Blade users thread (NO DEBATING CLUBHEADS! NO Buy Sell Trade!)

[Kingcat990]

I'm actually kicking the tires throwing in a sub 80-90g graphite shaft in a set of blades. Everything I have is 120+ grams, and since my shoulder surgery last July, I really don't feel like I'm throwing power through the ball. I've been a club short, but I gained some consistency and accuracy post surgery. So thanks lefthack, may pull the trigger for a bundle of graphites.

[Christen_The_Sloop]

5 hours ago, Kingcat990 said:

I'm actually kicking the tires throwing in a sub 80-90g graphite shaft in a set of blades. Everything I have is 120+ grams, and since my shoulder surgery last July, I really don't feel like I'm throwing power through the ball. I've been a club short, but I gained some consistency and accuracy post surgery. So thanks lefthack, may pull the trigger for a bundle of graphites.

 

Which shoulder? 

 

When I broke my right arm last year, I was worried I wouldn't get it all back, but working with just my left arm, I was forced to hit the ball in the center, so it kind of evened out...

[craz-e]

The Haywood 100 series blades look rather tasty!

not my photos, just copy and pasted from the interweb 

 

[lefthack]

3 hours ago, craz-e said:

The Haywood 100 series blades look rather tasty!

not my photos, just copy and pasted from the interweb 

 

 

I really wanted those, but I can't justify the price (yet). The MB's are basically perfect, so those would be trophy sticks.

[Bigmean]

15 hours ago, Kingcat990 said:

I'm actually kicking the tires throwing in a sub 80-90g graphite shaft in a set of blades. Everything I have is 120+ grams, and since my shoulder surgery last July, I really don't feel like I'm throwing power through the ball. I've been a club short, but I gained some consistency and accuracy post surgery. So thanks lefthack, may pull the trigger for a bundle of graphites.

Be very careful.  If you guys remember I went carbon shafts in all my sets but the small blades.  The weight and action is hard.  The recoils and i10s feel like normal shafts just smoother.  I’m sure they are both  110-115 or so.  
 

My onoff blades, as part of just a killer deal on a novelty set and experiment I wanted to try, I have 100g Attas in 6-pw and 80 in 3-5.  To me this seemed progressive in a way, but it was my first taste of 80g graphite in a blade and you would think it would be much less drastic than it is.  Sub 80 may be really drastic.  

 

There is a night and day diff in good graphite and not good as I am sure you know.  i would get a deal on a single iron shaft in the weight you want to try and give it a week or 2 of practice.  
 

 

[Bigmean]

I should have known this wasn’t going to be like find some YouTube vids and boom high 70s no problem. Silly rabbit trix are for kids….

 

I just hit like 200 balls with drills not clicking and dropped a 92 on my sim after (which considering house rules of  2 putt and all putts inside 10ft are 1 putt to make more like a video game is like shooting 100).
 

Standing over the ball not knowing where it is going after years of seeing a shot then stepping up and hitting it more often than not is beyond frustrating for irons and hooks and blocks are so big with driver 60% of time I’m 30 yards off line and I can’t favor a 🤬side to cushion against a penalty.  So plan on 3-4 penalties in a round… It is completely unscorable.  More frustrating that good shots are in the bag and it feels so close and so far at same time.

 

I need to see someone, that’s all there is to it.  

Edited January 23, 2022 by Bigmean

[Kingcat990]

16 hours ago, Christen_The_Sloop said:

 

Which shoulder? 

 

When I broke my right arm last year, I was worried I wouldn't get it all back, but working with just my left arm, I was forced to hit the ball in the center, so it kind of evened out...

 

Left shoulder. I had a pretty stout SS prior to the surgery, but I would get loose with left hand numbing periodically through the round. I would lose track of my grip, and club face as I get a little "active" on my follow through. Now that's fixed, but I lost some speed. I'm okay with this trade off. My irons are predictable, my misses now are simply stemmed from my hips stalling. As Chubbs Peterson said; its all in the hips. 

 

So my results are similar to yours. Found a little silver lining. 

[Kingcat990]

6 hours ago, Bigmean said:

Be very careful.  If you guys remember I went carbon shafts in all my sets but the small blades.  The weight and action is hard.  The recoils and i10s feel like normal shafts just smoother.  I’m sure they are both  110-115 or so.  
 

My onoff blades, as part of just a killer deal on a novelty set and experiment I wanted to try, I have 100g Attas in 6-pw and 80 in 3-5.  To me this seemed progressive in a way, but it was my first taste of 80g graphite in a blade and you would think it would be much less drastic than it is.  Sub 80 may be really drastic.  

 

There is a night and day diff in good graphite and not good as I am sure you know.  i would get a deal on a single iron shaft in the weight you want to try and give it a week or 2 of practice.  
 

 

I remember. I also had recoils about 7-8 years ago. They were pretty good. I saw no significant gains though. I'll poke through the selections. I'll stay away from the MMT's. I really don't see myself spending $80/shaft to experiment with. The alternative is trying Zelos 8 and hard stepping them a few times, which I have been considering for a month or so. 

[lefthack]

14 minutes ago, Kingcat990 said:

I remember. I also had recoils about 7-8 years ago. They were pretty good. I saw no significant gains though. I'll poke through the selections. I'll stay away from the MMT's. I really don't see myself spending $80/shaft to experiment with. The alternative is trying Zelos 8 and hard stepping them a few times, which I have been considering for a month or so. 

 

When I started having shoulder issues last year I switched to the 80g Kuro Kage from DG S300's. The graphite has been great, so I found a guy on eBay and got 3 sets worth at $110 a set. 

 

I wanted to try the MMT's in the 0211 ST's, but no dice.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

10 hours ago, Bigmean said:

Be very careful.  If you guys remember I went carbon shafts in all my sets but the small blades.  The weight and action is hard.  The recoils and i10s feel like normal shafts just smoother.  I’m sure they are both  110-115 or so.  
 

My onoff blades, as part of just a killer deal on a novelty set and experiment I wanted to try, I have 100g Attas in 6-pw and 80 in 3-5.  To me this seemed progressive in a way, but it was my first taste of 80g graphite in a blade and you would think it would be much less drastic than it is.  Sub 80 may be really drastic.  

 

Yeah, a going from any 115g+ shaft to sub 80g shaft is going to be drastic. I've read that if you switch to carbon, look for shafts that around around 20g lighter than your steel shafts.

 

I picked up some secondhand MP4s with ATTAS 115X carbon shafts a couple of years ago. That's a drop of about 15g from what I was using. The drop in weight has not been overly drastic, and if anything, I could have gone a little lighter. 

I wasn't fitted for them, just picked them up on a whim, cos a 'ho's gotta 'ho.

[Bigmean]

Recoils are up there with easiest to switch to I think.  And definitely by no means am I saying you won’t be happy, I am super happy, hell I have roddios in my wedges and they are phenomenal.  Distance control spin feel, I mean I would have never guessed graphite in wedges could be so good.  Just the usual graphite is both a costly Experiment and  not one size fits all in weights and brands.

 

I know this is very bigmean of me to say, but you should really consider finding them on yahoo auction Japan and paying a proxy.  The Yen is weak now against USD, and you can get (or could when I did it) really top end graphite pulls for $300- 450 for a set.  I don’t think any of my shafts were new, and having flipped enough sets I had an idea of what I wanted.  I got the ADDI for mp14s for like $150.  Those actually I think are 80?  They swing lighter.  Anyway, it really isn’t a pain and this is one of those things that would be worth it.  Huge drawback is once you see how easy it is your PayPal will be screwed as yahoo auction Japan is gods gift to used golf clubs….

[Bigmean]

5 minutes ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

 

, cos a 'ho's gotta 'ho.

On that note, since I got back into golf again, I sorta got a new putter, cause you know the collection has been stagnant for a while.  A mannkrafted came up that caught my eye and a lowish offer was accepted and you know, “a ho’s gotta ho”hahaha..

 

I want to make a nice wall display for my putters, like a real art kinda thing.  My wife is currently very strongly against allowing this to be on a wall she sees which is limiting the potential spots in the house 😂.

 

Was at local green a couple hours ago.  rolled it well, putted lights out with my epon zen.  I may seriously game that after today. I mean I love 8802 putters, but always felt like inside 10ft they were risky, I was making from everywhere with it.  At this rate I’m going to be a 3 cap from inside 80

but just take 3 shots plus a penalty stroke to get to my scoring zone 😂 

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

@Bigmean, it's good to see the putter 'hoing is still strong.

During your break from golf, did you sell off any of your collection?

[Bigmean]

Nah.  I sold and reshuffled before though.  I think I only have like 24 or so now but 80% are solid.  I wish I kept a few especially for what I sold them for(Newport tei, Coronado mid slant, Miura Giken answer style long neck etc.). But I really want to have things that are uncommon and nice not just nice.  Mannkrafted has been on my hit list for a while.

 

i think it is a good time to add a few with the dollar being so strong to the yen.  I’m sweating this jean baptiste for sale (jb701) but I don’t know if they are like a status thing with no substance or a solid club.  If I wasn’t married I would have an irresponsibly obscene collection, like an expensive drug habit 😆.  

 

I still went and rolled balls regularly the last couple of years, it is meditation for me, so the “hard” part of this game at least I have in good form.  I could honestly never play a round again and putt for 2 hours once a week or more.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

12 minutes ago, Bigmean said:

Nah.  I sold and reshuffled before though.  I think I only have like 24 or so now but 80% are solid.  I wish I kept a few especially for what I sold them for(Newport tei, Coronado mid slant, Miura Giken answer style long neck etc.). But I really want to have things that are uncommon and nice not just nice.  Mannkrafted has been on my hit list for a while.

 

i think it is a good time to add a few with the dollar being so strong to the yen.  I’m sweating this jean baptiste for sale (jb701) but I don’t know if they are like a status thing with no substance or a solid club.  If I wasn’t married I would have an irresponsibly obscene collection, like an expensive drug habit 😆.  

 

I still went and rolled balls regularly the last couple of years, it is meditation for me, so the “hard” part of this game at least I have in good form.  I could honestly never play a round again and putt for 2 hours once a week or more.

 

Really can't say much about Jean Baptiste clubs as on the rare occasions I see them in the local second hand golf shop, there's usually a "NO TESTING THIS CLUB IN THE NET" sort of sticker slapped on it.

They certainly *look* amazing, though.

[Christen_The_Sloop]

1 hour ago, Bigmean said:

Nah.  I sold and reshuffled before though.  I think I only have like 24 or so now but 80% are solid.  I wish I kept a few especially for what I sold them for(Newport tei, Coronado mid slant, Miura Giken answer style long neck etc.). But I really want to have things that are uncommon and nice not just nice.  Mannkrafted has been on my hit list for a while.

 

i think it is a good time to add a few with the dollar being so strong to the yen.  I’m sweating this jean baptiste for sale (jb701) but I don’t know if they are like a status thing with no substance or a solid club.  If I wasn’t married I would have an irresponsibly obscene collection, like an expensive drug habit 😆.  

 

I still went and rolled balls regularly the last couple of years, it is meditation for me, so the “hard” part of this game at least I have in good form.  I could honestly never play a round again and putt for 2 hours once a week or more.

I miss that about living in Canada. Going up to a few courses around my hometown and rolling the rock. In Japan, the practice greens are nice at most places, but they DON'T CUT ANY HOLES!!!! ARGGHHHH! I can live with that, but when you play what you pay to play here, it'd be nice to get a warm up where you can see the ball go in the hole. I have yet to see one practice green that has cut a hole. The Jack Nicklaus course to the north of us has a decent practice facility and my father in law likes the course because he almost caught me when we played there a week after I had covid, so I will probably get up there a few times this year. They've got a few bunkers and I think short game practice greens actually have holes, but the putting green just has a raised pin thing.

 

I usually just putt to coins, but that's not the same.

 

Rant over.

 

Hit the driver really well at the range today. It was cool and blustery and I popped a few out there near 300. I started by missing a few pretty badly, but made a nice little correction, stopping a little sway I had going on, and then I was just slamming them.

 

Good times.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

44 minutes ago, Christen_The_Sloop said:

I miss that about living in Canada. Going up to a few courses around my hometown and rolling the rock. In Japan, the practice greens are nice at most places, but they DON'T CUT ANY HOLES!!!! ARGGHHHH! I can live with that, but when you play what you pay to play here, it'd be nice to get a warm up where you can see the ball go in the hole. I have yet to see one practice green that has cut a hole. The Jack Nicklaus course to the north of us has a decent practice facility and my father in law likes the course because he almost caught me when we played there a week after I had covid, so I will probably get up there a few times this year. They've got a few bunkers and I think short game practice greens actually have holes, but the putting green just has a raised pin thing.

 

I usually just putt to coins, but that's not the same.

 

Rant over.

 

Righteous! Amen to that, Brother!🤣

 

I hate the raised canopy thing they use instead of a hole here on practice greens. They remind me of the bad guy's underwater lair from The Spy Who Loved Me, except with a little flag on top.

 

However, there are a few courses around me that cut a couple of holes, and then scatter those canopy things around the practice green. It's much better practice to hit to a proper hole.

 

Here we are, this is what I'm talking about. Apparently, they're called "Stand pins" in Japanese.

[Christen_The_Sloop]

1 hour ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

 

Righteous! Amen to that, Brother!🤣

 

I hate the raised canopy thing they use instead of a hole here on practice greens. They remind me of the bad guy's underwater lair from The Spy Who Loved Me, except with a little flag on top.

 

However, there are a few courses around me that cut a couple of holes, and then scatter those canopy things around the practice green. It's much better practice to hit to a proper hole.

 

Here we are, this is what I'm talking about. Apparently, they're called "Stand pins" in Japanese.

I won't bring myself to putt near one of those things.

[Bigmean]

Wait what?   Holy hell, no holes cut or that alien iron thing?  Oh man, that is brutal.  I don’t even like this whole leave the pin in thing.  
 

Actually  I lucked out big time.  I live about 5 miles from a muni track (they claim it is highly rated but I hate it cause expensive for what it is and courses are blah).  Anyway, they have a large putting green that is always in good shape, no dress code(huge for me to just go in whatever on a whim), and while I don’t play there often I am a tax payer so no issues with my taking it over for an hour or 2 from staff.

 

I usually go there later in afternoon to have it to myself or close.  Had it to myself yesterday mostly.  I Bring 4 putters and 4 brands of balls and I end up setting up tournament where only one ball and putter win in the end.  I find it keeps my mind just interested enough to keep focus for a long time and no more than 2 putts from same spot in a row.  I found for me the best putting practice that shows in round is to be no more than 2 putts from random distances/breaks to be most used to changing gears On course with what you randomly have and not get used to a line or speed.  And I get to enjoy 4 of my putters everytime, so win win.

 

Yeah, behind net and looks nice sounds like go.  Because it is a total hobby of excess and waste,  I won’t buy anything I can’t flip for even at worst and My collection has appreciated nicely from what I could tell looking at putters last couple weeks.  While not really rare or special, it is a unicorn stateside so it fits my criteria, but not sure many buyers for it here at that kind of money either if I don’t like it.  Not an easy flip like the yamada I didn’t like from there and made money on.  Anything I bring in I can usually make 10% min after fees if I don’t like it.  Not sure about this.  Also a hand made gauge for under $100 I was going to get and refinish since beat up since doing it and trying a new proxy.  
 

i truly love putters and putting, as you can tell by this ramble…funny it was weakest part of my game and in college at some point it just clicked.  “Putting is an attitude” Jack Nicklaus quote and time on greens really changed everything for me.  See hole, see line, I WILL make ball go on line in hole.  Stroke and speed just follow the mind.

[lefthack]

I know TXG said "nobody needs a blade 4 iron" but I really like having one. I played all irons this morning for 9 before the office and drove with my 4. Wow, I love this club. When you flush it, the sound and feel are like nothing else. You don't even need to look up because you KNOW it's within 10 yards of where you wanted to put it. But it was 32* this morning and when you miss, you know it. 🤣 

 

 

[lefthack]

They also look great in the bag. The contrast from the semi shiny wedge is nice.

 

 

[Kingcat990]

Ah I still have that adams in an 18°. The shaft in mine is on the softer side, but it sure was a blast to hit. Forgot all about it until you posted that. Good times. Irons look sharp. 

[lefthack]

6 minutes ago, Kingcat990 said:

Ah I still have that adams in an 18°. The shaft in mine is on the softer side, but it sure was a blast to hit. Forgot all about it until you posted that. Good times. Irons look sharp. 

 

I just picked up the Adams for a steal off eBay and so far it might kick my GAPR out of the bag. 

 

My bag is getting pretty set, I'm very happy with it right now, but I get bored easy. 

[Tupperwolf]

Damn 🤩

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MacGregor-V-Foil-Don-White-Hand-Ground-1025M-3-GW-Tour-Issue-/255336131035?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

[Bigmean]

I had a set of vfoil, not DW Obvs. They were a really long blade, with surprising offset or appearance of it.  Other than that con (to my eye). Great clubs.

 

got signed up for a 90 min lesson next week.  Dude thinks working out my snap/block should be able to happen.  I feel like these guys are 70% mental so we will see but if I can leave there with an understanding of how to dig it out of the dirt and a swing thought or 3 that help make it consistent will be worth the coin. We shall see…..

[PeanutsDaddy]

8 hours ago, Tupperwolf said:

Damn 🤩

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MacGregor-V-Foil-Don-White-Hand-Ground-1025M-3-GW-Tour-Issue-/255336131035?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

I own a raw and chrome set of V-foils.  Every time I see this club head it gets my heart pumping a little faster.  
 

Other than the DW stamp, I’m struggling to spot the major differences in this head. 
 

My guess is less offset.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

This is going back to the talk a few days ago about shaft weight, but I played a "modern woods, old irons" round recently with some RAM Pro Tour Camber Sole irons. I bought these a number of years ago, pulled the shafts because they were very rusty and had them shafted with some spare PXi 6.0 shafts I had lying around.

 

Now, PXi shafts are about 115g, so about 15g lighter than the DGS300/400 or X100 shafts I usually play*.

 

I've practised with this re-shafted RAMs a few times, but never taken them to the course, until a few days ago. To put simply, although I hit them well, I realised I like more weight in the shaft. More weight helps helps me drop the club into the slot on the downswing. 

 

I first noticed this at the range a week or so ago, when I practised with the Camber Soles and Ram Tour Grinds (Dynamic S) together. I was getting better dispersion and strike consistency with the Tour Grinds by far. With the lighter-shafted Camber Soles, I had a bit of a two way miss going on. However, I didn't get that 2-way miss yesterday on the course, so it might have been a result of me trying to hit it too hard at the range.

 

Anyhow, not sure what I'll do with the Camber Soles. I can't see myself playing them much as they are, so I might sell them, or pull the heads for another day. Even then, I doubt I'll be choosing them over the Tour Grinds for course time.

 

*OK, I no longer play X100. Back problems and getting old has put these shafts beyond me.

 

Some old pics of the Camber Soles for reference:

 

This is a comparison of the Camber Sole (left) and Tour Grind (right)

[Nard_S]

44 minutes ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

To put simply, although I hit them well, I realised I like more weight in the shaft. More weight helps helps me drop the club into the slot on the downswing. 

I'm with you on this. Used to play 115g shafts for years & years. Now, S400 and Rifle 7.X, hit it much better. 120g shafts are fine but I even like my grips at 67 grams too. Heavy is under rated. 

[Kingcat990]

I just put a hard stepped Zelos 8 in a conductor 6i this evening, even before the epoxy has fully dried, it already sort of feels like a dream where you punch someone and your fists are made styrofoam peanuts. Think I went too light. Damnit. 

 

Still going to try a bucket with other 6 irons and various shaft weights to see if stupid games still win me stupid prizes. 

 

I'm a little perplexed NcN, that the cambered soles buggered you 🤔

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

31 minutes ago, Nard_S said:

I'm with you on this. Used to play 115g shafts for years & years. Now, S400 and Rifle 7.X, hit it much better. 120g shafts are fine but I even like my grips at 67 grams too. Heavy is under rated. 

I'm at the point now where S200/300/400 is about right. Modus 125 should work as well, but they're more expensive...

 

3 minutes ago, Kingcat990 said:

I just put a hard stepped Zelos 8 in a conductor 6i this evening, even before the epoxy has fully dried, it already sort of feels like a dream where you punch someone and your fists are made styrofoam peanuts. Think I went too light. Damnit. 

 

Still going to try a bucket with other 6 irons and various shaft weights to see if stupid games still win me stupid prizes. 

 

I'm a little perplexed NcN, that the cambered soles buggered you 🤔

The Camber Soles were OK, but they didn't blow me away. On the course, the lighter shaft was less of a problem than at the range, which indicates that I need to change the way I practise. 

 

In fact, my iron play was probably the best part of my game the other day, along with fairway woods and hybrids. The driver was OK, but I hit a couple of wild ones that both cost me a shot. Wedges were not good; I was hitting them well, but distance control was all over the place. Chipping was average, and putting was poor as usual (even had a 4-putt! Yikes!). Ended with a 9-over 81, which was pretty disappointing considering I was mostly striking the ball well.

 

 

Silly moment from the round: Last hole, a par 4, and I was pitching from the fairway to a slightly raised green. Pin is 9 yards from the edge, and I am twenty yards back from a yellow marker that denotes 50 yards to the edge of the green. It doesn't look like 80 yards to me, but I trust the marker and think "OK, it's a three quarter wedge", and hit this beautiful wedge that's covering the flag, only to see it completely airmail the green and end up nearly 20 yards beyond the hole.

My mate drives up in the cart, which has a GPS that gives distances from the cart to the hole, and it reads 63 yards....😱

 

There's no way that yellow marker was properly placed at 50 yards from the edge. Should have trusted my own judgement.