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Biggest single equipment change that helped your score


Vater

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I’ve been teetering on holding on to equipment that will work for me if I practice more and get more range of motion. 
 

But in the past few years I’ve been more honest with myself and made changes like getting rid of my 4 iron in favor of a hybrid among 3-4 other changes. 
 

If you had to pick one thing, e.g. using a 4/5 wood instead of a 3 wood, using lighter/graphite shafts, putting more hybrids into play, etc. - what would you say has made the most positive impact on your score?

Edited by Vater
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Driver: Cobra LTDx 10.5° Helium Nanocore

Fairway: Cobra RADSPEED 18.5° Motore X

Hybrids: Titleist TSi2 21°, 24° TENSEI AV RAW Blue

Utility Iron: Titleist 718 AP1 24° Recoil 780

Irons: Titleist 718 AP1 AMT Red

Wedges: Vokey SM8 48°, 54° Dynamic Gold; SM7 60° Modus3

Putter: Scotty Cameron Special Select Newport 2

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  • Vater changed the title to Biggest single equipment change that helped your score

Honestly? Probably thickening up the grip under the right hand when I was around 14. I was always a pronounced drawer of the ball, but feeling a bit more heft under the right hand straightened out my flight and let me move my game on. There were other things too, swing-wise, but I've thickened up my grips for thirty-odd years now, and began doing so three decades before Golf Pride made the staggeringly innovative technological breakthrough that is Plus4.

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Nike Ignite 410 10.5° Grafalloy Blue X

Nike T60 15° Fujikura Speeder 757 X

Titleist 913F 19° Mitsubishi Diamana BB 83X or Titleist 712U 2-iron 19° KBS Tour S

Titleist 712U 3-iron 22° KBS Tour S

Titleist 681 4-iron to 9-iron KBS Tour S

Titleist SM5 48.08F Raw 49° KBS Tour S

Titleist SM5 56.10M Raw 56° KBS Tour S

Ping Eye 2 Gorge L Wedge 60° KBS Tour S  &  Ping Pal

 

 

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Rangefinder. Basically really learning my yardages; especially with wedges and partial/flighted shots. 

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TSI3 9˚ AV White Raw 65X 

TSR2 15˚ Black 1K 75

Apex UW 19˚ RDX 80

T-150 4-PW - PX 6.0

RTX Zipcore Raw 48M/54M/60L 

Byron Morgan 029x PROTO-Carbon/Garage San Diego-Naked/2022 BB1-F/Las Vegas H7-Tour Silver

Pro V1X

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3 hours ago, Dan Drake said:

Figuring out driver. 

 

Specifically the shaft that suites me the best and that, for whatever reason, allows me to "know" where the clubface is just a bit better.  

 

Oh sure, I still hit it off of the planet sometimes, but far fewer times than I used to and I hit it further as well.  Ever single penalty stroke that doesn't happen is a stroke gained.  Add into that the incremental strokes gained from hitting it a bit further, and you have a monumental difference in score.  

 

QFT (Quoted For Truth) 

 

If I'm having trouble getting off the tee my score blows up.  Lots of tree lined fairways here with no forgiveness for a bad tee shot. 

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Tour Edge Exotics:  Irons and Woods

Cleveland:  Wedges

Odyssey:  Putter

 

 

 

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1.

Figuring out the Driver, which for me is an odd routine that has proven to be very reliable.  I setup on the ball, then move the  club-head closer to me so the toe is at the ball. I raise the head, then swing 2 feet past the ball, briefly hold it there, then take the club-head back and make a swing.  My thoughts are that I want to return the club-head to where I was 2 feet past the ball.   This somehow also keeps my front foot planted, vs my previous error of a lateral slide.  This method has proven to be a real fairway finder for me, and I now consider my Driver the best, or 2nd best, club in my bag

 

2.

I used to be a Lob-Wedge guy for almost every shot inside 80 yards. 

Now I use a GW and play lower runners to the pin if there is green to work with.  I have a ton of confidence in my GW, and once I'm greenside, I expect to get up and down.  My GW and Driver are the best 2 clubs in my bag.

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WITB for 2023  |  Titleist Hybrid-5 Stand Bag
Titleist TSi2 10*  |  Miyazaki Kusala Black 61X

Titleist TSR1 20* & 26* Hybrids  |  Evenflow White 90S

Edel SMS Pro 5-PW |  Steelfiber i110cw-S

Edel SMS GW & LW  |  Steelfiber i110cw-S

Putter  |  Mizuno OMOI-03 Nickel Finish, stock grip

Grips    |  All Clubs With CP2 Wrap Jumbo

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This is a very hard question to answer, I like every single club in my bag as they all perform so well for if I'm putting well my scores stay low. My irons always get me on the green of close enough to save par...most of the time. My wedges do help but this is my weakest area not the clubs fault, just not enough practice. My Driver and fairway woods can make me or break me as there always seem to be that one hole that keeps me humble as there is very few time I can play without a bogie or double sneaking in because of one bad shot. I just can't find fault with any club that is in my bag as I can't remember ever saying that before. 

 

Driver: Cobra  50th Anniversary Edition Aerojet 10.5 w/Graphite Design Tour AD IZ4 

3W: Callaway  Paradym X 3w/ Graphite Design Tour AD CQ5  

5/7W: Callaway Paradym X / Project X Hzrdus Gen 4 silver 5.5

Irons:  Titleist T-350 w/Aerotech i80r

Wedges:  Cleveland RTX 6 ZipCore 48* and 54* w/Aerotech i95r

Putter:  ENVROLL E2 34" with Stability Fire shaft  w/ Oversize Black PURE grip (rotate) ODESSEY EYE TRAX 2-BALL w/BGT Stability Carbon 33" 2 Thumb OG Lite 31 black grip

 

 

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 A driver I trust always goes a long way. Like everyone, if I can get consistently off the tee (and have full confidence I will), the rest of the game is much easier.

 

As far as a single club, it was the Cleveland Halo Hy-wood.  I was always inconsistent with fairway woods.  My 4-hybrid is my security blanket club.  I feel more confident with it than a 5 or 6 iron.  But very rarely are you 200 yards out on a par 5.

 

The Hy-wood was the first club I felt good about pulling out from 225 yards in any situation.  It immediately impacted my par 5 scores.  I have gone for more par 5's since I bought it than the last 5 years combined.  My par 5 scoring dropped significantly.

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PING G430 Max 10.5 

Cleveland Launcher XL Hy-wood 18*
Cleveland Launcher XL Halo 4H

Cleveland XL Halo 5H

Srixon MKii ZX5s 6-PW Modus 105s

Cleveland CBX4 Zipcore 48*

Cleveland CBX4 Zipcore 52*
Cleveland CBX4 Zipcore 56*

PXG Battle Ready 'Bat Attack' 

 

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A totally non-wrx reply, but moved from player’s cavity backs to Taylormade M-1’s which I guess are game improvement irons.  Getting much higher ball flight from 5-6 irons and more distance all around.  Scoring irons are point and shoot.  Was barely hanging on to a single digit handicap and recognized that I needed some help. Getting old sucks too. 

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4 hours ago, mat562 said:

Honestly? Probably thickening up the grip under the right hand when I was around 14. I was always a pronounced drawer of the ball, but feeling a bit more heft under the right hand straightened out my flight and let me move my game on. There were other things too, swing-wise, but I've thickened up my grips for thirty-odd years now, and began doing so three decades before Golf Pride made the staggeringly innovative technological breakthrough that is Plus4.

Related, don't be afraid to try midsize or jumbo if your hands fit it.  Finally moved to midsized, this last regripping session, and I couldn't be happier.  The middle finger barely touching palm test is a good one.

 

Flip side, my putter grip is frankly too big.  The bummer is, since it's an LAB, changing anything about it is a large PITA.  So for those, definitely try the grip out first before you order...  I'll deal, but it is annoying.

Edited by Jayjay_theweim_guy
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Honestly, besides driver and putter (though I grow more delighted with my 3W the more I use it) it's not so much an equipment change once I knew what was good enough:  it's shortening my swing, and keeping everything in balance, that has helped me the most.  I can still be violent and fast; but it works a lot better if I keep everything "in front" of me.  90% length, in balance, with me staying behind the ball while my hands go in front, has worked well so far.

 

Still want graphite iron shafts tho'.  But I can wait.

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In early 2000s, when golf balls progressively started spinning less, made the decision to switch to a bit more loft in driver and fairway wood to maintain accuracy and keep ability to vary trajectory and shape if needed. For my game, low spin is highly overrated.

Edited by Mitchell
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Titleist TSR2 10* (d4 surefit) Fujikura Motore Speeder 7.2s
Titleist 904f 17* YS7+s
Titleist 962b 3-pw s300
Cleveland zipcore tour rack custom 52* s400
Cleveland zipcore tour rack custom 58* s400
Ping Zing2 BeCu

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1 hour ago, Jayjay_theweim_guy said:

Related, don't be afraid to try midsize or jumbo if your hands fit it.  Finally moved to midsized, this last regripping session, and I couldn't be happier.  The middle finger barely touching palm test is a good one.

 

Flip side, my putter grip is frankly too big.  The bummer is, since it's an LAB, changing anything about it is a large PITA.  So for those, definitely try the grip out first before you order...  I'll deal, but it is annoying.

 

That was aa huge one for me as well. I had no idea for 20 years of playing golf that my grips were too small. I always struggled with grip pressure and had more than one instructor and playing partner tell me it looked like I had a death grip on the club.

 

Another instructor saw my fingers digging into my palms and I suggested I try a bigger grip. The difference was night and day. 

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PING G430 Max 10.5 

Cleveland Launcher XL Hy-wood 18*
Cleveland Launcher XL Halo 4H

Cleveland XL Halo 5H

Srixon MKii ZX5s 6-PW Modus 105s

Cleveland CBX4 Zipcore 48*

Cleveland CBX4 Zipcore 52*
Cleveland CBX4 Zipcore 56*

PXG Battle Ready 'Bat Attack' 

 

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*58 SW but not until I got a lesson and learned how to use it. Typical amateur high lofted wedge mistakes but after learning and practicing technique being able to pitch and chip with *58 has made a huge difference. The biggest difference is using it from long grass around the greens resulting in much more consistent short pitch shots. 

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Using available data, plain and simple.

 

Got a SAM putter fitting along with some other insights via other tools. Ended up moving to a different grip, added some weighting in the shaft & on the blade itself, both of which increased consistency.

 

I also had some of the similar issues mentioned by others regarding grip size, so if I have to technically say one thing it's this. I'd gone back and forth a few times, but not only is a midsize more comfortable for me just by feel, it's what comes up when using measurement recommendations rather than the old guesstimate of going by glove size--which puts me in standard. No more death grip, no more unexpected extra draw, and much more consistency with my short game as well vs standard. I also moved to using Star Grip's non-taper model, which added even more comfort and dampening.

 

Next will be driver/shaft combo testing and at some point seeing what the numbers say about using graphite for my irons. I don't have any joint pain but I like to practice and play a lot and all the related data says my body will thank me later so no harm in taking a look.

 

There's a point where analysis paralysis can come into play, but it's been worthwhile taking advantage of obtainable, useful data where I can.

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