Every year one of the best times I have is being fit at Club Champion. The massive selection of clubs, the fitter expertise, and ultimately the results, final product, and being treated in every way like a Tour pro. Club Champion delivers in spades.
Rob (@stx_n_stns_golf on X) recently got to experience a Club Champion iron fitting as the winner of my PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Club Champion Iron Fitting Giveaway and it sounds like Rob had an amazing, maybe even perfect day at his fitting.
I've been fit multiple times for clubs at Club Champion and every single time it's been educational, eye-opening, and ultimately one of the best fitting experiences I could have possibly have. Rob was fit at Club Champion - Del Mar, and in his own words says "Club Champion's [fitting] experience blows others out of the water," and he "left the studio with a huge smile on my face confident my game was going to see major gains."
In his own words, here's what Rob thought about his Club Champion fitting experience and ultimately what irons wound up being best:
To say that the fitting experience at Club Champion is amazing would be a major understatement. The level of service from scheduling my fitting to when I received my custom irons was first class. The entire team at Club Champion are absolute pros (I mean it… their master fitters and builders are actually PGA certified professionals).
After scheduling my custom iron fitting, I decided to add on a putter fitting that I had been thinking about doing the last few years. Scheduling the putter fitting right after my iron fitting was seamless on the Club Champion website and I had no issues using a gift card that I had saved up. I received an email confirming my appointments and that I’d be doing my fittings with Richard Hernandez.
My fittings were held at Club Champion’s Del Mar, California location, not far from home. The studio is in a nice outdoor shopping center with various shops and dining options (in case you’re hungry after swinging clubs for an hour like me). Not going to lie, it was strange pulling out my golf bag and shoes in the shopping center parking lot. I had done an iron fitting before, but it was at a free fitting event at a local driving range. Spoiler alert - Club Champion’s experience blows others out of the water!
I was greeted immediately by Rich and his colleague’s friendly smiles upon entering the studio. One of the other fitters was working with another client and stopped for a second to welcome me in. Rich showed me around the studio, the variety (and I mean VARIETY) of brands they work with, and then talked about all the different elements of the fitting process before heading to his state of the art indoor hitting bay equipped with a Trackman launch monitor.
Time to stretch and hit some warm-up shots with my 10 year old Ping G25s and X-stiff CFS steel shafts while Rich got me set-up in their system. The iron fitting only requires hitting a 5 iron, which makes things easy. While I was warming up, Rich explained all the numbers coming up on the screen and collecting it as base line data for comparison as I progressed through the fitting - my yardage was on point at about 175 with a bit of a slice (wish I could say it’s a natural fade), as I tend to sweep the ball rather hit down it.
We talked about any brands I was interested in trying and some of his initial observations, the first and what turned to be the major finding in that I was playing the wrong shaft. I needed to be using a stiff flex based on what he saw during the initial warm-up. Rich also encouraged me to look outside the game improvement and more towards player irons that I could grow with and as my game improves. I put my trust in Rich and away we went.
First things first, Rich grabbed an ACCRA iSeries 105g steel shaft at just a notch above standard length to account for my swing, height and posture at address. Being a Ping iron player all my life (first set was Ping Eye+), I naturally gravitated towards the new, beautifully designed Ping Blueprint S. Not bad but not the feedback we were expecting. On to the brand spanking new TaylorMade Qi10s, Cobra DARKSPEED, Titleist T350s, Srixon ZX5s, and Callaway Ai Smoke. These heads were progressively better, but still not the consistent feel, trajectory, spin and speed we were looking for.
Rich screwed on the TaylorMade P790s to the same ACCRA shaft, which seemed to be working wonders. My initial reaction was this thing looks like the blade Tiger and Scheffler play on tour - I have no business hitting these, but worth a couple of embarrassing strokes on the big screen. Man was I wrong - instant improvement across the board: distance, trajectory, spin, etc. Now we’re on to something. Rich pulled up a cumulation of all my shots and the P790s were the best by far! One other cool feature of their fitting technology is that I could get an up close look at my ball striking - not bad but could use some work on closing the face.
For good measure, Rich then put on Ping G430 and Titleist T200 heads. I was still missing right and not gaining as much distance, so back to the P790s but this time with the standard length shaft. I was right back where I left off with the P790s, but the standard length didn’t really benefit my sweeping slice. Back to the .5 inch in added length to the ACCRA shaft to account for my large, 6’ 2” inch frame. BINGO! I added 20 yards, a baby draw, increased club speed and lower ball spin to my irons in an hour of comprehensive fitting. A few more hits into the simulator and I was feeling pretty darn good about my iron play.
We then went over to check out grips. I brought some BB&F Co. ferrules in navy, gold and green ferrules that I wanted installed so I went with the color match and picked Golf Pride MCC Teams navy and gold standard grips. The green ACCRA sticker was the icing on the cake. Club Champion does have a variety of ferrule colors available, too.
Before checking out, I did the putter fitting with Rich. I warmed up with my gamer, an original Odyssey White Hot #1 that I’ve had in the bag for 20 years. The putting studio is just up the stairs from the main hitting bays. Rich measured my putter, added a contraption to the shaft to capture my putting stroke, and then I rolled a few putts in front of this small device placed on the ground. Rich was at a computer terminal nearby.
We went over the results and then tried a couple of putters from the new Ai Odyssey line with both the milled and white hot insert. I only wanted to try the new Odyssey putters, but Club Champion has all the brands, mallets, blades, shafts and grips available to try. It was so cool to see my putting stroke and match it up with the Odyssey Ai Double Wide with the soft white hot insert.
After 2 hours at the studio it was time to check out at the front. Rich took my ferrules, printed out my order that was put in a nice folder, and walked me through it. I couldn’t help but leave the studio with a huge smile on my face, confident that my game was going to see some major gains.
I received an email confirmation with my order, which also allowed me to track the status online. Rich was also super communicative throughout the whole process, including his contact info should I have any questions. January and February is peak season at Club Champion with all the new releases, so fast forward a few weeks and I get a text that my new custom irons are ready to be picked up. I hurried over to the Del Mar studio, once again met with a friendly welcome.
Greg and Andy grabbed the securely wrapped, custom P790s from the back. (Greg has since moved to Asheville, NC to open the Club Champion there - any friends in NC should hit him up!) I unwrapped one of the clubs and was just in awe with how they turned out - way better than I expected! They also returned any extra ferrules. I noticed one of the clubs had an Arccos sensor, as they have a partnership with Club Champion that I will definitely be looking into further. Once again I walked out of the studio with a huge grin and a renewed confidence in my iron play.
I am incredibly grateful to Pete and Club Champion for this game-changing experience. It was absolutely first class all around. I am excited to see some big gains on the course and cannot recommend Club Champion enough for customizing everything in your bag to your game. Hit ‘em straight… I know I will!
Thanks for an absolutely great review Rob. Sounds like your fitting was incredibly thorough and incredibly enjoyable. And awesome you also got a putter fitting in too. Taking your game to another level in 2024 baby!
All of you know I believe Club Champion does fittings right. Every fitting I've had with them has been thorough, enjoyable, and ultimately left me extremely happy and satisfied with the results and clubs I was fit for.
And as I read Rob's review it was obvious he was getting the best of the best from the best in the fitting business. A lot of you often tell me on social media the same thing about Club Champion. All Club Champion does is impress and continue to impress.
No matter who you are, what your game is like, or what you want to accomplish, Club Champion will help you play better golf and in the process make the game more fun. And it doesn't get any better than that.
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