Equipment that revolutionized your game

[GHIN n Juice]

ProV1/ modern ball

hybrids

Other than that I cannot think of anything that “revolutionized” my game.

[jomatty]

About four months ago I started back after over 20 years away from the game. The biggest difference to me has been with the balls as well as the GPS and rangefinder capabilities. Maybe my third or fourth round back I got paired up with a guy at the local course who saw me looking around for bird houses and white stakes and he showed me a GPS app that made it so much easier. The other thing that has really helped is the balls. I was never really good enough to play balata but I wanted to play the way my dad did so I would try. Modern golfers don’t know the pain of being 16 years old in a high school golf tournament and having a sleeve of three balls and putting a big smiley face on one of them early in the round. When I started back I was really surprised at how well some balls would stop. I was equally shocked at how some balls felt really soft and wouldn’t stop at all. Oh yeah and hybrids. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get them up in the air and hit long. I really enjoy the modern irons but I don’t know how much of a difference they really make. I certainly like my i500s better than the zings I had 20 years ago. But they definitely don’t save me as many strokes as the big oversize drivers do. I like my spider putter but I would be fine with the ping answer I had back in the day. Certainly could make do with an eye 2 wedge like I used to have. The shoes are much much more comfortable and my old feet appreciate that. Anyways after 20 years away from the game and recently becoming addicted again those are the things that really changed in my humble opinion

[Jack Pearsall]

In no order:

Brunswick/Royal precision fcm rifle iron shafts

long neck insert putters like Odyssey WH

adjustable drivers and low spin shafts, came in around same time for JP

S2 golf watch

midsize grips

golf instructors

[jjfcpa]

I played the Apex CF19's for the last year and they just weren't doing it for me. On a real flyer (no pun intended), I bought a set of Honma XP-1's. Use the specs that I've been using based on 3 fittings that I've had. I started playing these and really felt good about them, but it just seemed like I needed to put in some rounds/practice time with them before I'd realize the full benefit. So I went to the driving range and put in some practice and played about 10-15 rounds with them. Today, I really turned the corner with them. Shot an 8 over par (18 holes) on a pretty tough course and that was after playing 5 over par (9 holes) on probably the toughest course around here. Every shot was just the right distance and pretty close to the sweet spot. Best investment in golf since I started playing 5 years ago. BTW, I'm 72.

[aswile]

Mine too! So much easier to hit solid and straight.

 

[GSDriver]

Original Great Big Bertha Ruger Titantium, bought one day they came out, 8.5* with Grafalloy Pro

[Fuscinator]

Finding a putter I liked. All those offset putters drove me nutz, so I putted with a 4iron. I got Wilson blade style putter and it made a huge difference. I now use an old Callaway Tuttle and it's my favorite club.

[bigred90gt]

Diamana Blueboard shafts. I used to play whiteboard in all of my woods, but back surgeries have led to loss of swing speed, so I went to the Blueboard. For my swing, they are just amazing shafts. I have one in my driver, 3 wood and one in my hybrid. All 3 are different generations, with driver being the newest, but they are just incredible shafts for me. Great feel, great launch, and great control.

 

also, modern graphite iron shafts. I played PX for years and I absolutely loved them. Still do. Unfortunately, as I age, my elbows have a differing opinion. I switched to Recoil 110 F4 and love them. I can play relatively pain free, and get very similar launch, spin and distance.

[grm24]

Hitting the sweet spot consistently helped me more than any piece of equipment.

[Booker]

O.g. great big bertha driver, first titanium driver I ever hit. Felt like I was hitting balls out of a gun barrel. The pro v1 golf ball, is the other game changer for me. I couldn't imagine still playing the titleist tour balata.

[red5standingby]

The original Ping ISI Titanium driver along with the Strata Tour Professional 90. I switched from a Big Bertha Warbird driver and a wound Titleist Professional to a titanium driver and a solid core ball in the same season. Courses got shorter that summer.

[PGizzle]

Copper putter

[Hedgehog]

Laser range finder

iBlades, from a 9 to 6 in one season

SuperStroke putter grip

BGT Stability Shaft

[gvogel]

Moderate offset and perimeter weighting in my Lynx Liberty Bell irons, 1976.

Forgot to mention the belly putter. All of a sudden I started making 2 or 3 10' putts during a round of golf, something that my friends did routinely with regular putters. S$cks that I can't use it anymore.

[bombs]

Rangefinder and golf sims.

When you know your distances it takes all guesswork out of club selection.

[driveandputtmachine]

I remember having put a smiley face on numerous Maxfli HT Tour Balata golf balls.

I played a cut throughout high school, college, and right after.

I had kids and took 3 or so years off. came back and could only hit draws with my woods, which made my brain hurt.

Adjustable drivers and three woods, being able to crank them all the way open has made a huge difference.New "tour" golf balls. They last more than a couple of holes. Consistent graphite iron shafts. (My wrist that I had surgery on thanks these companies)

 

[V-Blade]

A face-balanced putter. Started with a Ram Zebra (still have one) I picked up from a used rack and now use a Fat Lady model from PIAS. My stroke is essentially a stab and this design helps.

Funny how the putters under $20 work best.

[NRJyzr]

Three things fit the best for me.

First was Golden Ram Tour Grinds. Hit them better than my previous irons, and they helped me realize I do better with smaller iron clubheads rather than larger. It's a visual thing for me, much like some hate or like topline sizes, or offset, etc., I feel like I'll have trouble getting a huge clubface on the ball, will only hit the shot fat. Yeah, it's lovely.

Second was a Composite Dynamics HP/M Tour shaft. It was in a KZG MP driver at 44.5" I found at 2nd Swing in the Misc driver rack, for $40. It was a $100+ (IIRC) shaft in a time when Dynamic shafts were <$10, the ProForce was about $30, and Graphite Design's YS shafts hadn't started inflating the shaft market. This shaft/club helped open my eyes to the fact that I don't do well with drivers longer than 44.5", how well higher static weights fit me (it was over 100g), and that I maybe shouldn't listen to guys telling me I needed a stiff shaft and no more (it was 2X).

Third thing is the laser rangefinder. My depth perception and distance estimation is not particularly good, the range finder removes that for me. Don't have to worry about mismarked courses, finding marked sprinkler heads, and so on.

Honorable mention to my Black & Decker Workmate, that I use as my portable worktable and vise for clubwork. And my swingweight scale.

[PowerCobra98]

SkyTrak.

The ability to hit balls in my home coupled with visual feedback and data has certainly been the biggest impact.

[Floris]

Biggest?

Ball, 100% and absolutely the ball. I've come from balata's, the modern ball is not even comparable.

Don't game a hybrid anymore, but that was a blast. Coming from 1 and 2 irons..

MOI in everything increased, forgiveness is a great commodity.

Larger heads for driver/woods hasn't been punishing either. ;)

[sendtojohn1]

Lessons

Putting lessons

Modern driver heads

Speeder 661 in said driver heads

Cobra T-Rail Hybrids with the stock made-for-Cobra Tour Ad shafts

[setter02]

I'm curious as to who has had their cap dramatically drop due to a piece of equipment, that is my take on something that has 'revolutionized' your game. Without that, seems more like just another bad clickbait article written by some of the higher ups on wrx for the homepage. I can't think of any one piece of equipment that has 'revolutionized' my game, unless you can count learning new skills and practice...

[nitram]

Flow neck putters, graphite shafts, and the modern multi-layer ball.

[b.mattay]

Project X Iron Shafts

[Smada962]

Titleist 975J with ProForce shaft. I was always a poor driver of the golf ball when I was young, largely due to me never owning a decent driver up until then. My dad bought me this as a high school graduation present and my driving transformed overnight.

[agood3putt]

Putting a 4W in the bag and Tensei Pro White shaft in my Driver.

[2Down]

Been playing for a longer while than some. Kinda hard to say any one club was a panacea but many had spectacular honeymoons.

for me the biggest Best and longer lasting improvements were to my self.

so two strap bags were huge. And these days as I ride more often it’s yoga.

stay flexible my friend.

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

Cash machine, to buy all this revolutionary stuff.

And Midsize grips.

[Kirasdad]

I’m 63, been playing golf since I was 9, so you would think I would have a bunch of revolutionary items to offer. However, revolutionary is a strong word, and considering that is a high bar I can really only think of one.

Spring of 1983, I was living in NYC and was on the driving range at the Bethpage golf complex on Long Island. I was warming up before our group’s time that morning on the fabled Black course. I had been using Wilson tour blades from the seventies which I had acquired while in college. I played small college golf, and that’s of course what everybody had, Wilson Staff, Hogan Apex, Macgregor VIP or MT, those were the most common, but it was bladapalooza for everyone. Anyway, I’m struggling with my ball striking and was probably visibly frustrated because the guy next to me held out a club and said “give this a try” just kind of out of the blue. It was a weird looking thing but I grabbed at and hit about a half a dozen balls.

It was a Ping Eye two 5 iron.

I bought a set the next day and used those irons for almost twenty years.

To me the difference between the two was indeed revolutionary. I had played some good golf with the Wilsons but the comparison was no contest. The Ping was so much easier to hit solidly on a consistent basis.

Now I’ll demo a TM, Ping or Callaway cavity back and as long as the shaft is in the ball park they seem pretty much the same.

Not then. As has been said many times before, that club changed everything.

[rjp322]

Hybrids for me. Especially a 5 hybrid. Im a pretty good player too and there is a stigma around 5 hybrids and even 4 hybrids. Once I got past it and realized some people need them it was a game changer. I need them solely because I am very shallow. In a fairway and on a tee, 4 iron and 5 iron is absolutely no problem. In rough it is just a different story and I struggle. Not anymore though!