Green Grass Golf Shop

Like all of my articles here in my Friday Fitting files, this is a question I get a lot during my time as a fitting expert chatting online. First and foremost, if you only read this much, understand that you can most likely go to any local golf course or country club, talk to the pro there and schedule a private fitting that will far exceed just about any fitting at a big box retailer. What I’ve found in my experience the last few years in a customer facing role for a major manufacturer is that more people than not think that fittings only occur under two circumstances. Most I speak with think you can either visit your local Golf Galaxy and PGA Tour Superstore big box retail locations, or hopefully your favorite club manufacturer will visit one of your local golf courses for a demo day or fitting event, and that is it. When you get your fitting at a retail location like that, the chances are quite high that you are going to be fit by someone who is not certified to fit you. If you don’t schedule a fitting, rather you just walk in and ask to test clubs, the assistance that you have for that process may not be a golf professional, they may not be experts in ball or swing mechanics, they are not trained by any manufacturer that made the clubs you are testing. A lot of employees, and this is not an insult to them at all, it is not their job to fit you expertly for your golf clubs, they are there because they love golf and love getting paid to work in the industry (and couldn’t get a job at any local golf courses in time for the golf season). In my opinion, walking into Golf Galaxy with no appointment and complaining about a bad fitting experience is along the same lines of walking in to McDonald’s and complaining about poor table service, it’s not what they are built to do. That is not to say every single Golf Galaxy employee knows nothing about the game, if you schedule a fitting with one of their Master Fitters those guys generally know what they are talking about almost as well as your fitters at Demo Days, same goes for most fittings at 2nd Swing, PGA Tour Superstore, and any other big box retailer. The big difference between a demo day fitter and a retail fitter is the experience with that specific manufacturer, a Titleist rep is going to know a ton more about that Titleist club than your retail fitter, but your retail fitter is obviously going to know way more about Taylormade and Ping clubs than the Titleist rep. Also as a quick aside, 2nd Swing is by far the best big box retail fitting space out there. You are always fitting with someone who knows their stuff, the fitting is free with the purchase of clubs, like most golf courses and demo days. They also fit for used and pre-owned gear on top of new and pre-released, I recommend them highly over all other big boxes. The issue I see most often is the process golfers are going through to get their fittings, by just walking in and effectively fitting themselves with a retail employee there helping them swap out heads and shafts and looking at distance and perceived accuracy alone on their imperfect launch monitors. So let’s instead talk about the best places to go, the fitting process you can expect there, and most importantly what you can expect to spend!

Okay so let’s start with the biggest and best, (and most expensive) the “Studio Fitting.” All major manufacturers, from Titleist, to Callaway, PXG, Taylormade, all have their own fitting studio locations that you can pay to visit for a Tour level fitting experience. This is one of the few locations where you will always pay a fitting fee for the experience on top of the cost of the clubs that you purchase through that fitting, the other location we’ll certainly touch on in the end. With a Studio Fitting experience you are effectively a Tour Pro for a day, or however long you are there depending on what you are fitting for. You will hit just about every head and shaft combination that manufacturer has to offer if that is what you want to do. You will do so with premium golf balls, the model that you use on the course, on a launch monitor and probably weight distribution mat, maybe even motion capture sensors. At some you’ll fit with a full set rather than just a 6 or 7 iron, almost always outdoors on the nicest range you’ve ever seen, being mostly in climates that are warm year-round, with some of the best fitting professionals in the game. You will also pay for that privilege, some fitting experiences are going to run you upwards of $200-300 just for a driver or fairway wood fitting, or a single hybrid, even more for an iron set, and then some for a full bag. You could certainly walk away from a studio experience having spent $1000 on that experience alone, on top of the retail cost of the clubs you’re walking away with. Having said that, you are getting what you are paying for, this will be the most comprehensive fitting that you can get, whether it’s overkill or not for most players is another story, but overkill or not the experience alone is worth the fee for most golfers.

There is one type of fitting that I think is hands down the best option, where I recommend anyone who needs new clubs make their next fitting appointment, and that is a local golf course or country club. You can even find some really good driving ranges as well, but in my opinion at these locations you are getting the best of both worlds, especially if you are unsure if your swing is consistent enough for a fitting. With your local golf courses, country clubs and most driving range complexes you are either being fit by their Head Professional, Director of Instruction, or one of their Assistant Professionals. Either way, you are getting a fitting with someone who is also a certified golf instructor, someone who understands unique swing mechanics better than someone who only fits for golf clubs to whatever your swing might be, no matter how good or bad it might be. They can tell you, if you so desire, whether or not you are ready for a fitting, or they think a few lessons and minor swing changes first might be a better idea first. There have been MANY fittings that I did with students at my last few clubs where I recommended they don’t buy anything at all. Being both a golf instructor and fitting professional means you are not a salesperson, you’re not there to sell or up-sell anything to anyone, only to make sure the person in front of you gains strokes and enjoys the game more from the experience you are providing. If that means that you recommend the person there to buy golf clubs not spend any more money on golf clubs, that is going to be the recommendation. Most of these locations also only charge a fitting fee as a deposit of sorts, meaning that would go toward the price of clubs you ordered as a result, effectively getting you the fitting for free. Having said that, though, you are the one paying for that fitting time, or at least putting the deposit down. If you don’t want to hear you aren’t ready for a fitting, and just want clubs fit to your current swing motion, that is also something your local Head Pro can do for you, and that is why I say they will be the best of both worlds. With a fitting at a golf course you are getting a professional fitting from a certified golf club fitter and golf instructor, and one that you can be absolutely certain is not there to sell you anything. I’ve never worked at a course, nor have I heard of a golf professional at a green grass golf shop (who doesn’t own the golf shop, which very few pros do these days) that makes any sort of commission from the club manufacturer with which they are on staff. There are no incentives to sell you or up-sell you any premium shafts to make more on the sale, the only motivation is to make you better, make the game easier for you.

And finally, most importantly, there are snakes out there, there are fitting studios that promise a “studio fitting experience” who are only there to sell you the most expensive exotic shaft that works for you. I know this from personal experience, from having interviewed with this company as a potential fitting professional, where I was told what I would have to do in a fitting, and what my exact job would be during those appointments. Club Champion is this retailer, and I recommend anyone that asks me for fitting advice to avoid them like the plague, whether they ask where they should go or not. Not only are you being charged for the privilege of just walking through the door, they are not trained to fit you for the shaft that best fits your swing, that is not what their boss wants them to do. When I interviewed with Club Champ I was told, in no uncertain terms, my job is to be a salesperson, not just a fitter. I would be required if not highly encouraged by the commission structure and my superiors to fit someone for the most expensive exotic shaft option that most closely fit their swing motion and gave them good enough numbers. If a stock shaft gave absolutely perfect numbers, and a $500 up-charge exotic shaft gave numbers that were manageable, it would be my job to convince you that the $500 exotic shaft was the better way to go over the cheaper option that gave you better numbers. That made me, and still makes me ill to think there are golfers out there being robbed and not even getting the most comprehensive fitting experience, so I steer everyone as far clear of slimy retailers like that that I possibly can. When you put your trust in someone who is supposed to be professional only to be taken advantage of like that, there is no place in the game for that sort of business practice. Fitting locations like that are not interested in growing the game or making it more accessible, they are not to be trusted. Please if you have the option to work with any other fitting location, do that, I would rather see my students try to fit themselves at a Golf Galaxy than be convinced to spend $1,500 on a driver with a shaft that’s not even a perfect fit for them, that makes me sick…