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Has a club ever gotten a bad review?


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Having written a fair amount of reviews I can say that with today's club there is only relatively minor differences between most of them. This means yes, they are all pretty good. We are now at a point with golf design where they are forced to eek out fractionally better performance metrics. 

That said, I certainly feel that getting the right "mix" and by mix I mean shaft and head combination can certainly be beneficial for certain players. I have watched guys getting fit improve spin numbers dramatically with a shaft change. Launch conditions could be made better through optimization of lofts or even certain heads.

So my lesson is look for something you like how it looks, read up on any reviews here on TST and then go get fit on a TrackMan/FlightScope to find the best "fit" for you. 

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Michael

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I will always believe, if fitted properly,  it is the golfer's swing that makes any club work well for them. Cheap, or expensive, it does not matter. Some clubs might be of better quality than others, but that's about it. 

Many years ago, I took a group lesson from a pga instructor. Someone in the group ask the instructor if he was any good. He proceeded to hit balls with clubs from our different individual bags like they were custom fitted to him. He told us, that all he did was make a grip adjustment to offset any difference in our clubs's different lie angles. It did not matter what the brand name on the club was. All the balls he hit, went towards his intended target, at the correct distances. His own swing sent the ball flying. This was the only thing I took away from this lesson. The next night there was a different pga instructor, which is another story. 

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Golf companies tend not to release "dud" products.

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8 hours ago, StefanUrkel said:

But, everything is relative. Pretty high standards now for companies like Taylormade, Callaway, etc. 

Yeah, so…? There's not really much bad equipment out there.

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There must be some clunkers that didn't sell well, but I doubt it got more than something like the following phrases:

"Some people might not like the deep face"

"Some people might not like to chip with the higher irons"

"Some people might not like the over/under sized heads"

 

—Adam

 

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9 hours ago, StefanUrkel said:

But, everything is relative. Pretty high standards now for companies like Taylormade, Callaway, etc. 

I don't think the reviews are based on those standards though.  So to answer your question its "no".  Golf clubs don't get bad reviews.  They are regulated for compliance so you're not going to get too much "weird new" stuff.  And when given a review its hard to give negative results on form and function when it is the only one you are looking at.  However if you want to see negatives they are available if you look up the head to head comparison of clubs.  Then you are comparing 2 or more like items by the user.  

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The TM SLDR got some questionable reviews before the "increase loft" initiative.  

Overall you're not going to see Golf Magazine or Golf Digest trash a club because as @iacas stated, there really aren't bad golf clubs being made.  Some may find a club isn't to their personal taste such as not liking the feel (cast vs forged), sound, turf interaction or shape but that doesn't mean it's a bad or poor performing club.  

There are so many variables so go into club fitting, especially shafts, that reviews are near worthless other than for promotion purposes.  

Joe Paradiso

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44 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

... Overall you're not going to see Golf Magazine or Golf Digest trash a club because as @iacas stated, there really aren't bad golf clubs being made.  Some may find a club isn't to their personal taste such as not liking the feel (cast vs forged), sound, turf interaction or shape but that doesn't mean it's a bad or poor performing club. ...   

I've done a few club reviews before, and I suggest which type of golfer might like it. Also, I usually comment on shaft options. I only have 85 MPH clubhead speed. So, if an SGI club with a stock high-launch shaft is  ballooning short irons for me, I might caution people with average swing speed to get a different shaft. But, I know everyone on TST tests out clubs before they buy them. ;-)

Demo days have shown me that all major OEMs make at least one model of iron I could play - as long as it had the right shaft in it.

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The "best" clubs tend to be the ones that get the most marketing push behind them.  Manufacturers can only do as much as what will conform to today's rules.   I have tried several brand drivers and frankly the numbers really are not much different except when I use different shafts.  

To me, it really just comes down to what looks best to you, are you married or have a crush on a certain brand, and what feels best when you hit balls.  Obviously, there are differences between a Game Improvement and Players iron.  

No doubt, technology has improved greatly in the last 10 years.  A club that is 10 years old will not perform as well as a brand new club, but unless you are great player I am not sure you are really going to notice a major difference.

 

 

 

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Pick a sport, any sport, look at the equipment reviews.  For the most part, all decent quality athletic equipment gets good reviews.  And at the beginner/novice level the equipment is pretty much the same from one mfg to another.

As someone becomes more proficient, then he/she understands the subtleties between golf shafts, or tennis racquet strings/tension, mountain bike forks, etc. and that becomes individual preference and the fodder for forum threads as to what sucks and what doesn't.  Kinda like George Carlin's stuff.

John

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Ever heard of Donnay? Those clubs would break within 10 rounds almost guaranteed. Shoddy products. They used to be sold over here in the UK at a retailer known as Sports Direct. You could choose single clubs and they retailed for about £6 each. I think the driver was £9 or £10.

 

So yea, there are terrible clubs out there!

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Major manufacturers spend a lot of time on R&D and testing so that they don't put out bad gear. They'll even spend months just working on the sound if they have to. I've hit clubs that don't fit my swing well, but never anything I'd say wasa bad club.

8 hours ago, imsys0042 said:

There must be some clunkers that didn't sell well

How well a club sold isn't an indication of its quality. There are a lot of factors that contribute to sales that really have nothing to do with the clubs themselves.

Bill

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Ok. You guys made your point about the quality of equipment being fairly uniform. I'll buy that.

I still say that if someone were to turn out an utter piece of garbage, the golf mags wouldn't call em out on it. Really those reviews are fairly worthless aside from just telling you what's out there and how much it costs.

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16 hours ago, mcanadiens said:

Ok. You guys made your point about the quality of equipment being fairly uniform. I'll buy that.

I still say that if someone were to turn out an utter piece of garbage, the golf mags wouldn't call em out on it. Really those reviews are fairly worthless aside from just telling you what's out there and how much it costs.

It still leads to the recommendation that you try the club for yourself. If you read all the Golf Digest review elements, you will see comments from the testers on things they didn't like as much. We each have our own preferences for feel, sound, etc. Sales indicate the consumer preferences more than reviews.

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Note: This thread is 2744 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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