Tell me your mistakes made as a club hoe

I am looking at becoming a club hoe. I seem to enjoy golf equipment more than I enjoy the game. I'm really not looking to improve my game I just like looking at golf equipment, shoes and apparel. I look right past training aids at will I never even consider them. So can you tell me any pitfalls to avoid as I partake in my journey? Maybe any mistakes that you have made or seen others make when buying golf stuff. I know it's easy to buy stuff but I guess I'm looking for helpful hints such as should I hoard clubs I don't use anymore or sell them for a loss.

Tl:dr--help me not mess up being a club hoe

Good question. Don't buy new. Research resale values. And don't hire golf shops to do tinkering like reshafting or putting new grips on clubs you'll test and sell off. Grip prices never make their money back. The stuff I mentioned above will really mess up your bottom line.

Never, ever, ever get rid of a consistently reliable fairway wood or putter.

Good stuff guys ,thanks.

If you have some sort of retail outlet where they have a whole mass of used clubs then that might save you having to buy stuff on ebay to try out. I never located anywhere with the right stock so I bought on ebay, tried stuff out and then I sold it again if I had something better.

At some point I started learning clubmaking. I started by changing grips. Then I put a steel shafted iron over my gas cooker and pulled the shaft out and glued another on. Then I started shortening and lengthening shafts. Then I made myself a DIY shaft remover for graphite shafts. Then I got into measurement. I bought an inclinometer and a small magnetic spirit level on ebay and a digital postal scales too. So now I had pretty accurate measurements for lie and for swingweight using a swingweight calculating program off the Net. I bought a gas torch. I already had a range of tools like drill, files, angle grinder etc etc, but bought some reamers for .370 in cases where I had to fit a parallel shaft to a taper tip head. I'm now set up for all I want except for a lie adjuster - contemplating what to do about that. So apart from changing the lie I can modify what I want. No need to pay anyone to do any of this. I keep all my calculations in an Excel spreadsheet - I keep the specifications for all my clubs, length and actual lie, and the swingweight before and after dry fitting tip weights. I swingweight all my irons to around D2 and wedges around D4.

So for buying on ebay, I do the following things, and this applies mostly to irons and wedges:
1. Buy in mid winter, like January-February. And sell from April onwards. You probably make about 20% on the deals, which partly covers what you lose in shipping and fees.
2. Keep average values of all the clubs I'm targetting. I put about the last 20 sold items into my spreadsheet, calculate the average, and I don't buy for above the average. I try to buy close to the cheapest sold price.
3. I can wait months for the right item. For instance I buy a cheap 5, 6, 7 iron, find a 9 iron and maybe even wait a year for an 8 iron. This works with high price irons. Generally for well used items I buy sets. For forged irons I'm fussy about the face condition. Must be cosmetically alright - no browning, decent grooves.
4. I buy some sets of irons just for the shafts. I know what shafts I'm after and what irons they're stock shafts for. I remove the shafts and fit them to heads I want to use. I then put shafts I don't want back in the heads I don't want and sell them off. This works OK - you may lose a little but you get the shafts you want much cheaper. I sometimes buy shaft pulls if they're cheap, but it's usually better to buy sets and re-shaft. I go through a lot of ferrules, cheap grips (I buy 40 or so at a discount deal) and tip weights.
5. I always ask the seller for details of the exact shaft and flex, length and lie. The lie in particular has to be pretty close to what I play or I don't buy.
6. I take really good sharp photos of what I sell and give all the specification and details of the clubs plus what I think is good about them.
7. I list my clubs to sell on Sunday evenings.

I end up with about 8 to 10 iron sets at any one time, and about 16 wedges. I regularly take a selection of wedges to the short course to see which I play best, and use those. Some are better in the dry, some in wet conditions. I regularly take sets of irons to the range to try them out. If I don't like them after three range sessions they go on ebay. If I like them I game them. I now have several sets I can happily game, and they all have characteristics I get a kick out of - mostly really good feel. They all have the right swingweights for me and the shafts I like to play. Some are forged - currently liking Amp Forged and Bridgestone J36PC and J40DPC. Some good cast models like AP1s and S58s. These are the keepers, and I would get my money back on what I originally paid for them, so I don't mind hoarding them.

So there we are - confessions of a club ho. I'm in the UK so I don't have access to nearly the range of clubs and shafts available in the USA but I do alright.



.

Rule #1-100: don't believe anything you read on here. Everything is different for everyone.

Before one willingly refers to them self as a golf club b****, one must really reevaluate their priorities.

Nothing. It's all fun. The only thing I can safely say i regret getting rid of are my Ping i25 irons though. I'll just buy another set though!

[quote name='Mitchell' timestamp='1430371795' post='11470987']
Never, ever, ever get rid of a consistently reliable fairway wood or putter.
[/quote]

This. This is the first, second, and third rule of tinkering with your clubs. I would add drivers, irons, hybrids, and wedges, i.e. The whole bag. Once a club has worked well for you for an extended length of tume, DO NOT GET RID OF IT unless it stops working, again for an extended period of time. The search for something better is fun and even works out sometimes, but it can all go terribly wrong on the course when it seemed like a sure thing.

[quote name='Birdie Wooster' timestamp='1430403198' post='11472485']
[quote name='Mitchell' timestamp='1430371795' post='11470987']
Never, ever, ever get rid of a consistently reliable fairway wood or putter.
[/quote]

This. This is the first, second, and third rule of tinkering with your clubs. I would add drivers, irons, hybrids, and wedges, i.e. The whole bag. Once a club has worked well for you for an extended length of tume, DO NOT GET RID OF IT unless it stops working, again for an extended period of time. The search for something better is fun and even works out sometimes, but it can all go terribly wrong on the course when it seemed like a sure thing.
[/quote]

Never git rid of a driver that works. If you think that you have found something better, keep the old one - just in case!

If you have a set of irons that you hit really well, don't get rid of them until you're 100% certain you will like the clubs that you bought to replace them. I had a set of A4 forged a few years back that I really liked. I hit them well, loved the weight and everything else about them. I bought a new set of clubs, sold the A4s, and regretted it within a month. Sold them on the BST forum on this site...the person I sold them to wanted $50-100 more than I sold them to him for because of some new grips he had installed, which I was planning on removing anyway. I tried to negotiate with him, but we couldn't come to an agreement. 2 new sets of irons, a few shaft changes later, and a lot of $$$ spent, I'm very happy with what I have now. These irons aren't going anywhere until I'm 100% sold on what I'm going to replace them with.

[quote name='Mitchell' timestamp='1430371795' post='11470987']
Never, ever, ever get rid of a consistently reliable fairway wood or putter.
[/quote]

Best advice ever.

[quote name='Mitchell' timestamp='1430371795' post='11470987']
Never, ever, ever get rid of a consistently reliable fairway wood or putter.
[/quote]

Spot on.

If you're buying irons off this site and they are a DIY throw together be careful. Things like "I bought the shafts and extended them to X" and the heads separately that were initially shafted with graphite irons and I put lead powder in the shafts to get the swingweight right etc etc" are indications that you need to engage in an honest discussion with the seller prior to any purchase. 9 times out of 10, you're better off buying the parts separately and having them professionally built, or ordering direct. Most of the equipment that's stayed in my bag over the past year and a half of ho'ing has been direct order. There is some peace of mind associated with knowing that club you're using is built to the specs you've requested, and won't have any of the quirkiness involved with a home built project.

Other than that, enjoy! It's a dark and expensive journey, but there is light at the end of the tunnel after you realize that it's really not the clubs, but at that point, you'll have one h*ll of a bag put together (see signature).

Buying high and selling low :/

[quote name='sjt4718' timestamp='1430369591' post='11470865']
[b]I am looking at becoming a club hoe[/b]. I seem to enjoy golf equipment more than I enjoy the game. I'm really not looking to improve my game I just like looking at golf equipment, shoes and apparel. I look right past training aids at will I never even consider them. So can you tell me any pitfalls to avoid as I partake in my journey? Maybe any mistakes that you have made or seen others make when buying golf stuff. I know it's easy to buy stuff but I guess I'm looking for helpful hints such as should I hoard clubs I don't use anymore or sell them for a loss.
Tl:dr--help me not mess up being a club hoe
[/quote]

Before you take the plunge, please seriously consider the long-term ramifications.

Tennis, or maybe even bicycle riding, would be less expensive.

[quote name='pmcuk' timestamp='1430379989' post='11471175']
At some point I started learning clubmaking. I started by changing grips. Then I put a steel shafted iron over my gas cooker and pulled the shaft out and glued another on. Then I started shortening and lengthening shafts. Then I made myself a DIY shaft remover for graphite shafts. Then I got into measurement. I bought an inclinometer and a small magnetic spirit level on ebay and a digital postal scales too. So now I had pretty accurate measurements for lie and for swingweight using a swingweight calculating program off the Net. I bought a gas torch. I already had a range of tools like drill, files, angle grinder etc etc, but bought some reamers for .370 in cases where I had to fit a parallel shaft to a taper tip head. I'm now set up for all I want except for a lie adjuster - contemplating what to do about that. So apart from changing the lie I can modify what I want. No need to pay anyone to do any of this. I keep all my calculations in an Excel spreadsheet - I keep the specifications for all my clubs, length and actual lie, and the swingweight before and after dry fitting tip weights. I swingweight all my irons to around D2 and wedges around D4.
[/quote]

I love this advice. I'm a club ho also, but I get way more pleasure out of "project" clubs. When the kids go to bed, I go to the garage and start tinkering with clubs. I love scanning the "head-only", "senior's", and "ladies" flex club listings for dirt cheap projects. I've also rescued good clubs out of garbage cans at the range/course, bargain barrels at pawn shops, thrift stores, yard sales, etc. You can get set up to do a lot of basic club work for less than $100 (the cost of one club ) and you break even if you regrip/reshaft one set of clubs. I do a lot of work for my golf buddies also. I can't count how many free lunches, free rounds, free beers, and $10 handshakes I've gotten for keeping my playing buddies from having to go to Golfsmith to get work done.

Ho'ing is fun, but it gets stale after a while unless you have some goal or side interest. Clubmaking gives me something to do during the my free time when I can't go play.

Never put in a new set of irons into play for a tournament/competition, unless you've had adequate practice and at least 5-10 rounds. Confidence is key and new clubs in a high tense environment do not go together.

This goes against the very nature of being a club ho but thinking that there is always something better.

There are three basic principles to ho'ing. Once you've committed to these principles, you'll be ready to blow more money than Bilzerian

#1 - Always overestimate your ability
#2 - No stock shaft is suitable
#3 - Must be willing to sell your "dream setup" before you've even had a chance to put it in play

If you've played Miura for 10 years, don't go out and buy a new set of Mizunos...you'll just end up getting a new set of Miuras a month later...

Buy a good shaft puller and learn how to use it.

Don't buy components unless you want to have them forever or lose your shirt trying to sell them.

Reading the new equipment threads here on the WRX.

Selling the first real bag I put together.....I miss you

[quote name='sjt4718' timestamp='1430369591' post='11470865']
I am looking at becoming a club hoe. I seem to enjoy golf equipment more than I enjoy the game. I'm really not looking to improve my game I just like looking at golf equipment, shoes and apparel. I look right past training aids at will I never even consider them. So can you tell me any pitfalls to avoid as I partake in my journey? Maybe any mistakes that you have made or seen others make when buying golf stuff. I know it's easy to buy stuff but I guess I'm looking for helpful hints such as should I hoard clubs I don't use anymore or sell them for a loss.
Tl:dr--help me not mess up being a club hoe
[/quote]

Players clubs don't make a player. Don't think along the lines of "outgrowing" a set of irons or a driver. That's a bad slope to go down on.

Couple things I've figured out based on my own expenses and others on this site....

1. Buying is so much easier than selling
2. Never Paypal Gift
3. Always insure your shipments...and insist on it if you are the buyer
4. Request tracking info when buying items
4. You rarely sell used items for a profit
5. Be sure you have the money to afford this expensive habit. DO NOT BUY ON CREDIT...it will catch up with you
6. Low spin, low launch is a terrible experience for 95% of golfers out there...do not fall into that trap
7. Your tastes will eventually get more and more expensive...you'll eventually gravitate toward "tour" and "exotic" putters/clubs/shafts.

Don't ever sell a Scotty Cameron putter. Keep it for 10 years then you can double your money on ebay.

[quote name='jb_white27' timestamp='1430419840' post='11474775']
Don't ever sell a Scotty Cameron putter. Keep it for 10 years then you can double your money on ebay.
[/quote]

Only if it's one that people want. You could hold onto a stash of Cameron Caliente's or Futura's for decades and you still wouldn't find anyone to buy them for what you paid, much less double.

Best advice I have is to spend a few hundred bucks on a nice workbench, vise, quality shaft extractor (used on ebay), and swingweight scale. Then you just need tape, epoxy, a couple tools like the golfworks grip removal thing, and you can do 90% of the club work you might need. This will pay itself off very quickly if you are buying and selling lots of stuff, not to mention save you a ton of time when you don't have to drive to a golf store to have something regripped or reshafted.

No better way to improve putting than to buy a really expensive putter. Fact.

DO NOT BUY A CAMERON DETOUR! Unless you need a new fire place poker/ potato masher/ back-scratcher.