Chris, you are going to LOVE IT!. 

I got fitted there a couple years ago and the place is amazing.  The staff is super friendly and gives you the full tour pro experience.  You're going to be blown away by the facility.  The ranges and greens are immaculate and you'll never want to go hit balls at your local driving range again.

My advice. Get there a little early so you will have time to get the short tour of where they film the TPI stuff for golf channel.  They have some pretty amazing technology in that place.  Definitely worth getting a peek at.  

For your session, be sure to take some time on the range to get warmed up so when your fitter gets you on the launch monitor you're loose and ready to go.  From there, just swing like you normally do.  Don't change anything.  You'll get to try out all sorts of shaft & head combinations.  It's really fun.  

If you have time, ask your fitter if you can see check out their workshop where they do all of the club building.  If you're into that kind of stuff, it's pretty darn cool.  

Have fun and enjoy the experience.  Be sure to post back here what clubs & shafts etc., you end up going with. 

Christian, Thanks for the great note.  Do I need to request the tour in advance or show up a little early and ask? 

Thanks again!

Hi Chris,  If you come about 20 minutes before your fitting, you will have time to take a short tour of the facility and warm up.  The crew will be maintaining the fairways and greens so you will not be able to warm up until just before your fitting time.  But the fitter will take that time to observe so it is part of the fitting process. 

Hi kathy- I am out in Palm Springs area and am interested in a fitting for a complete set of clubs.  Can you give me some info re lead times, how to schedule, points of contact and rough costs? Thnks John

Hi John

Here are some details.  We have a state of the art facility in Oceanside with fairways, greens, and our wedge and bunker area where Bob Vokey does his work with players.  We use Trackman launch monitors to gap and check numbers so that you can be assured that you have the correct club selection.  Our fitters are the same ones that work with our Tour players so they are very experienced. Every fitting is done outdoors on turf and you will be hitting down a fairway or to a green complex or bunkers for wedges. 

We offer three separate fittings:  Driver/Fairway, Hybrid/Irons and a Wedge fit that can be done individually or all together.  Each fitting takes about an hour (or 3 hrs for the bag, minus putter).  When the fitting is complete, we will email all the details of the fit to you and your pro (if you wish) and you can order your clubs at whatever shop that you choose.  The fitting fee is a fitting fee only and does not go toward the purchase of clubs.

Oceanside fits Monday through Friday at 9am or 1pm. The cost is $200 per fitting or $500 for all three and you can reserve your fitting appointment by calling Team Titleist at 1-888-TITLEIST or by calling 1-888-262-7202 and talking with Andy.   There are no monies taken at the Test Facility, so when the reservation is made, we will take a credit card and it gets invoiced about 10 days prior to your appointment.  Right now, we have openings within two weeks

Hope that helps!

Chris, I have been to the TPI twice and can say without reservation that you will LOVE the experience.  It is the best golf experience (not on a great golf course) that I've ever had.  The staff is world class!  They treated our group like we were tour pros.  No question was too dumb, no request was blown off, what ever you said you wanted, you got immediately.  Immaculate conditioning of the facility was a given.  The customer service is truly the best I have ever experienced.  A non-tour player who is serious about the game and trying to improve will benefit greatly from access to the best, most comprehensive minds in the game.  Conditioning, nutrition, fitness, fitting and counseling of all of those areas are where the TPI excels.  You have to believe that "normal" guys or girls like us aren't the "glamor" clients of the TPI.  You would never know it from the treatment I received from every single person associated with the facility at Oceanside.  You will be well taken care of and you will be amazed at how they can relate almost every area of your life to something that will affect your golf game.  I will offer one little bit of advice that I haven't seen anyone else mention in this string.  Bring a change of clothes (a second set of golf clothes).  You may need them because you will work hard (not because they make you but because you will be like a kid in a candy store- hitting everything you can get your hands on).  A change of clothes will make you feel fresh after lunch and will make you less stinky when you go back out.  Then also take a change to leave the facility so you're not as sweaty as you would be after you leave the gym after a work out, because that's what you'll have done when you're finished.

Another bit of advice, don't have any preconceived notion about what is "right" for you before you get there (equipment wise).  Heads and shafts are combined for you and listen to them about what is best for you.  If you artificially narrow your focus by what you think you want before you get there, you'll be shortchanging yourself.  Also, bring some athletic tape if you get blisters or if your calluses are not where you need them to be, because you will hit a LOT of balls (again, because you want to).  Don't let the end of the day be ruined by blisters.  Tape them early or hit a LOT of balls before you go so your hands can take the heat.

Lastly, enjoy and soak it in.  It should be a bucket list item for every serious golfer.  The fact that you're posting on the team Titleist web site suggests you are a Titleist fan.  This place is a Titleist geek's (like me) idea of heaven.  Enjoy and please post after your experience and let us all live a little (vicariously) through you!

Clifford, these are all excellent notes!  I very much appreciate it...one aspect I was curious is that since at the facility one will hits LOTS of balls is there anything special you did in advance of your visits to ready your muscles/body for the experience so you could have the stamina?

Also, you hit the nail on the head...while ability is always a focus of any golfer at this point in my life I am serious about my equipment and no shortcuts are allowed which is why I am going to Oceanside...plus I am a Titleist Fan!! LOL

Cant wait!

Chris, as far as prep goes; I would suggest the following:  STRETCH!!  Night before, morning of, and after you hit a few balls there.  Depending on where your body is in the golf cycle (if you are feeling good about core strength, leg strength and flexibility); don't do too much extra.  If you are in the midst of any swing changes, make sure you are comfortable with where you are physically before you get there.  The fitting process they undertake is not a lesson per se, in that they won't try to change your swing too much while you're there, but fit your equipment to what you have (swing wise) while you're there.  I would suggest a little extra leg work before you get there in addition to flexibility.  I found that after hitting a lot of balls (especially driver fitting); my legs were tight and completely gassed by the end of the day (hamstrings and glutes especially).  That's why I suggest stretching and doing leg work before you show up.  They also have water everywhere, at every station (3D motion capture, putting studio, wedge and bunker area and doppler radar- yeah; doppler radar like weather to gap your clubs appropriately- you know, hybrid versus 5 wood or whatever), make use of the water by hydrating while you're there.

I hope this helps you and again, enjoy your time there

Im jealous of your trip and fitting coming up.  Ive considered doing something like this for a couple years instead of just a local fitting.  Can anyone give a round about price for a full fitting at TPI that we are talking about in this thread?  Thanks

Prices vary depending on the experience you purchase (and facility availability) but my two day experience all in (meaning airfare, car service to and from the San Diego airport, club purchase and incidentals) was about 10K.  Worth every penny BTW, few things worth this much in the golf world come cheap; but this one above all is worth it.  I think shorter experiences are available and cost less, and a 3 day experience (which I have not attended) costs more.  myTPI.com has pricing.

Each section of the fitting has a price of about $200 (Woods/Hybirds, Irons, Wedges, etc...) for an hour or so...thus the longer experiences only go up in price.  Generally, outside of your travel costs it will be anywhere around $500+ and then you can purchase new clubs.  The cost of the experience does not include or go towards any club purchase later.

Voke also has a special oportunity right now I believe where for $1,050 you get a fitting session with Bob himself and three wedges...FYI.  More info on his website.

Thanks for the info everyone....better start saving

My thoughts exactly!

As a small point to note, there is a locker room w/ shower/towels that you can use there to change before/after your fitting -- helpful if you're coming in from out of town as I did, when I did an Oceanside fitting in August.  Great great experience!

This is something I had not thought of...nice to know they have a locker room in addtiion to all the other cool features at the facility! Thanks for sharing.

Chris, Vog here. I was at Oceanside in March of 2010 for a fiiting. It was well worth the experience of just being there and seeing the facility that fits the tour players. Got a quick tour of the club building room-they have all of the goods there.

The only downside was during the fitting process, I felt perhaps we didn't get the best possible results because I wasn't making great swings, because all of the fitting clubs are set up with standard grips. I use a bid-size grips. Thus, I think I was pretty handsy with my swing.

The positives well outweighed the one negative. I really expected to go there and be told I needed to get into a regular flex shaft because I have lost some clubhead speed. Yet my fitter pointed out I was still stressing the shaft enough that I was overpowering a regular flex shaft. On the driver, he recommended a stiff flex but a lighter shaft than I had been playing-55 grams.

On the irons, noting I launch the ball a little lower, he recommended AP2s over AP1s because of the stronger lofts on the AP1 irons. We spent a lot of time trying to work, as he called it, "the gaps" the gap between my driver and my longest iron, so it was a lot of work with the hybrids. We also spent a lot of time with the wedges, seeing how the different grinds worked thru the turf for me and how they worked out of the sand. Also how far they flew from the fairway.

Vog, Thanks for your thoughts and experience!  I had the same concern with my grips in my mind so it is good to hear what your fitting went like...I sort of figured that to get a build up grip size on all the clubs I was going to try might be asking a lot.... However, it is great to hear all about all the other positives!  When I see you next year the ICC I hope to be able to show you some fun new sticks...and compare experiences! Keep up all your great work on the Cameron front, Cheers!

I was fitted last year and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.  The facility is every bit amazing as described, and the staff are all super friendly and helpful. Don't be surprised if you see one of their pros on site.

The best advice I have read so far is to take a change or two of clothes and be prepared to hit an absurd amount of golf balls.  I went with a friend and he hit about 1/3 the balls I did so the experience will vary based on your skill level and ability to find just the right set-up.  I never felt rushed or pressured.  While they allow for 3 hours, I got the impression it would end when they felt it was right for you.  One other piece of advice would be to bring 3 or 4 gloves with you.  Change them frequently so you always have a dry pair ready.  Also, it wouldn't hurt to bring an extra pair of shoes for the same reason.  Nothing worse than slipping around in your shoes. 

They do not have mid or oversize grips however.  I thought that might be an issue for me but it didn't turn out that way.  I generally use mid for my irons and and extra wrap on my wedges so I thought I might notice a difference.  Perhaps the giddiness of being at "THE" Oceanside facility made me forget about everything else. 

Now that I've done it, I can't wait till I need new irons or wedges so I can go back again.  I'm sure I'll be much more relaxed now that I've had the experience.  It was worth every penny!!!!

Chris, Cliff here.  I was wondering if you've had your experience at the TPI in Oceanside yet?  If you have, would you mind letting us know what you wound up getting?  The reason I ask is I just got fitted for my new AP2's today.  It was amazing.  The combination of the new 714 head and the shaft that worked well for me was the Aerotech steelfiber.  I was not expecting that, but it was magic.  Please let us know in this thread how your fitting went and what you wound up getting.

First of all, congrats, Chris!

This will be the best experience of your golfing life.

Four hours of intensive hitting, adjusting, fitting, questions, answers, ect.

Take full advantage of it and get in great golfing shape.

Anyone who is serious about golf must get fit, especially at the crown jewel of golf, Oceanside.

Good luck and have fun!

Vern

Yes, it is Andy Dobson