Golfers are suckers....

I don't disagree that golfers are suckers, I've got a buddy who has six sets of irons (worth $800 per set) and still can't hit a drive 250; its pretty sad. I've always hinted "um, those $500 set of lessons might help" but to no avail.

Now, there are some tech advances that are undeniable, the driver and ball. Its astounding how much a difference they make over 10 years ago. Now you do need a decent swing to get the benefits. If you don't have that, its over.

 

I might be deemed a sucker on this thread, but sometimes good gear does make a difference. I spent some time on a launch monitor this spring with a good club fitter and ended up spending too much money on a driver with a really good shaft. As a result, I'm driving the ball better than I ever have in my life.

With a driver, it is all about shaft fit. Most of the heads are pretty good.

If I was to advise somebody on what to get, I would tell them to get fit for Ping irons and get that color code in the G5 iron. It's one iron behind the current technology, but still a very good stick. You can probably get a set of new or close to new on ebay for 300 bucks if you look around enough.

 

The ball you're playing isn't going to make a damn bit of difference in the score you're shooting until you can shape shots, consistently put spin on the ball when you want to and know exactly what you're looking for in a golf ball.

In other words, most golfers with a handicap higher than 10 aren't any better playing Pro V1s than they are with a beat up Pinnacle.

 

if you aren't a real good golfer and want to improve, buy knock-off clubs for $300-$400, spend $200 on lessons from a competent professional and then spend $200 on practicing what the pro said.
Don't spend $800 for a set of irons and expect them to magically make your score drop eight shots.
and, if you really want to improve, practice your short game and putting. that will cut more strokes off your game than anything -- eliminate the screwed-up chips shots and three-putts and see how fast your score goes from 95 to 87. It doesn't even cost money to go to the practice green or chipping area at most places. it's not nearly as much fun as standing on the practice tee and trying to hit your driver 350 yards in a machine-gun like fashion.
after you start playing better, then start looking for better equipment.

 

I played top flites until I could consistently break 80 and I realized I needed a ball that would better hold the green when I hit into it. I switched to the titleist nxt tours until I began to flirt with 80 consistently and tried pro v1s and other top spin balls.

I can honestly say that the different balls made a difference in my game, but not until I became a more consistent ball striker to where it mattered what kind of ball I was hitting.

That being said, this is my 11th summer playing golf and I broke 80 for the first time last week when I shot 77 on a good course.

So there's no magic fix in golf that changes things overnight, not even an occasional lesson. Everything takes lots of time and practice. But I'm not sure there's anything more rewarding in sports than to break through a score barrier, whether its 100, 90, 80 or 70, knowing that it's because of the patience and culmination of constant trial and error with your swing.

 

Generally, my biggest priority in picking out a golf ball is looking for whichever one is cleanest. The shiny white ones are easier to find in the rough and/or woods.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've broken 100.

 

Lots of people are suckers for buying the shiny new thing across the board.

You could also say that someone is a sucker for buying a new Lexus when they could have bought a Toyota for a lot less.

That said, I've never spent more than $300 on a set of golf clubs.

 

I try to be realistic about my golf equipment. My game, played and practiced sparingly in recent years, is worthy of the pre-owned set of Titleists I purchased on e-Bay about eight years ago. If I start miraculously breaking 90 on a regular basis, I'll consider upgrading.

With that said, my 7-year-old driver makes me feel like I'm at a distinct disadvantage on the tee box when everyone else starts pulling out giant warheads. My wife bought me a graphite Taylormade 7-wood that I seem to hit fairly well, though. I call it the equalizer because I'm usually 20 yards behind my group when I pull it from the bag.

 

I bought new irons a few years back -- went from a set of used Top Flites to new Ping G2s. I didn't think that it was worth the money.

On the other hand, I thought that my R5 driver (which was bought new, but a couple of years after it was a hot product for Taylor Made) and my 3 iron rescue replacement have really helped my game.

 

I had a set of Tommy Armour knock-offs for 12 years. Back in 2002, I needed a new sand wedge, since my other one broke at the hosel. I went to this mom-n-pop golf shop where I knew the owners and found a Ping Eye-2 for $60.

Not far away was a set of used Eye-2 blue dot (1-degree upright) clubs -- 2-iron through PW. The owner gave me the set and the SW for $350.

These clubs are older than half the posters on this board, but I love them.

The most I've spent on a club is $380 -- for a Callaway FTi (the square head) driver. Even though it sounds like a car accident every time I hit it, I like it better and hit it straighter than my previous Callaway Fusion (which I got for free at a media day).

Spent $169 for an Adams Boxer hybrid 3-wood that I hit well, another $129 for a Taylor-Made 3-hybrid and $99 for an Adams Idea 4-hybrid. That's good money spent all the way around.