Why the Bay Reads Long
Where the extra indoor yardage comes from, and what a defensible correction looks like.
Read the note →
Questions
Sixteen Answers, None of Them Evasive
These are the questions that come up at the desk most weeks. Several of the answers are the reason somebody decided not to book, which is a perfectly good outcome.
01Are your indoor numbers real or simulated?
Both, and the card tells you which is which. Ball speed, launch angle and spin are observed inside the bay. Carry, roll and descent angle are produced by a flight model fed from those observations plus the air data we log. Anyone quoting an indoor carry number is quoting a model output, whether or not they say so. We say so, and we print the model version alongside it.
02Why do you run two launch monitors at once?
Because they measure different things. A doppler unit tracks the ball after it leaves the face and observes spin directly. A photometric camera unit photographs the impact interval and observes launch conditions directly. Each one infers what the other observes. Running both means every column on your card has either a direct observation behind it or two independent estimates that we can check against each other.
03What happens when the two units disagree?
Disagreement inside the published band is normal and gets averaged. Disagreement outside the band means something went wrong with that strike, and it goes on the discard list with the reason attached. This is the single most common source of discards, and the count itself is informative: a session with eleven instrument disagreements usually means the ball or the lighting is wrong rather than the golfer.
04How much does the bay overstate my carry?
For a typical seven iron in our bay, the enclosed reading runs between four and nine yards long against the lane, depending on the season. For a driver it is wider, roughly six to fourteen. Those figures come from the quarterly lane check and they are printed on the current offset table, which is dated. Anybody quoting a single universal correction figure for all bays and all seasons is guessing.
05Do I have to buy clubs from you?
No, and about one block in six ends with us recommending nothing at all. You leave with the raw file, the discard list, the condition log and the build spec regardless. Take the spec anywhere. Several people have had us measure and then ordered through a manufacturer direct, which is entirely reasonable.
06Can I bring components I already own?
Yes. Heads, shafts, grips, second-hand sets, anything. We build with them at the standard labour rate and the paperwork is identical. We will tell you honestly if a component measures outside its own specification, which happens more often with second-hand parts than people expect.
07How long is a block and can it run over?
Single-category blocks are ninety minutes, iron sets are two hours, and full bag audits are two and a half. They do run over occasionally, usually when the confirmation stage fails to repeat and we go back to testing. There is no additional charge for that, but there may be a wait if the next bay slot is booked.
08What if the weather stops the outdoor confirmation?
The indoor portion runs as normal and the card is marked provisional. You come back for the lane check when conditions allow, at no cost. We will not sign off a build on indoor data alone in a category where the outdoor half genuinely changes the answer, which mostly means fairway woods and wedges.
09Is a fitting worth it for a high handicapper?
Often more so than for a low one, but for different reasons. A newer golfer benefits most from length, lie and total weight being correct, which are cheap fixes with large effects. Head-to-head shaft comparison is where a wide shot dispersion makes the data hard to read, so we spend less block time there and say so.
10When is a fitting not worth booking?
When your miss changes shape from week to week, when you are mid-way through a significant swing change with a coach, or when you have played fewer than about ten rounds in your life. In all three cases the measurement will be honest and it will not be stable enough to build on. We will say this on the phone before taking a booking.
11Do I need to bring my own golf balls?
Bring a sleeve if you play a specific model. We test with a reference ball as standard so results stay comparable session to session, then run a short block with yours to measure the difference. Spin is the column that moves most, sometimes by several hundred rpm on wedge shots.
12How many swings will I actually hit?
Between sixty and ninety in a ninety-minute block, including discards. That is fewer than most people expect and it is deliberate: fatigue changes your delivery, and a tired sample is a misleading sample. We alternate candidates rather than hitting long blocks of one club for the same reason.
13Can you fit me left-handed?
Yes, with the same wall. Our testers run parallel in both hands rather than left-handed being a special order, because a left-handed golfer with four options is being allocated a club, not fitted for one.
14How far ahead should I book?
Nine to twelve days is typical. Saturday mornings fill furthest ahead; Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons are usually available inside a week. Full bag audits are morning-only and need more notice.
15What is the ninety-day re-check?
A free bench appointment ninety days after a build. We re-measure loft, lie, length, swing weight and grip condition, and correct anything that has drifted. New clubs settle, grips bed in, and forged heads in particular move a little in the first season of use.
16Do you do swing lessons?
No. We measure equipment. If what we find is a swing pattern rather than a club problem, we will say so and name two coaches in the area, neither of whom pays us anything for the referral.
Longer answers
Three of These Have a Whole Note Written About Them
Two Instrument Classes
What doppler and photometric units each observe directly, and what they infer.
Read the note →Tolerance Bands, Not Single Numbers
Why a mean without a spread is the most misleading thing on a fitting sheet.
Read the note →Ask Us the Awkward One
Anything about method, instruments, pricing or incentives gets a direct answer. If we do not know, we will say that instead of improvising.