Club Champion is well known for its agnostic fitting locations all over the country, but that’s just one side of the story. I was invited by founder Nick Sherburne to visit their headquarters and bring along a GolfWRX forum member to see how they do things behind the scenes. Our friend Adam, a forum member since 2008, got to experience his first club fitting, while I had the chance to observe and learn how Club Champion builds each customer order to precise standards just outside of Chicago. Naturally, we were excited to spend a day exploring their process.
When we arrived at Club Champion’s Willowbrook location, Adam and I were greeted by Nick and Brad Syslo, the Lead Professor of Club Champion University. They gave us a tour of the fitting bays, showing off the extensive selection of clubs and shafts on the walls. For golf equipment enthusiasts like us, it was fascinating to see their interchangeable club and shaft system and how it was engineered.
Adam began warming up while Brad profiled his game, club preferences, and expectations in a relaxed and casual conversation. Since this was Adam’s first fitting, he was understandably a bit nervous, but Brad’s calm approach helped him focus on the experience. Club Champion fitters go through rigorous training, not only on data and fitting concepts but also on how to make clients comfortable with their swing throughout the fitting. Brad started Adam with irons, and together they tested different combinations of heads and shafts to find the ideal swing weight and feel.
Nick explained to me that swing weight is a major factor in fitting, yet it’s often overlooked by many fitters. Getting the balance right for each golfer can significantly boost performance and create a club that feels comfortable shot after shot.
We also discussed how fitting relates to handicaps. While Adam is a skilled player, there’s a persistent myth that high-handicap golfers aren’t good enough to benefit from a fitting. In reality, players in that group often see greater gains than scratch golfers, since much of fitting is about tightening dispersion on less-than-perfect shots.
As Adam and Brad continued the fitting, Nick and I toured Club Champion’s build shop next door. Getting fit is only half the journey—you also need clubs built exactly to the fitter’s specs. At Club Champion, your clubs are constructed by highly trained and experienced builders right outside Chicago.
Walking onto the shop floor felt like stepping into a major OEM facility, with large hallways lined with boxes of clubs, shafts, and grips. Nick shared that while they drew inspiration from big OEMs, Club Champion faces even greater challenges building precise custom sets for customers across the country. They must fit a customer in California and build those clubs in Chicago to the same exact specs, regardless of manufacturer. Where a brand like Titleist only deals with their own products, Club Champion works with all of them.
This agnostic approach is the best way to get the right clubs for each golfer, but it creates challenges translating fitting specs into the final build. Club Champion addressed this by implementing strict controls in both the fitting and building process. Swing weight scales and loft-and-lie machines can vary, even within the same brand and model, so Club Champion created identical jigs for every fitting location to calibrate their machines. This ensures that measurements taken at your local Club Champion match those in Chicago, even if they’re 1,000 miles apart.
Once your specs are set, your clubs are built by a master builder who assembles the entire set. A rigorous quality control system double-checks every spec, and if anything is off, the set goes back to the original builder for correction. It takes years of experience to reach the level where you handle final checks, as builders must know exactly what to look for before clubs are shipped out.
Some people feel that custom-fit clubs are too expensive, but after seeing the detail and care Club Champion puts into every fitting and build, it’s clear why they can’t be the cheapest option. Nick pointed out that a properly fit set of clubs is an investment in your game, one you’ll play with for years. And the experience doesn’t end when your clubs arrive.
Having seen much of the golf equipment industry up close, I left genuinely impressed by what Club Champion is doing. Their obsession with the smallest details truly sets them apart from the rest of the fitting industry. And if by a small chance the clubs don’t perform like they did during the fitting Club Champion‘s Perfect Fit Guarantee will make sure you can come back and get any adjustments you need made to your new clubs.
