PGA Superstore Fitting Van Experience (Clubfitting)

I see the PGA SS at some locations offers a paid fitting service. You would hope it features well trained fitters. Anyone here with experiences? I am particularly interested in Downers Grove, IL.

http://www.pgatoursuperstore.com/fitting-van.jsp

I'm scheduled for a tour fitting this sat in Westbury NY and was wondering the same thing....

I bought my friend an iron fitting for Christmas at the Southlake TX store since he was really keen on getting fitted for some new irons. It was a waste of my money since the fitter basically just basically gave him stock sets and tried to push a sale on the one my friend liked the idea of coming into the fitting. It was basically the free fitting they give for buying a set, but charged for it since no clubs needed to be bought. They did use GC Quad and provided numbers which was nice, but the fitter seemed ignore the numbers for the most part. My friend ended up doing a Club Champion fitting afterwards and came away with some great clubs to match his swing. But with all fittings, it's only as good as the fitter you have so it will vary by location.

I'm scheduled for a tour fitting this sat in Westbury NY and was wondering the same thing....

Better to go to Pete’s Golf in Mineola.

The PGASS is a waste. All they are interested in is sales.

I'm scheduled for a tour fitting this sat in Westbury NY and was wondering the same thing....

 

Better to go to Pete's Golf in Mineola.

 

The PGASS is a waste. All they are interested in is sales.

I called Petes, they are a 3 week wait....

It will be worth the wait! Pete’s is the best we have here. Why spend the extra money? They will set you up right! Seriously!!!

I see the PGA SS at some locations offers a paid fitting service. You would hope it features well trained fitters. Anyone here with experiences? I am particularly interested in Downers Grove, IL.

 

http://www.pgatoursu...fitting-van.jsp

One of the guys in our group was fit in DG through the tour van. He went in with an open mind and ended up with an AP1/AP3 combo set. He played with them for the first time on Saturday and played really well. He was very pleased with the fitting process and more so the result.

It will be worth the wait! Pete's is the best we have here. Why spend the extra money? They will set you up right! Seriously!!!

Ok, thanks, I'll call & see if they have any cancellations....who should I schedule it with? Who did you get fit from?

Why do they call it a "Tour Van" fitting when its just some guy in their shop. If I didn't know, I would assume that they were bringing in some mobile fitting center with pro level fitters.

I check one of my local store and it list the local guy as the fitter.

In all my years of working in golf I've not once ever heard a positive thing about PGASS. I guess they're massive stores allow them to stock a crap load of stuff, but I wouldn't go there expecting good customer service.

I'm scheduled for a tour fitting this sat in Westbury NY and was wondering the same thing....

 

 

The PGASS is a waste. All they are interested in is sales.

Imagine that, a store wanting to actually make money! Why is this such a common thread on fitting topics, absolute shock that a fitter is going to try and make a sale after the fititng? Of course a fitter wants to make sales! That's their job! Sure the fitting fee is a great way to add revenue when sales are slow, but even at $100 per fit, x 7 fits per day, across 5 days, and no sales, the shop is only bringing in $182,000 in sales. Some busy days at my big box store did over $100k in sales in one day. The week before Christmas Costco makes on average about 1.2 million in sales PER DAY. And we are talking $182k per YEAR. After taxes, paying employees, paying off the demo matrix, rent, buying new balls, paying off the loan on the 2-3 Trackmans/GC Quads/Flightscopes, that isn't really a lot of money and they wouldn't make it much into year two with those kinds of numbers.

I'm scheduled for a tour fitting this sat in Westbury NY and was wondering the same thing....

 

 

The PGASS is a waste. All they are interested in is sales.

 

Imagine that, a store wanting to actually make money! Why is this such a common thread on fitting topics, absolute shock that a fitter is going to try and make a sale after the fititng? Of course a fitter wants to make sales! That's their job! Sure the fitting fee is a great way to add revenue when sales are slow, but even at $100 per fit, x 7 fits per day, across 5 days, and no sales, the shop is only bringing in $182,000 in sales. Some busy days at my big box store did over $100k in sales in one day. The week before Christmas Costco makes on average about 1.2 million in sales PER DAY. And we are talking $182k per YEAR. After taxes, paying employees, paying off the demo matrix, rent, buying new balls, paying off the loan on the 2-3 Trackmans/GC Quads/Flightscopes, that isn't really a lot of money and they wouldn't make it much into year two with those kinds of numbers.

You've obviously missed the point here. The OP is going for a fitting and I suggested what is probably the best fitter in the NY area that he should go to. At Pete's, you are NOT pressured into buying anything. They are patient and knowledgeable in what they do, to make sure you are matched to the best clubs for YOUR swing. It may be that his own clubs, with a bit of tweaking, could be the ones, or not.

I went there a few years ago because I was having trouble with my game. Turned out that I needed my Driver shortened 1" and my irons bent 1* up. There was NO pressure to buy the 'latest and greatest' stuff on the rack. That has been my experience with most big box stores. Plus, it is very rare to actually find a really qualified fitter at most of these places. Dick's? Ha! Golfsmith? don't make me laugh.

I'm scheduled for a tour fitting this sat in Westbury NY and was wondering the same thing....

 

 

The PGASS is a waste. All they are interested in is sales.

 

Imagine that, a store wanting to actually make money! Why is this such a common thread on fitting topics, absolute shock that a fitter is going to try and make a sale after the fititng? Of course a fitter wants to make sales! That's their job! Sure the fitting fee is a great way to add revenue when sales are slow, but even at $100 per fit, x 7 fits per day, across 5 days, and no sales, the shop is only bringing in $182,000 in sales. Some busy days at my big box store did over $100k in sales in one day. The week before Christmas Costco makes on average about 1.2 million in sales PER DAY. And we are talking $182k per YEAR. After taxes, paying employees, paying off the demo matrix, rent, buying new balls, paying off the loan on the 2-3 Trackmans/GC Quads/Flightscopes, that isn't really a lot of money and they wouldn't make it much into year two with those kinds of numbers.

 

You've obviously missed the point here. The OP is going for a fitting and I suggested what is probably the best fitter in the NY area that he should go to. At Pete's, you are NOT pressured into buying anything. They are patient and knowledgeable in what they do, to make sure you are matched to the best clubs for YOUR swing. It may be that his own clubs, with a bit of tweaking, could be the ones, or not.

I went there a few years ago because I was having trouble with my game. Turned out that I needed my Driver shortened 1" and my irons bent 1* up. There was NO pressure to buy the 'latest and greatest' stuff on the rack. That has been my experience with most big box stores. Plus, it is very rare to actually find a really qualified fitter at most of these places. Dick's? Ha! Golfsmith? don't make me laugh.

My store has a no pressure sales approach as well. I get where you're coming from. I would never pressure anyone to buy anything, but I can guarantee you I am going to suggest a potentially better club first before we discuss tweaking the original set. Now, if you come in saying you want to tweak your own clubs, then that is a different story and we will focus on that.

Putting aside the PGA Superstore for just a moment, let's agree that ANY club fitting experience is going to be dependent in large part on the skills of the club fitter. A good club fitting session is a beautiful thing; a bad one is at best a waste of time and money. I'm a BIG believer in club fitting, but I want to know a LOT about the guy I'm working with before I go, and even then I go in with the understanding that the final say is mine, not his.

To that end, I think that going in cold to a fitting in terms of what you know about the person doing the fitting is a complete crap shoot at the very best, and that would be true at any store, from a club pro, at a demo day, or whatever. I've had two really bad fittings in my life; one was from an employee at a PGA Tour Superstore, and the other from a Titleist rep and former teaching pro at a demo day. By contrast, I got a GREAT driver fitting in a big box store after I got several recommendations on the guy doing the fitting, and I know several club fitters at ranges or clubs who I trust implicitly.

As to the PGA SS: These are great retail stores; huge inventory, good prices, great on trades, great return policies, etc. I can kill an hour in there without buying a thing, and never miss a chance to go in. But going in cold to a fitting, whether in the store or with their "tour van" could go either way on you. If you can't find anything out on the guy who is doing the fitting, you might use some commonsense guidelines in the process.

1. take paper and pencil, and take notes as you go thru various options. Hit your current club(s) first and get benchmarks, then use the fitting number on the screen as a comparison to that. Take their raw numbers with a giant grain of salt, and just do comparison. Write down swing speeds, write down launch angles, write down carry distance and overall distance. Do the best you can with spin rates, but understand that if they aren't using Trackman, their LM is likely to be all over the place on this measurement.

2. Pay as much attention to dispersion as to distance; don't get hypnotized by the carry numbers. Just as it doesn't matter how hard you can throw a baseball if you can't throw a strike, it doesn't matter how far a golf ball goes if you can't find it. I'd almost be willing to say as an absolute rule that the longest driver combo you hit is NOT likely to be the correct fit for you; not always true, but you get the idea.

3. ASK QUESTIONS when the fitter changes heads or shafts! Ask him what he's looking for, what he likes, what he doesn't like, etc. If he's really good, he's going to be telling you this stuff anyway, but hold his feet to the fire on the process he's following. Good fitters LOVE talking about what they are doing; guys trying to make a sale asap don't.

Good luck!

Any updates on how a PGA fitting van experience went for you? Right now it's $50 which is a deal compared to GolfTec and Club Champion. Were you satisfied with your fitting? Did you try different shafts at different lengths suggested by the fitter? How knowledgeable was your fitter?

The fitter here in Scottsdale was professional and knowledgeable and there was not pressure to purchase. Any store can give you a good or poor experience and to say otherwise is folly.

That said, a higher end specialist such as Cool Clubs or Hot Stix is MORE LIKELY to have good fitters.

I went to the PGATSS in Irvine CA for an Apex 19 fitting. I was very impressed with the clubfitter there (Logan Z.), he had some insight into loft/lie and how it would bring in my power fade that I hadn't gotten in a couple of other fittings over the last 14 years. Although we were constrained with the Apex heads (it was a free promo fitting from Callaway/PGATSS) we were able to work with different lie heads and many shaft options. My other two fittings had been with well recommended independents, so I got the full treatment there. I don't doubt that Logan could do a very competent fitting even at PGATSS, although I do think that an outside fitting on grass would be much more valuable than a brick-and-mortar "TourVan"

I had an iron fitting at PGA Tour superstore in Downers Grove and it was great! My fitter was very knowledgeable and did a fantastic job. He mentioned the purchase price and their 90 day or whatever it is playability guarantee and that was it , absolutely no pressure. And I’d expect some sales pressure. I’ve had fittings at Club Champion and PXG and they were about the same with much more sales pressure. Like other posters have suggested, it’s all about the fitter.

What’s great about the pga SS is you have 30 day “trial” as long as it meets their crusty. You can hit/play with your clubs outside in real environment not just look at the numbers and if doesn’t meet your needs you can return for something else, as long the equipment is in reasonable condition.

If you have to offer customers a 30 day return policy, you're not very confident in your fitters ability.

The pga near me has an outstanding fitter in the tour van thing, lots of good players I know use him. A service like this is completely dependent upon the fitter’s skills, not the store itself.

In all my years of working in golf I've not once ever heard a positive thing about PGASS. I guess they're massive stores allow them to stock a crap load of stuff, but I wouldn't go there expecting good customer service.

We have a few PGASS here in Illinois and I have never had a bad experience there but that’s not to say it couldn’t happen I have seen some customers in there that I personally would have shown the door but were treated better than they deserved to be. You sir have now heard a positive experience from the PGASS

I went to the PGA SS in Plano, Texas this year and also Club Champion last year. They both try to sell you clubs for sure but the final decision is up to yourself. Bottom line is they are all just fitters, some better, some not as good, some are better at communication, some might have a bad day at work. The fitter at PGA SS is a better fitter than the one I had in Club Champion for my particular experience.

If you have to offer customers a 30 day return policy, you're not very confident in your fitters ability.

Remember golf insist played strictly indoors and by the numbers. Reality is sometimes great numbers don’t always perform the same in real environment

I did the Tour Van fitting at the DG PGASS two years ago.

Now, as stated repeatedly: Every fitter / person is different. And, one experience at one store is not indicative of a whole chain. Further, the person I dealt with may not even be there anymore. Finally, even though I'm a customer, I may have had a hand in triggering the service I received.

In my opinion, when I pay for a fitting I don't think there should be an expectation on the part of the fitter to make a sale. We started with driver, and I told the fitter I would probably not be buying anything that day. At that point, I felt the fitter kind of resigned himself to simply handing me clubs from OEM fitting carts. No asking for feedback or anything. At the end, he could only tell me the fairway woods I hit best, and he hadn't written down any of the other "best" choices. Finally, he told me he would e-mail me a summary, which he never did.

Obviously, and as stated previously, YMMV...

If you have to offer customers a 30 day return policy, you're not very confident in your fitters ability.