A Golf Club Fitting Guide for Golfers of All Skill Levels
If you are in the market for new golf equipment, then you’ve probably considered getting fitted for clubs. But does golf club fitting make sense for every golfer? Will the perceived investment of time and money translate to better results on the course? In this golf club fitting guide, we will answer all the questions golfers have about customized golf clubs.
Is it Worth Getting Fitted for Golf Clubs?
How Much Does it Cost?
How Much Difference Does it Make?
Do you Bring Your Own Clubs?
How Long Should a Club Fitting Take?
What is the Most Important Part of Club Fitting?
What Happens After the Fitting?
Is it Worth Getting Fitted for Golf Clubs?
The short answer here is yes. Custom clubs aren’t just for the pros and low handicappers; in fact, most beginner and intermediate level golfers who are serious about their game can see more benefit with a custom set of clubs. That’s because standard golf clubs are manufactured with an “average” golfer in mind, meaning someone of standard height, arm length, wrist-to-ground length, and physical ability.
If you’ve ever bought a suit off the rack, you know how valuable tailoring can be to the overall fit and appearance. Golf clubs are no different. A competent golf club fitter uses various data points and computer design technology to customize the clubs to fit not only your unique measurements, but things like your swing speed, launch angle, and impact positions.
Playing with standard clubs may force you to make suboptimal adjustments to your swing and posture, and this can adversely affect your game. But is it worth the additional investment to get a fitting? Keep reading, because we have good news for you.
Club fitters make many adjustments personalize your golf clubs.
How Much Does it Cost to Get Fitted for Golf Clubs?
Golf is no doubt an expensive sport. If you’re willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for new clubs, is it worth the extra expense to get fitted? The good news is that club fitting may not cost as much as you think, and in some cases may even be a complimentary service when buying a brand new set of clubs.
According to data from Out of Bounds Golf, the average cost to get your clubs fitted is $100 per club, or $275 for an entire bag. But that pertains to fitting an existing set. If you are in the market for brand new clubs, you’ll likely get the fitting fee (generally in the neighborhood of $150/hour) waived or reduced if you buy those new sticks from the fitter. But before you commit to a retailer, take some time to do market research. Search google for “golf club fitting near me” and call around to see who is offering the best deals. Ask about the process and request transparent pricing for a full understanding of total cost.
Showing up to a club fitting session without a budget in mind is unhelpful for everyone. While technically a premium service, it does not have to cost you an arm and a leg. If you're in the market for 14 shiny new custom clubs, that's great! But if you just want to get some weights added, get your clubs regripped, or find the perfect shaft length for your swing, let your fitter know ahead of time.
Brand Agnostic Club Fitters vs. Brand Rep Fitters
Not all club fitters are created equal. In fact, there are two basic types of fitters: retailers like Golf Galaxy who are agnostic on the brand, and brand fitters like Titleist or Mizuno for golfers who have a specific manufacturer in mind.
Whether you are open to any brand or have a specific manufacturer in mind, the fitting process is pretty similar. Obviously if you get fitting by a brand rep, your choices are limited to that particular brand. An advantage of the brand rep is their superior knowledge about each and every club head, shaft, and grip they sell. On the other hand, you’ll have less selection in terms of club styles, shafts, and weights.
Choosing a brand agnostic fitter may be better for average golfers, as you’ll experience a much wider selection of clubs to choose from. And keep in mind that you don’t have to commit to just one brand for your entire golf bag. You might find that Mizuno irons are best, prefer TaylorMade woods to Cobra, and feel more confident with Titleist wedges than a set from Cleveland. Feel free to mix and match!
The bottom line is that club fitting is all about feel and confidence. The end result will be clubs that fit you and your game based on intricate measurements provided by flight trackers, body type, and swing analysis. Once you find the right set of sticks for your unique game, you can work on mechanics and worry less about adapting your swing to an ill-fitting club.
How Much Difference Does Club Fitting Make?
At the end of the day, fitted clubs will only be as good as the golfer who swings them. But if you are swinging clubs that are too short or too long, you’re going to be fighting an uphill battle. That’s why leading experts say that club fitting makes a bigger difference for amateur golfers than low handicappers. In fact, research suggests that 87 percent of golfers who use fitted clubs are able to reduce their handicap by at least 10 percent.
This means that higher handicappers can actually benefit more from club fitting than single digit players, in terms of strokes gained. The most important benefit that club fitting makes is club length, as the average golfer playing with off-the-rack clubs is likely to be using clubs that are either too long or too short for them.
Now that we’ve covered the benefits of club fitting and dispelled any misconceptions about price and value to your game, let’s look at the process of getting custom fit golf clubs.
What Does a Golf Club Fitting Consist Of?
A fitting session might feel a bit foreign to golfers unaccustomed to boutique experiences, so to put you at ease, we wanted to give you the lowdown on what to expect at your first session. The first thing to note is that a club fitting is not a lesson. The fitter is going to look at your swing as it currently stands - any swing tips they could offer could actually be a disservice, because a temporary adjustment wouldn’t necessarily carry over into a permanent change.
So, if you are going into a fitting thinking that custom clubs will fix your slice, think again. While fitted clubs can help you address tendencies, they aren’t a fix for improper swing mechanics. If you hate your swing, you’ll be better off getting lessons to fix glaring errors before you go down the path of custom fitted clubs. And remember: there is no substitute for solid golf course strategy.
A club fitting session collects data to create a perfect set of clubs for you.
Step 1: Understanding Your Game
When you show up for your session, a competent golf club fitter should ask what your main objectives for the session are, and whether you have any other issues you would like to address. This is a good time to bring up injuries that you have, as well as what your budget is. They will ask you about your style of play, your handicap, and if there are any likes/dislikes in your club setup. Be sure to tell them about the sticks that you really love, or have a strong preference for, as there might be something more than the placebo effect built into that particular club.
Step 2: Measurement
The next step is to collect measurements of your person. This includes height, hand size, wrist-to-ground, and various other kinetic measurements that define how every golfer moves/approaches their swing. This includes measuring your current clubs.
Step 3: Swing Analytics
After they understand your game and your personal metrics, they’ll want to analyze your swing. You’ll warm up by hitting some practice balls, and then use special equipment like mats and clubhead tape to determine your contact points. Many will use technology like TrackMan sensors to collect data points on swing speed, ball flight, spin and launch angle to inform your fitting. When you take swings, make sure you mimic as closely as possible your typical golf pre-shot routine.You want your analytics to reflect your actual game, so approach each swing like you would on the course.
Some specialists have indoor/virtual bays, others have an outdoor, range-style set up. In either case, the fitting rep will walk you through whatever tech they have to capture every aspect of your swing, and show you how they use that data to create the specifications for your custom clubs.
Step 4: Customizing Your Clubs
Once the fitting specialist has all the data in their system, they will provide you with recommendations. If you are only interested in fitting clubs you already have, they’ll recommend changes like shortening the shafts, bending the loft angles, updating your grips, and changing the weight of the club heads. As cited above, this can cost around $100 per club, and they can typically do this in house.
If you are in the market for entirely new equipment, the fitter will have you try out different sets of clubs to determine your personal preferences. The costs here can vary, but like we mentioned above, many fitters will waive or discount the cost of the fitting if you purchase new equipment from their shop. Price can also depend on the level of customization you desire. Non-functional customizations like color choice or engraving your clubs may not be waived, so make sure you ask for transparent pricing on all the options you have to stay within your budget.
Do You Bring Your Own Clubs to a Fitting?
You won't be the only thing that a club fitter measures, as the sticks in your bag have their own story to tell. Remember: data is the name of the game. The fitter will measure your current clubs to get an accurate shaft length, pinpoint your loft and lie angles, club head and total weight, and shaft frequency (which basically equates to stiffness).
Even if you are only going to get new wedges, or a new driver, it can be helpful for the fitter to know what golf clubs you prefer playing with. While there might not be an opportunity to swing anything outside of the scheduled session, you never know. Additionally, you might just find that a fitter wants to know how you swing your 7-iron to get more data on how best to fit you for a new wedge.
Dress the Part
The purpose of a fitting session is to mimic, as closely as possible, to how you play golf in the real world. That means bring a glove if you use one. Wear your golf shoes and whatever else you typically wear on the course. A fitting session isn't about trying out new things, so leave all your new golf gadgets at home. Just bring the stuff that you usually play with.
In the end, getting fitted for golf clubs is all about numbers, so the more data points a club fitter has about how you play, the closer they’ll be able to match your style of play. Along with your clubs, bring a box of the balls that you prefer. If they have a fresh "control" box they use for all their fitting sessions, that's great; but it is better to come prepared. Recreating your actual swing and playing conditions will yield better results at the end of the day.
Try to make the fitting session as realistic as possible.
How Long Should A Club Fitting Take?
If you are getting a full club fitting, you can plan on the process taking up to 4 hours, while individual club fittings can take about an hour. Collecting data from every aspect of your swing and technique, and the effect that has on the flight path of the ball, is a primary goal of the fitting session. The more time you spend in the session, the more data the fitter will be able to collect, and the better your results will be.
How Long Does it Take to Receive Your Fitted Clubs?
The lead time on your new or adjusted clubs really depends on the scope of work. Obviously, adjusting existing clubs will take anywhere from a few working days up to a couple of weeks. A full custom bag needing precision work from skilled craftspeople might take a month or two. For this reason, many golfers prefer to get their fittings done in the offseason when their local golf courses are closed.
What is the Most Important Part of Club Fitting?
Hitting the ball farther and making more birdies is a goal of many golfers, but it’s unhelpful as far as getting fitted for golf clubs is concerned. While better scoring and greater distance will surely be an outcome of clubs that fit your game, the most important aspects of club fitting are more technical than that. For this reason, the conversation you have with the fitter prior to the data collection is extremely important.
Be sure to tell your fitter where you want to improve – the more specific the better. Instead of wanting a lower handicap, mention that you'd like to hit more greens. Loft angles of your irons might make it easier to hold a green with your middle irons by sacrificing distance for a higher ball flight. The distance you seek might not come on every club, but instead be achieved by replacing a long iron with an easier-to-hit hybrid.
Instead of wanting to bomb it off the tee, describe what happens when you miss. Small tweaks like the degree of the club face or the angle of the club head can help you control your slice or hook and give you more distance while shortening the variance of your shot dispersion.
The bottom line here is that competent club fitters understand how to fit your game to the clubs in your bag. The more specific you are with your goals, the more you'll benefit from getting fitted for golf clubs.
Be specific and honest about what you want from your golf game.
What Happens After Your Golf Club Fitting?
Getting fitted for golf clubs doesn't stop after the fitting session. Be sure to check that the company you choose offers adjustment appointments, and has a warranty to back up their work.
Return Appointment
When your clubs are ready to pick up, almost every golf club fitting specialist will have you back in the shop to make sure that the custom clubs are performing how they should. They will check if your new clubs have made the improvements in the areas that you specified, whether that's in dispersion, length, spin, or launch angle. This (usually complimentary) appointment is where they will make any last minute tweaks to the clubs, and send you home with some sticks that promise better numbers in the real world.
Understand Warranties and Read the Fine Print
The real world is, in the end, where all this time and money needs to pay off. As much as getting fitted for golf clubs is supposed to mimic your on-course performance, we all know that a good day on the range can translate into a miserable round of actual golf. Same goes for a club fitting/adjustment session.
Before you go ahead with getting fitted for golf clubs, check what the warranty policy says about any post-adjustment adjustments. Further, make sure they are willing to stand behind their work for a reasonable amount of time. If you've ordered a custom club, and the head flies off six months later, will they make it right? Take your time to read their customer reviews, and any fine print in their marketing before committing to a custom club fitting.
Closing Thoughts on Golf Club Fitting
In the end, how you get fitted for golf clubs is up to you. If you are a Mizuno loyalist, the company likely has a brand rep near you that can help craft an exacting set of sticks. If you are brand-agnostic, take the time to swing with as many different makes as possible. Don’t feel like every club in your bag needs to be from the same manufacturer, and don’t fall victim to branding. Paying more for Titleist when a less expensive brand feels better is a decision you will regret. And be realistic about the results. A custom fitted set of golf clubs is only as good as the person swinging them. Take lessons, put in the practice time, and remember that golf is a game you cannot win…regardless of how expensive your kit is.
We hope this golf club fitting guide will make you better prepared for this exciting adventure, and in the end the investment you make will pay dividends in your golfing years to come. As we've mentioned again and again, the 'how' of getting fitted for golf clubs isn't nearly as important as the 'why'.