How much life left?

[hobbstc]

Curious what you think. These are the faces of my 9i and PW from my Titleist 735cm set from 2005. I keep trying to kick them out of the bag but they’re just like a bad penny and keep coming back. Thanks!

[Fairway14]

2 minutes ago, hobbstc said:

Curious what you think. These are the faces of my 9i and PW from my Titleist 735cm set from 2005. I keep trying to kick them out of the bag but they’re just like a bad penny and keep coming back. Thanks!

 

10 years or more.

Tom Kite played on Tour the same set of irons, and the same wedges, for 10 straight years. Iron sets and, or, wedges do not "wear out".

[Hack Daddy]

Those have tons of life left. But if you're looking, check out Flannigan Bilt. He's hands down the best. And trust me, I've tried others. 

[hobbstc]

Thanks y’all!  Like new Srixon 585/785 combo going up for sale lol. Why don’t I just stick with what works for me?  I have a problem. 

[Bubbtubbs]

Those look like they have plenty of rounds left in them.

 

I've seen far, far worse on eBay, GolfAvenue, 2nd Swing, etc.

[indra]

That's how my 735.cm set also looks like. Good to know it can last for years, but then again I have another 735.cm set as backup so I'm good for the next 30 years 🙂

 

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

7 hours ago, Fairway14 said:

 

10 years or more.

Tom Kite played on Tour the same set of irons, and the same wedges, for 10 straight years. Iron sets and, or, wedges do not "wear out".

Curious why you’d say that. Aren’t grooves too shallow at some point and spin will go down?

I realize grooves are more for deflecting/routing water and moisture vs. providing „bite“.

[Rapidcat]

27 minutes ago, LukeDonaldsTiger said:

Curious why you’d say that. Aren’t grooves too shallow at some point and spin will go down?

I realize grooves are more for deflecting/routing water and moisture vs. providing „bite“.

And what about face milling adding spin?

 

Don't you lose 1000rpm's per year of heavy use (at least that rate for the first 3years)? Or some such type of degradation?

 

I'm curious about this topic as I have a couple of gorgeous, older forged wedges that are in my 3rd bag because of (supposed) lack of spin rate.

[Fairway14]

47 minutes ago, LukeDonaldsTiger said:

Curious why you’d say that. Aren’t grooves too shallow at some point and spin will go down?

I realize grooves are more for deflecting/routing water and moisture vs. providing „bite“.

 

My observation is that brand new irons or wedges have grooves with sharp edges. Initially the sharpness of the edges provides a bit of extra spin to the ball, but even then the impact to the results of the shot is insignificant. After about a dozen shots the sharp edges of grooves are worn and from that point on I don't notice any shot differences between a club that has struck 20 shots versus a club that has struck 20,000 shots.

 I believe there is too much misinformation about the impact grooves and, or, ball type has on spin. What truly influences shots is the quality of impact the player makes with club head to the ball, and that is dependent on swing technique and lie type.

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

1 hour ago, Rapidcat said:

And what about face milling adding spin?

That’s another point. My T20 wedges have some milling on the faces (think it’s called „micro grooves“), and that defines wears off pretty quickly. 
Haven‘t checked if TXG has already done it, but that would be right up their alley. Old vs. new wedges. 
Think Shiels or Finch has put out a video with a grooveless wedge, but haven’t watched it yet. 

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

40 minutes ago, Fairway14 said:

 

My observation is that brand new irons or wedges have grooves with sharp edges. Initially the sharpness of the edges provides a bit of extra spin to the ball, but even then the impact to the results of the shot is insignificant. After about a dozen shots the sharp edges of grooves are worn and from that point on I don't notice any shot differences between a club that has struck 20 shots versus a club that has struck 20,000 shots.

 I believe there is too much misinformation about the impact grooves and, or, ball type has on spin. What truly influences shots is the quality of impact the player makes with club head to the ball, and that is dependent on swing technique and lie type.

Well, there’s also not much good information about this! I’d really like to know. 
My MP-33 are well worn (similar to OP‘s sticks) and I definitely get enough spin out of them. Haven’t observed differences or drastic falloff in wet conditions, either. 

[MattM97]

Start striking the center more and you'll have a ton of life left 😉😉

 

But seriously those still look fine, I've seen much worse and people asking dumb amounts for them. 

[gdb99]

1 hour ago, Rapidcat said:

And what about face milling adding spin?

 

Don't you lose 1000rpm's per year of heavy use (at least that rate for the first 3years)? Or some such type of degradation?

 

I'm curious about this topic as I have a couple of gorgeous, older forged wedges that are in my 3rd bag because of (supposed) lack of spin rate.

That’s something that you can probably check for yourself. Take a few balls with your new and old wedges. See what happens. 

[roundersmitty]

3 minutes ago, MattM97 said:

Start striking the center more and you'll have a ton of life left 😉😉

 

But seriously those still look fine, I've seen much worse and people asking dumb amounts for them. 

I was scrolling down waiting for someone to get that first harmless poke in......

Here with the wrxers I would feel odd showing the faces of my clubs unless they were dimed out (which they are not).  Good thread, my irons and wedges are far from new but I know even being soft and forged I will get years more out of them

[MattM97]

Just now, roundersmitty said:

I was scrolling down waiting for someone to get that first harmless poke in......

Here with the wrxers I would feel odd showing the faces of my clubs unless they were dimed out (which they are not).  Good thread, my irons and wedges are far from new but I know even being soft and forged I will get years more out of them

 

I'm probably the same with my irons, honestly I don't see any wear yet but if I did I'm sure it would be just off center. So for me still a ton of life left in my irons, I'll get some lessons and use the good grooves in the center more. 

[Rapidcat]

19 minutes ago, roundersmitty said:

I was scrolling down waiting for someone to get that first harmless poke in......

Here with the wrxers I would feel odd showing the faces of my clubs unless they were dimed out (which they are not).  Good thread, my irons and wedges are far from new but I know even being soft and forged I will get years more out of them

I'm inspired/challenged/deluded by this thread. I'm going to photo my gorgeous 54 deg wedge front and back and put the images up on this thread. I'm not revealing yet what it is.

 

It's so beautiful; what did Trevino say about sleeping with his 1 iron?

 

Seriously, I know that I can GC Quad its spin numbers and/or at the least just observe spin but I'd given up on even thinking it is playable for anything decent.

 

Stay tuned (I am in Australia so it will be some hours....).

[jmck]

If you like them keep playing them.  There's plenty of life left in those.  Over the years I've played several different sets of irons much further down to the bone than those are--like until the sweet spots started feeling a little concave when you'd run a finger over them.  On full shots, with clubs under 50*, the type/quality of the strike and the ball you're playing have a bigger impact on spin than grooves do, IMO.

[hobbstc]

3 hours ago, MattM97 said:

Start striking the center more and you'll have a ton of life left 😉😉

 

But seriously those still look fine, I've seen much worse and people asking dumb amounts for them. 

Haha thanks, I’ll work on that. Maybe I just move my strikes all over the face and they will last longer instead of just one spot!

[MattM97]

1 hour ago, hobbstc said:

Haha thanks, I’ll work on that. Maybe I just move my strikes all over the face and they will last longer instead of just one spot!

 

Now you get it, you have all those groove space on the face you paid for might as well use it all. 

[scooterhd2]

Haven't you ever hit a new wedge short a few times? Replace a 100 yard club with the same loft, similar model and hit goes 94 a few times. You think the swing is off, or the new model is not as good, until your buddy remains you its a new wedge. That fresh mill is overspinning. A couple range sessions later and you are back to 100. Doesn't take long. 

[Rapidcat]

23 hours ago, Rapidcat said:

I'm inspired/challenged/deluded by this thread. I'm going to photo my gorgeous 54 deg wedge front and back and put the images up on this thread. I'm not revealing yet what it is.

 

It's so beautiful; what did Trevino say about sleeping with his 1 iron?

 

Seriously, I know that I can GC Quad its spin numbers and/or at the least just observe spin but I'd given up on even thinking it is playable for anything decent.

 

Stay tuned (I am in Australia so it will be some hours....).

Ok, so here we go...Ram Tour Grind TG-898 Special 54 deg SW with Rifle FCM 6.0 shaft. Bought this new in the late 90's, played it for maybe 5 seasons then for whatever reason it went in my reserve bag and hardly played since. Forged, great feel and the rounded shape appeals to me YMMV. Fortunately I didn't use it much out of the sand, I preferred a 60 deg LW I had at the time. Before this thread I assumed it was too worn in the face to still be any good but now I'm thinking it may still be playable. Will spend some time testing it out, just coming out of Covid lockdown in Melbourne, Australia.

 

What do you think from the pictures, is it still playable from the visuals?

[miamistomp]

Of course it is playable

  Hardly worn at all

Edited October 23, 2020 by miamistomp

[Sparty4202]

On 10/21/2020 at 11:11 PM, hobbstc said:

Curious what you think. These are the faces of my 9i and PW from my Titleist 735cm set from 2005. I keep trying to kick them out of the bag but they’re just like a bad penny and keep coming back. Thanks!

🤔....I have a pretty clean set of Titliest 735CM heads (4-pw) sitting in my basement...

[rondre3000]

On 10/22/2020 at 3:55 AM, Rapidcat said:

And what about face milling adding spin?

 

Don't you lose 1000rpm's per year of heavy use (at least that rate for the first 3years)? Or some such type of degradation?

 

 

NOTHING like that. If you lost 1000 rpms a year you'd have unusable clubs after a season or 2.

[Rapidcat]

11 hours ago, rondre3000 said:

NOTHING like that. If you lost 1000 rpms a year you'd have unusable clubs after a season or 2.

Are you sure? I found this from Vokey when researching this:

A new wedge can spin up to 2,000 RPM more than a wedge played for 125+ rounds.

https://www.vokey.com/spin/spin-performance.aspx#

 

The above is what I based my original comment on.

 

Seems like if you are playing regularly you'd maybe do 125 rounds over 2 seasons and then if you are a heavy practicer, a 1,000 rpm drop off a year for at least the first 2 years seems reasonable?

 

 

 

[Righty to Lefty]

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2020 at 1:24 PM, LukeDonaldsTiger said:

Curious why you’d say that. Aren’t grooves too shallow at some point and spin will go down?

I realize grooves are more for deflecting/routing water and moisture vs. providing „bite“.

It is more a case of friction loss on the strike area than it is the grooves cause as you said the edges of the grooves are account for a small % of the total created spin while loft and face friction account for the lion share of the spin created. The grooves aren't really getting shallower because that would take probably millions of bunker shots to actually remove that much metal from the club face.  What you see most of the time is damage around the grooves as debris strikes it or more accurately gets trapped between the ball and clubface at impact. If you can still make the ball hop and stop then the wedge is still of use regardless of its outward appearance.  

[rondre3000]

18 hours ago, Rapidcat said:

Are you sure? I found this from Vokey when researching this:

A new wedge can spin up to 2,000 RPM more than a wedge played for 125+ rounds.

https://www.vokey.com/spin/spin-performance.aspx#

 

The above is what I based my original comment on.

 

Seems like if you are playing regularly you'd maybe do 125 rounds over 2 seasons and then if you are a heavy practicer, a 1,000 rpm drop off a year for at least the first 2 years seems reasonable?

 

 

 

Yes, I'm POSITIVE. Think about the abuse a  wedge (like your sand wedge)which is designed to spin a ball upwards of 10K gets compared to your 5 iron. Not even close. You do NOT need to replace irons every 24 months...even if you're playing 125 rounds over those 2 years. 

 

[Rapidcat]

1 hour ago, rondre3000 said:

Yes, I'm POSITIVE. Think about the abuse a  wedge (like your sand wedge)which is designed to spin a ball upwards of 10K gets compared to your 5 iron. Not even close. You do NOT need to replace irons every 24 months...even if you're playing 125 rounds over those 2 years. 

 

Now I understand why you replied as you did - I was referring to wedges only as per the sand wedge that I posted images of and my Vokey quote, but maybe I didn't make that clear enough - re-reading my posts I can see that you could think that I was referring to all irons when that wasn't my intention.

 

I'll be more prescriptive in future posts - live and learn.

 

Edited October 27, 2020 by Rapidcat

[rondre3000]

14 hours ago, Rapidcat said:

Now I understand why you replied as you did - I was referring to wedges only as per the sand wedge that I posted images of and my Vokey quote, but maybe I didn't make that clear enough - re-reading my posts I can see that you could think that I was referring to all irons when that wasn't my intention.

 

I'll be more prescriptive in future posts - live and learn.

 

Ahhhh, my mistake then. I missed the part where you were referring to wedges specifically. My mistake.