Review Club Champion Full Bag Fitting - Disappointed

[Iceman!]

I'm super conflicted too. Callaway's 50% bonus trade in has me doing some serious pondering on just ordering some Apex 21 DCB's with the Recoil Darts and be done with it. (Still need to address the hybrids, but pretty happy otherwise.)

Edit to add: Since I've never been in front of any kind of launch monitor, I'm going to stick it out just to see what my numbers are and see where it goes.

I'm super conflicted too. Callaway's 50% bonus trade in has me doing some serious pondering on just ordering some Apex 21 DCB's with the Recoil Darts and be done with it. (Still need to address the hybrids, but pretty happy otherwise.)

Edit to add: Since I've never been in front of any kind of launch monitor, I'm going to stick it out just to see what my numbers are and see where it goes.

Remember Callaway has a 30 performance guarantee. I’ve used it. It works.

 

[OldeDude]

If it weren't for hearing similar stories from others, from different locations, I might have written it off as being an inexperienced staff at this location. My fitter did say that he and the other two fitters that work this location had only been there for three months, and he and one of the others had gone to training together before starting here. I've heard that their training is pretty extensive, but experience after receiving that training is pretty important too.

I don't know if they have sales goals they have to meet, or perhaps the recruiting pitch that tells them that after going through their training that they will be making big bucks, so they put on the hard sell trying to make the promised dollars, and feel like you're wasting their time if all you want is the fitting.

 

[Molten]

In only know one person around here who did the $100 fitting and it was a show. Heavy upsell on stuff he didn’t need - thankfully he asked the club pro who confirmed everything. I’d love a good fitting but it sounds like this promotion isn’t worth it.

 

[That post]

I really didn't intend for this review to turn anyone away from Club Champion, but maybe as another example of how things could end up not meeting your expectations. I'm sure it's likely many are having great experiences with the $100 deal, maybe just go at it a different way to minimize the possibility of being disappointed.

I appreciate you sharing your experience there. It's disappointing that this promotion seems to have brought out the worst in their fitters. If CC was smart about this they would have offered some kind of incentive to their fitters beyond commission for each $100 fitting they do. That way maybe the fresh customers they brought in the door with the promo wouldn't leave with a bad taste in their mouth. Word of mouth is the cheapest and best form of advertisement and CC is failing miserably at it right now.

 

[OldeDude]

There was someone from Club Champion here on the forum for a while, User Name @Club Champion , but it looks like he hasn't been active since early May. It would be interesting to hear from him on this, or one of the other $100 Deal threads. So if you are out there @Club Champion , I'd be interested in hearing from you either here in this thread, or via PM.

 

[radeon962]

In SE Michigan we have two great options for fitting: Miles of Golf in Ann Arbor and Carls Golfland in Plymouth or Bloomfield Hills.

No hard sell. Fitters are excellent. Pretty much anything you could imagine you can try. Fitting sheets leave with you.

I have been fit twice, my son once and my brother-in-law once. Seemed like the fitters really wanted to fit you and not just upsell you into equipment/shafts.

CC appears to just be looking to fit you into as high end equipment/shafts as they can. I went once for a driver fitting when they had some special in the past and would not go again.

 

[PuffChippy]

The fact that they’re commissioned introduces bias and tells you you’re likely not getting the best fit. This also tells you they’re not really in the club fitting business, they’re in the club selling business. I’ve done a couple fittings and know enough about the science of golf to sense that it’s a borderline carnival game where a good op can find a way to sell the numbers they want to sell, within reason of course. But then that’s probably why they’re on commission.

 

[SkiBumGolfer]

If they don’t want folks to come in and test gear without buying they need to raise their prices to prevent that from happening and provide a bigger discount to that fitting price when people do buy.

This right here. I had a fitting with them about 5-6 years ago (link HERE if anyone is interested), and was also up front that I wouldn't likely buy anything (and didn't). It was a half price fitting, but not $100. I felt I received very good service but still felt the pressure of the sale.

I prefer the model that a local fitter (Sittler Golf) has where the fitters are the same as the instructors, and treat everything the same. But they also never discount fittings (unless buying), so I think they make sure they are fairly compensated for their time if nothing is purchased immediately. They also aren't being directed by a corporate entity though, they control their own pricing. I think that's the issue here.

 

[chile]

The more of these types of reviews I read, I am inclined to just cancel my fitting.

 

[Alez367]

The more of these types of reviews I read, I am inclined to just cancel my fitting.

Why? What was the point of your fitting going to be: just swing away and try everything or get baseline and defer to your fitters expertise to help get a recommendation on what could be ideal for you?

 

[jvbart]

Posted a couple times about this but my fitter in San Diego has been great even when I first went in and told him I was getting fit for the Quest Cup and wouldn’t be buying anything. Never any pressure and always puts in extra time and effort. I think he took the approach of putting in the work for free to earn long term business and it worked as I have been back to buy a driver and will likely buy something else when I finish my long game fitting.

 

[Alez367]

Posted a couple times about this but my fitter in San Diego has been great even when I first went in and told him I was getting fit for the Quest Cup and wouldn’t be buying anything. Never any pressure and always puts in extra time and effort. I think he took the approach of putting in the work for free to earn long term business and it worked as I have been back to buy a driver and will likely buy something else when I finish my long game fitting.

Yeah we have a good team down here which is nice considering the experiences that everyone seems to be getting lately. I wasnt able to take advantage of my fitting due to family stuff getting in the way but when I spoke to my fitter he was more than accommodating over the phone with the initial concerns/questions I had.

 

[jvbart]

Yeah we have a good team down here which is nice considering the experiences that everyone seems to be getting lately. I wasnt able to take advantage of my fitting due to family stuff getting in the way but when I spoke to my fitter he was most than accommodating over the phone with the initial concerns/questions I had.

Greg has been super accommodating with me. I couldn’t do the full bag all at once because of elbow tendinitis so he’s letting me break it up into as many sessions as I want.

 

[chile]

Why? What was the point of your fitting going to be: just swing away and try everything or get baseline and defer to your fitters expertise to help get a recommendation on what could be ideal for you?

Get a baseline and see where I'm at with a future purchase in the next few months...

 

[El Rayo X]

I’ve done CC a for putter fitting and it was quite helpful and affirming. Came back and fitter did a comp “Refit”for a driver, which was interesting, but the suggested build and price was about $100 more than I could do it my self for.
I did an iron fitting at HotStix (now CoolClubs) in Scottsdale a few years ago and that was great! Outdoor, on grass, great inventory of shafts and heads. Trackman and I could see my ball flight.
I would never do a Iron, Hybrid or FW fitting indoors if I could help it.

 

[Alez367]

Get a baseline and see where I'm at with a future purchase in the next few months...

Get a baseline and see where I'm at with a future purchase in the next few months...

then I would definitely keep the appointment and get what you want out of it. Baseline numbers aren’t always easy to get due to natural elements such as turf condition, weather, wind so being in an area where everything is consistent each time is nice.

 

[jddaigneault]

I’ve been to our local club champion and has similar experiences to many here. They go for the hard upsell, and once they start to get the idea you aren’t buying but just want a good fit, they start moving you out the door. I asked to not test any exotic iron shafts, and the guy got super grumpy that all I should be testing was Obans. I had a similar experience at True Spec. The fitters are trained quickly and pushed to crank out sales of exotic upgrades and in house builds. It never seems like you work with someone who genuinely cares about your game.

 

[pumbaa]

I'm really thinking about canceling my august fitting. This is like the 4th thread of disappointment

 

[Knot Right]

I have quite a few friends with handicaps ranging from 6-21 that have been fitted and ended up spending a huge wads of money on the recommendations of the local big box fitters. I have sat in with a good friend during his fitting and from what I have witnessed since then is that he's got a couple more yards on his driver and scoring the same nonetheless. On the other hand, I do have friends that have spent time with local teaching pro's, practiced their butts off, and eventually dropped their handicaps significantly.

I'm not knocking "fitters" and I wouldn't like it very much if someone was knocking my business. Good players should have their equipment fine tuned. But I also believe a player needs to achieve a certain amount of skill and repeatability in their golf swings before trying to fine tune spin rates, launch angles, and smash factors.

A 19 handicap who wants to improve has bigger problems than numbers on some launch monitor if he can't repeat a good swing more than a few times a round.

 

[Pops]

Even with some disappointment by others I will be keeping my upcoming appointment. Will actually move it up the calendar by a few weeks. Will be going in as soon as new Edel irons are in store for fitting. I’m approaching the $100 discounted fitting a little different. Pure entertainment value is worth a portion of the 100. Info gained worth even more. Not really needing anything new other than maybe a hybrid or some shafts. My past experience with local CC has been positive. Hope the next one Is as well.

 

[jmix18]

I’ve got a fitting coming up at the end of the month. Hopefully it goes smooth. I wonder what @Club Champion has to say about these experiences.

 

[dirty-d]

I have had great experiences at MK Golf technologies. These guys are a top 100 fitter and a local mom and pop brick and mortar. I'd rather give them my money before a big box anyday. Half the time I get about half a lesson out of them as well while the fitter is working through me and my swing. When I blow heads off shafts, they always repair for free, lifetime loft and lie tweaks, the same 2 or 3 guys who have years of experience every time I go in. I've spent less at GG and other places, but I haven't been treated nearly as well, nor gotten as good of results. I walked into a CC once to see what it was all about, and although I was the only guy in the location, I got shuffled out pretty quickly by an employee saying I needed an appointment. I asked for a brochure or something to see what they did and I was given a price list. Seems like a bunch of commission chasers to me. Bad for business.

When the local TPC course has $250 green fees, and the other decent public courses in the area are $70-$120 green fees. paying an extra $100-200 for a fitting to get dialed in isn't such a big deal. Giving my hard earned $$$ to a place with good customer service before, during, and after the sale is worth the extra expense.

 

[GolfTravelDude]

Personally, I read this and think.....New driver with plus 25 yards....Wow....and every other word fades into oblivion. That all by itself creates a very good fitting.
I went to CC and posted my fitting here on THP and was enjoyed by it and the only thing I got out of it was plus 12 on a new shaft for my current driver.
By the way, Have you gone and bought that Ping driver with Ventus shaft elsewhere?

 

[Luchnia]

I have been fitted for irons at CC in February 2020 and had a wonderful experience. I told them straight up front that it was doubtful I would purchase my clubs from them (although possible), but wanted to get fit and mainly get the data. They were very understanding and my fitter was really good working with me.

After about a week of reviewing the provided data, I purchased my irons externally at close to half the price and still using them 2 years later. The only change I have made since that fitting was going to mid-sized grips which should be something CC also does during their fitting as grips can make a huge difference. Since I have played quite a bit I do plan to mess around with performance irons for fun and to see just how bad I strike balls with them

Even after trying a number of various irons around here on my sim for fun, the suggested irons from my CC fitting still seem to be the best for my so-so golf game. If I would have had a bad experience with my fitter I would request a change in fitters. If the experience was bad from the top down, I would be escalating to management to get it corrected. A fitting should be a pleasant and rewarding experience.

 

[1860VS]

In SE Michigan we have two great options for fitting: Miles of Golf in Ann Arbor and Carls Golfland in Plymouth or Bloomfield Hills.

No hard sell. Fitters are excellent. Pretty much anything you could imagine you can try. Fitting sheets leave with you.

I have been fit twice, my son once and my brother-in-law once. Seemed like the fitters really wanted to fit you and not just upsell you into equipment/shafts.

CC appears to just be looking to fit you into as high end equipment/shafts as they can. I went once for a driver fitting when they had some special in the past and would not go again.

Carl's fittings are awesome. No pressure, attentive fitters who aren't pushing anything other than to help you get the right stuff, whatever it may be. Given the vagaries of my physical ability day to day, they put me into a SGI iron (T300). I never even really played castings before, but I am now quite happy with the fitting.