Today’s Guest Post by: Rob over at http://www.sandbox8.com/ . Today he brings you a rare look inside the Taylormade Performance Labs. Make sure you check Rob’s blog for other great stories and product reviews! Follow him on Twitter & Facebook.
One Of Golf’s Ultimate Fitting Experiences!
Today’s golfer has a lot of different choices available to them when they buy their golf clubs:
- what type of club (cavity back, blade,etc)
- Shaft (graphite or steel)
- Length
- Lie
- etc
But often the most overlooked aspect of purchasing new clubs is the fitting of the golf clubs to match your swing characteristics. Last month I had the opportunity to get custom fitted at the state of the art TaylorMade Performance Lab at Olympia Fields Country Club, Olympia Fields, IL (25 miles south of downtown Chicago) and experience “One Of Golf’s Ultimate Fitting Experiences”
The TaylorMade Performance Lab at Olympia Fields Country Club is only one of four locations in the United States, that just opened this past June. The process of the fitting takes about two hours and it covers every club in your bag, from wedges, irons, hybrids, fairway woods, driver, and putter. At the end of the fitting your given a folder with your club recommendations and CD-Rom containing all your swing data, and you have the option to purchase the custom clubs from TaylorMade based on your specs, but rest assured there is no obligation to do so.
The Fitting Process
When you first arrive at Olympia Fields Country Club, you are escorted by TaylorMade’s Master Club Fitting Professional Brad Syslo. Brad takes me through the Pro Shop and leads me upstairs to The TaylorMade Performance Lab, where I’m greeted by a huge stainless steel vault like door with the TMPL Logo. Behind the vault door is the TaylorMade Performance Lab, the nucleus of the operation where you’ll be spending part of the fitting process. The room is simply amazing! The room is nicely appointed with sever large flat screen TV’s, an extremely comfortable leather sofa, and plethora of TaylorMade golf clubs. The atmosphere is completely relaxed and Brad does a great job of keeping you at ease during the entire process, with his great sense of humor and relaxed demeanor.
Taylormade Performance Lab Steel Vault Entrance
You begin by warming up, hitting your existing golf clubs like you normally do at the range, while Brad asks you a series of questions about your golf swing and tendencies, etc. Brad also asks about what are your strong points and shortcomings in your golf swing, favorite golf ball, what you are working on with your golf instructor. During this brief warm up process you are not hooked up to any of the motion sensors or being recorded via one of the nine high speed cameras. Brad is just observing the flight path of the ball and not judging your swing. I’ll admit, I do get a bit nervous around strangers watching me swing my golf clubs, but that wasn’t the case during my fitting. I felt completely relaxed.
The next part of the fitting process is where the fun begins and you get suited up to begin capturing your swing with the Motion Analysis Technology by TaylorMade (MATT), which captures every aspect of your swing in 3-D, swing data, and club recommendations. Prior to the TaylorMade Performance Lab, the motion capture technology was only available to PGA Tour professionals and movie studios, but now you can get access to the same amazing technology. In order for the nine high-speed cameras to capture your swing data, you need to put on several articles of clothing with specially reflective markers that are strategic located on your body and on the golf clubs as well. The clothing consists of hat, a vest, cumber bun, elbow straps, knee straps, shoe covers, and wrist straps. The clothing takes very little time to get used too and fits right over your existing clothes, so you don’t have to worry about restriction of movement. Once your suited up, your asked to stand tall, with your arms raised to shoulder height so the system can get an accurate measurement and scale of your body. I discovered during this setup, that my one arm was hanging slightly lower on one side. Now your ready to begin the journey of the “Ultimate Fitting Experience”.
Taylormade Performance Lab Hitting Area
Taylormade Performance Labs Suited Up In Gear
What Does It Show You?
We started out the club fitting process by fitting my irons first. Brad instructs me that I can swing my golf club once the red light flashes and I hear beep. I was little nervous about waiting for a visual and audio cue, and that it might throw off my tempo. It took very little to get used to this and actually became ingrained, almost Pavlovian like. Brad had me hit at least six to eight golf balls to get enough data for MATT analyze. After each swing of the club the MATT software renders all the data captured, along with data from a launch monitor. The results were simply amazing and extremely detailed. After one swing Brad was able to tell me exact clubhead path, In/Out Path of the club, backspin, swing speed, loft of clubhead at impact, ball position, and more.
The amount of data was invaluable in understanding my swing characteristics and tendencies. For example, I learned that I have an Out to In swing and play the ball a little too far forward in my setup. This is one aspect of my golf swing I’ve been working on with my instructor. Brad was able to explain in plain English what all the data means and gave me some valuable tips for correcting these swing flaws, its more than just a club fitting. After you complete six to eight swings MATT crunches all the data and gives it recommendations for what irons would work best for my swing. You also get to see your swing rendered in 3-D that can be rotated and viewed from multiple angles in full motion to see what your swing is doing. This was extremely amazing and so cool to look at, and gave me such valuable insight into my swing.
What They Recommended
Once you complete the fitting inside the TaylorMade Performance Lab, you are taken outside to the driving range to validate the recommended clubs for the remainder of the two hour fitting. After this is completed, Brad gives you a folder and CD-ROM containing all the data and club recommendations from MATT to take home with you. There is an option to buy any of the clubs that were recommended during the fitting directly from TaylorMade, which includes any customizations required (length,lie, loft, shaft, grip) at no extra charge. There is no obligation to purchase any of the equipment you test during the fitting process. I did end up getting an entire new set of clubs based on the recommendations and I will be writing a follow up post on whether my custom clubs have made a difference.
Overall, I highly recommend you get fitted at the TaylorMade Performance Lab, it’s an experience like no other and you’ll learn so much about your golf swing than you could ever imagine. It’s worth the small investment of time and money and you’ll be glad you did.
TaylorMade Performance Lab at Olympia Fields Country Clubs costs $400 for a two hour fitting. If you have any questions you can also email them at: [email protected]
Other TaylorMade Performance Lab Locations:
- Aviara Golf Academy-Four Seasons Resort in Carlsbad, California
- Reynolds Plantation-Ritz Carlton Lodge in Greensboro, Georgia
- Grand Cypress Golf Academy at the Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Today’s Guest Post by: Rob over at http://www.sandbox8.com/ . Today he brings you a rare look inside the Taylormade Performance Labs. Make sure you check Rob’s blog for other great stories and product reviews! Follow him on Twitter & Facebook.
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Don
11 years ago
Did you get your clubs and how did you do with them?
What clubs make up your set?
What was their discounted price for the set?
Thanks!