by Don Jozwiak, PGA Magazine
FAIRHAVEN, Mass. (March, 2010) -- One of the biggest trends in golf equipment is fitting golfers to the right golf ball for their game. Titleist has created a new golf ball fitting program to help PGA Professionals with the ball-fitting process. PGA Magazine Senior Editor Don Jozwiak recently spoke with PGA Professional Mike Gibson – Titleist’s new Golf Ball Fitting Manager – to find out more about the initiative and what it means for PGA Professionals and their customers.
PGA Magazine: At the recent PGA Merchandise Show, Titleist's new Golf Ball Selection, Education and Fitting initiative was a hot topic. What feedback did you receive from PGA Professionals as they learned about the program?
Mike Gibson: The response from PGA Professionals has been overwhelmingly positive. Golf ball fitting is not something new at Titleist. We have conducted golf ball fitting in one form or another for decades. Most PGA Professionals have addressed the question, "Which golf ball is right for me?" as a natural part of their instructional curriculum. Until now, however, golf ball fitting has been largely informal and, unfortunately, frequently focused on characteristics of golf ball performance that do not have the greatest impact on a player's ability to lower scores.
We have taken the golf ball fitting model that we developed for our players across the worldwide professional golf tours and adapted it into a process and protocol, and provide a set of tools that gives the PGA Professional and amateurs the ability to evaluate, test and ultimately choose the golf ball that best fits his or her game. When golfers start playing a properly fitted golf ball, their shot execution will improve and they will shave strokes off their scores. If golfers learn through this process that they are already playing the best golf ball for their game, it provides more confidence, and confidence breeds better shot execution. For players of all abilities, golf is a lot more enjoyable when you score better.
As for specific feedback from PGA Professionals, the most common and important assessment that we keep hearing is that the Titleist Golf Ball Education, Selection and Fitting is providing PGA Professionals with a real opportunity to improve the golfing experience for their students and members. That more enjoyable experience, in turn, will result in stronger relationships as well as increased opportunity for merchandise sales and lesson income. Many have said they are particularly impressed with how Titleist has incorporated what they as the game's instructors have taught as the keys to lowering score. That is, that our green-to-tee ball fitting methodology builds on the fundamentals of a PGA Professional's instruction to help golfers shoot lower scores.
PGA Magazine: What's the recommended procedure for a PGA Professional to conduct a Golf Ball Fitting, and how does it differ from other ball fitting systems consumers might have seen?
Mike Gibson: Titleist's golf ball fitting methodology is predicated on the concept of helping golfers lower their scores. We conducted a recent survey and asked golfers "What would you rather do, hit the ball five yards farther or take five strokes off your score?" The response was a hair shy of unanimous in favor of lowering scores. So, how do we attempt to achieve this? Teaching professionals have long preached what statistics from tournament play confirm: shots into and around the green have the greatest impact on score. In fact, hitting just one more green in regulation equates to almost two strokes off one's total score in a round. For this reason, Titleist has adopted a green-to-tee approach to golf ball fitting, targeting those aspects of a golfer's game that will have the biggest impact on the scorecard.
Education is the foundation of Titleist Golf Ball Fitting. We have to impress upon golfers, and we need PGA Professionals to help us reinforce that the golf ball is the only piece of equipment that is used for every shot. Golf ball performance matters. It has a profound effect on the golfer's ability to hit greens in regulation and get the ball close to the hole on approach shots - the most important factors impacting score. Distance off the tee is not the answer. All Titleist golf balls are long. In fact, regardless of swing speed, there is very little distance difference between Titleist's five golf ball models (Pro V1, Pro V1x, NXT Tour, NXT and DT SoLo), no more than 3-4 yards, on average. There is, however, a game-changing and score-changing difference between golf ball models with regards to spin. And spin is the factor that most influences shots into and around the green.
The first step in Titleist Golf Ball Fitting asks a golfer to answer a few short questions about his game. In one of several possible venues, a player will provide the information needed to reveal his swing characteristics. Based on these characteristics, a primary recommendation and an alternative Titleist model will be identified.
The most important step is an On-Course Evaluation. Armed with a Titleist evaluation scorecard, the golfer takes the two golf ball models identified to the golf course or to a practice facility as much like a golf course as possible. Starting around the green, the player executes a variety of different shots (chips, pitches, lobs, bunker shots, etc.) from a variety of lies, comparing and recording the performance and feel of each model. The player then moves back, approximating short, mid-length and long approach shots into the green with each model and compares again. Then the player compares each model off the tee, noting performance and feel differences. Lastly, the player hits several putts of various length with each model to determine if one model feels better than another off the putter face.
The results are then tallied on the evaluation scorecard to identify the golf ball that performs best for the player. Additional discussion with the PGA Professional can follow, as can testing in additional areas, or even a full-round comparison if the player wishes. The key is to conduct the evaluation under golf course conditions. Hitting into a net, hitting balls onto a range or even testing with a launch monitor cannot provide the golfer with a comparison of ball performance in the shots that matter most for score reduction. Remember it isn't how far, it's how close; so it's important to test the balls where how close can be seen by the golfer directly.
Tour professionals can take weeks to make decisions about changing golf balls. It is important that golfers of all skill levels carefully consider their ball choice. We strongly encourage golfers utilizing the Titleist Golf Ball Education, Selection and Fitting methodology to take as much time as is necessary to carefully evaluate balls. Most will agree that the time spent comparing balls is well worth it, if the result is lower scores.
We also strongly encourage interaction between the golfer and the PGA Professional in the fitting process. Golfers will appreciate the Professional's interest in improving their score and this dialogue may result in improved test scenarios for the player or identify a score reducing lesson opportunity. Golfers want most to lower their scores, and at Titleist, we feel that both educated ball fitting and greater interaction with the PGA Professional will provide a tremendous opportunity to lower scores.
Lower scores. More fun. More golf. Everybody wins.
PGA Magazine: How is Titleist promoting the concept of Gall Ball Fitting, and how can PGA Professionals create interest at their facilities?
Mike Gibson: Titleist Golf Ball Education, Selection and Fitting will be promoted across a number of different channels, including television advertising, online in a dedicated section of the Titleist.com Web site, with in-shop interactive displays that we will make available to PGA Professionals, and through fitting materials such as a tabbed Golf Ball Selection Tool booklet and the Golf Ball Fitting On-Course Evaluation Scorecard.
In addition, several Titleist Golf Ball Fitting vignettes featuring PGA Professionals Todd Anderson, Michael Breed and Suzy Whaley will appear regularly on the Golf Channel throughout the year. We're also launching the "Golf Ball Education and Selection" events at more than 1,000 golf courses across the country, a first opportunity to educate and engage golfers with Titleist Golf Ball Education, Selection and Fitting. Local Titleist Sales Representatives will attend events to provide day-of support and sampling. Lastly, Titleist has invested in three mobile fitting teams - staffed by Golf Ball Fitting Experts who will conduct nearly 500 on-site fitting events this year.
Titleist is proud of the partnership we have developed and the trust we have shared with The PGA of America and we are committed to partnering with PGA Professionals to successfully introduce Titleist Golf Ball Fitting. We will provide all the tools, materials and support necessary in order to integrate proper Golf Ball Fitting into the culture of golf.
PGA Magazine: Custom clubfitting has become an integral part of golf club sales for PGA Professionals. Do you expect Titleist Golf Club Fitting and the new Golf Ball Education, Selection and Fitting initiative to complement each other, or even to be done at the same time?
Mike Gibson: Absolutely. We believe a great opportunity exists for PGA Professionals to fit golfers, optimizing their golf ball and golf clubs for every part of their game. What we know from all of our golf ball fitting, we envision the fitting process starting with the ball and then extending to the wedges (maximizing short game scoring opportunities) and then extending out further to a set of irons, complement of hybrids and fairway metals and finally a driver with head style, loft, and shaft characteristics that will maximize that particular ball's effectiveness off the tee. Truly a Green-to-Tee fitting.
It goes without saying that the role of the PGA Professional is critical to club fitting. Golfers rely on the professional's expertise and knowledge of the swing to guide them towards club choices that will help them get the most out of their games. As noted, because of this confidence and the intrinsic value of a proper fitting, clubfitting has become an integral part of golf club sales as well as a source of lesson income for PGA Professionals. We are confident that Titleist Golf Ball Fitting represents an equally promising opportunity to positively impact the golfing experience for players. We believe that the expertise and knowledge of the PGA Professional will be crucial in guiding golfers to choose the most important piece of equipment in their game, their golf ball.
This story, originally printed in PGA Magazine, has been used by permission. To find out about Titleist Ball Fitting, visit: www.titleist.com.