Controlling the Fitting Environment

This is particularly relevant as we embark on a new season. As a fitting professional, you help people and guide them through the process of updating or filling out their golf bags. A few weeks ago, I made a comment that you need to create your process – the method that you ALWAYS use in every fitting.

Today, I want to chat about the fitting environment. How you manage and control that environment has a major impact on how the fitting goes. Players want to hit balls. Players know all about equipment and want to be sure they tell you how they need to be fit. Players will tell you their specs. Players will tell you about their golf swings and what they’re doing right and wrong. When this happens, and you allow it to happen, you’ve lost control of the fitting environment.

How then, do you take it back?

Consider this… If your fitting is an hour, you might need 30 shots. That’s one shot every 2 minutes – not one shot every 10 seconds. Seriously, a player will hit 12 shots in 2 minutes if you let him. You have 30 shots total. This player could be shot in 5 minutes if you don’t control the environment. Realistically, you might need 5 minutes of warm up, 10 minutes of pre-fit interview, and 15 minutes to wrap up with set make up, grip, etc. That leaves you 30 minutes to hit balls. 1 per minutes is a good gauge.

So, first things first. YOU control the number of balls that the player hits – from warm up to each club. Are you in a simulator? Simple. Stand there and present a ball to a player ONLY when you want him to hit one. DON’T let him hit balls as they come back from the screen. Got 4 balls by the station in the sim? Hide them. Feed him one at a time. Outside on the range?  Do you have a bag of balls, a basket of balls, or a stack? MOVE them. You may even have to move stacks from behind them, and half used bags from the area. Just like inside, you need to feed the payer balls when YOU want him to hit them, NOT when HE wants to hit them.

Obviously, we want to control the flow. The player only has so many good swings. More importantly, though is the flow of the fitting. You know how many shots you want the player to hit. YOU can make that happen. You’re in charge, so be in charge. Perhaps the most important thing is how you control the frequency of the player hitting shots. If they are hitting balls, you can’t talk to them – and vice-versa. If you are talking, they can’t (or shouldn’t) be hitting balls. If they are talking (answering your questions), they are not hitting balls. You need the player to slow down or take a break? Start talking!!

Talking about what? Yes. Talk about anything to control the pace. I will tell about feature differences between heads or shafts. I’ll ask questions about feel of a head or shaft. Or maybe shot shape. Distance. Clubs in the bag that are staying or going. Ask about swing changes.  Anything. Your pre-fit interview can extend into the fitting – especially if it helps you navigate the appointment. Sometimes I’ll make a spec change. Sometimes I say let me see that and have you try something a little different – I’ll remove the head, spin the cogs and put them back the same way they were. I control the atmosphere. If the player doesn’t have balls to hit, he has to listen to me. If the player doesn’t have a club to hit, he has to slow down. Is the player talking too much? Give them another ball to get the flow going again.

How do I do it? I like three shots per combination. I hand the player a new club, chat about what I need to chat about, grab two balls and throw one down. When those three shots are done, take the information you got and move on to the next one. The player will understand that he will only get the balls in your hand and no more. Tell him this up front. It’s not a race to see how many balls he can hit. You need time to analyze data.

Once you see the data, use what you know to turn bad swings into good data. If the player rapid fires shot after shot, you don’t have the time to fully analyze the shots. If you feed him balls to hit, you can give yourself the time to analyze each shot. Doing so will allow you to have the player hit fewer shots while giving you more time to be certain your recommendation is correct. 

You are the fitter. You control the pace. You have the player do what you want/ need him to do. By restricting the number of balls he gets, you can accomplish this.

Happy Fitting!!!

Jim Yeager, PGA