As much as I am a big fan of the Great Indoors, I prefer doing all of my golf ball hitting outside. And that includes getting fitted for clubs. As a golf equipment writer, getting fitted for clubs is certainly a common and enviable part of the job. After all, how can I objectively report on new golf clubs if I haven’t been fitted properly for them? It does nobody any good if I’m telling you about my experience hitting a product that isn’t optimized for my game but rather for a much different kind of golfer.

As for the indoors aspect, I just don’t feel comfortable banging golf balls into a screen 10 feet away. I think I subconsciously swing more defensively – as if the ball was going to ricochet off the screen and hit me. Spoiler alert: It’s never actually happened, so my fear is rather irrational. But regardless, I’m pretty sure that I swing differently inside.

That in mind, I was invited to the brand new PXG fitting studio in a San Diego strip mall this week. Twice before I’ve been fitted for PXG clubs – both times were outdoors at a driving range where both the fitter and I could see the actual ball flight from start to finish. But in the spirit of being open to trying new things, I accepted this invitation – partly so I could go see this new golf center. PXG has these stores in about 25 cities, so I was excited.

My fitter greeted me in a hitting bay that was displaying a digital driving range on what resembled No. 18 at St. Andrews. He had me warm up with my clubs, and when I was ready to go, asked if I would hit five shots with my own 7-iron as part of the company’s new Black Ops Challenge – a way to get golfers to compare theory gamers to the new PXG Black Ops game-improvement clubs. I obliged, and it was a good way to stretch out after not hitting balls for a week. But I was here primarily to get fitted for the also-new PXG 0311 GEN 7 irons.

Using a Trackman launch monitor, the super-intuitive and friendly fitter quickly identified the proper model for my swing – the P or Players iron. For low-to-mid-handicaps, it aims to emit a soft and responsive feel, along with an ideal balance of workability and forgiveness. The nice-looking iron is moderately offset, has a mid-size clubhead, super-thin clubface, hollow body with new QuantumCOR technology, and a coefficient of restitution that is maxed out to the USGA limit – meaning it aims to maximize ball speed when I hit it on the screws. I won’t bore you with the technical details. But we tried several versions of the club by changing head weighting, lie angle and shafts, and came up with one that outhit my current irons by 17 yards with 10 more yards of carry distance alone. And with the higher ball flight I’ve been seeking.

I have to say that this experience may well change my mind about what’s possible by hitting golf balls under a roof. Really looking forward to putting these new clubs in my bag – especially if they wind up accomplishing for my game what I anticipate them doing. Maybe there actually is a better reason to visit a strip mall than Starbucks.