I am still in my 30's (barely) and have been assembling clubs for 8 years now. I enjoy building things and working with my hands. I also like wood working but don't do much anymore. Not sure about the next generation. I have a guy at work in his early 30's and he just paid a guy $75 to assemble a baby crib and rocker. Only a screw driver and maybe an allen wrench to put those together.

It comes down to this: (And I hate to say this) The worst thing that ever happened to the fitter and fittings is the L/M. It allowed the the big box stores to have the latest L/M with a minimal amount of time to get the numbers to so-called 'fit' the consumer with essentially off the rack golf clubs. If it looks like a fitting and smells like a fitting and seems like fitting.......the consumer will buy into it. The sales clerks, for the most part, are well versed in the use of L/M's to sell and move product. To the consumer a qualified (whatever that means) fitter just looks and seems to be overpriced. The big box stores L/M set up looks very professional today. And worse, which I have been preaching for years, is selection by the large retailers. That is a big edge.

    Yep, 6th-8th graders at my school.
    When I have time and figure out how to post pictures, I will start a thread.

    6 months later

    I believe it. Been working on my clubs for...(Holy Smokes) 35 years...But as a kid I caddied and worked at a golf store when I was in Junior High. Club building allowed you to try something for less. Thats not so much the case anymore IMO.

    I still build, reshaft, tinker and repair but only as a hobby and for local buddies. I act like an adolescent, but my body is 64. I kinda remember being 20-something.

    I'm 37 and I have been a full time club fitter/builder for 13 years now. I started out when golf was in its modern day prime at the peak of Tiger's career, and have ridden the wave down to where it is now - fairly stagnant, but still able to survive doing it...thanks largely to a pretty good size repeat customer base. 🙂

    First-time poster here.....a refugee from GEA and FGI. I have been a club tinkerer since my late 20's when I got a summer job working in a green grass pro shop. The pro didn't want to mess with changing grips, so he taught me how to do it. A new hobby was born!! That's been 45 years ago, and I'm still tinkering around....I only build for myself. Just built a Maltby KE4 ST-H hybrid over the weekend, in fact.

    As far as 20-somethings being clubmakers, I don't know ANY as a matter of fact. Most of the people who work behind the counter at pro shops and golf stores I frequent are retirees like myself. Maybe that speaks more to the nature of the golf business these days as to the desire of younger guys to get their hands dirty. Except for the head pro, many of the guys working in golf now are just old guys like myself looking for a part time job and some free golf.....Intriguing question though.

    I was probably 24-25 when I found FGI and started tinkering and building my own stuff. I have always enjoyed doing stuff on my own and fixing and making stuff, so it was a natural thing for me. At 33 I still build, pull, and refinish for the hell of it!

    I did not start until age 32..… just enjoyed playing, not enjoy tinkering as much.

    I may be more of the exception that proves the rule. I'm 28 and I've been building/repairing golf clubs for 5 years now.

    Bangoman big box stores to have the latest L/M with a minimal amount of time to get the numbers to so-called 'fit' the consumer with essentially off the rack golf clubs. If it looks like a fitting and smells like a fitting and seems like fitting.......the consumer will buy into it.

    I went to a local store which has the latest L/M with instant feed back. One guy thee told me that they could adjust the condition to anything they want. Like temperature, elevation , humidity, fairway roll out ..............
    He our drive me on the L/M by 30 some yards to something line 280 yards. But he was very close to my driving distance on the golf course.

    Trick he said was to hit a low running draw to maximize the yardage on the L/M per set up.

    I still like the live fitting as the last check point. Driving range is okay, but in the old days, the fitter will allow on course adjustment and give 1-2 additional "tune-up" after I played for awhile ( within 3 months ).

        Release Draws are played out as big time advantages on the LM and usually a lower launch is better too. I hit the ball WAY farther on the monitor than real world. 225 yard 6 irons? Yep! Except that's 25-30 yards longer than my best shots. 365 with driver? Why not!? Except reality bites you on the course. I got the roll out like the monitor says I should once ever I believe. Super hard, slightly down hill fairway with a light tailwind, I got my 38 yards of roll.

        Maybe this is where people get the idea they hit it 280-300 yards "when I hit it good"?

            DC300 Maybe this is where people get the idea they hit it 280-300 yards "when I hit it good"?

            I would imagine so.
            Although the L/M does save a lot of time gathering some data ( provided the condition of the launch was set up correctly ). I always favor the on course fitting , The method of seeing the ball flight and pace off the distance is more reliable IMO.
            I once played with a guy traveling from Chicago, he looked at the yardage on the score card and decided to play from the tip. I asked him if he wish to play the 7,000 yards in Winter condition, cold temperature windy and damp turf... he got angry and replied " I'm a good golfer you know ". Okay, so off we go. He did not refuse when I suggested to move up to the middle tee boxes after a few holes.

            Mine issue relating to golf is, each week is a different adventure. Some days I feel fine for my age and some days my shoulders hurt and could not raise the right arm above the shoulder and could not extend the arm to reach out for things. Some days my feet hurts........... So if I fit the golf club to my liking one day , which will not guarantee it'll be the right fit the next day... LOL.
            That's why I have sets of golf clubs with all different set up. Flex from X to R, Steel shafts to graphite and irons varied several degrees in lie angle...... Just have to learn to take the right set out to the course in any particular day. Maybe one set for the front nine and one set for the back nine. Just kidding !

              Hell I'd be happy to change shafts out 3-4 times a round if I could! When I get going, a stiff is plenty, about hole 5 my X flex fits well, holes 8-13 I could go XX and then towards the end I could probably go back to S haha.

              I'm feeling prematurely aged in some areas of the body, I need a warm up to play well early, but if I'm not careful I burn out the elbow/shoulder golf quota before the end of the round so it falls apart there. I prefer to play 9 and go have a beverage 😉