Driver Fitting

Stacksey

Does it really make a big difference to get fitted for a driver and is there somewhere you would recommend to get get fitted?

spacecoyote

You'll find plenty of people who will argue both sides on this one.

I was fitted for a new driver in the middle of this year, and I'm extremely happy with the results of the process. I haven't gained anything really in terms of max distance, but I'm finding more fairways, my misses are considerably tighter, and there are fewer of them. I'd say my average distance is probably relatively unchanged. With my old club my miss was a weak slice right, that's extremely rare for me now (I'm more likely to miss a Fairway left nowadays)

During the fitting session I was able to hit my old driver against multiple variations of shafts & head types to find the best fit for my swing, and the difference was like night & day.

I think that there is definitely value in it.

In terms of where you can get it done, I had mine done at my home course. We have a range at the course, and the Pro would have fitting days with all the big Club manufacturers at various points throughout the year.

Other than that though, a lot of it would be down to your budget. At the top end you'd have the likes of ForeGolf out at Killeen Castle.

On the cheaper side of things, the likes of American Golf or McGuirks have some fitting facilities in some of their stores. They might not have the range that ForeGolf or a Manufacturer would, but they would still be able to do a fairly decent job.

Hoppermcgrath

From experience, the one thing I'd say about driver fitting is be realistic about what you expect from it.  
If you are an accomplished player, or a player who swings in a relatively consistent way (e.g. you are going to fade/slice it with relative certainty) then I think you can get quite a bit out of a fitting.  If (like me!) you are inconsistent and the main issue is with your swing then I think you are much better off sorting that out before dropping circa €500 on a new driver in the expectation it will fix everything, or even make a substantial difference. 
I am single figures, rising steadily, but my bad shot is both left and right - army golf.  I got fitted for a driver with Fore Golf and while I have absolutely no issue with Fore and actually think they are really good, I have being honest got zero out of the new driver, and hit it no better/no worse than an off the shelf.  
My issue is one that hopefully lessons and practice will solve, but can't be solved by a club.  We all like fancy new toys, but do be honest with yourself and ask will it really do much for you

RoadRunner

I knew ballpark what stiffness shaft I should be. I could see that with my older driver the ball tended to balloon into the sky, run out of steam and then just drop sharply. It was spinning too high. I just bought a new lower spinning driver without fitting and gained significantly.

If you feel your driver is wrong for you and you know why and you know what you want then a fitting might not be essential, no harm though. For all other the general consensus seems to be to get fit.

one man clappin

Most clubs will have a fitting day from a manufacturer that is usually free of charge.
I recently got fitted in my local club by a manufacturer. Started to hit my own driver and my bad shot came every third or so. Push slice to the left.
Tried a few different heads and shafts until my dispersion was way down. Even when i tried to kill one it did not go left. The only downside was it was not a stock shaft for the driver so cost a wee bit extra but if it means finding fairways instead of losing balls then I will take that.

Webbs

I always struggled with controlling a slice off the tee to a manageable fade. Got a couple of lessons which helped hugely. SO thats first point get your swing seen to first, when your as happy as you can be with that then think about fitting.
I went to Birr to get fitted and they couldnt have been better, outside range with trackman and great selection of heads and shafts. Now I went in straight away and said I couldnt afford 400+ and so they focused mainly on older models etc.

Was a revelation to see how different combos worked or more importantly didnt. I couldnt hit Taylormade drivers for toffee so they were quickly benched. Anyway eventually got an older Ping head with upgraded shaft which worked the best for me especially in dispersion and gained a few yards as a bonus. At end of it he threw in 15-20mins lesson with the club as he had the trackman numbers so could see where I would improve on angle of attack etc.

All in all an excellent investment that didnt cost the earth. But would have been a waste if i hadnt had the lessons first. You want the club to work with your swing not change your swing to accommodate the club

newport2

Stacksey wrote: »

Does it really make a big difference to get fitted for a driver and is there somewhere you would recommend to get get fitted?

I would agree with most of what SpaceCoyote says in his post above.

How much of a difference it will make can depend on how suitable your current driver is though. If your current driver is not far off what you should be using, then I guess you won't see much. But if you're using something totally unsuited to your swing, then the benefits may be pretty big getting fitted. Perhaps get your pro to tell you if he thinks you're far off with your current driver, from his guess you may be able to guess how much you have to gain.

Oh and if you're getting fitted, bring your current driver to benchmark against.

Good luck!