Beginnings

A Unit on North Rock Road, and One Piece of Equipment

The studio started in 2015 with a lease on a light industrial unit, a single hitting net, and a roll lane laid down the length of the back wall. There was no second bay for the first fourteen months. There was no launch radar either — that came in year two, once there was enough revenue to justify it.

What existed from day one was a lie board, a case of impression tape, and a face-angle camera pointed down the roll lane. That combination is unglamorous, and it is also the only equipment in the building that has never been replaced. Everything since has been bought to add detail to the same picture, not to replace it.

Roland Whitcomb, who founded the studio, had spent twelve years before that as a bench technician building and repairing clubs for a regional retailer. He watched several hundred fittings go through that shop and formed a specific opinion about most of them: they measured the ball, not the club, and they measured it for far too few swings to say anything reliable.

Studio Facts

Opened2015
Hitting bays2
Roll lane14 ft
Bench technicians2 certified
OwnershipIndependent
Supplier quotasNone

The Working Method

Three Rules That Shape Every Session

Blocks, Not Single Shots

Nothing gets judged on one swing. A block is eight to twelve shots, and comparisons are made block against block. A single flushed strike proves that the club can work, not that it will.

Change One Variable

Head, shaft, length, lie and grip are altered one at a time whenever the clock allows. If two things change together and the numbers improve, you have learned nothing about which one helped.

Write Down the Baseline

Your current clubs get the same measurement treatment as anything on the rack. Without a written baseline there is no way to prove the recommendation is actually better than what you own.

On Independence

What Not Having a House Brand Actually Changes

Independence is a word every fitting operation uses, so it is worth being specific. We hold no exclusive distribution agreement with any manufacturer. We are not enrolled in any volume rebate programme that pays more for shifting a particular line. Nobody in this building has a sales target attached to a brand.

The practical effect shows up in the least profitable outcomes. Roughly one session in six ends with a recommendation to keep the heads you brought and change only the specification — a two-degree bend, a half-inch trim, a different grip core. That is a small invoice. It is also the right answer often enough that we would rather build the business around being able to give it.

On the Local Game

Fitting for Kansas Wind and Kansas Turf

Wichita golf has a character that a generic fitting chart will not account for. Sustained crosswind is normal rather than exceptional, which changes how much spin is actually useful on a mid-iron. Warm season turf goes dormant and firm in the shoulder months, which changes what bounce does under a wedge. Greens across the metro run a wide range of speeds between May and October.

We factor that in explicitly. Wedge sessions are tested against dormant-lie conditions, not only lush ones. Putter loft recommendations account for a green that will be slower in June than in September. It is not exotic; it is just paying attention to where the clubs will actually be used.

What We Will Not Do

Three Things This Studio Declines

Fit You Off a Chart

Height and wrist-to-floor give a starting length, not an answer. The lie board decides. We have fitted six-foot-four players into standard length and short players into plus a quarter inch.

Sell a Full Bag by Default

Most players do not need fourteen new clubs. If four of yours are performing, they stay, and the recommendation covers the rest.

Rush a Bay to Turn It Over

A session that needs an extra fifteen minutes gets it. Bookings are spaced with that in mind rather than stacked back to back.

Around the Studio

Where to Find Us

Visiting Notes

Suite 210, second floor, lift at the north end of the building
Client parking in the marked bays directly outside the north entrance
Bring your own clubs, your normal glove and the ball you actually play
Soft spikes or trainers are both fine on the bay flooring
Allow ten minutes to warm up before the clock starts

Directions and hours

The studio sits on North Rock Road just north of the 33rd Street junction, roughly fifteen minutes from most of east Wichita and about twenty-five from Derby or Newton. Clients come in from Andover, Augusta, El Dorado and occasionally from as far as Hutchinson.

There is no retail floor and no walk-in trade. Everything runs by appointment, which is why the bays stay quiet and why a session that overruns does not throw the rest of the day out. If you want to look around before booking, call and we will arrange a time to show you the roll lane.

Reserve Studio Time

Built Around a Roll Lane and a Lie Board