Reviewing a Full Bag Club Fitting at Precision Golf

I AM consistently astounded by the number of club golfers who either walk into a golf store or go online and buy a set of expensive clubs without having the first idea whether they are suited to their game.

It makes no sense, especially at a time when a driver alone can cost you £500. FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS. For one club.

You would never buy an expensive suit without first trying it on. You would never buy a car without taking it for a test drive. 

So why would you spend thousands of pounds on a set of golf clubs that you might not get on with? It makes no sense.

The only possible solution is custom fitting. I have been fitted for clubs three times in my life and I am here to tell you that it is the only way to buy golf clubs.

Before going any further, I need to give you a bit of background. I have been experiencing severe shoulder pain for two years and it is has severely limited the amount of golf that I have been able to play. But I have now had a couple of steroid injections and, hey presto, the pain is a thing of the past.

So I was extremely keen to get back out on the golf course. But after hitting a few shots I quickly realised that my existing clubs are no longer the right fit for me.

The Fitting

I love golf and I want to play the game to the best of my ability so the obvious solution was to get custom-fitted again. If you are going to do that then you want to go to the best. 

And in my experience that is Precision Golf. I have worked with Simon Cooper and James Davey, the men behind PG, before when I entered an online competition and won a set of Miura irons which turned out to be the best I have ever owned.

Back then, PG were based in Egham. They have now moved to a state-of-the-art facility in West Byfleet and have a team of 19. Simon and James now offer not only a club fitting service but you can also book a putter fitting, a lesson, a session with a biomechanist and fitness sessions specifically designed for golfers. There is a also a fully-equipped gym. The boys have come a long way.

But the one thing that hasn’t changed is the outstanding quality of the service they offer. Nothing is left to chance.

Simon told me to bring my six iron (a Wilson Staff C100), wedges (Mizuno JPX 50-degree and TaylorMadeATV 58-degree) and woods (Ping G25 driver, TaylorMade  RBZ five wood and hybrid) and before I hit a shot he checked them out for lies, lofts, shaft flex, weight.

Then it was time to start striking golf balls using the TrackMan system. You will probably have heard of this - it is the system Sky Sports uses to follow shots during their tournament coverage. And it measures everything. And I do mean everything - clubhead speed, ball speed, ball flight, spin, distance covered through the air and total distance.

I arrived at Precision Golf convinced that I needed graphite shafts in my irons as the years start to catch up with me. Simon wan’t so sure. And he was soon proved right. 

After hitting a number of shots with my own six iron he told me that he was sure I needed a lighter shaft. 

We tried a number of shaft and head combinations and then came that “eureka” moment when I struck a Callaway Apex club fitted with a Shimada Constant 90S shaft. The instant I made contact with the ball I just knew we had found the right combination. And the data confirmed it. Oh, and by the way, I was wrong - I didn’t need graphite shafts in my irons.

My Ping G25 driver is the best I have ever owned. It has always been a club that I could depend upon. But now it just felt too heavy. After hitting several shots with it, Simon went off and came back with several driver heads. Again, he tried various shaft combinations until coming up with a Titleist TSR2 head and a Ventus Blue 5S shaft. Bingo!

Everybody has a go-to club. Mine has always been my hybrid, whether it be from the middle of the fairway, the tee or the rough. And I have to say that I still felt pretty comfortable with it. Well I did until Simon put TaylorMade Stealth2 19-degree club with a Fujikua Vista Pro 60H shaft in my hands. The feeling when I made contact with the ball reminded me precisely why I love this game so much. I just can’t wait to get my hands on this club for real.

I have always been a pretty useful wedge player but Simon quickly came to the conclusion that the lofts on my Mizuno and TaylorMade wedges were too close together. He set me up with a 45-degree Callaway pitching wedge, a 51-degree gap wedge and a 57-degree wedge that I will be using from bunkers and to play flop shots. 

The final finishing touch was the grips, and we opted for Golf Pride Tour VelvetWhite 360 which are a little wider at the bottom than standard and feel amazing.

To see my full club fitting, see below or watch directly on YouTube.

The Reveal

Of course, the best part of any club fitting is when you get your hands on your shiny new toys. I chose to collect mine, although Precision Golf offer a delivery service.

I was beyond excited and I wasn’t disappointed. These weapons are a thing of beauty - I almost didn’t want to use them because I didn’t want them to get dirty.

I headed off to the driving range and my initial thought was to hit 100 balls. But my new clubs felt so good and performed so well that I ended up going back for another 100. The irons have so much feel and the wedges are just incredible.

Most fun is the driver though. I admit that I am no longer in the first flush of youth so I really wasn’t expecting too much. Initially I made the conscious decision to swing within myself. The ball came off the club face beautifully, flying through the air with a slight draw, which has always been my go-to ball flight.

As my confidence grew I started to open my shoulders and was consistently hitting the ball 240 yards. It’s a long, long way behind the likes of Rory McIlroy, but it’s a distance I will happily settle for.

Of course what all of this means is that when I go out there and play badly, I know that the one thing I cannot blame is my clubs. They are sensational.

An added bonus is Precision Golf’s Ambassador Referral Programme. If you refer somebody who goes on to have a fitting you will receive points which can be redeemed against future fittings and equipment.

For further information, please visit https://www.precisiongolf.co.uk.