MyGolfSpy Visits Bettinardi’s New Studio B

Bettinardi has opened a new Studio B facility in Oak Brook, Ill., and it is kind of a big deal. To clarify, it is a big deal if you want to get expertly fitted for a Bettinardi putter or wedge and take the fitted club home with you that day.

Fast Facts

Bettinardi Golf recently opened a new Studio B facility in Oak Brook,Ill. Studio B features unique Bettinardi gear, putter and wedge fitting studios and is the new home of The Hive. Putters and wedges can be immediately adjusted to fitted specs on location.

Studio B

The Studio B offerings don’t stop there. At the new location, you will be able to pick up unique Bettinardi apparel and golf accessories. Those with a little more coin in their pockets can grab really unique Bettinardi accessories and one-of-a-kind putters in The Hive.

Should the putters in The Hive not quite be what you are looking for, this new Studio B location also houses Bettinardi’s Customs Room where you can work with a Hive Concierge and a Bettinardi Designer to make a putter that is truly personalized.

With all of this going on under one roof, the MyGolfSpy crew had to check it out.

What you will find at Bettinardi’s Studio B in Oak Brook

The new Studio B location in Oak Brook is not Bettinardi’s first Studio B location. The original Studio B was upstairs at the Bettinardi Factory in Tinley Park, Ill. Although they provided similar services, the new studio really exceeds the original in almost every aspect.

The new Studio B is significantly larger than the original location at the Bettinardi factory. The fitting opportunities have expanded with the associated technologies improving. The new Studio B has two dedicated putter fitting studios and wedge fitting was not even available at the old location.

Overall, every aspect of Studio B has been beefed up. Let’s dive a little deeper into the specifics.

Two Putter Fitting Studios

At the top of the Studio B list feature list has to be their state-of-the-art putter fitting studios. Both Chris Nickel and I went through the Bettinardi putter fitting process and we will dive into those experiences shortly.

This is what you will find in the two putter fitting rooms at the new Studio B:

Quintec Golf and V1 Sports’ 4 Camera Putting System Precision Putt®️ putting turf by SYNLawn Golf Bettinardi’s complete lineup of production putters Certified professional putter fitter Comfy chairs Privacy

Wedge Fitting Studio

As I mentioned, one of the truly new additions at the new Studio B location is the wedge fitting room. Though more known for their putters, Bettinardi also makes wedges. In fact, they are on their fifth generation of their forged HLX wedge.

During the one-hour fitting, a certified Bettinardi fitter will help you figure out your ideal wedge set specs including:

Number of wedges Loft gapping Lie angles Correct bounce and grind Ideal length and grips

Once your specs are set, Bettinardi can build your wedges while you wait. Yes, that means that you can take the wedges with you that day. Once the grips dry, you can hit what you were fitted for.

Wedge fitting costs $100 but that fee is waived for Bettinardi NFT holders and will be refunded if you buy a Hive putter or Hive wedge set.

Bettinardi Retail Store

If you are looking for Bettinardi merch, the Bettinardi Studio B in Oak Brook has you covered. While you can pick up various Bettinardi items on their website, those offerings pale in comparison to what you can find in Studio B.

In the Studio B shop, you will find a wide range of Bettinardi items, well beyond the expected putters. The shop has unique Bettinardi shirts, golf bags, belts, wallets, towels, outerwear, head covers and more.

One item that almost separated me from my coin was a matching transfusion-themed putter cover and JBL wireless speaker. Even with an excess of both of those things back home, I was tempted to grab this cocktail-inspired combination.

Pricing is more boutique than budget but not outlandish. For example, the speaker/head cover combo was around $200. Regardless, if you are feeling the need to get decked out in all things Bettinardi, Studio B has what you need.

The Hive

What if your needs run a bit more exotic? What if you are looking for truly unique Bettinardi gear? Just head to the back of Studio B and you will find the new location of The Hive. Behind the locked door you will find one-off Bettinardi putters, head covers and other truly limited-edition Bettinardi items.

Think of it as the Hive putters that Bettinardi releases here and there online, times a whole room. Sorry, I don’t have any photos of the inside of The Hive. Bettinardi wants to keep it under wraps so that every customer is awed when they move through the golden door for the first time.

The prices in The Hive are high. It’s the equivalent of a $$$$ dining experience. That said, you will leave the room with a unique Bettinardi creation.

 Bettinardi Customs Room

What if you want to be the creator? If that is the case, exit The Hive into the Bettinardi Customs Room. As impressed as I was with The Hive, it was the Customs Room that truly sent my socks flying.

I have written about Bettinardi’s custom putter program a couple of times before. First, I had Bettinardi build me a custom ZomBB0. Next, I went deeper into Bettinardi’s custom program with the design of a psychedelic QB6. At the time, it was the most amazing custom process that I had gone through. That putter was a beauty.

The new Bettinardi Customs Room makes designing that QB6 feel like filling out an online questionnaire in comparison. That’s not totally fair as I did have lots of communication with Bettinardi when building that putter. That said, this room is next-level interactive.

In the Customs Room, you will find samples of all possible design options. One wall holds all of the heads you can choose from. On the next wall are samples of all the different finish options. Shaft and grip options are there as well as examples of possible necks.

Even better than being able to see all the options is sitting down with a Bettinardi designer to combine those options into a rendering that you can check out in real time. Remember, too, that you can put just about any designs onto your putter, copyright permitting.

At the end of the design session, you won’t leave with your putter. It still needs to be built. However,  you will leave with a good idea about what you will see when your putter arrives.

Bettinardi’s Putter Fitting Process

While the shopping opportunities at Bettinardi’s Studio B in Oak Brook are expansive, the real big deal is the putter fitting studios. Some of you have never been fitted for a putter and you may even be wondering if it is necessary.

I’ve gone through quite a few putter fittings in my tenure at MyGolfSpy and find them very valuable. Every time, I learn something about my putting and about the putter company’s philosophy on fitting.

Let’s take a look at how Bettinardi fitted us for putters.

Dave’s Putter Fitting

I went first. Getting fitted can be a little nerve-wracking for me so I wanted to get it going right away. Did you notice I listed comfy chairs and privacy as fitting room features? I wasn’t being cheeky. If someone is getting fitted for any club, being overly nervous is not helpful.

That is not a concern at Studio B. Both of the putter fitting rooms are very private. You can focus on making authentic rolls without an audience of random strangers.

Notice that I said “authentic” rolls, not “good” rolls. With any fitting, you need to be who you are if you are going to get the best results. If you have a size 36 waist, you may optimistically buy size 34 pants but they are not going to fit.

Anyway, my fitter Thomas had me pick the Bettinardi model in the room that was most like my putter. Yes, there are lots of putters to choose from. I grabbed a Studio Stock 35. It’s a small mallet putter with a slant neck and the one that I have rolled the most in the new batch. I even ordered a matching Best Grips leather grip for mine.

As I rolled balls, I had excellent grouping. All of the balls were ending up together, just right of the cup. I was a little frustrated but Thomas said something about there being a little break right in the green so I felt vindicated.

Once I was warmed up, Thomas fired up the V1 Sports high-speed camera to record my stroke. Lo and behold, my old stroke nemesis appeared. On the takeaway, I was taking the putter slightly outside and then looping back in. It was at this point that I realized that the green was perfectly flat and that I was pushing every putt.

(So sneaky, Thomas.)

The Unexpected Best Fit

Anyway, Thomas then picked out an array of putters that should fit my stroke better. I believe there were six options, blades and mallets. After rolling the cohort, I found the Queen B 15 to be the most comfortable.

When they filmed my stroke with the QB15, I no longer took it outside and I no longer missed right. Either picking a different putter fixed the break in the turf or it fixed my stroke issue.

Next, Thomas turned on the Quintec system to check the roll characteristics. The spin and launch numbers were good but he wanted to bend the head just a touch to make them better.

This is an amazing feature of Studio B in Oak Brook. They have a workshop onsite that can work on and adjust your putter in real time. My QB15 was bent to a lie of 72 degrees and a loft of two degrees.

After that, something amazing happened.

The first ball rolled with the new configuration yielded ideal launch conditions and zero degrees of side spin. That’s a perfect end-over-end roll. I was amazed at the impact bending the head had. The cup had become unmissable. I have experienced the impact of bending irons but never so dramatically in a putter, let alone in real time.

My problem solved, I ended my fitting and passed the room onto Chris.

Chris Nickel’s Putter Fitting Experience

My fitting started with the same directive as Dave’s. Thomas told me to grab a model that was most similar to my gamer and to roll a few putts with it. As Thomas quickly diagnosed, I don’t exactly have a “gamer” putter as much as I have a rotation of putters that tend to fall in (and out) of favor fairly routinely. As a result, I snagged a couple of models that fit my eye and resembled putters that previously worked well for me … or so I thought.

I said I really liked the look of minimal offset and a classic presentation which is why the Bettinardi BB1 Flow seemed like a reasonable starting point.

After watching me roll putts for a bit, we reviewed the footage on the V1 Sports high-speed camera. As is too often the case, the putter that fit my eye and the putter (that would eventually) fit my stroke were not the same model. The BB1 Flow had too much toe hang for my stroke as did the other putters I’d preselected as potential favorites.

What the game film displayed in brutal clarity is that my stroke tends to arc inside on the back swing and then sort of straighten out leading to impact. But if the face got too open, I had to try and manipulate it back to square at impact. This led to plenty of inconsistency and “blocked” putts that missed right of the target.

A Queen B for Chris as well?

Thomas gave me a couple of models to try (one of which I told him looked like a putter I’d never put in my bag). I swapped in and out, rolled a bunch of putts and then found one that seemingly couldn’t miss. Granted, it’s a dead straight 10-foot putt that you’ve hit over and over but I couldn’t deny that this one felt more “point and shoot” than anything else I had tried.

And, yes, it’s the one I called ugly. Shame on me. And to be fair, I was reacting (mostly) to the copper finish. But it’s not lost on me that a putter can go from homely to centerfold gorgeous when it starts making putts.

A couple of minutes on the Quintec system and we were able to dial in launch and ball speed numbers (5.13 mph ball speed and -0.82-degree launch). But because the direction still had a slight right-bias, we bent it a couple of additional degrees upright, eventually getting the cut/hook spin number to -1 rpm. 

In any fitting scenario, you can’t let “excellent” become the enemy of “perfect.” I’ll likely never have a perfect putting stroke (in fact, I’m certain of it). That said, I’m confident that with the Queen B 14, any performance I’m leaving on the table is due entirely to user error.

Time for a trip to the Bettinardi Customs Room

Chris:

The Bettinardi Customs Room is where the rest of the magic happens. And, frankly, the litany of colors, finishes, custom designs and hosel options can be overwhelming.

With that said, I went with a fancy black-and-blue theme for my Queen B16. The DASS (Double-Aged Stainless Steel) head is treated with a black ox/spot torch finish and, instead of a sight line in the cavity, we included a sight dot on the top flange. The shaft is matte black with a baby blue midsize grip.

Regarding the face design, I went with a “$” symbol on the heel and the Micro Honey Comb face milling. But my favorite design element might be the sole where we decided to reverse mill and polish a $0.05 coin with the Bettinardi “Wizard” as the centerpiece. 

And, of course, I had to include a welded split knurl hosel and dancing “BeTtInArDi” text in the cavity.

Dave:

As expected, I went all purple with my QB15. The head will receive a UV Purple PVD finish as will the shaft. The grip naturally needed to be purple perforated leather. For the design, I went with a classic Bettinardi Bee logo on a reverse hex background. The more I looked at the initial rendering, the more I thought the bee was missing something. Obviously, I needed to add sunglasses.

Outside of the bold color, the design is not all that outlandish. Still, I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Did you notice that it has a twisted plumber’s neck? One of the most amazing things that Bettinardi can do in the Customs Room is swap out the necks and still make them play like the putter you were fitted for. Mine has a plumber’s neck but Bettinardi could have taken a different fancy neck and made it play like a plumber’s.

“One of a kind” is not hyperbole when it comes to the Customs Room.

Is Bettinardi’s Studio B in Oak Brook a must-visit golf destination?

If you are a Bettinardi fan, you will have a great time visiting the new Studio B location in Oak Brook. You may lose a zero from your bank account balance but you will leave with Bettinardi gear that you can only find there. If you are buying stuff from The Hive, you may lose two zeroes from the bank account.

If you are not familiar with the Bettinardi brand, there is no better way than a visit to Studio B to find out what all the fuss is all about.

The putter fitting program is well worth the $100. If you try multiple putters over the course of a season, searching for “the one”, then a fitting will likely save you a ton of money in the long run. Get fitted, buy that putter and then spend the rest of your golf budget playing nicer courses.

If you are in the Chicago area, drop by Studio B. It’s a unique golf boutique and a top-notch putter and wedge fitting studio. Take care of your Bettinardi wants and needs in one place.

Find out more about the Bettinardi’s new Studio B location in Oak Brook, Ill., at Bettinardi.com

FAQ: Bettinardi’s Studio B in Oak Brook, IL

Where is Oak Brook, Ill.?

Oak Brook is a suburb of Chicago, about a 20-minute drive from O’Hare Airport. Fly in, drive to Studio B for a fitting and shopping and then fly home—all in one day.

How does this new location compare to the original Studio B at the Bettinardi factory?

The new studio dwarfs the original in all aspects. The facility is larger, the tech is better and the retail offerings are expanded. The Hive was a closet at the original Studio B and now it is a full room with a TV and beverages.

The original Studio B was at the Bettinardi factory in Tinley Park which is cool in terms of proximity milling machines.

Is everything expensive at Studio B?

Once you get into The Hive, the Bettinardi gear does hit that next-level pricing. However, the rest of the retail offerings are similar to what you would find in your local golf shop. Obviously, the big difference is that it is all Bettinardi gear. I bought a towel when I was there and I still felt like I was getting something special from a special place.

Truthfully, the best deal in all of Studio B is the $100 putter fitting. That’s a small price to pay to improve your putting.

Can you just show up and get fit?

Walk-in shopping is fine but if you are going to get fitted, make an appointment. It takes about an hour and there are only two fitting rooms. Book in advance so you don’t have any issues.

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