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The Fitting Interview: Helping You Get the Most Out of It

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Ask any good fitter about how to prepare and one of the first responses will undoubtedly be about the importance of being honest. Any good club fitting should begin with a questionnaire or interview regarding your game, your biases, and how they can help you get the most out of the equipment. Let's dive into this a bit.

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This, this is crazy useful and a tremendous idea for those who have never gone through an in depth fitting before.
 
One of the most important aspects, of one of the most important activies you could do in golf!

I’d be curious to see if Club Champion, or other fitters, have seen any uptick in brand biases towards a shaft (or particular shaft), not just head.
 
Thanks for this article. Lot of good info here.
 
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xThor said:
One of the most important aspects, of one of the most important activies you could do in golf!

I’d be curious to see if Club Champion, or other fitters, have seen any uptick in brand biases towards a shaft (or particular shaft), not just head.
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I asked one fitter (not a CC) and he said that yes, there has been an uptick based on what is used on tour.
 
This is a great article and supremely useful to someone like me who has never had a 'real' fitting. The more I read and understand about the fitting process the more I want to go somewhere like Club Champion to have it done. I've had a sorta fitting for driver but that was really just testing out a few different heads at a Golf Exchange to see which I hit best.

The reason I want to go somewhere like CC is I know next to nothing about shafts and what type I should be playing beyond 'I swing at X mph so I should be in Stiff'. Well, OK but I've come to understand there are more 'flavors' of a stiff flex shaft than there are Baskin Robbins flavors. I'd love to go somewhere that I can test out multiple different shaft options all through the bag and really dial in my performance. CC seems like THE PLACE to do that.

Thanks for the article I really enjoyed it.
 
Great info for a fitting!!
 
This is a great article for anyone going into a fitting. Be honest with your fitter, and what you get out of it will be way more worth your while.
 
Awesome read. All information contained within this article makes a ton of sense. The only CC fitting I have done is for putter about 2 years ago. I received and completed a questionnaire similar to what was discussed a few weeks prior to my appointment. As I recall, it was geared toward swing clubs which I didn't understand but did it anyway. Hopefully they either sent me the wrong one or have since developed one specifically for a putter fitting. The actual interview prior to the SAM lab testing was on point though.
 
Any good fitter should be asking you these questions before you even swing a club. Loved that they weren’t afraid to talk about being honest with your fitter as well. The best fittings I’ve had are ones with a lot of discussion going back and forth which starts with the initial questions about your game and what your goal is
 
Sox_Fan said:
Awesome read. All information contained within this article makes a ton of sense. The only CC fitting I have done is for putter about 2 years ago. I received and completed a questionnaire similar to what was discussed a few weeks prior to my appointment. As I recall, it was geared toward swing clubs which I didn't understand but did it anyway. Hopefully they either sent me the wrong one or have since developed one specifically for a putter fitting. The actual interview prior to the SAM lab testing was on point though.
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How did you like the putter fitting using the SAM lab system? Is it worth it? Meaning did it improve your putting? I’ve been on the fence about going to CC for a putter fitting.
 
Good info. At my CC fitting in Feb 2021, I was direct and honest with my interests. That's generally my style, and it set a good relationship. We had fun together in the process, almost too much fun. Bias is harder. There are some brands and clubs that take more effort for me to embrace. But in my 4 fittings last year -- lunatic fringe, indeed -- in every case the fitter wanted me in irons that I felt were more demanding than I wanted and shafts that were stiffer than I was comfortable playing. In terms of numbers and outcomes there was no need for me to be afraid. But I notched back in each case. I don't know that it makes much difference.
 
Nice article, I've been through a few Club Champion fittings, and the interview has varied a bit by each fitter, but I've thought it has always been helpful. I agree with one thing stated in the article, they will recommend what they determine provided the highest performance, even if you stated a budget limit, and the the highest performing club(s) are way over budget. There was never pressure to buy though, and I really appreciated that.
 
hackitup said:
How did you like the putter fitting using the SAM lab system? Is it worth it? Meaning did it improve your putting? I’ve been on the fence about going to CC for a putter fitting.
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I thought the actual SAM lab portion was tremendous and gave me invaluable information about my putting stroke and some things I needed to work on. Specifically reducing the amount of face rotation in my stroke. The only thing that was disappointing to me was not being given the opportunity to test various putter options based on what the SAM suggested. I did post about this and a few THPers echoed my concern based on their experience while others were given the opportunity to test various options and setups. Maybe it is dependent on which location you go to or to the specific fitter? I certainly do not regret the experience. Just wish it was a little more inclusive.
 
Great article, a lot of good info. Something I would like to do in the future.
 
Great article! I did my wedge fitting at club champion and a lot of these points were realized.

I told him that I had a really steep swing which was wrong on my end and creating a grind bias. The fitter immediately saw that I was prettt neutral and just had a swing flaw that caused me to hit the ground early.

We had also discussed my swing speed and that heavier shafts felt better to me. I was struggling at first and based on my initial swing speed he put me in some lighter shafts. Because of the interview he wanted to try some heavier ones and as we started to go up in weight my swing improved dramatically and my swing speed went way up and I really found my natural swing so we could get some good data.

Can’t recommend Club Champion enough. I was really intimidated about my first fitting and it went fantastic. The pre fitting interview was a massive help and a really great part of the process.
 
Great article and insights. I imagine that for my next fitting I’ll bring my raw and filtered Arccos data. Won’t be perfect and won’t describe shot shape, etc. but should provide some helpful. That probably means I should have a fitter who incorporates shot data into the process and diesn’t rely on the Mark V eyeball alone.
 
Over the last ten years I’ve had the opportunity to have a number of fittings. Golf Big Box store fittings. Manufacturer demo day fittings. Independent fitters. Club Champion fittings.

My takeaway from these experiences is that not all fittings are the same and you get what you pay for.

In a fitting you are essentially renting the facilities, technology, equipment and expertise of the fitter. The nicer the facility, the more experienced the fitter, the most current the technology, the more expansive the selection of clubs and shafts, the better for you and the more it is going to cost.

Going into a golf store that has a launch monitor set up in a hitting bay and swinging a few clubs that you are interested in is not a fitting but it is better than buying something without at least trying it first. Better still is being able to take a club out on the course to demo for a round or two.

The best fittings in my experience are the ones that have facilities that allow both indoor and outdoor hitting opportunities.

Being indoors allows you to use the ball that you normally play with and will allow you to see what your launch, spin and carry distances are with your gamer ball. This is generally something people don’t do enough of in a fitting.

Being outdoors allows you to see ball flight, trajectory, shot shape and experience turf interaction. Probably most important for irons and wedges.

Ideally your fitter will be brand agnostic and have many different manufacturers product to try. That means that what works best for you is what they want you to end up with.

Customer bias is a thing, but there is fitter bias as well. The fitter may like certain brands better than others or get paid more to sell certain things depending on their business model.

Some fitters fit only with OEM stock shafts. Some only fit with premium aftermarket shafts. Some fitters will have both stock and aftermarket shafts.

Considering all of the above imagine how much it would cost to outfit a proper golf fitting studio with launch monitors, hitting bays, large screen TVs to display data, outdoor and indoor hitting areas, multiple shafts in different flexes and lengths, multiple club heads from various manufacturers, staff to conduct fittings, set appointments, build clubs, handle administration and paper work. Don’t forget restrooms, customer waiting area, putting fitting equipment, club building equipment, shipping and receiving work area and you can quickly see that to do it in a top notch way takes a big time commitment.

But your $150 - $200 investment for your hour to 1 1/2 hour fitting allows you to try a vast assortment of stuff with a highly trained and experienced fitter by your side that has done hundreds or thousands of fittings. They will quickly help you to narrow down the choices to get you into something that might be a game changer. They will help you to achieve whatever you are seeking whether that be longer, straighter, higher, easier, more consistent or maybe all of the above.

Recreational golfers might not be playing for big money like the pros, but isn’t your time or enjoyment of the game worth the small investment involved in a fitting? Or would you rather travel the road of trial and error buying and selling clubs until you stumble across the right one.

If you do nothing else at least get fit for a driver. It is the easiest club probably to get fit for with the facilities available indoors and it is one of the clubs that get used often.

If you really want to prioritize improvement in your score then you should also get fit for putters and wedges. Putter fittings are harder to find than driver fittings because SAM Putt Labs or Quintic systems aren’t as common or as easy to set up as a launch monitor/hitting bay. Wedge fittings are the hardest to find because you really need to have outdoor facilities to do it right and some ability to do club building on premises to change grinds, lofts and lies to get fits dialed in.

If you are serious about golf you owe it to yourself to get properly fit for your next set of clubs. Make sure you have clear goals in mind to share with the fitter and break it up over several sessions because you will get fatigued quickly from hitting so many shots.

Good luck and good fitting!.
 
Great read for everyone especially those gettin a fitting soon.
 
This is a great article and the biases and how we perceive our swings is really interesting. Never had a fitting and this will be great stuff to keep in mind when I do get to it.
 
The interview process is an important part of the fitting and his article explains it well. People who go in with an open mind and are honest with themselves and the fitter I think will enjoy and learn from the process. As its been mentioned, not all fitters are equal unfortunately though and sometimes price can be a turn off.
 
Love this! The fitter is only as good as the information he/she has to work with and the "be honest about your game" part is huge. Was pretty eye opening what a good fitter who asks the right questions is able to do for you, even in a short amount of time
 
It is soooo important to be honest with yourself and your fitter if you want to get the most out of your fitting.
 
Love this. Last open fitting I did for irons we talked about what I was looking for and at the time it was more distance consistency compared to total distance. Of the final two irons, one was clearly better at hitting a number, even through I was giving up a little ballspeed and distance.
 
Great info for someday down the road when I do get a fitting.
 
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