Irons - Buy New or Regrip?

[HackerNoMore]

I recently retired and started playing golf again.  I am playing with a set ofcallowat big berthas that I bought back in the early 90’s when they were all the rage.  I was advise to buy a new driver and 3 wood, as the technology has advanced so far (amazing what we once thought was a big head).  And I bought my first “hybrid”.  Wow!  Now, i’m Thinking about the irons, but receiving conflicting advice.  Some say the technology on irons hasn’t advance don’t much, just get my berthas re-gripped.  Others say, buy new.  What’s the scoop on irons?

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, HackerNoMore said:

I recently retired and started playing golf again.  I am playing with a set ofcallowat big berthas that I bought back in the early 90’s when they were all the rage.  I was advise to buy a new driver and 3 wood, as the technology has advanced so far (amazing what we once thought was a big head).  And I bought my first “hybrid”.  Wow!  Now, i’m Thinking about the irons, but receiving conflicting advice.  Some say the technology on irons hasn’t advance don’t much, just get my berthas re-gripped.  Others say, buy new.  What’s the scoop on irons?

Welcome to The Sand Trap. The best advice is to regrip your 6 iron then take it to a golf shop and hit it versus other irons. You will get a sense of what is different with newer clubs. There may also be “newer” used clubs to try out. Take note of the shafts on the irons versus your Callaway, as shafts can affect flight and feel as well. 

You are retired so you have some time to be selective.
 

[Piz]

Welcome.  In my opinion it is better to be familiar, and comfortable, with one's irons than it is to achieve greater distance with a particular club.  I do not need, or desire, a 9 iron that goes as far as my current 8 iron.  My oldest set has a 51 degree pigeon wedge in it.  That is 1 degree weaker than the gap wedge in my current (10 year old) set.  Having made the adjustment once...I am not interested in doing it again.  Enough is enough.

That being said...there are reasons for buying newer clubs.  Chief among them is the desire to do so.  If you want a new set...go for it.  At the end of the day it ain't how...it's how many.  However you get there is your call.

[David in FL]

In 30 years, technology in all golf clubs has improved significantly. Equally important, shaft technology has improved with many more options available than ever before.  The 130 gram, stiff, steel shafts that we played 30 years ago, aren’t necessarily what we need/want these days...

If you can afford it, I absolutely recommend beginning the search for a complete new set of clubs.  

Edited December 19, 2020 by David in FL

[chop]

I used to have those graphite Big Bertha irons in firm flex. I liked hitting them but the short irons gave me fits so the next set I bought were the Callaway X14s in steel. Last year I bought a set of Callaway Mavriks in the Elevate95 steel shafts, regular flex and the 8 iron to gap wedge were deadly accurate but I could not hit good shots with the 7 iron to 5 iron. They are D3 swing weight and were just too heavy so I sent them back for a credit. 
Now I'm thinking about the Mavrik short irons with graphite and the Big Bertha B21 iron in 7 through 4 iron in the stock graphite. The Mavs will be D-1 swing weight and the B21s will be D-0. I may not need the 7 iron since the Mavrik 8 iron goes 7 iron distance.