DocParty

Kind of hard for anyone to really know. Everyone's swing and physical characteristics are different not to mention their mental state and confidence level. What have you hit in the past? FW Woods? If so how happy were you with them? Hybrids? If so how happy were you with them? The clubs you are talking about won't fix anything unless you have a swing that allows you the best possible contact with the ball. If you hit 'perfect' shots with each you'd probably have as much trouble choosing as we would for you. Confidence, a grooved swing and great smooth easy peasy contact with the ball is all it takes with either. You don't have to be 20 or 120 to hit either club well. You just need confidence in the club and the basic ability to swing and hit the ball square on the face. The club does most of the hard work. Doc

Understood completely. After 4 different attempts, grip solvent, mineral spirits, regular rubbing alcohol and the 95% rubbing alcohol I finally tried a paint remover called Goo Gone and it worked in 30 seconds. Thanks much for all the advice. I have never seen any set of clubs in my 65 years of living with such sticky stuff on them. I would really love to have known what it was. The inside of the bag was also coated in it. Just really sticky like the back of a bumper sticker before you put it on. Cya

Thanks much to all. Still have no idea what it was but I've gotten it off with all of your help.

Doesn't this really come down to how well you perform with any given shaft? I'd hesitate to put myself in a category that I have not been able to prove myself with. I'm 65 and use stiff shafts. I can hit a nice draw most of the times and any miss hit is my fault not the clubs fault. I'd try whatever it is you are wondering about at any place that they professionally fit clubs. They'll have a complete set that they should be able to put together a club with the loft/lie/shaft for you to hit in just a few minutes. Hit a dozen balls with it and adjust from there. Just don't fall into the box that everyone says you should be in. Each golfer really does have a unique swing set and no two are exactly alike. Unless you are a touring pro where you can hit anyone's club pretty darn well, weekend warriors need things to be tuned in a bit more and the equipment and swing made less complicated.

Looking for a site where I can find what the hosel size is for any club. Irons, FW Woods, Drivers, Hybrids. By name of Mfg and model of club. I can't seem to find anything when I search on google. I am only interested in knowing what the tip size is required for a specific head so I can buy the right shaft and do not want to guess and drill it wrong if I cannot tell by looking at the head. Any help?

There is no such thing as wedge flex. It's a gimmick and nothing else. Shafts are still the same flexes they used to be. Some have many different labels but there is no wedge flex. S 200 S 300 S400 and on and on I spoke with my supplier True Temper and they were the ones that told me there was no wedge flex. Your flex is not for your club your flex should be for your swing. Just because you are older or younger does not in its self tell you which you should use. I'm 65 and use a stiff on my 5 wood so I can produce a consistent slight draw. My swing speed is only 85 to 87.

Will try the goo stuff first. I'm concerned about anything too 'hot' that might take the paint off the shafts? Any experience in using it on painted shafts?

Yes. It seems that everything I use does a great job. then in a few seconds after I quit cleaning and rubbing it, the tackiness comes back. I'm lost. I have it 80% removed but it just keeps coming back albeit with less tackiness. I'll try goo gone tomorrow but am stumped as to what this stuff is. Will it hurt the finish or paint of a golf club shaft? Even the back of the iron heads have this stuff on it and it's cleaned off easier on the heads with a wire golf cleaning brush and some dish-washing liquid and some comet. Maybe my steamer will help? I have a small one for tools and small items.

Have a set of La Jolla clubs to re-grip. They are in perfect shape, just old, and have been sitting in a bag with the rain hood zipped up. I took one out and re-gripped it and then as usual went on to clean the head and then the shaft. I cannot get the shaft clean. It remains sticky/tacky. I used typical grip solvent which always has worked for me. Then some grip wipes, with bleach in them. Then some Simple Green, 95% rubbing alcohol. They all feel slick as cat poop on linoleum as soon as I stop cleaning, but less than 1 minute later, they are tacky again. I'm lost? Any of you ever experience this? Feels just like the sticky side of painters tape or tree sap. Cya Doc

Well my problem is the opposite. I can hit my 3-5-7 woods out of the thick rough or the good rough or any thick grass or long fairway grass. Flies like a bullet, goes straight, and looks great. I can even stick a greet from 180 with my 5 wood. But I cannot for the life of me hit any of these off of a tee. I have tried every height known to man. From down even with the ground to as much as an inch higher than the ground. I just can't do it. I toss the ball in the thick grass around the tee box, give it as swat and it flies right and for my age I get adequate distance. I stuck a green from @ 160 today with my 5 wood. Anyone ever have this problem, not being able to hit a 3-5-7 wood off a tee?

My 2 cents worth: Really depends as much or more on your swing. Speed/Tempo. Simply changing a shaft or loft or grip won't help at all unless you can stand there and say you have a good swing and a consistent one. Too many times customers come in and claim a club was not built to some set of specs they asked for. I get the specs, check the club and it's as close to being on target as a person could determine without taking it apart and weighing each component and checking the actual flex of the shaft. A real fitting would have saved them a lot of frustration. In fact they many not have needed a new set in the first place. Too stiff of a shaft is not as much of a problem as too much flex in a shaft. The head won't stay open as noted by other posters because of the stiffer shaft. A shaft that has too much flex for your swing speed will. Plus the torque rating of the shaft may allow it to twist clockwise and your position of the hands may affect this, but being stiffer won't give you an open face, only your swing will or the torque of the shaft. Get a shaft with 3 or so in torque if you can afford it. If not, stay under 5 no matter what. Sometimes loft will affect your game more than the shaft since there are many different lofts and only 3 shaft flexes. Swing-proper grip (both with your hands and the diameter of the actual grip), shaft and last the loft of the driver head. You'd be surprised how many golfers use too small of a grip 'just because they were sold them'. The older you get the harder it is to grip and hold a club consistently through an 18 hole round. Mid size may help. But in the beginning, get the swing down pat and if you do, you'll be able to hit a multitude of clubs properly. Remember, the average weekend golfer, based on USGA and PGA records shoot a 97 (after figuring slope and such) and their Tee Shots average 220-230.

You have as good of a club for a high handicapper as there is. Other than having the correct grip for your hands (may need a mid or jumbo or arthritic if you are older) and the right shaft which should not affect you ability to hit the ball straight; you may just have to go get a couple of lessons? Cya

They may be a good big box store set but all I have seen with them is hosel problems with the woods and hybrids. They have a short hosel with the ones I have seen/repaired. Shafts break, possibly due to a glue dam when manufactured. Poor swing is a factor as well. Why people do not take some lessons every year is beyond me. I don't give them so I have no dog is this hunt. Most people have no idea what hits good or not for someone else so it's a hunt and peck to determine what's best for a specific person. Save yourself some money and time and become a better golfer by: Get some instruction if you can afford it, it's priceless. But be very careful, lots of instructors will just give you enough to string you along for as long as they can. Ask your friends for a referral. Learn to put and pitch/chip at any golf course (it's free), and remember you don't have to have a wedge. Learn to hit the green from your 'best' distance, not what others say you should be hitting, distance wise. You can always chip or pitch with a 9 iron or a higher lofted hybrid. Many pros have done the same especially in the fluff. Learn to hit your 9 iron consistently (meaning a reasonable distance "for you" and within a 10 yard radius of the target). Once you have accomplished this, move to your eight, then 7, then on and on and on. Don't ever forget the 38-24 rule. It was true 70 years ago and it's still true today. 'the average weekend golfer/hacker, will never be able to hit a golf club that is longer than 38" or with less loft than 24 degrees 'consistently'. Please look up the word consistently, I did not say 100% of the time but try for 90% before moving on to the next club and never quit practicing with the ones you have mastered. So, master the putter through 5 iron (for some the 5 will be a problem) and then find a good hybrid or #5 fairway wood, plus a 13 degree or more loft driver. Lastly, never forget that most fitters use cookie cutter methods to determine the length of your clubs. They also have a tendency to fit you with what they sell, not what's best for your swing. They are almost always too long and the 1/2" increments that fitters use today has been proven incorrect by groups like "true length technologies". Physics does not lie. Too long is wrong. CYa

Both wrists are painful after the driving range or a game of golf. Right at the wrist where the thumb base is. Hurts too much to turn a door knob sometimes. Don't know what it might be, but I feel for you.

I'm a fitter and I can assure you that the name brand you are hitting is the least important part of your golf game, without exception. Now if you are a touring Pro, PGA card holding club pro or employee, college golf team, etc then you may require something different, but even then it's mostly mental. For the vast majority of golfers (95%), the weekend warriors or hackers, it means nothing in reality to their game. First learn to put and pitch for free. Any and every golf club has greens and chipping areas that you can use for free. Start here. Learn to two put without exception and learn to pitch onto the green from 30 yards and closer so that you guarantee yourself a two put, maybe a one put. Half of all the strokes you will have will be on pitching and putting, why would you not practice at least half the time doing this? Once you have 'mastered' this, you can move on to your irons. You only need a few. 9 iron through 6 iron and then go to a hybrid or fairway wood and forget about the driver. Take a lesson or two but not from one of those 'golf industry' instructors that give you just enough to keep you happy for a week and then you have to come back and pay more for something they could have compressed into an hour class. Accept the fact that you very well will never shoot par if you are playing by the 'rules' and on a rated course from the tees that are appropriate for your level of capability. Play it forward in other words. Shoot for mastering bogie golf. Lee Trevino said back in the 70's or early 80's that for a weekend golfer or 'hacker' to shoot a consistent bogie round of golf is equal to a touring pro shooting par. Get your 6 through 9 iron fit to your physical dimensions and capability so that each club swings the same, swing weight, and each grip on the club is of a size that is appropriate. Too many people get standard grips when they need mid or jumbo size. Why? Because the golf system says that's what they should use. Bubba Watson is said to have a Jumbo grip with 10 wraps of tape. So who you going to believe? Golf club mfgr's? Most people probably don't realize that the majority of tour players clubs have been made not by Taylormade or other top brands but instead by Muria in Japan because of their pure flow steel. So believe it or not, no matter how much money you spend you'll never get the same club that a pro uses on tour. Golf clubs have been made for decades with half inch increment differences. True Length Technologies (I believe this is their name) has long proved that the irons a person use should all be the same length for the average player due to a 'sweet spot' they have found each golfer has. It's based on the old 24-38 rule from 70 years ago that says a weekend or casual golfer cannot hit consistently an iron that is longer than 38 inches or with less loft that 24 degrees. The industry has known this for decades and still produces sub-standard sets of clubs for the average weekend golfer. Golf is a 'game', and 95% of golfers will never honestly shoot par golf. They can still enjoy and improve on their game to get the most out of it. If you play once a week, you need to be practicing 2 times a week. If you can't practice, then you can't complain because you have to practice to get better. Understand your limits and enjoy the game. As for clubs other than your irons, try a 5 wood 250-300 cc's. Maybe a 4 or 5 hybrid. Hybrid will get you 170 to 180 yards down the fairway with ease. Most people with a swing can hit a 5 wood 200 or more yards off the tee or off the grass if they are physically capable of creating a good swing which is the foundation of your golf game. If you can hit the ball twice, 200-230 yards, you'll be 400 to 460 yards down the fairway on any par 4. Everything is within reach now. Enjoy the game, that's what it is.