I got fit last winter at Sea Island and it was one of my best non playing golf days.  I, like you went in with a preference of what clubs I wanted to try.  He fit me for the Titleist 3 wood and hybrid, but my results with other drivers were better.  Wasnt interested in buying new irons, so he made sure the iron I was hitting were spec'd right and bent them accordingly.  As far as tips go, you are on the right track.  Go in with a preference of what you can and cant stand to look at, then the fitter can start to eliminate what works and what doesnt.  And keep an open mind as well.  I thought for sure I was walking out with a TM 3 wood and a Titleist driver and was fitted for the opposite.  Good luck and have fun with it, its a blast.

You may find your best golf may be played with a mixed bag or even an oddball setup.  Even maybe mixed shaft flexes (for instance, in my case, A flex on the driver and fairways, regular on the hybrids and irons, wedgeflex on the Vokeys; this is what works and the reason I have the woods that way is because I am playing them with shorter shafts - the driver is 44.5" vice 45.75" and the 19F is 41" vice 42" and I swing a little slower with the long clubs). 

I have a TM driver and Ody putter and a persimmon 34* hybrid.   The rest of my clubs are Titleist (910F 19*, 910H 21 and 27*, AP1 7-PW gapped 5* apart from 31-46, Vokey SM c-c 50-08 bent to 49 and 54-14, SM4 60-10 bent to 59).  I have a fitter in a local mom and pop store that has helped dial in my golf setup.  I don't carry the 21H or the 7 iron at this time because I have better results choking down on the 19 fairway and using the 34H.

Years ago I played with an off the shelf golf setup.  I didn't really learn about clubfitting until I built my own clubs (did two fairway woods, 3 hybrids, a set of irons and a lob wedge) .  One thing I have done is charted the lie angles and shaft lengths on a spreadsheet.   What is a long established fact is my driver has a length of 44.5" and a lie angle of 58.5, my fairway 41" and 59.5 lie angle, hybrid is 38.5" with 60* lie angle, 7 iron length is 36.5", 9 iron and PW are 35.5" with 1/2* upright lie angle, all other wedges 1* upright with the gap and sand wedges at 35.25" and the lob wedge at 35", putter 35" with 2* upright.  I probably won't be buying any clubs in the future (maybe a 910D2 driver) because I have everything else zeroed in and hitting well.

I've found my best results by going in with an open mind. Most of the certified fitters really know their stuff. If there are certain shafts or clubs you would like to hit you'll need to speak up, as the fitter will put in you the club that will give you the best results. Ask lots of questions, if you want to know why he/she is putting a certain shaft or head in your hands ask, they're always more than happy to share with you why they are doing what they are doing. 

Good luck.

Mike,

My first fitting was a great experience, I wouldn't go to a specific brand fitting because they will only fit you for their clubs.  As irons go, I would try png, miz, and titleist.  I like the miz's the best because of their soft feel, the titleist are very similar but a little bit of a firmer feel.

Good luck!

Dan C.

Brockton, MA in January?  Outdoors?  I had been buying most of my clubs off the internet (I'm LH and sporting goods stores only have limited stock to try).  Had a set of G10s that were nice besides being too short and the wrong lie.  I finally bit the bullet and went to a club pro shop that fit outdoors.  Lucky for me, it was also an Advanced Fitting Center (no clue what that was).  We finally narrowed it down to G20/AP1.  The rsults for me were close enough for either one (the G20 was 1/4 inch longer than stock or the same length as the stock AP1).  I had tried an MP miz (it was a miz fitting day and they didn't have a LH J iron to try...) and realized that good hits were great, but I nneded a little more forgivienss than a CB.  I then picked the AP1, all else equal, on looks and I would need to rise a little to the quality of the club.

I would never have noticed subtle differences without seeing the full flight (and what the monitor also saw).  Let the technology confirm your decision.

Ha.  No, indoor simulator similar to what you see on the Golf Channel.  However, the fitting center I am going to has heated bays you hit from to the outside so you can see the ball flight even though you are hooked up to the monitor.

Thanks everyone for the advice!