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.
Understanding the importance of the fitting interview led us to Club Champion, one of the premier fitters in the country. Before diving in, we wanted to know where this came from? This is what Club Champion had to say.
“We call the interview the “sit down” portion, prior to the fitting itself. We also have a pre-fit questionnaire that every golfer gets via email before they come in for their fitting. We implemented this process from the start because one of the biggest determining factors in a successful fitting is our ability to meet and exceed a golfer’s goals (both for the fitting session, but also for their game as a whole). We want to know who you are as a golfer, what sort of challenges you face in your game, what your expectations of the fitting are, and what we can do to help you not only lower your scores, but also get the most out of the equipment you choose to have in the bag. This portion is one of the first steps in building that fitter/golfer relationship that’s sort of like doctor/patient — we hear you out, test and diagnose, and continue to keep your golf game at its peak health as you progress.”
Exceeding goals should never be considered a negative, but it is important to note just how crucial this aspect is of the fitting. Let me start with the idea that you should never fear your skill level being an issue, but more importantly the fitter understanding your skill level and goals before you begin. If you were to explain that you average 280 off the tee and then during the fitting are hitting it 60 yards shorter, it is only going to make it more complicated for them to provide an accurate service and find you the best equipment possible.
The flip side is also true. If you normally play a small fade, but in the bay are drawing the ball consistently, it is important for your fitter to have this information ahead of time so that they can help maximize your equipment to your normal game, not just on the swings during the time with them. This is also why it is so important that places like Club Champion offer a perfect fit guarantee, so you can go back and continue work.
Equipment changes over the last couple of decades have been astronomical as shaft technology has evolved, the golf ball has changed dramatically, and of course each club head is designed to offer maximum performance. How has the Fitting Interview portion changed? Club Champion offered this.
“The sit down portion of our fittings has certainly evolved. We added a pre-fit questionnaire for golfers to fill out before they come in so we’re armed with basic info like handicap, dexterity, home course, etc. and can dive right into the meat of the discussion. As we’ve added brands to the demo matrix, technology to our process, more skills to our team’s arsenal, etc., the interview portion has become more tailored to the individual customer because we’re better able to address their specific needs. An interesting double-edged sword has become more prominent in recent years as well: As more info becomes available online, golfers ask more questions (which we love) but we also find that there’s a lot of misinformation out there. People may read that a shaft is great for their specific swing speed but not understand that there are so many more factors that go into a proper fitting, so they’re shocked when that item isn’t the best option for them. More info is always better than less but we find that biases (subconscious or otherwise) have the potential to lead a golfer down a path that isn’t right for their game, and it’s our job to bring them back to the road to lower scores and more enjoyable golf.”
An area of the fitting interview often completely overlooked is bias. This sounds like a complete negative, but in reality it isn’t meant to be. Most golfers have favorite brands. Period. Despite what is commonly posted, that is okay. In fact, it lends itself outside of golf as well, be it cars, restaurants, cell phones, or any other consumer good category.
Whether that comes from interaction from the people within the brand at things like THP Events or customer service that was handled appropriately to your standards or anything in between. With the in-depth lines offered by many companies now, having a favorite is part of the process. Does it mean it will be the best thing for you? No, but it doesn’t mean it won’t be, and in the end, the equipment is yours and you have to love it. Club Champion offered more insight.
“Brand bias is a real thing for golfers and it can be tough to overcome. In nearly every case, the brand a golfer comes in thinking they’re going to end up with is actually NOT the brand that performs the best for their game. That said, there are some people who are just brand loyal — we’re happy to help find the best option within those confines for those people since, at the end of the day, they need to be happy with their equipment. But our job is to show you the data in real-time and recommend the BEST option. We’ll always recommend the best performance and from there, it’s up to the golfer to decide what is most important to them.”
Circling back to the fitting interview and why it is so important. The goal with any fitting is to maximize performance of either your equipment, or new equipment, and find the best for you as a golfer. This is probably a really long way of saying, take that portion of the fitting seriously, be honest with your fitter, and let the results shine through to enjoy better golf.
How did you handle the interview or questionnaire at your last fitting? Were you able to convey any favorites along with your golfing abilities? Do you think it helped with the process? Drop a comment below or join us in the THP Forum for further discussion on the subject of the fitting interview.
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.
I asked one fitter (not a CC) and he said that yes, there has been an uptick based on what is used on tour.
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.
This is much different than the fittings I have now done. I did some irons testing between T200 and T300 at my local shop and then went for a putter fitting. While questions were asked there wasn’t a survey or an emailed questionnaire beforehand. It was more try this putter, talk about it for a minute, try this other putter, talk about it for a minute and once we tried 10 putters it was narrowed down to the top 2-3 and then more putts and talking after picking the one I thought was best for me then we talked about bending it a little so make it fit my swing shape.
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.
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.
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.
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!.
My first fitting I had no brand or model in mind. Wound up in what turned out to be an awesome selection that I was very happy with. My most recent fitting, I was jonesing for the Titleist T series. He was open to that, and as a result we might have wound up in that lane too quickly. They aren’t horrible, but I have to wonder if had I given more consideration might there have been something else that was better? I mean, as it was I spent a bunch of money having them re-shafted, so did I give him the right information?
I have no brand bias. I brought a bag full of Callaway clubs and ordered Taylormade woods and XXIO irons. Whatever it takes to make the game easier. Properly fitted, nothing in my back is anywhere near stock. I’m short with enough swing speed for senior flex woods. I did have to choke down on the driver, as they didn’t have shafts that short. But they did have short shafts for the irons and the lie angle was adjusted on the chosen combination as a proper fitting test.
My father recently went to a fitting (father’s day gift) and he really was only looking for distance. However, he instead didn’t really explain that to the fitter so the fitting went thru different heads and shafts to try and help his trajectory and miss. When done he tells me how it went and said the clubs he fitted for didn’t offer him any extra distance.
After talking about why everything can’t be all about distance, I did ask did you explain that to the fitter and he said no. So, naturally he didn’t decide to change anything. You really have to work with the fitter honestly and explain what you are looking for if you want the best experience in a fitting.