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I'm fairly new to the game and was recently shopping for new irons. Well I finally purchased Mizuno MX 23's and love them. however when i was shopping around one shop (small mom and pop shop) recommended that i do not get fitted for my clubs because i'm a new golfer and that as i progress and get better my swing will change and make the fitting of new clubs useless. And they suggested that i play with what I got (standard length Etc) for the time being. And as i get better I can go ahead and get fitted and i can reap the rewards of fitted clubs.....The larger shop suggested that I do get fitted and sized... What do you all think?????

That kinda depends.... i havent heard too many not recommend fitting, but logic suggests to me that getting fit with incorrect fundamentals in your swing is not a good idea. What if you are too far from the ball and bending over dramatically resulting in your hands being low? If you were fit for swinging like that, you would invariably end up with clubs too flat once you corrected the flaw. If you are roughly standard height/arms etc (i.e. ignoring what your golf is like), id probably just stick with the standard fit for now.

it generally doesn't cost anything to get measured up at your pro shop or local golf club emporium & he'll be able to tell you whether an off the peg set will be OK or not. But as to the advice of (Semi quote)"OH, you're just a beginner it doesn't matter"(/semi quote), is probably; as has already been stated, the wrong advice. Some people like myself can generally get off the peg clubs, as I'm in the right height & fingers to floor band. Best cheap way to double check for yourself is when the shop assistant tapes up an iron, is to see where the scuff mark is on the sole after you've hit a fair few shots in the try out bay. Not fool proof by any means, of course.

Get measured up, to see if you need fitting for them, & if you definitly need fitting or can afford the few extra quid it costs to get fitted, then do so. Peace of mind at least.

I think that the guy at the shop was wrong. The most important part of fitting is getting the lie angle right. Club lenght is important but not as much as the lie angle and the only way to get the lie angle right is to get fitted.

OK, from a club fitters stand point......

If you are a brand new golfer the facts will be that you need... Thick Top Line Irons, Over Sized face, Low Center of Gravity, not expensive set, and cut to your lenght. Then and only then can you watch a person swing and determine if the Lie needs to be change. I an not talking about adjusting to his swing either, I am stating that if his swing looks like Grandma sweeping the back porch then I would say that adjusting his clubs would be an absolute waste of time.

Hi,

I could never figure this advice out..

OK let's say you have a few months/weeks under your belt and an understanding of the basic swing. An off the shelf set may or may not fit you. Could easily be way off, toe or heel way up. So now your trying to find your form and wondering why the ball doesn't respond.

Of course one can be fit and have their swing change as is common with beginners and now your back to square one.

What I did was finally find a shop that would fit me (many won't based upon less than a year of playing I found) for some Pings. I played for a while and one idle day was refit. It ended up being the same fit. So either I was close to begin or haven't progressed but my iron play is coming around so I'm comfortable.

Most of the advice is made to save you money. But as I've experienced a Ping fitting is free and Ping will adjust for free.

If you have a set that can be fit and can afford it and have a fitter who will work with you: Do it! can't be a bad thing!

WarrenA

I guess I didn't detail myself enough...

If you are to adjust loft and lie with an unparalleled shoulders, legs that straighten at inpact, over the top, swoopping swing, that has a bad inside out movement then he would have to repeat this swing everytime to hit the ball square. Not exactly helping but could possibly be doing more damage. Don't adjust loft and lie to a golfers bad swing but tell him you will adjust once he gets some form down.

Now if someone has a pretty good swing then as I said before its ok to adjust for them.

Lets say someone needs their irons bent 3* upright and is 5'6" in height so he gets them cut around .75" under. Now lets say he fixes his swing and needs to have them 1.5* flat from standard. WOOOW, now hes having to play with irons that are digging the heel in the ground and thats if he can mentally get past the look at address when his arms are in the correct position. Chances are it will be harder for him to fix his swing until he fixes this problem.

Based on the size of the player.....generally speaking....tall guys are usually upright and shorter guys are flat? If the golfer is new why would the fitter not get him to stand at right address and fit him....assuming there is no medical condition that would prevent him from making a normal swing.

There are two ways to fit people, I have read anyhow. One is to assume that the golfer will never change his swing, and the clubs should be adjusted to his swing. The other is to use body measurements to get what he should have if it is an ideal swing. So getting adjusted to your body measuremnts at first may be a good idea, or wait until you ingrain a swing into muscle memory, as long as it's a good one , and then get custom fit. I agree with the mom and pop store that it is a waste of time starting out, unless you are far from the average american male. say your really tall or really short than getting adjusted at first would be a good idea iMo

But when your first starting out your swing likley is not repeatble enough to even get custom fit yet.

I can say that a fitting helped me make much better contact as I needed 4* upright and 1.5" additional length. But being that I am 6'7" and was playing with standard clubs before....I'd say get a couple lessons, get used to hitting the ball, and then get fitted.