I want to describe what is Professional or True Custom Fitting. I will first point out what it is NOT. True custom club fitting is not:
Attending a Demo Day at your local driving range and hitting clubs until you find something you like.- Answering five or six questions on a web site to be ‘fit’.
- A cart filled with different golf clubs sitting in a pro shop or on the practice range.
- Something that can be accomplished from start to finish in 20 minutes or less, regardless if you are hitting balls on a launch monitor.
- Done by altering a limited number of specifications of an existing standard made set of golf clubs.
- Buying a driver with an adjustable hosel that can only alter two of the thirteen key club fitting specifications and only within a very limited range of options.
In the following paragraphs, I would like to describe Professional or True Custom Club Fitting. It's what we do at Engineered Golf. We want to fit you for conditions that you will be encountering on the golf course. We dial in all 23 major and minor club specifications to match your unique golfing "DNA".
Many golfers do not strike the ball in the same manner when using a lie board versus turf conditions. We prefer to test for lie angle using a combination of visual checks on ball flight, recorded launch monitor data showing shaft plane at impact, and measuring inclined angles of line transfer from the ball to face impact labels. For outdoor range fitting sessions, we want you to swing naturally from turf conditions rather than adjusting for harsher impact conditions with a lie angle board.
I don't think you can remember nearly 100 shots with different heads, shafts and club lengths, that you hit in a club fitting session. An accurate launch monitor provides an historical record of the fitting data. There are many irons in your set, each with a purpose of hitting the required target that you encounter on each shot. Without seeing your test shots finish in the landing area, a visual fitting is unable to record which club combination is the best fit for you. Recorded data from the launch monitor, when properly analyzed, will confirm your ideal club specifications.
Your grip selection, and sizing should be tested and confirmed before ending your hitting golf balls during your fitting sessions. Making a random grip selection after the session isn’t wise; that would be like completing shaft testing, and then building your set with another shaft model that you may think could be better. The proof is in the testing.
Combining an OEM cart fitting with a launch monitor would be close to ideal. Visual fitting with an OEM fitting cart is far superior to just buying off the rack. Even trying different clubs at a demo day doesn't match up to a cart fitting. However, without sounding too critical, there is a flaw involved with purchasing clubs with any OEM fitting. The finalized fitting club from the testing session does not go directly to the club making assembly. That means there is no exact template of the test club outlining each of the 21 unique club characteristics for the club build. An OEM cart fitting lacks the continuity of assuring the fitting clubs and your build are exactly matched.
Just like a few rare OEM fittings, Engineered Golf retains all the club fitting and launch monitor data, but most importantly, the test club for the build-out. Each specification is meticulously matched and checked with the template club as the build progresses. What you've finally tested is exactly what you will end up playing. I am sure you've heard of someone buying clubs after Demo Day only to complain that they weren't at all like the club they had tested. The same thing will happen with an OEM fitting.
Engineered Golf provides a final tweaking of your new set after you have used them for a few rounds. We adjust each of your clubs in your iron set for proper distance gapping between each iron. That’s not included in a fitting cart build, which, when you think of it, is essential when buying your next set of clubs that way. There is no extra cost for the after purchase adjustment and tweaking service.
We fully guarantee that the golf clubs we fit & build for you will perform as you desire. If they don't provide the expected results, we will either rebuild or make the necessary adjustments until we're both happy with the performance.
So, you have a fully guaranteed process for your true custom fit clubs. It makes good economic sense to acquire your clubs in this fashion, and eliminates the risk of your clubs not performing like your demo club(s). It may be a little bit more expensive but you will definitely use a true custom fit set for a longer period than any other set of clubs. You won't be randomly chasing the search for the perfect golf club(s). That saves you a lot of money over the long term!
