Buying clubs dtc

Equipment
#1

So as not to derail the mgs thread.

I love sub70 golf… I’ve put my two cents in elsewhere, but have had a great experience with them as a company and love their equipment.

The problem becomes how do you test dtc stuff?

Local fitters are going to have the major oem stuff… it’s hard for them to keep the niche stuff in stocks and quite frankly, dtc saves you money by being direct to consumer… that eliminates the fitter!

All the major companies I know have demo programs. Hogan, new level and sub70 being the three major ones… maltby and wishon don’t but those are different.

Sub70 you pay $20 with a $100 deposit, I believe the others are similar… personally, needing odd specs (+3/4 and s400, midsize grips), I just paid $115 for a five iron that I wanted in my bag anyways.

I figured the extra 95 for a club I got to keep was worth the risk! And it was built to my specs.

My golf budget tanked this year, otherwise I’d have the full set… now I’m waiting on the new releases this winter.

Anyone else done dtc shopping?

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#2

Certainly interested in the experiences here. Looking at adding a wedge and sub70 is on my radar. Also waiting for Jon’s article on driving irons as that’s in the back of my head too.

I generally like to see/hit clubs before buying so DTC is a little scary for me.

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#3

I have the 699 utility and love it… it was my original purchase from them. I think utility irons make sense in the four iron spot… flight it lower than a hybrid but easier than a regular four iron to hit… I could play without it, for sure, but it makes sense in my bag.

Wedges I’m a little more wary on, simply as they don’t have the bounce and grind options of the big boys… I think that’s getting addresses though!

Definitely get the fear of buying a club unseen… they do have a solid return program though!

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#4

I just got the 699 Pro U last week. I played 2 rounds with it and enjoy it so far. DTC is a risk, but I’m loving my Sub70 irons. As they recommend, get fit elsewhere if you can and then have them built to your specs. I didn’t get fit, but found a set on their pre-owned section that were what is was looking for (standard lie, +1/2, x-stiff modus 120 shafts) and I took a chance. I can’t imagine being more pleased with a custom fit set that cost 3x more

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#5

Shed some more light on the utility for me if you could…

Top end of my bag (carry) is:
3W - 245-250
3H - 225-230
3i - 208 (coming out of my bag for the wedge, this is old blade that I can work/keep a little lower)
4i - 208

My 4i is AP3 and launches pretty high so struggling a little with recovery shots under trees/from rough, but I can’t hit hybrid on those shots.

If I were to go down the path of a driving iron I’d probably take the hybrid out of the bag so would be looking for ~230 carry and be able to have some workability for recovery. Is that in the realm of the driving iron? Don’t know if it’s more of a tee/fairway club

#6

Personally, I didn’t replace my hybrid with the utility, I replaced my 4 iron.

My thinking was as follows: I don’t hit 4 irons into greens much, and usually use it as a positioning club and even when I am hitting it into greens, my variance is going to have more impact than the club in my hands… I like my hybrid a bunch. It’s built to go straight and high. Plenty of spin, nice control.

What I didn’t have was a good option for low shots or punch shots. I picked up a 22 degree 4 utility, and it slots in my distance gaps well (between my hybrid and my 5 iron). I am comfortable with it off the tee and off the ground, but it’s truly a utility club for me. I don’t hit it with a full swing into a ton of greens. It’s great off the tee into the wind and it’s great to punch out or around something for me, and that’s it’s first use. It’s fine as a “4 iron”… probably better than a regular 4 iron but less forgiving than a hybrid.

I will say it performs better with high club head speed, but that’s true of any 22 degree club!

I take a much more holistic view of my bag than filling gaps… my wedges all play different roles and are thus different grinds and bounces, and my three wood, hybrid and utility all play different roles less based on distance and more based on different needs on the course… I picked them for that first and then managed my gaps second, if that makes sense.

Honestly, it comes down to how much you use the various clubs in your bag. I don’t think my strategy would work for someone who regularly has a 4 iron into greens.

#7

Thanks - we have some longer par 3s so need 4 iron for those. Given it’s an AP3 with some forgiveness, I’m good with 4i. More just a question of off the tee/par 5 2nd shots and then flexibility with recovery and other “one off” shots. Which is a better fit - hybrid of driving iron. I’m kind of interested in trying out the driving iron.

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#8

I prefer my hybrid for full swing shots, but that’s just me and I love this particular hybrid.

I also didn’t get a ton of reps in on the utility before getting injured!

#9

I replaced my 2 hybrid w/ 3 utility and carry it around 225-230 from fairway, 235ish from tee. I like the feel and workability and extra shot options. I got the 699u pro because I could take a chance on a $110 club, but I have a buddy that just got the Sim UDI 2 iron and that thing smokes it as well

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#10

My utility iron article is posting tomorrow!!!

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#11

All new clubs I have purchased over the last two and a half years have been DTC through Hogan. I am waiting for the 2020 hybrid and utility iron to hit the demo program to try them before I buy. I did not have much success with their last hybrid. I have no place to try equipment locally so all of my club buying is through mail order without trying first anyways, regardless of OEM.

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#12

I think dtc makes a ton of sense for people who don’t have a local retailer. They definitely have a leg up with the need to remote fit already and a willingness to work with customers.

I do think it’s a challenge to get people to pay for a demo club and take flyers on equipment… to a certain extent I think it has made the dtc industry stronger in that there aren’t a ton of sketchy outfits selling poorly made clubs.

I should give hogan another try!

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#13

I think one that Ben Hogan has done that is really good is that you can get fit for there irons at Club Champion.

I think all the DTC clubs could potential do this and could be really beneficial for them. Myself personally I am looking at new irons and if I could get fit for Sub70, New Level or Ben Hogan irons. I would do it in a so quickly as I am currently looking at roughly $1,700 CAD for new irons and I think I would be able to save roughly between $700-$1000 CAD with DTC irons.

I have recently seen all 3 of these DTC brand on TXG youtube.

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#14

Sub70 has been great for me… I’d maybe not order the black heads again, but other than that I like everything I’ve gotten from them, especially the customer service.

#15

I did a full bag club fitting at Club Champion when they ran a 50% promotion and at the end of that they gave me a spec sheet with all the components for the clubs I liked. The mark up was pretty dramatic if you bought from them but I didn’t feel any pressure to do so and that’s when I bought DTC.

I searched around and used a couple of different places to piece together my bag. I ordered my Driver and 3H from FairwayJockey. Not many places had the shafts I was placed in(TPT & Graphite Design Tour AD) and they did. Where I think I really saved was on my iron set(AP2 718’s 4-PW) from a UK based site called GolfSupport. They allow customization on nearly all aspects without the added cost. I believe I saved a few thousand going this route. I’ve had my clubs over a year and they’ve been great.

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#16

My first set was Lynx Prowler blades. When they got stolen I replaced them with Lynx USA irons. When I wanted a new set I only wanted Lynx being the only clubs I have ever played with. No Lynx retailers here in Australia so I bought my Lynx tour blades mail order from the UK. No regrets and I hit some amazing shots with them.

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#17

That’s great and I’m glad you found clubs built to your specs, but just to clarify…

Direct to consumer are newer equipment companies that don’t really exist in retail shops… check out sub70golf.com for an example… you can’t really demo them in stores and have to take a leap to try them. They have lower pricing, depend on solid customer service and good equipment.

What you did is great and probably how I would do the same thing if I got fitted at club champion…

Welcome to the forum and please keep participating!

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#18

Ahh thanks for clarification and the welcome.

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#19

No worries… happy to have you here!

#20

I did an iron fitting at a golf tec and then took my specs online to shop around. I ended up going with sub70 699 iron set. Customer service was great and I felt comfortable with the brand.
I was coming from 15+ year old irons so I figured anything new would be an upgrade. The $500 vs $900 price tag made a difference in my decision for sure.
So far I’ve been very pleased with how they’ve played. I like the looks and the feel. I would def to DTC again down the road.

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