Why is Club Fitting So Important?

Don, At one of your golf schools last year in Davison MI, 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 e-mail 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 (paulgpgt@aol.com)

Surge, Great testimonial from Peter about his fitting with Doc and his results with the new sticks. You are correct in stating that with a PPGS Certified Fitter,one will likely receive a lesson as well. In my fitting session with Doc year before last, Doc took that extra amount of time with me and virtually turned my fitting into a lesson session. At the close of which I was ripping drives down the range at his facility there in Columbia. That was after I got over my bout of Tee-fright, of course. I still chuckle when I recall Doc's line in the blog about our session," He was as nervous as a new bride!". I still use the tips he gave me that day, the main one being about my ball position with my driver. It was after he pointed out that the ball was to far back in my stance and pointed out the mirror to the side of his tee box ( I was so nervous, I hadn't noticed it) that my drives finally began finding the short grass. I wouldn't trade the tips,fitting or my Doc clubs for anything.Like I posted shortly after playing my first round with my clubs,"Nothing like hollering,Be the right club,when it is!". My family has grown tired of hearing me say, every time we see DJ on television, "We swung the same 5 iron test club!".
To all my fellow Surgites, If you haven't been fit for your clubs by a Certified Fitter, if possible you need to be.

I was fitted ,in columbia by doc,an was suppose to have been fitted,an sold a set of clubs i could not use,an all i got from him was what were you expecting,an now i have a 1200$ set of clubs i can;t use so don;t belive every thing a club fitter tells you ,make sure you get some kind of warrant with them so you don;t get stuck like i did danny.

What he's saying is he got fitted, got a set of clubs that fit him, but he didn't hit them well. The reason he didn't hit them well was because of the swing, not the clubs. The point was he expected to get a set of clubs that magically fixed the swing. I have yet to be able to build that set. I also compensated him even though it was a lack of understanding on his part as to what fitted clubs would and would not do. Even though you may have a straight arrow, if you don't have the proper technique you're not going to hit the bulls eye. If you think back a few months, you'll remember a video I did on fittings and what it would not do. This is one of the reasons that I did the video. Sometimes people have unrealistic expectations and such was the case here.

Well, I'm afraid I cannot let your comments go without telling of the exact opposite experience with Doc.
I travelled to UK earlier this year to be fitted by Doc and can tell you, as I have already told Doc, I have never felt happier with any of my clubs as I do now.
I am 76 years old and wish desperately that I had been fitted many years ago.
Golf is so much more of a pleasure now and I know that if I hit a poor shot, it is not the clubs fault! Not that I hit too many of those now. As a matter of interest I was able to post the top score in our little group today, and was within 1 of my handicap.
Please take the time to listen to Doc and Don as I'm sure you will really benefit if you do. I know that I have.

3 1/2 years ago, I went to Ionia MI to see Greg Courtnay for a fitting. It was indeed a pleasure. He showed that the irons I was playing were doing the job and did not need replacing. He did build me a driver. I still use it and still love it.
3 years ago I met Lynn (Doc) in Las Vegas at the Surge Tourney. He looked at my irons and confirmed that they were well suited for me and need not be replaced. I met Greg again last year at the Davidson MI clinic.
I am thinking once again of getting new clubs. When I do, I will definitely be contacting one of these gentleman to build them for me.
Dan Gaines

I cannot let anyone challenge Doc Griffin without coming out in his support. Firstly, I am a good golfer with many years in single figures. If I had met him sooner I would have got even lower. He fit me with Clubs earlier this year when he came to the UK for the 1st time, when I was recovering from knee replacement Surgery. It will take 12 months for full recovery. In the meantime and using the Clubs Doc Griffin made up for me I am hitting the ball more solidly, more accurately and have got back some distance I had lost with old age and bad knees. Whilst my Handicap has not come down, it has not gone up and I am always in contention in Competitions. My regular golf partners consider me a " bandit" off 9.5 Handicap and last week my Partner & I won the Club Invitation 4Ball competition, where I was +4 to Par in horrendous rain after 9 holes. Doc Griffin knows what he is doing and as an example I can tell you all that for the 1st time in 40 years golf my divots are perfectly straight & shallow, because he diagnosed a Flatter lie. If you read this Doc, Thank you very much I am very happy to have found you.

John,

I have been practicing nearly every evening after work at a local muni green and it is paying off. One of the keys that keeps coming back is the need to be tension free and give up control with the hands finger and forearm muscles. That pendulum needs to be free and flowing as you have recommended. Any effort to steer or control leads to an off line putt and or miss hit distance wise too. It takes discipline and practice to learn to give up the urge and twitch to control the stroke. Once I am confident of the line and set up square I need to trust that my shoulders and body will deliver. It is a strange feeling for a while but i is paying off on long and short putts with the L2.

I started using this swing this year. It is working very well for me. The one thing that isn't making sense is that my ball flight is generally very low and flat, too low and flat most of the time. I am hitting thin mostly with the odd pork chop flying out, this results in a higher flight but not a lot of distance. A friend of mine who still hits a very traditional swing, down on the ball, compression, divot is a must, I'm hitting too thin. He suggested that the clubs I'm using could be the issue. I was using a set on Mizuno Altrons hollow back, forged clubs. I have since started using a set of Golden Bears, much heavier heads and bigger grips. Is the club head type that critical to how the PPGS will work? My understanding is that the newer clubs tend to ride along the ground and discourage divotting. I know that we want to be plucking the ball off of the ground. The older clubs were meant to be much lower under the ball. So, my question is: "Should I be using a more modern club or does it not matter?"

Thanks.
Peter