Bag Analysis

Had my appointment for the bag check at 2 PM today at the new golf store in Champaign. Dragged my bag in and got signed in. Immediately began hitting 5 balls for each club working up from lob wedge to driver. No putter work. I was a bit more nervous than anticipated.

The results -
1) the driver and 3 wood were not the regular flex as advertised. One was senior and the other was stiff. I feel betrayed :) even though these aren't clubs I reach for all that often.
2) the 6 iron was off on weight. Not a club I hit often anyway, mostly because I never saw much difference between it and my 7i.
3) irons would benefit from being spined. Sounds cool.
4) new grips.
5) they will check the club lofts and adjust them while they have the clubs. The Cleveland HiBore XLI irons have the loft on the clubhead. This is one feature I really like for those clubs. I try to refer to the loft and not the club name. I suspect something is wonky between my 7i and 8i based on the actual distances I measure with gps on the course.
6) the regular flex was a good fit for my swing.
7) the standard length iron was a good fit for me.
8) the driver results suggested a 1/4" shorter shaft, though this is my least used club because of the golf I play.

I left the clubs so they could check the loft of each one and do this work. I had them skip working on the 3W and Driver. I don't hit them alot and when I start doing so I will get the work done on them... I almost said that with a straight face. This will eat at me and I will have them adjusted soon even though I don't use them all that often or even carry them.

I think the session would have gone better if I had warmed up. I felt I had a really slow and steady swing for the session with only achieving a good swing one or two times out of 5. That is the power of calculating averages from multiple swings. This is the same problem I have playing golf in the simulators. I think my mind can't get beyond the fact that the wall/screen/net is pretty close and I don't need to swing a real swing even though the screen shows a target down the fairway. I did a better job swinging the ball into the net which was just a net at the other golf store for the visual appraisal/golf fitting.

I respect the technical analysis. It was good to know that the swing fit the flex of my clubs. I think the overall benefit for me would be to take the results and see what can be done to fit the kind of golf I play which is mostly 9 hole par 3 golf. This can easily be improved by spending some time asking me about the golf I play - where, how often, scores, holes that own me, typical shot results, clubs I use, etc. Then take that and apply it to the technical information obtained. Being a new store they weren't familiar with the 9 hole par 3 course I consider my "home" course.

I also think the shot info should be hidden from view during the assessment. I found myself trying to smash the ball harder with a faster swing because the swing results didn't fit what I expected.

All in all I got the main thing I wanted - more than a visual assessment of the shaft flex being in the range for me. Checking the actual loft vs advertised loft is another thing I want to be sure of just as checking the length was good to do too. As a high handi-capper I am not sure that much else is going to benefit me now - I play a lot (70+ rounds a season) but not a lot of big boy golf.