biggest OEM golf club "flops"

[mat562]

Anyone remember Plop putters?

 

I remember seeing Seve using one once; but not anyone else. Ever.

[Mr Mizuno]

Just one word... Zolex!

 

TM-200 Drivers... never saw one out on the course.

[peteman29]

Nike Unitized putters?????

 

My local shop until recently still had the Unitized 'Techno' RRP £199 NOW £49.99 and I still couldn't bring myself to buy it.

[weissmanjeff]

I remember the "revolutionary" Kasco 1-piece driver, where the shaft, head and hosel were all molded from the same piece of whatever (graphite, ceramic, etc.). If they sold 2 of those in the US, I would be floored.

 

That driver had the equivalent of golf cankles.

[dannybsj]

Did the fuzzy clubs come with a gift certificate for fried chicken and watermelon???

[zed]

[quote name='pro11ace' post='1431872' date='Jan 18 2009, 01:47 AM']Callaway X460 and Hyper X[/quote]


Whoa there brother, I am still bagging my Hyper X and after much demoing recently including Titleist, Cobra, Cleveland, newer Cally, the Hyper x remains.

[zed]

No doubt in my mind the TA Ti 100 wins hands down. How a company managed to develop and manufacture the legendary 845 and then bestow the Ti beast upon the world is magical in it's stupidity.

[Hateto3Putt]

Two words.....

 

"THE KNIFE"

 

[mat562]

[quote name='weissmanjeff' post='1821677' date='Jul 16 2009, 01:54 AM']I remember the "revolutionary" Kasco 1-piece driver, where the shaft, head and hosel were all molded from the same piece of whatever (graphite, ceramic, etc.). If they sold 2 of those in the US, I would be floored.[/quote]

I tried one of those - or at least the Pro Kennex version of it. A chap at my club brought one back from somewhere or other and, after showing it to everyone, we all had a go.

Aside from the shaft being like a hosepipe, which made it hard to get any sort of feel for it, it was horrible. Whether a proper shaft would have made a difference is debatable but I never saw anyone clonking routine 350 yard drives with it as was supposed to be in the offing if all the blurb and magazine articles were to be believed.

File it with the Mizuno White Fang and the Yonex Boroniron/wood - in the [i]Expensive White Elephant Category.[/i]

[Bonneville85308]

Ok, I'm a bit late to this one, but have plenty of comments. This thread particularly interests me as I caddied at a club in the late 1990s/early 2000s where every 20 handicapper was buying the latest junk left and right.

1. Yes, the Callaway C4 is pretty high up there on the list of all time flops. I only saw one played once, I remember it had a very dull impact sound.

2. Tommy Armour T100 Titanium irons were all the rage for about 2 months at some point in the late 90s. As were the Callaway Great Big Bertha irons with Titanium inserts, retail $1,000+. Every hacker with dotcom stock options at the club had those in 1998.

3. I disagree that the Ping Zing 2's were a flop. I played them myself for many years, as did others I know. The original Zings were a flop though. I did meet a guy who played copper Zing's, they must be pretty rare.

4. Has anyone mentioned Goldwin/Goodwin? irons and woods? They had a gold colored sole, and for whatever reason the graphite shafts sounded really thin and hollow when clanking against one another.

5. Anyone remember those "Carbite" wedges? The face actually felt like sandpaper. Probably USGA illegal.

6. I remember the cool thing about the TM Innergel balls being the unusual plastic sleeves they came in.

7. Cleveland VAS and Lynx Black Cat irons were actually quite popular in my area, for some unknown reason among high handicap left handers.

8. Who knows, but I always suspected that the Callaway War Bird 11-wood (called the "Ely Would") wasn't a hot seller, even among 85 year old golfers.

9. Kasco ceramic drivers. Pretty frickin' weird. 'Nuff said.

10. Not a club, but those copper bracelts that people seemed to like in the late 1990s.

11. The Ping "Chippo." I've seen plenty of choppers with chippers, but never a Ping chipper.

12. I agree on the Callaway shoes (and possibly gloves). No serious golfer I know of to this day uses though.

13. Not so much a flop as it is rare. The Taylor Made Burner Bubble Tour Spoon (13*) and I believe they made Titanium Bubble versions.

14. The Titleist 975 5.5 degree driver. Who the heck could hit that?

More to follow as I think back to the old days.

Some might consider them flops, but the Orlimar Trimetals and Adams Tight Lies were insanely popular where I caddied. Like 2/3 of the membership bought one in a year. The most hillarious thing was when a guy showed up with a Tight Lies knockoff. It was called, and I am 100% serious, the "Loose Truth." Get it? lol. Even funnier, the guy was a dentist, so he'd cover up the "r' with a tee and show it to another guy and call it the "Loose Tuth."

[mat562]

I'll cough to still having a Burner Bubble Tour Spoon in my understairs cupboard. It made a brief appearance back in 1995 or thereabouts only to be hoiked out before long to make way for the return of the old faithful Flex Twist-shafted Tour Spoon.

Every man and his dog went out and got hold of a Bubble something or other at one time - I managed to blag one of the grey headed Midsized drivers with the plainer, all-black Bubble shaft and foolishly gave it away a year or two back - but not many people stuck with them for very long in my experience.

Nitpicking, but the Spoons actually had 14 degrees of loft.

[Mizzie]

You know what will be a real flop??
These new TaylorMade wedges with changeable faces. They will flop like ****!

[Mizzie]

[quote]12. I agree on the Callaway shoes (and possibly gloves). No serious golfer I know of to this day uses though.[/quote]

HEY!
I use Callaway shoes and gloves, what's wrong with them??
I AM a serious golfer!!

[TM golf guy]

Callaway C4. Easily.

[dlygrisse]

[quote name='mat562' post='1820001' date='Jul 15 2009, 07:33 AM']Anyone remember Plop putters?

I remember seeing Seve using one once; but not anyone else. Ever.[/quote]
forgot about those, a golf shop I used to frequent had a bunch of them, they set there forever.

[dlygrisse]

I will add I haven't seen many or any Nike Dymo drivers in anyones bag this year. I am sure there are some out there but my local shop seems to have most of their original inventory on the rack.

[Bonneville85308]

[quote name='mat562' post='1946803' date='Sep 12 2009, 11:56 AM']I managed to blag one of the grey headed Midsized drivers with the plainer, all-black Bubble shaft and foolishly gave it away a year or two back - but not many people stuck with them for very long in my experience.[/quote]

Was that the "System 2" model? I remember trying one of those drivers circa 1993-1994 but hit the Big Bertha much better. Around 190cc's of pure fury!

[DaveLeeNC]

How about the Purespin wedges? They had some serious marketing muscle behind them, but also this outrageous sole design (kind of a multi-level thing) that was (IMHO) a disaster from either the sand or tight lies.

dave

ps. I bought a SW for $3 at a garage sale. It was a bad deal

[mat562]

[quote name='cherokee8215' post='1947527' date='Sep 13 2009, 03:39 AM'][quote name='mat562' post='1946803' date='Sep 12 2009, 11:56 AM']I managed to blag one of the grey headed Midsized drivers with the plainer, all-black Bubble shaft and foolishly gave it away a year or two back - but not many people stuck with them for very long in my experience.[/quote]

Was that the "System 2" model? I remember trying one of those drivers circa 1993-1994 but hit the Big Bertha much better. Around 190cc's of pure fury!
[/quote]


Good God no. Not the brick-shaped System 2. Hideous things. I wouldn't have bagged one of those if you paid me.

It was one I blagged off a mate who's a pro. Basically a slightly fattened up Tour Preferred head without any dimples on it. They were quite a rarity, never released to retail (at least in Blighty), and it was a cracking driver. I had a bad run with it, went back to my old Cobra Deep Face that I immediately went back to hitting fantastically and, when someone asked me nicely if they could have it, I said [i]yes[/i]. Bah.

Far nicer to look at than the cheesy orange retail version and it even had a proper grip on it - one of the blue cord ones that were as rare as rocking horse whatsit - rather than the teflon-coated Lamkin wrap ones that they usually came with or that crappy orange and black Crossline thing.

Along with a minty 2-PW set of TP-19s, it's right at the top of the [i]Things I wish I Hadn't Given Away[/i] list of golf equipment.

[Hougz79]

Many were already mentioned, but here are some of mine I can remember:

-Fiberflex drivers. Had the flexible shaft to increase distance (circa about 1995). My dad had one....it was crap

-Cubic Balance Grooveless Drivers

-Lynx Flare Shafts. I believe they were in the Black Cat irons and their answer to the Fat Shaft and Bubble Shaft that were making noise around that time

-Teardrop Putters. Seemed to hang around a while, but never ever seen them played.

-Wilson Invex. I know it was mentioned, but oh man, was that an ugly club. Very difficult to address the ball with as well due to the fact the sweet spot was dang near on the hosel.

-Fila Lattitude irons. The ones with the face in front of the hosel. A precursor to the F2 Face Forward clubs

-Titleist DCI Starship drivers. I just threw up in my mouth thinking of them.

-Titleist Howitzer. Appeared about the same time as the DCI Starship. First foray into titanium.

[JD3]

Tommy Armour all titanium irons. they were an extension of the 845 line, so they were like "865" or something. gigantic irons way too big to play. curiously had Troy Aikman as the spokesman for them LOL

[randomhero1090]

The new Nike VR Driver might be on its way. How ugly is that thing..................

[Scully13]

Any Ben Hogan irons manufactured 2007- Present.

Great company name with absoluely lowest grade products- including CFTs, F???, etc.

[hogan234]

[quote name='mat562' post='1946803' date='Sep 12 2009, 11:56 AM']I'll cough to still having a Burner Bubble Tour Spoon in my understairs cupboard. It made a brief appearance back in 1995 or thereabouts only to be hoiked out before long to make way for the return of the old faithful Flex Twist-shafted Tour Spoon.

Every man and his dog went out and got hold of a Bubble something or other at one time - I managed to blag one of the grey headed Midsized drivers with the plainer, all-black Bubble shaft and foolishly gave it away a year or two back - but not many people stuck with them for very long in my experience.

Nitpicking, but the Spoons actually had 14 degrees of loft.[/quote]

I had 3 of them and actually thought they were nice clubs. I had a stock Bubble S-90, the Bubble by Fujikura w/ the big "BUBBLE SHAFT" TV logo and one w/ an EI70 in it. The one w/ the EI70 was a bomber...and didn't require a special grip.

[petter7]

I didn't go through the whole thread, but, did anyone mention the DCI Starship driver???

 

Titleist disaster!!

 

[CarloGolfer]

I know someone already mentioned the [b]Top Flite Magna[/b], but i'll throw it in the ring one more time. I actually bought like 3 or 4 dozen when I was in high school. I used to work at a Subway which was right next to a Kmart which was going out of business. They had them on sale for like $5 dozen. Ah, memories...

[craz-e]

[quote name='Mizzie' post='1947024' date='Sep 12 2009, 08:46 PM']You know what will be a real flop??
These new TaylorMade wedges with changeable faces. They will flop like ****![/quote]


+1

[jaskanski]

...or the Top Flite Aero? Weird teardrop shaped dimples. Or Bullet balls? the .444? The balata ball was actually quite good.

[Banker]

I remember the Goldwin Drivers, we had one for a while.

[ajgoodal.704]

This has got to be one of the funniest threads going. I just put a $20 bid in for a full set of Cleveland VASs, so I could relive the glory of the funky 90s iron heads. I did have a C4 for one summer and it was probably the worst club I've ever hit in over 20 years. I think I picked one up at Dick's for like $99. My Dad got one too and we both retired them quickly. I did like the Aero ball though. For my first round next year, I'm gonna find some Aero's and put the VAS and C4 into play and see if I can break 90.