The mystery is the "golf club fitting" session.  A lot of people swear by it.  It's frequently mentioned by tour pros and mentioned in golf magazines.  I've been golfing for almost 20 years now but most seriously in the last 5.  My game has made some steady improvements as I finally broke down and took a series of lessons spread out over 5 or 6 years.

I thought that the concept of "fitting" clubs was more about the salesmanship of selling new clubs.  After all, I thought, my game is about what I put into it, meaning I don't practice as much as I should or could and do not play more than once or sometimes twice a week.  I have been pragmatic about it, ..if someone can hit a 7 iron 160 yds straight with a hickory stick and a balata golf ball, it must be mostly about the swing, contact with the ball and not so much the equipment.  So I just need to work on those fundamentals before getting custom fitted for $1000 golf clubs. 

I don't know about all fitters.  Perhaps some do put pressure on you to buy a particular set of clubs that are "custom fitted" to you.  But having never read about a "real person's experience" of the process in much detail, I feel compelled to share my experience with those of you who have not taken this step to give you a first hand account of what happened for me.  It started at the PGA Superstore here in North Texas (Plano).  I went in just browsing the store and started talking to what I thought was one of the teaching pros.  Turned out he was a "fitter" that had been doing it for 20 years.  After he told me what a fitting session was about, I decided to give it a whirl.  Now with the economy what it is, I was NOT shopping for new clubs.  Nick had me bring in my 6 and 7 irons.  Had me warm up with them for about 10-15 minutes while he took some measurements of me and my clubs.  Then he wandered off to "build" some clubs for me to work with.  First I had to hit my 6 and 7 iron until I had 3 best I can hit it shots recorded.  The computer recorded launch angle, ball speed, spin, etc etc.  a bunch of stats.  Now for me hitting 3 straight, best I can do shots, is not a 3 balls and on to the next club kind of thing :)  .  Took me 8-10 or more shots before he would accept they were my best efforts.  Once we had that baseline established it was on to hitting new clubs.

I hit 4 different brands of clubs configured differently.   There were some Pings, Some Callaways, a TaylorMade.  He had ruled out some other types based on my discussion of where my game was at now.  Some had graphite shafts, some steel.  Some were regular flex, some were stiff flex.  With each club it was a process of hitting 6-10 shots to record 3 "best effort" shots.  Without going into all the details, all the clubs I hit were similar to my club, some felt better, some felt worse, but nothing really staggering enough to spark my interest in new clubs......Until I hit that ONE club. 

When I hit 3 straight 7 irons 160 yds with less than 5 yds dispersion, and it felt GOOD.  Now I mean, effortless, feels great, I knew that shot was great kinda good.  Well, then it sparked me.  Hit the 6 iron of that make, lie, shaft, etc.  I'm hitting 3 back to back shots 175-180.  I'm not telling you what club it was, because I'm not selling anything.  But that club was the best feel I have ever had hitting a golf ball.  Now I remind you that at 55 years old, after hitting about 100 golf balls, then hitting 3 back to back perfect shots...well it got my attention real fast.

Knowing that I am an "impulse" buyer, I paid my $40 for the club fitting session and went home to think.  I will emphasize strongly here that not once did I feel like the fitter was pressuring me to buy something.  He was just recording and reviewing stats with me and never mentioned buying, or discounts, or anything that made me feel compelled to do something right then.  Went back the next day and hit balls with the 6 and 7 iron of that model, without the club fitter around, ....and well...yep, had to ask the wife to let me get my big Xmas present early.  Today will be the first round with the new clubs.  Spent an hour at the range with all of them yesterday and they all felt super.  Today may be hacker h.ll or just so-so, or a great round.  At least I know it wont be because the equipment isn't right for my swing.

So hope this reveals some of the mystery in a club fitting session, at least my experience with it.  Would be interested to hear of other golfer's experiences in club fitting.