Booking a fitting at The Kingdom at The Grove on its very first day open to the public felt like something genuinely special. In the weeks leading up to the visit, a stream of glossy emails, promotional videos and virtual tours built the anticipation perfectly. By the time we arrived, it already felt less like a golf fitting and more like an experience.
Of course, when people hear “The Kingdom”, comparisons with TaylorMade Kingdom immediately come to mind. No, this is not Carlsbad, and no, you are not being fitted by Trottie, but that does not stop it feeling premium from the moment you arrive.
We decided to make a proper day of it. Lunch at The Stables restaurant at The Grove beforehand, an overnight stay nearby, and then the fitting itself later in the afternoon. It all sounded perfectly planned until the M25 reminded us exactly why it has the reputation it does.
What should have been a straightforward 25 mile drive somehow became a two hour crawl through traffic, leaving us with just enough time for a quick coffee before heading down to The Kingdom. Thankfully, the valet parking immediately softened the mood. After sitting motionless on the motorway for that long, simply handing someone the keys and unloading the clubs felt strangely luxurious.
The highlight of the journey came from Jane, who looked at the valet service and said:
“If I’d known it was valet parking, I would’ve washed the car.”
After two hours on the M25, that genuinely made me laugh.
From there, the experience immediately shifted up a level. We were collected in a TaylorMade buggy by a member of staff and driven down towards the fitting facility. It is a small detail, but it instantly adds to the exclusivity of the whole experience.
The first thing that struck me on arrival was how integrated The Kingdom is with the existing driving range. If I am being honest, it is not quite the isolated, ultra private setup some of the marketing imagery suggests. It sits directly alongside the public range, and at times you are very aware of that. Compared with somewhere like the Titleist Performance Centre, it feels slightly less self contained. That said, once you step inside, the atmosphere changes completely.
What impressed me most was how relaxed everything felt. There was no rush, no conveyor belt feeling and none of the pressure that can sometimes come with commercial fittings. Instead, the fitter sat down and had a genuine conversation first. He had clearly read the player profile I had submitted beforehand and wanted to understand my game properly; my strengths, weaknesses, what I wanted to improve and even my own golfing journey. It immediately felt personal.
Walking into the fitting bay and seeing my clubs already laid out alongside a personalised name plaque on the range was another really classy touch. Small details matter in experiences like this, and TaylorMade clearly understands that. The fitting itself was fascinating.
Like many golfers, I have often questioned why fittings focus so heavily on a 7 iron. The fitter explained it brilliantly. With hundreds of shaft options available across different weights, flexes and lengths, the number of possible combinations becomes enormous incredibly quickly. Suddenly, the logic behind building a fitting around one club made complete sense.
After warming up, my current iron specs were checked on a calibrated loft and lie machine. Straight away, we discovered my irons were not quite what I believed them to be. A decent reminder that what is written on paper and what is actually in the bag are not always the same thing. From there, the process became incredibly detailed.
Using premium TaylorMade TP5x golf balls alongside TrackMan data, we started testing combinations. One thing I loved was being able to see the actual ball flight outdoors rather than simply hitting into a screen. The numbers felt real because the shots matched what my eyes were seeing.
Very quickly, the fitter identified that the TaylorMade P790 head still suited my game best. I have previously tried wider sole irons, including the PXG GEN7 XP, but they never suited my eye or my strike. They always felt slightly cumbersome through the turf. The newer P790, however, immediately produced tighter dispersion and more consistent numbers.
From that point onwards, the fitting became more about shafts than clubheads. As someone with an engineering background, I genuinely enjoyed this part. Discussions around shaft stiffness, tip behaviour and loading characteristics actually made sense to me, especially when connected to my own swing tendencies.
After testing multiple options, the fitter narrowed things down to the Nippon Modus3 shaft range. Like many golfers, I sit awkwardly between regular and stiff flex. We tested both thoroughly, but after ten shots with the regular shaft, the answer became obvious. Dispersion deteriorated noticeably, and stiff flex immediately restored control.
The golf ball discussion was equally interesting. I currently play the TP5x, but the fitter suggested the standard TaylorMade TP5 might actually suit my numbers better. It is funny how even golf ball fitting becomes more complicated the deeper you go into it.
Towards the end of the session, we briefly looked at my TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver as well. Predictably, another shaft recommendation followed. It performed brilliantly although I still have no idea where a mini driver truly belongs in a golf bag.
The biggest surprise of the entire experience was how little pressure there was to buy anything. At no point did it feel sales driven. The fitter simply presented the data, explained the reasoning and left the decision entirely with me.
So, was it worth the £200 fitting fee?
Honestly, yes.
Not necessarily because the technology itself is dramatically different from other premium fitting centres, but because of the overall experience. The exclusivity, the time, the attention to detail and the relaxed atmosphere all combine to make it feel genuinely premium.
It feels less like a standard retail fitting and more like a private golf consultation.
And yes, I did end up ordering the P790 irons.
Perhaps the most impressive part of all was that they cost no more than they would have through a standard online retailer. The difference was that, this time, I walked away fully understanding exactly why those clubs suited my game.
Mervyn Hayes