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Club fitting thoughts...

Nippon Shafts
Six4three5

Six4three5

Tour Star...Layin' Up!
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I've had this discussion with Maddog before and I was wondering what THPers thought. He's talked about going and getting properly fit for a driver in the future. However for him and most of us for that matter we have to budget our golf funds.

I have a few questions when it comes to fitting. If us as golfers have a certain price point in mind should we even bother getting properly fit?

The reason I ask that is this. Say golfer x has $250 to spend on a driver and plans to grab a last year's model driver. Should he just hit a bunch of 2014 drivers and go what one feels best and produces best results without getting fit?

I ask this because I know speaking for myself if I get a fitting and they recommend brand new driver X with upgraded shaft Z and I can't afford it, I'm going to resent whatever purchase I make because I know it's not what I was fit to. I know it's a mental part but we all know that the mental part of golf is a huge factor. What do you guys say? If you can't absolutely afford exactly what you're fit to should we just demo clubs to find what we like? Should we mention this to the fitter right away that you'd like to be fit to last year's model driver even though it might not be the absolute best fit for your game?
 
My two fittings gave me a bag costing me about $2,400.00. It's OK, I make decent money. I read a thread today where the OP went through a fitting that only had them modify his clubs. But, I think if you go into one saying I want the best driver for me but I don't want to go over X amount it can still be a help. The issue would be when he hands you a $500 one that you simply hit the hell out of.
 
Den60 said:
My two fittings gave me a bag costing me about $2,400.00. It's OK, I make decent money. I read a thread today where the OP went through a fitting that only had them modify his clubs. But, I think if you go into one saying I want the best driver for me but I don't want to go over X amount it can still be a help. The issue would be when he hands you a $500 one that you simply hit the hell out of.
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That's exactly what I'm talking about lol. Should that play wanting to only spend X amount of dollars ask to only hit drivers or be fit to drivers in their price range? I know for myself like I said would resent the hell out of my purchase if I hit something better and spent less on something else.
 
I think there is a bit of a misnomer however. Fitting and high price are not mutually exclusive. One can choose a less expensive driver head and get fit in just about any budget. I think a lot of times some golfers assume fitting involves hitting every single head on the planet and every single shaft on the planet and going with a combo. That is not really the case.

There are plenty of low priced heads and shaft options to fit just about any budget. I think just about every shaft manufacturer hits each price point rather well.
 
Six4three5 said:
That's exactly what I'm talking about lol. Should that play wanting to only spend X amount of dollars ask to only hit drivers or be fit to drivers in their price range? I know for myself like I said would resent the hell out of my purchase if I hit something better and spent less on something else.
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Yeah, I know. Look at my bag, every club in it is new (no more than a month old) except my putter which I bought from another THPer. A guy I play with uses a driver that he bought at a yard sale for $9. He isn't bad, plays to about a 10-12, but since I got fitted he has talked about doing the same as his last fitting was more than 10 years ago and he still plays the same irons. He is recently retired and his house won't be paid off for another 8 months yet. He was in the market for a range finder, really liked my Bushnell Tour V3 but he said it was too much for him to pay. I let him try my previous one, a Breaking 80 which I told him I would give to him (he insisted he pay something for it) but he had the same issues I had with it. Used my other friend's one that could be had for under 100, Minolta I think, and decided to buy that.
 
JB said:
I think there is a bit of a misnomer however. Fitting and high price are not mutually exclusive. One can choose a less expensive driver head and get fit in just about any budget. I think a lot of times some golfers assume fitting involves hitting every single head on the planet and every single shaft on the planet and going with a combo. That is not really the case.

There are plenty of low priced heads and shaft options to fit just about any budget. I think just about every shaft manufacturer hits each price point rather well.
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Oh I totally agree with the fact that there is great products for a very good price. Which I guess answered my question as if say Maddog wants to get fit but only wants to spend X amount of dollars should he directly tell the fitter before even getting started that he wants to get fit into something in X price range?
 
The fitting could help define what works for a person with head type and shaft type, flex, etc then knowing what their budget is and buy similar setup in a cheaper option.
 
Six4three5 said:
Oh I totally agree with the fact that there is great products for a very good price. Which I guess answered my question as if say Maddog wants to get fit but only wants to spend X amount of dollars should he directly tell the fitter before even getting started that he wants to get fit into something in X price range?
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Thats a really good question and I would venture to say yes. Go in and explain the budget. He can even choose a brand or club head as well. Then let the fitter go to work. Maddog is awesome, so check your PMs in a few minutes.
 
Where is get fit they have a ton of used stock and when getting fit they always ask brand preference if there is one and cost before even going to the rack for things to try. I usually have a small budget have had good luck.


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JB said:
I think there is a bit of a misnomer however. Fitting and high price are not mutually exclusive. One can choose a less expensive driver head and get fit in just about any budget. I think a lot of times some golfers assume fitting involves hitting every single head on the planet and every single shaft on the planet and going with a combo. That is not really the case.

There are plenty of low priced heads and shaft options to fit just about any budget. I think just about every shaft manufacturer hits each price point rather well.
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Well said!
 
interesting question.

I totally get where you are coming from on the, what if the fitting shows this $500 driver truly is the best performing for me. But I can only spend $250. I know like you said I wouldn't be able to keep myself from thinking I'm leaving distance or forgiveness out there.

I think the best approach would be to tell the fitter up front the budget and only have you hit things that fit that budget.
 
I've never been fit, so please take this post with a grain of salt - but to me, a driver fitting is more than just trying out a huge amount of head & shaft combos. A lot of the fitting is dialing those combos in as well. So if you were to go in and say that you have X budget, I'm sure there will be a number of adjustable drivers in different lofts & shaft flexes available within that range. Finding a combo that fits you, and is properly adjusted to your swing to give you the best numbers, is a big part of the fitting as well besides Company A vs Company B vs Company C.

Like I said, I've never been fit, plan to sooner rather than later, but from talking with pros and golfers who HAVE been fit for drivers, that seems to be a big part of the whole process.
 
I would like to think that any decent fitter will ask what you are looking to spend as well as what you are looking for in a fitting

If they try to fit you into something that is out of your price range then they are wasting both yours and their time and it is a pointless exercise in my eyes
 
Like I would always say, golf can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be.

I've seen and hit a driver with a shaft that was around 800 dollars, essentially more expensive than the head itself. It just turns out that the guy got his driver and shaft for free because he was a teaching pro with some pros and upcoming juniors as his students, the lucky guy.

On the other range in the spectrum is me. Since I got into THP I was wondering if I could find a better driver. I went through the process of trying out older models, for which I settled for a Titleist 910d2. But I wanted to use a different shaft, because I wanted a longer shaft and a stiffer flex. It turned out some guy bought a new Aero Burner but changed his shaft, and the one he left behind fit my specs perfectly, 50 grams and stiff. This whole thing would set me back around 320 dollars, but since I had some clubs to sell we made a swap and all I had to shell out was another 120 dollars.

My process was longer and took more effort, but I really had fun cobbling up the new driver, so that was a win-win for me.

The question now is, would I just have coughed up around 600 dollars for a brand spanking new titleist 915 if I had the money? I would think the performance difference between that and what I put together would not have been much, and I would have spent 500 dollars more, and where's the fun in buying off the rack? I feel more attachment to the Frankendriver I had built than with some brand new club.
 
JB said:
I think there is a bit of a misnomer however. Fitting and high price are not mutually exclusive. One can choose a less expensive driver head and get fit in just about any budget. I think a lot of times some golfers assume fitting involves hitting every single head on the planet and every single shaft on the planet and going with a combo. That is not really the case.

There are plenty of low priced heads and shaft options to fit just about any budget. I think just about every shaft manufacturer hits each price point rather well.
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The fitter asked us this when fitting my son. I told him from $199 to $299. There were a lot in my price range.

Jack
 
I think if you go to a fitting and walk away with "I get the best results with a GBB playing at X length and Y loft and Z lie with ABC shaft", that's useful but really only helpful for one purchase.

If on the other hand you walk away with "I get the best results with a low MOI, low spin driver playing at W length and X loft with Y torque and Z kickpoint", that lets you start doing your own fitting down the road. Once you're armed with the actual specs that work for you, you can start analyzing reviews on your own to decide if a new club or shaft is likely to work for you or not.
 
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