Had a really poor experience here this weekend during a golf club fitting. Let me preface this by saying I probably was not the best candidate for a fitting. I'm still working on my shot so lessons probably would have been the better option. That said, my wife wanted to get me something really cool for my birthday so she surprised me with this fitting knowing I wanted to upgrade my 30+ year old clubs. Didn't really know what to expect so I watched the video on Golftec's website before going. The experience I received didn't match at all.
When I arrived, the coach instructed me to hit some balls with my 7 iron to warm up. The simulator was really neat. Nice to see your ball flight and get the immediate feedback. Unfortunately that was the only feedback I received the entire session. Eventually after hitting about 10-15 balls, he brings me out the first club to try. Hit about 5 balls and they feel pretty good. I tell him I like the feel. Then he disappears into the back. I wait and the screen is telling me to stop hitting with this club so I'm just retrieving my balls and chatting with my wife. New club comes out, I hit a few and don't really like the feel of these and I'm not hitting great. Zero feedback.
I'm a youth football coach so I kind of want to help this guy and make this session productive. I'm trying to drag the feedback out of him. "What's the main differences between these clubs? What's a good launch angle? Man I'm REALLY pulling the ball to the left." NOTHING. Maybe 5 word responses and nothing I couldn't have figured out myself by reading the club. I even ask, "Do you guys give lessons here?" and was met with a simple 'yes'. What a time to jump on an opportunity! I'm begging him to give me some pointers or at least try to sell me on a lesson. Just nothing. So all told I'd conservatively estimate that I hit only 40-50 balls and tried 3 clubs, and 1 with 2 different types of shafts. Eventually I say, "I think I liked the first ones the best" just hoping to make conversation. Thinking it might lead to more clubs just like it. Nope. He actually asks, "Want me to ring those up?". No price. No sales technique. No hint of professional expertise given or a description of what makes them good clubs. Just asks if I want to purchase $1,000 of clubs without even discussing the amount.
Of course I'm not buying after this, so I give him some lame answer like, "Well I'm probably going to shop around a bit, so if I could get my specs that would be great." I'm just trying to end this thing. Then, the coach giving a lesson around the corner pokes his head in and says, "You're not going to get a better price anywhere else". I don't think I have to explain why that comment fell flat.
I'll end by saying I wasn't hitting the ball very accurately. I could imagine it's a little more difficult to nail down the best club type when I'm not very consistent. That said, if I'm paying to be there for 60-90 minute fitting, I shouldn't arrive by 10am and leave by 10:42am. If I'm struggling, offer a lesson. If I'm curious about the clubs, take the rest of the time to teach me the differences and show how they were impacting my shots. At the very least, make something up about all those fancy numbers I see on the screen and tell me why a certain club would be better for me. None of that and after watching the video on their website I can be confident that it wan't my expectations that were out of whack. read more