Ian Fraser at Club Champion new pricing structure for fitting

[AC in TX]

Yet to break 90 ... but if they guaranteed I would break 80 or double my money back, perhaps ... nah, I'd just buy some almost new stuff here at GolfWRX and save a bunch!

[me05501]

1 hour ago, dmecca2 said:

The problem people generally have with club champion is less "paying more for higher end stuff" and more of "paying more for the exact same stuff"

 

Yes, and the car analogy more or less still applies.

 

I don't like Club Champion's method of maximizing their profits but they've been doing things the same way for years and they're still around. Someone somewhere is paying for their services and enjoying the experience or they would be gone by now. 

Edited April 16 by me05501

[bcflyguy1]

8 minutes ago, me05501 said:

 

Yes, and the car analogy more or less still applies.

 

I don't like Club Champion's method of maximizing their profits, but they've been doing things the same way for years and they're still around. Someone somewhere is paying for their services and enjoying the experience or they would be gone by now. 

At the rate they're skinning sheep (which you can only do once), eventually they're going to run out of sheep. Sentiment amongst their target customer base has shifted quite a bit in the last few years.

[me05501]

8 minutes ago, bcflyguy1 said:

At the rate they're skinning sheep (which you can only do once), eventually they're going to run out of sheep. Sentiment amongst their target customer base has shifted quite a bit in the last few years.

 

Yes, but the sport is more popular than ever so there will always be more in the pipeline. 

 

One of the dudes who goes on our golf trip went to a good local fitter recently. He ended up with brand new everything from Taylor Made.

 

The funny part to me was that all his specs came out dead on standard. Length, loft, lie. Stiff flex across the board. Not even a layer of grip tape off from standard. He fit perfectly into off-the-rack clubs. But he makes a lot of money and doesn't have much spare time so for him to outfit his entire bag in a couple of hours and place the order during the same appointment was more efficient than shopping around. 

 

If that was me I'd probably never pay for a fitting again. 

[bcflyguy1]

2 minutes ago, me05501 said:

 

Yes, but the sport is more popular than ever so there will always be more in the pipeline. 

 

One of the dudes who goes on our golf trip went to a good local fitter recently. He ended up with brand new everything from Taylor Made.

 

The funny part to me was that all his specs came out dead on standard. Length, loft, lie. Stiff flex across the board. Not even a layer of grip tape off from standard. He fit perfectly into off-the-rack clubs. But he makes a lot of money and doesn't have much spare time so for him to outfit his entire bag in a couple of hours and place the order during the same appointment was more efficient than shopping around. 

 

If that was me I'd probably never pay for a fitting again. 

People who have a negative experience at places like CC talk, and so every time someone gets skinned the company is losing that customer AND their regular playing partners. At that price point, you really can't afford to have as many negative customer experiences as are being generated and then relayed to others.

Yes they continue to open new studios, but the boom cycle will end and I'll be shocked if the bust that follows is anything less than catastrophic.

[CBMC]

57 minutes ago, me05501 said:

 

Yes, and the car analogy more or less still applies.

 

I don't like Club Champion's method of maximizing their profits but they've been doing things the same way for years and they're still around. Someone somewhere is paying for their services and enjoying the experience or they would be gone by now. 

They also have a bad habit of swing weighting very heavy. They put my driver at d7.  And instead of just using the driver weight ports they put a tungsten/epoxy mix down the shaft.  So much that it went up over 6" up the tip. 

[me05501]

5 minutes ago, CBMC said:

They also have a bad habit of swing weighting very heavy. They put my driver at d7.  And instead of just using the driver weight ports they put a tungsten/epoxy mix down the shaft.  So much that it went up over 6" up the tip. 

 

I'm not in any way trying to defend the way CC does things. I'm only pointing out that they don't seem to have worn out their welcome in the broader marketplace just yet as evidenced by the fact that they continue to exist. 

[WristySwing]

34 minutes ago, me05501 said:

 

I'm not in any way trying to defend the way CC does things. I'm only pointing out that they don't seem to have worn out their welcome in the broader marketplace just yet as evidenced by the fact that they continue to exist. 

 

There's also adding to this that the biggest squeaky wheel complaints are 1) the cost is dumb being a la carte, and 2) the swing weights are heavy. For number 1, CC's main clientele is not your Joe-15-rounds that is looking to get fit for a set of Cobra Radspeeds that they can pick up on closeout from PGASS. Their main client base are guys who are members at pretty exclusive clubs that are happy (and able) to drop $7-8k on new equipment each year or every other year because they can and because post-fitting they saw an improvement in their scores (more than likely). Their buddies they play with regularly saw the improvement, and they to go see FitterX at CC_Y to get fit, and the cycle continues.

 

A lot of you are going to call BS on this, but I have an inside source. I have two good friends who work at a local CC to me. They tell me all about their experiences. Guys flying in from out of country to get fit for a day and then flying back the next day after dropping $5k+ on all brand new custom equipment. Guys at the local expensive private clubs getting clubs every year and often tipping their fitters $100+ each time they come in or buying them expensive bottles of wine, taking them out to the club for a round on them a few times a year, and so on. 

 

Add onto that the promotions they run for half price fittings if you buy something, they then take the business away from the local mom and pop shops/big box stores, and not to mention the troves of people just like the guys on this site who think they are being sneaky by being fit and then walking.  You still gave CC $100.

Edited April 16 by WristySwing

[CBMC]

What constitutes a club purchase varies from location to location and probably fitter to fitter. The guy at my St. Louis store told me that a club purchase had to at least equal $1,000 to get the $100 fitting "special".

[WristySwing]

8 hours ago, CBMC said:

What constitutes a club purchase varies from location to location and probably fitter to fitter. The guy at my St. Louis store told me that a club purchase had to at least equal $1,000 to get the $100 fitting "special".

 

At my local store it was $500 last summer. Again, inside source from friends, but they would have quite a few people book the full bag fitting ($400-$500 or whatever), with the intent of only buying a few clubs out of that to get the cost re-set to the $100 or $200 or whatever it was after the promotion.  It allowed them to get fit for everything in one go, buy only what they really had in mind, and get a discounted fitting to boot. They said it wasn't uncommon to do the whole bag but the guy only pull the trigger on the wedges, putter, or driver. Friends told me the summer promo was so popular that they were booked out close to a month due to it. But CC is "running out of clients" supposedly. Not according to them.

Edited April 17 by WristySwing

[Honixx]

On 4/7/2024 at 9:39 PM, wsupjs said:

 

Ian wasn't the sole owner, or even the majority owner, of TXG. They had investors, most notably Mike's Dad, with Ian as the public face of TXG.

 

Interesting. I had never heard this before. This is legit?

[bmrowe]

On 4/15/2024 at 6:22 AM, 03trdblack said:

 

Your plumber is making $500k a year 😳 Not sure where you live but apparently I should have been a plumber.

He isn't an IC. It's a company, so I bet he maybe gets 40% of that if he works 40hrs (and probably has to pay for his own benefits).

[Dr. Bombay]

On 4/8/2024 at 11:41 AM, ASN21 said:

Huge waste of money. Ian and Stewie can shove it.

 

Who/what do you suggest as a reasonable alternative?  What say ye?

[Dr. Bombay]

On 4/6/2024 at 10:44 PM, Avidswampthing66 said:

Ian may be the world's best fitter.  If you don't like the price, move on.  

 

 

 

How may tour professionals does he fit?

[Avidswampthing66]

7 hours ago, Dr. Bombay said:

 

How may tour professionals does he fit?

Tour professionals are usually on staff and get fit for new clubs with their respective OEM.  But, since you ask, Ian has a few tour player fittings on his channel that you can watch.  

[Righty to Lefty]

Yeah that's expensive but I'm sure the issue that he was dealing with was being overbooked at lower prices thus the only way to overcome that was to raise his price.  

[Sp4zRX]

While $1000 for a fitting is ridiculous, I can understand how supply/demand can dictate that price. 
 

Having to commit to a 5k purchase just shows a level of dishonesty in the fit. What if the best fit is a stock OEM shaft in Driver, length/lie adjustment on your current last years model of irons, and putter and wedges with stock shafts? The 5k almost guarantees that you will be upsold for the benefit of profit and not to the benefit of the player. 
 

I unsubbed and quit watching their YT when they changed the channel name to CC. Ian is nothing more than a clown for CC now and I would not trust a fit by him. 

[TheSphynx]

I wouldn’t pay $1000 for fit from the dude with the way he changes clubs every two weeks. You’d think he’d be able to fit himself into what works best for him. 

[Pnwpingi210]

The fitting fee is fine.  The contract obligation to purchase 4k worth of clubs from him during the fit is ludicrous.

[cassel191919]

On 4/21/2024 at 10:06 AM, Sp4zRX said:

While $1000 for a fitting is ridiculous, I can understand how supply/demand can dictate that price. 
 

Having to commit to a 5k purchase just shows a level of dishonesty in the fit. What if the best fit is a stock OEM shaft in Driver, length/lie adjustment on your current last years model of irons, and putter and wedges with stock shafts? The 5k almost guarantees that you will be upsold for the benefit of profit and not to the benefit of the player. 
 

I unsubbed and quit watching their YT when they changed the channel name to CC. Ian is nothing more than a clown for CC now and I would not trust a fit by him. 

I don't believe they let you try the stock stuff lol

[the bishop]

On 4/23/2024 at 9:01 AM, cassel191919 said:

I don't believe they let you try the stock stuff lol

That's for the plebes!

[bcflyguy1]

On 4/21/2024 at 9:13 AM, TheSphynx said:

I wouldn’t pay $1000 for fit from the dude with the way he changes clubs every two weeks. You’d think he’d be able to fit himself into what works best for him. 

I can empathize with him on this; the most difficult player to fit that I've ever encountered is...me. Also, giving a crack dealer the green light to get high on their own supply is never going to end well.

 

[Louis_Posture]

On 4/21/2024 at 7:13 AM, TheSphynx said:

I wouldn’t pay $1000 for fit from the dude with the way he changes clubs every two weeks. You’d think he’d be able to fit himself into what works best for him. 

Instead of changing clubs so often Ian should take some lessons from a PGA Class A teaching pro and improve his swing technique.

[dlow206]

Couple of things:

 

1. This isn’t an entirely new pricing structure. Back when they were still TXG, i had inquired about a fitting with Ian. It was that similar $1000 fitting fee plus $4000 equipment. I’m sure this wasn’t always the txg pricing structure for Ian but it was the structure most recently before the CC purchase.
 

2. no one is talking about that half bag option. $500 plus $2000 equipment. You could do driver, irons, fairway/hybrids, which is most of the bag anyway, and skip wedges and putter , and you are paying $500 less and $2000 less commitment to equipment purchase. Also, this half bag option wasn’t available previously under the txg umbrella.