Club Champion Iron Fitting Review and Custom Irons of Your Choice: 2022 PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway DAY 12

One of my favorite days of the year was back in August at Club Champion.  I was fit for a new set of irons and expected it to be an incredible experience.  I expected this because I already know the value of a Club Champion fitting having been fit in the past for a driver.  And I know the Club Champion expertise, attention to detail, and thoroughness of fitting is exceptional in every way.  What I didn't know was a Club Champion fitting could somehow get even better.

The experience was nothing short of amazing.  And I knew that day I wanted one of you to experience the same thing I did in my 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway.  So here we go baby!  One of you is going to win a full set of irons, custom built for you based on a fitting at Club Champion.

I took you guys along for my fitting on twitter and Instagram, but want to hit again on some points a bit deeper that shows what makes the Club Champion fitting so unique and extraordinary.  Give you a roadmap of what to expect really.  And of course tell you why my fitting was just so damn awesome.

 

First, your fitting options are endless.  You'll probably come in with an idea of what clubs or shafts you want to try.  Your fitter will certainly also recommend others as your fitting progresses.  But all told you have more than 65,000 hittable club combinations at Club Champion.  Sixty-five freaking thousand!  Don't be overwhelmed though, your fitter will sort through all the technology, analyze all the data, and ultimately discover the best possible combination for your swing and tendencies. 

So when you roll into a Club Champion they'll have you hit a handful of balls with your current irons (or just irons you think you like if you don't bring your own) to get some baseline numbers.  Numbers like club and ball speed, backspin and sidespin, attack and face angle.  You're going down the rabbit hole and when you come back up it's something special.

Right off the bat Club Champion tries to see (by contact and consistency) what category of iron head you should be in.  This helps them guide you into the kind of head that's best for you.  But for Club Champion it really all starts with the shaft (more on that below).

Say you come in with an older set of Ping irons.  Your fitter will probably grab a test head most similar to what you have.  And Club Champion then uses this as a guide to start your fitting and testing.  You can always pick whatever head you want.  And my Club Champion fitter Mike always asks me if there's anything out there I want to hit or that I'm interested in.  Club Champion wants us to be happy.  And then it's all about the numbers and feel to see what's not so great, what's great, and what's that match made in heaven for you.

At a typical Club Champion fitting you'll start testing by five or six different shafts.  And once you find the best shaft (or maybe two), then you do the same thing and with five or six different iron heads.  But say you want to hit say eight different iron heads?  Club Champion will have you hit eight different iron heads.  That's one of the recurring themes in all Club Champion fittings I've had... they want me to be completely satisfied.  And Club Champion will cater to your every wish and curiosity.

I should say here before we go on, I'm going to drop some of the tweets on my Club Champion irons fitting here in this review but won't go into details about it.  I hit certain irons better than others, certain shafts better than others, certain combinations better than others.  When all was said and done there was a big surprise that I will get into though at the end.

Club Champion (Cleveland) iron fitting. Here we go baby!!! 💯👍 pic.twitter.com/QA4ItlQdyA

— Pete Pappas (@PGAPappas) August 17, 2022

But this review is for you to really know what to expect from a Club Champion fitting: whatever you want.  What you'll get from a Club Champion fitting: everything that surpasses even your highest expectations.  And ultimately what you wind up with: which is an ideal iron set uniquely best for you and your swing.  And in general a real feeling when you walk out the door that's something like, "Wow, I'm absolutely positive I just got the best iron fitting I could have possibly gotten."

 

One of the interesting things about a Club Champion fitting (as mentioned above) is they start your iron fitting by figuring out the best shaft for your swing (or best delivers the iron head), rather than first trying to find the right iron head.  Club Champion believes once you find the right shaft, you can take that shaft (or maybe two) and then go through different heads with the shaft as a constant.  And this allows them to then better determine how different iron heads perform.

Your Club Champion fitter will ask how certain shafts and combinations feel right away.  And this isn't just to get your preference on good or bad.  It helps them figure out the direction to continue going with your fitting.  Again, getting to the shaft first methodology, Club Champion (and my fitter Mike on this day) is trying to ideally fit your (my) swing in terms of shaft weight, stiffness, steel or graphite.

 

As my fitter Mike explained to me, "Different weight shafts can almost control how we swing the club.  So too heavy or too light will lead to inconsistent delivery of the club head (regardless of the club head), and also an inconsistent smash factor.  Smash factor is something that tells us how solid your contact is, and that's controlled by the shaft."

So you're going through shafts that are heavier or lighter, softer or firmer, shafts that load easier or harder, etc.  And all the while your fitter (and for me, Mike) is watching and dissecting clubhead speed, spin, dispersion, and other factors in this journey towards your ideal combination of iron head and shaft.  What Club Champion wants is a shaft that gives you and I the highest smash factor, and by extension the most consistent ball flight.

So in my fitting for example one shaft gave me significantly longer outright carry than the next best shaft and also had the best overall dispersion.  Clubhead speed, ball speed, smash factor were all consistently the highest for me with longest average carry and longest average total.  It was crystal clear.  And that's when we moved on to a variety of different iron heads from different manufacturers to dial in that ultimate final iron set performance.  It's a fascinating and ultimately extremely rewarding process.

Now here's the surprise for me about my Club Champion fitting this particular day.  Mike and I had gotten to a point where I was certain we found an exceptional combination of iron head and shaft.  I was pumped.  Fitting was over and now I just had to wait for the irons to get built and arrive.  And then Mike throws me a curveball.

Obviously crazy pumped about my Club Champion fitting. All details will be in review. Here are some highlights.

Hit 5 different shafts (LA Golf, Accra, SteelFiber, MMT, steel), narrowed to 2.

Started w/Ping G425, i525. i525 more ball speed, spin, accuracy, feel. 💯 loved it. 👍 pic.twitter.com/F2IXEyoaOD

— Pete Pappas (@PGAPappas) August 17, 2022

"Hey Pete, try this iron head before you go."  I was tired, I was happy with what we put together, very happy actually.  And the iron head Mike recommended is a better player iron head.  One that usually doesn't have the kind of forgiveness I need in my irons.

I told Mike, "you know, nah... I'm good."  I mean it's my job to know golf equipment, to know the golf swing.  Heck one of my fitters earlier this year even told me he knows I could probably fit people into clubs myself with the knowledge I have.  So I was content to call it a day.

My fitting represents what Mike, Club Champion are all about. Miura TC-201 not even on my radar winds up being best for me.

Mike even had me go back, hit it again to leave no doubt.

8 irons, 5 shafts, extremely thorough testing, final tweaks at end. 💯 Fantastic experience. 👍 pic.twitter.com/HtCbtyRj3L

— Pete Pappas (@PGAPappas) August 18, 2022

Mike kept insisting.  "Come on, just a few swings.  Just for the heck of it."  He was making my tired body laugh and so I gave in and hit this iron head that clearly wasn't going to be good for me at all.  And HOLY MOLY!

Swing after swing after swing contact was center on a dot.  I'm happy if I put three straight good swings on the ball.  With this iron head and shaft I fired off six straight pretty much perfect shots.  Mike then brought me back to what I thought previously was the best iron head for me and had me hit it again.  And as expected I hit it as well as I did earlier in the fitting.

LOL. Consistently. 👀

And it’s a 6 iron I didn’t think of hitting before my fitter just casually says, “here try this.” 🎯

Lots more tonight. My fitter Mike took me on one helluva ride. After lie adjustment spin went up to 5,000’s as well. Thanks Mike and Club Champion. 💯👍 pic.twitter.com/bhC20BiPBd

— Pete Pappas (@PGAPappas) August 17, 2022

Then Mike has me circle back to this new iron head again... I think he wanted to confirm it wasn't a fluke, or maybe shake up my groove.  And you know what happened.  Another six consecutive shots, dimes on a dot, absolutely perfect.  This new iron head (along with the shaft we already decided was best for me) wound up being longer, with better spin and carry, and even better dispersion than the iron head I thought I was walking out the door with.

Everything about this new iron head felt like some kind of golf iron nirvana, not only at impact but even during my entire swing.  Just crazy honestly.  You might even say Mike brought an early season #JingleBAM baby!  Out of nowhere, left field, an iron head I wouldn't have thought to test in a million years.  And it was the winner.  Just like Club Champion every single time.  Thanks Mike and Club Champion.  Outrageously good stuff.

Remember you always have three different ways to win the daily gifts in my giveaway this year.  On twitter just retweet my giveaway announcement and follow all; on Instagram repost, mention in your story, or like, and follow all; and here on my blog leave a comment in the section below in the daily review/giveaway, Jingle Bam, and Letters from Santa articles.

These gifts are great prizes of course, but also some of the best equipment and gear in their class that I played and reviewed this season.  And I hope these mini reviews and recaps give you an idea of why I rate them so highly.

Merry Christmas all!