Trackman Talks: Tour level fitting

He had to learn quickly:

• How to work under pressure when a player needs a driver for tomorrow

• How to talk to a caddie who is worried about their job

• How to give honest feedback without opening a can of worms 24 hours before a major

One of his biggest learnings?

"Silence is really powerful."

Fitters (especially ones who love tech) often narrate every adjustment: “I’m changing loft, I expect launch to do this, spin to do that…” In Tom's experience that’s not always helpful.

“You don’t have to say everything you know. Sometimes you just let them hit, buy yourself 30 seconds, look at the pattern, and then act.”

And if you’re not sure yet? Ask for more shots — but make it sound intentional.

The John Daly driver story: Fittings in the real world

Nothing shows “tour environment management” like this one.

Tom was at an event in Dubai. Count was tight. Daly was on staff. Everything looked stable. Then Tom got a text mid-pro-am:

“Can you come to the 9th tee?”

Daly walked up the fairway holding his driver — in two pieces.

Now you’ve got:

• a player frustrated

• a caddie panicking

• limited shafts

• and a brand that really wants that driver in play to win the count

Tom sprinted back, built what he could, calmed player and caddie down, used lead tape to get it into a playable window — and they kept the driver in.

That’s not “Trackman Optimizer perfect.” That’s “real fitting with real constraints.”

And it’s a good reminder for club fitters: Your job isn’t to build a theoretical best club — it’s to get the right club in play. Sometimes that means managing people as much as specs.

“I had the van. I had the tools. But I couldn’t get accounts. I couldn’t get venues. But I had loads of customers. So I knew something was there.”

That’s a brilliant lesson for newer fitters: Demand isn’t the same as infrastructure. People can want to see you — but if you can’t deliver the experience properly (good range, enough heads, accounts with OEMs), it’s hard to scale.

So Tom took a head pro job locally, got a proper "home base" … and then business took off.

For tour players, the fitting process is all about precision. They arrive with clear stats, often supported by a coach, caddie or even 3D data. Their swings are consistent, their baselines are solid, and the gains they’re chasing are tiny — sometimes just 1-2%. Every detail matters: head weight, lie angle, shaft length, and feel. And perhaps most importantly, you can’t distract them, especially on the week of a big event.

Club golfers, on the other hand, are a completely different story. They often turn up without a warm-up, no data, and sometimes an old driver bought online in “some setting.” The fitter’s job becomes more about discovery — finding out what the player actually needs and what’s holding them back. The potential improvements are usually much bigger, but so is the variability in their swings. Too much data, too soon, can easily turn the session into a long-drive contest rather than a productive fitting.

That’s why Tom often tells club golfers:

“I’m going to show me all the data, and show you just what you need. If you want to go deeper, I’ll show you.”

That’s a great line any fitter can use.

How many shots before you decide?

Tom’s practical answer:

• Let them warm up (15–20 balls) while you talk

• Watch delivery during warm-up

• For a driver fitting: 6–10 real shots to see the pattern

• If they say they miss right but haven’t… keep them going until you see it

And if you need time to think?

“Just say we need a bigger sample size. Buy yourself the time.”

Why?

• Fatigue ruins the data

• You might be gapping to a set of irons they don’t even own yet

• You can deliver a better experience in stages

His model:

1. Session 1 → driver + irons

2. Player goes away, plays, confirms

3. Session 2 → fairways/hybrids to bridge gaps

4. Session 3 → wedges to the actual pitching wedge distance

That’s better for performance — and it gives you reasons to keep in touch, which is better for business.

The business side: A-star customers

Tom and his team grade customers.

They look at:

• Are they the right golfing demographic? (Members, play comps, 6–20 HCP etc.)

• Are they fun to work with? (Because when the fitter enjoys it, the session is better)

• Do they pay on time?

• Do they refer?

“Your A-star customers are usually friends with other A-star customers.”

Every day, his team has a checklist — and one of the items is: call recent A customers and check how the clubs are going. Sometimes they invite them back for a quick lie/loft check or gapping. That nearly always creates either more business or more referrals.

And the tools? Nothing fancy: Email marketing, short videos (Loom), occasional podcasts, and simply calling people.

“If you’re not in their inbox, someone else is.”