Regret choice of clubs from golf fitting

tokens11

Hi all, recently got fitted and as soon as I got the clubs and took them to the range I realized they weren't for me. At the fitting I was really impressed by the distance I was getting on my good shots that I think I just ignored the bad ones. My first shot with the club was over 170 yards, which pretty much sold me then and there as I was only getting 130 yards with the 7 iron from my last set of clubs. I know that 7 iron was probably like a 5 iron from my last set, but still, even with my last 5 iron I would only get about 160 yards at most. I went with graphite shafts as I loved how light they felt and liked how much more speed I was getting with them. I was hitting baby draws for my good shots with the 7 iron. However when I got the clubs and went to the range, when I started hitting the 6 and 5 irons that draw became a hook, and I realized that I prefer steel shafts. Annoyingly, the cheapest club I tried at the fitting was probably my most consistent and accurate, they were steel shafts. Wish I had of gone with them, even though I was only getting 150 yards with them ( which was a similar distance to all the other clubs I tried)

Do I have any good options open to me at this stage? Would there be any chance the shop would give me decent money to buy them back or would I be best selling them on donedeal? (I know I will need to call the shop to find out but just wondering if any one had a similar experience to me and what they did?)

spacecoyote

Hoe long have you had them? How many rounds have you played since switching?

tokens11

No rounds. Have only tried them once at the range and I was pretty awful with them. I just don't like the graphite shaft in the longer irons, wish I could have tried them at the fitting but they only let you try 7 irons. I'll try them a few more times but can't see that changing.

ShivasIrons

It sounds like you just demoed a few clubs rather than an actual fitting, but bring them back to where you got them from. If they are interested in the customer, they'll exchange them

slingerz

I had a fitting and got a driver. We didn’t get on over the course of last year. Went to another fitting and got a different one while trading the old one in. Sometimes you need to trust your instinct about how it feels in your hands rather than what they say it does on the computer

charlieIRL

I got fitted for my current driver a few years ago, was hitting it sweet during the fitting. Got to the course and for the first time ever I started topping my drives. Hit the occasional good one so stuck with it. Over the next few rounds I found it very inconsistent - this was not supposed to happen after a fitting I kept telling myself.

Booked a lesson and it was me and not the driver which was the problem, two minor tweaks and I’m really getting on well with it and have since. Driver was checked at the session and it was fitted perfectly for me (trackman and launch monitor etc)

Gove them a chance or get a lesson.

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058283471/regret-choice-of-clubs-from-golf-fitting

First off, the clubs are not the problem here. Countless times I’ve seen guys at my own club say fitting is a waste of time etc. because the clubs aren’t suiting them. The problem is, amateur golfers aren’t in any way consistent. So how you set up to the ball and how you swung at the club fitting is probably totally different to what you’re doing at the range and will probably be very different again when you go out and actually play a round of golf. The clubs were fitted to you based on how you were hitting the ball on the day.

Don’t forget, the majority of amateurs pull up to the course about 30 mins before their round and hit a few chips and putts and expect to go out and play good golf totally cold. If you’re not practicing then you’re not going to be consistent. I know you’ve said you went to the range but did you only go to try the new clubs?

BraveDonut

See my post here: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058259638/support-your-club-pro#latest

Go back to your fitter and see what they offer

ShivasIrons

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120218199#Comment_120218199

This is not true, swings are way more similar from day to day even for high handicappers, high handicappers don't swing like Rory McIlroy when they hit a good shot and to paraphrase David Feherty, swing like an octopus falling out of a tree when they hit a bad shot. Speed, swing path, release patterns etc don't change much from day to day and how many people can you recognise from a distance because you know how their swing looks even though you can't see them properly.

So what does change from the good shots to the bad, where the golfer hits it on the face of the club, where they contact the ground and where the face points at impact, and guess what, having the right clubs makes this easier and having the wrong clubs makes this harder. This is not saying that getting the right set turns an 18 handicapper to a scratch golfer but it can get them 2-3 shots better easily enough.

There are multiple ways to get better at golf, having the right clubs is one of them, and it is low hanging fruit. The only work and effort involved is buying a new set. All the other ways to improve take time and effort.

I have yet to hear an answer to this question from the anti-fitting brigade, we know that different clubs perform differently so how does the player find out which clubs suit them best?

Also for the golfers saying it took them quite a long time to get used to new clubs, this also shouldn't happen, with new clubs better shots should appear immediately, the judgement required of the different shots might take a few rounds to figure out but if anyone after a couple of months is saying that they're not getting better results from their new clubs, they wasted their money.

Final, piece of rant, consistency doesn't exist for any golfer, even the best players in the world have a variance in their performance. Having 20 points every time you play is consistent, does anyone want that? No, they want to be better, stop looking for consistency, look to be better.

GandhiwasfromBallyfermot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120221728#Comment_120221728

I am curious though at what would happen if I got fitted for a set of clubs at say a 19 handicap. Then I started improving and making changes to my swing, set-up etc to bring me down to a 10 handicap. Are the clubs I got fitted for when I was off 19 redundant now because I've changed my set-up and swing to become a better golfer?

Ivefoundgod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120222810#Comment_120222810

Personal view and I know you often hear that higher handicappers benefit more from a fitting but I think a fitting if above mid double digits handicap is not the best use of the money. Lessons would be money better spent until such a time as you have a reasonably repeatable swing and have a good overall idea of your game, particularly if you are new to the game. That said i don't know if you'd notice a massive difference between the clubs anyway between 10 and 19 unless you were fit to SGI type clubs or your miss went from slice to hook maybe. I think the modern clubs like a p790 or any irons with inserts are very usable across a wide range of handicaps and see a lot of players fit into them. Once the shaft is ok I think you could happily keep using that sort of club well into single digits.

To the OPs question, it really doesn't sound much like a fitting to me. Distance should not be the goal of any fitting really unless you are specifically looking for it, especially with irons. Dispersion is far more valuable with irons than distance, no point in hitting a 7i 170 if you're dispersion is a 50-70 yard window. The scoring clubs need tight dispersion, not distance so not sure why you ended up with the clubs you did but doesn't sound like any fitting i've had. In saying that I would give them a bit of time, first time out with new clubs is always going to take a bit of adjustment regardless of what some posters are saying but you should be seeing results fairly soon even if the consistency may not be there. Not sure what options are available to you but you'll take a big hit trading them in now regardless of whether you keep them for another week or two IMO so no harm give them another while before swapping them. Definitely don't go back to the same 'fitter' either.

ShivasIrons

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120222810#Comment_120222810

Remember a fitting is an information gathering session to find out what works best, there is no requirement to act on the fitting, so do a fitting again as the player improves and looks at the results.

kod12

Similar story for myself last year was fitted for the wrong steel shafts. numbers in the fitting can be over exaggerated on trackman. Took them on course no distance high spin too light. Took them back to the fitter and was given something more to my spec for no extra charge and they admitted their fault.

a fitting should be focused on the management of the bad shots and what distance and dispersion they go rather than the pure strike 1 or 2.

the fitter if anyway decent should offer a refit and swap the shafts

spacecoyote

When I went for my fit, I explicitly stated that in it. Current clubs fly when out the middle, but anything off was dropping massively.

So fitter said, OK, we'll focus on dispersion from front to back, less than left to right and longest distance.

Worked very well for me and was really happy with the outcome

tokens11

Thanks for all the advice so far. I went back to the range today and things were much better today. I adjusted the ball position to more forward in my stance as the lofts are a lot stronger than I'm used to, and that helped a lot. Also last time out I realized I was messing with my swing too much trying to hit a draw, today I toned it way down.

Im happy with the dispersion and I only duffed about 2 balls out of 100 which is good for me, the rest of my bad shots weren't too bad at all also.

But on the negative side, distance wise there is not a huge gap in distance between my 8 iron and 5 iron. I'll use a trackman or toptracer next time to get exact distances, but I think there was only about 15 yards difference for my carry for 8 iron v 5 iron, though maybe that speaks more about my ability or lack off to hit a 5 iron with a very strong loft.

Also still have doubts about the graphite shaft, not completely happy with it as I find it a bit whippy. Think a lightweight steel shaft would suit me better. Can any shaft be fitted to any brand of iron or are only a small selection available? From memory I don't remember there being an option for a lightweight steel shaft with this club, but maybe that's just what this retailer was stocking for it?

big_drive

I know Foregolf always say it takes 5/6 rounds to start feeling comfortable with new fitted clubs so you might like them more as you use them

e.r

Stick with them, it can only take one good shot on the course to start liking them & get confidence in them.

dan_ep82

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120222810#Comment_120222810

I was fitted in 2017 for jpx 900 forged 4-pw,fli hi 3i and m2 4 wood. I was off 21 then and got down to 9 last year and probably have a few more cuts in me.

I changed the 4w to a 3w this year the rest is the same. I got lessons and practiced quite a bit along side the clubs and would attribute more of my drop to that. The clubs did give me a level of confidence and eliminate a miss for me though and it definitely helped.