Club Champion — Local services in Chicago

Well this is a first for me, my first ever 1 star review. I wish I had read the most recent reviews prior to choosing club champion.

I had my fitting on 7/8/20 at 10am and proceeded to order my new irons and grips for other clubs immediately after. The fitting was done at the Chicago location by a gentleman named Austin. And I’ll tell you what, if you’re looking for a good fitting, go hit Austin up. He is the only reason I still have a bit of reason left at this point.

I was pretty shocked at the $2000+ price tag for a new set of irons and a few grips, but as I said, I had built a lot of trust with Austin. I was okay with spending the extra money, I mean after all club champion markets itself as the premier club fitter and boasts about its customer service. So I went ahead with the order and was told it would be 2-4 weeks to get the new clubs.

Unfortunately here were are 5+ weeks since the clubs were ordered and I still don’t have my new irons! Starting at 2 weeks out I called the customer support line to ask about potential ship dates. I tried voicemails, I tried staying on hold, and finally I got through to someone. This person told me I should have my clubs in 2-3 business days.

Well a week went by with no call or email, so I started the process over again. Finally got in touch after waiting on hold for an hour and I was told 2-3 business days again. I told them I had a golf tournament the weekend of 8/15/2020 and that I would need the clubs no later than 8/10/2020 (a full month after they were ordered).

Waited another week and still nothing. So I went through the process again and waited another hour to finally talk to someone that told me I’d have them in a week. At this point I brought up my fruition that I’ve been told this many times and that I just need the irons. I was told the build shop is backed up but they should have them done.

Here we are, at the beginning of week 5 with no clubs, it’s the 8/11/2020 and I give them a call. I get through once again after a long wait and I’m told 2-3 days plus shipping, I should have them next week. I told them customer support gentleman that this was no acceptable and I need my clubs. He told me he would look into it and get back to me.

About 30 minutes later I got a call from Austin saying he heard I was upset. I told him everyone and just told him I need my clubs by end of day Thursday or we’re going to have a problem. I know this was out of his hands, but at least he reached out.

I then sent an email to club champions customer experience team detailing my experience and asking for help in getting me my irons by Thursday night. I said let me know if this will be an issue or if I can expect to have my clubs. Big shocker, did not get a response to this email.

All I wanted was to have my clubs delivered within the promised time so I could have a day or two with them to practice prior to going to this 3 day tournament. I feel as though my purchase is not important to club champion and that once they received my money, they couldn’t have cared less about me. (Besides for Austin, once again he’s been the only person through this process to be any sort of help, but I understand he is being sadly let down by his own company just as I am being let down by them. And those are my words, not his).

I would really like for a manager to reach out to me and try to get this corrected. I already won’t have my clubs for my golf today and this weekend, but this has to be made right. If I don’t hear from an upper level personal by the end of today I will be forced to try to cancel my order through club champion or dispute this agreement with my credit...

I went to this location earlier this week and overall it was a great experience. Everyone was friendly from the get-go as well as very professional. They certainly made the environment comfortable and welcoming. Granted I’ve never been fit for clubs nor have ever really written a review—however the experience certainly deserved comment.

Prior to the appointment, I had done some extensive research into different companies in the area. Ultimately, it seemed like Club Champion was the best of the best. From that point, I did what most do and look on forums and Reddit to see what others thought of their experience with the organization. Across the board—every review mentioned a good experience.

Matt D helped me every step of the way. He was a very friendly and straight forward with a lot of the info and rationales behind changing club heads/shafts/grips/etc. I could tell he had a lot of experience with fittings as he was able to narrow things down in a very pragmatic and seemingly scientific manner.

On the business side of things, he helped with costs tremendously. I’m sure if you do research you’ll find CC is known both for their great fittings but also for their prices. That being said and being fit for one of the big four club companies—you can imagine the price tag. Yet, I conveyed my expectations clearly and they were reasonably accommodating. I decided to purchase through them and am excited to play with my new clubs in 3 to 5 weeks!

Overall great experience and certainly my benchmark for fittings. I’m sure I’ll go with them in the future when the time comes. Price is always going to be something to be concerned about; but know you’ll be getting a great fitting with great people that know their stuff and will work with you every step of the way.

And yes, I’ll write an edit upon receiving the clubs and after playing a few rounds to let you know how it goes!

Edit: Everything has been great all in all! Received the clubs pretty quickly (3 weeks in my case) and playing has been very consistent with the clubs. Amongst some decision making adjustments on my end—my handicap went down by 8 thus far! Thanks...

I have never written a negative public review of a company in any forum in my life, to give weight and perspective into how disappointing my experience at Club Champion has been.

The fitting itself was fine. I don't know much about the process so decided to trust the fitter. They put me in a very expensive set -- I was slightly annoyed that pricing wasn't a part of the discussion until the end of the fitting (e.g., you hit both of these shafts well, but X is cheaper than Y), so felt like I was getting taken advantage of a bit. I had immediate buyer's remorse given the sticker shock, but I was still excited about the prospect of new clubs.

The woods arrived quickly in ~4 weeks; although, when I went to pick up the clubs nobody at the store would open the door. I waited out in the snow on hold with customer service trying to get in until some other patron eventually exited the building and I could get in.

My irons and wedges arrived in the Club Champion build facility 5 weeks ago (on April 27). I was quoted an ETA of "a week, no more than 10 days" three separate times since then. Each of those ETAs has been breached and I've received wildly unprofessional responses from my fitter and from customer service in about half of my correspondences. Needless excuses, broken promises, and at the end of the day an inexplicable 5 week delay just to bend the loft on a few irons.

I am beyond frustrated and this is my last recourse. I don't know what else to do. I've given the store, customer service, and my fitter (Dan) chances to all make this right however, I'm at my wits end. I would cancel the order if I could. I feel taken advantage of and very angry. And the cherry on top is that I just got back from a golf trip with...