Testing or buying new golf clubs

[jmanbooyaa]

Anyone else find it difficult to test new clubs specifically drivers at a golf store? I have recently been looking into a new driver. I find it very hard to test any club indoors and off the mats at a golf store and find the simulators distracting. I have never tested clubs outside or on real grass. Just curious. 

[dkolo]

1 hour ago, jmanbooyaa said:

Anyone else find it difficult to test new clubs specifically drivers at a golf store? I have recently been looking into a new driver. I find it very hard to test any club indoors and off the mats at a golf store and find the simulators distracting. I have never tested clubs outside or on real grass. Just curious. 

As long as you don't get into a long drive competition with yourself to juice your numbers (which is super tempting and easy to do), I love them. I also prefer a mat vs. grass for testing because it takes some pressure off and you can just focus on swinging and not worry about a fat shot. 

[saevel25]

Hitting indoors doesn't bother me. 

 

[jmanbooyaa]

i just feel i never put a good swing on the ball when indoors. It is a mental thing i suppose.  Not being able to tell the flight or where the ball is going to end up. 

[Denny Bang Bang]

I certainly don't dislike hitting indoors, but I prefer to be at an outdoor range.  Maybe because I know I can trust the result 100%, and it's easier to pick a target.

[SavvySwede]

Dick's is the only place I have issues with. Their launch monitors require low lighting and their bays are kinda small. It feels like the wall behind me is too close the way my local Dick's has it set up. Never had trouble anywhere else. 

[Lagavulin62]

17 hours ago, jmanbooyaa said:

Anyone else find it difficult to test new clubs specifically drivers at a golf store? I have recently been looking into a new driver. I find it very hard to test any club indoors and off the mats at a golf store and find the simulators distracting. I have never tested clubs outside or on real grass. Just curious. 

I never trust the mats, even outdoors. Also I won't hit my clubs on carpet as it destroys them. 

Yesterday at the range(real grass) I was testing the same club I have used for close to 30 years, only with a reg steel shaft  instead of stiff. Just recently I've wondered if I could benefit from a less flex because suppossedly the few times I hit on one of those indoor machines that is what the numbers tell me. But the difference is not only dramatic with distance loss/direction but the feel of a regular shaft to me is nonexistant. Everything felt like a weak thud with no energy release. I switched back and forth to try and eliminate any possible variables and but still same results. Stiff and that shot springs off straight/long and feels like I barely used any effort. Go back to regular and that weak thud, felt like nothing but shaft and nothing in the head as far as feeling.  

No way I could get those results indoors. 

Yet I also feel in some ways you can benefit from those mats, which is just another lie. A "fat" shot on carpet doesn't look as bad as one on real grass.

Several years ago I got invited on a first date to the range of this exclusive golf club community not far from my home. Incredibally they had the members hitting on mats this gorgeous day.  I wasn't hitting my best, but not poorly either. Most of my shots were "fat", yet with the slight bounce or richochet I was getting from the mats, they didn't look too bad and my date, who was not a bad golfer, didn't seem to notice. Of course I wasn't about to fess up. Had I been hitting on real grass it would have been an embarrassing afternoon.  

Now I wouldn't share this on another forum as the techies there would have a heart attack. Numbers don't lie, they say. But I will just end it with this. If you desire to know how well you hit on carpet, go hit on carpet. If you desire to know how well you hit on a real golf course, hit on grass.  

 

 

[chilepepper]

I don't mind hitting indoors on a monitor particularly with a driver. I can do it any day of the week. Testing outdoors usually requires a demo day somewhere which does not happen too regularly. 

 The acid test is on turf though. Particularly with irons. If your a picker no big deal but if you take a divot absolutely 

[caniac6]

We have an assistant pro that is a Titleist club fitter. He goes around central NC doing demo days and fittings. I have seen him do fittings, and he is extremely thorough. If I want to try a Titleist club, he will build it, and let me play with it for a bit. I know a lot of people put a lot of faith in launch monitors, and I'm not saying that that shouldn't be part of it, but I need to see how it flies.

[WUTiger]

i don't mind the indoors as long as the space isn't too cramped. Indoors is a good way to trim the clubs down to finalists, and get some numbers for comparing head-shaft combinations.

I still like to do final tests outdoors, to really see how high the ball flies, etc.

Wedges? OK to get the feel, but I need to try them off the turf, first cut, shaggy greenside and out of real sand. At three different demo days, I spent about half my time trying wedges, and finally decided on two MD3, and a high-toe MD-PM grind LW.

Tip on hitting off of mats: Maxfli sells a cluster of three rubber golf tee holders, designed to put in mats. But, you can also put a tee in them at proper height and set them down on the mat for practicing drives.

Global Tour also offers a screw-thread version (below).

[dkolo]

1 hour ago, WUTiger said:

Tip on hitting off of mats: Maxfli sells a cluster of three rubber golf tee holders, designed to put in mats. But, you can also put a tee in them at proper height and set them down on the mat for practicing drives.

Global Tour also offers a screw-thread version (below).

Or try the Tee Claw! These were well-reviewed by me and other TST testers, and they were a TST sponsor at one point, I believe

 

Edited January 17, 2017 by dkolo

[Divotmaker77]

Do not mind indoors for fun, but when I have been fitted I have to do it outside so I can see the ball flight and distance and not really on sims which likely have their software enhanced to give better numbers than reality to help sell more equipment.  

[65ross]

My opinion, you don't play indoors so why test indoors, best to be in the elements and you get better feed back. At my club we have 300+ members and with that number most have a fair cross section of club brands and most guys do not mind letting you have swing on the practice range with there gear, that way you can get a fair idea of what you need to narrow your selection down to when you need upgrade, the other good thing is our preferred supplier of clubs, will bring a selection to the range to try and then sort out fitting. I think is called personal service which sadly seem to be disappearing now, it getting like buying a car they want sell you wrong colour when you ask for a white one, only wanting a sale, not give customer service.

[Lagavulin62]

32 minutes ago, 65ross said:

My opinion, you don't play indoors so why test indoors, best to be in the elements and you get better feed back. At my club we have 300+ members and with that number most have a fair cross section of club brands and most guys do not mind letting you have swing on the practice range with there gear, that way you can get a fair idea of what you need to narrow your selection down to when you need upgrade, the other good thing is our preferred supplier of clubs, will bring a selection to the range to try and then sort out fitting. I think is called personal service which sadly seem to be disappearing now, it getting like buying a car they want sell you wrong colour when you ask for a white one, only wanting a sale, not give customer service.

Nice post and although I have never had a fitting I sense the same analogy with the cars. 

[Marty2019]

On 1/17/2017 at 5:09 PM, Divotmaker77 said:

Do not mind indoors for fun, but when I have been fitted I have to do it outside so I can see the ball flight and distance and not really on sims which likely have their software enhanced to give better numbers than reality to help sell more equipment.  

Where I got fitted, they had me bring in my own 7-iron, and I hit that one on the simulator first, before I tested some new 7-irons, so it was a somewhat fair comparison.   So I think if you're really worried that they have the simulator "adjusted" to make the results look better than they are, bring in your own clubs and test those, too.