biggest OEM golf club "flops"

[mat562]

Anyone remember the Mizuno White Fang irons and woods? And the Yonex Carboniron and woods. Boronirons? Boronwoods? For those that do, how many sets did you see out on the course? Actually in play, that is; not demo clubs being tried out by curious people...

 

One member at my place had a set of Carbonirons. After 6 months, the faces were turning white and looked like a Rottweiler had been chewing on them for the entire time. And the sand wedge? How we laughed at the state of it....

 

Carbon fibre + sand = disaster.

 

Last I heard, the Yonex designers were working on the definitive car polishing tool based upon sandpaper technology. And a kettle made from chocolate.

[mat562]

Whilst I'm at it, how about the Mizuno Bell? Sounded good on paper - a beryllium copper, cavity-backed iron with a bit of offset. I know a man who made a bit of money knocking out sets of irons like that. Mizuno's version flat-out flopped though. The bas relief Liberty Bell/Big Ben carbuncle in the cavity can't have helped. The 'Eye' in the back of the Pings wasn't all that pretty but it beat a whacking great bell, seemingly.

 

And, sticking with Mizuno, how about the Domino? The woods were a shameless rip off of the Eye 2 laminated ones and the irons were a pretty plain, dark melonite-esque finished CB. The only problem was, they all looked as if they'd been left out in the sun and started melting because the shapes were all wonky, and the paint scheme was clearly inspired by a box of orange and lime Tic Tacs.

 

Another pro shop ornament.

[jaskanski]

I remember someone with the Yonex carboniron things - usually reserved to those with more money than sense.

Slazenger brought out something (iron that is) with a carbon face insert. I can't remember what it was called.

What ever happened to Wilson HF irons? Something to do with shaft weighting or something? Instant failure!

[mat562]

The 'High Fulcrum' model?

 

Or 'Low Sales Volume' as it was known in the trade.

 

Not Wilson's only disaster though. Who could forget the Fat Shaft?

[meliaant]

My buddy had the graphite-headed Yonex driver...even hit on the screws, it just seemed so dead...mishits made you lose your fillings...

 

the Orlimar fairway woods were actually pretty awesome...ugly as sin, but like the above-poster said, when hit on the screws, they were exceptionally deep.

[jaskanski]

How about the "Hump" shaft from Apollo, fitted to some Cobra's amongst others?

[meliaant]

One set of clubs I will vehemently defend are the Wilson Fat Shafts...thoroughly enjoyed those.

[mat562]

Can't fault you mate, if they worked for you.

 

There'll be plenty of spare jelly and ice cream left over at the Annual Convention of Fat Shaft Fans for you though.

[meliaant]

I already bought my tickets...they're numbered, a limited run of 1.

[Ronzo]

Can't fault you mate, if they worked for you.

 

There'll be plenty of spare jelly and ice cream left over at the Annual Convention of Fat Shaft Fans for you though.

 

a.k.a. Size Queens?

[CdnHacker1]

Uh Oh, my brother is still gaming a liquid metal driver I think, and I'm pretty happy with my Hogan CS-3 Big Ben Driver. the other Day it was Big Ben and then a 160 yd 7i to be just past the green on a 500 yd par 5. LOL.

 

I have an old Yonex 7 iron with a thicker graphite shaft, and it's pretty bad to hit. Not sure where it came from, may have been in a bag of clubs picked up at a garage sale for the kids.

 

How about the "Killer Whale" Driver ?

Face first wedges from the infomercial F2?

[JD3]

many moons ago there were tiger shark irons that were all very short in length but strong in loft. theory being you're better off hitting shorter shafts of nearly identical lengths of very strong lofted irons, than weaker loft longer clubs with more distance spacing between them. back of the heads have gills in them LOL.

 

 

[QuigleyDU]

How about the "Hump" shaft from Apollo, fitted to some Cobra's amongst others?

 

 

the apollo humb steel shafts were awsome vj played those for years. if you ever find a set buy them and try them they were amazing for the time or even now just didnt catch on.

[PixlPutterman]

LOL, my old man has a 55 gallon drum in his garage that has a lot of the clubs mentioned in this thread just collecting dust.

 

I have to say that the Killer Bee's had to be a tremendous flop.

Didn't Yonex make a driver with a graphite head? I never saw one on the course.

 

I saw that someone mentioned the bubble shaft. I had one on a beat up burner all through college, I loved that club!

it was the carbonex. I have one. its the size of a persimmon wood. Its a rocket launcher to IMO

[CarloGolfer]

I once hit a ceramic headed driver. God-awful in every regard.

[mat562]

Tiger Shark clubs. Crikey. I'd forgotten about those.

 

Good old Pat Simmons is still going - athough, mercifully, he's given up on the idea of that frying pan-shaped wedge with the dimples in the face and the red, white and blue scoring lines on it that was billed as your very own chance to have three wedges in one. Er. Yes. It's called opening and hooding the face of a and wedge Pat. They can all manage it; even without the coloured lines on there.

 

Such a technological marvel of a club. And now, yours for 75p down at the Oxfam shop.

[GTA SOL]

Ping Doc Putters = looked like half a dustbin (trashcan) lid on a stick, especially the larger version.

 

La Jolla Knife fairway woods = what the hell were those sole rails all about.

 

Anything sold on the Golf Channel Infomercials!!

 

Alien Sand Wedge = I've got a playing partner who swears by his alien sand wedge, but he must be the only person in the Uk I've seen with one.

[ProjectX]

I've been playing for four years and to this day have never seen the following items in play.

 

1. MacGregor anything. I have never seen a single one of their products in a store, on the range or on the course.

 

2. The Callaway Hyper X line followed the very successful X460 line. It was heavily marketed but I don't feel like you see any in play. They still carry them at the stores but they don't seem to move anywhere.

 

3. Is it too early to consider the Bobby Jones wedges a flop. I haven't seen any in play or purchased???

[GTA SOL]

Strange to see the lack of 'love' / visibility for the Macgregor lines. Here in UK you see quite a lot of them.

 

I played the M455 irons for a year and to this day regret getting rid of them - seduced by Ping G5s that just never felt as nice or as forgiving as the M455s.

[Ronzo]

Carbite Gyroseven 7-wood.

[HotBacon]

New nominee (I think): that first Nike Driver (the blue one).

 

That was awful.

 

I believe you are speaking of this driver.

 

 

 

But... you are wrong. I used to absolutely destroy that driver and to this day regret ever having gotten rid of it.

 

 

I just (grudgingly) put my 400cc blue bomber in the basement. I could outdrive most everyone I played with using that thing, but I couldn't pass up gaining some forgiveness w/ newer technology.

[Abs777]

The Hippo 400cc driver. It came out like 8 years ago when nobody had 400cc drivers. The thing had a purplish blackish head and I cracked two of them before I realized that it did nothing for my drives.

[JD3]

i dont remember the name of it, but it was a telescoping and loft adjustable club which the OEM claimed allowed you to take just one club to the course as its multiple positions allowed one to effectively create as many clubs as needed. they marketed it to frequent travellers as something that could be packed into a bag. to this day ive never seen one on a golf course

[obsessedgolfer]

i dont remember the name of it, but it was a telescoping and loft adjustable club which the OEM claimed allowed you to take just one club to the course as its multiple positions allowed one to effectively create as many clubs as needed. they marketed it to frequent travellers as something that could be packed into a bag. to this day ive never seen one on a golf course

 

I have seen those in the classified sections of golf digest LOL

[JD3]

LOL, here it is, they're still selling it.

http://www.adjustableclubs.com/

[badf1sh]

Not the biggest flop, but definitely need mention...

 

the Hippo Hex

 

[Ping-er]

Oh yeah and another thing just do a search on the fourm for the Power Built Air Force One Driver you will see what I mean.

 

HA...this one is soooo true. Still see the infomercials sometimes at 5 AM in the morning on Golf Channel. Too funny when they blow up the driver with nitrogen like a car tire...pffffff

[Ping-er]

Carbite Putters...seen them the year they got popular and then never again

[MMB1500]

Callaway fusion - particularly the irons. They cost a fortune when they were released, despite looking like big plastic shovels and not performing much better.

[vman]

Chalk one up for the Ping Zing irons,the one`s with spocks ear sticking out of the toe.Sales were so bad they only lasted a year.