Club Fitting at PGA Center-Pt St Lucie

[golfortennis]

great experience

Being from Canada we don't have a ton of options for clubfitting, so knowing that I would be at PGA Village for a few days, I booked a fitting at the center. With long travel, etc., I was in email contact with the people several times in advance, with questions, etc. I am high maintenance when it comes to things like, so their patience was greatly appreciated.

I got there a little early, as they had said I could warm up. I was scheduled to meet with Eric Hogge, who is the Director of Clubfitting for the PGA America. Before I did anything, he dropped what he was doing and came out to talk to me. His title is a big deal, but Eric does not act like he is one at all. Very down to earth guy. We had a good chat about what we were working on, which was a, to check my irons lofts and lie angles, and my woods, whether the clubs I have have square club faces, etc, and possibly length. The first thing we did was take the lie and loft angles from my irons, and the length.

I had asked for an outdoor fitting, which he was more than willing to do, but we ended up staying indoors because the wind was quite strong today and would have messed up the readings. We did hit clubs outside, just not with the Trackman. We started with lie and face tape, and found a very consistent pattern of hitting on the toe, and some very strange findings with the lie. Tried some other clubs with some other shafts, and found that they didn't necessarily improve things. One thing Eric was real adamant about, and it was a good thing, was that you not look at what he hands you. Just swing. That turned out to be the best advice because when we outside, the best ballflight I got was hitting with X-100 shafts. When he told me what I was hitting, I couldn't believe it, because I had always thought I didn't swing hard enough for X. There were discussions about the weight of the clubs, but the overriding theme was that, while he was more than willing to sell me a new set of clubs, it really wouldn't do me much good.

So we moved back inside to look at the woods. Driver anyway. There the trackman really came into play. With my current driver(MP-600) I was getting -2.6 degree angle of attack. That was the only thing he could find that looked a little wacky. He also checked and found the the 10.5* driver is actually a 9.5*. I hit another driver for comparison, but basically, again, he didn't find that improvements would come from a better shaft, but a little improvement in the swing. When we went back outside, the ballflight was showing a few things, so Eric went back and did something to my driver while I hit the other one he brought out. when I hit what he brought back(don't look, just hit) It was quite the feeling. Turned out it was lead tape near the toe. Once that was determined, we headed back in to see Jerry Lovell. He had bent my irons while we were working on the woods, so we went to grab them, and I asked him if he could look at my fairway woods and tell me how closed they were, etc. Well... turns out they were all square, but the way the Cleveland medallion was placed makes them look closed. Eric couldn't believe they were square setting up with them, but they were. What was really interesting was that I have a 13*, 17* and 22* fairway wood. At least that is what the clubs say. Turns out they are 13.6*, 14* and 18.5*, and thus other than shaft length, I essentially have two of the same club. Which changes how I would set up my bag(I also have a 3 iron that I swap in or out.)

Overall the experience was nothing short of fantastic. Since he didn't have anything booked after me, Eric asked if I minded if we went a little long, "so that I can do this right and be thorough." Me being a kid in a candy store, I had no problem with that. The thoroughness of Eric's process is second to none. Jerry Lovell is terrific at what he does, and both guys are great to swap stories with as well. In fairness to Eric's future bookings I won't say how long I was there, but suffice it to say I was shocked when I put my watch back on. The time seemed to fly by, and was absolutely never a chore or a bore. I can't say enough about Eric and his knowledge on the club.

The other thing I want to emphasize was that Eric was never trying to push new clubs on me. Having been in sales myself in the past, I am always guarded and try to diffuse any potential push. I did this a couple of times with Eric, and felt bad afterwards, because he did not push at all. He understands that it's in his best long term interest to look after your interests. I can't say enough about the process, and highly recommend anyone in the area, or who comes down to play, and is looking for a fitting get one with Eric.

[golfortennis]

Should add to this review. Given what I wrote above, and knowing that my 60* wedge was not conforming, I wanted to give them some more business. So Eric took the time to check the wedge I did have, make recommendations about the bag setup, etc., and then gave me a couple of demo clubs to try out. I asked him about time frames, and he said they would special order and it would be in in 10 days. When I told him we were leaving Saturday, he offered to ship, but when I mentioned what the border does to shipping, he thought for a second, and offered to make some other arrangements in order to get a club in for me. These guys really do go the extra mile.