Club Champion

[ssfranny]

We just had one open up here in Omaha NE and couldnt believe the number of shafts they have. What are all your thoughts on the place? Heck for 1/2 off full club fitting Id do it for $175 or $100 for irons.

[gdb99]

Interesting. We just had one open in the Hartford CT. as well.

will be looking out for some replies and information.

[jjfcpa]

I'm in Omaha also and heard from the fitter in Las Vegas in October that there was one opening in Omaha. I'm not entirely happy with my fitting and if you PM me, I'll give you my feedback. On the plus side, it was really great to be able to hit a bunch of different iron heads with a bunch of different shafts. If I would have know that there was one opening in Omaha (just a little south of where the Topgolf will be located), I would have waited gone to that one instead of the one in Vegas (while on Vacation).

[mantan]

One of the guys I played with spent a grip to get outfitted with them last winter. He's said several times that the modest gains he experienced weren't worth the huge cost and somewhat high pressure environment. YMMV.

 

 

[hawkgolfer]

get fit, buy elsewhere. 100% worth it

[johnnyscarps007]

I think the deal they run this time of year is 100% worth it. You can to try almost every head/shaft combo imaginable. The only negative, atleast for the location I used, is that it’s indoors. I was able to do an outdoor fitting with a similar company after my club Champion fitting and it’s night and day being able to see actual ball flight.

[ry1808]

I won a driver fitting at the Club Champion in Charlotte, NC. I didn't need a new driver but it gave me an opportunity to play with some different shafts and get a feel for what is out there.

 

When I turned up I started off by warming up with a few 7-irons and on the launch monitor everything was a big hook. I'm a good enough player (+1 handicap) to know when I'm hitting a big hook and I certainly wasn't. I tried to explain this but the guy wouldn't have it and when we moved up to the driver everything kept hooking and all the fitter wanted to do was work the hook out of my bag flight. Waste of time and I was getting frustrated at this point. After about 45 minutes I gave up and was about to leave. I then hit my driver in the bay next to us which had just opened and smoked it straight down the middle!

 

If you are on WRX you probably know your stuff about club building; swing weight, bounce, kick points etc... you'll probably know more than the guy fitting you!

 

The putting setup is good as the SAM system is self explanatory and you get good visual feedback.

 

I wish I could book one of the venues for an hour and fit myself!

[Aviador Naval]

I did the half price off season deal. Still not worth it. Wasn’t a real fitting. More like a high end poke and hope demo.

[Go Horns!]

Club Champion is a crap shoot because it all depends on the fitter you get. How do you know the random person you get knows what they are doing?

[DaRiz]

Definitely depends on the fitter that you get as to how knowledgeable they are, and how aggressive they will try to sell you. If you do buy (and you def should NOT), expect to pay full MSRP for everything (meaning $599 for a head, $299 for a shaft, $14 for a grip - and no the fitting fee is not waived if you buy). Also kind of a bummer they only have current generation clubs, so if the G410 is out, no chance at hitting a G400 etc.

I had a guy who knew a decent amount, but was young (24ish - I'm 34) and did not ask me about length or swing weight, I had to prompt him. So don't expect a Tom Wishon, but they should still be much better than the average Roger Dunn associate.

That being said, it can be a good experience, and you can learn some things about yourself. I was playing a 9.5* head with a low launch shaft and I was spinning it too much, and found out that I get lower spin and higher clubhead speed playing an 8.5* head with a mid launch shaft.

[gsrjc]

I don’t get how the fitters can not be knowledgeable. I know a few club champion fitters and they all say they were required to do training at their HQ in Chicago so wouldn’t one expect that everyone gets the same training. So hence fitters should know about length loft swing weight etc. it doesn’t make sense to me when folks say the fitters didn’t ask them or take measurements.

[ssfranny]

Ezactly wiyld never buy from them I would expect they give a printout of specs

[ssfranny]

Exactly would not buy from them. Guess way I look at it would tell fitter Im here to try shafts that's all for me I know what head I want and they have PXG to demo which is good.

[MaineMariner]

I really enjoyed the full-hour putter fitting. I ended up buying the putter that I liked the best and which gave me good SAM results (Betti Studio Stock 8), but used on eBay. I then had CC do a reshaft and bend it to my specs. I thought my fitter was great (Rhiannon in Pittsburgh) and will definitely at the very least take advantage of their club work services in the future. I definitely felt more confident leaving my putter there than I did at the Golf Galaxy across the street, which in my experience has been a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to the employee you deal with. I highly doubt I'll purchase through CC because of the prices and because I almost never buy clubs new anyway.

[WristySwing]

 

I think you are putting A LOT of faith in the keyboard kings here. I wouldn't trust 99% of the people on here to explain in any detail the dynamics of their swing or why product A works better than product B.

Most posts: "I'm a [insert some sort of above average handicap here] that swings at [insert atypically high swing speed] and am looking for something that doesn't hook the ball, sits wide open, is low spin, and lets me hit my butter cut 310. Give me some options!" aka I have no idea what I am looking for.

Reality of doing 1000s of fits in many environments both with good and not so good players: "I'm a 10+ handicap that comes wildly from the inside/outside (+6 or more degrees), have little face awareness in terms of direction, and cannot discern a good strike or a bad strike because as long as I make contact on the face I say 'wow that felt good,' I want you to help me hit it 285 (chuckle) despite the fact you could shoot the ball out of a cannon and not help me get it past 240 because I don't know where the middle of the club is despite an hour of trying every trick in the book".

 

 

 

[TheGolfingRealtor]

I just took advantage of the 1/2 off deal and completed the first half of my fitting. I am 2.4 index and would say my eyes were opened a bit. I'm a LONG time PING player and their clubs actually performed the worst for my swing. The results I got were pretty on point with what I saw on the course... short and straight. I picked up 10 yards with the T100's with SF 95 stiff. We then tried that shaft in a lot of heads including the i210 and Blueprint. The only other head that was a close 2nd was the MP 20 SEL. We started working with drivers and hybrids. I was blown away with the Flash. I picked up 16 yards of carry vs. the TS3 and the Flash was paired with a Ventus. I was getting a little fatigued at this point as swing speed was down after hitting 260 balls. So we will do a quick look at the driver, fairway, hybrid and putter next time.

What I took away from it is that not every OEM fits every swing as much as I wanted to like and continue playing PING. I was hoping it would be a simple shaft swap. My goal was to go in with an open mind and go with what gave me the best numbers this time around.

[golfman009]

Just my 2 cents...

Did the 1/2 off full bag fitting and loved it. As many people mentioned, probably depends alot on the guy fitting you. My guy worked for Trackman for years and really knew his stuff. Scratch golfer and like most of my stuff but hated my irons and putter felt a little off. Appreciated that he didn´t try to convince me to replace my M3 driver, M1 3 wood or Adams hybrid because pretty quickly we saw that we weren´t going to improve those numbers much. We did find a huge improvement in my irons, both in heads and shafts which I am excited about. Way better ball flight and picked up 14 yards. As mentioned, prices there are crazy but they gave me the full spec sheet and I found them for a 1/4 price elsewhere.

Putter fitting was awesome. Rolled the putts on the SAM and pretty good numbers than he took it off and bend the lie, loft and added 30 grams of tungsten in the shaft and it felt like a completely different putter. Ball rolled so much better off the face. Once he did that we tried it again and were good to go. Didn´t try to sell me on a different design or charge me for what he did to it.

[CAT GOLFER]

Thread jacker here, speaking of Club Champion and having a quality fitter making the fitting worth it or not, does anyone have experience with the Columbus OH location and the fitters at that location,

[dvyChan1987]

I just did a Driver fitting for using the 30 or 33% off and it was pretty good. It was my first time going there and they have a specific process they follow. Find a shaft first and then find a head. I will note that the percent off only applies to the fee for the fitting and not the actual purchase of equipment. The shafts did not seem marked up in my opinion. I bought a VA Drago and it was maybe like $15 bucks more than if I bought it off line.

[dvyChan1987]

I had the same issue with the hook on the screen and the machine was definitely reading my swing speed wrong as well. I heard that Trackman has an issue with the software sometimes that causes it to read a big hook no matter what....but that was just something I heard.

[MountainGoat]

Add my name to the list of those not impressed with Club Champion. I think their fitting model is fundamentally flawed by 1) use of a mat, which affects spin rates, 2) use of a simulator, which has built-in parallax issues, 3) complete disregard for grip type, weight and size, and 4) complete disregard of swing weight and/or MOI. They sell shafts with the belief that the shaft is the "engine" of the club. I think this is false.

 

[RainShadow]

I Live in Tucson.

There's a Club Champion in Scottsdale, but also HotStix and Cool Clubs up that way as well.

I want my fitting outdoors off grass If I can......

Reading all the comments on CC, I'll probably go to one of the others when I'm ready to get fit for Iron shafts.

CC might be good for the SAM Putting lab though.

[chrisokeefe12]

So after reading this I am considering cancelling my fitting at Club Champion and possible scheduling a fitting at PXG as I am a veteran and they have a good heroes program. I am also very intrigued by sub 70 golf and maybe wanna go through a fitting there. I am in the Chicago land area and after reading the bad fitting by club champion not sure I want to pay the money to do it. I have had a fitting done by golf galaxy and it was the worst thing ever.

[tdennie]

I had a putter fitting done there several months ago. At the time I thought it was great but what improved my putting more and helped me get fit into a better putter for me was a lesson with a PGA professional. He helped fix a number of issues with my putting instead of relying on the results of the SAM system as club champion did. He did have a SAM system but did not even need to use it.

[kgk]

I've never had good outcomes with indoor fittings. I'm a hard pass on it anymore.

[MakersMarsh3]

This is the problem

CC is great as an idea, their selection and tools are secon to none and they have some great fitters. But I think a lot of them are nothing special.

Have had a couple good experiences. But more bad ones.

Even had some issues with basic clubwork honestly

[PXGSocialTeam]

Our PXG Chicago location would love to have you! Our fittings are free and no-obligation as well. Our PXG for Heroes program is offering an even lower special pricing event until the end of December. ^A

[JoeFrigo]

ive done 2 driver fittings at CC for the 1/2 off and have found the same thing. Irons were great and pretty spot on.... but my experience with Trackman indoors is absolutely terrible!

Same thing you saw is what ive seen. Its practically impossible to miss right with the driver. A few bad strikes with face open to path and contact on the heel shows a pull left that keeps hooking left. I hit plenty of what id say to be perfect strikes slightly high toe side. Nice little draw coming back to center but somehow over 3000 spin. All of us know our game, our misses, shot tendencies... At my fitting 2 weeks ago I know darn well I hit plenty of balls that started left of center that should of faded back. Nope. Huge hooks left. The lowest backspin ive had on trackman was just under 2400. At other fittings and from weekly GCquad sessions my avg spin is 2200's

Im not bashing on CC. ive worked with very friendly and helpful fitters. Definitely no pressure at all if youre straightforward with them. Ive never gone to any fitting thinking "They're jamming clubs down my throat." The iron and putter fitting opened my eyes big time and have helped my game..... but drivers and woods I wouldn't trust the numbers. You can get a feel and enjoy hitting all the premium shafts and get a sense of what works for you. Ball speed is consistent so you can get a good idea on what youre hitting the fastest. But in terms of launch and spin my results have been useless

[MaineMariner]

I don't think there should ever be a question that if you can do an outdoor fitting on real grass, you should do that instead of an indoor fitting on a mat. 100%. Unfortunately, for some of us, that's just not an option. Unless someone can tell me where I can jump on a Trackman or GCQuad outdoors in Pittsburgh (maybe such a place exists, I have no idea), Club Champion is the best thing we've got.

[snagy2000]

Shocking how many people I know, like myself, always get fit into the high end shafts like Oban, VA Composites, etc at CC...Serious upcharge for those shafts on top of the retail prices for the clubs...Swing weight for drivers D7 and up is just ridiculous, but they want to claim its the way to go...Never using them again...