Practice Clubs

[Zippo]

I practice with a set of TaylorMade Speedblade irons that I bought off the bay. I play with a set of TaylorMade M1 irons that I also bought new off the bay. Does anyone else practice with a different set of clubs than they use to play with? See any big problems doing this? I'm a high HCer and it seems to me that these clubs aren't so different in performance that I would, yet., notice a difference.

[Patch]

A very small % of my practice is done with clubs I don't play with for a score. They are blades that I sometimes use when hitting off very thin lies. (dry lake bed) I don't want to damage my gamers is one reason. 

98% of my practices are done with one of the two bags of clubs I play for a score with.  It just seems to make more sense to practice with my regular gamers. It's a confidence booster. 

[Zippo]

Thanks, Patch.

[Aeromech787]

I practice with my Miura's but will still take out my Titelist's. I think as long as you have simular set up of clubs and can keep your swing consistent with both you should be fine. You also need to know your distance with each set. I know lots of players that have tournament sets and practice  sets.

[David in FL]

I’m curious.  Why not practice with the same clubs that you play with?

[Bucki1968]

10 minutes ago, David in FL said:

I’m curious.  Why not practice with the same clubs that you play with?

Yeah....I agree. I would like to know what the clubs are gonna do on the golf course. Even if I had a similar set, I would still use the clubs I'm going to play with. 

[Osnola]

I only own one set of clubs, so I play and practice with them...

[Zippo]

2 hours ago, David in FL said:

I’m curious.  Why not practice with the same clubs that you play with?

The way the weather's been around here lately I usually hit somewhat dirty balls off of a dirty mat into a net. The ground under the mat and net is wet and somewhat muddy. The loft, lie and shafts are very similar between my practice and playing clubs. The practice clubs can get beat up without me worrying about them and save my "better" clubs for the course - is my thinking. But I'm a new returnee to the game, an old geezer, and carry a high HC - hence my question here.

[Foot Wedge]

9 minutes ago, Zippo said:

The way the weather's been around here lately I usually hit somewhat dirty balls off of a dirty mat into a net. The ground under the mat and net is wet and somewhat muddy. The loft, lie and shafts are very similar between my practice and playing clubs. The practice clubs can get beat up without me worrying about them and save my "better" clubs for the course - is my thinking. But I'm a new returnee to the game, an old geezer, and carry a high HC - hence my question here.

Irons are very durable.  If you want to take care of them, wipe them off every couple of shots and they'll be just fine.

[Zippo]

13 minutes ago, Foot Wedge said:

Irons are very durable.  If you want to take care of them, wipe them off every couple of shots and they'll be just fine.

Thanks. I do wipe them off but I can see the faces getting a bit beat up on them. I'm working on curing my inability to get my weight/pressure forward and stop my OTT move. Do you think there's enough difference in the two club sets that I should only practice with my "good" clubs?

[Foot Wedge]

3 hours ago, Zippo said:

Do you think there's enough difference in the two club sets that I should only practice with my "good" clubs?

I don't know enough about the specs or the shafts to say, but my $0.000002 is that if you're trying to improve, I wouldn't add another variable in switching back and forth between clubs.  Additionally I see clubs as tools, I use them and even though I take care of them, there is wear and tear.  The only point in keeping them pristine is for resale and (don't take this the wrong way) resale went out the window when you bought Taylormade (or most other brand) irons.  They drop substantially in value by simply existing when the next model comes out, no matter how similar.  Hope this helps.

[Zippo]

2 hours ago, Foot Wedge said:

I don't know enough about the specs or the shafts to say, but my $0.000002 is that if you're trying to improve, I wouldn't add another variable in switching back and forth between clubs.  Additionally I see clubs as tools, I use them and even though I take care of them, there is wear and tear.  The only point in keeping them pristine is for resale and (don't take this the wrong way) resale went out the window when you bought Taylormade (or most other brand) irons.  They drop substantially in value by simply existing when the next model comes out, no matter how similar.  Hope this helps.

Thank you. Exactly the kind of opinion I was hoping for. Much appreciated.