You spent 2022 fitting Rogue and doing a nice job with it. You were comfortable with it. Perhaps you felt like you could fit anyone into it. Yes, it’s still around, but your members are seeing Paradym all over the place. They want you to fit them for that. It’s an uncomfortable kind of feeling, isn’t it? I mean it’s not like it’s that different, but it is different. You know how Rogue will react, what shaft/head combinations work. But, with Paradym? It’s like the first day of school. 

Guess what? I get that uneasy feeling too. Why? Simple. With Rogue I had a process. I knew I could take a player from A-to-Z in not very long. I knew what worked with what, and where to go if “x” or “y” didn’t work. A new line means the slate got wiped clean. I have to figure out the process all over again. By process, I don’t mean protocol. You started with a pre fit interview. You still do. Fit him for length and then use that length throughout the fitting. You still do. Find the right head and shaft combination, then finish it up with lie, grip and set make up. Still the same. If it’s still the same, that sounds like that’s it. What do you mean?

As an instructor, you always start your lessons in the same place, right? You have a “protocol” and a methodology for fixing a golf swing. You are confident that you can fix any golf swing. You created a method and you trust it. Now, Imagine that you went to some coaching seminar at the PGA Show and some joker stood up there and said you need to teach the golf swing from the follow through backwards. This would be changing your “protocol”. Could you do it? Of course, but imagine the anxiety you’d feel as you tried to figure out how to do it. Imagine if you saw a shaft across the line at the top of the backswing and you started there. Or a shot that goes right, so you started by trying to fix his clubface at impact first. This is not having (or changing) your “process”. You wouldn’t consider changing this, right? By not having a process, you wouldn’t be very effective, would you? How about trying to run a tournament by starting with the scoreboard (because you like those) before you have the roster of players? You have a process to get through tournament prep.

The funny thing is that most people who fit golf clubs don’t have a process. They just dive in and git ‘er done. Most people don’t enjoy clubfitting because that don’t have a protocol or a process.

The “process” is the “find the right head and shaft combination”. Trust me when I tell you that this is VITAL to becoming a good fitter. I’ll walk to you through this process over the coming weeks, but let’s start in the middle. Haha. The pre-fit interview comes first, then you analyze his current equipment and his game. Then we move into the new equipment. Let’s start by talking about this:

1. Let’s talk about the start of the fitting. Your pre-fit interview will tell you what the player is looking for. DON’T start there. Even if you are 100% certain that he will fit into Standard Paradym with an Elevate 95 Regular flex shaft. 100% certain. No doubt. If that’s the only club you are going to give him, why does he need you or this session??? Just sell him the clubs, keep your fingers crossed and go back into your office. Would you tell a student to “go make your left hand stronger. this will fix everything.” and leave it at that? This is the same thing. The art of fitting is showing a player that he can hit it better. That new equipment can make a difference. 
2. Have a consistent starting point and always leave yourself an out. Fitting golf clubs is like playing checkers or chess. You have to think about what happens next if this happens or if that happens. In this case, your “out” is your starting point. Consider this – A player wants new irons. He tells you he wants more distance, but doesn’t like the look of a big, oversized head. He’s playing a Mizuno forged something. You’re thinking it’s the new Paradym. Start him with Apex. This is last years players distance club and will probably get him more distance than his current club. This is your “out”. After hitting that, if he needs more forgiveness, he can try Apex DCB or Paradym X (perhaps longer, but still player like shaping and more forgiving). Smaller head? You can go to Apex Pro. Hit’s it great, but wants more distance, you can go to Paradym. This is your “out”. What happens if you start him with Paradym and he can’t hit it, so you end up with Apex DCB which he doesn’t hit as far? He’s going to be wanting the distance he had with Paradym and might not be thrilled with where he landed. I always try to take him 1 step further and give him something I think he probably won’t hit better. The best club you can give a guy after he’s dialed in is one where you say “Nope. You hit the last one longer and much straighter.” How excited will he be to get those in his bag?? Same is true with Rogue. Don’t lead with Rogue Max OS. Ever. Even if it’s a woman. You have an out to the next head if you start with Rogue Max. You could go to Max OS, Max OS Lite, Pro, Apex. If you start with Rogue Max OS and the results are not great, now what? Allow yourself to progress to where you think he’ll end up – don’t start there.
3. The process with shafts is the same. I start a player with the same shaft (one if it’s steel, one if it’s graphite) UNLESS he is really dialed in with his current shaft, and then I just start there. Consider this. Player wants a new set of irons and we want to start in steel. I start with Elevate 95. Same reason as above. What if you start with KBS Max 80 (lightest steel shaft) and it’s too heavy. Your only option is graphite. If you start at Elevate 95, you can go to Elevate 85, then to KBS Max 80, THEN to graphite 75, etc. The point is the player sees the progression and knows you are working towards a solution as opposed to him being stuck with “X”.

The point to this is THIS is MY process. My protocol. You need to have a fixed starting point in YOUR process so you can move through a fitting efficiently and correctly. I said above that I get “uncomfortable” when the new line comes in. Here’s why? I think I know what the new stuff will do, but I’m not sure until I work with it. How will Paradym work with Elevate 95? How will Paradym compare to Apex? What happens if I go longer? 

I don’t like handing a club to someone without knowing (or at least having a pretty good idea) what it’s going to do. The more time I spend with something, the more I’ll know. If you’re thinking “he knows what this combination will do for that player?”, and you don’t, your process isn’t dialed in enough. If you have a lesson and you ask a player to do “X”, you know what’s going to happen before he does it. You don’t randomly throw out an instruction and hope. This is the same thing. You need to spend a little time with your process to get comfortable with it. 

Here’s a standing offer. If you need help. Reach out to me. I’ll spend some time with you and we can find your process together.

We’ll start with the Pre-Fit interview in 2 weeks… If you go to the Show, enjoy it and learn as much as you can. Hopefully I’ll see you there.

Happy Fitting!!