Fittings
5 QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK YOUR FITTER, AND WHY
So, you are thinking of getting fitted for golf clubs? Well, you better ask a few simple questions before you commit to your next “custom” fit.
There are so many people and companies claiming to be “custom” club-fitters. The challenge for most golfers is they do not know what questions to ask to determine if the fitter they are planning on paying actually does a comprehensive fit. WE ARE HERE TO HELP WITH THAT. Here is the list of questions, and the why is found below.
- SWINGWEIGHT / MOI: How do you test for swing-weight and/or MOI, and what ranges do you test to?
- LIE / LOFT: How do you test for lie/loft, and what clubs do you test?
- CURRENT CLUB TESTING: What measurements do you take from my club before the test?
- GRIP: How do you test for grip size?
- COMMISSIONS: Do your fitters get paid a commission on my purchase?
Why is MOI or Swing-weight so important? This is how the club feels and acts while in motion around your body. Simply by changing these parameters, a fitter can strongly influence face and path. Without this influence, your club may not be helping you, and in fact, may hurt you.
If your fitter does not test you at multiple swing-weights, you are not getting custom fit.
Almost all fitters, including the club fitting chain stores, do not test for swing-weight. They DO NOT change the swing-weight during testing. You might not feel the difference, but the club will react differently. Don’t believe us, or they tell you otherwise, we are happy for you to stop by for a 10-minute demonstration with YOUR swing to prove it matters.
During your fitting, we will test the 6-iron, and build the set based on the 6-iron MOI readings. After your clubs are built, we bring you back into our studio and test EVERY CLUB for the proper swing-weight, at no extra cost to you. Ask your fitter if they offer that service!
Lie and loft are important to how the club is delivered through impact, and the yardage the clubs produce between clubs. Most clubs are set to “standard” lies and lofts, the problem is there isn’t a standard anymore. Each company sets their own standard. Also, depending on your swing, you can deliver the club differently through impact. Without the correct lie, the club face can open or close at impact, leading to miss-hits.
Lofts are generally set at about 4 degrees apart, but this does not mean you deliver all your clubs to the ball in the same loft. Nearly 100% of golfers deliver the club at a different loft through impact then when the club is static (this is what they should do with irons, in fact, it should be delofted through impact). What our Master fitters and coaches have discovered, is that most people do not deliver the short irons the same through impact. We can argue whether you should or not, but regardless, your lies and lofts will need to be adjusted for YOUR SWING.
Does your fitter test for lie and loft through their fitting club, and then every club after they are built? Some test for lie in their fitting iron, utilizing different methods; however, we do not know anyone doing it after the clubs are built for EVERY club at no additional cost, except for us of course. We test your lie and loft of the 6-iron, and then when your clubs are built, we have you come back in for a full iron review. That is the only way to have a comprehensive club fit.
Almost every fitter has you start with your own club to use as a reference for testing additional club options. The problem they face, is they do not measure your actual club first.
What do we mean, measure? Is it the same length, same lie, does it have the same loft? These are just a few of what we measure. It is important because we must compare apples to apples not apples to oranges.
For example, if your current club has a loft of 32 degrees, and you hit it 160 yds or m’s, and then your test club has a loft of 30 degrees, and you now hit it 167 yds or m’s then the test is inaccurate. It would be easy to tell you that you are hitting the new club further, when in fact if we bent your club to 30 degrees, you might just hit that as far. This is a common misrepresentation.
If your fitter does not measure your club, not just have you hit the club, then there is a good chance the comparison will not be accurate.
It should be noted that some fitters do not have you hit your own club, this is okay, but it leaves no room to say that your clubs are performing just fine and only need a small alteration. The only option in this scenario is a recommendation for new clubs.
Grips come in all shapes and sizes, and the only way to tell if they help or hurt your swing is to try them. Many in the golf industry still say that the larger the grip, the more it controls how your wrist move through the swing. That is just simply not true. Grip size has different effects on different people. In our experience, too small of a grip causes more problems than one slightly bigger.
What we do is test you with the grip that you feel is most comfortable to you. We test to make sure it is not hurting your swing and is one of the last things we test for in our fitting.
This is one of our biggest issues with most fitting and golf equipment companies. All major fitting companies pay a portion of the fitters salary through commissions on sales.
Why is this a big deal? No matter how hard a person may try, it is very difficult to tell a customer that they do not need new clubs, just an adjustment to their current clubs. This simple recommendation literally costs them money in their annual salary. This is why we pay our fitters a full salary, with no commissions.
By eliminating the commission for the fitter to earn a competitive wage, we allow the fitter the freedom to NOT make a sell if the sell is not needed. We want you in the best possible club, and we want to give you every option, including not purchasing a new set from us.