On 27 October 2026, MyGolfSpy published Brittany Olizarowicz’s How Do You Know If You Were Fitted Incorrectly For A Driver?. Drawing on her previous teaching experience, Olizarowicz suggests assessing a driver fitting by repeatable outcomes and miss patterns rather than the single longest drive. This is expert coaching guidance, not a controlled scientific study. A poor shot alone does not establish that the fitting was wrong.
The longest drive is not the whole fitting
Almost any setup can occasionally produce a standout shot. A better question is what happens on ordinary strikes and imperfect contact: how far shots finish offline, whether the familiar slice persists, whether a new two-way miss appears, and how consistent carry distance remains. Carry measures flight distance to first landing; total distance also includes rollout, which changes with weather and ground conditions.
Olizarowicz recommends comparing your typical miss before and after the change. A tighter pattern is encouraging. An unchanged miss is not proof of a bad fitting. Consistently wider dispersion or an unfamiliar recurring miss justifies asking the fitter to review the data.
Read the numbers in context
A useful fitting record considers more than a peak distance: carry, ball speed, launch angle, spin, impact location on the clubface and dispersion relative to the target, where those data were captured. The driver’s loft is a club specification; launch angle describes the ball’s actual departure. They are not interchangeable. Spin requirements depend on swing speed and other launch conditions, so “lower spin is always better” is not a sound rule. The spin ranges quoted by MyGolfSpy are reference windows, not pass–fail cutoffs for every golfer.
The shaft matters, too, but flex labels such as Regular and Stiff do not follow one universal cross-brand scale. Length, weight, bend profile and feel may affect delivery. Neither the flex label nor a torque figure can, on its own, diagnose the cause of a slice.
Questions worth taking back to your fitter
Was your old driver measured as a baseline? Which heads and shafts were compared under equivalent conditions? How was the chosen combination judged on normal shots and misses, not just best-case contact? MyGolfSpy suggests trying several heads—roughly three or four in its article—but that is the author’s practical rule of thumb, not a mandatory industry standard. Meaningful testing matters more than a prescribed count.
A golfer who has significantly changed their swing since fitting may no longer match the original specifications. Conversely, a few difficult rounds with an unfamiliar club weight, length or head shape do not establish a fitting failure.
Editorial practice check: 24 measured drives
If you still own the previous driver, try an illustrative 24-shot comparison at a safe driving range. Warm up first; then hit four six-ball blocks: old driver — new driver — new driver — old driver. Keep tee height, ball type and intended target consistent, and allow normal rests. This alternating order partly limits simple practice-order effects.
Record each shot’s result against a preselected playable corridor, the direction and approximate size of the miss, strike quality and carry if a reliable launch monitor is available. Do not deliberately rebuild your swing to suit either club. Compare typical outcomes and dispersion, including major misses, rather than the single longest ball.
Without your previous driver, record the new club across multiple sessions instead. That can show whether a miss is persistent, but it cannot establish that a fitting was right or wrong. Twenty-four drives constitute a small, uncontrolled exercise, not laboratory evidence.
When a second look makes sense
Seek a qualified fitter if your usual misses remain materially wider, carry is consistently lower without an obvious explanation, or your current launch-monitor results contradict the original report. Bring the fitting sheet, on-course notes and both clubs when possible. Do not attempt unsupported club alterations or adjustments outside the manufacturer’s guidance. The purpose of a follow-up is diagnosis, not an automatic replacement purchase.
The takeaway: a helpful driver fitting produces understandable, repeatable and playable outcomes. Neither one perfect drive nor one bad round is a verdict on your equipment.
