You’ve Made a Great Decision
You’ve decided that you want new clubs, and you took a very important step: you signed up for a club fitting! Maybe it’s your first one, or maybe this is a regular practice for you when upgrading your set. Either way, you want to leave your fitting knowing that you got the most out of your experience. More importantly, you want to know you got the right clubs for you! So here are four tips on how to get the most out of your fitting experience.
Number 1: Get a Practice Session in
This might seem obvious but especially early in the calendar year you’d be surprised how many fittings start with “I haven’t touched a club since July!” Let me say this sends shivers down a fitter’s spine, but more importantly you are doing an injustice to yourself. Best case scenario, you miraculously have your best swings that day. Worst case scenario, swinging a golf club feels entirely foreign to you. Obviously that’s not going to result in confident swings or positive results. In order to avoid this, get some practice in before your fitting. This doesn’t mean you have to be in “mid-season form”, but at least you feel comfortable making swings going into your session.
Number 2: Bring your Current Clubs
You’re looking to replace these things, why bring them? There are a couple of good reasons to bring your current set. First, it allows you to start with a familiar club in an unfamiliar setting. For some people, swinging indoors for the first time can feel claustrophobic at the beginning. Starting with a club that you know already helps to alleviate some of this anxiety, and allows you to settle in to your fitting nicely. The second reason to bring your clubs is to make your fitter beat your current set up. If you don’t bring your current gamer, how do you know you are actually gaining anything? The last thing we want as fitters is to sell you clubs that perform the same or even worse than your current set up. We can set a baseline with your current clubs, identify areas that need improvement, and address them with a new setup.
Number 3: Do Your Research
It is okay to come in to a fitting with some club models that have caught your eye. This can be a starting point for your fitting. That being said, don’t limit your fitting to a Golf Digest List, or what your buddy plays. There are lots of good options out there. It’s also important to do your research so you have an idea of cost of current models of clubs. (See our previous article on price here: https://pullthepinlancaster.com/2023/02/fitted-golf-clubs-how-expensive-and-is-it-worth-it/) A fitter’s job is to maximize your numbers but ultimately you control the fitting and how it goes. For instance, if your budget for a new set of irons is $1,200, tell your fitter that before you start. That way your fitter can get you into the best setup for you within your budget! No one wins if you get to the end of the fitting, you and the fitter are happy with the results, until you get to the register and all the blood rushes out of your face. You end up leaving paying a fitting fee, no new clubs or worse leave with a set of clubs you know aren’t as good as those others you hit outside your budget. This can be avoided with a little research and an honest conversation with your fitter.
Number 4: Trust Your Fitter
Find a fitter that is certified, has good reviews and has a long history of doing fittings. If you can do this, then its time to let go and let your fitter guide the way. As mentioned in tip number three, it’s okay to do your research, but your fitter does this all the time. Your fitter is seeing in sessions what clubs are performing. They may throw a brand or model in your hand that you hadn’t considered, and that’s okay. A matter of fact, that’s why you hired them. That may very well be the club that you have been looking for, you just didn’t know it yet. The MyGolfSpy’s and Golf Digest Hot Lists of the world are phenomenal resources, but ultimately, every golfer is different. What works for your buddy, may perform awfully for you. So if your fitter is putting something in your hand, trust that they are seeing something in the numbers to guide that decision. It very well may end up being the best club you ever hit.
Conclusion:
Signing up for a fitting after deciding you are buying new clubs is possibly the best decision you can make. Getting the best results from it takes some effort on your part though. Follow these tips to get the most out of your upcoming fitting. For more tips like this and to stay up to date with Pull the Pin, follow us on our socials on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pullthepinlanc/ or our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pullthepinlanc .
