Used irons - beginner (ladies clubs question)

[cygnusjen]

So I just started hitting the ball a month or so ago, and my swing is pretty good - I'm almost there.  My bag is a mix of old used clubs - some m ens, some womens, and one senior. 

My concern at this moment is my irons set - I picked up a set of Callaway Steelhead X-14 Men's Regular when I first started, and I hit them ok, but since I'm finding more consistency with the Callaway Gems 7w - which is the only ladies club in my bag aside from a chipper and a sand wedge - I am wondering if I should get a set of ladies irons instead. 

Trying to decide whether I should get these - there's a full set of Callaway Hawkeye Gems for sale right now at my local Golf Galaxy for about $90.  They are about the same age as the Steelheads I bought there last month, so the main difference I'm looking at will be the shafts, aside from the material and design differences, I'm more curious about the men's vs. ladies difference for me at this stage.   Should I bother trying them?  Or stick with the Steelheads and go for ladies shafts when I'm further along?  $90 isn't that much money, but since I already have clubs, it isn't a necessary expense.

If I DO get the Hawkeyes, the Steelheads won't go to waste, as they are considerably better than the irons my husband is using right now (he is also a beginner).  I don't want to dive into a brand new new clubs yet since I'm so new at this.  Though, I feel like I WILL be able to justify being fitted for clubs in the not-so distant future 🙂

[Shindig]

I'm of the view that a good general fit is more important at your stage (although it's important for everyone).  A proper flex means you aren't getting weird results.  I also don't know how athletic you are.  

 

Can you ask at the golf shop if you can hit the two side-by-side to see if one feels better to you?

[billchao]

@cygnusjen, the thing I see could be important is that men's clubs tend to be slightly longer and heavier than ladies' clubs, which could be an issue depending on how tall you are and how fast you swing.

[cygnusjen]

1 hour ago, Shindig said:

I'm of the view that a good general fit is more important at your stage (although it's important for everyone).  A proper flex means you aren't getting weird results.  I also don't know how athletic you are.   

 

Can you ask at the golf shop if you can hit the two side-by-side to see if one feels better to you?

That's a good suggestion - I feel like I can't find a comfort level with the X-14s overall, and at the range I keep putting them down out of frustration, while I am enjoying hitting the one ladies fw I have, and have been able to find a good rhythm with it.  It is noticably lighter and easier to swing than any of my other clubs.  As far as athleticism, I have good positioning and motion, but I'm not very strong, I'm older (mid-40's), and overweight, with chronic pain to consider.  I noticed a great deal of pain in my hands and upper body after hitting a bunch of balls with a friend's stiff steel shaft Titleist 5 iron my first day at the range, and did not have nearly as much pain after switching to the X-14s. So I'm hoping the ladies flex might be even more comfortable.

 

56 minutes ago, billchao said:

@cygnusjen, the thing I see could be important is that men's clubs tend to be slightly longer and heavier than ladies' clubs, which could be an issue depending on how tall you are and how fast you swing. 

I don't swing very fast, and I'm short, so yeah - these are definitely factors. 

I'm going to go ahead and hit them both next to each other and see how it goes.  I didn't have a lot of time today at lunch to mess with it, but I hit the Hawk Eyes, and then out of curiosity, I hit a Rogue, and a Taylormade as well - both ladies 7 irons.  I couldn't make good contact with the Rogue - kept slicing the crap out of it, but the Taylormade wasn't bad - easy to swing.  Was a fun test, and killed my curiosity.  We'll see how the Hawk Eyes feel next to Steelheads tonight I think. 

Thanks for the advice - will post and let you know how it goes.

Edited June 11, 2018 by cygnusjen

[billchao]

6 minutes ago, cygnusjen said:

I don't swing very fast, and I'm short, so yeah - these are definitely factors. 

I'm going to go ahead

I think that's a good idea. $90 for a set of clubs is pretty reasonable even for just starting out, and you'd be getting clubs you know you're comfortable with.

My wife is 6" shorter than me and she doesn't play golf, but she actually has a decent swing. Once in a while she will take some swings with my clubs and she can't use them at all. It looks more like they swing her than she swings them. If she learned to play swinging them, she would end up developing some bad habits for sure.

[Club Rat]

I think my wife may be willing to sell her clubs.
She bought new Pings last year and her other set are the Callaway X-Hots (4-5 years old in excellent condition)

If your interested, I will ask her and send some pics.

[Piz]

There is no such thing as "ladies clubs".  This traces way back to the idea that women are, somehow, less athletic than men.  That is not true.  Yes, thank goodness, there are differences between women and men; but that distinction does not extend to, nor include, golf clubs.  Whatever works is preferable.

[billchao]

49 minutes ago, Piz said:

There is no such thing as "ladies clubs".  This traces way back to the idea that women are, somehow, less athletic than men.  That is not true.  Yes, thank goodness, there are differences between women and men; but that distinction does not extend to, nor include, golf clubs.  Whatever works is preferable.

Except there are. I get what you're trying to say, but the fact remains that there is a category of golf clubs designed for the majority of women that are built slightly shorter with lighter and softer shafts than a typical men's club.

That doesn't mean all women or only women should play them, but marketing them as "ladie's clubs" or shafts as "L flex" serves the purpose of communicating their design without overly complicating or confusing people. The golf equipment marketplace is confusing enough as it is without labeling equipment by their technical specifications rather than arbitrary designations.

[cygnusjen]

After hitting both clubs alongside each other I didn’t notice a ton of difference - they weigh about the same, but I did hit a few slightly better with the Hawk Eyes.  I have no real consistency with irons at this stage, but the computer results after several dozen balls with each club pointed me at the ladies flex Hawk Eyes.  I went ahead and grabbed them.  I feel like I will be more confident knowing I at least have clubs that are designed to accommodate my slower swing speed - and it is.  Slow, that is.  I never had upper body strength worth speaking of - even when I was carrying kids around.

On a side note - I hit the store on the right day, because I was also able to pick up some used women’s Cobras that were just traded in - a pair of S2 Offset woods, an S2 hybrid, plus amazingly a Cobra Bio Cell driver - all very cheap, with good grips.  My Smorgasbord bag of clubs has now been entirely replaced.  I hit them all before I bought them, and frankly it was downright fun!  They all felt great.  I have an old Cobra Baffler hybrid I have been using, and I really liked hitting it - these felt similar, only even better.  They will look great in my Taylormade bag 🤣

Irons I think will be more of a battle, but now at least I have eliminated the “what if” factor there, with the ladies vs. men’s clubs thing.  My husband hopes I’m done buying clubs for now 🙂. And he’s glad he gets my X-14s - then said he actually hates his irons LOL!  I guess it worked out well.  And I had a coupon. 😉

 

Edited June 12, 2018 by cygnusjen

[cygnusjen]

4 hours ago, Club Rat said:

I think my wife may be willing to sell her clubs.
She bought new Pings last year and her other set are the Callaway X-Hots (4-5 years old in excellent condition)

If your interested, I will ask her and send some pics.

I think those are probably out of my league at this stage.  If you still have them in a year or 2, I might be interested, but I’m not nearly ready to invest in something that new.  I just replaced almost my entire my bag for under $200, including a driver.  But thanks for the offer!

[cygnusjen]

edit to above ** an S3 hybrid (not S2 - that was a typo)