Maroun co-host, Kris McCormack, was along for the ride and he explained how Maroun and Ping Master fitter Alex went about the testing process and how it helped Maroun achieve such good results.
“I like the approach that you were talking about that Alex has where you gather all the data and do all of the initial adjustments in a vacuum in a laboratory-type setting where you can control all the variables,” McCormack said on this week’s episode. “But the secondary part of that confirmation on the putting green.”
“Perfect,” McCormack said. “So essentially it is the players’ interpretation of their environment and how they will subconsciously start to adjust to external linear influences.”
In layman’s terms, that means golfers don’t play golf on perfectly conditioned ranges or flat putting greens. They play on a course that is going to present them with a unique shot, target, wind and many other variables. How you hit a club or a putter in a controlled environment isn’t exactly how you hit it in real life.
“You’ll see this a lot in an indoor fitting environment,” McCormack said. “So you’ll have a square screen and a square turf that you’re hitting off of. And it’s just everything is square, square, square, square. And same kind of thing in a putting environment, you have all of these external linear influences that start to manipulate things.”
That’s why, McCormack said, a fitting isn’t complete until you go out onto a real green and validate what you saw in the controlled environment.
“It’s not real, because you’re on a perfect mat. Right?” Maroun said. “There’s always a little groove, so everything goes dead straight. So you’re like, ‘Heck yeah, how am I hitting this straight every single time? This putter is amazing.’
“It’s when you get out and the variables come into play. A straight putt in real life is one of the hardest things to hit on a golf course.”
Maroun’s fitting experience will be coming soon to GOLF’s social channels, and you can watch the whole episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped below.
Jack Hirsh is the Associate Equipment Editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.