Club fitting

Had my heart set on going to Foregolf but I think I am just going to get fitted and try and get something on the second hand market to similar specs to match. Maybe get lofts and lie's adjusted if needed. Any recommendations for this fitting? Munster area would be great!

How much did that cost .

Yeah but if you have no interest in buying, you are effectively tire kicking and taking a fitting slot from someone who is going to drop a ball of cash on new clubs. While you may not agree, they are booked out the door and have been for the last year, so it's the only option I'd say as there is a limited number of fitting slots available. If everyone one day just come in for fittings, it would only equate to 700/800 euro and no sales; balance this against people who already know they want new clubs that are willing to pay the deposit where you could be potentially talking in excess of 10k in clubs alone that day.

I spoke to them too and they said it's likely later this year they will start fittings only as I want to see if I can tweak the bag but will only change if I see benefits.

Yeah I think this is their rationale. I was committed to changing irons having never been fit for them before so the €200 deposit didn’t bother me but I think if you are doing the full fitting I think you get value even if you only order a driver or a hybrid off them. I didn’t ask for the specs when I was leaving, slipped my mind but it’s not on the sheet they give you and I’d have to assume this is so you don’t get the fitting and then go order elsewhere. I emailed them after and they gave me the shafts for what I’d ordered, lies etc. were standard for me.

I can see why people would like to just get fit and buy the clubs elsewhere but I have to think that isn’t their model. I think even McGuirks have a charge for fitting if you don’t order which is only fair. I’m not aware of anyone doing trackman fittings to provide you with specs to order somewhere else but there’s probably a market for it going by comments here, wonder is €100 for an hour fit enough to cover the costs? How would you get access to club heads and shafts for example if nobody buys off you?

I think the problem there is the person doing the fitting needs to have every big brands clubs and shaft options available for you to try out. They would have to be a retailer to get that is my understanding as the likes of Callaway, TM, Titleist etc. have strict rules about who can and can't sell their stuff. They aren't going to provide stock to a guy who basically allows people to try their gear and then buy it somewhere else or second hand in the same spec as that just isn't their business model. They want you fitting their clubs and the person buying there and then not going off to try find the same specs somewhere else. I'm not sure what the fitter would get enough out of it for that to be a viable business either, I would say there's a reason nobody is doing it.

It would be a good service I agree I just don't think its that realistic.

It's a funny one - the fitter makes money on someone buying irons, not the fitting. If they're not busy it's fine to get a hundred euro that you otherwise wouldn't, but if there's someone looking for a fitting who intends to buy irons then you're probably missing out on a few hundred euro of profit by not doing that person. And I still think people have to remember how long things were closed down for. The fitters were closed for a time and at reduced capacity for a long time too. They've missed out on a serious percentage of their annual income over the past two years. I wouldn't begrudge them trying to maximise their revenue at the moment.

Yeah I can see the reasoning behind it, but I'm still not fully convinced tbh. I mean what's the mark up or margin on new clubs ? My understanding (which could be completely wrong) is that its pretty small. I agree they'll make the bulk of it through the premium extras etc. and I get that shops have greater overheads and investment in facilities etc., but I'm not sure it wouldn't work. You can walk into a store and pay X amount for a fit. OK its debatable if its as "good" as with other fitters.

Meh, maybe I'm just a bit cynical about some fitters / fitting models 😀.

Got fitted a while back at a club fitting day, 30 minutes, bash the 7 iron, then the driver, I felt it was a bit rushed. It was an upgrade from ~20 year old entry level clubs, there seems to be a bit of an improvement over the old clubs alright.

The guy was telling me the new clubs send the ball further but really for me its just a case of hitting me old 6 iron or my new 7 iron.

They helped my game in terms of forgiveness on mishits but I've gone from 20 yo entry level to 2022 higher end so I'd say if a person has premium clubs from 10 years ago they would not see much difference.

If people don't have the money then a second hand set are probably as good, without fitting.

Its not just about the mark up on clubs, it's the deals they would have with the manufactures would be the problem with that model. I doubt Titleist, Ping etc would be too happy if there was an independent fitter taking bookings for a small fee so people could get their specs on certain clubs so they can then go and buy them 2nd hand on golf bidder or the likes! Don't get me wrong, I would love if there was a service like this but we wont be seeing it anytime soon...

It devalues their brand, all of the big brands advocate getting fit and have made that a massive part of their marketing and promotion of their clubs. They don’t want people buying their clubs off the shelf anymore, that’s why physical stock in stores is so low these days. Think about it like this, let’s say you get fit by joe into a shaft, you could easily buy what you think is the same shaft online (Ventus velocore for example versus the ventus that comes in some stock TM drivers). So the club turns up and you can’t hit it, who are you going to blame? It’s in the brands interests to make sure you get the right clubs and fit so that you think their clubs are the best. That’s why they do all the certified fitting stuff, the independent guy wouldn’t fit that model.

Im not saying the brands are right by any means but that is the industry now.

That sounds like a bit of a nonsense. Considering these folks are about the only people with proper data tracking and accuracy, and obligation to buy is pretty sketchy for me. I've done fittings now in Halpenny, McGuirks and Concept golf, that were all just paying for the session. If you then go buy there is some discounts worked in. I only made a purchase from one of those sessions. Although Concept Golf is probably where I'm going to keep returning to. A little more expensive, but then it's with one of the best fitters going.

Say this video a while ago and while it makes sense and I wouldn't say misleading, I don't think it's an example of some scam or misleading stuff going on. I watched it again there, and noticed (like I did first time) Mark doesn't share any information on the player in terms of handicap or ability.

But you can tell from the drives he is hitting he is probably a mid handicapper. There is inconsistency, slices, shots low of the face. Can you really blame a fitter when they are looking at a data range that is pretty sparse, to try pick the best ones? Like fittings are an hour, or in some cases 30 mins. And the idea is getting a baseline as best you can from the player. Can't be there for 20 minutes waiting for a player to hit five good shots. But thats also part of the point of fitting. What happens, to your bad shots.

Like recent fittings I've been in, sure I'm interested in seeing what is happening with my good strikes, but I'm more interested in the bad ones or misses and what a club is doing.

You also see halfway through he starts getting a lesson. Which is cool, and I've heard of folks getting that a bit during a fitting which I think is great. And that is kind of what fittings allow too. 'Sure we can find something here that is going to work, but there is any underlying problem you need to address that a club won't fix'

I don't know what the current consensus on fittings are. It's so accessible now which is great. Beforehand it was very much you didn't go near fitting until you were like a HC or like 11 and below. Because you had (in theory) consistency on your ball striking and a repeatable swing.

In reality the player in that video will benefit more from a lesson (like the intervention he got during) than slightly different shafts or a different clubhead. Need to appreciate as well though we are grown adults, so if you go for a fitting looking to buy a club, your going to be sold a club in most situations :D

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Hard to say why this might have happened without more details. I have heard of people getting clubs they were fitted for and not working for them but typically that’s the result of a bad fitter or the person not taking the right approach to the fitting, not saying either applies to you though. Can you tell us what you were fit for and why?

I said the same thing until very recently but a couple of lessons and a tidy up with a pro has me back hitting it better than ever. I was the problem, not the club