Tour Issue

[TCCcaddie]

I'm thinking about buying a new hybrid and I'm pretty sure the club for me is the Taylor Made TP rescue. Im looking around trying to find it on on eBay for cheap when some thing caught my eye. I saw the club in the loft I was looking for but it said that it was a Tour Issue club and was a very rare HC model and that is not for sale retail.

I'm wondering what is the difference between the HC TP model and the regular TP. If anyone knows i would need the help because i know the pros get better versions of clubs and prototypes and i was wondering what the difference was.

[golf_junkie27]

If you can get your hands on a tour issued item, do so. It's a purchase you won't regret. The major difference is that these are items that have been tweaked for the exact swing of the golfer. The faces are generally set to zero, many driver heads are "hot melted", making them heavier and resulting in the ball exploding off the club face. These clubs have been weighed and measured to an exact number, etc.

I've been trying to find a Titleist Prototype driver head at a reasonable price. However, $1500 is not reasonable.

Good luck with the purchase.

[GOLFSALOT00]

if its gonna be used on tour its probaly better than almost anything on the market

[Laxplayer201092]

I would do it.

My friend has a tour issue R7 460 with an X shaft.

the face is alot different, it sounds almost like a square driver at impact (alot louder/hotter) they are really good clubs. If you decide the pros specs werent comprable to yours you can always ebay them for a good price and get a stock one.

All in all a very sound investment.

[iacas]

I would do it.

And TaylorMade will tell you that the pros get the same exact equipment as everyone else. They have the option of testing 20 or 30 of them first, sure, but they're the same clubheads you can buy off the shelf.

Titleist, Callaway, etc. will tell you the same, too. There are a lot of people out there who put faith in "tour issue" stuff, but frankly, I think those who peddle in that arena are ripping people off. The only one that I might grant issue with is tour-issue putters, because at least those are "collectible" and retain their value, even if you use 'em a little. They're often customized (with stamps if nothing else), too.

[rycur12]

I have a Taylormade TP Rescue 19* with a stiff steel shaft and I am thinking about selling it. If your interested PM me.

[golf_junkie27]

Erik

How much validity do you put in clubheads that are a certain degree which are unavailable in stores? Online?

I'll give you an example. I've seen Taylormade heads that are 9* or 7.5* that are not sold in stores. Do you think these are fake?

What about items that are not sold, like the 907D4? Do you think it's not a worthwhile pursuit?

[iacas]

How much validity do you put in clubheads that are a certain degree which are unavailable in stores? Online?

That's just the loft, though. Tiger has a 7.5 degree driver that you can't buy, but it's made the same as everything else. Nike just doesn't want to sell the average golfer a 7.5 degree driver. It wouldn't make sense to produce a bunch of 7.5 degree heads, because Tiger worshippers would buy it, suck more than they do now (we all suck compared to Tiger), and so on.

Additionally, pros have those 30+ heads to choose from. They might all be marked 9.5 degrees, but they're consistent enough that the difference between one head at 9.4 degrees and one at 9.25 or whatever matters to them. They'll hit several balls with the 30+ heads and find the one whose loft is the best fit. Pros have a leg up on us in terms of fitting, but I believe TaylorMade, Callaway, Titleist, etc. when they say that their "tour-issue" clubs are nothing different than what we can buy in stores. "Prototypes" and other clubs not made available at retail (like all-GSS putters from Cameron, Tiger's irons, etc.) are another story altogether, of course.

What about items that are not sold, like the 907D4? Do you think it's not a worthwhile pursuit?

I think it was a failure on the Tour and there's a very good reason Titleist didn't bring it to market. I think pursuit of a 907D4 is pointless, particularly given the clubs you can probably expect in August/September.

[golf_junkie27]

Thanks for the detailed information. Greatly appreciated.

[glebert]

Then again if you get a really good deal on something that is Tour, it can kind of make it more special. I picked up a preowned Bridgestone J33 3w with Speeder 757 shaft for a song at golfgalaxy, and after I bought it realized it doesn't have a serial number. Is it Tour? I don't know, but I tell myself it is. It just makes it sweeter (and it is pretty sweet already).

[TCCcaddie]

I just got the TP Rescue 3 HC model for about 110, which is a good price for the club regardless of whether or not its tour issue, and i just found our that there is a difference between that and the retail TP rescue. The center of gravity is moved higher and it has a more nuetral bias than the fade bias the normal TP rescue.