Beginner - fitting question

[oscarzeta]

I am somewhat of a beginner, but I am a pretty good athlete, so I feel I have progressed pretty weel in the game of golf so far.

 

My questions has to do with a "fitting" for some clubs that I went through a few weeks ago. The clubs I was demo'ing were Titleists 775.cb. The fitter used the board and the tape and all the fitting tools that seemed to be necessary.

 

Well, I got my clubs yesterday, and I noticed that the shaft was the "stiff" flex. I also seemed to be hitting everything off to the right.

 

I feel like this is because of the stiff flex, as my swing is not very fast at all. I am more of a control, accuracy kinda guy. The fitter told me that this shaft, even though it is stiff, "played more like a regular flex." When I kept hitting the ball to the right, I called him back and he informed me that there is really no other option now, that I am basically stuck with the clubs. He did say that he would "work with me" and help me swing faster and give me some stretching exercises to do.

 

Now, I know I'm not that good, but I strike the ball fairly well and I was really looking forward to "being fit" for the first time.

 

Should I just try to hit the stiff flex irons?

Should I just go to Golf Galaxy and pick up the Titleists 704cb for $399? I seem to hit them pretty well.

Should I demand the switch to regular flex?

Any other options that anyone sees?

 

I would appreciate any advice that you'll can give me. I'm new to fitting, proshops, club-shopping, etc. Like I said, I do hit the ball pretty well with any club, even some of the blades. It's just that my swing is not particularly fast right now.

 

Thanks!

[wildwilly911]

did he change the lie angles at all. how far do you hit a 9 iron and a 5 iron, how is your swing fast smooth.

[golfprobill]

There are a whole lot of possibilities here.

 

I've been fitting for the better part of the last 10 years, I'll give you some most likely's from what i've seen.

 

First, for 99 of 100, a shaft too stiff should be, on the whole, straighter, that is, your misses should be less left and right, BUT, a shaft that is too stiff will show up in Distance consistancy, or lack there of to be precise, a mis-hit with too stiff a shaft will fall out of the sky 5-10-even 15 yards short of desired result.

 

Next, let's assume your distances are averaging relatively the same (that is it is not too stiff a shaft). If your shots are all going the same spot out to the right, and the same distances, generally, we should look at the lie angles. Make this fitter give you the lie board test with these new clubs again (hitting off the plastic thing with tape on the sole). If everything seems good there, lets get to my next point.

 

Distances check out, lie board checks out, what else. Unfortunately this gets into the idiosyncracies of your golf swing. Were you hitting it better / worse on the day of the fitting vs. when you got the new ones, etc. You mentioned your new to the game, perhaps your swing isn't consistent enough at this time to be a day to day out hitter (if that is the case, both your distances above and your lie board test would be all over the charts, and you would have stopped reading, so I'm assuming that's not the case).

 

Now, the evil underbelly of what could be a potential issue. I'm wondering how long your custom fit clubs took to get to your fitter. If you went from fitting to new clubs in your hand in under 7 business days, than I have a theory. This time of year, pro's have sets of clubs they must take into stock at the beginning of the year due to various vendor requirements, and often, you are just what the doctor ordered. I'll tell you a story, for which I was a participant, and none to proud of... Member calls, wants a fitting, I set it up, tell the boss so and so wants a set of such and such, and ask, what's he gonna fit into. Boss checks inventory, has a set of stiff steel, 1*upright, and miraculously, that's what they fit into, if you catch my drift. My boss quotes the whole, it'll take 10 business days, and calls him after 3 and looks like a miracle worker, "Hey your clubs got here early." I'm not proud of my part, but it was several years ago, and I was young and stupid. When he said he didn't sound very customer friendly when you expressed your concerns, in conjunction with the fact that instead of making you happy, he said some lessons would do you bettter gave me a real bad vibe, and reminded me of my little story.

 

I sincerely hope that this is not the case, and I would still tend to think that if your hitting consistant distances, it's not the shafts. could be the lie angles, could be in part your swing, but if the trajectory and distances look good, the shafts are just fine.

 

Hope this helps

[oscarzeta]

Golfprobill, first of all, thank you so much for the explanation. I think I learned more from your post than I have from all of the fitters/instructors I have spoken to so far.

 

To answer your questions:

 

In hitting the stiff shafts, my distances have decreased substantially. I generally use my nine iron to measure consistent distance and my nine iron is significantly shorter. I mean, I have to wind up and swing very hard, just to get it to where I usually do. I hit my Cleveland 588 45 degree pw much further than my 9 now.

 

The fitter had also had Titleist adjust my clubs, 2 degrees up. He did this because I hit that angle pretty nicely, one time with the 6 iron, during the fitting. To my untrained eye, it looks funny at address. I am only 5’8â€, and when I hold the club at address, the toe of the club looks very raised. Could this 2 degrees be making my shots fade right?

 

In the time after the fitting, I did some research and learned that a fitting was supposed to take longer than just a few minutes. I mean, as soon as I hit one good shot with the one 6 iron, he had Titleist duplicate it. I was a little hesitant, but I knew the guy was much more knowledgeable than me, so I just trusted him.

 

My fitting consisted of hitting 3 or 4 different 6 irons 2-3 times each, with the board underneath and the tape on the bottom of the club. As soon as I hit that 2 degree up 6 iron well one time, he took it and ended the session. The whole ordeal took 10-15 minutes.

 

Later on, my instructor, in looking at my swing, mentioned that he thought I could use my club being bent down 1 degree and maybe two. When I told him that the fitter was fitting me the opposite he got kind of quiet and did not want to get involved. They work at the same place and I don’t think he wanted step on any toes.

 

I took the clubs back to the fitter and he did agree that the lie angle was too far up and he bent them one degree down. I tried them out and they still went off to the right, but not as badly. When I tried to compensate for it with my swing, the ball would go center, but not at my usual distances.

 

That’s when I called him about the stiff shafts and asked if I could have them redone in the regular shaft. He said “no†that Titleist “isn’t going to do that†and that he would work with me on adjusting my swing and speeding it up.

 

It took me about two weeks to get my clubs, total.

 

I really just feel like writing this guy off, buying some 704.cb and enjoying playing. This was supposed to have been a great ordeal, getting fit, and it was a huge disappointment. The money isn't the issue, but it would suck to waste it like this.

 

I might just try to sell my 775cb for what I can get and just start hitting again.

 

Thanks again for your advice. I look forward to hearing what you have to say about the above. I appreciate your time.

[multi]

oscarzeta, I'm sorry for your sour experience. Do you mind mentioning where you got your fitting done? I'm a beginner and am considering getting real irons eventually. I thought, like you, getting fit will be a great ordeal, and hope to avoid what you went through. Sorry that I can't share my knowledge, good luck on finding a good solution!

[hobbes]

I'm not an expert, but the way I've heard it lie angles too upright (like you suspect yours is) will produce misses to the left. This is because the heel will catch and the clubface will close. Lie angles too flat will do the opposite, the toe will catch and open up the face causing a shot to go to the right.

 

I found this on google, it has some illustrations:

http://www.wavelandgolf.com/DiscountGolfCl...products_id/358

[oscarzeta]

That makes sense. I'm beginning to think that I have too inconsistent of a swing to merit being fitted to clubs. I also mentioned that to the guy that fitted me, before the fitting session began, and he said that wasn't the case.

 

At this point, I know I cannot hit the stiff shaft on the 775cb clubs very well. The distance just isn't there. I think I'm going to write this whole thing off and buy some Cobras tonight at the Golfsmith Cobra VIP event. Either that or the Titleist 704cb at Golf Galaxy. I figure I'll get them standard fit, regular flex shaft and then try to make my swing more consistent. After I have a consistently repeatable swing, I'll either have my clubs fitted, or purchase a different set and have them fitted.

 

This has been so frustrating, I just want to get out and play now.

[hobbes]

Sweet, I found the page I was looking for earlier.

 

Look at the chart at the bottom:

 

http://www.henry-griffitts.com/equipment_eval.asp

 

 

First off, if you can read that red text can I swap eyes with you? The red lines outside of the box are swing path, the red lines by easy club picture are ball flights.

 

My point in posting that though is that the tape mark is more than just lie angle. It is slaved to your swing path also. If you can keep the pieces of tape from your fitting bring them home and compare to that chart. It might give you more to look for than just toe, middle, heel.

 

 

Hope it helps :D