Headquartered in the heart of Scottsdale, Arizona, True Spec Golf boasts their flagship fitting studio, corporate offices, and 20,000 sq ft production facility. Other than the 21 locations across the United States, True Spec also has locations in The Bahamas, Geneva, Munich and Paris. True Spec has also entered into partnerships at Raven Golf Club & The Boulders in North Scottsdale. These are strategic partnerships as True Spec continues to partner with courses nationwide with outstanding customer service, total golfing experience, and fantastic instructors; as opposed to other fitters who set up brick-and-mortar locations at shopping malls. With the pandemic, True Spec’s pivot to courses turned out to be a very advantageous decision.
When it comes to golf, you can find just about anything you’re looking for in Scottsdale. Home to thousands of golfers, Scottsdale is a golf heaven featuring sunny weather year round and top tier courses. Most avid golfers know that to get the most out of their game, they need the right gear. However, most golfers do not even know where to start in choosing gear that’s right for them. That’s where True Spec Golf comes in. True Spec is not just a golf outfitter; True Spec is an entire golf experience. Once I walked into their fitting studio, I realized I knew very little about golf clubs, despite continually adding to my bag over the past several years.
- Pre-Fitting
- Interview
- Blueprint
- Baseline
- Test
- Recommendation
My Personal Fitting Experience
Upon walking in the door of the True Spec Headquarters, I knew I was about to experience something truly unique and special. The fitting featured an expansive room complete with 2 indoor fitting bays, Foresight Sport GC Quad launch monitor, putter fitting studio, and 35,000 different options to choose from. Saying I was overwhelmed would be an understatement! It was golf heaven. Luckily, I was paired with Master Fitter Eric Johnson to guide me through the True Spec fitting experience.
I have been playing golf for awhile but like most golfers, I knew next to nothing about getting fitted for golf clubs. One detail I learned immediately was that iron fitting is done with a 6-iron. Although it was insignificant to the fitting, I thought that was interesting!
If I could give everybody one tip to do before a fitting it would be to stretch! I drastically underestimated how many swings I would be taking. The staff gives you plenty of time to warm up but you also don’t want to waste their time or get injured during your fitting so make sure your body is ready for 150-200 max effort swings.
Iron Fitting
Once I got nice and warm, we were off and running. The process is fairly straight forward as we started with a single shaft and 5 different iron heads. If you have never been fitted, they have some great tools to screw the head onto the shaft quickly and easily to make the process go smoothly. I was excited seeing Eric pull out a drawer full of hundreds of iron heads. I had never done anything quite like this, so every minute was like my first Christmas! Below you can see my current Callaway X2Hot 6-iron compared with the five I tested out. The data you see below was only a sliver of everything we measured and looked at, but these are some of the metrics they use to gauge the ideal fit.
Once all irons were hit, we narrowed it down to the top two club heads, the TaylorMade P770’s and the new Callaway Apex’s. These two were so close!
Shafts
Once I knew which irons I liked, then came the shaft testing, which is arguably the most important part in the club-fitting process. My job was easy, just take what Eric gave me and hit it as long and straight as possible! I learned that my particular swing needs a shaft which has more flexion towards the hands and a bit stiffer towards the club head. I did not know there were differences so I clearly needed this fitting more than I thought. I also learned the difference in iron lofts and what affect that has on my launch angle. I am naturally a low launch player but was launching some 6’s at 15.4 degrees and others at 13.0. I ended up going with the Callaway Apex irons with a Nippon Modus Tour 105 s 5i shaft. This should put me into the 70’s consistently, right?
Driver Fitting
The driver fitting was similar to the irons as Eric pulled 5 out for me to try out. You can see the data below of my driver compared to the five others I hit. Driver is probably the weakest club in my bag so I was excited to get fitted and hopefully find something that helps me get a bit more loft and distance. Playing golf in Arizona means I don’t need to carry the ball particularly far as I get plenty of roll in the fairway. We are all trying to hit it straighter rather than further anyway right? Obviously we would love to have both but this is golf!
I narrowed it down to two options with the Callaway Epic Max and the SIM2 Max, carrying them about 260 on average and a total distance of about 285 yards. Something important to note is no matter where you get fitted, True Spec calibrates their simulators to sea level. So someone like me here in Arizona might get 10+ yards more carry being at around 1,200 feet elevation. After narrowing it down to the SIM2 Max and EPIC, it was time for shaft testing. We went through the same process for driver shafts, experimenting with different weights and kick points (shaft flexion location as described above). The results were razor thin but I ended up going with the SIM2 Max with a Fujikura Motore X F3 6 X shaft.
The Build Shop
- Picking
- SST PUREing
- Pre-Build
- Assembly
- Finishing
- Quality Control
Arguably the most interesting part of my entire experience was getting a sneak peek at the True Spec build shop. This is where all the magic happens behind the scenes. Where all the pros get their exact specs dialed in. General Manager Allen Gobeski started off the tour by showing me around the club head and shaft room where they keep their thousands of combinations. Due to the incredible value of merchandise in the room, only a few people on the True Spec team have access.
Building A Custom Driver
Next, I was able to observe the head of the build team Nick Kopp build a custom driver for a True Spec customer. After selecting the shaft, Nick then weighted the shaft to make sure it was to the customer specs. Then it was time to test the flexion of the shaft. Shafts all vary based on manufacturing and I learned there are several different variations of shaft displaying “stiff.” The True Spec fitting process will make sure you get exactly what flexion you were fitted for.
Now it was time to cut the shaft down to the exact customer length. This is a fairly easy part of the process but important nonetheless. Once the shaft had been weighed, flex tested, and cut to length, Nick then sanded the tip of the driver to create a more adhesive-friendly texture for the bonding agent. The material they use is an industrial grade adhesive and they also apply a sort of grainy sand-like material to help with adhesion. Once the adhesive was applied, it was time to pop the driver head on and let it dry!
Summary
After a fun-filled day of club testing and touring the shop, it was time for me to head out. The experience was mind-blowing for me and unlike anything I had ever done. I learned so much, not only about my own swing, but about golf clubs and golf in general. Although I have been playing for a long time, I clearly thought I knew more than I really did. I am intending to purchase the Callaway Apex irons I was fitted for and I highly suggest any amateur who plays somewhat regularly to make the investment and check out True Spec Golf. You will not be disappointed! Who knows, you might just learn a thing or two.