Club Champion Fitting Questions

[cristphoto]

3 hours ago, bonvivantva said:

Thanks for the reply.  You've made a lot of really good points.

 

Unfortunately your demo day suggestion won't work for me.  I went to a Callaway demo day once at my local range once, but they had them set up on the mats.  My range has grass tees, but they're open on day a week for maybe 4-5 months a year.  I will try to keep my hears open for other local demo days, but unless I see one advertised at a course I play or something, I'm not sure how I'll be aware.

 

You can go to the respective club manufacturers web site and search for "demo days".  If they don't have it listed on their site go to the "contact us" point and leave a message.  They love to have good participation at their days as its good for their business. Thus they want to assist you. My club deals in Callaway, Titleist, and Taylor Made.  I like Ping irons so I had to do what I suggested above.  No big deal and a short drive away to another club and I was set.  I hit off grass and most times there is a Trackman available.  Since the Trackman needs to see the ball fly for a certain distance its better than hitting indoors off a mat where it's much harder to get good numbers.  So even if you hit off mats outdoors there is the benefit of seeing the flight and getting good data.  An intangible is (to me) every club has about the same sound when hit from an indoor bay.  Outdoors you get the real sensation.  

[SOVAhack]

It would be exhausting and expensive to get fit for a full bag in one session. I paid for an iron fitting specifically as I had switched shafts and loss considerable yardage due to shafts being too stiff. The turnaround has been roughly 6 weeks from fitting session to when I will have my completed clubs built. Specifically I am changing out shafts in my existing P790 iron heads. I was able to keep my clubs while the shafts and grips were ordered. Upon surrendering the irons that are being swapped out, it was a solid 7-10 business days that I did not have those clubs to play with so keep that in mind if you have tourneys or trips coming up. Using old irons for the mean time.

 

We had a very detailed fitting trying 7 or so shafts in a variety of weights, both steel and graphite. for a total of 12-15 different setups. The change we made was data driven and a very enjoyable experience. The finished product got my iron distances back to what I was accustomed to as well as tightened up my dispersion. I will be going back for targeting fitting of my hybrids next, followed by wedges but will do them in different session.

 

I recommend going in with a solid vision for what you are trying to achieve, otherwise it would be like a simulator session without a targeted purpose.

[Zena]

In regards to OP’s original putter fitting question…

 

My local CC had a wide selection of putters and the machine and what not but I’ll be honest, the actual putting area was very small. Maybe max 8ft to putt to the hole. To me, that’s not good enough. I can sink putts from 6-8 feet on a flat flat surface with any putter.

 

I want to know how the putter performs at 12 feet or longer. That’s what separates a good putter fit from a great putter fit. Can I consistently knock a putt to gimme territory from 12+ feet? And I simply couldn’t tell that on a flat 8ft surface at CC.

 

So I went to my local dick’s sporting goods that had an area that big and hit all the putters. Compared length for comfort, then face balanced vs toe hang for swing feel, then head shapes for alignment comfort.

 

Figured out what gave me the most confidence and consistency was a face balanced fang style with one shaft offset at 33”. Got me a lightly used Odyssey metal faced #7 and it’s been lovely.

[cristphoto]

On 6/29/2022 at 5:27 PM, dblinden said:

Well, I had a putter "fitting" at CC. They handed me a SC Newport to try right off the bat. I made like 10 putts in a row and was told that's definitely the putter for me. No other putters were tried in comparison. (I'll just say that I knew a lot less then than I know now). Never putted well with this club after purchase. Changed the lie angle, grip, etc to get some legs with it but to no avail. Ultimately changed to a face balanced putter and this was a so-called game changer for me.  A pretty significant change from what I was sold.

 

I was naive and paid the price. In other words, a perfect customer for CC.

 

 

 

If you only tried one putter how much did they charge for the fitting and price of the putter?  Only trying one putter (even if you made all the putts) it's nice to have something to compare with.  Maybe you could have made 15 putts in a row with a Ping compared to 10 putts with a Scotty.  

[dblinden]

Yes, they charge a "fitting" fee. The putter was full price. Fee + Putter = Small Fortune.

Like I mentioned, I was very naive. Nobody to blame but myself. It's always going to be buyer beware, but why can't business models emphasize an excellent consumer focus and sales at the same time? 

 

Eight foot putts on a flat mat, like someone else mentioned. I wouldn't accept that now, but I didn't know any better then. Did my "fitter" know any better? Or was he just a salesman? 

[Rtojos]

Honestly, your situation sounds very similar to mine. Still fairly new to golf (1 year 1/2 going on 2) was lurking in the mid to high 90's taking lessons and practicing constantly trying to get better fast. I purchased my first set of clubs off the Taylormade site and purchased p790's with standard everything with graphite shafts without getting fitted because I didn't think I was good enough to get fitted which I probably wasn't I wanted to get a good foundation before I got properly fitted. After I felt comfortable I went to CC and they properly fitted me to my swing which was a game changer, selecting the proper shaft weight and trying multiple brands of iron heads along with changing the lie angle has improved my ball striking by a mile, sold my old set which was an easy sale and got my new Titleist T-100s with Nippon 115g shafts. I will say once your a CC customer you and your rep will build a good relationship to better fit your game. I went back and got a proper wedge fitting and they gapped me properly, I also occasionally go and use the trackman to get my stock yardages free of charge. I will get a proper putter fitting soon but I'm currently working on my putting game, once I feel like my putting fundamentals are sound ill have them take a look at my options and see if there's anything better than my current setup. Good Luck!

[robbie91]

I've had a driver fitting, fairway wood/hybrid fitting, iron fitting, and putter fitting at CC and have had excellent experiences each time. Almost of the clubs I've been fitted for at CC stayed in the bag consistently past their life cycle and one of the wood shafts from 8 years ago is still in the bag. The only club that ever left the bag early from CC was a hybrid that never really had a chance compared to my driving iron. One caveat is that I did not purchase a putter from CC, I had them complete the fitting and make a putter recommendation and then I sent the specs to Byron Morgan. At any rate, specs and recommendations were spot on. 

 

Relative to the pricing issue, it is not a cheap process to undergo fittings at CC. As a club geek who likes to test all the different shafts and head combos, I can typically justify the price for a fitting in one area every few years, but for me it's a bit like going to Disney World. For those who aren't as interested in the experience, I do think there are better deals to be found, especially if you look out for demo days from major manufacturers. I would also not necessarily recommend a CC fitting for those new to the game or those who plan to make major swing changes. As far as actual component pricing though, CC is quite fair and you essentially pay big box retail prices / msrp shaft prices for your custom built sticks. 

 

In my opinion though, the fitting company matters far less than the individual fitter. I've consistently seen the same fitter at CC for all of my fittings spread over the last 10+ years. I believe my satisfaction with the fitting experience comes from his style and understanding of club fitting more than anything else. Short answer, do some research on the fitters available and don't be hesitant to request a certain fitter. Also, if possible come into the fitting with a clear idea of what your preferences are. If you don't like x clubhead or y weighted shaft, tell the fitter and avoid it. It's your fitting and you know the most about your game and goals for the fitting experience. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by robbie91

[ShortGolfer]

I had a great full bag fitting at CC.  I shared a lot of personal info that helped him figure out what I needed.  It also helped that I knew precisely what I needed.  An 8 club set to play Executive courses where accuracy is far more important than distance as the greens are tiny.  It helps that I play from the forward tees and have learned the sense of feel needed to hit approach shots with just a few clubs.

The recommendations made were all totally reasonable based on my experimentation of over a year of learning the game.  I tried them out by cutting my clubs down as suggested by the fitting spec, one at a time, and trying them out one at a time in the back yard.  Sure enough, having the clubs at the right length made them easier to hit.

I was able to take what I learned and quickly dial in my 2015 GBB driver, first adjusting the loft for the proper height and then the loft to take out the slice.  It couldn't have gone any easier!

The most surprising thing I learned was that I can hit a 3W off the deck, despite my slow swing speed!  A little bit of practice and now I can hit my Diablo Octane 3W off the deck!

 

I thought the pricing was quite fair considering that I need custom built sticks.  There are no quality clubs between Juniors and standard women's clubs.

 

I got one of those $100 special deals.  I assume the picked dates and times when they normally weren't busy.  He didn't try to sell me a putter as I'm better off buying something and cutting it down to 31 inches myself.

But, I got to try more putters than I could keep track of!  

[chrisMW]

Do not go to Club Champion. They’re terrible. Not only do they charge $$$ (which I could rationalize if they did what they advertise), but the set I had built was mismatched and not according to what I had ordered. Crazy bad experience - warning!