Don’t let anyone kid you, professionals fiddle with their equipment more than the amateurs. Ben hogan used to work on his own clubs. most notable was Arnold Palmer, he has a collection of thouthands of golf clubs. Modified his own equipment often ( too, often ). A story told as he was grinding on his putter so much and plastered it with lead tapes; the putter become unplayable.
Tour player have the sponsored OEM to do the more scientific customizing on their equipment; however, many are still like to do some tinkering themselves.
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It’s all in the intention !
If the wine tasting and/or the golf equipment demo is the path of seeking suitable selection for your consumption, then; nothing is wrong and please, don’t feel obligated to purchase anything. Especially the wine tasting has not been “free” for decades.
Used to be, some poor students will bring a loaf of french bread and a hunk of cheese and go wine tasting for the whole day. Free loader is not welcomed in any business; however, demo a golf club is not one of the free loading, since you can’t consume the equipment on the spot. What you take away is the experience.
Please, do not let anyone pressure you into purchase after golf club demo on the spot; or even remotely suggest the feeling of guilt if you don’t.
Even with all the launch numbers which modern day consumer is overly depending on.
There is just so many variables which will produce totally different data.
If anyone is serious seeking out the little bit of edge by fine tuning their golf equipment. Find someone who is (1) knowledgeable of golf swing; anyone could sit through a class or two and become “certified” they can’t fix what you don;t have. (2) someone who is honest and not starving; to interpret the data from fitting to promote an unnecessary sale. There are quite a few posts/video regarding how the interpretation of a set of data could be used to turn into a sales pitch.
It is difficult to find a fitter who knows both fitting the equipment and fitting the golfer. An honest or knowledgeable fitter is out there. One just need to do homework to find out where this real fitter is.
Free or discounted fitting session is motivated by potential sales. It’s quite different than purchase a bottle of wine or two after sampling a great tasting wine. Unless the they offer on course demo to allow you to take the fitted combination out to the golf course for a round or two.
I still believe there is no free lunch under the Sun.
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Still distinguishing, personally, between the happen to show up while they’re there, versus the 'I’m going to take an hour of your time at X day, Y’o"clock.
That said, I really didn’t feel obligated to purchase by the rep or the facility owner. And I did really want to have—finally—two wedges that actually fit Me, not someone else’s ill-fitting hand me downs. (Still going to game the 56 Cleveland, just somewhere that I can use its 14 bounce)
Plus, and most importantly, the Jaws MD5s felt great. Turf? What turf? Height, spin for days, easy to chip, flop, 1/2 swing. Precise. Hit the 75 yd metal pole with my first 3/4 56 shot aiming for it. “Ding!”, feels even better there, than when shooting steel. Probably because I expect to hit the steel…
Edit: Weirdly, the demo made me more of a fan of the non-Callaway shafts, than it did the Callaway products. I’m sure that, to pick on them, I’d love Ping G425s or TM P790s just as much as the DCBs. Or a Stealth Plus driver head. But I became a huge fan of basic X100 dynamic golds, and especially the Ventus Black 7X shaft. As always opinions can change. But damn, that Ventus is great if you absolutely must have a low/low, and your swing is more aggressive than finesse.
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It’s whatever works for you, or, whatever you believed working for your golf game.
With wedge, the lie angle and the bounce really makes a difference in how one performs with different shots under different situation. Not until maybe a decade ago did the OEM offer more options for wedge. Used to be the loft with a couple of bounce for choice.
They did not have customized fitting for the general public 4 decades ago. we bought wedge off the shelf and at most, have the lie angle adjusted and maybe have the sole grind to have more relief at the heel for laying the club face open.
We learn to use two wedges ( PW/SW) for all the shots 110 yards and in. Takes some practice but, it’s so mentally rewarding when we pulled off a shot on the golf course according to how we practiced. It really boost the confidence level.
Like they say in putting, the more you make the putt, the more you will make the putt. Same with the wedge play.
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I have those and am very happy. I never realized I was better with a bit more bounce in the GW (I get steep) and much less bounce in the SW and LW (apparently I am shallow with these). I love the wide sole low bounce MD5 60*.
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Evidently I’m shallow too with the 56. I might’ve liked a 60, but the fitter was about as adamant about that being a “Bad Idea”, as he was about fitting an S shaft. Quote, “I probably could stand in front of you with that 56, and not get hit. What on Earth do you want a 60 for?” Joking, mostly…
Plus, my coach was against it. (Discussed the possibility before I had the demo.)
OK, two votes No. I got by with 3 wedges, and only two, twenty years ago, a la Dewsweeper’s story. Three it’ll remain.
I loved the turf interaction on the S grind 56. In that there didn’t feel like any. Small divots were taken, but it wasn’t the feast or famine that my previous 56-14 Cleveland gave me.
Going back, I’d have liked to try the 4i DCB with the X100s, to see if the added weight vs an AMT would’ve been an issue. Just too much fun blasting 3Ws…
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A simple sentence; -accelerate through the golf ball- You will figure out what is inhibit the acceleration through the golf ball and that, is your personal rock to climb.
So, tonight I collect these, slightly controversial (surprisingly) new irons. Just as I go on holiday for a week! Typical.
Since I ordered them my Tee shots have got much better, Driver is now 60-70% FIR. My hybrids are flying off the deck and my short game is really solid. But my iron play has become a mess of shanks and zero confidence.
I may get to hit them before I travel (Malta, sons wedding) if not my first use will be with my coach to hopefully bring my iron shots back to average from awful!!
Anyway, I will wait for half a dozen rounds before giving any feedback on the new clubs and if the expected improvement has materialized or if I have been a bit of a mug as we say in the UK!!!
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Changing equipment will normally require some time to get used to; new golf clubs are like new shoes, need time to “wear-in”.
Unless, the old equipment was an awful fit to start with.
For the weekend warriors, one thing is normal until you developed your golf swing. Which is, somedays your long game will be better than the short games and vise-versa!
Often times we see the professional exhibit perfect shot after perfect shot in the tournament broadcasting and we thought, that is the way the game supposed to be. What the broadcast should also share is all the bad shots the professional produced and how they deal with the situation.
No one had ever master this game, for the few who had the moment; they were the elite golfers whose life were golf.
Us, amateurs, take whatever the kitchen dish out for us and enjoy.
BTW, enjoy your son’s wedding and your trip, stay safe.
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I feel that feel. Neat destination, by the way. (Why Malta?)
But this really is a game of three steps forward, two to three steps back. Case in point, the Jaws I bought, were awful for the first twenty swings or so. Then it was like, OK, the face is here, i need to cock my wrists (sort-of) there, and Click! up pops the ball and then it stops.
Same thing with the irons, and my driver. “This sucks!” Wait, wait: try this. Be patient, wait for it…Boom!
Pain in the ass, but what can you do?
122 square miles for the island. Hard to believe they even have one golf course on it.
that’s being generous to it…not the greatest (didn’t play but popped by)
No idea why Malta to be honest. But hey, my jobs just to pay for it right!!!?
So I promised an update on the whole process and the outcomes and I promised it would be honest so here we go…One quick point, this is not a review of Stealth irons, better people than I have done that, I will give my opinion overall.
I think the fitting process was pretty negative. Half way through the fitting i started the miss hits that then plagued my game for 4 months. Maybe it was the process of jumping from club to club, shaft to shaft etc. but I didn’t enjoy it. Compared to when I was fitted for my driver 3 years ago where I had already chosen the club (TM Sim Max) and was fitted by a TM fitter so it felt more focused.
I am average build/height etc so not much really needed to change. My first set of new irons were bought ‘off the shelf’ and worked fine for me. The new irons work well too, dispersion is a little better but I am also working at my game a bit so it may be me, clubs or most likely both.
Big plus was with wedges, I bought Stealth’s from 5i through to gap wedge (AW in TM speak) and a milled grind raw face 54 degree with 13 degrees of bounce and those two clubs are just fabulous, my short game is miles better than before.
So the big questions - 1. Was it worth buying new irons when mine were fine and not that old. Probably not to be honest, but I really like the look of the Stealth’s, they sound better too so I guess I had the money so why not?
- Would I recommend a fitting and if so agnostic over manufacturer? - If you are an average human, like me, I am not convinced its really worth the process I went through, it was confusing and I do think, for me, was detrimental in the short term. If you know you want Mizuno irons for example and want to get them set up perfectly for the next 10 years of golf then that is the route I would go down. But for most, off the shelf with the extra cash invested in lessons may be better. I wont be repeating the process anytime soon that’s for sure.
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Interesting post and I may be restating. I have gone to a couple of fittings over the past 5 years. I did not purchase anything. Here was what I found. The Ping425 on average was giving me 5-8 yards more distance than the Dr I had in my bag. At $599+tax, I thought that was an expensive 8 yards. Especially when I can move up a TeeBox much cheaper if I wanted to gain those yards for free. At 63, not getting younger and losing distance anyhows. BUT, I worked on better mechanics and exercises and I’m still hitting the ball 240-250 ( on the 425yd 16th, I got pissed off at the group in front of us, I waited a bit like 14 minutes as they were giving each other lessons and hitting their 3rd shots. I pulled the trigger after they took off in their cart, but stopped again in the middle of the FW… The ball carried 250 and rolled out to 282 past their stopped cart… they got the hint). I know the lofts and lies of my iron heads, I’m into my 4th set of shafts TT X100’s. My irons are circa 1989. They are Cavity backs… They are still very accurate, I am hitting the 42* (todays 9i, my 8i 145) My issue is, and always has been too much spin, I can’t tell you how many times this year I’ve spun balls off the greens. I did purchase the Cleveland CG12 Wedge system and are still serving me well. I can still get the ball to stop on a dime with both my 60 and 54. I got fitted for a TM putter, I still have it in the basement… I went back to my trusty Ping Anser 85020, 1976 back in the bag and still finding the hole when I roll it correctly. My opinion goes like this, in general the technology on the Drivers has changed over the last 20 tears, incrementally in the last 10. Irons have not changed too much, the numbers on the bottoms have changed, but loft and lie is still loft and lie. Shafts…ah, that’s where the rubber hits the road for me, matching the correct shaft to your swing, speed and AoA…that’s the difference. You can re-shaft clubs you like way cheaper than very expensive new sticks. We have a guy at the club who is pretty well off. Known him now for 17 years. I would say he buys the newest thing out there every other year. He’s like a 12 hcp, is still a 12 hcp… as he has gotten older, he lost distance too. I worked on my game, changed up shafts and gained distance. My opinion still says, the shaft makes the biggest difference, your SWING… improve that, you will find what you are looking for there.
Yeah, if you list all the things we would call ‘bad shots’ 99.999% are swing faults rather than club issues. However if anyone wants new clubs and can afford them, great go for it! New clubs are very exciting, shiny toys to have. They just aren’t a silver bullet to all your golfing woes.
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I’ve always been a big fan of NEW GRIPS and NEW Shafts! I get the comfort of my security blanket of my clubs, but they become Reborn/Brand New with the pieces. Most of the time, professionals have new clubs specked to within millimeters of what they are comfortable with. They sign big money deals with sponsors, so they don’t have a choice on equipment, just know their new equipment isn’t “off the rack”. The new stuff is fun though I have to agree !
We have a guy nicknamed “show and tell” in our group. He is an 18 index holder. Gets a latest fitted set of golf clubs each season, Retired, sold off his 3 business before the pandemics for undisclosed numbers. Chose to join a local men’s club at one of the muni courses, instead of a private membership at country clubs.
He is very generous to the other retirees. Always chip in to fill the gap of the balance of bills at a gathering events. Let other members have his one season old golf clubs at a huge discount when his new toys arrived, more like a give away. Nice guy and popular for his generosity.
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