My name is Anthony, and I use an infomercial club. "Hi Anthony!"

[millsan1]

I looked through and didn't find much on the C3i, or just about any infomercial club, except a lot of derision.

Which leads me to believe I am in over my head and will take some heat, but I have my asbestos Speedo on, so I wrote a song about it. Want to hear it? Here it go!

 

First me:

I am a new golfer.  I splashed around on the course over the years and maybe played 10 rounds total.

This year, I decided to actually learn how to play, swing, etc.  I have made good progress and am happy with that.  Currently shooting just north of 100 (honest 100, no gimme's, no mulligans, no lie improvements, etc)

 

I fell for the C3I infomercial.  Beyond "open your stance, open the club, swing down your body line" I had ZERO idea how to get out of sand, and it showed whenever I was in sand.

 

The club:

It really does what it purports to do.  The main thing that makes this an easier club to hit, for people like me, is that  you just take your normal swing.  Out of sand, it really does pop the ball up and out.  Tight lies, rough, etc, it does it with great consistency, as long as I execute my swing correctly.

I have the 65 and 59.  65 is good to about 40 yards and the 59 is good to about 60.  As a reference my regular wedge is good for about 100.

It is an ugly club.  I do get ribbed about it.  But it works really well, for me.  I will take the ribbing, while popping out a fried egg, uphill lie, onto the green, every time.

 

The downside of the club is learning how to control distance with it.  a 100% swing give me 40 yards.  A 50% wing gives me 10.  A 25% swing is 9.  So there is not a linear progression of distance to swing effort.  It really does take some time to get hold of that thought and trust it.

As a novice, sitting 30 yards off the green, taking a full on swing is daunting.  Thoughts of skulling it and sending it flying past the hole are in my head, but this is from before I tried to learn how to play and what to do.

 

Hitting a fat shot is possible, and I have, but there is a good deal of forgiveness there.  Hitting a thin shot is easy to do.  If you do not strike with the handle forward at impact, you can make some impressive skulls and send the ball screaming 1' off the ground.

 

So overall, for me, the club does perform and is my go to when in close and in sand.  It is not unusual for me to play a round with someone that starts with "is that that infomercial club?" and ends with "you really know how to use that thing".

 

YMMV

[Shindig]

1 hour ago, millsan1 said:

I fell for the C3I infomercial.  Beyond "open your stance, open the club, swing down your body line" I had ZERO idea how to get out of sand, and it showed whenever I was in sand.

If the club works for you (and if it's legal, which I think it is), especially since you have it already, no problem.  At some point, you'll probably want to use that spot in your bag for something else.  It's the same way I feel about a chipper club:  yes, it solves the problem in the short term, but there are ways to solve the problem with a more versatile club that solves other problems too.

In any case, if you're interested in sand play without that club, check out this thread;  it helped me a lot: 

 

As for the infomercial nature, I've been getting ads for BombTech golf woods lately, and if I knew that they were legal, I might even be considering them (next club purchase is woods), so don't worry.   You get to choose the 14 clubs you want to play with.   People laughed when Raymond Floyd showed up at the '76 Masters with a 5-wood in his bag.

[Foot Wedge]

Whatever floats your boat.  My pop plays relatively traditional equipment but uses this wedge.  Works for him as he doesn't practice bunker shots and it lets him take a smooth normal swing with consistent results.  If it works, it works.

[millsan1]

26 minutes ago, Shindig said:

If the club works for you (and if it's legal, which I think it is), especially since you have it already, no problem.  At some point, you'll probably want to use that spot in your bag for something else.  It's the same way I feel about a chipper club:  yes, it solves the problem in the short term, but there are ways to solve the problem with a more versatile club that solves other problems too.

In any case, if you're interested in sand play without that club, check out this thread;  it helped me a lot: 

 

As for the infomercial nature, I've been getting ads for BombTech golf woods lately, and if I knew that they were legal, I might even be considering them (next club purchase is woods), so don't worry.   You get to choose the 14 clubs you want to play with.   People laughed when Raymond Floyd showed up at the '76 Masters with a 5-wood in his bag.

I actually have already started weeding them out.  I bought the 65, 59 and 55(?) since the latter two were on sale for $99 for both.  Since the 55 didn't give me any useful distance, I pulled it and put my regular wedge back in.  The 59 will be going shortly, and be replaced with a gap wedge.  I am sure at some point the 65 will go away as well, but for now, as a beginner, it works well for me.

 

Thanks for the link, will check it out and put it into the old memory banks.

[cooke119]

The highest lofted club I can hit is a 56* sand wedge, which I only use out of the sand. Chipping over bunkers I use a 52* gap. From 90 yards and in I use a pitching wedge or I will bump and run it with an 8 iron. Higher lofted wedges are hard for me to hit, I usually leave them short or skull them. It takes real talent to hit a LW really well IMHO.

[scotth]

It's okay.  If it works for you that's really all that matters.  Your thread reminded me that the 7 wood that I carry was a late night infomercial decision back in the late 90's.  Carbite 7, I think it was called.

Got a lot of grief from some of my golf buddies and fellow members at Colovista.  Later it was me laughing, when I started noticing them slowly make appearances in other bags at the course to deal with the tall rough. (this was before hybrids and lot of people carried 5 or even 7 woods.) 

Still put that club back in my bag about once a year and then try to remember why I took it out. 

Guess this is my long winded way of saying if it works for you, don't let other opinions make you pull it.