The following article and video are as “inside baseball” as I can present when it comes to what truly occurs when a Tour fitter preps to work with a Tour participant.
The star of the present: TaylorMade fitter Adrian Rietveld, who has the the three high gamers in OWGR underneath his watchful eye. You learn that appropriately — Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood all depend on “AD,” as we name him, to observe over their instruments.
I wish to let the video (in participant, beneath) and Adrian do a lot of the explaining however there are three issues he addresses that I feel could be helpful for any golfer, not simply one of the best on this planet.
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- Start from an HONEST level: The first a part of the video exhibits Adrian doing one thing I’ve seen often on Tour vehicles. He will get the bag of the participant in his fingers and begins to spec them out to create apples-to-apples circumstances. There’s no “ideas,” “whims,” and so forth. His aim is to get any membership on provide as near the gamer as humanly attainable — and never simply loft, shaft and swing weight. Think whole weight, actual loft and lie, face angle, scoring strains vs. precise lie, shaft tipping, grip measurement, and so forth. This permits that “first hit” to tell the fitter what route the participant must go.
- Ask gamers what they see: EVERY participant reacts otherwise to how a membership sits. For instance, I like to see loft. When I see loft, it tells my mind that I can keep on high of the shot and belief that the membership and the setup will probably be there with me after I want them. When I don’t see loft, I begin to “help it,” which has a diminishing-returns impact via my bag. I start to have a “woods swing” and an “irons swing.” It’s not possible to play that means. Adrian (or any nice fitter) will ask these questions: “How do you like the look?” “Do you see the loft you want to see?” I don’t hear this in typical fittings, however I all the time hear it with Tour fitters.
- Ask gamers what they’d like to see: In the video, Adrian asks me, “What kind of ball flight do you want to see?” In my case, I need the ball to start out straight and fall left with a left miss, i.e., I don’t need the driver going to the correct — ever. These are ball flights {that a} fitter can management. Once AD is aware of I concern a proper miss, it eliminates a variable and he can begin to concentrate on fitting me right into a driver that begins left and goes left. As a participant, I can then step as much as any tee trusting that no matter what swing I make, the flight of the ball will keep in a sandbox I can stay with.
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This isn’t a commentary on how shopper fitters “don’t do it right;” there are a lot of nice fitters who actually take the time to place you, the golfer, in one of the best place to succeed. I take a look at this deep dive extra from a mindset throughout the trade.
With a lot unimaginable membership tech in the marketplace in 2026, I’m obsessed with this being the yr that fittings strategies crank up the quantity a bit. If you been watching “Fully Fit,” you will notice every firm has its personal means of doing it.
It’s all efficient among the many high manufacturers, but when I’m a fitting firm and even an OEM, I’d be replicating (in a practical means) what Adrian does. Yes, it is a man who works with one of the best on this planet, however his course of to getting it proper comes from a fitter taking possession over the scenario.
Fittings are a monetary transaction, however the spirit of them ought to by no means be. It’s a contract between fitter and participant with one deliverable: the method will make you a greater participant. That’s not all ball pace and launch, it’s belief. That’s why on Tour, fitters work in pods with gamers in order that belief could be established. I imagine there’s a model of all of this (and what you will notice in a video later this week) that may be adopted by anybody who calls themselves a fitter.
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Fitting is a craft. There are Jedis, apprentices and pretenders. AD is a grasp, no query, however it’s not solely as a result of he’s gifted. He additionally cares greater than anybody I find out about getting the method proper, and thru that he has been capable of acquire data, make errors and benefit from the victories. He ascended to this degree as a result of he cares his gamers getting higher.
I get my haircut from the identical stylist each time as a result of after I first met her, she requested me these questions: “Where do you want your hair to be in 6 months?” “What do you like about it now and what do you hate?” “Are you a person who takes crazy ideas and makes them a reality sometimes?”
That girl will probably be slicing my hair so long as I stay on this neighborhood. Why? I belief her, and he or she cares.
Later this week, you will notice the precise fitting video, which can also be fascinating. Being capable of work with somebody like Adrian (who can also be one in every of my closest mates) is all the time a deal with, however like Aaron Dill from Vokey, this TM “AD” is somebody I be taught a ton from every single day. I’ve spent hours on the cellphone with this man discussing Tommy, Scottie, Rory, our video games, and so forth. It’s all the time a passionate dialog and all credit score to TaylorMade for persevering with to let Adrian develop, evolve and flourish with their all-star lineup of employees gamers.
Adrian is on the high of his recreation, and for me to share his course of and experience with you all for instructional functions is a large honor.
