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when i get buy a new set of clubs should they fit me for free? or will there be a charge?

most likely going to golfsmith...if that matters....

I believe there will be a charge, however the charge is usually deducted from the price of the clubs if you buy from the company that provided the fitting.

That was the way Golf Galaxy explained it to me (I didn't choose to use them), and also the way the Callaway Fitting Center did it (who I eventually chose).

I've seen most places give a free fitting only if the set is above a certain X amount of dollars. At Golftown, I think it was a free fitting for any iron set above $500.

ok so if they dont give me a free fitting what do you recon they will charge me??

a friend of mine said about $30 a club which seemed really pricey to me

40 bucks for the session is a fair price. Any more and they are ripping you off.

A lot of people on this site will tell you you "need" to be fit for your new clubs, and that may be true is you're a good golfer. But if you are a brand new player, you have a big problem here. Clubs need to be fit to "your swing", and I'm guessing that most new golfers can't make the same swing twice in a row. So if you can't make a good repetitive swing, which one of your many swings does the club fitter use when he fits you? That's exactly what my instructor told me when I asked him about this years ago. First thing you need to do is developed a good repeatable swing, then worry about getting fit to a set of irons. The same thing was told to me when I went in for a free swing analise and asked about the lie angle of my irons. The first question I was asked was, "are you going to take lessons and change your swing?" And that's the problem, if you change your swing or address position, you might need to change the adjustment of your irons again.
As a fairly new golfer, the only thing I'd recommend you do it make sure the length is correct, forgot about lie angle for now.

Yeah I agree. I went in to Golf Town here looking to get a fitting done for new shafts and I ended up leaving with a lesson package. I am not new by any means but I think i made the right choice. I need to swing the club properly before I go spending cash on new shafts.

wow i didnt realise when getting fitted they did all that

i thought it was a quick snip of the shaft add some glue and your done....

As of right now I have a pretty steady swing... occasionally I'll hit a really bad swing but dont alot of people?

Even though im only about a month into starting golf I think I have improved much faster than the average person...
I really started a while ago but I was just swinging the club in my backyard with no balls...so that helped me out pretty good.

alright well thanks for all the info
Now all i need is a new set of clubs and ill be ready

Congragulations on starting golf...I agree with Oneputt though...

Krek -

I live in NW Houston and I can tell you from experience...if you go to Custom Clubs by Larry, they'll try to put you in the most expensive shafts they can find. I had an $80 TM knockoff driver I bought on e-bay (I told them that so he would know) and the guy wanted to put a $250 shaft in it. Did he REALLY think I was going to spend three times the amount I paid for the driver to put a new shaft in it? And the computer printout he got to show the difference between the $250 shaft and what was in it...hardly noticeable. Certainly not worth $250 in my book.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you someone better to go to, but unless you have money to burn, I wouldn't recommend Custom Clubs by Larry.

geez 250 for a shaft
thats rediculous..if i had the kind of money (which i dont ) i still wouldnt spend 250 on a shaft...

anyways thanks for the heads up...

where do you live in houston??

AS was mentioned, you have to be careful when you visit a custom golf shop and ask about fitting clubs. I had a shop try to tell me all my new irons were built wrong,(I built them myself), and he wanted to install all new shafts for $45 per club. That was for a $15 shaft, the other $30 was for his labor and "expertise". He even told me he was one of only 6 "Master Clubmakers" in the country. I don't know what a Master Clubmaker is, but I think I know when I meet a Master Con Artist. Needless to say, I didn't go back to this shop again.

That was cheaper than Larry...but not by much. He wanted me to pay $50 per iron to re-shaft all of them. I forget the breakdown of cost of shaft vs. labor, but in my opinion, I was going to be the one getting "shafted".

There will always be a "chicken or the egg" mentality when it comes to the real need for a fitting,

Typically swing guys will tell you that a fitting is not needed until you are a good golfer. But,, when you are a good golfer you would be able to hit most clubs well.

The opposite is true for club folks.

I believe a beginning golfer needs a fitting to get the general specs set. This is to promote a comfortable swing and minimize swing faults created by clubs. Simply, a 6'5" guy would typically do better with longer clubs or a young person would be better off with lighter more flexible clubs.

these are simple fitting processes to get a golfer started so that person will enjoy the game and stay with the hobby/ sport/ frustration etc.

when the golfer becomes more informed and gets some rounds under their belt and is now trying to get the score lowered without the use of an eraser another fitting may be in order. A lesson may but the answer too. It would be a good swing instructor or club fitter to recommend the other. We must remember it all about making the game more fun by lowering scores through better equipment and swings.

To give my example. My fittings cost $75 for irons or $75 for woods or $150 for both and a putter. If a set of irons or a driver is purchased after the fitting within a couple of weeks I discount the purchase $25 each. The fitting takes about 1.5 hours or more for the irons and 1.5 hours for the woods and about 45 minutes for the putter. the golfer walks away with a spec sheet of their irons. Print outs of the computers I use to show the golfer why we picked the changes if needed. and a full set of recommendations for the fitting selected. I view the fitting as a learning process for the golfer and myself. We will discuss each set and way we are doing it. When its all over and done with I hope to have either recommended a correction to the old set, specs for a new set or an instructor to get a swing flaw fixed.

Thanks McGolf

I think I need to get a different set (don't we all) of irons that fits better for me. But I'm really hesitant to go to a GolfGalaxy or GolfSmith and pay for a fitting from somebody who may or may not be qualified. But all the time I'll think that they are just trying to get me to think that I need to get the $1300 Callaway Fusions or something.

I like the fact that you said that the customer walks out with a spec sheet & reasons why. If the specs are something I can find better priced on my own, then I have the option. This seems more comforting, As opposed to having a sales pitch throughout the fitting session where I'm consiously trying to get the lower priced clubs to hit better, and not really focusing on my normal swing.

I've found a couple of fitters in my area from proclubmakers.org and will give them a call.