My Golf Galaxy Fitting Experience

[TristanBlevins]

Seeing as I have never had a fitting and my driver is seemingly producing unreal spin rates, I decided to go to Golf Galaxy and go get fitted for a new driver shaft. I expected to go in, hit some balls with some different shafts, see which one worked best, and leave with just a new shaft, but I ended up spending much more time and facing a harsh reality; something that may not be such a bad thing.

I got there and the fitter, Bobby, greeted me and had me hit a few shots with my 8 iron to warm up. The first shot was a bit off the toe and chunky and carried about 140 yards; 25-30 yards shorter than I usually hit an 8 iron. After a few more swings, I started hitting shots that were going about 165-168 yards. Nothing out of the ordinary, no "power boost" that some people say that GG has in its launch monitors.

Bobby then had me hit 5 drives with my driver. I averaged about 280 yards with a 115 mph swing speed and 3500 rpms of backspin, which even I knew was WAY too high. He instantly told me I shouldn't be hitting a stiff shaft in my driver, and that my swing and ball speeds put me almost to a 2x-stiff shaft. But he also said that my driver head (I have a Callaway RAZR Fit) wasn't doing me any good at all, and no matter what shaft I put in it I'd still have too much spin. To prove it he had me hit the Callaway Big Bertha with an x-stiff shaft in it. I got about 5-10 more yards and my rpms dropped to about 3000, but it was still too high. He then put the same shaft (which he said was the stiffest they had in store) in the Big Bertha Alpha, and I hit a few with it. Not much difference, my rpms were still in the 3000 range. Then he flipped the "gravity core" around and it helped a ton. Rpms were down now to the 2500-2600 range and I was hitting the ball about 315 yards and all with almost the exact same ball flight every time. He said he had an idea and called over the club tech to ask him. Basically what they decided was that I needed a driver with a lower CG and an x-stiff shaft tipped 1/4" to make it a little stiffer and reduce the spin rate more.

This gave me a bit of an interesting question, so I asked Bobby if I need to get my irons reshafted as well since I went up almost 2 flexes in my driver. He gladly gave me an easy way to find out: hit balls and see. He handed me a 6 iron with a stock shaft in it and had me hit a few balls and put some impact tape on the face. They went about 190-200, the usual distance for me, and felt decently solid, but looking at the impact tape they were all at least a little bit on the toe. So Bobby put a TT XP95 S300 shaft in it, and because I'm 6'3,  it was an inch longer than standard, and told me "just watch this." I took a smooth swing and hit one perfectly flush with a tight little draw. 225 yards. Instantly 25-30 more yards than I've been hitting my 6 irons, and it was much easier to control too. I took a few more swings and was getting the same distances with those, and finally I decided I'd really take a swing at one. I hit a high 15-yard draw that carried 235 and rolled out to 245. I couldn't believe my eyes. Even though 230-240 yard 6 irons are never bad, there was something that sucks; I need to get a new driver and iron set or have all my irons reshafted (I was told the latter would be more expensive and that I should go on and get a new iron set as well) . Normally I would think that this is just a way to earn some extra money, but I was never pressured to buy anything from GG, and Bobby recommended that I really decide on what I want to do regarding what to buy, and never shoved anything in my face. I think I'm going to take his word and get both a new driver and iron set with all the specs he recommended. I know I will probably not be hitting 240 yard 6 irons on the course, but I had distance and accuracy gains on the monitor so I think it was a good fitting. I had all my questions answered and then some, and even though I basically had a full set fitting, I was still only charged for the $15 shaft fitting. I was very impressed with everything.

[Nemicu]

Interesting they had so many left handed demos in store. But then again, the rest of your story is equally far fetched.

[Pretzel]

Just a note here: It will be cheaper to reshaft your irons than buy new ones. You may prefer the new ones, but from a cost standpoint it is cheaper to reshaft them since you're only paying for the shaft instead of an entire club. Some food for thought: did he have you hit the same iron with two different shafts or did he have you hit your irons versus a new iron with a different shaft. If it's the latter, there is likely also a loft discrepancy contributing to the extra distance. Just a couple things to keep in mind while making your decision.

[David in FL]

Interesting.  I think a big key for any monitor work is developing a point of reference with a club you know, as you did with your own 8-iron.

Thanks for the review.

[Nemicu]

  Pretzel said:

... but from a cost standpoint it is cheaper to reshaft them since you're only paying for the shaft instead of an entire club.

er...no you're not. Clubs don't shaft themselves - somebody has to do it. That means the existing shaft needs to be pulled, the head is then cleaned, prepped and weighed. New shaft tip prepped, dry fit, trim and swing weight adjust, epoxy, ferrule turned down, grip fitted and loft and lie check. That is not free by anyone (certainly not me) and time and components cost money. That means the cost of a reshaft is somewhere approaching $50 per club for a cheapish steel shaft. It's still cheaper than a new set of irons, but if you want to avoid even more costs, buy a secondhand set with the spec you want. Oh - and while you're at it, never assume the readings from a launch monitor in a GG store are anything other than laughable.

[WUTiger]

  Nemicu said:

... Oh - and while you're at it, never assume the readings from a launch monitor in a GG store are anything other than laughable.

From my experience at three area Golf Galaxy stores, the distance readings are pretty accurate. At my main store, the head fitter says the distances may be a bit conservative, because they don't want to exaggerate how far a club will go and make customers angry.

If anything, I'm a half club longer on my irons outdoors, than on baseline GG measures indoors.

It all depends on whether the launch monitor has been calibrated recently, whether the distance is inflated, and how skillful the fitter is at reading the results. (In a couple of non-GG shops I've visited, I always worry if I have to tell the fitter how to read the launch monitor results - I'm familiar with the technology, but hardly an expert).

[Pretzel]

  Nemicu said:

er...no you're not. Clubs don't shaft themselves - somebody has to do it. That means the existing shaft needs to be pulled, the head is then cleaned, prepped and weighed. New shaft tip prepped, dry fit, trim and swing weight adjust, epoxy, ferrule turned down, grip fitted and loft and lie check. That is not free by anyone (certainly not me) and time and components cost money. That means the cost of a reshaft is somewhere approaching $50 per club for a cheapish steel shaft. It's still cheaper than a new set of irons, but if you want to avoid even more costs, buy a secondhand set with the spec you want. Oh - and while you're at it, never assume the readings from a launch monitor in a GG store are anything other than laughable.

In this, you said exactly what I said. I quote, "It's still cheaper than a new set of irons". I said that it would be cheaper to just reshaft the irons, which you also said, not that it may neccesarily be the best option for him. As for the reshafting cost, it's cheap and easy to do yourself. All you need is a heat gun, a vice (preferably with a little foam ring to put around the shaft), some good epoxy, and a little bit of know-how that is easily obtained using the vast resources of the Internet. This saves you anywhere from $10-25 a club depending on what the other place would charge. You're right that somebody has to do it, so why not let that somebody be you?

[TristanBlevins]

  Pretzel said:

Some food for thought: did he have you hit the same iron with two different shafts or did he have you hit your irons versus a new iron with a different shaft. If it's the latter, there is likely also a loft discrepancy contributing to the extra distance. Just a couple things to keep in mind while making your decision.

I actually hit the same 6 iron both times with 2 different shafts. It was a Callaway Apex Pro, which does probably have strong lofts, but so do my Taylormade Burner 2.0s

[TristanBlevins]

  Nemicu said:

Interesting they had so many left handed demos in store. But then again, the rest of your story is equally far fetched.

I'm just putting this on here as an experience I had. It's your choice whether you believe me or not. But I only hit 3 different demo clubs, I don't know why that's unbelievable, they have a relatively large stock of lefty clubs there.

[TristanBlevins]

  Pretzel said:

Just a note here: It will be cheaper to reshaft your irons than buy new ones. You may prefer the new ones, but from a cost standpoint it is cheaper to reshaft them since you're only paying for the shaft instead of an entire club.

I don't know why I didn't go on and reply to this too, but what I was told is that since my irons are already at least 2 years old, it would be cheaper to go on and get a new set with the new shafts instead of reshafting my irons because irons are meant to only last 3-4 years. That way I am just getting a new set rather than reshafting and then getting a new set in a year or two.

[Pretzel]

  TristanBlevins said:

I don't know why I didn't go on and reply to this too, but what I was told is that since my irons are already at least 2 years old, it would be cheaper to go on and get a new set with the new shafts instead of reshafting my irons because irons are meant to only last 3-4 years. That way I am just getting a new set rather than reshafting and then getting a new set in a year or two.

They are meant to last far longer than 3-4 years, I'm not sure where you got that misinformation. I'm using irons that were manufactured in the mid-1980's and still work excellently. It's also MUCH more expensive to buy brand new irons than to reshaft. If you're buying irons used it's not as large a gap, but the reshafting is still the cheapest option available unless someone is practically giving away good clubs. Golf clubs generally aren't like a computer where they're near-useless after five years compared to the current models. If you were using wooden clubs still, then yes you should definitely upgrade, but if they're under 20 years old they're likely fairly similar to the new ones. That said, you could find performance benefits in the new ones as there have been advances in technology, just not ones large enough to require an upgrade to not fall behind. It's kind of like buying a shovel. Once you get to the metal ones with a decent design, they'll last you a long time. There may be other shovels that work slightly better in some regards, but you are in no way forced to use that shovel to keep up unless it provides a large difference for you (like going from a wooden shovel to a metal one). The differences are there and measurable, but they're sometimes not worth the cost (at least for me).

[Hardballs]

When I bought my irons the guy in shop suggested we should all change clubs every 3 years! To keep up with technology, and to make sure they're fitted to evolving swings! Which I guess there could be some truth in this for some people! but as a golf salesman, he would say this! As for clubs only lasting 3/4 years, then they must be selling some poor quality clubs!

[TristanBlevins]

  Pretzel said:

They are meant to last far longer than 3-4 years, I'm not sure where you got that misinformation. I'm using irons that were manufactured in the mid-1980's and still work excellently. It's also MUCH more expensive to buy brand new irons than to reshaft. If you're buying irons used it's not as large a gap, but the reshafting is still the cheapest option available unless someone is practically giving away good clubs. Golf clubs generally aren't like a computer where they're near-useless after five years compared to the current models. If you were using wooden clubs still, then yes you should definitely upgrade, but if they're under 20 years old they're likely fairly similar to the new ones. That said, you could find performance benefits in the new ones as there have been advances in technology, just not ones large enough to require an upgrade to not fall behind. It's kind of like buying a shovel. Once you get to the metal ones with a decent design, they'll last you a long time. There may be other shovels that work slightly better in some regards, but you are in no way forced to use that shovel to keep up unless it provides a large difference for you (like going from a wooden shovel to a metal one). The differences are there and measurable, but they're sometimes not worth the cost (at least for me).

I do understand that. Maybe I'm just leaning towards the irons because the irons I'm hitting now are super oversized, strong lofted and the shafts don't fit me. They were bought when I was just starting out and there was no thought of fitting or longevity going into them. The ones I hit in store just looked and felt better, probably because they were made better than mine, as they should be when they are newer and more expensive than mine were. And I also didn't get a chance to hit my irons with the new shafts in them. But honestly the performance was that much better in look, feel, distance, and accuracy that I would be willing to get a new set. On another note, I hadn't actually looked up a way to buy just the shafts until just now, and I cannot find any that are an inch longer like I need them. I haven't heard good things about shaft extender inserts, so I'd rather not go that route unless I need to.

[Pretzel]

I can understand wanting new irons, and I'm not trying to dissuade you. I'm merely giving you the facts to help clear up some misconceptions you had. As to the shaft length issue, I don't have any experience with that. I'm lucky in that I fit regular length clubs perfectly, so I don't have to worry about it. There is something to be said about feeling confident over a shot while looking at the topline of your club. Those Apex Pro's are beautiful. If you like the new clubs more and will enjoy the game that way, buy them provided you hit them well as you say you did! Those were great numbers, especially if the shot dispersion was also tight.

[TristanBlevins]

  Pretzel said:

I can understand wanting new irons, and I'm not trying to dissuade you. I'm merely giving you the facts to help clear up some misconceptions you had. As to the shaft length issue, I don't have any experience with that. I'm lucky in that I fit regular length clubs perfectly, so I don't have to worry about it. There is something to be said about feeling confident over a shot while looking at the topline of your club. Those Apex Pro's are beautiful. If you like the new clubs more and will enjoy the game that way, buy them provided you hit them well as you say you did! Those were great numbers, especially if the shot dispersion was also tight.

I appreciate it. I'm here to share opinions and learn more about the game, so anything of the sorts is accepted by me. But yeah, it makes total sense that I don't fit into regular length shafts, considering I'm probably like 4-5 inches taller than the people they are made for. Had I known it was causing me to hit shots off the toe then I would've gone sooner. I love the Apex Pros. Something about smaller clubheads and thinner toplines really suits my eye, and I had never realized how unnecessarily large my irons look until recently. Plus the Apex Pros feel SWEET. Nothing better than flushing one of them.