Quote:
Originally Posted by ntanygd760
Curious what the putter fitting process is?
I went with a friend and we both were fitted and purchased Edels.
He wrote up the experience in another forum, so to save me from rehashing here it is:
Had the fitting done yesterday with Matt Mora from Urban Golf in LA. Myself and my buddy Andrew (aka "The Soss") scheduled back to back with him.
First, the studio. It's a hip place, very small facility (converted house, maybe 1100 square feet) right on Sepulveda in LA (just south of Olympic). There's a small parking lot adjacent to the property, with only 3 spots available. One of their guys happily took my keys and played valet (my car moved twice during my two hours there). The staff were extremely present, positive and outgoing. Urban Golf is a very interesting concept. A full service golf training facility, including equipment custom equipment fitting, personal instruction, even bio-mechanical training (one of their guys is a Titleist Performance Institute certified personal trainer, they were working with a client on foot and hip rotation when we arrived).
The $165 fitting fee is not an Edel specific charge. That's their hourly rate for private fitting, and given the context of the studio, makes sense (as much I didn't want to pay that). They would fit me for a driver, or irons, or anything else that I desired..$165 is the hourly rate.
The putter fitting section was in the back of the facility, a relatively small turf area (indoors), about 20' x 15'. It shares space with a hitting bay with a fancy HD video display showing the 7th hole at Pebble, complete with waves crashing up on to the rocks. They played good music (modern stuff), with surround sound speakers throughout the room. Racked on the wall next to the putting green they have some demo samples of OEM putters - Gauge Designs, Piretti, Miura, Scotty Cameron, Ping, etc. It was neat to be able to swing these putters and knock around some putts, since usually I'd only see or hear of them through chat rooms or on ebay.
Matt Mora is the certified fitter. I found him to be smart, helpful and certainly knowledgeable. We talked a bit about his background, and I felt very comfortable that he knew and understood his craft, and that he really enjoyed the art, and the science of it all.
As far as the fitting, it went much as advertised previously on this thread. Matt set up a 4 foot putt, with the laser in place of the hole. My current gamer (Ping Anser Milled) was consistently aimed high and right on the green screen back drop. Matt took me through several iterations, and gradually (over about 30 minutes) found an optimal setup. After reading through this thread previously, I was very conscious to keep my mind open -- traditionally, I've always gravitated to the "anser" style putter, but I didn't want to let my own aesthetic bias interfere with the results.
As it turned out, the model that best fit me was actually my favorite visually too, which only helped me appreciate the whole experience that much more (don't actually recall the model name, it's the anser style putter with the concave flange (angled inward). Matt also tried different markings and sight lines, finally settling on a single sight line on the top of the blade (not the back flange).
Matt explained the difference between a "linear" and a "radial" stroke, and gave some details about how each type of stroke may benefit from a particular type of setup. My stroke is apparently a linear stroke (defined by Matt as using the same backswing distance, regardless of the length of putt). I'll defer to his expertise on that, but when we finally settled on a model and setup, I felt very comfortable addressing the ball.
With the correct setup, I could definitely feel the difference in my aim, especially from the 4 foot section. We extended to 6 feet and the results were similarly consistent. Then I hit putts to the string, which was set about 15 feet from the starting point. Matt played with counterweights and head weights, and the differences in my stroke quality were immediate. Of note, the putting area is relatively small (as stated earlier, only about 20' long), and the fake green rolled pretty fast, which actually made it hard to take a full stroke and keep the ball in line with the string (as opposed to blasting it to the back rail of the mat). If I had a complaint, I would have preferred a larger area, so I could line up and putt some longer putts. Outside would be optimal, but overall I still feel comfortable that my objective was accomplished.
Ultimately Matt and I agreed on the optimal setup (more weight in the hands, slightly less in the head), and while I was waiting for him to set up for my buddy's fitting, I proceeded to bang 5 straight 6 footers into one of the holes on the practice mat. As some of the earlier posters noted, the feel on the test putter was less than ideal, I look forward to finally rolling my putter when it does arrive.
When it came time to order the putter, I confess I really didn't have a plan in mind for stamping, colors, etc. I knew I wanted the Pixl insert, but on some of the other details, I really found myself struggling to make a firm decision. I would definitely recommend folks look over the Edel site, and that they get really familiar and comfortable with what stamping/color combos they want before they actually do the fitting. This is one area of the process where I thought the facility was lacking. The "menu" was just an ipad with a link to Edel's website gallery. There was no way to look at each putter model, and to really see how the "satin" looked versus the "black oxide" model. So a lot of that was simply instinct, and hopefully works out.
All in all, I had a very good experience - and I came away from UGP impressed with their approach, and concept. The fitting ended up costing me the full $165 (after the hour, I was fine paying Matt - felt he did a very thorough job, and I have a soft spot for a guy trying to make a living selling service). Matt did knock 10% off the order price on the putter. The total tally for the putter was $445, less 10%, plus tax, it worked out to about $450. So I ended up paying about $600 for the whole venture. Pricey, absolutely.
Interestingly, after the fitting (and while Andrew was ordering his putter), I was hitting putts with my Anser, and after having seen my visual bias, i was actually able to aim my current putter a bit better. Hopefully it will help me this weekend on my scheduled 3 day golf bender in Pismo. I will be looking forward to seeing that Edel box when it arrives at the office.
Sorry if this is too long for you guys, but I'm sure there are several of you out there like me, who really would like to understand what to expect before committing the resources to this.
And here's the pics of my final product: