Club Champion — Local services in Needham

I am a 20 handicap and scheduled an irons fitting at the Needham location with Will. I asked to extend the fitting from 90 minutes to 2 hours so that I could also try out some woods, which they kindly accommodated. Had a great intro phone call and Will was very kind, patient, and explained exactly how the process would go and answered all my questions - to his credit. He explained that the fitting costs $175, of which $125 would be refunded if I purchased clubs (which I fully intended to do). For reference, GolfTec charges $95 and if you buy clubs it is fully refunded.

On the day of my fitting, I specifically mentioned my budget at the onset (1750-2000 for a set of irons). The fitting itself was as expected, I hit several heads and shafts over two hours and arrived at a set I hit the best. Will was professional, patient, and answered all my questions. However I was very shocked when he showed me the quote at the end and it was $3402.92 BEFORE tax. So final cost would be DOUBLE the budget I mentioned. This included $1000 for the cost of custom building my clubs and $360 for "puring" my clubs - all on top of the actual price of the clubs.

If you are a tour professional/compete in golf/are a plus handicap - I'm sure these services are noticeable in your golf game and it's worth paying twice as much for your clubs. However, for the vast majority of golfers, these services are NOT worth the cost when you could otherwise put the extra $1360 towards lessons, rounds of golf, or the remainder of a new bag of clubs. An honest salesman would tell you this.

What should have happened is he’d tell me - since I am a 20 handicap - the very marginal benefits of custom building or "puring" are NOT necessary and will NOT be noticeable at my skill level, and that I should save my money. Unfortunately, instead he used scare tactics to explain why the clubs would be built incorrectly if ordered directly from the manufacturer - effectively pressuring me to massively overpay for something I didn't know I didn't need. I expressed that I was shocked and completely caught off guard by the price, and asked why he did not give me a heads up about the cost given the budget I mentioned. His response was that he thought I “might get a few less clubs" so the cost would end up within my budget. So basically he thought I was going to buy just a couple irons and not have a full set of clubs? Lol. Ridiculous answer

As I walked out of the store he continued to insist that it was necessary, telling me that the manufacturer would drastically mess up the "swingweight" of the club, and also said I have 24 hours to decide or that I would lose my $175 for the fitting.

I called the next day and explained that I can not spend $4000 for a set of irons, but asked if he could simply order them through the manufacturer for me so that I could get the $125 refund for the fitting since I purchased clubs. I was disappointed to learn that he only refunds if you purchase CUSTOM clubs, not if you purchase through the manufacturer. So essentially you get the $125 back if you spend an extra $1360 above and beyond the cost of the clubs - what a deal! This was very deceptive because most people are going to get confused by this "custom" language in the refund policy. In my mind I was going for a "custom fitting" and knew I was going to buy clubs, so of course I thought I qualified for the refund.

If you are a plus handicap or compete in golf, go ahead and splurge for these services that double the cost of your clubs. I am NOT saying these are fake things. What I AM saying is that if you are in the other 99% of golfers you don't need this, and it's dishonest for someone to try and convince you you do.

I wish I went to GolfTec in the first place. I have since learned that they will put you through the same fitting experience but then order the clubs for you from the manufacturer, refund you the full cost of the fitting, and charge 0 hidden fees.

Know what you're getting into...

DO NOT GET PURING! Fitters get reprimanded as management keeps a tally on who sells puring and who does not. Its just a way to upsell you.

Clubs will take forever to come once they are ordered and they are pretty bad about updates since most calls get directed to their office in Chicago. All the calls they get is people asking where their clubs are after 3-4 months. I ordered a putter here and it took 44 days exactly. If a putter took that long irons or drivers would take even longer. I could have walked into PGA superstore the same day and got the same putter. Best thing to do is order straight through OEM and it will come the fastest (usually 1-2 weeks with no upcharge to shafts (save you $500-$800!) if you were fitted into an exotic shaft, you be forced to order it through a licensed supplier)

In terms of club work at this location, I brought two iron sets and asked them to swap the shafts for me. They lazily dumped all my clubs in a box with no protection (no bubble wrap on heads or anything) and ignored my request to have the clubs built at D1 swing weight. Most clubs came out to D6 with noticeable weight in the head which was unacceptable. I bring my clubs back to them and they were great on handling the issue and redid the work. Only problem was that they did an even worse job and there were scorch marks, epoxy stuck in shafts, and it was just a mess. Went back a third time and talked to Nick, who was great, did it with no hassle and did a quick job. Apparently fired the guy who did my clubs and offered a full refund which ended up being $90 when I paid around $300. They also did a great job sending it to me in a proper box and put them in properly so they wouldn't be damaged. Took 3 times but finally got the job done.

Finally, onto my iron fitting here. Fitting was with Matthew. I will say right now this man is a salesman, not a fitter. When the iron fitting started he took out Concept irons, Miuras, pretty much the most expensive heads on the market. Tried to sneak in a pureing charge without asking me and letting me know theres an upcharge for it in the quote. I requested a trackman report for my fitting and he deletes all my bad shots and keeps only good shots for the new clubs to make it look like its better than my gamers. Then calls/emails me next two days asking me if I want to buy the clubs, constant spam calling and emailing after the fitting to buy the clubs. Do not recommend Matthew as a fitter...

Proceed with caution. I went in to get fitted for two wedges late August and spent $700. The wedges ultimately got specced out the same as my previous wedges. 0.75" longer shaft, and 2 degrees bent upright. The fitting experience was great and as expected.

Six weeks later the clubs arrived, I took them out for a few rounds, and I couldn't hit them for the life of me. Chalked it up to not playing much and it being the end of the season up here in Massachusetts. Figured I'd sort it out next season.

A constant push off to the right, $400 in lessons, and so many frustrating rounds later my instructor recommended that we measure the lie angle and bend them even more upright.

That's when we learned they were never set up correctly in the first place. Lie angle was standard (should have been 2 degrees upright), and the length was 1" longer than standard (should have been 0.75" longer). I called Club Champion customer service, asked for my money back as agreed upon services weren't rendered, and was ultimately told "mistakes happen" and that they would be able to adjust the clubs, but that's the best they could do. The customer service rep. kept saying "I don't know what you want me to tell you, but I'm happy to keep going around in circles for another 15 minutes if that's what you want to do."

Maybe I should have "known" what the issue was and checked the club specs earlier, but the reality is I shouldn't have to double check a custom club fitting companies work. I mean, I don't even have the equipment. I trusted that club champion did their job in getting the club build right. It's how they stay in business.

Unfortunately their quality control failed, and I ended up spending hours of my own time and hundreds of dollars of my own money trying to address the issue. Mistakes happen, but please own up to them instead of telling your customers to ultimately kick rocks.

Hopefully this review is enough to give folks a heads up that: You're going to spend more money going to Club Champion vs. going elsewhere. If things go well, you'll probably be satisfied, although you spent ~50-100% more than if you just ordered the same specs from the manufacturers website. If things go poorly, you'll be frustrated, working with a company isn't willing to accept fault, making things right, and land a bit SOL.

Save your money and go elsewhere. Chris Cote's down in...