Titleist embarked on a ground-breaking exercise that proved wholly profitable, both as a financial exercise and in spreading the gospel of custom fitting earlier this summer.

They invited Englishman Spencer Manning to operate his custom fitting clinics at 14 venues in Ireland. It proved an unqualified success and there are plans to institute a more thorough schedule that will incorporate all four provinces.

On average six sets of Titleist DCI irons were sold during clinics which last between four and eight hours. On one evening 13 sets were sold and the total over the 14 venues approached 90 sets. Sundry drivers and putters were also sold.

Unlike Pro Fit, Manning argued that a player must reach a minimum standard before they could be custom fit and on more than one occasion advised a customer that a lesson would be more beneficial. After that he would be happy to offer his custom fitting expertise.

He admitted: "We obviously want to help people improve their game and that's the priority, it's not simply an exercise in selling as many sets of clubs as we can. We are also selling the Titleist name and it is important that people are satisfied with the product.

"We do not seek to change people's swings just to facilitate their improvement." The process, involving repeated shots with a five iron, is pretty uniform to all companies. The Titleist custom fitting system is designed to accurately fit the following variables - lie angle, club length, shaft flex, shaft type, offset and grip size.