If you've been thinking about contacting one of our certified fitters to help you with your golf equipment but aren't sure if you can trust the process, today's testimonial from Paul Primel will probably seal the deal.
One of the things I really liked in particular about Paul's story is that Greg Courtnay (one of our PPGS Certified fitters located in Michigan) didn't bait him into thinking he needed all new clubs. In fact, Greg spent more time adjusting the clubs Paul already had because he felt that new clubs were not needed. That's honesty you just can't get at a big box retail golf store!
Don,
At one of your golf schools last year in Davison, Michigan, I met club fitter Greg Courtnay. Greg was very personable and offered some suggestions, some I did, others I didn’t. This year, when I finally felt my game was stuck at a level I wasn’t satisfied with, I contacted Greg for a fitting. While initially this was just for my driver, I was so impressed with the attention and professionalism he gave me, that this turned into a 5 hour total club and swing fitting (at no extra charge). It was amazing to see how my ball flight and distance changed as Greg worked with me on finding the right combinations of shafts, heads and weights. In the end, the driver I already had worked the best for me, with some adjustments in length (I had shortened it a 1/2” too much) and adding weight. The 55 gram shafts on my irons were causing me to not feel where the club head was and swinging them too fast. Greg’s testing found I hit most consistently with a 95 gram shaft, not what I expected for a 59 year old man. He had me keep my current club heads, showing that he wasn’t looking to have me buy anything I didn’t need. He made adjustments to my lie angles and adjusted my clubs to specifications. My adding thicker grips was my choice, since I have some arthritis and these added to my comfort and club control.
When I went to pick up my finished clubs, I thought Greg would take my check and send me on my way. Not Greg! He had me swing each club and continued to make final adjustments until I was fully satisfied. I have since had further email correspondence with Greg when I added a new club to my set and asked for his adjustment recommendations.
So Surgites, like many of you I felt a club fitting would make little difference and just cost me more money. Basically, I now have a new set that is truly fit for me. My distance and accuracy has greatly improved and I just had my best score in 3 years. I have more enjoyment now being able to even try shots I had no confidence in trying before this fitting. And if nothing else, I am getting my money back in fewer lost golf balls!
Surge, thanks for letting me share this experience with your members and if anyone can make it to see Greg Courtnay in Ionia, MI, it is worth it!
-Paul Primel
If you're dead set on getting new clubs, we can certainly help you understand what clubs would be best for you. However, if we don't think you need new clubs, we'll be honest and tell you that too. On top of that, we will spend the most important aspect of a club fitting with you...time! Club fittings take hours, not minutes. Greg even helped Paul after he picked up his clubs and made minor adjustments before sending him on his way.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. You just can't get this type of customer care and quality from a retail store. Contact a certified fitter near you, discuss your available options, and rest easy knowing that our number one goal is to help you reach your golfing potential!
Keep it vertical and get those clubs checked!
The Surge
If you can't view the YouTube video above try CLICKING HERE. You must allow popups from this site for the link to work.
Comments
Club Fitting
It should be well understood that most any set can be retro fitted to the individual. The key is does the design of the head "fit" the needs of the individual. The next consideration is, how old are the heads? If they are fairly new and in good shape, it make make economical sense to use the same heads. However, if they are fairly old, then getting newer clubs may be a wiser investment. Another consideration also has to be what is the difference in cost of retro fitting an older club to the cost of a new club? Honestly, the cost of club heads is relatively inexpensive when compared to the cost of the shaft and labor involved in the work or building or rebuilding a golf club. If your clubs are forged, then this is not a true statement. Also, each club fitter/builder will have their own pricing structure. As in this case, it may have been economically feasible to rework the clubs rather than get new ones. In other cases, such as in my shop, the difference between a new club and a complete retro fit is only $20 to $30 per club. So, if you have an outdated set of irons, it makes more sense to go new. The main thing to take away from this testimonial is that you, the client, have options and a good professional fitter will explain those options and help guide you in the proper direction. This is one of the criteria of our PPGS certified fitters. As Surge and I have said many times, your clubs can "hold" you back from playing your best golf and in some cases even cause "bad" golf. However, and I repeat, however, please understand this, getting properly fit clubs will not transform you into a tour player. It will not magically fix an improper swing if it's due to the player's lack of understanding of how to properly execute the swing. I digress to the individual that came to me for a fitting and expected "miracles" from new clubs when nothing was done to fix the errors of the swing. However, if your clubs are causing you to have to make some type of compensation in order to use the club, then properly fitted clubs will certainly be of benefit. It's like I've said many times, I can give you crooked arrows and you will have a very hard time hitting the bulls eye. But...just because I give you straight arrows does not guarantee that you will hit the bulls eye either. You have to have some understanding and skill in order to achieve the desired results. However, your chances of success are greatly improved with the straight arrows and allows you to learn and execute the skills properly. Take advantage of the opportunities out there folks and find out if your equipment is holding you back. It's well worth your time and cost if you are serious about your golf game!
Crooked Arrows
Way,and I mean way, back in my rotational days when I could belt my old Johnny Miller 3 wood out there 280 yards plus off the tee I realized it did my game no good because I would undoubtedly hit some horrific approach shot into the green. This pattern continued later with the advent of metals,when I would find the short grass,followed by a potpourri of shots attempting to make the putting surface. Play for the fade, hit a draw, & so forth. Heard " scoring clubs" mentioned on television countless times and wondered what it would be like to actually have some of those in my bag. Well, now with the PPGS & my Doc fitted clubs, I do! This Indian still shoots an errant arrow when he over-thinks a swing but when I See it, Feel it, Trust it I amaze myself at how close those approach shots are getting. Nice to finally have some scoring clubs that work for me.
EQUIPTMENT QUESTIONS
I have not purchased a bag full of new equiptment in a few years just a club here and there. The thing I have run into in going to a custom fitter is if you are purchasing a name brand club i.e. Titelist, Ping, Taylormade and so on the manufacture does not sell the fitter component parts .
Therefore the fitter had to buy the club from the manufacture with the cheapest shaft they offer then remove it and replace it with the shaft recommended by and built by the fitter. This resulted in having to buy shafts twice.
I am guessing that the only way around this is to not purchase name brand equiptment ? I am guessing I got shafted as you say so can you advise how to avoid this painful experience in the future?
Thanks,
Ron
Name Brand
Ya know, several years ago Kia, Hyundai, Suzuki, Hewlett Packard, Aureus, and the list goes on were not NAME BRANDS. But, in the industry, everything component that we build is a NAME BRAND. Also, everything that we build is also played out on tour. You just won't hear about it because they are not paid to play it. One such upstart is known as Tour Edge. KZG made all the wedges for the Callaway Staffers after the groove rule change because Callaway couldn't get wedges to their people in time for their first tournament. Miura made the forgings for TaylorMade and Titleist (including Tiger's clubs) before going out on his own. He is also the inventor of the double forged process which he sold the rights two as he now has a 14 step forging process making his clubs some of the finest (and most expensive) in the world. Alpha has long since been known for their equipment primarily in the long drive arena and so forth. There are two NAME BRAND companies that will sell their heads to us. Those would be Adams and Callaway. Sooner or later I think the other companies will follow suite as their is too much $$$ on the table not too especially as their sales continue to dwindle. However, what is the point of having a TaylorMade head? I know personally from experience that the standards of the OEMs as to what they will pass as acceptable in tolerance ranges is far more lax than these other companies that I have mentioned. I also left out Tom Wishon. Tom has been a leader in club design and has over 400 "first off" patents. He is also the first club manufacturer to design a fairway wood that was able to achieve a .830 COR like drivers. Tom has also built clubs for quite a few touring pros. One such notable was Payne Stewart whose last set of clubs were made by Mr. Wishon. In respect to your question as to how to "avoid this painful experience" in the future, my answer would be change how you look at equipment and understand that the club heads that reputable fitters/builders use are actually of equal or higher quality than the NAME BRANDS. That is also not to say that there are some club heads out there that are very cheaply and poorly made and are not high grade carbon steel. How do you know the difference? If you can buy an entire set of irons for under $300 to $400, run. The good stuff costs a good bit more than that. Another good way to tell is if the head has a remarkable similar appearance to one of the NAME BRAND clubs and a name that is a take off of the real name (such as years ago their was a KING SNAKE that was a dead ringer for the KING COBRA, and there are many many more), don't walk, run! So, there you have it. Take the leap and get what you need! A true professional/fitter won't "shaft" you. :)
Tom Wishon
Doc,
I have yet to try out any of Wishon's club heads but likely will. One concept you did not mention that he built into his woods in recent years is a flatter vertical face. I know you know this but for the sake of our other readers, other companies build more curve (vertical face radius) and that is why when many hit their 9 degree driver it flys higher (and often further) when hit higher on the face (where the actual loft may be 10,11 or 12 degrees) and hit it lower off the bottom of the face (where the loft may be 8 or 7 degrees). This makes for inconsistent trajectory and distance. Again, I know you know all this Lynn, just thought I'd share that tid bit:) We have certainly heard good reports here from several Surgites concerning the quality of their Doc built Wishon clubs. i agree with you 100% about the good quality of many 'other' less known companies that are simply not heavily advertised. Some like Miura and Vega are really well known among the Asian players and some more in the know from around the world. So there is a lot out there for those looking closer with an open mind and not brain washed by millions of $$$$ of advertising.
One of the best purchases I ever made was Tom Wishon's two books, "The Search for the Perfect Driver", and "The Search for The Perfect Golf Clubs". Both very affordable on Amazon and really educational. They are particularly helpful in aiding the skeptic to understand why a qualified professional fitting is something everyone should do if possible.
http://www.amazon.com/Search-Perfect-Golf-Club-Wishon/dp/1587261855
http://www.amazon.com/The-Search-Perfect-Driver-Wishon/dp/1587263114
Thanks for your continuing guidance Lynn.
Randy Wolf fitting video?
Doc,
Surge mentioned a fitting that you had undertaken with Randy Wolf. I have been unable to locate it using the "Swing Surgeon" search engine. Can you please direct me to the correct site?
Look forward to meeting up with you for a fitting in Melbourne in two weeks time.
Many thanks
David C, Oakbank South Australia
That video is currently not
That video is currently not online. It's a full golf fitting. I'll see what I can do to get it online.
Enjoy!!
Enjoy!!
http://www.dontrahanacademyofgolf.com/what-is-a-golf-club-fitting
Club Fitting
Brady
Many, many thanks!
David
Doc G live club fitting video
Take the time to watch this!
Provides insight on Docs vast knowledge of his craft.
Interesting insight on OEM club fitting as well.
Enjoy!
Club fitting
I will be having a lesson in Brisbane with Don on 24 November and a club fitting with Doc on 23 November. Very much looking forward to it. But are there any certified fitters in Australia? If Doc, as is likely, recommends changes to my clubs, who do I go to?
Mark, Brisbane
WHEN to get fit?
I am going to talk with Doc after the 1st of the year about some new woods but I'd like to know when do I schedule the session. Do I wait until I've played a few times and worked out the winter kinks and remember what PLHR stands for? Or schedule it early as possible in the season when I won't be physically swinging my best?
I want to make Doc's job as easy as possible so I think getting into golf shape is best, what do y'all think about it?
Thanks, Lee