Heather Angell, the 2021 South Florida PGA Section Player Development Award winner and 2024 Section PGA Professional Development Award winner, is a GRAA Growth of the Game Teaching Professional and the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Fiddler’s Creek Golf Club in Naples, Florida.
Heather Angell on the importance of offering a golf ball fitting experience on your range:
In addition to a brisk events calendar and many player development options at Fiddler’s Creek Golf Club, we also seek fun and interesting experiences that increase the value of membership. Forty members recently enjoyed a professional golf ball fitting experience from Nick Martin and Connor MacDonald from the Titleist Ball Fitting Team on our range to determine which Titleist golf ball fit them best. I am a Titleist staff member, and Titleist asked me to do a presentation for them at the 2026 PGA Show. They ran me through the golf ball fitting at Demo Day, and I enjoyed the experience so much that I asked if they would come to Fiddler’s Creek to do golf ball fittings for my members. We sent a flyer out to the membership and promoted the special event in person to members we knew would be excited to take advantage of the opportunity. Nick and Connor made a special trip to Naples to spend time with the membership. They were doing fittings in Orlando and Tampa before and after our fitting, so we were fortunate they detoured to see us. The Titleist fitting reps asked each member about their ball preference and what improvements they were looking for in their game. They ran each member through the Titleist golf ball fitting app with each golfer hitting between 12-15 shots with four clubs — a half swing wedge, a full swing pitching wedge, 7-iron and a driver. They utilized Trackman in connection with the Titleist app for data collection, which captured metrics such as club speed, ball speed, spin, apex, landing angle and carry distance. The app analyzed the data and provided a recommended golf ball from Titleist’s premium lineup. The members hit specific yellow Titleist golf balls to make it easier for club staff to collect at the end of the day.
Heather Angell on the business impact of offering a golf ball fitting experience on your range:
The event was free to members and was held in conjunction with the Titleist “Buy three dozen – get one dozen free” promotion. The members loved it! Many of them found that they were already playing the correct golf ball. Several of them found out they needed to play a different Titleist ball than they were already playing. Some of them were not playing Titleist prior to the fitting experience and discovered that a specific Titleist ball performed better than their previous ball. Of the 40 members who participated, 39 of them took advantage of the spring promotion. We later heard that our event represented the largest number of players fit by two fitters in a single day. In fact, at a recent Titleist meeting, the Fiddler’s Creek fitting day was discussed as a model for how they want their future events to look and feel. After all, you need a dedicated pro at the club, an eager membership and a driving range to support all those golf balls. We’re already planning to host the golf ball fitting day next season, as well as add wedge fittings and other opportunities to enhance the member experience on the driving range, the social hub of most any golf club.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email golfangell@pga.com.
