AG,
We had a big discussion on GCA a number of years back. I think the conclusion was basically, yes some fittings are legit, but most are basically a scam to close the sell.
At my one and only fitting I thought I had miraculously gained 50-60 yards on my driver and 20+ yards on my long irons, I was stoked! Reality hit me in cruel fashion when I got to the range and course and realized I'd been duped, even though I was gonna buy a new set of clubs anyways as my previous ones were stolen.
Kalen,
I've read MANY such discussions, here and elsewhere; there is a large colony of "anti-fitting" guys over on Golfwrx.
But I've never understood the issue, because the process is so simple. You find a qualified club fitter. You hit your current clubs on his launch monitor to get a baseline of numbers. You work with him to see IF there are alternatives to your current equipment that represent gains in some way; distance is the most common, but dispersion runs a VERY close second, and for a lot of guys will be driving the bus. If there is an improvement available, you have to decide is the trade-off is worth the dollars TO YOU; we're all in different places on that. I would (and just did!) pay $500 for 10 yards without question, but I know not everybody feels that way. The only way to get more than that comes about IF you are using clubs that are especially poorly suited to you and your golf swing.
But you ALWAYS go into the fitting process with a willingness to pay a fitting fee for the peace of mind of knowing that what you've already got is the best thing for you. ALWAYS...
So in 2010, I got fitted to a K15 12 degree that replaced my Ping Rapture because the dispersion was MUCH tighter with identical distance. In 2014, I got fitted to a Ping G30, back down to 10.5*, to replace the K15; the spin rates were MUCH lower, and I got the same carry with more roll out, and recovered 10 yards that age had taken away. In 2018, the G400 came out in a smaller club head size, and I got 3 mph more speed over the G30, again recovering some lost distance from the aging process. (I'm 69 now, FWIW.)
One of the reasons that I was so interested in Craig's post is because he was referencing the Callaway Epic, though he doesn't say which one. I just did a fitting a couple of weeks ago, and ended up with an Epic Max, which was NOT what I went into the fitting expecting. Again, we were able to wring almost 4 mph of swing speed out of the club vs my G400 on average; it's the first non-Ping driver I've had in at least 15 years, probably longer, and in the 5 rounds that I've played with the new driver, guess what? The numbers are spot on to what the Trackman numbers were at the fitting.
I should also mention this: In the time between my 2014 and 2018 fittings, Ping came out with both the G and the G410 models. I asked my club fitter if they were worth a try for me, and in both cases, he said, "Don't bother; they can't beat what you already have." THIS time, with the Ping G425, he said, "This is worth a try." The Callaway was a surprise, but I do NOT care what a club says on the bottom; only what it does.
I suspect that there is an inverse relationship between the expectations of gain from a new club and the satisfaction with that club when real life comes along. New drivers are EXACTLY like new cars; go shopping in a fever, and you'll get something new and shiny that's really expensive, but little or no better than what you had already. Blaming the car salesman in a store for that is no different blaming the club fitter; the real culprit is viewable in the bathroom mirror at your house!