Getting back into golf, need equipment advise!

[lionelb]

Hi,

First post in a golf forum in a very long time.... Some background I stopped playing golf around 8 years ago. Now my son is 14 and likes Golf so I got back into it to play with him. I am getting hooked again...

When I stopped I was an 8 handicap. I am 41 and 6'5". My bag looks like this right now:

- Titleist 976R driver, titleist stock shaft regular
- Taylor Made raylor 4 wood 16deg, TM stock shaft regular
- Titleist 962: 2 iron to SW (custom order, Dynalite S300 shafts, +1inch shaft, +2deg lie)
- Ping Answer putter

I have looked around in golf shops and I am planing the following upgrades:

1) Buy new SW (56 deg), and Gap wedge (52deg), put the same shaft as my other irons and same lie angle. I am leaning toward Titleist Vokey wedge there. Reason for the upgrade is that I lost my 52deg gap wedge right before I stopped playing.... so right now I go from my PW 48deg to my SW 56deg.... This gap wedge was one of my favorite club, as I cannot get new 962s anymore I would rather also change the SW at the same time.

2) New driver.... I have hit a few 460cc drivers in the store. I liked the Ping G10, the Callaway FT-5 and the Titleist D2 the most. I would need shaft recommendations there. I have a low ball flight so I might need something that people who like Dynalite steel shafts in their irons like in their drivers.... The shaft choices are a bit overwhelming!

The reason to upgrade the driver is that it seems that much progress has been made. Even though when I chose my previous driver I preferred a smaller head. So getting used to 460cc coming from 210cc might be challenging...

3) Maybe a new 3 wood once I get used to the new driver to match it. But I would do that in a second step.

4) Maybe some sort of hybrid to replace my 2 iron, in a third step.

5) I have no plans to change my irons. Always liked them a lot and when I looked at what is out there today it did not seem to have changed that much. But I would be interested to hear feedback on people who switched from 962s.

6) Putter seems also pretty good for now...

Would appreciate some feedback on the above. In particular on the short term custom ordered wedges and the driver shaft.

Thanks in advance.

[DDBowdoin]

welcome back to this great game...

driver: it's really difficult to honestly assess or refer anything to anyone without seeing their swing. if you live in an area where demo clubs are readily available just demo the hell out of clubs. this way you'll have first hand experience with different shaft/ loft combinations and will be able to make a decision from there. remember to try everything you can get your hands on, don't be to quick to make a decision. This is how you end up having to go back and buy another stick, losing valuable green fee's money for making quick, impulsive decisions. I am of course not one to talk as I have a lot of clubs and waste a lot of my hard earned money.

wedges: again, tough to give advice because many courses do not offer demo wedges, at least around here they don't. Whatever you decide on I always suggest purchasing and carrying wedges from the same manufacturer, this helps you have a consistent feel throughout your wedges...

[lionelb]

I will certainly try as much clubs and shaft combination. I would be interested to find out from people who used the same clubs I did (976R, 962s) and their experience switching to new equipement.

I anticipate that irons today are not that different that my 962s. Steel iron shafts are also the same from what I can tell.

On the driver side things are different it seems. I still like my 976R driver and hit it OK. But it seems that a newer driver will certainly add some distance and would be easier to hit. The 976R is not particularly forgiving...

[lionelb]

Some update as I am just coming back from a driver fitting at the range... I am zooming in on the G10, I like the way it looks. According to the pro I need 10.5*, UST V2 high launch in stiff. I preferred the UST over the Ping shaft. I also liked an Aldilda with also a lower kickpoint.

I am not too surprised as it matches my iron shaft specs with a lower kick point and a stiff shaft. Club speed was around 100mph and launch angle between 10 and 12 most of the time.

I was expecting to see a much higher trajectory that I got.

Still not decided on shaft lenght. It comes with 45.75 which is pretty long compared to my existing 44". I might go for 45".

[mdr226]

if i cud get all new clubs i wud get either taylormade or titliest woods and hybrids....mizuno or titleist irons.....titleist wedges....and a titleist putter

[TCCcaddie]

If you are looking for a hybrid the Taylor Made Rescue mids i think are the best hybrids that they have made. You can still find them new for around 100 bucks each. If you have the 16 deg 4 wood and want to keep it i would suggest getting a 19 deg 3 hybrid to dome after that and if you want to not use a 3 iron during your comeback then you can get a 22 deg 4 hybrid to replace that.