Indoor vs. Outdoor Fitting

[Boston33Celtics]

I am scheduled for a fitting at the Titleist Facility in Acushnet, MA early this spring but I want to begin season with experience using my new irons. I cannot FOR THE LIFE OF ME seem to play well at the indoor bays at Golfsmith but there is an indoor golf place www. fore golf entertainment .com/ my friends play at that swear it is different.

Getting to my question, The Titleist facility is the same location where TOUR professionals get fit and hosts the most impeccable range

you will ever play on, iron fitting alone is $200 none toward clubs but you get to see true ball flight/turf interaction etc and

are fit by top specialists in the country, but obviously living in the Northeast limits me to my appointment in

the spring.

There are a few indoor places including http://joeandleighs.com/gpc/club-fitting.html (under $100) which offers reasonable rates and club championgolf.com/locations/custom-golf- club - fitting - boston -m which is offering holiday 1/2 off full bag fitting

($175 with discount).

I fear that if I take the chance at an indoor facility I will not get an accurate reading if I cannot get used to the indoors.

Any Experience?

[boogielicious]

I find indoor bays for fitting too dark.  It takes me a while to get into the groove with irons because it's dark.  I think you will be more confident of the fitting if you wait.  Plus, you can tell us all about it!!

[Typhoon92]

Salem State man!!!! My son goes there.... If you live on the North shore you should go see my buddy Frank Viola at Ace of clubs. Anyway, I also plan on getting fit in the spring. I'm going to the Callaway perfomance center in Hudson NH ( Golf n Ski warehouse) next to Green meadows GC. Its something like $100 for irons and $150 for the whole bag but most of that goes toward purchase and they hook you up with other freebies so its practically nothing. I'm an old school outdoor guy...I tend to think I swing differently outdoors than indoors. When I go to demo days I love it when they have an outdoor trackmann/flightscope because I get to see what a certain ballflight equates to on the screen. What I did last year was bring my own 7 iron with me to compare to what ever I was demoing at demo day. That is something you should do whether you are inside or outside. My 7 iron I thought went too high, and it does...spin and launch too high, I could see it...then saw the numbers. Took the demo club, saw the ballflight and the numbers so I know the difference. I could do this inside as well...that's the only way I could get fit inside...you have to bring your own clubs. Golfsmith, golf galaxy... for fittings... forget it. I was a GG and they have trackman squashed into a spot and I know for a fact trackman needs something like 30 feet of ball travel for a correct read. The front of the mat to the net was 7 feet. I was getting 30 yards of roll, 3200 rpms of spin and a 10 degree launch angle off a 6 iron...and the fitter there that was hanging around was telling me it was me... Another place I go to has one GC2/Nflight system that reads 10% higher...the guy told me after I questioned why that was was stupidly high and the other identical system next to it seemed accurate...and they also do fittings. I saw alot of reviews on the Callaway place...all very good. It's also not a booth so it feels more like outside. Also I can get there ahead of time, go outside and hit balls with my own irons then go inside and hit my club at the fitting to get my baseline.. This I can deal with, other than that I would never get fit inside. Outside would again be done with me having my own clubs and Trackman/Flightscope for comparision. I know I suggested Ace of Clubs...its indoors but Frank is sooo good at what he does its a different league of indoor fitting. Hope this helps...shoot me a pm, wanna see if you're local to me.

[WUTiger]

Occasionally I have a "headcase" problem inside buildings. If the indoor stalls have protective shields to the left and right, I get sometimes get clausterphobic and miss every other shot. I don't have this problem with lateral nets.

If you have decent mats at indoor sites, you may get a little "skip help" if you hit the shot a little fat. But, I can feel if I didn't quite "get it all", and know to maybe drop that shot from the data if it's noticeably short.

[Patch]

My fitting was both indoors, and out of doors. My fitter was also a club maker. We did a fitting on a monitor indoors. Based on the information, he built a club based on those specs. Once built, we took that club to the golf course and I hit it off of real grass. Based on the info gathered there, he would tweak the club as/if needed. Best of both worlds so to speak. After I wore those clubs out, I ordered a set with the same specs from Tour Edge.

[boogielicious]

Salem State man!!!! My son goes there....

If you live on the North shore you should go see my buddy Frank Viola at Ace of clubs.

Anyway, I also plan on getting fit in the spring. I'm going to the Callaway perfomance center in Hudson NH ( Golf n Ski warehouse) next to Green meadows GC. Its something like $100 for irons and $150 for the whole bag but most of that goes toward purchase and they hook you up with other freebies so its practically nothing.

I'm an old school outdoor guy...I tend to think I swing differently outdoors than indoors. When I go to demo days I love it when they have an outdoor trackmann/flightscope because I get to see what a certain ballflight equates to on the screen. What I did last year was bring my own 7 iron with me to compare to what ever I was demoing at demo day. That is something you should do whether you are inside or outside.

My 7 iron I thought went too high, and it does...spin and launch too high, I could see it...then saw the numbers. Took the demo club, saw the ballflight and the numbers so I know the difference. I could do this inside as well...that's the only way I could get fit inside...you have to bring your own clubs.

Golfsmith, golf galaxy... for fittings... forget it. I was a GG and they have trackman squashed into a spot and I know for a fact trackman needs something like 30 feet of ball travel for a correct read. The front of the mat to the net was 7 feet. I was getting 30 yards of roll, 3200 rpms of spin and a 10 degree launch angle off a 6 iron...and the fitter there that was hanging around was telling me it was me... Another place I go to has one GC2/Nflight system that reads 10% higher...the guy told me after I questioned why that was was stupidly high and the other identical system next to it seemed accurate...and they also do fittings.

I saw alot of reviews on the Callaway place...all very good. It's also not a booth so it feels more like outside. Also I can get there ahead of time, go outside and hit balls with my own irons then go inside and hit my club at the fitting to get my baseline..

This I can deal with, other than that I would never get fit inside. Outside would again be done with me having my own clubs and Trackman/Flightscope for comparision. I know I suggested Ace of Clubs...its indoors but Frank is sooo good at what he does its a different league of indoor fitting.

Hope this helps...shoot me a pm, wanna see if you're local to me.

@Boston33Celtics ,

I have heard great things about Frank Viola.  A fitter at Golfsmith was raving about him.

http://www.aceofclubstp.com/

I would also recommend Ken Collins at Kustom Clubs in Manchester, NH.  I've had fitting there.  He is a Golf Digest Top 100 fitter.

http://www.kustomclubs.com/

Sun & Air in Danvers is also a Titleist Advanced Fitting Center.  I have heard good reviews of them as well.

http://sunairgolf.com/facility.php