Driver fitting - range vs indoors

[harpua728]

Hi there,

 

I’m in the market for a new driver, but aside from a Titleist Thursday, there’s really no place for me to hit drivers outdoors with regular balls (i.e. not range balls). I don’t like demoing drivers indoors since I can’t see the ball flight, and I also feel that I don’t have my normal swing when hitting into a screen.

 

There’s also the option of demoing drivers at ranges with range balls. But range balls never tell the true story.

 

Do you think it’s better to be fit indoors and just look at the numbers, or go to a range and hit range balls? I believe that one of the ranges near me does have some type of launch monitor, but I don’t think it’s a trackman. Will these monitors show me any meaningful results whe comparing drivers with range balls?

 

Thanks.

 

[Tree Levino]

A good friend of mine plays mini tour in Florida and he's a big believer in outdoor fitting and basically goes off visual cues. My most recent purchase was my iBlades. I went and hit them on monitor to see if the numbers were right. Knowing that I change my swing a bit hitting into a screen I found a shop with an outdoor range and went and hit them off grass. Hitting my old clubs vs these back to back it was no comparison. I think both are important and won't personally buy anymore based strictly off indoor numbers.

[jvincent]

IMO and personal experience numbers from a monitor indoors will trump outdoors with range balls. Reasons below:

- Range balls have completely different spin characteristics

- You never know how far the balls actually carry at the range

- The indoor numbers will give you hard data to analyze

 

In my particular case I was trying out different shafts in my F9 on a Trackman indoors. After hitting the different setups it was very clear which shaft was giving me the best numbers. I have been gaming that setup once the season started and it has be awesome.

[Lefty96]

I'm a big believer in being fit for a driver on a monitor. Being able to look at launch, spin, and ballspeed is the best way to dial in the absolute best fit in my opinion. Hitting indoors can be tough but I have found that if I have a tight dispersion on the indoor data, I generally do outside as well.

 

I just do not think I can accurately tell if I have the right spin and launch based solely on looking at the ballflight.

[harpua728]

> @Lefty96 said:

> I'm a big believer in being fit for a driver on a monitor. Being able to look at launch, spin, and ballspeed is the best way to dial in the absolute best fit in my opinion. Hitting indoors can be tough but I have found that if I have a tight dispersion on the indoor data, I generally do outside as well.

>

> I just do not think I can accurately tell if I have the right spin and launch based solely on looking at the ballflight.

 

What about my 3rd option of being outdoors, with a monitor, BUT hitting range balls?

[zwhitworth]

Something about the sound chamber and limited visibility, but I struggle to hit a ball on the sweetspot indoors.

[PorkChopExpress]

Don't forget about actual on-course fitting/testing.

All the numbers in the world don't matter if it doesn't perform on the course.

[harpua728]

> @desaille said:

> Don't forget about actual on-course fitting/testing.

> All the numbers in the world don't matter if it doesn't perform on the course.

 

I agree that this is the best. But without being a member at a private club, it's tough to try out clubs on a course.

[Z1ggy16]

Unless your indoor swing is completely different than outdoors, the fitting should be pretty ideal still. It's important you let the fitter know what your trends and tendencies are so if things happen indoors that you normally never see (indoor hitting fades, but you're always drawing the ball in real rounds) that can be taken into account. A good fitter would also allow you to come back in for tweaks based on what you see on course after you get fit and buy from them.

[Lefty96]

> @harpua728 said:

> > @Lefty96 said:

> > I'm a big believer in being fit for a driver on a monitor. Being able to look at launch, spin, and ballspeed is the best way to dial in the absolute best fit in my opinion. Hitting indoors can be tough but I have found that if I have a tight dispersion on the indoor data, I generally do outside as well.

> >

> > I just do not think I can accurately tell if I have the right spin and launch based solely on looking at the ballflight.

>

> What about my 3rd option of being outdoors, with a monitor, BUT hitting range balls?

 

Depends on a couple things. What the monitor is, and how bad the rangeballs are. You can still get a lot of the data you need from a range ball. Depending on the ball you play on the course, your spin numbers might be a little low with the range ball. You should still be able to compare apples to apples as long as you hit your current drive on the monitor with the range balls as well. That way you can see ball flight and data.

[DatSliceDoe]

I swing pretty poor indoors, but if you're getting fit outdoors, make sure the monitor accounts for conditions, or you at least factor them in if on an older TM.

[bluedot]

There was a time when I would have said that outdoor fittings, as long as there is a monitor involved, were superior, but I'm not convinced of that anymore. My last two fittings have been indoors, and I've been VERY pleased with the results. More importantly, the on-course results have reached or exceeded what the fitting session "predicted".

 

In an indoor fitting, I'm using my own Chrome Softs for every shot; no algorithm on the monitor translating a range ball, even a new one, to a premium ball. There is no wind. There are no soft spots downrange. There are no small hills to kill the roll. And so on.

 

I've come to think of the indoor situation as much more like a laboratory with far fewer variables, and I like that a lot. The only disclaimer is that I'd have to know in advance that the fitter was really good, and that the monitor was accurate, but that would be true outdoors as well.

[JJK947]

I cut down the options by looks/sound/feel on indoor monitors. I also make sure spin is in the right range taking into account what shaft is in there. From there, it's all on-course testing. As long as the numbers are in the normal range on the monitor I can work with it through shaft change or hosel adjustment. I take a few drivers set up with my shaft of choice to a course I've played a million times and hit a few with each driver off each tee. Repeat a couple times over the course of a week or so and find the winner.

 

Getting fit on an indoor monitor has proven to be next to useless for me so I stopped that years ago. Outdoor on the monitor can only prove so much as well but it's miles better than indoor. On course testing is really the only way to validate clubs and I know my specs well enough to cut down the options to a very small number before I take setups on the course to test.

[harpua728]

> @JJK947 said:

> I cut down the options by looks/sound/feel on indoor monitors. I also make sure spin is in the right range taking into account what shaft is in there. From there, it's all on-course testing. As long as the numbers are in the normal range on the monitor I can work with it through shaft change or hosel adjustment. I take a few drivers set up with my shaft of choice to a course I've played a million times and hit a few with each driver off each tee. Repeat a couple times over the course of a week or so and find the winner.

>

> Getting fit on an indoor monitor has proven to be next to useless for me so I stopped that years ago. Outdoor on the monitor can only prove so much as well but it's miles better than indoor. On course testing is really the only way to validate clubs and I know my specs well enough to cut down the options to a very small number before I take setups on the course to test.

 

How do you get the various driver to demo out on a course? Are you a member at a private club?

[JJK947]

> @harpua728 said:

> > @JJK947 said:

> > I cut down the options by looks/sound/feel on indoor monitors. I also make sure spin is in the right range taking into account what shaft is in there. From there, it's all on-course testing. As long as the numbers are in the normal range on the monitor I can work with it through shaft change or hosel adjustment. I take a few drivers set up with my shaft of choice to a course I've played a million times and hit a few with each driver off each tee. Repeat a couple times over the course of a week or so and find the winner.

> >

> > Getting fit on an indoor monitor has proven to be next to useless for me so I stopped that years ago. Outdoor on the monitor can only prove so much as well but it's miles better than indoor. On course testing is really the only way to validate clubs and I know my specs well enough to cut down the options to a very small number before I take setups on the course to test.

>

> How do you get the various driver to demo out on a course? Are you a member at a private club?

 

Once I narrow down the contenders, I buy the heads and get identical shafts set up to the same specs for each. After it's all done I sell the stuff that didn't make it. But as to the testing, there have been years I have been at a private course with demo heads so I could just bring my preferred shaft. And it did make it easier to find holes where I could move very slowly and hit a bunch of tee shots. But other years, including this year, I'm at a public course and just go out by myself late afternoon when no one is really around. Sometimes hit upwards of 20 off one tee box and make observations.

[Pittknife]

> @zwhitworth said:

> Something about the sound chamber and limited visibility, but I struggle to hit a ball on the sweetspot indoors.

 

It’s also the angles of the wall in your vision. When I was doing testing there was a clear difference with some players that have depth perception issues in doors with low light and walls vs outside. I’m one of them, I don’t hit well in simulators. Another issue is shoes, indoors some people will wear tennis shoes or their normal shoes and it throws off their balance quite a bit. Some running shoes have a tilt to them and you can see players lose their balance.

 

The ball is the key to any testing, it’s very hard to find an outdoor range fitting with your gamer ball.

[LEO MODE]

Wedges,Irons,Hybrid,Fairway = outdoor with grass. Drivers = either indoor or outdoor.

 

Nothing beats versus hitting the ball on grass and preferably with Titleist Practice balls (Taylormade Practice or Callaway Practice range balls are as close as you can get with premium balls). I wouldn't recommend using range balls as their ball speed is much lower and their spin is more.

Driver it doesn't matter whether indoor or outdoor but indoor make sure to use Foresight GC2+HMT or GCQuad as currently radars are not good at capturing the correct ball flight indoor.