Do’s and Don’ts of picking clubs.

[Golfingsince2000]

Driver Ping G10 10.5* 45” reg flex

3 Wood Ping G10 14* 43” stiff flex

7 wood Callaway Big Bertha Warbird 20* 40” uniflex steel

4 hybrid Ping G10 24* reg flex

Ping i5 4 iron thru PW CS-lite reg flex

Titleist Vokey 52* and 58*

Putter Odyssey Tour White Hot

 

anyone else still using 10 year old clubs? Or older than 10?

I like my set and it will do what I need it to do. I’ve tried larger Game Improvement irons and they are huge and I haven’t found a better set yet more suited for forgiveness and accuracy than the Ping i5.

I feel like I’ve gapped my woods and wedges well enough to get the 14 clubs

what are your thoughts and what do you play?

[Chuck905]

Sounds like you have it figured it out.

My issues are with modern stronger lofts and technology that make it difficult to blend in the long game and lofted wedges.

My previous set was 2-PW (18*-49*). My current set are i210 3-PW (19*-45*).

Funny enough, the PW gets up very high and spin rate is plenty to hold. So it looks alarming that I go PW@45* and then straight into a SW@54*, 9* of separation sounds far apart but I hit full and 3/4 PW shots to the correct distances. I don’t need a GW? Which is a whole other issue. Do I go i210 or aftermarket with a certain grind and bounce....

A 19* 3 iron to me is a two iron. Hit that fine but it’s tightening up to the 17* UDI.

You pretty much have to forget about lofts and demo for carry, trajectory, decent angle, spin and total distances when you are shopping nowadays.

Oh ya, CV19 made things uniquely difficult for demo and also long lead times!

[LUXOR54]

I have a handful of 10+ year old clubs in my bag. r7 TP 3 wood, 909h 21 degree hybrid, 5-pw mp-29's, and a mp-t gap wedge. If it works, it works. only reason to get new clubs is if they offer you a noticeable improvement in a category that you're looking for. It's good that you have your gapping down, so many people run out to get new clubs because compared to their old set, they can hit this new 5 degree stronger 7 iron further! yet fail to realize they're closing the gap at the top of the bag, and widening it at the bottom. nothing wrong with tinkering though, i have about 2.5 bags worth of clubs and am tossing them in and out of the bag almost weekly.

[Floris]

I'm gaming 26º-48º in my irons. Ordered the irons in 'traditional loft' and had Mizuno make those another 2º weak, it is possible! The golf companies have to do something to give you more distance, mostly it is changing loft. My 9i has 44º loft, close to what modern Pitching Wedges are at. My 7i is 36º while say the TaylorMade 7i has 30.5º. So yeah: fit for spin, carry, trajectory (height) including descent-angle.

Now I do understand people would like to hit the ball further, but I don't care about that at all :P

Also: I have an old ISI 1-iron that's 18º :P

[Barnacle]

All my clubs are 1° strong from standard which is 1° weak from stock, but 3/4" longer than stock so it about evens out as far as intended distance goes. My problem now is I had everything dialed at sea level when I lived in California. Now I'm at 4400 feet and my 7 iron goes about 10 yards further. The large gap between my PW and GW has required some tweaking but I'm finally getting the hang of it.

[me05501]

Regarding lofts versus gaps, check out the post on the home page about the "difference between blades and cavity backs" and watch the video with the fitter from Titleist.

He explains that the low CG of game improvement clubs will often counteract the stronger lofts. The clubs naturally want to launch higher, and the ball comes down at a steeper angle as well. He is trying to make the point that the steep descent provided by GI irons can help you be more accurate because the ball is more likely to stop close to where it lands vs. rolling out. So a 45 cavity back and a 48 degree muscleback may well provide similar distances but very different trajectories.

I play with guys who use super game-improvement irons and it does seem like the stronger lofts make more difference in the mid irons than the short ones. Lots of 200-yard 5 irons but not so many 150 yard PW's (at least among mortals).

[Golfingsince2000]

The info on lofts on newer sets is great to know. I first discovered on my own when Taylor made made a set of Burner irons and they advertised them as the longer at irons and all that other marketing hype. But then I saw each club was basically a club longer so to me it never made a difference I’m not gonna be hitting it working 10 feet of the pin from over 200 yards with an iron. Like I said before I love the accuracy of the i5 set I play before that was a Adams golf Oversized set and they always seemed a bit chunky and would fly long but just not exactly where I wanted them to go.

I’m trying to keep hold for me basic and fun either the ability to go into and get pars.

my original idea of this thread is more What suits your game well and then what do you still use in the bag that’s older and what new equipment is fresh in the bag that you are blown away by?

 

 

[Floris]

About that original idea: I'm blown away by how relatively easy it seems to be to hit the JPX919 tour, them being sort of a muscleback iron. While the JPX 919 forged is extremely easy to hit. The length of the fairway woods I have is INSANE, much much more than anticipated.

In my previous set I had to go to 49º Gap wedge and 53º sandwedge for gapping reasons. The new wedges go just as far as those, but I have more versatility around the greens. 56º loft instead of 53º gives just a bit more spin when chipping, a little higher flight too.