As the title says a friend of mine is going for his first fitting Wednesday. I will be going with him so I thought it might be fun to have a thread about it. I am going to start with some background on him.
He is in his late 30s, athletically built, and been playing golf pretty much his whole life. He is definitely an above average amateur that generally shoots scores in the high 70s on average but shot par for the first time in his life this past year. The first time I played golf with him, he shot a 78 but 3 putt 3-4 times. That has improved some though since then. He isn’t exceptionally long with any club but is definitely longer then average and usually gets 270ish total with his older equipment. He is one of those guys that doesn’t know anything about technology and pretty much thinks just hand him a stiff flex shaft and he is good to go. He does think he should play blades for irons but I think that would be a mistake just from having played with him.
He recently sold all his old clubs with the exception of his putter and Vokey 54 and 60. His old irons were TaylorMade Rocketballz I believe and his old driver was an older Ping Anser(?) he bought used from Play-It-Again Sports a year or so ago.
My friend is a cheap tightwad. This is definitely important. Instead of going to a premier fitter, he is going to Golf Galaxy because they will not charge him for the fitting if he buys clubs there. This also means he will not even look at most of the new drivers coming out because he refuses to pay $500 or more for a driver. Although he will be buying driver, fairway wood(s), hybrid, and irons, he is only getting fit for driver and irons.
Since he has never been fit before and because he has pre-conceived thoughts already, my advice to him has been to tell the fitter to just hand him clubs and don’t tell him what it is and for him not to look. I also told him he is most likely going to have to look at last year’s driver options that have been discounted to meet his price requirements.
I did tell him in my opinion there are a few options I really think he should at least try. For irons, it’s a fairly long list but it’s a Golf Galaxy and not all these options may be available to him. They are in no particular order:
Titleist T series
Mizuno Pros
Mizuno JPX 921
Cobra Forged TEC
Srixon ZX7
Callaway Apex
Ping I500
TaylorMade P790
Driver selection is going to be really interesting. I know he is going to HEAVILY way the price in his decision. I told him to look at newer drivers that have been discounted to make room for those coming out but the only thing I really suggested, knowing how he is with being a tightwad, was to try the Mizuno ST series drivers.
He is planning to blind buy on fairway woods and hybrid. My guess is he will end up going with a 3W and 1 hybrid, then 4-PW or maybe GW.
My concerns are several on this trip. First is his refusal to spend money may lead him to buy something that is cheaper whether it works for him or not in all clubs. Second, I am not sold it’s going to be the best fitting going to Golf Galaxy but it may well be an excellent fitter. Only time will tell on that one. Third, he may try to “adapt” his swing to whatever shaft is in the club instead of just swinging his natural swing. Finally, I think fitting for irons and driver but not fairways and hybrids could be a huge mistake. I am hoping if he tells them he is planning to buy those as well they will at least allow him to make a few swings with what he is interested in before buying even if it is not an actual fitting.
There is no golf shop here in town. We will be going to Richmond about an hour and a half or so away. I will be trying to post some photos and numbers and such as the fitting is taking place and of course his final selections. I may get distracted though if a bay opens and start hitting some stuff myself since the weather is so bad here I haven’t been able to get out but will try and resist that urge or at least limit it.
He is in his late 30s, athletically built, and been playing golf pretty much his whole life. He is definitely an above average amateur that generally shoots scores in the high 70s on average but shot par for the first time in his life this past year. The first time I played golf with him, he shot a 78 but 3 putt 3-4 times. That has improved some though since then. He isn’t exceptionally long with any club but is definitely longer then average and usually gets 270ish total with his older equipment. He is one of those guys that doesn’t know anything about technology and pretty much thinks just hand him a stiff flex shaft and he is good to go. He does think he should play blades for irons but I think that would be a mistake just from having played with him.
He recently sold all his old clubs with the exception of his putter and Vokey 54 and 60. His old irons were TaylorMade Rocketballz I believe and his old driver was an older Ping Anser(?) he bought used from Play-It-Again Sports a year or so ago.
My friend is a cheap tightwad. This is definitely important. Instead of going to a premier fitter, he is going to Golf Galaxy because they will not charge him for the fitting if he buys clubs there. This also means he will not even look at most of the new drivers coming out because he refuses to pay $500 or more for a driver. Although he will be buying driver, fairway wood(s), hybrid, and irons, he is only getting fit for driver and irons.
Since he has never been fit before and because he has pre-conceived thoughts already, my advice to him has been to tell the fitter to just hand him clubs and don’t tell him what it is and for him not to look. I also told him he is most likely going to have to look at last year’s driver options that have been discounted to meet his price requirements.
I did tell him in my opinion there are a few options I really think he should at least try. For irons, it’s a fairly long list but it’s a Golf Galaxy and not all these options may be available to him. They are in no particular order:
Titleist T series
Mizuno Pros
Mizuno JPX 921
Cobra Forged TEC
Srixon ZX7
Callaway Apex
Ping I500
TaylorMade P790
Driver selection is going to be really interesting. I know he is going to HEAVILY way the price in his decision. I told him to look at newer drivers that have been discounted to make room for those coming out but the only thing I really suggested, knowing how he is with being a tightwad, was to try the Mizuno ST series drivers.
He is planning to blind buy on fairway woods and hybrid. My guess is he will end up going with a 3W and 1 hybrid, then 4-PW or maybe GW.
My concerns are several on this trip. First is his refusal to spend money may lead him to buy something that is cheaper whether it works for him or not in all clubs. Second, I am not sold it’s going to be the best fitting going to Golf Galaxy but it may well be an excellent fitter. Only time will tell on that one. Third, he may try to “adapt” his swing to whatever shaft is in the club instead of just swinging his natural swing. Finally, I think fitting for irons and driver but not fairways and hybrids could be a huge mistake. I am hoping if he tells them he is planning to buy those as well they will at least allow him to make a few swings with what he is interested in before buying even if it is not an actual fitting.
There is no golf shop here in town. We will be going to Richmond about an hour and a half or so away. I will be trying to post some photos and numbers and such as the fitting is taking place and of course his final selections. I may get distracted though if a bay opens and start hitting some stuff myself since the weather is so bad here I haven’t been able to get out but will try and resist that urge or at least limit it.
