accreditation for club repairing and club fitting

[patch]

i was wondering if anyone knows of an accreditation course on club fitting and club building and repairs . i have been doing custom fittings and repairs and custom clubs for 14 years and have been pga trained by a pro with 40 years experience and have studied all maltby books and in my 14 years have custom made over 1000 sets of clubs and god knows how many reapirs but i dont have any official documentation stating that im a club fitter , the locals regard me as the best but i want to know can i be accredited anywhere .

[TourFit]

Right there with you Patch...

I have the GCA Accreditation, through Golfsmith, that was a fairly comprhensive and tough 350+ question exam. Go to the Golfsmith site and find the links to GCA...they have different levels of accreditation but you would need a trip to the States !!!

Also, I am a member of the new ICG (International Clubmakers Guild), which was formed out of the ashes of the old PCS (now defunct!). The PCS had a pretty good Certification Program, but it was a little 'expensive'...The ICG have just announced an new Accreditation test that will be administered through Singapore (for our region) and plan to expand the tests to different areas in the future. I think that the only test available at the moment is the one for club-making, but with fitting and repairs coming later.

Fell free to drop me a line (I have an email contact through my website. You'll find a link at the bottom of my signature!). We can have a chat about the thing we both do !!!

[markTHEblake]

I dont think there is anything in Oz for this. I recall Demi Papillion was setting up his own clubmaking academy in qld, but he has since moved to Romania and doing it there :-O

He trained at the San Diego one.

Probably the best thing to do is go by reputation, that always holds up much better than a certificate, and only those ones that complain about your skills are actually doing so because of their own shortcomings, and people soon figure that out.

[TourFit]

MTB, you CAN do it from here...just not ALL of it !!!

As I said, I have done the basic GCA Accreditation which is merely the written exam.

The new ICG will have both written AND practical sections available through the mail to and from S'Pore. There will be a nominated time limit for the exams to be completed and sent back...

[markTHEblake]

Aha, I knew there was a reason Perci hadnt done the accreditation...... he cant read.

[razaar]

Is that Singapore contact Eric Ng?

[TourFit]

Correct. Eric is the Regional Grader for ICG in Asia...

[patch]

i thought there was no accreditation out here , thanks

[cobra23]

i thought there was no accreditation out here , im just sick of pga pros being able to do crap work on peoples equipment just because they are a pro , all the pros in my area are good for regrips and thats about it ( even then they cant put them on straight ) . I had a respected pro ring me a while ago asking how to regrip flange butt shafts as he cant get grip on he told me he has put grips in the microwave to soften them up but they are splitting, he didnt realise they make specific grips which are thinner in the rubber to fit these clubs , the same pro wont stock taper tip shafts so any time someone takes in a taper head he will glue a parrell in quater inch instead of the full length and pile it with glue in the hope it wont fall off , i just wish the public knew that there pros have no idea on repairing equipment .
Tourfit i will send you message , how long have you been in the business

I work in a local pro shop and all pros I know take great care in their repairs as that is a major part of their buisness. To say all the pros in your area can only do regrips (and not straight) is unfair and tends portrait all pros as incompetent and I know this is not true. Most people I know trust their repairs to an accreditered professional for a reason and that is that they trust them to do the job properly. I am sure there is room in the market for both PGA professionals and other club fitters and repairers to work together but to rubbish the PGA professional like you have is both unethical and unfair and could leave you open for cases of litigation under our laws.

[Tomson]

I work in a local pro shop and all pros I know take great care in their repairs as that is a major part of their buisness. To say all the pros in your area can only do regrips (and not straight) is unfair and tends portrait all pros as incompetent and I know this is not true. Most people I know trust their repairs to an accreditered professional for a reason and that is that they trust them to do the job properly. I am sure there is room in the market for both PGA professionals and other club fitters and repairers to work together but to rubbish the PGA professional like you have is both unethical and unfair and could leave you open for cases of litigation under our laws.

Can I speak of a first hand experience, A pro (I won't mentioned names etc to protect the litigation laws) told me you can not put a .335 into a .350 hosel. I asked him about shims. He looked at me with a blank look on his face. I would say not all pro are incompetent but I would say speaking with a few pros that club making skills are not focused on as much as swing coaching is in there apprenticeship. I hope we are not seeing a generation of club pros that are not being taught the proper skills that are needed to be a well rounded club pro, from club repairs to swing coaching. I have seen alot of club pros equipment and I would say that it is a shame they do not keep abreast of latest technology, but maybe finance plays a part in this as well. Maybe they do not see a return on this equipment and think that regular joe blow can't feel the difference so why should I keep my equipment up to date. I have personally had to fix alot of club pro's attempt at reshafting, glue all over the place, ferrule not turned down, way to much glue used, not spined, to much to list. Just for interest I have more club building equipment then most pro's in the area.

[Courty]

Some club pros are good at club-making, some are good at coaching, some are good at running on-course businesses, but I would hazard a guess that very few would be good at all of the above. I have had some pretty poor club-building experiences with pros... some of which are the repair jobs Tomson is talking about.

[Tomson]

I have also applied to the ICG and going to do the online test.

[markTHEblake]

There is a world of difference between a PGA trained professional (3 years apprenticeship) and the genuine clubmaker/fitter.

One is a all rounder, the other is a specialist. Thats why most of the best clubmakers around are not Golf Professionals - they dont need to know about all the other stuff.

[TourFit]

Also the WAY that PGA Trainees are trained these days is MUCH different to how it used to be...that is why many 'older' or veteran club pro's are very competent club repairers and club makers while some of the newer younger generation seem not to be (not in ALL cases of course). It is not their fault, it's just they are not trained as much in that area anymore...

[Tomson]

There is a world of difference between a PGA trained professional (3 years apprenticeship) and the genuine clubmaker/fitter.

One is a all rounder, the other is a specialist. Thats why most of the best clubmakers around are not Golf Professionals - they dont need to know about all the other stuff.

Sorry MTB but as a club fitter you need to know alittle more about the swing to see what is happening with the club during the swing. As a clubmaker I think you need to know alitte less about the swing and more about the actual assembly of the club.

In regards to PGA pro not being a genuine clubmaker/fitter is not right. I think they should be able to do it all. Maybe they need to extend the apprenticeship to 4-5 years so they can complete a clubmakers/fitters section to it.

[TourFit]

I agree...4yr apprenticeship doesn't sound too bad to me.

Most 'professional' careers have a 4 year Uni degree to complete, most 'trade' apprenticeships are for 4 years...

...and at the prices that Golf Pro's charge I would make them take a 4 year span. :) Why not concentrate equally on ALL modern day aspects of being a pro - playing, teaching, running a business, clubmaking/fitting. It is only THE MAJORITY OF ALL GOLFERS WHO WILL BENEFIT !!!!

[markTHEblake]

Sorry MTB but as a club fitter you need to know alittle more about the swing to see what is happening with the club during the swing.

yeah thats right, clubfitter needs to know stuff like that. There is a heap of stuff that they teach in the PGA Academy that is irrelevent to a fitter.

its just like the old Lawyer v. Conveyancer arguement if you need conveyancing done.