Are You a Brand Snob?

[millsan1]

I am too new to be a snob about anything.

That being said, since I wanted to be competent this year, and was willing to put in the effort, I was willing to put in the dollars for good equipment as well.

I shopped a lot of the 2-3 year old stuff.  I was willing to buy latest and greatest, but with the knowledge that the best clubs in the world would not change much for me.

I ended up with Callaway XR16 1W, 3W, 5W and Ping G30 irons.  Good gear, but also a couple years old and saved a lot of $, which I put towards lessons and play.  I actually like the feel of my G30s better than the G400s.

On the subject of balls, I have found several I really like, but I do lose one or a few every round, so I do not play them.  I am using Slazinger Money Balls that I buy when on sale, and they cost $0.75 per.  At my level, they hit fine and play fine.  Nowhere near as nice as some of the balls I have tried, but a lot cheaper to let a $0.75 ball go than a $3.50 ball, and the $3.50 ball is not that much better for me.  Once I stop losing them so much, I will move to the better stuff.

[Chris223]

Not a snob, and most of my bag has come from my local Dicks (not a lot of choices for buying golf equipment around here).  I would always entertain something else if I had more specialty golf shops around.  Otherwise I just have my preferences, I like Taylormade for fairway woods but never a fan of any of their drivers that I have hit.  Like my Callaway drivers and hybrids but have never seen a set of their irons I liked.  Love my Nike irons and the Nike Irons I had prior, so I play what feels good and looks good.  Love my Vokey wedges especially my 60.  Putter is a Taylormade but its a putter and a good one I spent money on once and don’t plan to spend money on a putter again for a VERY long time.  My next set of irons well, I’ll be a free agent at that time since Nike wont be an option anymore.  But I figure I’ll be almost or over 40 by then since I just got my Vapor Fly’s last year

Edited June 22, 2018 by Chris223

[Casualgolfer]

Callaway irons, Odyssey putter, Cleveland sand wedge, Titleist hybrid and 3wd, and a Krank driver at the moment. 

Current balls in bag: Pro v1's, Bridgestone E7's,  top flight Bomb, and Snell MTB black... For now

Edited June 22, 2018 by Casualgolfer
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[The Recreational Golfer]

Brand snob here. Titleist woods, Hogan irons, Titleist wedges. I even use a vintage Hogan golf bag.

[dennyjones]

I don't believe I'd ever play Wilson clubs.   Don't know why, just won't.  

[MarvChamp]

19 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

I don't believe I'd ever play Wilson clubs.   Don't know why, just won't.  

My very good golfer friends and pros of years ago played Wilson Staff. I liked them too. The newer irons have received high ratings by reviewers. But all I see are the mass-produced generic clubs in Academy. I think that's what put me off. -Marv

[Hacker James]

On ‎6‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 8:20 PM, The Recreational Golfer said:

Brand snob here. Titleist woods, Hogan irons, Titleist wedges. I even use a vintage Hogan golf bag.

sounds like one of my old sets. I don't remember whether I sold them on Ebay or donated to thrift shop. 3-E Hogan Edge (Apex 3), Driver 3,4,5 Speed Slots, Ben Hogan Sunday Bag.

I would call myself a "cultist" rather than Snob. At least that is what owners of Tour Edge have been referred to. I am at 100% except for putter.

[Molina00]

I'm another one who's too new to be a snob.  Cleveland driver and wedges, TM 3W and 5W (which are about 15 years old), Nicklaus irons and hybrids and a Teardrop putter.  I also have a set of Tommy Amour Silver Scott 855s irons in reserve should disaster befall my Nicklaus's.  Every single club I have has come used from eBay and have only spent more than $50 on a club once.  I splurged a bit on a lightly used Cleveland RTX 2.0 pitching wedge.     

I suppose the Cleveland wedges could be considered snobbish, but with the TaylorMade woods being 15 years old and Cleveland not being that big a name in drivers, I think I'm in the clear on those.

Edited June 29, 2018 by Molina00

[djake]

Great thread.  

I like all club makers.  I have played the little companies to the name brands and what I have seen the difference is in marketing dollars, not R&D dollars. 

Wishon 919THI Driver is a long and forgiving as any Driver on the market today. The only item I did not like was the fact that the shaft is glued in and not easy to switch out.  Wishon 929 fairway woods are hot, long and very forgiving.  I would still be playing them except my wife really likes them so she is bagging them. 

I have played other component clubs in the past and they were nice set ups.  Don't get me wrong, I really like my current set up of Cobra Driver and Mizuno irons, great stuff.  

My favorite answer to my friends and people I golf with when they ask me what the "best" clubs on the market are?  What you have in your hands today.  There is no one better club maker, just club makers that spend a lot of money on marketing.  All good stuff now.

So, no I am not a Brand Snob.  But more of a fine connoisseur of golf equipment. 🙂 

[NM Bruce]

I guess I'm a closet snob.  I have a mixed bag of high-end brands, but have replaced the OEM driver and FW head covers with generic head covers.  I prefer zipped covers over the sock-style ones.  The irons wear neoprene covers as well since they're forged, and I want to minimize dings.

[Dry Tortuga]

I used to think Cobra was King but I think with this latest generation of clubs they have been eclipsed by Ping and Callaway. This is just based on the clubs I've tried.

 

Hard to go wrong with the big brands like Titleist and Taylormade. I think with 'other' brands like Nike for example, there are good clubs but it's much more of a search/ trial and error.

 

All that being said I think a great player can hit a great game with very standard/ cheap clubs, and a bad player will shoot a bad game with the best clubs on the market.

[RussUK]

I've never seen the point in being a brand snob. Will a set of £600 irons make me have more fun over my Hippo's? I doubt it.

Sure, if i had the money i wouldnt say no to an upgrade but i dont need to.

For a weekender like me there's a lot of choice in "cheap" brands that are improving in quality, such as Slazengers V500 range (milled wedges look sweet).

[80109golfer]

I play with whatever works, and have a mixed bag. 

- Driver, 3W, 5W, and 4H are cheap GigaGolf clubs

- 6-PW are Cobra F8 irons

- Wedges are Cleveland

- Scotty Cameron putter

I took a few years off from playing golf after I moved, and sold everything golf related. When I decided to play again in 2015, I didn't want to spend a lot of money because I didn't know how serious I would get, so I bought everything from GigaGolf. The full set cost me under $600. 

Didn't really like the irons, so I sent them back and bought some used Mizunos. The woods seemed to be fine, but the more I practiced with the driver, the wilder I got. I went to a clubfitter, and the shaft on the driver was a really bad match for me. He put in a new shaft for me at $200-300, and I have been hitting it ever since. 3 years now. 

I've been getting more and more serious, so this summer I did a full bag fitting at a local Club Champion facility. They put me in new irons and wedges, but nothing could really beat out my GigaGolf woods and hybrid. I consistently carried that GigaGolf driver 300-305 on the TrackMan, which is about what I get on the course. We tried several different shaft/head combos, and nothing really blew away the GigaGolf driver. And that's 3 year old technology against all of the new stuff from Ping, TaylorMade, etc. 

Same with the woods and hybrid. Nothing really beats them by enough to warrant spending a crap ton of money on the latest and greatest. Unfortunately, I just noticed a small crack in the bottom of my driver this morning, so I guess I'm going to have to get something new. Hoping I can just pop a newer model GigaGolf head on that shaft and keep rolling with it.  They don't made the head I have now any longer. 

[vonbonds]

I voted ehhhh. I have all new Cleveland gear from driver to putter and all in between. I know it’s not a big 4 brand but I know it’s as good as any but also not available at Walmart. Not sure where that brand fits in this discussion quite honestly. 

[RFKFREAK]

I'm a total Titleist fanboy.

Part of it is that I've been convinced, partly through their marketing, that they put out quality equipment.  Now, obviously they're not the only ones putting out quality equipment but I also like that they don't put out new drivers and other equipment every few months like some other manufactures do which makes me feel like my equipment isn't old after I've had it for a while. 

[308 Ragin Cajun]

I've got a Titleist Driver, purchased used, Ben Hogan 3 wood - also used, Taylor made 4 wood that I've had for 20  years or more, Tommy armour Silverback irons- yep, used, Vokey wedges - used, and a Scotty Cameron putter, which was  a gift from my son. The only thing I'm a snob about is I prefer forged irons, as that is what i've played with all my life.

[DrMJG]

Mainly Ping, but also some Tour Edge, Cobra and even Northwestern and GX7. Northwestern is a legacy club with strong sentimental value, but it still is quite good for me.  Tour Edge was a budget purchase but the results have been solid. Love the set of Pings I have.  Mainly hit Bridgestone e6 as I have had to resupply myself after getting into golf, but I do have an eclectic groups.  Even gloves I have are 4 different brands.

 

[Fourputt]

My bag right as of this moment: 
Titleist driver and gap wedge
TaylorMade 5 wood, 7 wood, 6I-PW.
Mizuno 3 wood
Bridgestone hybrid (probably take that out as I never use it, but it's still part of my 14 right now)
Cleveland CG 15 SW
Golfsmith Enterprise putter

I think that means I'm certainly not brand loyal, and not really a brand snob either.