy to do if you know what your doing. My sympathy for our lie and loft blues. If you were in wisconsin i would have you come over to where i am and we could do it on the spot. It's weird that they are so busy they can't do it right away. Its january and im sure there is still snow on the ground in cleveland

[TommyD69]

I guess I'm not understanding why you want to watch him bend your clubs. I hate working with someone looking over my shoulder, so I can't blame them. If you want to check their work have them verify the loft/lie in front of you on one or two clubs after they are bent. But that is just me.

I don't want to watch them work. I want him to bend each club, give it to me (right there on the stop) and have me swing it on a "lie board" to make sure the lie is right for me.

I dunno about you, but I am NOT an off the rack guy when I buy my suites, nor am I an off the rack guy when it comes to my clubs. Bending "standard" lofts (which there is no such thing) I guess I understand I don't need to be there, but how can you fit my clubs to me if I'm NOT there!?!?

[glebert]

So what you want is a custom, per club lie fitting (as opposed to x degrees adjustment across the board). I think it unreasonable for you to expect that level of service at no extra cost (over the bending fee). Do you expect to pay the same price for a tailored suit as one off the rack?

edit: I guess you said you would have paid the $105, as opposed to the $40 for just bending. Think about it this way though: It takes "a minute or so" to bend a club, and they charge $5 for that. It is going to probably going to take at least 5 minutes per club for him to bend it, you hit it a few times on the lie board, maybe he has to retweak it, you hit it again, et cetera, et cetera.

[TommyD69]

edit: I guess you said you would have paid the $105, as opposed to the $40 for just bending. Think about it this way though: It takes "a minute or so" to bend a club, and they charge $5 for that. It is going to probably going to take at least 5 minutes per club for him to bend it, you hit it a few times on the lie board, maybe he has to retweak it, you hit it again, et cetera, et cetera.

That's my point, do I let this guy bend my clubs while I'm not there, then pick them up, try them out, and find they are WRONG. Take them back, wait 2 or 3 days, pick them up, try them out, and find out they are WRONG again et cetera, et cetera.

Me bring there changes the session to a dynamic rather than a static fitting. We will only have to do it once. It's called customer service. I didn't say I was unwilling to pay more for a custom fitting (you make it sound like it's a terrible thing to ask for), I said I did not want all the "stuff" that comes with a "one size fits all" club fitting where I am paying for Doppler radar and who knows what else that I don't need.

[glebert]

It's fine to ask for it, just don't be surprised if you can't get the ala carte customer service you are looking for.

[flanagan]

The suggestion of your post is that somehow you are not being treated well, but it seems you are being unreasonable. Tell them what you want, they'll do it for $5 a club. If you want a fitting, which is fine, they are going to charge their normal fee for the fitting and, of course, whatever it costs for the actual adjusting. Your post suggests this was some kind of ripoff surprise, they are just charging like most places will charge for the "dynamic" fitting you want, i.e., you don't really "just" want to be there, you want to get fit and you should, but also expect to pay for it. There are some clubfitters/clubmakers websites out there, maybe you could look at one of those and see if there is someone in your area (not all of the one person operations are found in the yellow pages), seems like a really large area to only have two options.

[TinCupTampa]

I understand what you are saying... and I dont disagree with you per se. But, in all honesty... I wouldnt squabble over the difference between $105 and $145 to have each one of my irons custom lofted and lied to my swing.

[hrossroth]

I can understand that you want it to be an interactive experience. I had the same thing in mind for myself. My plan of attack was to take my clubs to the local shop that has a heated range. When it starts to get warmer I was going to go in and ask them if I could borrow a lie board to check the lies myself at the range. That should be OK since it is just a plastic board and I was going to pay for the balls. I got the idea from the pro at my club who originally gave me a fitting. He said I could borrow the board there when I wanted to check the lies. I wanted to do it before the season started so was I going to go to the other place. Do you have anything like that in your area? I will have to play it by ear when I go into my shop. I seems like more of a task than I may have thought. It sounds like you like the clubs so I'd say stick with it. Good luck.

[Jcp907]

Sounds like you might have found a guy to do it, however, the price hasn't been negotiated. He wants 105.00 then 5 bucks per club with you there, or 5 bucks per club without you there. The 105 is probably for the time and agravation of having you look over his shoulder, ask questions, try the club with tape, ask him to redo the club with you over his shoulder...etc. Based on the estimates that it takes about five minutes a club, It sounds like this job should be about 60 dollars an hour. Ask if he will do it for 60.00 per hour with you there (or 70.00, whatever). This way if you take a lot of his time he is compensated. Or, 5 dollars per club plus 2 dollars each club for the aggravation of letting me swing it. Then another 5 if you need to rebend it. The worst he can say is no.