“Free club fitting” sounds like a good deal. Until you realise it often means you’re being guided toward whatever the shop needs to sell that month.

That’s the main issue. You walk in expecting honest advice. You can end up walking out with clubs chosen more for inventory than for your swing.

What Usually Happens in a Free Fitting

You hit a handful of balls. The fitter glances at the screen, nods, and steers you toward a recommendation. There’s enough data to make it feel official, but not enough time or depth to build real patterns. The focus stays on quick results and closing the sale.

This isn’t a proper fitting. It’s a guided purchase.

What a Real Club Fitting Looks Like

A good fitting starts with your actual swing — especially the pattern that shows up on the course, including your common misses. Not just the occasional flushed shot.

It examines how you deliver the club, strike location, launch, spin, and dispersion over multiple shots. You test different shafts that feel noticeably different and heads that behave differently even if they look similar. Lie angle gets proper attention because small errors here affect direction consistently.

The fitter explains what the numbers mean and how they connect to real ball flight outdoors. It takes time and focus. It’s not rushed.

Why It Costs Money

Doing it properly isn’t quick or simple. It requires experience, quality launch monitor time (like TrackMan), and the freedom to recommend what actually works — even if it’s not in stock or from a specific brand.

When the fitting is free, the business usually makes money by selling you something. That pressure can lead to compromises: the “close enough” shaft, the convenient head, or the option that moves inventory.

The real cost shows up later — wrong specs mean you fight timing, direction, or distance on the course. Worse, you start changing your swing to match bad clubs.

How to Tell the Difference

Before booking, ask:

• Do you fit across multiple brands, not just what’s in stock?
• Will we spend time on my typical misses, not just good shots?
• Do you explain the changes and why they matter?

If the answers are weak, you’re probably being steered more than fitted.

At Swing Shack the approach is straightforward. We look at what you actually do with the club, not what the stock room needs. Proper testing with TrackMan takes the time it needs so you walk away with specs that match your swing.

Come hit a few sessions. You’ll quickly feel and see the difference when it’s done right.