Will your scores suffer if you played your clubs from 10 years ago?

[theothertwo]

Will your scores suffer if you played with your driver, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges and putter?   If so, how many strokes more?  

 

The advantage of new clubs will be technology of course.  The advantage of old clubs is familiarity and mastery.

 

 

Edited February 8 by theothertwo

[The Ultimate Hack]

You should buy new clubs every month. 

[tatertot]

4 minutes ago, theothertwo said:

Will your scores suffer if you played with your driver, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges and putter?   If so, how many strokes more?  

 

The advantage of new clubs will be technology of course.  The advantage of old clubs is familiarity and mastery with them.

 

 

No. Unless they were ill-fitted.

[theothertwo]

3 minutes ago, tatertot said:

No. Unless they were ill-fitted.

Especially with the lie angle of the irons IMO.

[TheDominator273]

Probably a couple strokes improvement with a well fit current driver, and if the wedges have been used for a decade, fresh wedges (not necessarily needing to be current line stuff) are probably worth at least a stroke a round as well just by having new grooves.

[kwcsports]

Not in the least.

[KansasHacker]

Yes, but to be fair I didn't have any clubs

[GHIN n Juice]

Nah.  2013 I was probably playing an SLDR or Cally Optiforce440 and a set of mp53s.  I could easily put any of those back on the bag and not miss a step today.

[mat562]

I can only speak for myself, but my scores have suffered far more as a result of age, injury and an increasingly knackered lower back than they ever did from having old clubs.

 

 

[SBH9458]

18 minutes ago, GHIN n Juice said:

Nah.  2013 I was probably playing an SLDR or Cally Optiforce440 and a set of mp53s.  I could easily put any of those back on the bag and not miss a step today.

Same for me quite literally. 

[PuffyC]

Outside issues of fit, I don't think I've ever seen a real world example of clubs helping or hurting scores so I'll go with no. But my new clubs are prettier and have more alien tech than the ones I used 10 years ago so I got that going for me, which is nice.

[cgasucks]

If you don't hit it on the button 90% of the time then newer clubs will lower your scores, but only a little bit.  Only a sound swing built from with lessons and practice will really lower your scores regardless if you played from clubs made in 2024 or clubs made in 2014.

[MattM97]

My own clubs from 10 years ago? yes.

 

A 10 year old set that I retrofit to my current swing/game? Probably not, woods might suffer the most honestly. 

[Pnwpingi210]

Irons, putter and wedge no.

 

driver - 100% it would sufferer.  (Full disclosure my drivers 10 years ago were a Nike ignite 410 with and aldila green callaway ft tour with blueboard 63x). I hit about 1 decent drive in bound per round.  
 

my first upgraded driver from those two was a 425 lst.  That instantly gave me about 60% of fairways hit per round with no swing changes.

[ChrisATL]

1 hour ago, The Ultimate Hack said:

You should buy new clubs every month. 

Thats why we are all here, right???

 

But seriously, I think my woods would suffer the most - but I could still probably manage.  Irons through putter, not sure I'd see much difference.

[Pepperturbo]

2 hours ago, theothertwo said:

Will your scores suffer if you played with your driver, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges and putter?   If so, how many strokes more?  

 

The advantage of new clubs will be technology of course.  The advantage of old clubs is familiarity and mastery.

 

 

No.  Within the last ten years, most equipment changes have not been dramatic compared to equipment before CAD took hold of club design in 2006.   The exception is graphite materials and composite shafts and golf balls.

 

Before CAD OEMs were unable to fine tune the COG in club heads like today.  That's why, today's Blades are easier to hit than older versions; COG is more centered; before it was a tad closer to the hosel, and higher and closer to the face, and much less forgiving.

Edited February 8 by Pepperturbo

[vandyfan]

Yes. I wouldn't have my LAB putter, first of all. Also, my driver was a Nike SUMO SQ that spun to the moon. The irons and wedges would be fine. I would say 2 shots worse on average over 10 rounds. 

[phizzy30]

Only club that's changed significantly in terms of forgiveness and consistency is driver over that time span.  Other clubs haven't changed much in tech.  To answer your question, it's very possible. 

[Yuck]

Big changes were Wood to metal Drivers and Fairways, Titanium Driver heads, Fitting.  All 20++ years ago.

Any Well fit set from 2014 should be equally playable to todays equipment.  (I am not familiar with Game Improvement Stuff).   Heck, I just stopped using my S55 irons and 913 D3 driver a couple years ago.  Current Irons are TCB’s which are about the same.  Current driver is not longer, but is slightly more forgiving on mis hits.  Wedges have not changed.  No huge putter break through either.   All I know is I was a better golfer in 2014 than I am today.

[njmack]

I have a real-world experience to share: my last two rounds of the year were played with 1) all 2022-2023 Ping releases (G430, i230, glide 4.0, etc) and 2) an old set of TM gear circa 2004-2007 or so.

 

Played 9 holes each time out & shot 39 both times 😝 the round with TM clubs was in far worse weather, too... ymmv, but do your best to just get out there & enjoy it

[JAM01]

Woods would cost me, irons, wedges and putter would be a wash. I think ball tech might harm me a little too. 

[lil'mike]

I consider myself a mid handicapper as I basically shoot bogey golf give or take a few strokes most of the time.  Sometimes I shoot better than that and sometimes worse. 

 

I have the Paradym woods in the bag last year and really like them but couldn't get use to the irons so put in a set of 2004 Cobra's and shot a 79 one week and a 78 the next week.  They just worked which truth be told, my iron play is probably the weak point of my game as far as consistency, strike wise and distance wise.  

 

Edited February 8 by lil'mike

[Hawkeye77]

I'd be playing a driver it took years to kick out - a 913D2, 714 AP2s, Vokey SM4s, a putter I still could easily use - nope, not really.  Not even my wife believes I get new clubs because I expect to score better.

[RogerinNewZealand]

Time Traveller..now on second set of Bridgestone J22cb...first set 8ish years ago. Almost bought some PingZing 2 red lie last week...made an offer on Vsteel 16.5 also..

[RogerinNewZealand]

Just now, RogerinNewZealand said:

Time Traveller..now on second set of Bridgestone J22cb...first set 8ish years ago. Almost bought some PingZing 2 red lie last week...made an offer on Vsteel 16.5 also..

Sorry J33cb!

[caniac6]

No

[phizzy30]

1 hour ago, Yuck said:

Big changes were Wood to metal Drivers and Fairways, Titanium Driver heads, Fitting.  All 20++ years ago.

Any Well fit set from 2014 should be equally playable to todays equipment.  (I am not familiar with Game Improvement Stuff).   Heck, I just stopped using my S55 irons and 913 D3 driver a couple years ago.  Current Irons are TCB’s which are about the same.  Current driver is not longer, but is slightly more forgiving on mis hits.  Wedges have not changed.  No huge putter break through either.   All I know is I was a better golfer in 2014 than I am today.

I'm the opposite.  I'm a better golfer today than back in 2014 because I have a better understanding of my swing, how to fix it and because of the leap in driver tech.  However, I was much longer off the tee back in those days.   

[PARETO]

Suffer? Not even a little in the irons or putter. My low round last year was with 23 year old irons and a 16 year old putter. Driver / shaft on the other hand is where gains lie over the past 10 years. Oh and fresh grooved wedges. 

[Aamin84]

For me yes, less so after putter fitting. 

[black bnr32]

I’m probably 20 yards longer off the tee now and I hit more fairways, so yes perhaps a couple strokes per round.  My irons from 10 years ago were too demanding, too.