Cheap Club-Ho in Denial. Need Help!

[onthehunt526]

Agreed, stick with what you have for a bit, get some lessons, as your game improves, get fit for something that will last a while... 

@SavvySwede stated Drivers are usually a 2 year change.

irons are typically 5 or 6 years

wedges when the grooves wear out... (its about 150 rounds typically sometimes more)

Fairway woods typically stay in the bag the longest.

and Putters well whenever... (I'm paraphrasing)

I personally just spent $2k on fitted equipment. (Though I really wanted an Edel putter fitting, might have to go see Erik for that)...

But you are a beginner, as time progresses and you're scores improve, It will be time for you to get fitted for new clubs.

[dave s]

Every 3-4 years, I drop a bunch of money on new gear.  Each time, I hear my dad's voice ringing the same truth we all know about spending money on new equipment:  "Son, it's not the club, it's the guy swinging it."  Truth.  Learn how to hit the ball first and the rest will take care of itself.

dave

[9wood]

On 1/7/2016 at 0:48 PM, sirhacksalot said:

 due to craigslist and ebay, I have changed clubs quite a lot.  

Ready for another change? If so I would like to sell you some clubs.

[Lilfrier]

9 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

Agreed, stick with what you have for a bit, get some lessons, as your game improves, get fit for something that will last a while... 

@SavvySwede stated Drivers are usually a 2 year change.

irons are typically 5 or 6 years

wedges when the grooves wear out... (its about 150 rounds typically sometimes more)

Fairway woods typically stay in the bag the longest.

and Putters well whenever... (I'm paraphrasing)

I personally just spent $2k on fitted equipment. (Though I really wanted an Edel putter fitting, might have to go see Erik for that)...

But you are a beginner, as time progresses and you're scores improve, It will be time for you to get fitted for new clubs.

What is it about wedges that are so different from irons, with regards to replacements? It sounds like a wedge is lucky to have half the shelf life of an iron. Does this apply to when you're using wedges from the same iron set? Why are they so in need or being replaced, just because they are usually being hit more in a round that they experience more wear, or is it that the groove quality on irons is less important because you're not trying to be as precise with shots from farther out and on a wider variety of surfaces?

My PW definitely gets the most work out of any club in my bag, but that's a failure of mine to get my other wedges upgraded. If I do that, then my 5i might become my most-used club, if I divide my wedge work between 2-3 wedges, where as I don't have too many chances to use any iron buy my 5i (my 5 wood's probably most-used overall, but it's getting replaced soon).

[vangator]

I've tried a bunch of different putters, but I keep going back to the one I built in the 80's.

[onthehunt526]

10 hours ago, Lilfrier said:

What is it about wedges that are so different from irons, with regards to replacements? It sounds like a wedge is lucky to have half the shelf life of an iron. Does this apply to when you're using wedges from the same iron set? Why are they so in need or being replaced, just because they are usually being hit more in a round that they experience more wear, or is it that the groove quality on irons is less important because you're not trying to be as precise with shots from farther out and on a wider variety of surfaces?

My PW definitely gets the most work out of any club in my bag, but that's a failure of mine to get my other wedges upgraded. If I do that, then my 5i might become my most-used club, if I divide my wedge work between 2-3 wedges, where as I don't have too many chances to use any iron buy my 5i (my 5 wood's probably most-used overall, but it's getting replaced soon).

You would figure because you hit more shots close to the green than any other shot, (within ~60 yards), You will wear out your wedges faster... technically by the USGA's definition, wedges are irons... but most golfers categorize them differently. Also you'd figure there are for argument's sake twice as many "irons" as "wedges" (some players play a more irons than that, but we'll go with that ratio)... Say you play 5-PW, 50°, 56°, 60°, your Pitching wedge is designed as part of the iron set. 

Your wedges will see more work as a higher handicap any way, because a higher handicap player doesn't hit a lot of GIR, so they are scrambling for par, bogey, double, etc. So that's why the shelf life of wedges, is half of irons, and sometimes less than half... Some pros have 3 or 4 sets of the same wedges, to switch out to slow groove wear.

[Lilfrier]

10 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

You would figure because you hit more shots close to the green than any other shot, (within ~60 yards), You will wear out your wedges faster... technically by the USGA's definition, wedges are irons... but most golfers categorize them differently. Also you'd figure there are for argument's sake twice as many "irons" as "wedges" (some players play a more irons than that, but we'll go with that ratio)... Say you play 5-PW, 50°, 56°, 60°, your Pitching wedge is designed as part of the iron set. 

Your wedges will see more work as a higher handicap any way, because a higher handicap player doesn't hit a lot of GIR, so they are scrambling for par, bogey, double, etc. So that's why the shelf life of wedges, is half of irons, and sometimes less than half... Some pros have 3 or 4 sets of the same wedges, to switch out to slow groove wear.

That's kind of what I figured. Like I said, it's not quite how I play, but it's not far off. My PW just gets the most use because I haven't gotten other wedges I'm comfortable with yet. Since I don't hit the ball far at all, I play my 5W a LOT, and my 6-8i don't get used much at all (my distance gaps aren't very big, and I am more comfortable with my 5i and 9i than the other 3). So, if I get those wedges, I think I'd avoid wear until I hopefully build up a bit more swing speed and have the distance gaps to warrant playing my irons fully.