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PXG vs Club Champion vs Other fitting

Nippon Shafts
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BanjoSaysWoof

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My exotic driver shaft broke in transit. I’m getting a check. I also have a free driver fitting at club champion. I need a new driver.

Options:

1) use existing titelist 913d2 driver head on a new shaft. This is most cost effective but I don’t know how old the tech on the 913 is. Is it time for an upgrade?

2) club champion custom built. Obviously the most expensive because apparently I have to pay retail for a new head and a new shaft. New heads are about $400 for the high end drivers. Another $400 on the shaft and the costs went up real quick

3) buy a stock PXG driver (fit). Since it comes with a shaft, it’s cheaper than option 2.

4)PGA superstore driver fitting off the rack. Most cost effective. But I’ll get the best “factory” version of the driver (Mavrik as an example)

Cost isn’t a huge concern as long as I’m getting my moneys worth.

TIA.
 
Unless you have a local fitter you trust, and cost isn't a huge concern (and you are getting a check for your broken shaft), I'd go with the Club Champion fitting.
 
Club champion doesn’t carry the stock options, do they?
 
4] And off the rack encompasses a wide variety of shaft options.
 
BanjoSaysWoof said:
If I set a budget of $650, I should be good right?
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I think someone on here recently got quoted nearly $2k for their Driver/FW at CC with the custom shafts. They then took the build sheet and bought it through someone referred on here and saved some serious cash. Just a thought....
 
Just because you are fit at Club Champion does not mean you have to pay their rates and buy from them. The Club Champion fitting is your best bet for the fitting part because they are going to have a vast amount of head and shaft options to find what the best combo will be for you. They provide you a quote and a detailed printout of the club they are recommending including loft settings, swing weight, length, shaft, etc.

There is a custom club builder in NC that can build it for a much better price and he offers a discount to members of THP. His name is Will Peoples and his email is will@peoples.golf

Trust me he is way cheaper then Club Champion and a really nice guy. Just do the CC fitting, especially if they are doing it for free, and then take the printout and email Will for a quote.
 
neophyteguy said:
I think someone on here recently got quoted nearly $2k for their Driver/FW at CC with the custom shafts. They then took the build sheet and bought it through someone referred on here and saved some serious cash. Just a thought....
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2k? WOW, but I guess I could see that depending on everything. I won't spend that for a driver/fw, just not worth it to me being a weekend mostly hack.
 
Luchnia said:
2k? WOW, but I guess I could see that depending on everything. I won't spend that for a driver/fw, just not worth it to me being a weekend mostly hack.
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It was me and you have to understand that some of these exotic shafts are $400 for just the shaft. I was fit for 2 fairways with a $400 shaft so in the end they wanted almost $1500 for 2 fairways. Will quoted me $550 each. That’s not even close and I am going to have Will build them and continue to sing his praises.
 
Seems I hear great things about CC fittings. Not so great things about their prices. Seems like a good idea is get the fitting and buy elsewhere. Hmmm
 
It really is ashamed they are so over the top with their pricing. I would love to work with a local fitter / builder but why stand still and get screwed by CC?
I liked the fitter and if it was even remotely reasonable I would buy from him, but Will Peoples has been more than fair with all our dealings and does great work so why not save 40% or more over CC.
They are apparently making plenty of money the way they do things so more power to them, but imo they are pushing a lot of business away by being greedy.
 
BanjoSaysWoof said:
My exotic driver shaft broke in transit. I’m getting a check. I also have a free driver fitting at club champion. I need a new driver.

Options:

1) use existing titelist 913d2 driver head on a new shaft. This is most cost effective but I don’t know how old the tech on the 913 is. Is it time for an upgrade?

2) club champion custom built. Obviously the most expensive because apparently I have to pay retail for a new head and a new shaft. New heads are about $400 for the high end drivers. Another $400 on the shaft and the costs went up real quick

3) buy a stock PXG driver (fit). Since it comes with a shaft, it’s cheaper than option 2.

4)PGA superstore driver fitting off the rack. Most cost effective. But I’ll get the best “factory” version of the driver (Mavrik as an example)

Cost isn’t a huge concern as long as I’m getting my moneys worth.

TIA.
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Well to save a little $$ you could just get the fitting at CC, not purchase and just get a new shaft separately. IF not I'd still vote 2
 
With all the shafts available these days I’m not a believer that someone needs to spend $400 for a shaft especially when so many used shafts/clubs available online. I’ve seen many golfers spend big bucks on a custom shaft and almost none of them are still gaming the shaft two years later. I own a few $400 shafts but I bought them used from CPO or on eBay for less than $175.
 
tahoebum said:
With all the shafts available these days I’m not a believer that someone needs to spend $400 for a shaft especially when so many used shafts/clubs available online. I’ve seen many golfers spend big bucks on a custom shaft and almost none of them are still gaming the shaft two years later. I own a few $400 shafts but I bought them used from CPO or on eBay for less than $175.
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I can’t totally agree with you. Yes there are a lot of shaft options out there from a lot of companies but no 2 shafts are exactly the same. My experience from my fitting was we tried some OEM stock shafts and changed shafts based on what we were seeing on the Trackman. Some people will get fit in to OEM shafts but some are not going to.

It’s no different then iron shafts. Every company makes different iron shafts so all of them must have 1 that will work for you just as well as one of their competitors? Nope that is not accurate and driver shafts is no different.
 
Some of the OEM club makers are offering pretty good shafts as stock options with their clubs... if what I'm hearing in podcasts is correct.
 
Stryker said:
I can’t totally agree with you. Yes there are a lot of shaft options out there from a lot of companies but no 2 shafts are exactly the same. My experience from my fitting was we tried some OEM stock shafts and changed shafts based on what we were seeing on the Trackman. Some people will get fit in to OEM shafts but some are not going to.

It’s no different then iron shafts. Every company makes different iron shafts so all of them must have 1 that will work for you just as well as one of their competitors? Nope that is not accurate and driver shafts is no different.
Click to expand...

One of the biggest problems with my driver fittings is I don’t swing the same from day and I get tired swinging a driver after about 30 swings and the numbers change. I have even come back later the same day and the numbers change on the Trackman. 30 swings is not enough to go through many shafts/heads so I need about different 5 days on a Trackman to dial in the shaft/head combo and then a few rounds to see how it actually performs. Luckily I can do that at my club.

The other thing to consider is not all shafts/heads are the same due to manufacturing variability/tolerances. I own three Aldila Rogue Silver 70 I/O shafts and three Epic 9* SZ heads and they all play differently. When I change the “identical” shafts into the “identical” heads their playing characteristics change. One of the the heads I simply don’t like no matter which of the three 70 I/O shafts I put in it. When I travel to our condo where that driver stays I bring one of my other SZ heads in my carry on.

It’s no wonder the pro’s will go through 10+ driver heads before they get one that is “just right”.
 
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Since you have a free fitting to burn, might as well use that and see what the data shows. But I agree I would go somewhere else to buy. They charge a premium (know you have a free one) to fit. At that point feel my commitment to them has ended, I don't owe them a HUGE profit margin on the club build when there are others who can do quality work for a more reasonable price.
 
tahoebum said:
One of the biggest problems with my driver fittings is I don’t swing the same from day and I get tired swinging a driver after about 30 swings and the numbers change. 30 swings is not enough to go through many shafts so I need about different 5 days on a Trackman to dial in the shaft/head combo and then a few rounds to see how it actually performs. Luckily I can do that at my club.

The other thing to consider is not all shafts/heads are the same due to manufacturing variability/tolerances. I own three Aldila Rogue Silver 70 I/O shafts and three Epic 9* SZ heads and they all play differently. When I change the “identical” shafts into the “identical” heads their playing characteristics change. One of the the heads I simply don’t like no matter which of the three 70 I/O shafts I put in it. When I travel to our condo where that driver stays I bring one of my other SZ heads in my carry on.

It’s no wonder the pro’s will go through 10+ driver heads before they get one that is “just right”.
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I agree that in any manufacturing there are variances. That’s the same regardless of whether we are talking golf products, vehicles, firearms, or anything for that matter. And I am certainly not saying there are not quality OEM shafts that will work great. I am saying that 2 different shafts from 2 different companies are definitely not going to respond identically. While someone may find that there is an exotic shaft that is the best option for them, there may be an OEM shaft that is close but not quite as good. They may still be happy enough with the results from the OEM shaft that it doesn’t make sense to buy the exotic.

My experience in my fitting just showed in my particular case, the exotic I was fit in to was far and away more consistent for me time and time again then any other option. Even on my not so great swings it still produced the best results by a wide margin. If good or bad swing is resulting in no more then 25 feet offline with balls going total distances of 250-270 yards depending on the swing how could I possibly not say that for me that shaft made a huge difference when nothing else came close to those results even with a great swing. I will take that all day long as that ball is in play every single time where that might not be the case with another shaft.

Now I was also fit in to an exotic for the driver. I did order a driver with a OEM shaft for a number of reasons but mostly because of the trade in deal offered by Callaway and the exotic I was fit in to not even being a custom option. I am taking a risk there because I tried to pick an OEM custom option that as you say is close to the exotic. Only time will tell if that will work out or not but I won’t hesitate to buy the $300 shaft thatI know works if I am not happy with the results of the OEM shaft.

I think every single person has to weigh their results and decide if the money spent is worth it to you personally or not. Is finding more fairways and having less penalty strokes per round with the extra money to me personally? You bet it is because I am a bit of a perfectionist. I also strongly believe that confidence is a major metal factor in the game. Even if it is just a perception that makes you swing better and not really the product itself. With that said, the knowledge that you are holding in your hands something that was custom made to work for you is a big confidence booster. The uncertainty of whether or not it really is something that works well for you is not going to play well in the mental game of a lot of golfers.

Any way you look at it, it comes down to a personal decision of whether or not the individual feels like it benefits them enough to pay more for it or not.
 
tahoebum said:
One of the biggest problems with my driver fittings is I don’t swing the same from day and I get tired swinging a driver after about 30 swings and the numbers change. I have even come back later the same day and the numbers change on the Trackman. 30 swings is not enough to go through many shafts/heads so I need about different 5 days on a Trackman to dial in the shaft/head combo and then a few rounds to see how it actually performs. Luckily I can do that at my club.

The other thing to consider is not all shafts/heads are the same due to manufacturing variability/tolerances. I own three Aldila Rogue Silver 70 I/O shafts and three Epic 9* SZ heads and they all play differently. When I change the “identical” shafts into the “identical” heads their playing characteristics change. One of the the heads I simply don’t like no matter which of the three 70 I/O shafts I put in it. When I travel to our condo where that driver stays I bring one of my other SZ heads in my carry on.

It’s no wonder the pro’s will go through 10+ driver heads before they get one that is “just right”.
Click to expand...

A good fitter shouldn't take much more than 30 swings to have someone really dialed in. If someone is looking to try every head and shaft, that is not really a fitting, but rather a demo day. A fitter should have the knowledge and software to eliminate large masses after just a handful of swings.
 
This is very informative. First off thank you for taking the time to respond. Please keep doing so as I am Learning a lot.
 
BanjoSaysWoof said:
Club champion doesn’t carry the stock options, do they?
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Depends on what you call. “Stock options” they charge you for everything. So that stock driver will still be more expensive through them then any other retailer.
 
JB said:
A good fitter shouldn't take much more than 30 swings to have someone really dialed in. If someone is looking to try every head and shaft, that is not really a fitting, but rather a demo day. A fitter should have the knowledge and software to eliminate large masses after just a handful of swings.
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I agree. My problem is I've had some bad fitters and I really do need to test a driver or any club for a few rounds before I really know how it performs. Working well on the range and working well for me on the course are not always very correlated. Only two of my 8 driver fittings got me into something that was an excellent fit. I can normally tell with no fitter and just 4 or 5 swings if a driver/shaft is worth even testing on a Trackman. The last good fitting I had was 3 years ago when I got fit for my Sub Zero 3 years ago and it's still my gamer. When I tested it against the newer Flash SZ on a Trackman twice last year they couldn't find me a better combination and maybe that will be true with the Mavrik this year although I'll buy one anyway.

The other thing I've learned is if I find a head/shaft combo I like I will buy that exact driver which means I'm sometimes wind up with a demo head and shaft as my gamer. My club has more than one Mavrik head in each loft and I will test all of them and then keep the demo head in my bag until the new one I ordered comes in. I'll test those two against one another and keep the one that gives me the tightest dispersion. One of my plus handicap buddies in California went through three Epic SZ heads trying to find one like my gamer. He eventually gave up and went back to his old R5.

I also think good fitters are much more common here in Minneapolis than they were when I lived in the Sacramento area which makes sense because it's a much larger city with way more golfers per capita as well.
 
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