They say the third time is the charm, and that was certainly true for Rory McIlroy, the world’s number one ranked golfer and a Nike sponsored Tour pro. When the company opened its flagship Performance Fitting Center last July, McIlroy was the first Nike athlete to visit and go through the fitting process. At the time, he had just lost his first 11 PGA Tour events of the season. But he left the facility armed with newly dialed-in equipment, and won his very next event - which just happened to be the British Open Championship. He won again in his next try, this time for a World Golf Championship trophy. In his next outing he won yet another Major, the PGA Championship. It seems the fitting paid off.
It took Nike several years to do what chief competitor TaylorMade had carved out a distinctive niche doing, offering a purpose-built, high-tech custom golf club facility to the public. “This incredible facility takes club fitting to another level,” said McIlroy via Nike materials. “It’s so impressive that Nike are providing the consumer the same type of service that we get as Nike athletes.”
According to Nike, who hosted my visit, I was the first American journalist to check out the center, and having been to many similar facilities worldwide, I was quite impressed. But the biggest difference is location. TaylorMade offers twin bi-coastal versions of its full-blown “Kingdom” fitting centers in California and Georgia, while Nike went back to the roots of the game, all the way to Scotland (I got to Scotland on my own, Nike just facilitated the tour).
Nike didn’t cheap out or pull any punches at Archerfield, a high-end private residential golf community near Edinburgh. Archerfield offers visitors a variety of packages that include golf on its two courses, true member for a day status, and access to the Nike Performance Fitting Center. The Center itself is top shelf, with its own specially designed building and private outdoor short and long game practice areas. Inside are three fitting bays, each equipped with TrackMan radar launch monitors and top quality high-speed V1 motion analysis cameras. They also have a SAMPutt Lab, the best in class technology for analyzing putting strokes and putter fittings. They do ball fittings and can even custom fit players for new golf shoes. Very few places offer all this.
But ultimately someone who knows what they are doing has to use all these toys, so Nike wisely partnered with TPEGS Ultimate Golf, a coaching institute run by former Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart and Gary Nicol, a renowned swing coach on the European Tour. Nicol has trained over 30 Tour Pros for almost three decades, including players at every Major and the Ryder Cup. He is currently Director of Coaching at Archerfield, and in addition to doing the standard fitting sessions for Nike, he combines the fitting process and state of the art technology with lessons and multi-day academies.
While the location is certainly not for everyone, a visit can be tied to a Scottish golf trip - almost all of which start or end in Edinburgh - or it can be the anchor for such a trip. After all, Archerfield is less than an hour from the city and the best place to stay in the heart of East Lothian, smack in the middle of some of the very best golf on the planet. The club is next to Muirfield, arguably the most desirable round in golf, also adjacent to the Tom Doak-designed Renaissance Club, and just down the road from legendary links like Gullane and North Berwick.
Amazingly, prices are very reasonable, to the point where many of the offerings are actually bargains in golf travel. You can get a quick one-hour fitting for just one part of your bag, like putter or driver, but the value and bang for the buck goes up the more you do. You can tack a nine or eighteen hole playing lesson onto the session or do an overnight “whole bag” fitting. This package covers woods, irons, wedges, putter and even a ball fitting, plus dinner, a suite, and eighteen holes on either course for about $800, which is hard to beat. Even better is the “Ultimate Experience,” which includes three days at Archerfield, a playing lesson, the complete fitting, a computerized swing analysis, outerwear and footwear fittings, and a “distance mapping” to get your newly fitted custom clubs precisely dialed in. During your stay, you get luxury accommodations and three meals a day in the club’s posh private clubhouse. At about $1,400 it’s a bargain for this kind of experience. Of course, the price of new equipment itself is not included, but it never is for these custom fittings. Clubs can be made to order within a day, or you can take the fitting specifications home and order them later.
Follow Me on Twitter Here
