What Golf Equipment Helped You the Most?

[stealthhwk]

The hybrids are much easier for me to hit, especially out of the rough.  3H is 19* and 4H is 22*....same club head....same shaft.

I know my results will vary but how much more distance do u get from ur 3 vs ur 4?

[RH31]

I know my results will vary but how much more distance do u get from ur 3 vs ur 4?

I hit the 3H about 205 and the 4H about 190.....so 15 yards give or take.

[stealthhwk]

I hit the 3H about 205 and the 4H about 190.....so 15 yards give or take.

Fantastic. I hit my 4 190 so a 3 should be very close to the 205 ur getting.

[HackerBill123]

When I was first learning the golf swing the orange whip was by far the best training aid because it really helps your body to learn the golf swing. Now the best training aid I have is a maxfli australian blade one iron. It helps me with tempo and timing as well as ball striking accuracy. The better I get at hitting it the easier all my clubs are to hit. I would have to say it has cured my overswinging problem.

[bernie]

I would say it wasn't equipment that helped most but rather slowing my club head speed down a little. Less spin and less slicing.

[DrvFrShow]

Bushnell Z6 Jolt.

Adding long irons to the bag.

[dave s]

I think another greatly under rated benefit of the range finder for a mid to high handicapper is the ability to see the green and approach area through the scope.  It was like having the ability to walk up and check out the green and approach areas, and let you truly see what you are trying to avoid and where you want to be.

Exactly!  I wasn't sure many others scoped the surrounding areas like I do.  I've told several guys I play with that I also look for green contours to estimate where a longer shot might roll out to and aim according.  Now, it's 'hey, let me use your range-finder' all the time!  I'll also look at the 'bad miss' spots and adjust for things like that as well.  Back left pin tucked over bunkers and areas sloping away from green will definitely change the shot played.

Good points.

dave

[rusty35]

couple of years ago, I picked up a set of titleist 775cb irons and thought I was hitting them a ton, esp the short irons.  When I looked up the spec sheet, i realized that the PW is only 45`.  This caused the difference between my gap wedge and the PW to be far too large to be comfortable, so I went out and found the A Wedge that matched the rest of my irons and i love it.  I realized that I was becoming far to reliant on the PW from everywhere inside of 135yards, now I have an additional lofted club that looks exactly the same, with extra loft, that I can trust 100%.

[JonMA1]

The Mizuno jpx-850 iron set I purchased before this season. If I were a better writer/player, I'd write a review on these (if asked).

I'm not much on physics or engineering, so beyond reciting Mizuno's advertising about the thinner face, larger sweet spot, lower center of gravity, higher moment of inertia, perimeter weighting... etc., I don't know why these clubs are better than the Adams A-4's I was using previously. All I know is that I can hit a shot that feels lousy (toe or heel) and still get almost the same distance as when I hit one pure. Getting predictable distance is very important to keeping lower scores, IMO.

[Righty to Lefty]

Grip one Non tapered golf grips since my bottom hand is my dominant hand and taper grips just made me have to work so hard to maintain grip pressure.  I will play these $2.35 grips for the rest of my life.

Wilson FG Tour X golf ball...the best ball I have ever put a club on.  I hate that Wilson stopped making them so  when my 22 dozen stash is done I will be slightly depressed because I was getting them for 18 bucks a dozen.

Hotmelt:  Toe weighting my driver, woods, and hybrids, all but eliminated their hook tendencies, freeing up my swing, it allowed me to get my swingweights where I prefer them up in the E2- E8 range.

Playing 100 plus rounds with a former touring pro over a 6 month span: This should be first on the list because it showed me how to attack a golf course and the consistency and temperament of a pro from day to day.  It showed me that the swing wasn't the reason he was so good....it was his ability to repeatedly set up perfectly to the ball day in and day out. His game was not much different than mine....until we got into the 175-250 yards shots where he could still beat the flag down and I was just trying to hit the green.  Best six months of my golfing life thusfar.

[tony21]

Finally getting lessons I feel is what attributed most to improving my scores. I'm swinging much more consistent and playing smarter...not to often I go for it from 240 out on a par five, I realized its better for me to take a birdie 60-70% of the time or at least par instead of an eagle 10-15% of the time to a probable bogey. Secondly allignment sticks and drills everyday before work got me consistent with my irons. I've golfed with my dad at outings for years but I've only been golfing seriously for 2 years, but I am really enjoying the sport and enjoy getting better round by round, so with such a limited background its hard to say equipment wise if something helped but I know for sure the cobra cell driver I won last year hits much further than my "rippa" whoever makes them lol.

[onthehunt526]

Upgrading my entire set this year, really helped a lot... My $30 putter is a little temperamental at times but it has helped immensely... I do wanna get a back-up of the same putter, however.

[isukgolf]

My new ball retriever ... the thing reaches like 12 ft now.:-) Actually learning the benefit of getting fitted to a club. I LOVE my Edel Putter. While the most expensive club in my bag, I love putting now. (Aim point also helped)

[uitar9]

Getting fitted

Bought irons and wedges built and fitted for me

Lessons

buying An S1

then playing 45 rounds this year plus 20 times at the range/greens

Finally starting to "feel" the shot

[vangator]

My new ball retriever ... the thing reaches like 12 ft now.:-) Actually learning the benefit of getting fitted to a club. I LOVE my Edel Putter. While the most expensive club in my bag, I love putting now. (Aim point also helped)

I've got a 25 foot ball retriever! Bought it in Myrtle beach in 1977. Had it regripped a few times (not really).

[Moppy]

Easy, Slice Eliminator. I used to take practice swings in the yard without it, and they were making matters worse. I started always taking practice swings with it, and my slice is all but gone. I still do it if for some reason I forget myself and try to drive it a mile. I had to put in my time with it though. I practice with it sometimes with the orange whip too, two things in one.

[WUTiger]

As I got older I lost some swing speed. Thus I also don't hit the ball as high as I need with my mid to long irons. ...

Sounds like my story... I played stiff shafts - including heavy ones in irons until I was 58 - about 5 years too long. I was losing distance on irons, and starting to "scoop" the longer clubs to help get ball aloft.

Moving to lighter, R-flex shafts in irons and woods helped out most.

Also, I reworked my "bridge clubs"... went to 4W and 7W for better launch, and replaced the 3i/4i with a 4H.

Yesterday, I acted on my hybrid testing of the past summer. I traded in an Adams.V4 4H for a Cobra FlyZ 4H. Odd changeout: went from 60 gram, R-flex Bassara in V4 to 75-gram L-flex Matrix VLCT Altus-H in FlyZ.

FlyZ has square face, feels smoother, and really jumps through ball at impact. More weight + softer flex - but it works.

Seven years after the big switchout, I may need a full launch-monitor refit to see just where I am in shaft needs.

[Pretzel]

When I got my first full set of clubs I had a fairly average swing speed of around 95 miles per hour. This put me in regular flex shafts in all of clubs, from driver through to my wedges (which only came in stiff flex). Fast forward three years and I had gained swing speed to begin to average 110 miles per hour of clubhead speed with a 6-iron speed of 92 MPH, which put me in between a stiff and an x-stiff shaft (at least according to the Mizuno Shaft Optimizer based on my violent swing characteristics). Swapping out my driver, 3-wood, and hybrids for x-stiff Proforce V2 shafts and my irons to Stiff KBS Tour shafts (the two shafts I had tested in the store that provided the best results for me on similar clubs to mine) ended up seeing me lower my handicap from around a 7 to a 1.7 or so over the course of a summer.

Getting new shafts that fit my swing helped to tighten up my dispersion, which in turn led to more GIR and lower scores. I did get new irons, however, and was unable to get the KBS shafts in them for a number of reasons. My next golf purchase will be to reshaft my irons I purchased last summer with KBS shafts to match what I used to have (but in extra stiff this time, my driver clubhead speed has since jumped to 118 and my 5-iron to 96).