Driver Fitting Data

[himey77]

EJL Custom Golf/ Fubuki/ FT Tour content

Over the weekend I was fitted at Cantigny Golf Course in Wheaton, IL by Steve with EJL custom golf.

EJL uses the ShaftMax and Launchmax technologies by MaxOut Golf. The ShaftMax data told me that I needed "about as stiff a shaft as possible." I was none too impressed with the Launchmax launch monitor. It did not register an alarming number of shots and some of the data it produced was impossible or funky (336rpm's of spin??)

My current driver is a Titleist 905R with 9.5 loft and a stock UST V2 Stiff. I hit it all over the map and when I do hit it well the ball balloons and drops out of the sky. The clubface is also setup noticeably closed which doesn't help my tendency to hook the crap out of it.

Please note: I live in Chicago and this is the second time I have taken a swing at a golf ball in almost 5 months. In addition, my spin numbers indicate that I'm probably hitting down on the ball, and this is obviously something I will work on. Overall, I was very disappointed in myself for not producing consistent numbers during the fitting. It truly is the Indian and not the arrow.

In the end, I rate my experience as a 6.5 out of 10. Steve was a friendly and knowledgeable guy, but he definitely had a salesman vibe that I wasn't digging. You could tell that he normally doesn't fit guys who hang out at GolfWRX all day because I knew more about certain shafts, heads, and PGA equipment than he did. At the end of my fitting he quoted me a price for the FT Tour with Fubuki 73x.... $816.16!!!! The "head" was $399.99 (EJL discards the stock shaft), the shaft was $350, and the grip was $11, plus tax. I respectfully declined to buy the driver and I was kind of surprised that he was kind of surprised. :rolleyes: I understand that most fitting companies make most of the profit by selling equipment, but you'd think that they'd try and stay competitive with their pricing.

I have posted the launch monitor data. As you will see, the FT Tour with Fubuki 73x was untouchable. I was upset with the results because the FT Tour was so much better than the other combos I tried that I felt like I only had one choice... and a very expensive one. The FT Tour was very impressive considering that I didn't feel like I hit one ball flush.

I am mainly looking for feedback on other head/shaft combinations. I'm assuming I need a high launch/ low spin combo. There are many shafts that read about on here that I have been interested in, and those include: Attas, Project X, Matrix, and R.I.P.. Although, the Project X and R.I.P. may launch too low for my swing. Most of these are very new to the market so I wasn't surprised that EJL did not have any of these shafts.

This experience has also increased my desire to get on a Trackman system. I think the Trackman data is the most reliable and it will also give me the advantage of showing my swing path. But, the most important thing I learned is that no matter how good or customized the equipment is, there is no substitute for a good golf swing. At this point I know I'd benefit more by spending $800 on lessons instead of buying a new driver. BUT, this is GolfWRX, right?!?..:clapping:

[sammack09]

[sup]why dont you go with the stock voodoo? its what i have in mine and i get a really good launch with it?[/sup]

[Dizz]

[quote name='sammack09' date='30 March 2010 - 01:19 PM' timestamp='1269969589' post='2350347']
[sup]why dont you go with the stock voodoo? its what i have in mine and i get a really good launch with it?[/sup]
[/quote]

Why would he go with the stock Voodoo when there is about a 0.1% chance he will be able to keep the spin under 3000 with it.

[Dizz]

I guess what I don't understand is why you hit all these exotic shaft combos if you had zero intention of spending that much money. The fitter found you a driver that based on your swing is about as good of numbers as you are going to get. What's wrong with his price exactly? Callaway as far as I know doesn't offer the 73 gram Fubuki and last time I looked the Fubuki 63 Tour was a $450 upcharge.

[himey77]

[quote name='Dizzub' date='30 March 2010 - 12:31 PM' timestamp='1269970297' post='2350388']
I guess what I don't understand is why you hit all these exotic shaft combos if you had zero intention of spending that much money. The fitter found you a driver that based on your swing is about as good of numbers as you are going to get. What's wrong with his price exactly? Callaway as far as I know doesn't offer the 73 gram Fubuki and last time I looked the Fubuki 63 Tour was a $450 upcharge.
[/quote]

Why? Probably because I can buy the Fubuki 73x for $100 in the BST right now.?.?.

Hell, I could probably buy a brand new Tour Issue FT TOUR with Fubuki for about $500 from someone on here.

I don't understand why people pay full retail prices for golf clubs. The prices are GUARANTEED to drop eventually, and there is always the option of buying "used".

[oregongolf]

[quote name='Dizzub' date='30 March 2010 - 10:31 AM' timestamp='1269970297' post='2350388']
I guess what I don't understand is why you hit all these exotic shaft combos if you had zero intention of spending that much money. The fitter found you a driver that based on your swing is about as good of numbers as you are going to get. What's wrong with his price exactly? Callaway as far as I know doesn't offer the 73 gram Fubuki and last time I looked the Fubuki 63 Tour was a $450 upcharge.
[/quote]

While the driver was a great fit for him, I can understand the sticker shock. 8 bills is approaching bozos shouldn't golf pricing...

If it were me, I'd probably get fit again in May/June when the swing has come back out of hibernation.

Too bad no FT Tour/Altus combo available.

[himey77]

I'd like to pointedly address your question in more detail, Dizzub.

Not one time during my fitting did the fitter ask me, "What's your budget?" or "Do you know how much this club costs?"

The fitter did his job and selected the best combo from what he had available. Then, he tried to sell it to me. It's not his fault that the price was too high.

It's not like I walked into a Lamborghini dealership, test drove a bunch of cars, and then laughed at the salesman when he asked me if I wanted to buy it because I can't afford it. I didn't know what club would be best for me. If it was a Cleveland Launcher with a UST V2, sure... I could swing the $300. Unfortunately, the club that fit me best was also one of the most expensive.

[Dizz]

[quote name='himey77' date='30 March 2010 - 01:54 PM' timestamp='1269971698' post='2350444']
I'd like to pointedly address your question in more detail, Dizzub.

Not one time during my fitting did the fitter ask me, "What's your budget?" or "Do you know how much this club costs?"

The fitter did his job and selected the best combo from what he had available. Then, he tried to sell it to me. It's not his fault that the price was too high.

It's not like I walked into a Lamborghini dealership, test drove a bunch of cars, and then laughed at the salesman when he asked me if I wanted to buy it because I can't afford it. I didn't know what club would be best for me. If it was a Cleveland Launcher with a UST V2, sure... I could swing the $300. Unfortunately, the club that fit me best was also one of the most expensive.
[/quote]

I'm going to assume there was a fee you paid to get fit? I guess this all comes back to working in a shop and thousands of guys want to ask for free advice and then buy online to save some money. Why pay full retail for golf clubs? Well maybe soon if people stop paying full retail there won't be any shops out there to demo anything. There is a completely different price range buying used on the BST when you never really know what you're going to get versus buying brand new. $800 is a lot of money, don't know if I would spend that either but I would rather spend an extra 30% to get something brand new built for me than buy a pull from the BST. I'm not saying its wrong to want to get the best price but do you have any idea how frustrating it is to spend an hour with someone and then have them give their business to someone they have never talked to and buy online to save $60 on a set of $800 irons?

[LSeca]

I like seeing this type of stuff, thanks for posting . Interesting to me here is the Fubuki had less sidespin than the WB or the Alpha.

[himey77]

@ Dizzub:

I totally understand working in a retail shop and having people waste your time. I don't expect to walk into a Golfsmith and have the salesman put me on the launch monitor to test out a bunch of shafts just so I can go on the BST to get what I need. Yet I'm sure people do it all the time.

A driver fitting at EJL is $125 and it took about 1.5 hours. That's why it's so frustrating to have swung the club so poorly.

@ LSeca:

My swing is out of shape and my back started to gradually tighten and hurt throughout the fitting. Do not assume anything about the shafts using my numbers as a reference.

Let my experience be a lesson to anyone getting fit who excepts golf equipment to work miracles. If your golf swing is not good enough to produce consistent launch data, do not expect the club to produce consistent ball flight.

[JCAG]

Early on in this business most of us did not charge for a fitting. It was "built" into the price. Later it became apparent that many were "picking our brains/wasting our time" and not buying. As our time is valuable, most of us started to "charge" for that time.

I believe if one went back and tried to date/quantify this "change, it started with:

1. Mass component catalogue distribution (as in all were getting them), so many began to know what components cost. Some were outraged at say a custom made driver cost when they simply looked at the driver component cost alone. They did not care about shop overhead, clubmaker/club fitter ability and experience, etc. They only looked at component cost.

2. The advent of the Internet exacerbated this. Early on, it became easier to find out component prices.

3. The Internet futher exacerbated this when businesses/shops, whatever "opened" up when they were nothing more then some hack clubmaker in his celler, selling total crap but at an attractive price.

4. Part and parcel of the above is all the golf chats. Loaded with everything and anything. The good, the bad, the ugly, etc.

The above things came together in a short period of time much like a perfect storm.

I say nowadays one must charge for everything from the "get go" as many will pick your brain then "shop/buy" elsewhere or in the case of many golf chat folks, build it themselves.

[Asleep]

FT-Tour/Diamana Kaili 70X

If you think the 905R is closed & want to save money, look at the 9015D ... consider the I15, too, both with X-Flex shafts.

[deep18]

I'm surprised the Fubuki had spin numbers so much lower than the Alpha.

[birdieboy52]

If Everett or Nick aren't doing the fitting you're wasting your money IMO. Go to the main shop and talk to them about your experience.

[bear87]

Nick is the man, for sure.

[Chicago Lefty]

I actually had a driver fitting with Steve from EJL yesterday out at Cantigny. I went not necessarily looking to buy a new driver, but to find out what flex shaft I should be playing, along with shaft profile. I told Steve up front I wasn't looking spend huge amounts of money on a new driver/shaft combo, so we concentrated on finding the right shaft for my current head. Luckily he actually had a 909d3 in LH with the quickfit system.

I thought Steve's knowledge was extensive in all the product he had. We determined what profile would be best for me, turned out the blueboard I was playing was very close, but the X-flex was a bit too much for me. Tried a few others in the same category, and finally came across the Oban Devotion. I don't know what it was, but suddenly I couldn't miss the center of the driver. I flushed almost every shot, and this was after an hour of swings already and I was gassed.

I had no intention of purchasing anything from EJL as I know that retail prices are generally out of my reach and I try to purchased pulled shafts and used heads from here. He quoted me a price on the Oban though that I can't pass up. SST Pured and installed at a very reasonable price. I'll be calling Monday to order it up.

I went in knowing what a full custom driver would cost and told Steve early on that I wouldn't be spending $800 on a driver. I felt like he was knowledgeable and I definitely left with my $125 worth of information.

[scratchskier]

EJL is absolutely terrible. They try and push you to buy whatever they have left in stock. Steve knows nothing. Nick is basically unethical as I've seen way too many people get screwed over. EJL is the a terrible option when looking for custom clubs. DON'T GO THERE!

[JCAG]

All I have read says great things about EJL. What makes you say different?

[birdieboy52]

[quote name='scratchskier' date='11 April 2010 - 12:24 PM' timestamp='1271006662' post='2373517']
EJL is absolutely terrible. They try and push you to buy whatever they have left in stock. Steve knows nothing. Nick is basically unethical as I've seen way too many people get screwed over. EJL is the a terrible option when looking for custom clubs. DON'T GO THERE!
[/quote]


Please, provide us some facts to support your rant

[Jeep1423]

If you guys are looking for someone that can really help in Chicagoland, go and Myerigue (Spelling, pronounced My Rig) at the Golf Galaxy in Schaumburg. FYI He has a Scottish accent. He is their clubmaker/repair tech there. He really is good and really the one I go to for all of my repairs/re-shafts.

I know Galaxy has a reputation, but this guy really is THAT good.

[scratchskier]

Here we go...

Built my irons to the wrong length. They wouldn't even admit it. I SHOWED them, they didn't care. Had to pay to reshaft them and they flat out lied to me about pricing. They wouldn't let me go without paying the new price they assigned to me.

Nick thinks everything must be pured.

Nick lectured me on how obans are complete s***. They carry them now...

Seen two drivers and four irons they've built break. Usually around the hosel.

Everything that comes out of Steve's mouth doesn't make logical sense. It's so hard to refrain from correcting him.

My driver had loose epoxy flying around in the head. Or at least thats what they told when I said something was rattling inside my driver. They said they couldn't help me.

It costs $16 for one tour velvet

[birdieboy52]

--Built my irons to the wrong length. They wouldn't even admit it. I SHOWED them, they didn't care. Had to pay to reshaft them and they flat out lied to me about pricing. They wouldn't let me go without paying the new price they assigned to me.---


Who provided the spec on length? What did you show them that you believed supproted your position?

--Nick thinks everything must be pured.---

SO?

--Nick lectured me on how obans are complete s***.---

When did he say that?

--They carry them now...-- And that means what specifically? You would be surprised to know what he thought of Fuji shafts a couple of years ago.

--Seen two drivers and four irons they've built break. Usually around the hosel.--

Break how specifically?

---Everything that comes out of Steve's mouth doesn't make logical sense. It's so hard to refrain from correcting him.--

Where does your knowledge of fitting and shafts derive from?

---My driver had loose epoxy flying around in the head. Or at least thats what they told when I said something was rattling inside my driver. They said they couldn't help me.--

Who provided the head?

--It costs $16 for one tour velvet --

Then you should install it if you think that labor is free

[JCAG]

[quote name='birdieboy52' date='12 April 2010 - 11:40 AM' timestamp='1271086822' post='2375200']
--Built my irons to the wrong length. They wouldn't even admit it. I SHOWED them, they didn't care. Had to pay to reshaft them and they flat out lied to me about pricing. They wouldn't let me go without paying the new price they assigned to me.---


Who provided the spec on length? What did you show them that you believed supproted your position?

--Nick thinks everything must be pured.---

SO?

--Nick lectured me on how obans are complete s***.---

When did he say that?

--They carry them now...-- And that means what specifically? You would be surprised to know what he thought of Fuji shafts a couple of years ago.

--Seen two drivers and four irons they've built break. Usually around the hosel.--

Break how specifically?

---Everything that comes out of Steve's mouth doesn't make logical sense. It's so hard to refrain from correcting him.--

Where does your knowledge of fitting and shafts derive from?

---My driver had loose epoxy flying around in the head. Or at least thats what they told when I said something was rattling inside my driver. They said they couldn't help me.--

Who provided the head?

--It costs $16 for one tour velvet --

Then you should install it if you think that labor is free
[/quote]


Me thinks he went in thinking:

1. He knows more then they do.

2. Want to prove to them and us, he knows more then they do.

3. Expected specs they did not provide.

4. Wanted them to fix his or someone elses error and they said no.

5. Does not like their prices.

All in all, he sounds like the type customer businesses are better of without but most businesses are to sacred to "fire" him as a customer.

Maybe EJL fired him......LOL

[apprenti23]

I have sent people to EJL all winter long (for years) who are looking get properly fit when we are unable to accommodate them. Haven't heard one negative comment. I let them know ahead of time the cost associated and if they're comfortable then they go.

[scratchskier]

It's not my fault if you guys go there.

Everything is my post is true, stop being so critical. This is to help YOU guys. Not me.

[scratchskier]

Yea I have no idea why they didn't "fire" me. Maybe cause they can't get any other business.

[TM golf guy]

Do you always play the e5? I agree with Asleep on checking out the 9015D and the i15. Both of those are low spin monsters.

[himey77]

I was actually hitting the Pro V1x which was the closest thing they had to the TP LDP Red that I normally play. Not sure why Steve didn't change it on the screen. They only had Pro V1's or V1x's.

It seems as though EVERYONE is selling their 9015D's and I've also heard that they are not very forgiving. But I've been very close to buying one used to test it out for myself.

I have heard very good things about the i15 from people on here, so that is what I will research as well.

I'm selling my 905R ASAP.

[pinhigh27]

[quote name='himey77' date='13 April 2010 - 06:19 PM' timestamp='1271197187' post='2377997']
I was actually hitting the Pro V1x which was the closest thing they had to the TP LDP Red that I normally play. Not sure why Steve didn't change it on the screen. They only had Pro V1's or V1x's.

It seems as though EVERYONE is selling their 9015D's and I've also heard that they are not very forgiving. But I've been very close to buying one used to test it out for myself.

I have heard very good things about the i15 from people on here, so that is what I will research as well.

I'm selling my 905R ASAP.
[/quote]

The only people who are selling their 9015Ds, are people upgrading to other adams drivers, people that can get optimized with other drivers(at a much greater cost) and people whose swings are simply not grooved enough to take advantage of the club. I hit my 9015D against absolutely every combo possible, and nothing could match it. And They are completely forgiving, wouldn't trade mine for anything. Best of all I bought it for under 100 bucks. Are you kidding?
These things are a godsend.

[JCAG]

[quote name='scratchskier' date='13 April 2010 - 10:22 AM' timestamp='1271168536' post='2377119']
It's not my fault if you guys go there.

Everything is my post is true, stop being so critical. This is to help YOU guys. Not me.
[/quote]

Sorry, but I think you were asked some direct questions on your desires, abilities, expectations, motives, etc. that deserve some direct answers versus you bad mouth a business that has a highy valued reputation.