Club Champion Fitting Today

[Therealpatgiles]

It was 1382 on Carl's golfland. C taper are 35 a shaft upgrade fee! 1326 on tgw. 25 a c taper.

[dmbrill719]

TGW charges $27/club upcharge for C-Taper for i500's. Really the only thing the buyer paid extra for was the fitting fee, which he was well aware of going into this. And he learned about his specs and his swing during the fitting. That's well worth $150. This is actually an example of a pretty fair deal from Club Champion. Good for you 4x4GGG.

[cbbaron]

Just remember in life a deal is only as good as you think it was if you are happy with the deal do it if you are not don't do it no need to question someones decision to purchase at CC

[MK7Golf21]

if they are 27 a club upgrade for c taper then he really only overpaid for the iron set, 60 bucks or whatever vs normal retailers but I know retailers that will give great deals.

He did choose the better option though with club champion by having OEM build them and if they are indeed going to fix loft, lie inconsistencies then it would be worth the extra 60 he paid.

[4x4GGG]

Still don't have the clubs, but until now I'm super happy with the process. I'm thinking about a driver fitting and build before the season. I have my first serious round in May, so I want to be involved before then. I have a few of my local course pros giving me crap because I also bought a Bettinardi (bb1 flow) with out checking with them first. Swearing they can get it for me at cost. Meh... just sneak us on your course a few times this summer... cool? I have to laugh at my golf group... lots of trash talking with me putting new irons and a putter in my bag at the same time.

[GooseHook]

I've said it before, but I had a great fitting experience at my local CC and was well taken care of.

 

I also took the specs and build sheet price with a giant grain of salt, bought my irons used, and had the lofts and lies adjusted by a local trusted shop. After buying and doing my own grips I saved more than 1200 dollars versus the quote. Buying new would have saved 600 vs Club Champion.

[jeffrey r]

Not too many retailers “give great deals” on Ping clubs, unless they want to risk losing their account with Ping.

[4x4GGG]

Oh, and I don't know the grief I'll catch for this here... but I ordered my clubs "grips in the box".

 

I'd rather grip them myself. I'll get the tape and the alignment right MY way, and not the standard. It just adds 24 hours to hitting time.

[Ruleschamp]

Just for some of your youngsters who may not understand financing, here's a quick primer.

Club Champion doesn't "finance" anything. The credit approval and your agreement will be with a finance company such as Synchrony Financial (formerly GE Capital), Citibank, HSBC, or some other financial institution, who may operate a private label credit card product or installment loan on behalf of Club Champion. The credit card or your installment contract may have Club Champion's name on it, but they have nothing to do with the financing nor will they ever be the one trying to collect anything from you. They don't have the capital to be able to afford to run a finance company. They sell golf clubs. You apply for credit and the finance company will assess your credit and provide the financing if approved. Club Champion then presents the invoice (we'll use the $2,700 in this instance)to the finance company either that night, the next morning or bundles all the invoices up for that week and presents them to the finance company.The finance company then funds the invoice, less a discount rate (usually anywhere from 1 to 5%), to Club Champion. So, in this instance, Club Champion will get $2,619 (we'll assume a 3% discount in this case) funded to them by the finance company. The finance company keeps the other $81 as revenue generated from its financing services. The finance company will make additional money on interest if you don't pay the entire balance by the 18 month date (or whatever period has been granted) and then keep a balance going forward.Club Champion needs the funding up front because they are continually ordering inventory from the OEMs, so they use the finance company to offer terms to generate sales and keep the cycle going. They know the prices are steep, so they're offering you an incentive through the finance company in order to entice you to buy the clubs.

[dlow206]

If Club Champion is taking the stock shafts and just throws them away, this seems like such a waste.

[MK7Golf21]

well that’s why it’s not plastered all over billboards.

their reasoning is because oems won’t just sell them heads.

[federerfan23]

You are wrong. Lots of misinformation in this thread. OEM’s do indeed sell components and just heads to Club Champion.

[MK7Golf21]

Actually, that is how it used to be you just didn’t know it. It might of changed now but many OEMs wouldn’t sell them just heads, Ping included. There have been threads throughout the years here and club champion employees posting in them.

[federerfan23]

One of my best friends run a store. I’m not here to say their business model is perfect or disagree with some of the posts but he opened the store about 2 years ago and ever since he has been there every major OEM has sold them components.

I have commented in another thread about pricing and all that stuff. As someone who does purchase clubs through them, the one thing I have noticed in the past 6 months (I believe the owner sold 49% of the company) is that the time it takes to receive the clubs has skyrocketed. It used to be a set of irons would come in 5 days. The last order I placed was for a SIM 3 wood Mitsubishi DF, TS3 driver with BF and Mitsubishi iron shafts. Not only did it take 40 days to arrive but when they came to the store none of it was even put together.

Hopefully they work through all that and get things straightened out.

[MK7Golf21]

Most what I’m saying is from more than two years ago. I haven’t been there since 2017, first tine I went was around 2010 or so.I live near the headquarters.

There was a thread on here where an employee got fired because he was going to the club champion dumpster and taking all the OEM new shaft pulls and selling them on eBay. He got caught because a guy got a fitting and asked if he could keep the stock OEM shaft pulls since they were just going to pull and throw away after receiving from OEM. The guy said no to him that was against policy. Customer ended up finding this fitter on eBay selling a bunch of shaft pulls, including his, lol. I’m sure he made a ton of money before being caught.

Also, last time I went to the headquarters in 2017, Nick (the founder) told me that is where they do all the club building for orders. They have greatly expanded around the US but the custom orders come to that willow brook store and they build them out for all the stores.

[DavePelz4]

Club Champion started as EJL Custom Golf in 1995 by Everett Lockenvitz in Willowbrook, IL. Probably no more than 10 employees and VERY personalized services. EJL was one of the top fitting companies in the entire country based on the quality and personalization. Nick Sherburne was an employee who worked his way up and became the GM and lead fitter. In 2010, Keith Bank, who is a finance guy that invests in sports acquisitions and tech, bought the controlling interest in EJL and they changed it to Club Champion and started their expansion and I think they're over 70 locations now.

If you've ever grown and scaled a business, as you expand locations, it's difficult to keep your strategic advantage at the same level. For EJL and early CC, they had 95% of the heads and shafts, which are bought separately, in stock and they built everything in house. EJL was a bit more personal and family run while CC is run like a business with a profit goal which is why build times have increase as well as overall cost. Things like puring are the equivalent of "Would you like fries with that" and it's a way for them to generate more revenue per client, as any good business owner would do.

They still offer the lifetime guarantee for adjustments, etc. and their overall customer service is pretty good.

Nick built my first set of fitted clubs back in the EJL days. I've also had a less than favorable experience with CC and the difference is the people you're working with. The way to get the most out of your CC experience is to communicate with the fitter your goal, brand preference if you have one and budget. Don't be afraid to ask questions about puring what the value that it brings to you who are not a professional player.

 

[MK7Golf21]

good info, and yea I haven't had any bad experiences with their fittings but I do prefer now to hit outside or into open sky to see flight. It's just really convenient with Club Champion, hopefully they have moved away from using trackman indoors though because I remember it did have some problems reading indoors.

Regarding all the customer orders coming to that willowbrook store, that works best instead of having to setup every single location with all the clubbuilding tools and staffing builders. Most are just fitting centers that can do minor adjustments and don't have the level of tooling/clubbuilding that the headquarters does.

[gsrjc]

CC was acquired last year too. Summit-backed Club Champion Acquired

 

[sciggs]

Glad to see a lot of responses here, I haven't been on in a few days. My clubs should be here some time this week, hopefully. I have a 2 day tournament next weekend so even if they get here this week, I most likely won't put them in the bag until I have time to compare distances for all of the irons. Can't wait to get them and take them to range and put them in the bag!

[4x4GGG]

CC emailed me yesterday with a club eta of Friday the 6th. Hopefully I'll have time to grip them and be ready to hit them Sunday,

[JCAG]

The main complaints about Club Champion seem to be their prices. Some can afford them, some cannot. If you are a cannot, then do not bytch. Accept their pricing is beyond you and be gone.

[PreppySlapCut]

I love me some 0% financing.

[sciggs]

Awesome! Let me know your results and thoughts once you get them in!

[sciggs]

Unless you are planning on paying direct cash or debit card, it's a no brainer option, IMO. I could have put them on my personal CC for 25% APR, or I finance through Synchrony with Club Champion for 0%, 18 months.

[MK7Golf21]

actually the people who can afford nice things got there by not getting ripped off.

[golfbuddy]

There seems to be a lot of emphasis on $$$ here. Of course it is an issue. I knew that it would be a little pricey if I went to a place like Club Champion and it took me months to finally decide to get fitted there. I'm a senior and lost yards over the years with my driver. Got fitted and got back those yards lost and them some. Cannot put a price tag on how pleased I was with the results and with the no pressure professional service with CC. Wish I did not wait so long to get fitted. Saved $$$ not doing the trial and error method that I previously used.

[jeffrey r]

That's just how things roll around here--WRXers will complain about anything, including how others choose to spend their own money. No need to justify what works for you.

[golfbuddy]

Yes, to each his own. Just wanted to share my honest experience which might help others. But cannot make everyone happy and some are never happy -- I have a cousin like that :(

[NorthStar7]

To each, their own. If you are happy, and you can afford it, that's all that counts.

I got fit for irons at CC. Nice enough guys but their prices are too high and they don't give you any incentive to actually buy from them as they charge you the fitting fee, even if you purchase from them. I took my specs and setup an eBay search. Paid $500 instead of $1100. The clubs arrived and were in fabulous condition. I had to drop another $70 or so to get the exact grips I wanted...but I now have a newish set for about half price, exactly to my specs. If for whatever reason it turns out that I don't love them, I can sell them and get back most of what I paid.

 

[sciggs]

No update on my clubs shipping yet, which is supposed to be by tomorrow. We'll see if that happens. Wondering if Coronavirus is delaying the heads or shafts from coming in.