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kennysarmy

kennysarmy

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I'm looking to upgrade my 10+ year old Mizuno MX-20's with something newer.

Off to a demo day at American Golf (Hambrook) next Saturday to try some clubs out alongside mine.

TaylorMade M2 Tour or Titleist AP2 perhaps.

Question.

Has anyone upgraded recently from an old set to a newer one and what were your experiences in terms of forgiveness and any extra distance?
 
I am still using the set of Orlimar irons which I bought off Golfbidder back in 2005, and they still feel good, although I don't hit as many balls as I used to.
When I compare the Orlimars against much newr clubs from Mizuno, Callaway, Taylormade and the like, the Orlimars are straighter and longer.
I have a mint condition set of Mizuno TP Original blades, but you need to be a pro to get the best out of them.

I don't know if you have seen this already, they seem like a really nice club.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il-R1FPlB4I
 
I guess to some extent it depends on the level that you are playing at, I went to my my local shop and tried half a dozen different clubs on the flightscope, took the one that was giving me the best results and then got properly fitted. I ended up with AP 1's, but to be honest I think that the "game improvement" clubs are much of a muchness across all of the manufacturers.

I know it's nice to have shiny new kit, but you can't buy a good game, I know this from experience. My club pro told me that the easiest way to increase distance is to swing the club properly and faster. Easy for him to say, He's not fat and fifty and sat behind a desk all day.

Anyway, whatever you end up with I hope they serve you well.
 
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zlinuk said:
I guess to some extent it depends on the level that you are playing at, I went to my my local shop and tried half a dozen different clubs on the flightscope, took the one that was giving me the best results and then got properly fitted. I ended up with AP 1's, but to be honest I think that the "game improvement" clubs are much of a muchness across all of the manufacturers.

I know it's nice to have shiny new kit, but you can't buy a good game, I know this from experience. My club pro told me that the easiest way to increase distance is to swing the club properly and faster. Easy for him to say, He's not fat and fifty and sat behind a desk all day.

Anyway, whatever you end up with I hope they serve you well.
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This is the truest thing about any sport, but particularly ones where the kit is constantly changing, and the manufacturers make all these outrageous claims.
The best ways to get your scores down are - take a few lessons from a club pro and listen to what they say. Hit lots of balls down the range, but remember that practice doesn't make perfect - it makes permanent.
 
Totally agree, but!

Club technology does advance, maybe not so much in distance for irons (the distance gain claims being mostly down to cranking the lofts) but I do believe the clubs have become more forgiving - how many tour pros now don't play blades - and I'm talking about the big names who won't be forced to play a particular type of sponsored club as they have enough clout!
 
I don't play anymore, but I hear that Cleveland wedges are really good. Apparently Srixon, who own Cleveland, do wedge only deals with players who prefer them to their main sponsor's.

Srixon balls are supposed to be great too.
 
These are the same irons as I use at the moment. You don't see them very often in the UK.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=o...metal+irons&tbm=shop&spd=11432060112620119468

They are a kind of "game improvement" iron, but have quite small heads and a thin top line which I like. I use a "Cleveland" style sand wedge and lob wedge, which are both a traditional blade style, but the heads are softer than the Orlimars, so good for touch around the greens.
 
If you are serious about getting into single figures, work on the short game.. Any muppet can knock it 250+ off the tee, but most shots played from 100 yds in, so decent wedges, I have vokeys, and a decent putter will see the scores tumble.

Another thing lots of people seem to do is hit up to the pin, when often there is space behind, hit it long and spin it back... no point hitting to it and spining back unless you like long putting.
 
I would add that you should always play to your strengths, rather than experimenting on the course. If your natural shot is a draw, then play to that, and realise that you will be hitting shots from the middle to left of the fairway (for a right hander), if you fade, then you will be playing into the green from the middle to right of the fairway. By hitting what you know, you effectively blank out trouble on one side of the course. Going on from what Lynton said, I used to hit a third of my shots up the range with the wedges - pitching, sand and lob, whilst others were blasting their driver all along the back fence. I used to hit ten to fifteen shots with the driver in a session. I also used the rescure/hybrid clubs to practice long approaches, because I felt they were more accurate than long irons.
Years ago, I used to go out on a local course late in the evening and do nine holes using just a six iron, which was great practice for hitting different shots.
 
Nice knock this morning off the yellow tees.

3 over front nine
5 over back

79 less 10 for 69 and two under nett.

Missed two shortish putts too :(

Hopefully with some irons that are more forgiving and some lessons over the winter I can get that handicap down to single figures!
 
kennysarmy said:
Nice knock this morning off the yellow tees.

3 over front nine
5 over back

79 less 10 for 69 and two under nett.

Missed two shortish putts too :(

Hopefully with some irons that are more forgiving and some lessons over the winter I can get that handicap down to single figures!
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I once used a system which gave me a lot of confidence, and lowered my scores on one course in Kent, it was called "eclectic scoring". I f you play one course regularly, then you record your best scores on each hole over a number of weeks or months. This gives you an idea of your potential on the course. You then take the best score on each hole over the period and work out your round score based on that. Once I had done that, I soon broke 80 quite easily and was scoring in the low seventies on a regular basis.
I have never played handicap golf, except for two tournaments back in the eighties, when someone decided that I would play off 10 handicap, and I won a competition at Princes in the morniong and afternoon rounds. The powers that be only allowed me to keep the prize for the morning round - a pair of lead crystal whisky tumblers.
 
I'm going to start this with "I'm not a golfer but".............

When I was younger I was interested in getting into golf, a lot of the guys I played cricket with played golf and due to the distance I could hit a cricket ball they suggested golf might be worth considering :LOL:

I bought a second hand set of clubs and headed to the driving range where I soon became frustrated trying to use a driver as I could rarely get it off the ground. One of the old boys I played cricket with watched what I was doing and said I was trying to cover drive a gold ball :LOL:

Anyway, late one sad, lonely Saturday night, I saw an infomercial for "Dalton McCrary's - Hit a golf ball as straight as you can point GUARANTEED" videos (yes videos, it was that long ago) which were around £60 and I figured worth a shout as that's only a couple of golf lessons. Watched the videos over a few nights, went to the driving range and within a few balls I was pining balls straight and between the 200-250 yard marker!!!! The technique he showed was REALLY REALLY easy to replicate and seemed a lot simpler than anything I'd been shown before.

That's not why I mention the videos though...... one thing Dalton labored in his videos was about having the right clubs for you and he reckoned "off the shelf" clubs wouldn't be suitable for 80% of the population based on height. He recommended that "2 degree upright" was the optimal shaft angle and he'd noticed this when he was playing a ball on a slope and he managed to dig his club into the turf!

So as much as newer club technology *can* help with accuracy and distance, you still need the right clubs for your frame and a sound technique for getting the best out of them (although a with a 10 handicap the technique must be pretty good ;) )

I was also introduced to the saying "Driving's for show, putting's for dough" which is more or less what Lynton's already said :)

I'd love to play golf, or at least give it a fair go but sadly time and more importantly funds are lacking :(
 
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When I purchased the Orlimar irons (they were about £90 so not exactly breasking the bank), I went down the local range and hit a few balls in front of one of the pros down there. I immediately said that the grips felt a little thin, so we decided that we would have them regripped with Golf Pride half cord grips in the midsize (my wedges already had these grips). He also suggested that we shorten the shafts by around 5mm on each club because I was a little too upright. The whole lot cost around £40, and I honestly cannot see myself getting rid of these irons, they just feel so good.
I haven't watched many golf videos (never bought one), but I have read several golf instruction books, and the best one by far was "Six days to better golf" "The swing's the thing", which is by two American dudes called Harry Obitz and Dick Farley. They teach the pure swinging method, where brute strength, leverage and taking giant divots ar all kicked into touch. It is all about learning the true swing, along with timing and hand speed.
 
Maybe a bit late but ....

My advice if you are serious about improving your game is to get your clubs custom fit by a proper fitter. Titleist definitely do this and I believe Ping and Callaway do too. They will fit for loft & lie, shaft length, shaft flex and kick point, grip taper and thickness as well as the right type of club head (cavity/blade etc) ... You CAN be using the wrong equipment in golf which WILL impair your game. Titleist will also fit you for shoes too ...
 
Just as a footnote, last time I went for clubs I had still current clubs including the driver. The new driver went another 25 yards and I was 15% more accurate with it ... the biggest difference I've found with the irons though was accuracy and better "miss-hits" ... any distance gains were usually relatively small, e.g. 5 yards with a 5 iron - not to be sniffed at, but better distance control allows you to score lower.

As for wedges, Vokey all the way :)
 
Nice set Jeff, good looking clubs.
You have a 4 iron, then fairway woods - no rescue/hybrid clubs?
I just ask, because much as I love fairway woods, their ball flight tends to be quite high, and my rescue clubs hit the ball much lower, and are less affected by wind.
 
andy700 said:
Nice set Jeff, good looking clubs.
You have a 4 iron, then fairway woods - no rescue/hybrid clubs?
I just ask, because much as I love fairway woods, their ball flight tends to be quite high, and my rescue clubs hit the ball much lower, and are less affected by wind.
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I've never really got on with them, admittedly I've not tried one for a few years but I hit my low irons sweet with a little draw and found hybrids hook monsters....
 
Second 18 holes with the new sticks today.

34pts off the yellow tees, not too bad as the greens weren't the best and a couple of errant tee shots cost me making 36!

Shotgun start and started on the 15th, had a great start with stableford points 2,3,2,4,3!
 
Appreciate that this is pretty late as you've already made a purchase, in terms of knocking that figure into single digits, I would thoroughly recommend a putter fitting/lesson. Knowing your lie/path/impact figures will probably give you a vastly different picture to how you putt currently. Definitely worth the money as I've seen it knock an average of 4/5 strokes off of average scores over a period of time!
 
Andrew Mclean said:
Appreciate that this is pretty late as you've already made a purchase, in terms of knocking that figure into single digits, I would thoroughly recommend a putter fitting/lesson. Knowing your lie/path/impact figures will probably give you a vastly different picture to how you putt currently. Definitely worth the money as I've seen it knock an average of 4/5 strokes off of average scores over a period of time!
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My only word of caution with this is that putting for some is purely a "feel" type technique - if they start to analyse what and why, paths/impacts etc they forget all about feel and their putting can (and did in my case) go to ratsh*t. If you are the mechanical sort of putter then go for it, I have seen it improve peoples putting, but it isn't for everyone. I'd apply the same argument to short game "lessons" etc, whilst mechanics are important, feel in some cases is more so.

Jeff, you are really making me want to join a club and get going again, thank you :)
 
PaulButler said:
My only word of caution with this is that putting for some is purely a "feel" type technique - if they start to analyse what and why, paths/impacts etc they forget all about feel and their putting can (and did in my case) go to ratsh*t. If you are the mechanical sort of putter then go for it, I have seen it improve peoples putting, but it isn't for everyone. I'd apply the same argument to short game "lessons" etc, whilst mechanics are important, feel in some cases is more so.

Jeff, you are really making me want to join a club and get going again, thank you :)
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Absolutely, not for everyone, but I would suggest at the very least spend some time trying out different putters, blade/mallet/two-ball etc all offer a different feel which as you say can make all the difference!
 
Andrew Mclean said:
Absolutely, not for everyone, but I would suggest at the very least spend some time trying out different putters, blade/mallet/two-ball etc all offer a different feel which as you say can make all the difference!
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I recently upgraded my putter from :

pingbig.gif


To

Odyssey-Big-T-2.png



and I find the face stays a lot squarer through the stroke - I'm missing a lot fewer 2-4 footers....
 
Andrew Mclean said:
Absolutely, not for everyone, but I would suggest at the very least spend some time trying out different putters, blade/mallet/two-ball etc all offer a different feel which as you say can make all the difference!
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Over the years I tried quite a few putters and you are right, feel is everything with a putter. I sold all my clubs except for my putter! That stays :)
 
kennysarmy said:
It's very easy to align...

And hopefully after my lesson last night I can sort out the weakness in my game which is hitting only about 50% of fairways with the driver.
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Yep, looks as though it is, mine is too, (scotty cameron futura - ugly looking beast but feels great ...). I watched your video, my old coach used to say you'd "ring the bell" on the down stroke as in pulling down on the rope! I guess it depends on how much from the inside you'd like to hit from, that can bring it's own downfalls. I used to be very much from the inside which allowed me to hit raking draws, but when it went wrong I either hit massive hooks or blocked it right. Eventually developed a gentle fade which became more reliable the harder I hit the ball which suits my temperament.
 
PaulButler said:
Yep, looks as though it is, mine is too, (scotty cameron futura - ugly looking beast but feels great ...). I watched your video, my old coach used to say you'd "ring the bell" on the down stroke as in pulling down on the rope! I guess it depends on how much from the inside you'd like to hit from, that can bring it's own downfalls. I used to be very much from the inside which allowed me to hit raking draws, but when it went wrong I either hit massive hooks or blocked it right. Eventually developed a gentle fade which became more reliable the harder I hit the ball which suits my temperament.
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A gentle fade would suit me fine :D

Aim down the left and fade it back to the middle or right side at worst...
 
Yep, having a reliable "shape" makes the fairway wider. As you say aim down the left, if it goes straight you are on the fairway, if it fades normally then in the middle, if you over cook it a bit then on the right edge. Mind you nothing helps with a wild one ;)

Just looked at two clubs locally, will pop along to them later but suspect my good lady wife will prefer the inland one (fortunately it is cheaper). See what you've started?:p
 
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