Confused about "Fitting" :/

[SurlyScarab]

Can someone explain what fitting is like I'm a third grader?

I originally though it was somehow taking the sets of clubs that you see all lined up on the wall at the shop and altering them somehow so that they are customized to me...

Then I read a little more and also went to a store and it kinda seemed like they were mix-matching club heads to shafts... but THEN I started talking to the guy at the store and he was saying if I buy the clubs they have there they will fit them for free.



At that point I decided to come ask you guys so I can go in there with a little knowledge and understanding.

What is the best way to go about getting some fitted clubs and not get taken buy the guy who gets an extra $50 if he sells you a certain type?

[bill reed]

Re: Confused about "Fitting" :/

hi
fitting is finding the right grip size, the right shaft for your swing and matching them all together with a club head. then checking out the lie and the ball flight that you get and tweeking them to give you just the righ spin on the ball from each club.
i'm sure lowpost or Ted will be able to explane it better than me as i have been fitted or had my clubs checked for fitting 4 times.
again that was always by a ping fitter.
cheers
Bill

[SurlyScarab]

Re: Confused about "Fitting" :/

OK. Thanks Bill! That was the impression I was starting to get.

So, do you go in there with nothing or do you already have the club heads that you are interested in and they go from there?

I think the fitter I visited was a Mizuno fitter. Does that mean that if I go to him I'm definitely leaving with Mizuno club heads?

[LowPost42]

Re: Confused about "Fitting" :/

Bill's nailed the basics to clubfitting. Grip, shaft flex, and appropriate head design for the skill (or wants) of the golfer.

But there's more to it - heft matching (whether MOI or swingweight), determining the flex slope and then hitting it, orienting the shaft for repeatability (as shafts are not perfectly round nor perfectly balanced).

Here's the thing about seeing OEM fitters (like Nike, Ping, Mizuno, etc) - you'll be fit for length, lie, shaft flex and grip size - the basics. However, then these numbers will be chucked together in a general assembly area - no regard given to actual flex, no shaft matching, no weight sorting, and perhaps a swingweight heft-match if requested.

A smaller, independent clubmaker with a well-equipped shop can take care of all these needs.

For example - my Nike Pro Combo's with S300's in them have flexes ranging from soft R to X using the Kaufman chart (based on a 4.3 CPM per inch slope). Sloppy. But they don't seem to have freq. meters in the WRX department of the OEMs, so they couldn't truly flex match club to club even if they wanted to.

[bill reed]

Re: Confused about "Fitting" :/

hi lowpost
ping do shaft match, that is why you dont get the clubs from the shop but direct from ping as the have to match back at the factory. they also match swingwight and if you check with ping pros, you find they have the full club rig or the half rig. with the full rig they carry 3 to 6 diffrent shafts as well at the full colour code. i think that works out about 40 6-irons in there rig. in the half rig it has about 20 club. they also offer 138 diffrent shafts from 18 of the top shaft makers. again if you look at the ping site and look up there custom shafts you will see the 2009 list of shafts they offer. all the shafts the offered are computer maped on listed on there testing computer's and the can work out each shaft with your swing and show you a computer result.
they also have a choice of over 38 makes of grips plus there own.
when i got my clubs from the factory it came with a sheet telling you everything about the clubs. swingweight, shaft flex, grip size as well as color code. and who made the clubs up.

you can ask for a custom shaft to try it out first and have one made up but it takes 7 days so you can have a test with say a 6 iron with a 57s head and a rifle flighted 6.5 shaft and winn xf grips. and then try it out and your fitting with that shaft and head and grip then starts.
as you know ping were the first club maker not to sell over the counter clubs and you can't walk in and buy the clubs you see on show. the have to be made up and that means you have to be fitted for the right clubs, it been like that sinse the late 60s.
Karsten Sloheim make if first putter in 1959 in his garage ande two years later started making clubs and i rate him up there with the best club maker, he alspo had a big hand in the ping eye irons and it was his cavity back clubs that even the great Tom Wishon copyed.
sorry i have went on a bit but as you know i'm a big fan of ping and there fitting.
i have been to there open day and watched the fitters making up clubs for you to try and seen them reshaft there drivers and the had a drawer with about 20 heads all diffrent in some way.
the way the can add weight to the club heads is so easy for them with the custom backs.

cheers
Bill

[LowPost42]

Re: Confused about "Fitting" :/

PING is by far the top OEM custom shop, but I've seen WRX'd Pings that freq across the board. And I'll wager that they're not intentionally orienting shafts, either. Just a couple details that help clubs play better.

[bill reed]

Re: Confused about "Fitting" :/

hi lowpost
as you know i'm not a club fitter and some of it i don't fully understand.
i think you could be right about the WRX shafts but i do think they take more care with the AWT shafts that each have a diffrent weight.
thanks again for all the help you have given me over the years.

cheers
Bill

[SurlyScarab]

Re: Confused about "Fitting" :/

I think I've got it now. So, the local golf shops offer a free fitting with the purchase of a set of irons. Usually it costs $50. They have a a set-up to monitor your swing (although I can save them the time and just enter "terrible" lol) and all of that but they must be doing an abbreviated version. I can't imagine they offer the entire kit-and-caboodle mentioned here for $50. Sounds more like hundreds...

[rotator]

Re: Confused about "Fitting" :/

You have it Surley,

The local shop often provide the basic fitting elements, which Bill and Lowpost 42 addressed, as part of their service for selling the clubs. There are clubfitters and clubmakers, who can also provide these and more comprehensive fitting, depending on their qualifications and accreditations and the sophistication of the equipment they possess (i.e. launch monitors, etc.)

There are advanced fitting facilities available, either independent or associated with the OEM's such as Callaway, Ping, etc. Here is an example of the Callaway studios available in Canada. You'll have to scroll down the text for details.

http://www.topflite.ca/performance.html

Ted