How old are you willing to go for used clubs?

[Lugowskins]

With how fast technology advances how far back are you willing to go for a club? I just bought a set of Titleist 716 AP2s got a good deal on them and they fit my abilities and most importantly my wallet but wondering how old is too old in your opinion?

Edited January 16, 2020 by Lugowskins

[Wally Fairway]

I need to upgrade but the age of my sticks is very old

Irons - 2005 Hogan CFT
Driver - 2015  Callaway XR
3-wood  -2009 Titleist 909
Hybrids - Cleveland Halos (circa 2010-12)
Wedges - Gap???, Sand circa 2000-2004 off brand, 60° Vokey 2012
Putter - 2002 Scotty Newport 2.0 (back up putter - received as a gift - 2018 Taylormade Spyder)

If they work for you they are not too old; as I tell all my friends (none of whom are better than a 5 hdcp) money is better spent on lessons, the range and playing golf and on beverages after the round

Edited January 16, 2020 by Wally Fairway

[Cantankerish]

6 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

If they work for you they are not too old; as I tell all my friends (none of whom are better than a 5 hdcp) money is better spent on lessons, the range and playing golf and on beverages after the round

Thing is, how can any of us know if our clubs are working?  When my attempted 145 yard wedge shot ends up in a greenside bunker is this a mis-hit that would have been compensated for with clubs made after 2003?

How do I know that 180 yards is all I really should get from my 6-iron?

Am I really screwing up my drives that much or am I just mismatched?

 

Questions!

no good answers...

[billchao]

11 minutes ago, Cantankerish said:

When my attempted 145 yard wedge shot ends up in a greenside bunker is this a mis-hit that would have been compensated for with clubs made after 2003?

Stop trying to hit 145 yard wedge shots?

Flight a 9i or something. You might find it easier to control the start line and trajectory that way. Might even improve the quality of contact because you’re making a shorter swing.

[Lugowskins]

19 minutes ago, Cantankerish said:

Thing is, how can any of us know if our clubs are working?  When my attempted 145 yard wedge shot ends up in a greenside bunker is this a mis-hit that would have been compensated for with clubs made after 2003?

How do I know that 180 yards is all I really should get from my 6-iron?

Am I really screwing up my drives that much or am I just mismatched?

 

Questions!

no good answers...

That was my thinking I had been playing Taylormade Burner 2s I'm a fairly long hitter and don't play many long courses so I opted to find a club with more control, spin and consistency over the Burners distance gains (which were mostly due to them messing with the lofts but that's beside the point). I'm just hoping the move actually translates to how I want to play and wondering if I had saved up for a set debuting this year would have been that much more worth it than buying the Titleist set I did which is just about 5 years old. 

[Patch]

I sometimes play with a bag of clubs that are pretty old. They were new, and fitted to me 20 years ago. 

Shoot the same scores with my older clubs that I do with my "not as old" primary set. 

[mcanadiens]

I should have most of you beat.

I've got an original Taylormade Burner Bubble driver that was apparently made the same year I graduated from high school. 

Possible older than that is a Cleveland TA 588 60-degree wedge. Actually have no real idea how old it is, but I'm guessing its older that the driver.

Most of my irons are Spalding Pro Caliber. Not real sure how old these are, but from what I gather, Spalding was out of the golf business by the early 2000s.

The two anomalies in my bag are a Ping K-15 7I and a Tommy Armor GXT SW.

 

[Bonvivant]

My irons/wedges are all older but everything else is new or 1 generation old. I was playing a full set from the 70s up until last year. 

[Beastie]

1 hour ago, Cantankerish said:

Thing is, how can any of us know if our clubs are working?  When my attempted 145 yard wedge shot ends up in a greenside bunker is this a mis-hit that would have been compensated for with clubs made after 2003?

How do I know that 180 yards is all I really should get from my 6-iron?

Am I really screwing up my drives that much or am I just mismatched?

 

Questions!

no good answers...

Gap testing on a launch monitor should go a long way to answering those questions. I did this the other day as a loosener for the upcoming season. My numbers  are on the low side for me, especially in the 3 wood.( but then I haven’t hit a ball for 3 months)  I’ll do it again in March.

Edited January 16, 2020 by Beastie
Speloing

[Lugowskins]

6 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

My irons/wedges are all older but everything else is new or 1 generation old. I was playing a full set from the 70s up until last year. 

It seems like you can get away with older irons but driver tech has come such a long way 

[Bonvivant]

Just now, Lugowskins said:

It seems like you can get away with older irons but driver tech has come such a long way 

Considering I went from persimmon to 2 year old Titleist, I can confirm, lol. My irons from the 70s really aren't that much different from my gamers. The only big difference is that my irons from the 70s had leather cheater grips (flattened on one side near the top of the grip), and I didn't have wedges. 

[boogielicious]

Last season I played Mizuno MP59, which are 2011.

 

 

[Cantankerish]

51 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

Considering I went from persimmon to 2 year old Titleist, I can confirm, lol. My irons from the 70s really aren't that much different from my gamers. The only big difference is that my irons from the 70s had leather cheater grips (flattened on one side near the top of the grip), and I didn't have wedges. 

This is interesting to me.  I mean you got Bonvivant's freakin' ancient probably blades (let's just say they are blades, and that you have been hitting the ball like a real man all this time).  And to be sure, there are more forgiving options these days. But since new club designs are being de-lofted and yet have about the same trajectory due to technology, I have to presume that the lower loft has some sort of advantage.  What is that advantage?  Standard loft clubs are still available, so apparently lower lofts are not an advantage for all.  I got it.  {G.e.t   F.i.t.t.e.d.}  <-- not going to happen any time soon. I am just interested in the idea behind delofting irons.

Is it as simple as helping the ball go up if you catch it thin?

2 hours ago, billchao said:

Stop trying to hit 145 yard wedge shots?

Flight a 9i or something. You might find it easier to control the start line and trajectory that way. Might even improve the quality of contact because you’re making a shorter swing.

It was hypothetical.

[ChetlovesMer]

1 hour ago, mcanadiens said:

I should have most of you beat.

I've got an original Taylormade Burner Bubble driver that was apparently made the same year I graduated from high school. 

Possible older than that is a Cleveland TA 588 60-degree wedge. Actually have no real idea how old it is, but I'm guessing its older that the driver.

Most of my irons are Spalding Pro Caliber. Not real sure how old these are, but from what I gather, Spalding was out of the golf business by the early 2000s.

The two anomalies in my bag are a Ping K-15 7I and a Tommy Armor GXT SW.

 

I'm pretty sure the Taylormade Bubble shaft driver came out in 1995. I remember I wanted one, but they were ridiculously expensive at the time, like $350.00 or something. 

The Cleveland 588 wedge came out in like 2009 or 2010 I think. I remember adding a 588 to my bag the first year or so they came out. 

How do you like the Tommy Armor SW? I've never used any Tommy Armor product. 

[pganapathy]

Considering I am playing a set of clubs that is approximately 15 years old, and I haven't actively looked at changing it, I would say 5 to 10 year old clubs shouldn't be too much of an issue.  No doubt, better and newer clubs will be better, but I honestly feel I am not losing too much given I play once a week at best.

[mitchxout]

I felt I needed to try graphite shafted irons to dampen the shock to my old body. Recently, I found a set of original Tommy Armour 845s in a barrel at Play It Again Sports. The clubs were average condition but I only paid $2.99 each. Since the graphite irons have been working out so well I also bought  a couple graphite shafted Callaway Warbird fairway woods. These clubs are all 20-25 years old 

[Bonvivant]

23 minutes ago, Cantankerish said:

This is interesting to me.  I mean you got Bonvivant's freakin' ancient probably blades (let's just say they are blades, and that you have been hitting the ball like a real man all this time).  And to be sure, there are more forgiving options these days. But since new club designs are being de-lofted and yet have about the same trajectory due to technology, I have to presume that the lower loft has some sort of advantage.  What is that advantage?  Standard loft clubs are still available, so apparently lower lofts are not an advantage for all.  I got it.  {G.e.t   F.i.t.t.e.d.}  <-- not going to happen any time soon. I am just interested in the idea behind delofting irons.

Is it as simple as helping the ball go up if you catch it thin?

They are blades, but so are my new(ish) clubs that are in my description. I believe the loft on my Nikes is very similar to the Sam Snead Blue Ridge set that I was playing with. What is interesting is that Ping Eye 2s are even weaker than these blade sets that I have played with all my life.

A bit on de-lofting: There are a couple of reasons that I think that modern manufacturers continue to go stronger and stronger with lofts. The first reason is just numbers that feed the male ego. If you were hitting your 7 iron from 2006 let's say 140 yards, and then you go to buy clubs or get fitted and you get on a trackman and see that this new 7 iron in whatever set it may be goes 155 yards for you, it makes you inclined to buy, even if you aren't gaining anything, with the exception of a shorter length club going the same distance.

Another reason for the de-lofting is that SGI, and GI irons tend to get the ball up quicker due to where the weight is in the clubhead, M.O.I., and all that other tech stuff. This is all fine and good and maybe a reason to switch for some.

I always thought it was funny when I see people that only have 5 or 6 iron as their longest iron in the bag, but then I looked at the specs on some of these sets, and the 5 iron loft was literally identical to my 3 iron. Obviously hybrids have made a large shift in what people do at the top of their bag. To me, lofts are personal preference as long as your gapping is manageable. For me the largest gap comes in between my driver and 4 wood, but I may switch the head out on that to a 15 degree instead of a 16.5 at some point. That gap really doesn't bother me. What I really like about my gapping comes at the bottom of my bag. My PW is 49 degrees which gaps really nicely with my 53 degree wedge, and though I hardly ever play full shots with my 58 degree (or any shots for that matter), it gaps nicely too if I decide to use it.

In conclusion, getting fitted is obviously best for immediate results, i.e. tighter dispersion (both laterally and distance wise), but isn't necessary to enjoy the game. I love the challenge (and the looks too of course) that blades present, and even though it hurts sometimes, I love the feedback I get from the blades. I don't often hit out of the toe or heel with my irons, and I attribute that to only really using blades my whole life. I learned to be accurate laterally on the club face at a young age, and was lucky to not lose it after taking a long break from the game (6 rounds or so between ages 21 to 30).

Now if I could just stop hitting fat/thin shots, I'd be in business......