New Clubs arrived - meh...

Hi All,

So my new game improvement clubs arrived last night, and my initial reaction, after spending quality time over the weekend with my new vintage set was ---meh.

I found myself thinking about the Hogan driver I left at the thrift store, and the Walter Hagen Matrix driver and three wood while I was unwrapping my new Adams a12 os irons and Adams Blue 12 degree driver. I have the three wood, and like it a lot.

These are supposed to be my retirement set. Now I have one bag with senior shafts in all but the wedges for my slow swing speed. Makes the bag easier to carry too. But....

Now I am wondering why I bothered. I didn't pay a lot, but those forged irons and those wood shots from the weekend were so satisfying that I can't wait to play them again. I may have some kind of disease now.

I'm sure that a lot of you, from what I have read, have had similar experiences. My wife will never understand why I keep dragging home clubs from the thrift store....

Not the world's biggest dilemma.

I don't think any of our wives understand! ;)

Hi All,

 

So my new game improvement clubs arrived last night, and my initial reaction, after spending quality time over the weekend with my new vintage set was ---meh.

 

I found myself thinking about the Hogan driver I left at the thrift store, and the Walter Hagen Matrix driver and three wood while I was unwrapping my new Adams a12 os irons and Adams Blue 12 degree driver. I have the three wood, and like it a lot.

 

These are supposed to be my retirement set. Now I have one bag with senior shafts in all but the wedges for my slow swing speed. Makes the bag easier to carry too. But....

 

Now I am wondering why I bothered. I didn't pay a lot, but those forged irons and those wood shots from the weekend were so satisfying that I can't wait to play them again. I may have some kind of disease now.

 

I'm sure that a lot of you, from what I have read, have had similar experiences. My wife will never understand why I keep dragging home clubs from the thrift store....

 

Not the world's biggest dilemma.

Lotsa guys play both modern and vintage on this forum- play what moves you on a given day, no problemo!

The Hogan driver is now mine, along with the Hagen driver, 3, & 4wood, the 2 iron from the k-28 set, and a brass northwestern semi blade putter. :-) All for $18

Was playing my Mizuno Blades with my Ping G10 Driver & 4 wood today. My playing partner (Buddy) was harping on me the first several holes about why I didn't just play all the g10's and leave the blades alone. 'you hit the G10's so well... blah, blah, blah." curving fairway left side, 5 iron draw around the trees onto the green. Me: I can't do that with the G10's. Buddy: Ya.

LOL

And those new clubs just do not feel the same. Do not, Can Not, give you the same feedback!

Yes, I share your affliction.

You have found your family now.

@TimV: Yes. Not the same feed back. Case in point - I found the 2 iron to my Wilson k-28 Set yesterday. Took it out last night after a little pasture mowing. Off a tee, I hit it pretty well. When I didn't I knew it instantly. Tonight I am playing with the new Adams set, just to see how they are. I'll guess that there will be virtually no feedback, other than the ball flight, on how well the shot was struck.

It occurred to me in thinking about it, that the so-called "game improvement" clubs are actually masking swing flaws, and my experience has been that my game hasn't really improved all that much. I can hit them farther, but my scores have not come down, or do not recede steadily, gradually.

So why is that? I suspect that the new and improved technology simply lets me hit the ball farther with a bad swing. But there is very little feed back when I don't hit it well. The ball still goes, but now is in the rough. Break out the rescue club, and now the ball is in the sand. Break out the rescue wedge, and then three putt. It's a vicious cycle.

I have not noticed that much improvement in my friends who only play the latest and greatest stuff. My golfing partner hits his Nike driver only about 3 yards farther than I hit my Wilson laminated driver, and most of the time he is in trouble off of the tee. I have found that the "old school" clubs help me to hit the fairway more often, and when you hit the irons right, well, you know the feeling.

In my experience, all clubs (ancient and modern) benefit from being hit somewhat in the middle of the face, hitting the ball and then the ground, and with both the face pointing and the clubhead travelling towards the target. To the extent that I can do all 3, I'll have a great time but I've yet to find the club (ancient or modern) that makes any of these requirements redundant.

If you enjoy the feedback of a forged blade, or just the sleek looks, then that's reason enough to play them.

It occurred to me in thinking about it, that the so-called "game improvement" clubs are actually masking swing flaws,...

I suspect that the new and improved technology simply lets me hit the ball farther with a bad swing...

BINGO!

The vintage stuff is so cheap. Just buy it and play it when it feels right. Even if you only use them a handful of times, they still pay for themselves.

@baloo: Yeah, the only thing I have been doing is cleaning them, regrip, and taking them out. Too dangerous with slick grips, imo. Where abouts are you in Wisconsin? I am about 30 minutes north of West Bend.

@baloo: Yeah, the only thing I have been doing is cleaning them, regrip, and taking them out. Too dangerous with slick grips, imo. Where abouts are you in Wisconsin? I am about 30 minutes north of West Bend.

Madison. What is that, 2 hours out? We'll have to play a vintage round one day if you're in the area. I've yet to meet another vintage junkie in Madison.

The Hogan driver is now mine, along with the Hagen driver, 3, & 4wood, the 2 iron from the k-28 set, and a brass northwestern semi blade putter. :-) All for $18

You're fortunate they were still there. Every time I've left something it was gone when I went back for it.

Now I just go ahead and buy it. I can always donate it back if it turns out I didn't like it after all.

@baloo: Yeah, the only thing I have been doing is cleaning them, regrip, and taking them out. Too dangerous with slick grips, imo. Where abouts are you in Wisconsin? I am about 30 minutes north of West Bend.

 

Madison. What is that, 2 hours out? We'll have to play a vintage round one day if you're in the area. I've yet to meet another vintage junkie in Madison.

Where the $^#*! where you guys when I lived in Mineral Point! Oh well, come visit me this winter. :wave:

@baloo: Yeah, the only thing I have been doing is cleaning them, regrip, and taking them out. Too dangerous with slick grips, imo. Where abouts are you in Wisconsin? I am about 30 minutes north of West Bend.

 

Madison. What is that, 2 hours out? We'll have to play a vintage round one day if you're in the area. I've yet to meet another vintage junkie in Madison.

 

Where the $^#*! where you guys when I lived in Mineral Point! Oh well, come visit me this winter. :wave:

Gotta son in St. Pete. Hope to get down there soon to play the Florida Golf Trail. :-)

So the new Adams a12 os irons (hybrid / iron combo), Blue 12* driver and 3 wood got their first nine in last night. Liked the irons, pretty much slice the $% out of the driver. As predicted, no feedback from the clubs other than ball flight. A well struck iron felt good, relatively speaking, but not the same feeling as a well struck blade or wood. Not bad, but still meh.

Got invited to join the Thursday evening men's league, so I will probably carry 7 clubs. Thinking about using the 3W, 4W, 7i, 9I, PW, SW, P, all old school.

Just started a return process for the Adams Blue 12* driver, Senior Flex, with the absolute ugliest head cover I have ever seen. Toaster on a stick is going back or will be sold on ebay myself if I have to.

Just retrieved from the thrift store at lunch: A King Cobra 10.5* (graphite, stiff shaft) driver that I had donated previously to them. $7. At least I hit that thing straight...

Am I the only one who has ever done that?

Just started a return process for the Adams Blue 12* driver, Senior Flex, with the absolute ugliest head cover I have ever seen. Toaster on a stick is going back or will be sold on ebay myself if I have to.

 

Just retrieved from the thrift store at lunch: A King Cobra 10.5* (graphite, stiff shaft) driver that I had donated previously to them. $7. At least I hit that thing straight...

 

Am I the only one who has ever done that?

<rant>

No. I'm using a 12 year old driver with my everyday set. I bought it new. I have since tried several other drivers over the years only to either sell them or give them away.

It took me a very long time to figure out that if I had a club that worked for me most of the time to stick with it. You will have bad days with all clubs from time-to-time. The grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence no matter what the marketing material says! I consider launch monitors and the like to be marketing materials in many instances.

I've seen far too many fellows buy new clubs based on promise and the suggestion that because they're over 65 they should be swinging light weight, flexible graphite shafts only to go back to their previous clubs because they had some chance of controlling them and giving up on the extra 25 yards that the machine said they were getting with the new club!

</rant>

+1

Last night I played 9 holes in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Nice pace, never rushed. A guy caught up to me and was just bombing it with his new titelist whatever driver. On the last hole, we teed off together.

His goes about 250, middle of the fairway.

Mine goes about 150, right, along the tree line.

My next shot was a 5HY, low stinger, that rolled to within 3 feet of the green. His was a wedge that landed 6 feet from the green. He picked his ball up and left, while I chipped and putted out.

Moral (for me): Distance aint all it's cracked up to be. It's the approach and the short game that matters most.

So if that's true, I'll go for accuracy, regardless of the distance.

Folks here (on this thread and others) speak of "feel" with classic forged blades. OK. I play relatively newish forged cavity backs, and I, too, can feel whether I've hit a stroke off the toe or whether I've hit the sweet spot. OK. But my problem is this: the toe is about 1 1/2 inches off the sweet spot. How do I get a full swing to repeatedly get 1 1/2 inches better? As in "So I can feel it. So what can I do about it?"

Folks here (on this thread and others) speak of "feel" with classic forged blades. OK. I play relatively newish forged cavity backs, and I, too, can feel whether I've hit a stroke off the toe or whether I've hit the sweet spot. OK. But my problem is this: the toe is about 1 1/2 inches off the sweet spot. How do I get a full swing to repeatedly get 1 1/2 inches better? As in "So I can feel it. So what can I do about it?"

Even after playing for 45 years or so, my ball position can get out of whack. My miss is toe side as well. What I've found helpful is setting my iron behind the ball in the proper soled position and then gripping it and taking my stance. It often feels like I'm really crowding the ball, but it promotes swinging from the inside and helps eliminate the over the top move and the resultant toe hits I get from standing too far away from the ball. YMMV of course. Hope this helps!

Folks here (on this thread and others) speak of "feel" with classic forged blades. OK. I play relatively newish forged cavity backs, and I, too, can feel whether I've hit a stroke off the toe or whether I've hit the sweet spot. OK. But my problem is this: the toe is about 1 1/2 inches off the sweet spot. How do I get a full swing to repeatedly get 1 1/2 inches better? As in "So I can feel it. So what can I do about it?"

The low hanging fruit would be to just tell you to make a better swing...

but I won't do that, ;)

Seriously, the first thing I would question is what is your idea of "a full swing?" If it's not controllable and repeatable I would challenge you that perhaps it's not a good swing. For most of us "less is more." In other words less backswing equals more control equals more distance on more hits when compared to more backswing equals less control but more distance but on fewer hits. What are your priorities? I look at it this way, if I'm making a more consistent and better swing I will get more distance more often. I can always use more club. if that doesn't work I can always move up a tee box. When I get to the point where I have to wear a skirt for that to work I may have to consider giving it up. Na, I'll probably just move up and just give up when I run out of tee boxes.

Folks here (on this thread and others) speak of "feel" with classic forged blades. OK. I play relatively newish forged cavity backs, and I, too, can feel whether I've hit a stroke off the toe or whether I've hit the sweet spot. OK. But my problem is this: the toe is about 1 1/2 inches off the sweet spot. How do I get a full swing to repeatedly get 1 1/2 inches better? As in "So I can feel it. So what can I do about it?"

Regardless of the clubs you're playing, you can do this. Pick a way to "record" where on the face you strike the ball. You can buy impact tape, or use foot spray, or a felt tip pen to put a mark on the ball that will then transfer to the face of your club at impact. And then practice. If your miss is off the toe, try and find the heel side of the face. When you can hit consistently out of the heel, try and vary your strike - alternating heel and toe side. When you're successful at doing that more often than not, divide your club face into 3 sections, heel, middle and toe - and alternate between them.

I think you can practice like that with a modern shovel or a 40 year old blade. The blade will probably give you more vivid feedback on impact, but the cavity back might make you concentrate harder if you want to distinguish by feel where you made contact. I can see the advantages of both. Great drill, so long as you have the constitution to stand on the range hitting shanks and clanky toe shots and not feel embarrassed.

Folks here (on this thread and others) speak of "feel" with classic forged blades. OK. I play relatively newish forged cavity backs, and I, too, can feel whether I've hit a stroke off the toe or whether I've hit the sweet spot. OK. But my problem is this: the toe is about 1 1/2 inches off the sweet spot. How do I get a full swing to repeatedly get 1 1/2 inches better? As in "So I can feel it. So what can I do about it?"

 

Regardless of the clubs you're playing, you can do this. Pick a way to "record" where on the face you strike the ball. You can buy impact tape, or use foot spray, or a felt tip pen to put a mark on the ball that will then transfer to the face of your club at impact. And then practice. If your miss is off the toe, try and find the heel side of the face. When you can hit consistently out of the heel, try and vary your strike - alternating heel and toe side. When you're successful at doing that more often than not, divide your club face into 3 sections, heel, middle and toe - and alternate between them.

 

I think you can practice like that with a modern shovel or a 40 year old blade. The blade will probably give you more vivid feedback on impact, but the cavity back might make you concentrate harder if you want to distinguish by feel where you made contact. I can see the advantages of both. Great drill, so long as you have the constitution to stand on the range hitting shanks and clanky toe shots and not feel embarrassed.

Oh my...

If I go to the range with the sole purpose of attempting to impress those in the adjoining stalls then I am truly screwed!

The very nature of practice is to suggest working on something which means that mishits will be the order of the day. That said, I like your plan as to how to go about it.

Today was not the best day of ball striking with my irons. I wasn't doing an adequate job of "covering" my irons -- a little too quick with my hips and my resultant chicken wing lead to BIG STU's smoother hook... :no2: It's funny how a good day with the flat stick can hide those sorts of sins.

Observations after this weekend:

1. With the New clubs it's harder to feel the club head. Especially on the PW.

2. Distances are an adventure. Either blasting it way over or way short. Ugh.

3. Driver proved to be unhittable. "Tink" sound is very annoying.

4. 3Wood is very nice. Best I have ever hit any club off of the tee.

5. The hybrids are nice. Very good quality and play really well. Point and shoot.

6. The clubs are very light. seems like one third the weight of my Wilson irons

In general, I will save this set for my mid 60's and 70's, just bringing it out occasionally. I can see working the hybrids into my bag, and using the 3Wood. When I take my push cart or ride on longer courses, I can see playing:

• Adams 3Wood as my primary driver,
  
• Wilson 3wood
  
• Wilson 4 wood
  
• Adams 4, 5, 6 hybrid
  
• Wilson 5 - 9 irons
  
• Ram PW
  
• Unknown Sand Wedge
  
• Northwestern putter
  

Maybe swapping the Wilson 2-4 Iron with the hybrids from time to time, and experimenting with the wedges.

There may be some time when I experiment with a persimmon driver when I have some time and $$. Any recommendations or comments on the proposed bag would be welcomed.

There's nothing wrong with mixing and matching. Scooter McTavish coined the phrase of a Set for All Seasons and there's a thread by that name. I play in a senior men's league and there's a lot of mixing and matching that goes on there too. There are a lot of older irons, wedges and putters in play mixed in with more modern woods, titanium drivers and hybrids. Most of my guys aren't worried about leaving a few yards on the table with equipment choice. They are far more concerned with the yards they've left behind due to the inevitable process of aging. No magic club can cure that!

The only comment I'll make on your proposed set-up is to perhaps think about taking even a few less clubs. The most I carry now is 10. The rest really are redundant. As you play you'll find out what you really need, what you can count on and what you can't. Your scores will actually benefit playing fewer clubs. It's one of the advantages of being a shorter hitter as you get older.

You're right. Less is more. Maybe 3, 5, 7, & 9 one week, then 2, 4, 6, 8 the next. That would make things interesting. Add D, 4W, PW, +P and that would be 8. Would make walking easier...

Davewn, TimV, and birly-shsirly, thanks. Your suggestions are well-taken. I had no idea there really was a way to improve my swing. I'll try yours!

Northwestern putter

Hello fellow Northwestern putter user

Northwestern putter

Hello fellow Northwestern putter user

Hi!

Update: Walked 18 at sunrise on Sunday, before the heat kicked in. I was alone on the course until the mowers showed up. Played the New Adams clubs exclusively, and shot an 84, my best score ever at that course. 45 on the front and 39 on the back. Figured some things out about the driver, but also about managing my way around there. So I am not sure if I were to play it again with my vintage set that the score would be higher necessarily.

It could have been that I finally (?) figured out that hitting a driver on EVERY hole is not necessary. So the next time I walk 18 I will take the vintage set and see how I do using the same strategery.

However, I did hit the driver a lot farther than I have hit any driver before. My normal is 175 - 200. Sunday I had a few that went 260, so.... Drove a couple of greens I have never reached before too... And the wedges were dialed in on the back nine.

My Saturday morning (walking 27) was 45,45,45 with the vintage only, 3 &4W, 3, 5, 7, 9, PW, P. Lite bag. Very fun.

So my attitude toward the new clubs has changed slightly. We'll see if I can maintain a positive vibe with them next time they get played.