the belfrey or Oulton Hall fitting

After a talk to the wifey last night were just off on some day trips, thanks to david more than likely to the east coast. which will save me some pennies

Inspiered by Chris's blog post, im tempted to get custom fit for a driver, as the tour burner is not forgiving enough for me and my nike one which im using at the moment which goes straight is 13* so im thinking if i could get something with a little less loft but with forgivness as well good things will start to happen. And after seeing how custom fit and getting the right club for my ability has helped in hindsigt the mp52's were mis sold to me. which i think has happened with the tour burner.

anyways i have not really done the custom fit thing properly at a fitting centre, my ping irons were done with measurements then hitting a few balls with that club. i also tried 2 other types of iron.

2 Things I dont think im as confident as Chris and could go into american golf try some drivers then walk out, but i want to try as many as i can to try to get the right one. I also appreciate that people at american golf are a bit hit and miss when it omes to reccomendations.

So i can hopefully get free fitting at oulton hall ( thanks darren) which is a hour and half away, or i can go to the belfrey which is 3 hours away, which do you thinks the best idea? I dont mind the extra driving if its going to benifit me much more, or will i get the same results and out comes at leeds?

Don't know about Oulton Hall Matt, but you need to make sure whoever you use is independent and will let you try any brand you want with no pressure.  The Belfry will let you try anything and you never feel like you're obligated to buy because of the way the structure things with the £50 charge that is refunded if you buy the clubs from them.  As they give you a voucher that is valid to the end of the following year there is no rush if you decide not to get them that day either.  If (probably when!) I change something else in my bag, I will definitely be going down that route again. 

I will be writing next week about the fitting I had for my fairway woods at The Belfry, which was a much more thorough fitting than the one for my driver.  John Pettitt will attest to how well my new 3 and 5 woods perform after seeing them yesterday. 

I certainly can, Chris, all your wood play was exemplary, the five wood and driver especially. One five wood you hit 270 yards to the green.

I can't hit my 5 wood that far John, it was a 3 wood.  I was especially pleased with the 5 wood over the trees on the 18th though. 

My mistake Chris, I thought you said it was five wood, still it was a fantastic shot, I have never seen anyone hit that green from that far back from the ditch. As you say the five wood over the trees on the last was probably long enough to have hit the green if you had aimed for it. Take the positives, Chris. The rough is pretty tough, as you know and the course is not easy at the moment. I think we need some "Open" crowds to trample it all down. Don't forget I had two pretty good shots take severe right hand bounces into the stuff and then the hole is finished.

You struggled with the slow pace of the greens because you have been playing on faster surfaces most of the time, we all know it is not easy to adjust, but my opinion is that it is nice to see a course set up this way so that providing you can hit the green there is every chance of stopping the ball on it, one of yours, if you remember, spun back. The danger of course is hitting short and then the hard ground will just send it flying through. courage is what is needed.

The beauty of this game is that your last round is now history, think positive.

Already planning to use Saturday's game against Williams to exorcise the demons John.  Been a couple of weeks since I've played him so beating him again will freshen me up. 

Chris, sorry if I missed it somewhere, but for the £50 how long does the session last and do they give you a printout of stats such as clubhead speed etc? Also - how long does the £50 redemption voucher last?

I've been looking for somewhere I can do this without a pressure sale (from the likes of AG/DG etc).

Cheers.

Chris,

You get two hours and you can spend that on as many or as few of the clubs as you want.  They generally have different shaft options available for each one too.  I would recommend narrowing the field down first though so that you can get the most out of it e.g. decide you will only be trying forged irons.  This means you don't waste some of the session trying stuff that isn't to your liking.    I didn't get a printout of the stats, but then I didn't ask.  You'd have to ask them on that one.

The voucher I was given last week was valid until 31 Dec 2010.  the choice is yours as to whether you use it or not, and if you can get the clubs you want for more than £50 cheaper elsewhere so be it.  I have found that the pro shop at The Belfry is priced almost the same as AG and DG (my driver was £10 more and the fairways were the same price).  They can also order in any combination of heads/shafts/grips that you want. 

Cheers Chris. It's drivers I'm interested in (yes still!). Been playing guessing games in the second hand market shaft wise etc without really knowing what would suit me best. I figured £50 for a decent fitting session would be better spent than £50 on another driver that doesn't fit

Matt

Oulton Hall all the way, I have done a fitting sesion there and James Whitaker is great. He used to be at the Belfry as head fitter for 5 yrs before he was poached away.

They have Nike, TM, Mizuno, Ping, titleist, among the brands you can get fitted for. Just the Nike fitting system has 25,000 different combinations.

my Mrs is letting me order my clubs in a week or so as well so can't be bad!

If they have it in stock you can take it straightaway, if not they order it in and you can collect or have it delivered. 

i can vouch for the Belfry as well, I've had s full set of irons & a driver fitted their, on seperate occasion although if Simon says the chap at Oulton used to work at the Belfry your pretty much guaranteed a very good fitting session at either.

If you go to the Belfry ask then to put a burner head on a standard shaft, they did this for me & the results for unbeliveable. I went from hitting wicked slices to straight drives.

Other on here will now confirm I rarely miss a fairway these days.