I was able this past weekend to view “from the outside” a Fitting and Demo Day offered by a local golf club distributor. All of the major clubs that these companies make, the new models, were available to hit.
The first thing that was interesting is that – even though there is a lot of new technology available to be able to test golf club performance (particularly Launch Monitors) there were no Launch Monitors being used by any of the companies showing their clubs. So, just like it has been in past years, players who hit clubs need to rely mostly on feel and some visual evidence of how the club performs.
There are, to be fair, some pretty sophisticated Fitting Carts now available from OEMs so that players can hit various shaft, length, and head options to see if any seem to play well for them.
It was also interesting to notice how enthusiastic the folks who were participating in this Demo Day were. They all wanted to test the latest equipment and see if there is anything that can help them play better.
At the end of the “Day” though – same old same old. Hit a few club and shaft options, see if any seem to work well, perhaps find something that “seems” a little better, and maybe buy some new clubs. And often find out later that these do not really fit them.
Golfers deserve better. Being fit from a fitting cart without attention to measuring results may not cost you anything, but you get what you pay for. Precision fitting does significantly more than that – it is based on real measurements of performance, and allows a player all of the key fitting parameters to find clubs that REALLY fit their games.
Some things never change!!
Tony