what should come first?

[PoeKingShankspeare]

What should come first, lessons or fitting?

 

I had my first lesson a month ago and have plans to sign up for a package lesson. I've improved greatly with my irons and woods. But, my driver (not fitted) is what I'm struggling with. My 4 hybrid carries 200, and sadly, my driver as well. So I'm kinda torn between getting fitted for a new driver before having lessons, or do the lessons then go get fitted for a driver.

 

Background with the driver. Using foot spray I hit in the center of the club face more often than missing it. (if I knew how to post a pic of me hitting over 20 balls and the marks left on the driver face I would post the pic lol) But, my issue is distance. If I don't try to swing to the moon, I am fairly accurate with the driver. But, because I only carry my driver 200-210 I'm tempted to go after it which I end up hitting a pull shot, or a left hook. My ball flight is just a little higher than my 3 wood and I see a lot of roll after carry - that's not enough for me.

 

My 7i ss is 78-79 mph with ball speed in the 104-111 mph range. Back spin < 6000. I'm not sure what my SS for the driver, and the set up for my driver is 9.5* neutral. Granted there are times I carry 215 or more, but it's not consistent. I've hit drivers with a total distance of 260. But I know I can get more. Guys at the range said I'm good to go, that the range balls don't show the true distance, but I'm not satisfied. What should I do first?

[jut111]

I'll always vote lessons over fitting

[RichieHunt]

Lessons.

 

If you want to get fitted, I would suggest getting a driver fitting early on with the lessons just to get you somewhere in the vicinity of the type of driver you will need. It doesn't need to be a high end, brand agnostic fitting...but just something to get you the right shaft, shaft length and weight. I say this because the driver is so important to permanently reducing your handicap by the largest margin and if you're badly fit for a driver it can reek havoc on trying to change your mechanics and ruin your confidence.

 

Drivers also tend to have the widest range of properties. For instance, you can get a wider range of shaft profiles (aka flex), shaft weights, head CoG, head weights, etc. With irons, the range of properties are a little more consistent, particularly if you have a certain style of iron head (MB, CB, GI) in mind. I think a good iron fitting is important, but I would save that to later on.

 

As you progress, I would wait until you're fairly satisfied to get a better, high end fitting. Fitting yourself when your swing is not even close to where you want it to be is really a waste of time and money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RH

[cardoustie]

driver lessons before driver fitting for sure

Surprised your 4h carry is that far, I swing 110 w the driver and my 4h flies 215

You must be adding loft and spin in your driver action and tossing away yards .. the good news is there is lots of room to go up !

[SomedayScratch]

Lessons first

Then tons of practice

Then more lessons

Then tons of practice

Then MAYBE fitting.

[dg_1983]

^this

[HitEmTrue]

driver lessons before driver fitting for sure

Surprised your 4h carry is that far, I swing 110 w the driver and my 4h flies 215

You must be adding loft and spin in your driver action and tossing away yards .. the good news is there is lots of room to go up !

 

He says he is getting a lot of roll with driver. So maybe 9.5 degrees isn't enough loft.

[ousuxndallas]

/lockthread

Lessons first

Then tons of practice

Then more lessons

Then tons of practice

Then MAYBE fitting.

[RobertBaron]

The only fitting I’d do for a rank beginner would be to standardize clubs back to stock length, loft, lie etc if you buy them used or get hand me downs.

 

No point in fitting a club to a swing you don’t have yet and standard clubs are fine for 95% of all golfers.

[Millbrook]

I had the same dilemma and went for lessons and I'm glad I did.

 

However I've seen 3 fitters (won't bore you about the first 2) and got consistently better results with all 3 compared to the clubs I use.

 

The shafts of my current clubs are totally unsuitable for my swing - far too stiff. In the 3 fittings I hit 5 different makes of clubs 2 clubs longer just because the shafts suited me better.

 

I would go for lessons but see if there is a way of assessing how suitable your current clubs are.

[PoeKingShankspeare]

Update: I switched out the stock shaft and installed a matrix ozik xconn, butt cut to my magic number (length) and I'm in the experimenting process. Also with a little help from a friend, we tweaked my grip pressure, set up, ball position (I was too far forward), and my release. Maybe it's a one time thing or something promising, but I was able to carry around 215-225.

 

I also tried a ping G400?? driver, M4, and M2 drivers owned by friends. Out of the three, the Ping went the furthest easily. I was shocked how far it went that I handed it back after 3 swings. It was much further than my driver. The M4 was little too stiff and heavy for my liking. I couldn't hit it. The M2 was about 215-220 range similar to the way I was hitting my driver.

 

Anyway, I'll set up my (continuing) lessons in two weeks and wait till fall to get fitted for a driver. For now, I should be okay.