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I recently had the opportunity to go through a full club fitting at the Titleist Performance Center in Acushnet, Mass.

The facility, also known as Manchester Lane, is, coincidentally, at the end of Manchester Lane in Acushnet.

From my home in East Greenwich, the trip to the facility is about 50 minutes of mostly highway driving on 195E.

If you want to schedule a fitting at Manchester Lane you’ll have to plan ahead.  

I booked my July appointment in January.  Our Director of golf at TPC Boston, Don Baldassare, helped facilitate the appointment. 

The full fitting of driver, fairway woods, hybrid, irons and wedges is $750 and does not count towards any equipment purchase.

I was trying to downplay my excitement for this day, but my wife Amy knew how excited I was to attend and was counting the days down for me.

The Titleist brand, an iconic brand worldwide, holds a special place in New England golfers’ hearts since it is OUR local Massachusetts golf company.  

Competitors like Ping, TaylorMade, Callaway, PXG and others are all west coast companies, based thousands of miles away.

I stopped at the gate, identified myself, and my appointment time of 1:30 PM, and told the security guard that I was here to learn how to play golf.  He laughed and said he noticed that I was head to toe in Titleist and FootJoy gear, and he already had a good idea that I could play.

We chatted for a few minutes, and he directed me where to go.  He said it was important to note that there was a wide one lane road in and out, so to drive carefully.

When I parked my car, I was greeted by my fitter, Player Research Team member, Kyle Steinhauer.  

Kyle grabbed the Titleist Tour Bag out of my SUV and directed me to the welcome area to settle in and grab water.

I met Kyle outside and took everything in.  The facility is set up for July appointments, so everything is outside, but the building is set up for indoor fittings too. I gazed around and looked at all the golf amenities that I would not have thought of.  

One thing I did ask about was the range set-up.  The facility is set up for a player to hit into the prevailing wind, so you do not get a false sense of success when testing new clubs. I topped out at 256 yards with my new driver, so I was confident that was realistic.

This is a facility that over the years has welcomed some of the best players in the world.

Most recently, Cameron Young and J.T. Poston were here testing prototype golf balls with members of the Titleist R&D team. 

Every visitor has his or her own Trackman with a full large computer screen to measure and review every aspect of your ball flight.

Possibly the highlight of the visit was when Kyle asked me about my preferred Titleist golf ball.  I told him it was a Pro V1x Left Dash.  He asked me if I was professionally fit for that ball and I was very pleased to say, “yes, yes I was.”

The next step was to warm up. I held off as long as I could to resist the temptation to hit balls immediately.  What happened next was a blessing. I had a terrible start to my warmup ~ hitting big pulls and a few ground balls.  

I wasn’t nervous, but I think in hindsight, it would have been awkward for me hitting the ball perfectly when considering new clubs.

I finally settled in and hit some nice irons. I have Titleist T350 irons that I was fitted for by Titleist fitters at TPC Boston. I believe they are no longer best for me, not because I was misfitted, but because my swing has changed.  

I am a better player and no longer need the larger sweet spot and offset. I also think the lie angle needed to be changed to fit my new swing.  

One of my few regrets in life is starting the game relatively late (age 19), but more importantly, I did not receive proper instruction before I adopted some bad swing habits. I am a member of TPC Boston, and one of the many benefits I considered in joining the course is that TPC Boston has a full professional-style practice facility.  

I have been working with PGA Professional John Del Bonis and have finally reached my goal of being a single-digit handicap golfer.

Kyle had me try the T250s which are an average player’s dream. They perform like a game improvement club but look like a Tour club.  Based upon Kyle’s recommended changes, I began hitting the ball higher, straighter, and most important to me, much less left.

After many iterations, I settled on the T250s (5-PW, 2 degrees flat) with Nippon 950GH Neo shafts in a stiff flex.

We moved on to the driver and the new Titleist 3 wood, and they were both dramatically better for me.  I ordered a GT3 10-degree driver with a Project X Red 50 GT shaft. I also ordered a GT1 3Tour 14.5-degree with a Denali Red 60 GT shaft.

Finally, it was time to dial in my wedge game with new Vokey wedges. Titleist recommends changing your wedges every 75 to 100 rounds.  

I agree because I need all the short game help I can get. I am replacing my Vokey SM9 wedges with SM10s in 54 and 58 degrees, both with the exact same bounce and grind.  

Even though I’m not a super short game player, the extra spin and control I get with these Vokey wedges is notable to me.

Titleist is very fair with trade-ins, and that is where I would go if you were upgrading.  My two sets of T350s are worth over $500 per set for trade-in, so that takes a bit out of the upgrade cost.  

One thing that surprised me was that I did not need hundreds of swings to find out what was for best for me.

At the end of the session, Kyle brought my clubs to the car, and we reviewed the order. Before I got home, TPC Boston had an email of the order, and delivery was already scheduled.

When I got home, the first question my wife asked me was the day as good as I expected.

I said, “absolutely not, it was even better than I expected.”