Had my first club fitting; Looking for some advice

ztaubsauce · March 2, 2019

Yesterday, I had my first club fitting experience, which was for a full bag at Club Champion. 3.5 hours of hitting all sorts of club combinations was truly an awesome experience that I was very happy with. The only thing that I thought that was outrageous was the cost, approximately $5,000 for a full custom set of clubs.

I'm about 16 handicap at the moment and have been playing for a couple years now. My bag that I've put together piece by piece replacing the Strata set I started with consists of the following:

Current Setup (All Regular, Stock Shafts)

Taylormade 2017 M2 9.5*

Callaway Strata 3W

Ping G30 3H (wasn't able to beat so keeping in bag)

Mizuno JPX 900 Forged PW-4

Titleist Vokey SM6 50.08 FG

Titleist Vokey SM6 54.08 MG

Titleist Vokey SM6 58.08 MG

Taylormade Spider ARC Red

CC Recommend Setup

Ping G410 9* Plus Driver, Paderson Kevlar Launch Driver KGTP65+ D30 Stiff

Taylormade M6 Fairway 3W 15*, Drago 75 S

Ping i210 Irons, 4-GW, True Temper Elevate Tour Stiff

Titleist Vokey SM7 54.14 FG

Titleist Vokey SM7 58.14 KG

Titleist 2018 Scotty Cameron Select Fastback (would buy this retail or used if I decide to replace my putter. Not sure if I want to)

Image link with exact specs: https://imgur.com/a/x8BAnUq

My main question is essentially around the shafts that were recommended to me. Does anyone know of any similar, but more commonly found either stock from a retailer or online. I also feel like I would save a great deal of money by looking at the Ping G400 vs G410, as well as M4 or even M2 for the wood, and change out the SM7 to SM6.

The shafts recommended were:

Driver: Paderson Kevlar Launch Driver KGTP65+ D30

Wood: Drago 75 S

Irons / Wedges: True Temper Elevate Tour Stiff

One other route that I was considering was buying the clubs / shafts separately and trying to find a builder who would put that together for me with the specs they've outline, but I really don't know anything about club building and cost of it to make it worthwhile. Buying everything separately is a great price reduction as well, but I don't want to screw it up lol

Thanks in advance for any advice.

jvincent · March 2, 2019

Of the shafts that were recommended the only exotic one is the Drago. The Paderson and Elevate are fairly reasonably priced aftermarket shafts.

Did you try all of the standard shaft offerings in the i210? The Elevate isn't on the list of standard shafts from Ping but one of those may also be a good fit.

As with all CC threads you are paying for the after market shafts and their assembly services so if you don't use them for assembly you might be able to get a better price. The real killer is not being fit into one of their standard shafts since that automatically adds a bunch to the price.

ztaubsauce · March 2, 2019

Unfortunately I'm not exactly sure which shafts were tested. We hit so many that it was hard to keep track. Ideally if I can find something similar to the Elevate in the standard shaft options I'd go that route, but I don't know enough about shafts to make that call, which is what I was asking about. Not opposed to doing after market shafts though, would I just buy everything then find a builder (maybe at a local golf shop?) and hand them over all the CC specs?

KMo23 · March 2, 2019

Did you tell them it was too expensive and you want it priced out cheaper?

Kale_m · March 2, 2019

Why go there if you don’t want to pay their price? Lots of other places to go

gsrjc · March 2, 2019

Got to pay to play with them I guess.

dunn · March 2, 2019

Imo you cant do a real fitting in 3.5 hrs....too many swings too many shafts, different feelings constantly

You can never get used to anything or give it enough time to see what it does round after round

It's a crapshoot, we arent robots who can just adjust every 10 minutes.....

Real fitting takes along time with extensive testing over period of time, but no one wants to do that

Best you can hope for is a ballpark area to work from....theres too many variables and golfer needs go play clubs and have good day, bad day, avg day and work from there, it can be tedious and painstaking if your in a hurry.....and truth is alot of players can play lot of different clubs given weight of club is in range

I went from 16 hdcp down to low single by hard work, getting a shortgame, strategy, course management....I play golf course completely different than I did back than......

I dont think spending 5k is answer if your trying g to get better....most dont remember what they hit or how they hit em, etc.....overwhelming and too much info too fast.....

If you reached a ballpark it's a success.....and probably as much as you need, the rest you'll figure out as you go

ChipNRun · March 2, 2019

Many golf shops will include the price of a fitting if you buy a new set of clubs. Also, unless you get really premium shafts or grips, the factory-order set made to your specs shouldn't cost much more than an off-the-rack set.

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My follow-up on jvincent: As far the TT Elevate Tours go, these cost $36 each if bought as components. Also, you need to find out how the 117-gram Elevate S300s perform differently from two Ping i210 stock shafts:

TT Dynamic Golf 120 S300 (112 grams)
KBS Tour Stiff (114 grams).

The DG and KBS are both mid-launch, mid-spin shafts like the Elevate S300.

For a 16 HDCP that wants to improve, the key thing is to find your shaft band. These are shafts with similar characteristics that will work for you. Part of finding them is launch data, part of it is feel and confidence.

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If you haven't already done so, budget matters with the CC people.

ztaubsauce · March 3, 2019

Why go there if you don't want to pay their price? Lots of other places to go

True, but wanted to see all my options before making such a huge investment if I can save a couple thousand doing it another way. I received a gift card to there for my birthday so that's why I chose there over any other place.

Many golf shops will include the price of a fitting if you buy a new set of clubs. Also, unless you get really premium shafts or grips, the factory-order set made to your specs shouldn't cost much more than an off-the-rack set.
_____________________

My follow-up on jvincent: As far the TT Elevate Tours go, these cost $36 each if bought as components. Also, you need to find out how the 117-gram Elevate S300s perform differently from two Ping i210 stock shafts:
TT Dynamic Golf 120 S300 (112 grams)
KBS Tour Stiff (114 grams).
The DG and KBS are both mid-launch, mid-spin shafts like the Elevate S300.

For a 16 HDCP that wants to improve, the key thing is to find your shaft band. These are shafts with similar characteristics that will work for you. Part of finding them is launch data, part of it is feel and confidence.
--------------------------
If you haven't already done so, budget matters with the CC people.

This is all great information. Thank you!

SUMM1T · March 3, 2019

Unfortunately, that’s a common theme for some that get fit by CC. I always advise people going in for fittings to be upfront and honest about their expectations, including price/budget. A good fitter will be able to give you mutliple options that are in different price ranges that are close, but may not be identical in performance. That allows you to put value where you see fit. Lot’s of people don’t mind spending big bucks, where some would rather save some money and maybe sacrifice a small percentage.