Fit-dreamer

I know about Golf Galaxy fitting processes. I am Maltby certified. Certified with every major golf manufacturer who has their own fitting process. Have studied the fitting processes of some of the specialty companies as well as some of the unorthodox. GG managers can be PGA Professionals as well. Working 60-70 hours a week, I missed my PGA player's ability test by a stroke. My preparation, after a year long layoff, was a small bucket of balls prior to playing 36 holes in one day. Otherwise, I would be a PGA professional too (not Class A though). I even visited some of the manufacturer's fitting facilities (on my own time) to validate my in-store training. Some of my very good friends are Golfsmith PGA professionals. and we've talked about the fitting processes. I have worked for major manufacturers, locally and nationally recognized golf courses, and I know PGA professionals who care to know only the required basics for fitting. In every segment of the golf industry, I have heard of good and poor fitters. GG employees make close to minimum wage. No sales commission. No one is allowed to accept merchandise (clubs) from vendors as "gifts" and Dick's sporting goods (owner of GG) took away the GG employee discount program. I bought my clubs from Edwin Watts at retail. They were cheaper than the in-house Dick's employee discount program. GG employees are supposed to be brand neutral. They had to have a minimum of Maltby club fitting certification and whatever manufacturer they have been designated to fit for. Fitting is allotted only a certain amount of time. If you go over that time, management takes notice (to the employee's detriment). It's due to the "do more with less" cost cutting. The basic fit only entails grip size, shaft flex, lie angle, and length. And mainly applies if you have a set of clubs and want them fitted to you. Or want a set of specific set of clubs. I would be wary of a fitter that doesn't ask alot of questions about your equipment, likes/dislikes, and goals. Anyone who is condescending doesn't care about you or the fitting. Leave and see someone else. Anyone who doesn't give you 100% of their attention - leave. And regardless of where you go, be wary of the launch monitor and/or simulators. From experience, the altitude and/or ground firmness settings can be adjusted to give you more carry/roll (overall distance). I prefer to have the settings as close to the local conditions as possible. So your real world findings are the same as the launch monitors. It would not be in the best interest of a retail store to fudge those settings. But I have seen them being adjusted and then someone forgot to reset the launch monitor or simulator. Or when I had to travel to another part of the country, sometimes we would forget to reset the launch monitor, but we always tested the launch monitors before using them so we always caught that mistake. There are just too many facets to fitting for me to cover here. Things like soft vs stiff tip shafts/butts, shaft manufacturers, shaft design, shaft material, trajectory, spin, feel, tipped shafts, personal preference.......

Remember the movie "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson. There was a line where he told his kids.... "aim small, miss small". I learned to play golf using my dad's old clubs. An old set of 1963/64 MacGregor Tourney MT2 irons. Butter knives!. I purchased 1 set of game improvement cavity backed clubs since. I found my ball striking got sloppy because of those clubs. Yes, they were more forgiving than blades. Yes, they made the game abit easier to hit the ball straight. But you may develop some bad habits using them. Still, it's no accident that 95% of tour pros (nowadays) play some form of cavity backed irons. Actually, my favorite irons were the Titleist 962b irons. They were cavity backed blades. I loved the iron profile. If they hadn't worn out, I'd still be playing them today. I currently play the Titleist 710mb blade. I often tell my buddies "if you can't shoot 72 from the white tees, why move back to the blues or black tees?!" For the challenge?!!!! They haven't even met the challenge from the white tees yet. Ultimately, they're going to do what they want to do. Go with whichever is most comfortable for you. Get the irons YOU want. Life is too short. Good luck.

In my golf career, I have been trained in many club fitting systems from most of the top manufacturers and generic fitting systems. I have worked retail golf (nationwide chain), major equipment manufacturer, private (TPC courses) and country clubs open to the public. I also fit golf balls based on spin rates generated by clubs/swings. I used a Taylormade Tour Burner (original dimpled model) 7* driver with a 44" X-100 steel shaft until the late 1995. My fitting analysis by 2 major manufacturers as well as independent fitters & PGA pros has always been: "comfortably" in X-stiff shafts. Irons, DG X100 or Rifle 6.5's. Woods: X-stiff, tip stiff (even 2X). I never felt comfortable with those clubs. They felt too stiff. I always believed there had to be another way of fitting golfers. I took a shaft load/unload profile test. The data showed that my shaft load/unload profile was almost identical to Davis Love III. (I think it was a True Temper test?). Still, those clubs just never felt right. Too stiff. I ran into a fellow who had a different fitting system. It was more a visual & seat of the pants fitting system. He had a staff bag with about 40 clubs in them (4 and 9 irons)....all various frequencies. I hit balls for several hours one day, on my own. I ended up with 2 specific frequencies (4 and 9 irons) that produced the straightest flight, best ability to work the ball, gained distance, and most importantly felt comfortable to me. I thought it was a sham, to be honest. I had a 2nd test session, several months later, thinking physical fitness or practice (or lack thereof) could influence the test. To my surprise, I selected the EXACT SAME FREQUENCIES. Again, I was still skeptical......Several months later, I took the test again. This time, I was lined up on the range next to a Sr. PGA tour player, taking the same test, and in our discussion, I heard of a few names (that I would be surprised to hear) who have taken the same tests and changed to the shafts after the tests were concluded. After hitting balls for several hours, again EXACT SAME FREQUENCIES for a 3rd time. I was surprised that I could actually "feel" the difference between 5cpm. Of course, I didn't know it at that time. He even gave me the same shaft frequencies more than once, saying they were different, to make sure "I wasn't cheating". This person had no allegiance to any manufacturer or shaft or shaft maker. I bought my own shafts, took them to him and he reshafted my clubs. I paid my fitting fee. End result: my shafts started at REGULAR flex in the wedges and progressed to LADIES flex in my 2 iron. I don't have the numbers from my shaft test. And Ken's fitting system sounds like it quantifies the things I "feel" during a golf swing. I am in southern california and if there is a fitting system like that around here, I'd like to get my new irons fitted with new shafts. The only issue I am facing is finding standard steel men's shaft diameters (.580/.600) in a ladies flex for my longer irons. Looking for my perfect shafts. Need help.