Has clubfitting helped you?

[CarlSpackler]

How much is it to get fit? Do you usually have to buy new clubs or new shafts?

The fitting session is priced at $50 and it is $4 per club to shorten if needed. It is another $35ish for the set to have them adjusted for lie.

This is on temporary hold for me since it looks like my central air unit is going tango uniform on me.

[EngineerGolfer]

Disclaimer: I didn't read the whole thread, just the topic, but clubfitting for me has been absolutely the best thing. I have been playing with the same set of Ping Zing 2 blue dots for 15 years; they are perfect for my height and arm length so I've never had a reason to change, plus they are such high quality clubs. Ping was one of the first club companies to institute a fitting system and it is well worth it.

[SubPar]

There are two different kinds of fittings. everyone should get what most shops offer for free if you are buying clubs there. They get the grip size, length and lie angle set right for you and recommend a shaft stiffness for your swing speed. IMHO if you are not able to shoot 80ish regularly with clubs fitted like this, the the next level of fitting is a waste of money.

What you might call a 'high level fitting' is done by spending a couple of hours on a launch monitor swinging each club many times. Then the clubs are built with custom shafts and weighting to adapt them to your swing. This can cost hundreds of dollars. If your swing is consistent and you make good repeatable contact with the ball this more through fitting will help you out. I know a "plus handicapper" who strikes the ball near perfectly and he said a custom set of clubs in his view may take 2-3 strokes off a round, for someone like himself.

But if you are like me and hit the ball all over the club face and swing on a slightly different plane each time, fitting will have little effect on your scoring, other than what you get from added confidence.

I've had my clubs customized and I like the added swing weight and the feel of each club relative to the other, but I know I will not be able to gain much advantage from any fitting if I don't improve my ball striking. I do strike the ball much better now than when I had the work done, so it may be time to at least do an analysis to see if any radical changes would be in order.

My personal feeling is that spending $1,000-$1,500 having your clubs customized is not of much use until you are at least an 7 or 8 handicap.

Golfers spend a lot of money trying to disprove to old saying, "it's the Indian not the arrow".

SubPar

[TN94z]

Another thing to remember too is this: You don't HAVE to buy new clubs to get fitted. Many of the guys I play with (new to the game) were under the impression that a fitting is getting fit for new clubs and that they didn't have the money to drop on a new set. Many times they should be able to fit the clubs you already have to you!!

[CarlSpackler]

SubPar brings up the exact way I have been thinking up until recently, that I need to "perfect" my swing before bothering with getting my clubs fitted. This is why I have been taking lessons. I have a regular teacher, but also took a lesson from the pro at my course as a second opinion. Both suggested that I get fitted which is the only reason I am considering this. Both are surprised when I told them my avg. score and thought I should be much lower given my swing (read Carl needs even more short game work). I am hoping to get some video uploaded to swing check for additional analysis soon.

I took some measurements yesterday and it looks like my shaft length is on the border between -.25" and -.5" accoding to the fitting charts that I lin. I am 5'-6" in regular shoes and distance from floor to where my hand meets my wrist is 33.5".

[TN94z]

SubPar brings up the exact way I have been thinking up until recently, that I need to "perfect" my swing before bothering with getting my clubs fitted. This is why I have been taking lessons. I have a regular teacher, but also took a lesson from the pro at my course as a second opinion. Both suggested that I get fitted which is the only reason I am considering this. Both are surprised when I told them my avg. score and thought I should be much lower given my swing (read Carl needs even more short game work). I am hoping to get some video uploaded to swing check for additional analysis soon.

Everyone is going to have a different opinion on this. Let me ask one question. You say that you want to wait until you get your swing perfected before getting fit....how are you going to get your swing perfected with clubs that don't fit you?

[CarlSpackler]

Everyone is going to have a different opinion on this. Let me ask one question. You say that you want to wait until you get your swing perfected before getting fit....how are you going to get your swing perfected with clubs that don't fit you?

That is what I WAS thinking until those more knowledgeable than I suggested it. As far as perfecting the swing, if that is possible, I meant developing solid and reliable fundamentals to hit the ball on or close to the sweet spot regularly thus eliminating (or significantly reduce) tops, chunks, hooks, slices, not mention the inner demons that cause these things.

Side note: I talked to the fitter guy at the local Dick's sporting goods and he did not recommend shortening my clubs, but would know for sure when they go through the process. They can't do my 3-6i since they are hybrid types with an insert that will possibly break.

[TN94z]

Now that is not saying that you won't have to make changes to the fitted clubs after you get your swing where you want it, but I think getting fit now will help the process.

[CarlSpackler]

Now that is not saying that you won't have to make changes to the fitted clubs after you get your swing where you want it, but I think getting fit now will help the process.

I think I am comfortable with my swing with the exception of the occasional brain fart where I try to kill one. I still plan to upload some videos to the swing check for additional input though. Assuming the HVAC guy doesn't break the bank fixing my AC this afternoon, I think I am going to go ahead and have it done soon.

[SubPar]

SubPar brings up the exact way I have been thinking up until recently, that I need to "perfect" my swing before bothering with getting my clubs fitted.

I didn't say anything about perfection. An 8 handicapper would not have anything close to a perfect swing, but you need to at least be good enough to make solid contact with the ball in or near the sweet spot most of the time.

You can spend a thousand dollars getting custom fitted clubs but if you hit one ball out of six in the sweet spot and the rest are off the toe, fat, thin, what ever, you won't get much out of custom fitted clubs. Like I said, anyone should get the basics fitted, which is lie angle, shaft length and grip size. That not what I consider custom built where you replace everthing but the club heads. SubPar

[TN94z]

But you don't have to spend that 1000 yet. You can have the lie angle, shafts, and length adjusted on the clubs you already have and they will be fit to you. Then you can get the swing you want and if you decide to a get a real fit set of clubs then you can.

[CarlSpackler]

I didn't say anything about perfection. An 8 handicapper would not have anything close to a perfect swing, but you need to at least be good enough to make solid contact with the ball in or near the sweet spot most of the time.

I wasn't trying to be negative there. I put perfect in quotes and elaborated in a previous post to indicate that there is no such thing really. I hit the ball good 50-60% of the time, OK 25%, and poor 5-10%. Some days more, others less. In essence, I was agreeing with you though, I think.

[SubPar]

I wasn't trying to be negative there. I put perfect in quotes and elaborated in a previous post to indicate that there is no such thing really. I hit the ball good 50-60% of the time, OK 25%, and poor 5-10%. Some days more, others less. In essence, I was agreeing with you though, I think.

Don't read anything harsh into my tone. I'm just thinking out loud (with my fingers).

An 15+ handicapper can go ahead and spend $1,000+ having his clubs fitted and he'll still be an 15+ handicapper with some expensive clubs. Maybe he or she will replace a couple of 20' putts with 15' putts but that's not going to lower their average scores Again, this is just my opinion. That money on lessons over several months will do far more to improve a high handicappers performance. But it is so much more fun to buy new custom equipment!!! SubPar

[TN94z]

Don't read anything harsh into my tone. I'm just thinking out loud (with my fingers).

I agree with the lessons!! That is money well spent as far as im concerned!

[CarlSpackler]

No harsh tone detected. Even if there was, I wouldn't have posted this if I couldn't take some criticism and I definitely value everyone's input. I am not ready for divorce (too expensive), so I am not going for a custom made set. It seems relatively inexpensive to have my clubs adjusted (and I like them) but I am trying to figure out if it is worth anything. Some initial posts seemed to indicate yes, but later ones are indicating no. I have been taking lessons and plan to continue, but I would have never considered doing this if it hadn't been suggested by my instructor.

[TN94z]

No harsh tone detected. Even if there was, I wouldn't have posted this if I couldn't take some criticism and I definitely value everyone's input. I am not ready for divorce (too expensive), so I am not going for a custom made set. It seems relatively inexpensive to have my clubs adjusted (and I like them) but I am trying to figure out if it is worth anything. Some initial posts seemed to indicate yes, but later ones are indicating no. I have been taking lessons and plan to continue, but I would have never considered doing this if it hadn't been suggested by my instructor.

Think of it this way. You are trying to get your swing in check, correct? If your clubs are too flat for you at impact, then the toe will dig in and you will hit the ball right. If your clubs are too upright at impact, then your heel will dig in and you will hit the ball left. Now taking this into consideration, how do you think you will learn to hit the ball the best that you can if this is going on? If you get your lie angles checked and have them bent to your swing, then you know they are right....then when you are hitting the ball left or right you will know its your swing and not the clubs. IMO this is too cheap to get done to not do it and have to fight through the ball contact issues it could cause.

[Art Vandelay]

I'm 6'4" and I've been playing off the shelf clubs for the past ten years. After everyone telling me I needed to get my clubs lengthened, so I did so last month and got a new set of clubs. My game has been in shambles ever since. I think I had been so accustomed to playing my other set of clubs that I have no idea what to do now with this new set.
I'm hitting the new irons 10-15 yards shorter on my good hits and less consistent overall. I just went to the practice range this morning and was planning on walking on and playing afterwards. I ended up putting the clubs in the trunk and driving home after I was through with my basket. It's too much of a risk to get paired up with a good group of golfers and then embarass myself.
The new clubs have even gotten into my head to the point where my short game, which used to be the most solid, consistent part of my game, is garbage too.

[TN94z]

I'm 6'4" and I've been playing off the shelf clubs for the past ten years. After everyone telling me I needed to get my clubs lengthened, so I did so last month and got a new set of clubs. My game has been in shambles ever since. I think I had been so accustomed to playing my other set of clubs that I have no idea what to do now with this new set.

When you say you had them lenghtened because "everyone" told you too, who is everyone? Did you have your swing checked?