A little back ground here. He is about a 14 index ( could b e better since he golfed quite a bit more than the average guys I know with his grown sons also interested in this game). Have not golf with him for awhile because of the COVID issue and his sons now accompanied him to the golf course. 4 golfers and 4 bags + 4 push carts will be a little jam up even in a full size SUV.
Anyhow, he is frugal with himself but very generous with his kids. His kids got new golf clubs and fitted for half a bag. Last I know, he was still using the Taylor Made RAC OS he bought long ago ( 2002 ?).
His kids play Titleist and Taylor Made.
He is thinking of PXG full bag for his next purchase. PXG is a quality product no less than the other major OEM. I just feel that he should take a look at other brands also.
I know there are many new boutique brands now, besides the PXG, Miura, anyone else offers fitting for the whole bag ?
This might be his golf bag for a long while since he is looking at retirement in about 7-8 years.
He should get fitted for the clubs, because, he has been golfing for over 2 decades now, a regular golf nut, so his swing is pretty much set in a mold. He is also shorter in in height, 5’6" ? 140 lb. dripping wet.
All the reason why he should seek a brand which will offer at least fitting off the L/M.
Oh, BTW, he does not want to be too frugal this time. So what do you think he should also look into besides the PXG ?
If I was going to consider a new set of stix. I’m totally serious here. I would take a long hard look at sub70. They will fit you to perfection. It’s a smaller custom club maker that really puts a high level of effort into their clubs. That’s my opinion. I know a few guys on here swear by them!
I looked, the sub70 does not have a physical fitting anywhere close to Seattle/ Bellevue where this fellow resides.
I know what I want and what will best fit my game through years of tinkering with the golf clubs. but, he does not.
Ideally, a digital fitting for him with the equipment company ( since it will be a whole bag fitting ). then refine from there on.
It only took me 2 decades+ to land on what I have now. Don’t think neither he nor I have the patience or the time.
I do not have a digital L/M fitting for the equipment that he would be interested in. Used to be a few dozen choices, and now , there are so many choices, no one place can say that they have all the options under the Sun.
If I was in the market for a whole new set I’d probably look at PXG, Sub70 and Golfworks. IMO they all offer excellent products at less than the average market pricing and can ship in a reasonable amount of time. If the player needs an in person fitting though then that makes it a little trickier.
I have to say that I love my Mizuno irons. Is there not a golf fitter close to him where he can try multiple brands and see what “feels/looks” best to him? Even a big retailer like the PGA Superstore, Dicks, Golf Galaxy?
You certainly don’t need to buy off the rack, but even a retail store fitting and comparison session could greatly inform if he wants to buy online and try to customize his order.
I’ve often found that brands have so many models that shopping by “brand” only is really less than half the picture. Brand agnostic and see what strikes the ball best and gives the “feels” would be my $.02.
…and I say all this as a lefty - who certainly has a limited selection at golf shops…but even a limited selection is better than guessing for me.
Yes, so far we’ve found the PXG has a fitting showroom 8 miles from his house. Of course, all other major brands will have some sort of fitting option with a couple of brick and mortar golf stores here in town.
I had told him to be expecting $4-8 grands for the whole bag including bag and shoes and push cart…
He’s a regular golf nut, who will golf under any weather condition if he could find the golf ball ( reminded me of a younger myself ). For being restrained not to change golf equipment every year, I think he earned the right to get whatever he desires.
He is leaning toward the PXG for the available fitting and for the brand recognition. Just want to see if anything else he should be exploring.
I don’t currently own any PXG stuff, but a lot of guys at my club do now. What other mfr is offering a very nice driver for $200 and hollow irons for $79 each? I don’t think even Tour Edge is going that low. The shaft offerings are limited at that price, but it’s still impressive and you’re not waiting 4 months or more for it.
99% of golfers probably wouldn’t look at it, but the latest stuff from Golfworks is really really good. If you know what you want they will assemble clubs for you. The latest KE4 Tour heads (and some other models) are that good and pretty inexpensive for what you get.
Srixon is so underrated.
This guy can relate to what you said, except that he still wants name brand recognition, so the Golf Works, DTG’s spin off and such probably would not be preferred by him.
He didn’t get a Tesla when the price point was high but, he now owns a Tesla model 3. Yes, not only he wants a nicely fitted set of golf clubs but, also the blanketly blink shine. Like I said his game, hangs around mid-teen for handicap index, so a little shinning in the bag would boost his ego.
I believe he will look into the PXG in late Spring this year unless something else worth taking a look comes up before he makes a decision.
Yes, he should be brand agnostic; he is not very good of accepting advice like most of the smart successful person. Until the undeniable result laying in front of him.
Trick is to get him to test most the brands out there. As a friend for more than 2 decades, I’d offer my opinion and back off from further suggestions. I’m still driving my 2004 SUV with 200K+ miles and happy with it; he had gone through half a dozen vehicles in the same period of time and everyone of them looked worse than my older vehicle.
Different stroke for different folks, I guess.
I guess there is no magic bullet.
Let’s try another way. What if he “know” his fitting numbers and could order online ?
Is there anything out there which beats the PXG offering ? Product and price point, respectably ?
I haven’t shopped for irons for about 8 or so years now. Changed my driver 2 years ago, and wedges this year. I’ve never hit PXG, but I think that is a safe bet on price and name-brand recognition with their current discounts.They used to be one of the more expensive clubs.
I would throw in one more high name-brand recognition and lower price point - Cobra. Loved my irons (before switching to Mizuno)…and love my newer Cobra driver (much more than my old Cleveland). I bought the Cobra irons years ago because they were made by Titleist, but at much lower cost…and still a recognizable brand. I assume the lower price point is still accurate.
One additional thought. I bought a driving iron 2-3 years ago from TourEdge (love it). High quality and Super competitive price…and getting more and more name-brand recognition every day…especially with the large stable of Champions Tour players they have signed now.
I did throw the names of both Cobra and Callaway his way a few weeks ago.
His sons have newer model of Titleist and Callaway ( because the professionals use them ? ) Heard that they are skilled golfers , both played for their High School golf team and both captained the Junior and the Senior years. Young men could carry 5 irons to 200 yards ( according to their father ).
I was just curious of what’s new on the market since I did not pay attention to the equipment for about a decade now. Used to be the first one to see the new arrivals at our local shops.
Couldn’t keep up with all the waves of the new stuff. Still love my iron sets from the 80’s and the 90’s and nothing could kick my current driver out of the bag, just yet ( I did manage to get several new shafts for the driver ). Only considered switching to a lighter shaft in the irons but put that on hold now.
Looks like we have reached the end of the suggestion for my friend. Shouldn’t worry too much for his game, as long as he is happy, even not making the best decision for his next bag of golf clubs.
That’s where they really stand out now IMO. The products are good and some of their models are much lower priced compared to others…and you get them in within 2 weeks. I do agree with being brand agnostic, but I don’t think you should force yourself to have 4-5 different brands in your bag.
I recently heard from a former golf buddy who would almost never play OEM stuff. He built clubs like I did and if he did buy an OEM set, he bought it used and ripped it apart and installed his own shafts and grips. He currently has a PXG driver and irons in his bag. I was shocked, but he said he couldn’t beat the price. Plus the resale value will probably be really good and he’s not one to play the same stuff for too long.
I agree with the quality and the new price point from the PXG.
Plus they have many of the fitting stations around the metropolitan area in the Nation. This is a huge plus for someone who absolutely wish to know if they will get the “right” equipment.
Making the product accessible to the majority of the end users is a wise decision, keep up the effort and quality , eating away on the market share will be in the future.
If no other better alternatives, then, my friend will be visiting the PXG fitting center in the Spring.
Has he looked at Hogan?
I doubt that he has looked at the “new” Hogan line. Hogan line has always represented certain segment of the golfer population.
I’m guessing that probably not enough blink for him. Difficult part is, the new line has no physical representation locally in a place where golfers could touch or to demo.
The same with a few other newer boutique line. Not many will make a major purchase based on their understand of their game and able to determine what’s best for them.
All of the sudden, everyone want to get on the L/M to get fitted just like the professional.
Problem I see is, they don’t have the ability to take the benefit from the fitting.
However, it would be nice if they could actually demo the clubs, side by side. That’s the way we did it 3-4 decades ago. Taking out a bunch of 7 irons to demo, narrow down to a few then, try out the longer and the shorter from the sets , then decide which one will be the new purchase. No digital fitting, what we see with the ball flight is what we had to make decision.
The new Hogan line is scarce with appearance around my region. Only saw a couple sets of irons in the last few years, and probably none of the driver/fairway woods.
I am not so sure the question is the BRAND… it should first be the STYLE of club. Is his handicap getting better or worse? What does he do well, and not-so-well? Can he “work” the ball? Only when he’s confident of the style of club (Super-Game-Improvement, Game-Improvement, Players-Distance, etc.) that would help him the most should he be considering BRANDS.
This advice could come from one private lesson if the objective was made clear to the pro at the outset.
Good luck.
How should I put it ?
I have know this guy for more than 20 years, out of which we had been golfing off and on together with other friends for that long.
He is such a frugal person. He’d spend money on his kids for golf lessons and equipment fittings and Pro-line golf clubs. Ushered his sons through the high school golf program; chaperoned the teams for competition with other schools. I know for I had called up the private golf clubs to arrange for a pre-run before the competition to let the kids at least see the golf course once.
He has audit the golf lessons taken by his kids and supposed to “learn” something from that. Last I golfed with him, he was still a 12-14 index.
loves to watch the golf shows and the videos. He would golf the twilight rate to save money and to spend time with family.
I’m no professional by any means, only been immersed in this game for 4 decades, from playing to dabble on maintaining and repairing golf clubs ( basic stuff).
You’re right about giving advice. He would be the one to make decisions since he would be the one spending the dough and taking the consequences.
Although, he could hit some decent shots with player’s golf club. I believe the game improvement style will be best suited for him, since he is not retired, just yet. not much time to practice and play.
The reason I mentioned “brand” for Hogan, is purely because the name is associated with players synonymously !
We’d automatically assuming we’ll see a player whenever we see “Hogan” irons in someone’s golf bag. Perhaps that was history and “Hogan” is geared toward game improvement style now ?
Not enough “blink” for show and tell comparing to the PXG, where automatically the commercial voice will come into mind when we see the PXG clubs in the bag.
Kind of assuming he will go the PXG route, just curious as what might be the alternative. I have not paid attention to the latest and the newest on the market for quite a few years now.
Thanks for reminding me to leave it to the “pro” to guide my friend for equipment selection.
Now, we just have to find a real pro, not someone who is fairly new in the business and taken a few lessons of equipment and sales. Some of these “pros” can only exercise their talent digitally. Really.
I spent one hour at a local golf academy hitting several clubs with Trackman. My shots were very inconsistent and Trackman showed my strikes were all over the clubface. I am admittedly not very good.
The pro told me to get past my ego and get Super-Game-Improvement clubs (where irons look like small hybrids). Cleveland, Cobra, Wilson and Tour Edge (plus probably others) all have models in this arena. Any one of them would be fine. Buy whichever of them I want. I chose Cleveland and lowered my handicap 6 strokes in a year.
The take-away is not that your friend needs these clubs too. But once he gets informed advice on the TYPE of iron that would be best, he can buy whatever brand’s offering suits his eye and wallet. Once one gets past the marketing baloney, everyone’s clubs in a given segment are very similar.