The following article and video are as “inside baseball” as I can provide in terms of what actually happens when a Tour fitter preps to work with a Tour player.
The star of the show: TaylorMade fitter Adrian Rietveld, who has the the three top players in OWGR under his watchful eye. You read that correctly — Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood all rely on “AD,” as we call him, to watch over their tools.
I want to let the video (in player, below) and Adrian do most of the explaining but there are three things he addresses that I think can be beneficial for any golfer, not just the best in the world.
- Start from an HONEST point: The first part of the video shows Adrian doing something I’ve seen frequently on Tour trucks. He gets the bag of the player in his hands and starts to spec them out to create apples-to-apples circumstances. There’s no “ideas,” “whims,” etc. His goal is to get any club on offer as close to the gamer as humanly possible — and not just loft, shaft and swing weight. Think total weight, exact loft and lie, face angle, scoring lines vs. actual lie, shaft tipping, grip size, etc. This allows that “first hit” to inform the fitter what direction the player needs to go.
- Ask players what they see: EVERY player reacts differently to how a club sits. For example, I love to see loft. When I see loft, it tells my brain that I can stay on top of the shot and trust that the club and the setup will be there with me when I need them. When I don’t see loft, I start to “help it,” which has a diminishing-returns effect through my bag. I begin to have a “woods swing” and an “irons swing.” It’s impossible to play that way. Adrian (or any great fitter) will ask those questions: “How do you like the look?” “Do you see the loft you want to see?” I don’t hear this in typical fittings, but I always hear it with Tour fitters.
- Ask players 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 want the ball to start straight and fall left with a left miss, i.e., I don’t want the driver going to the right — ever. These are ball flights that a fitter can control. Once AD knows I fear a right miss, it eliminates a variable and he can start to focus on fitting me into a driver that starts left and goes left. As a player, I can then step up to any tee trusting that regardless of what swing I make, the flight of the ball will stay in a sandbox I can live with.
TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Driver
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This isn’t a commentary on how consumer fitters “don’t do it right;” there are many great fitters who really take the time to put you, the golfer, in the best position to succeed. I look at this deep dive more from a mindset across the industry.
With so much incredible club tech on the market in 2026, I’m passionate about this being the year that fittings methods crank up the volume a bit. If you been watching “Fully Fit,” you will see each company has its own way of doing it.
It’s all effective among the top brands, but if I’m a fitting company or even an OEM, I’d be replicating (in a realistic way) what Adrian does. Yes, this is a man who works with the best in the world, but his process to getting it right comes from a fitter taking ownership over the situation.
Fittings are a financial transaction, but the spirit of them should never be. It’s a contract between fitter and player with one deliverable: the process will make you a better player. That’s not all ball speed and launch, it’s trust. That’s why on Tour, fitters work in pods with players so that trust can be established. I believe there is a version of all of this (and what you will see in a video later this week) that can be adopted by anyone who calls themselves a fitter.
Fujikura Ventus Black Wood Shaft (Velocore+)
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Fitting is a craft. There are Jedis, apprentices and pretenders. AD is a master, no question, but it’s not only because he’s gifted. He also cares more than anyone I know about getting the process right, and through that he has been able to gain knowledge, make mistakes and enjoy the victories. He ascended to this level because he cares his players getting better.
I get my haircut from the same stylist every time because when I first met her, she asked 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 woman will be cutting my hair as long as I live in this neighborhood. Why? I trust her, and she cares.
Later this week, you will see the actual fitting video, which is also fascinating. Being able to work with someone like Adrian (who is also one of my closest friends) is always a treat, but like Aaron Dill from Vokey, this TM “AD” is someone I learn a ton from every day. I have spent hours on the phone with this man discussing Tommy, Scottie, Rory, our games, etc. It’s always a passionate conversation and all credit to TaylorMade for continuing to let Adrian grow, evolve and flourish with their all-star lineup of staff players.
Adrian is at the top of his game, and for me to share his process and expertise with you all for educational purposes is a huge honor.
