Retail Store/Fitting Studios (Part 3 of Series)

(Today’s article is part of a One-Week series on “How To Get Fit – The Right Way!”:

Best Fitting Tool In 100 Years!

Yesterday we covered “Dedicated Golf Fitting Centers” as a part of our week long series. These type of facilities are what we consider the Rolls-Royce of the fitting industry. We truly feel that these types of fitting tools combined with a well trained staff will impact what equipment golfers buy and play with more so then any other tool in the past 100 years!

Why Even Cover Any Other Options Then?

The type of services at the locations we discussed are almost “FailProof” approaches to improving your golf game. So why are we even going to cover anything else you ask…why even continue with the series you say? Well honestly…we know that the “Dedicated Fitting Centers” are THE answer to the majority of golfers problems…there really is no reason to even consider getting lessons or trying to improve your game until you own equipment that will allow you to do so to the best of your ability.

Although…up until the past few years these types of facilities were not available to much more then the Touring Professionals…but that’s not the case anymore. So once again why not end the series here? Well that’s because there are still two major deterrents that are keeping every golfer from going to these centers and having the perfect golf clubs along with the perfect golf swing. And they are:

1. Cost – If you really want to do it right and you are able to go to one…you are looking at spending between $700-$900 for a complete overhaul of your game and bag + equipment. Which is over budget for many of us…which we understand completely. But if you go back to the study we discussed…where the avg. golfer spends over $500 per year on equipment and that golfer has been playing for over 20 years…then you realize that many of us have actually spent over $10,000 on golf gear in our lifetime! That is way more then this type of investment…and oh yeah this one actually produces…most those others haven’t. If they had you wouldn’t still be buying new clubs. Our motto is “measure twice and cut once.” But even if we know this is the best way in our minds for golfers to actually reach their full potential we still understand that it might just not possible for many. And that is why we are continuing with our series. We want to give you other some other options to choose from.
2. Location – the majority of the top-shelf fitting centers are not always in the most convenient areas…and none of them are huge chains yet either. Which means they aren’t on every street corner like a 7-11 in the South or a Dunkin Dounuts up North. But in the next 5 years they will be…or at least the software they use will be. But for now it just isn’t convienant enough for every golfer to drive 15 hrs. to go get his golf game right. Theres just too many wives out there that wouldn’t want to hear that you are going to go on a 15 hr. drive that cost around $1000 to fix your golf game.

(Quick Story: If you are one of the men that either said to yourself “my wife wouldn’t care if I spent $1000 getting custom fit” or if your not married and don’t know what I mean when I say “not too many wives would want to hear that”. Let me explain. During my career in this industry there has been at least a couple hundred of my customers and friends that have told me that they own a private mailbox address just for having their golf clubs shipped to….lmao! It amazed me and made me laugh at the same time the first 20 times I heard it…but now it just makes me feel bad for them.)

So What Is The Next Best Option?

Well in our mind the next best option is getting fit at one of the big chain “Golf Retail Fitting Centers”. Like we said nothing is going to be as good as the Rolls-Royce’s…but…some of these are not bad and oh yeah most of these are FREE. Well kind of. If you think about the main reason why Golf Retail Stores have these you might not feel so warm and cozy but they are still a good option.

Advantages

1. They are available in more locations then the “Dedicated Fitting Centers”
2. They are more affordable as well
3. Many of them use comparable testing equipment to the “Dedicated Fitting Centers” that we suggested
4. Lots of them will offer you multiple drivers and irons to test
5. Might offer you number of shafts to choose from as well
6. If you are lucky they might let you try a few different golf balls which can also improve your results quite dramatically
7. If you are really lucky you might get a fitter that actually knows a few things about golf equipment
8. You will most likely improve on every club that you are tested with

You might have noticed that I said a lot of mights, most likelies, if you’re luckies. That is because these places are more of a crap shoot compared to the “Dedicated Fitting Centers” in regards to who and what you might get. But be persistent with them and try to go when not a lot of golfers are lined up to get fit. Try to get them to fit you for as many head, shaft, ball combos as possible.

Disadvantages

1. The main reason they have these fitting systems in there stores is to help sell equipment. And most of the staff at these stores are not as well trained as those in the “Dedicated Fitting Centers”
2. Not as many options to choose from. They generally dont pull from as large of a database as the “Dedicated Fitters” So you might only have 7 or 8 options compared to the thousands of combinations the others maintain in their computers.
3. Cheap Labor…I know we said this in #1 but we felt it needed to be said again
4. Not as in depth of fitting process
5. Did we say anything about the quality of the fitters yet? Just because every store ran out and got a launch monitor doesn’t mean that they know how to use them
6. If you went back every day and got 3 different fitters you might get 3 different club recommendations

Don’t Get Too Discouraged…Retail Fitting Centers Really Do Offer A Good Service

No matter how much we try to persuade you to go and drive the Rolls-Royce’s we spoke about yesterday we still realize that many of you because of the deterrents we listed previously will choose to go to a “Retail Fitting Center” instead. And that is fine…actually that is great! Because you will still be a part of an elite minority group. And that group is called the “Non-Brainwashed Golfers Group” that means you will become a golfer that actually took a stand against all that golf club company marketing hype and decided to become a more knowledgeable consumer. And your reward for joining this group will be an improved golf game.

“Golf Retail Fitting Centers”

1. GolfSmith (GolfTec)

Option #1 (60 Minute Swing Evaluation Session)

– outline goals and expectations
– swing analysis (w/g-SWING technology)
– pinpoint areas for improvement
– create personal WebLesson for home review
– design roadmap for improving your game

Option #2 (3 Month Plan)

– Initial Evaluation
– 10 Lessons
– 90 minute weekly in-bay practice
– gFit personal club fitting session
– gTrack 1-yr subscription
– 5% off merchandise
– 5% off GolfTEC Services

Option #3 (6 Month Plan)

– Initial Evaluation
– 15 Lessons
– 90 minute weekly in-bay practice
– gFit personal club fitting session
– gTrack 1-yr subscription
– 5% off merchandise
– 10% off GolfTEC Services

Option #4 (12 Month Plan)

– Initial Evaluation
– 25 Lessons
– 90 minute weekly in-bay practice
– gFit personal club fitting session
– gTrack 1-yr subscription
– 5% off merchandise
– 15% off GolfTEC Services

Option #5 (Maximum Performance Plan)

– Initial Evaluation
– 52 Lessons
– 90 minute weekly in-bay practice
– gFit personal club fitting session
– gTrack 1-yr subscription
– 5% off merchandise
– 20% off GolfTEC Services

{check for a fitting center near you: GolfSmith/GolfTec Fitting Centers}

2. GolfGalaxy (Maltby Certified Fitting)

Option #1 (Launch Monitor Fitting Services) QUICK FIT

– 15 to 20 minute session
– optimize a single driver
– or several golf balls

Option #2 (Launch Monitor Fitting Services) COMPLETE FIT

– 45 minute session
– optimize up to 3 drivers
– optimize shaft and ball configurations

Option #3 (Putter Fitting)

– proper length
– proper lie
– proper loft
– proper swingweight
– fit for Maltby playability factor

Option #4 (Ball Fitting)

– optimize the right golf ball to your swing to maximize both distance and accuracy

{check for a fitting center near you: GolfGalaxy/Maltby Fitting Centers}

3. GolfEtc Retail Stores

{check for a fitting center near you: GolfEtc Fitting Centers}

4. Nevada Bobs Fitting Centers

{check for a fitting center near you: Nevada Bob’s Fitting Centers}

SERIES – Week One:

• “92% Of Golfers Buying Golf Clubs They Don’t Need” – {Are You 1 Of Them?} (Monday)
  
• “Dedicated Golf Fitting Centers” (Tuesday)
  
• “Golf Retail Fitting Centers” (Wednesday)
  
• “Local Custom Club Fitters” (Thursday)