What to look for in getting fitted?

I am looking at getting new irons and the first advice I have gotten is to get fitted. What all does this entail? What should I make sure they do?


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Jugger18 said:

I am looking at getting new irons and the first advice I have gotten is to get fitted. What all does this entail? What should I make sure they do?


Tap tap tapping it in on my iPad using Tapatalk HD

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It varies from clubfitter to clubfitter.

A good one will ask you question about your game, practice habits, the type of golf ball you use, etc. As with your doctor, it's best to be honest with your answers.

They will also ask you to hit balls of a lie board to measure your lie angles for each iron.

If they have a Trackman, they'll analyze your swing with a whole host of metrics.

The most important thing is to trust your instincts and go with what you feel most comfortable with. Don't let a clubfitter push you into buying something that you're unsure about.

They will also probably make sure your clubs are the right flex for you with either a mizuno shaft optimizer or some other device.
Also know that certain clubfitters, like those at a True Temper performance center, can usually build you a set of clubs. It doesn't necessarily have to be from the place you get fitted at or from the manufacturer. Sometimes if they have suggestions you may be able to find heads and maybe some used shafts and just have that person build it for you and save some money. But I know that not all clubfitters will build clubs as well.

I had an iron fitting done yesterday. They had me take several shots. Used a lie board and figured out that I was hitting more towards the heel. The lie angle of the club was wrong. They adjusted it 2 degrees and had me hit more shots. I was hitting center of the club with the new lie angle. Based on my SS, the shaft was fine for me. They adjusted all my irons.

I played last night and definitely hit the ball better. I would definitely recommend a fitting especially if you may be mishitting the ball.

One thing I'll add is that I've always considered BEGINNERS getting fitted for clubs a bit of the Chicken or the Egg Conundrum.

Should beginners not get fitted for clubs when their swings are still evolving and most likely will not resemble its current incarnation?

Or should beginners get fitted for clubs before practicing, as their current clubs aren't matched up to their swings?

Personally, I think that beginners should practice until their swings gain some semblance of consistency. Then, they should go get fitted for clubs.

I think the worst thing that can happen is a beginner getting his clubs fitted for a bad swing and then keeping his swing in bad form because the fitted clubs are matched to that bad swing.

omega4 said:

One thing I'll add is that I've always considered BEGINNERS getting fitted for clubs a bit of the Chicken or the Egg Conundrum.

Should beginners not get fitted for clubs when their swings are still evolving and most likely will not resemble its current incarnation?

Or should beginners get fitted for clubs before practicing, as their current clubs aren't matched up to their swings?

Personally, I think that beginners should practice until their swings gain some semblance of consistency. Then, they should go get fitted for clubs.

I think the worst thing that can happen is a beginner getting his clubs fitted for a bad swing and then keeping his swing in bad form because the fitted clubs are matched to that bad swing.

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Have to disagree with you there. When I first started taking the game seriously and got fitted for my first set of irons, the person that did my fitting took this exact issue into account. He fitted me to the swing I had at that time and told me that it would change over time. I was fitted to 2 degrees up on my irons and played them that way successfully for over a year.
I recently began pulling all of my shots with my irons so I went back to see him and sure enough, my swing has changed. I now only need to be 1 degree upright so he bent my irons to that spec and I am now back to hitting (mostly) straight shots.

tdinbr said:

Have to disagree with you there. When I first started taking the game seriously and got fitted for my first set of irons, the person that did my fitting took this exact issue into account. He fitted me to the swing I had at that time and told me that it would change over time. I was fitted to 2 degrees up on my irons and played them that way successfully for over a year.
I recently began pulling all of my shots with my irons so I went back to see him and sure enough, my swing has changed. I now only need to be 1 degree upright so he bent my irons to that spec and I am now back to hitting (mostly) straight shots.

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Perhaps, but consider this. If you did not have your beginner's swing fitted at the start, you could have improved upon it much quicker than having your swing "subsidized" for over a year by irons fitted to it.

I view it as taking "one step back, two steps forward" when a beginner doesn't get his clubs fitted for a bad swing.

I'm not a fan of "draw" clubs. I'd prefer that golfers learn how to fix their slices than use "draw" clubs to compensate for their swing faults.

omega4 said:

Perhaps, but consider this. If you did not have your beginner's swing fitted at the start, you could have improved upon it much quicker than having your swing "subsidized" for over a year by irons fitted to it.

I view it as taking "one step back, two steps forward" when a beginner doesn't get his clubs fitted for a bad swing.

I'm not a fan of "draw" clubs. I'd prefer that golfers learn how to fix their slices than use "draw" clubs to compensate for their swing faults.

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Once again, I disagree. If I had not been fitted I would have been forced to learn to play with an off the rack set that would have been too short for me, as well as having the wrong lie angle, beginner's swing or not. I believe this would have led to frustration which then may have led to me giving up learning to play better or quit all together. I think this happens to a lot of beginners.

I agree with tdinbr. Your swing will change. It will change often enough that your clubs may have to be tweeked 2 or more times.

It's similar to when I first asked about lessons with a club pro in the springtime one year. I told him I wanted to wait and get the kinks out of my rusty swing with some range time. He told me, 'No, you need the lessons before all that range time so you don't hone mistakes in your swing! You need the range time to practice the corrections, not practice bad swings!'.

Canio said:

I agree with tdinbr. Your swing will change. It will change often enough that your clubs may have to be tweeked 2 or more times.

It's similar to when I first asked about lessons with a club pro in the springtime one year. I told him I wanted to wait and get the kinks out of my rusty swing with some range time. He told me, 'No, you need the lessons before all that range time so you don't hone mistakes in your swing! You need the range time to practice the corrections, not practice bad swings!'.

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Regardless of how much your swing changes, your length and lie vary very little over time. Take tiger into account. He's broken his swing down many times and has completely changed it; however, his specs never changed. Your swing regardless of how different it will be a year from now will not affect ghe length at all and usually not affect the lie.

tdinbr said:

Once again, I disagree. If I had not been fitted I would have been forced to learn to play with an off the rack set that would have been too short for me, as well as having the wrong lie angle, beginner's swing or not. I believe this would have led to frustration which then may have led to me giving up learning to play better or quit all together. I think this happens to a lot of beginners.

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I wrote the following on another thread about fitting but didn't here:

I think it makes sense to fit a beginner to a set of clubs while the beginner is in the proper setup and stance, just to get the length and lie angles of clubs correct. But to then to continue fitting the clubs to a beginner's still evolving swing to subsidize his swing faults doesn't make sense to me.

omega4 said:

Perhaps, but consider this. If you did not have your beginner's swing fitted at the start, you could have improved upon it much quicker than having your swing "subsidized" for over a year by irons fitted to it.

I view it as taking "one step back, two steps forward" when a beginner doesn't get his clubs fitted for a bad swing.

I'm not a fan of "draw" clubs. I'd prefer that golfers learn how to fix their slices than use "draw" clubs to compensate for their swing faults.

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Or not having a properly fitted set could have set back improvement even more by attempting to swing clubs that don't and won't work for them and develop even worse habits in their swings.

Kind of the same thing as your views on adjustable drivers that I saw in another thread. Pros will get clubs adjusted to compensate for some of their swing faults and use adjustable clubs. Are you trying to say that they don't know how to swing a club?

This is a good one. I've always thought that in virtually anything, starting out with good equipment helps beginners do well and stay engaged. Clubs are expensive though and a beginner's swing will change quickly.

Std clubs fit an extraordinary number of people fairly well though. Maybe a compromise is to get a quality used set and work with them for a season or until a certain level of development.

I just got fitted, +1/2, 2up, graphite shafts, but there really is little difference so far from my 25-year old set of Axioms. 10 more yards per club, which frankly would have done more harm then good when I was a beginner. As for accuracy...according to the launch monitor numbers there is a big difference, but on the course, my swing varies enough still, that there is no discernible distance.

So as long as your dimensions aren't well out of the averages, maybe the best move is to get a quality set on eBay, or Craigslist, or from a friend, at a good price that you will be able to recover 90% of when you're ready for an upgrade.

Good question. I would think that fitting for a beginner would be more geared towards making sure that the clubs fit the individual physique of the subject (ie. a person that is 5 feet tall would require a shorter and flatter lie in a club than a person who is 7 feet tall). This would allow the beginner to start off on the right foot, instead of adapting their swing to an ill fitting set of clubs. The right "feel" when it comes to tempo, swing weight and flex are the variables that could change over the course of time, so I would expect subsequent fittings to fine tune these elements.

I would propose beginners on a budget to spend their $ on a no-name custom set of clubs vs an ill-fitted branded set. They can always upgrade later as they get more serious in their pursuits, rather than risk encountering more hardship with flashy ones that don't fit.

Either that or custom fit all beginners with fitted blades and leave them be (since there probably only one correct way of swings these bastards ).

Renren89 said:

Or not having a properly fitted set could have set back improvement even more by attempting to swing clubs that don't and won't work for them and develop even worse habits in their swings.

Kind of the same thing as your views on adjustable drivers that I saw in another thread. Pros will get clubs adjusted to compensate for some of their swing faults and use adjustable clubs. Are you trying to say that they don't know how to swing a club?

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It depends on the pro. There's a reason why some pros never win tournaments.

Good thread.

But I think there is some perspective and reality here that no one has explicitly said. Off the shelf clubs are in fact fitted clubs! Every manufacturer is designing their clubs to meet a specific golfing amateur. You can right now go buy such a varying degree of off the shelf clubs that will each have varying degree of impacts on your game. So if I am a beginner and i slice, i may opt for a GI irons with lots of offset. Therefore, if we are not arguing over the cost of fitting but simply whether beginners should do it, i say yes. Should a growing kid get a tailor fitted suit? Or buy it off the rack? Clearly going to be more comfortable and look better in a tailored suit. And as you grow, you may need to get a new, tailored suit. Same with golf.

The second point is that when everyone is saying it will cover up your bad flaws and thus hone your bad swing mechanics - this is not the full story. Lets be clear, beginners who slice or hook the ball badly are not going to get fitted and all of a sudden hit the ball with precision accuracy right down the middle. Bad swings produce bad shots most of the time, regardless of the club fitting. However, club fitting can reduce that 25 yard slice to maybe 15 yards or maybe even 10 yards. But its not going to really help bad contact and bad shots (assuming no dramatic difference in lie and length because the original clubs were way off). Any beginner determined to get better will constantly be improving his/her swing. The fitting is going to be appropriate for a significant amount of time as the swing changes and improves. At some point, the swing becomes good enough where the original fitting matches it perfectly. But also at that point, the now not beginning golfer will probably want to start working the ball and find that the overly hook setup/slice set up of the clubs is not allowing that - thus you can go back to the fitter and adjust the clubs.

I would probably say that once a beginner can hit the ball with some consistency, regardless of how bad or good the shots are, that is the time to see the fitter. You want to be able to reproduce the same shots enough times in the fitting room so the proper measurements can be taken and then the clubs adjusted.

Generally speaking ALL golfers would benifit from getting fitted, whether they be single figure or beginner.

Having said that, the most important thing to do when having a fitting is be honest with yourself and if you are swinging crap, perhaps wait until such time that you feel you are swinging what you would term okay. It is important that the fitting is done with a swing that is currently 'working' for you. By that I don't mean that the swing has to be so good that you are always hitting good shots, as if you were you prob wouldn't need the fitting.

The difference between the beginner and low guy is that the beginner will need to go to the fitter more often as his swing will likely change more often as he improves, but starting off with a set that is helping him rather than hindering will not only help his game but also boost confidence, and being as most golf is played within the 6 inches between the ears, confidence will really help any golfer.

As others have said though, getting fitted will not correct bad swings. Even after a fitting you will still hit shots that stink. Just that there should be fewer of them.