raggmann54 I'm going to stick my neck out here and say, while interesting to read this in actual print, it is not new news at all. Surely, we all knew this.

It reminds me of my days as horse trainer, and why I had to quit. I could never look an owner in the eye and tell them how great their horse is, or 'will be next race'....when it needed to be sent on the Amish wagon. They got the truth, and nothing but.

    Depends where you go. After I was working for TM I got a call from Club Champion. I had no interest in working there but I took the opportunity of an interview to ask all the questions about the crap I heard that goes on there. It’s all true… I wouldn’t trust them.

    What I do, I’m not on commission, I’m hourly so I have no reason to bullshit anyone. I always ask them about upgrade shafts. Some want to keep it cheap and we have free upgrade shafts so I’ll keep them in those. If they’re open to anything I’ll hit on a couple price points and show them the data and get their input.

    Bottom line, there are a lot of thieves out there. You need to find a person you can trust, which isn’t easy.

      Typhoon I always ask them about upgrade shafts

      Upgrade shaft = more expensive shaft, not necessarily better fit for the customer.😉

          The only fitter I trust is Steve Lovelace at Fredericksburg Golf Center. He's the owner. He doesn't give a shit what you buy. He'll wear your ass out trying heads and shafts and he has all the brands except DTC, obviously. He'll merely recommend whatever works, looks and feels best to/for you and will give you the launch monitor data to aid in the decision if you're a numbers guy. You can even take your data and buy clubs elsewhere. If you buy from him, you get the fitting free.

            sdandrea1
            I wish just once that I could run into a fitter much like the man you described here. I so far have been disappointed in what I’ve seen and heard about in my area. Heard this one time in a Golf Galaxy, “you should get the longer (in length) driver as it will always hit the ball farther.” Personally, I’ve had experiences with Golf Champion and Golfers Warehouse that left me feeling less than satisfied, and knowing what little I do know and learn here, I made no purchases.

                sdandrea1 Upgrade shaft = more expensive shaft, not necessarily better fit for the customer

                As I said, we have shaft upgrades that are not more money… same as the stock offerings. We also have upgrades that are a ton of money like the Velocore. I’ve had people that try the Velocore and hit it no better than a stock driver shaft off the rack. I also get people that hit it 30 yards further. You never know.

                I still remember a guy at Granite Links hitting the Velocore black a good 35 yards further than anything we put him in… and straight. And he walked away. He saw the Trackman numbers. Sometimes I think people just go look for one online too.

                  braveheart

                  This guy is now unique in the golf retail industry. He's the private owner of a golf only store. The norm now is a franchise golf (or big box sports) store that employs a "fitter", or a fitting-only service store. When he decides to retire, I fear that this area will be at the mercy of Dick's Sporting Goods. His Dad started this business as a "custom clubs" component shop 40 years ago, and they expanded into OEM retail sales and service shortly after. Steve took over from his Dad about 25 years ago. They're in their 3rd location. All moves were expansions. Steve is in his 50s now, so I'll be ok, but the generation behind me might have to go to the mall.😌

                      sdandrea1
                      The generation behind us will be able to go into a facility and be "fit" by an AI robot who will scan our body, map out our joints and muscles, etc. and select the "proper" equipment for them to use. Everyone will be as good as a tour player with this equipment because we know that money talks and BS walks and you will be able to buy a game...They will have everything covered but that most important "muscle" between your ears - no buying a game there...

                          braveheart Todd Daigneault from ProveIt Golf is at Chris Cote's in Portland now. He knows his stuff, but he only carried high end at his place as that's what most of the customers wanted. I don't know if he liked me, but he would order more reasonable stuff for me (even from Golfworks). I haven't been to him since he closed up shop and went to Cote's so I don't know if operates the same or if they push him to push the expensive stuff.

                            raggmann54 That robot will also look for any physical issues that you have, report them to your health insurance company and then your insurance will go up with the robot getting a commission.