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Why do you bag what you bag?

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Chunkylover77

Chunkylover77

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Just an honest question. What makes you decide what clubs to put into play? Do you think ego plays a part in your decision at all? I see a lot of bags on THP with some players cavity backs and that includes my own. Why did you pick them over the more forgiving irons?

I know for myself, ego plays a role. I have sat here for months now hemming and hawing over what irons I would choose for the Morgan Cup. I had decided a month ago that it would be the RazrX-forged irons. They were similar in size to the Pings I play now and I figured it would be an easy transition. I go down to True Blue for the day and my mind has been changed again. I think I've been pretty honest with my struggles recently in terms of contact. Well at the range I was struggling again. Nothing awful mind you, just missing off the toe or slightly thin. Certainly playable. I then picked up the Razr XF's and hit 5 straight perfect little draws at the flag.

I've decided to put the ego away and let the results speak. I was simply hitting the ball better with the XF's. This is not a thread with a silent agenda so I don't want anyone taking it that way. I'm just curious as to whether ego plays a role like it did for me. I wanted my bag to look like I was a player when in reality I think the results from the more forgiving clubs will make me a player.
 
I just play the bag I do because I like it. I've played all types of irons and nothing's really changed better or worse. If you know me, you know I certainly don't have a golfing ego :) I know I'm basically terrible and there really hasn't been a club that's changed that so far.
 
I'm with you on the ego route. I had a huge ego when it came to being fitted for me current irons X-22 tour, everyone i spoke to said a 19 HCer couldn't hit the Tours and suggested the X-22.

I went to a Callaway demo day and asked to be fitted for irons, after hitting both the X-22 and the X-22 Tours. I was fitted for the Tours with a PX 5.5 flighted shaft. which suit my game quite well and I have grown to love them. So when I was selected for the Morgan Cup I automatically assumed I would be gaming the Raxr X Tours

But I was wrong and my ego was taken down a peg or two when I was fitted for the Raxr X Blacks as my irons for the Morgan Cup.

Don't be to proud to play cavities
 
Thanks to family connections, I was able to get the clubs in my bag made to spec and for a far lower price than retail. My mistake is that I made my purchases based on my best swings and not my average swing. Still not bad, but could maybe use a touch more forgiveness.
 
I like to think that I play whatever works and regardless of brand. Boccieri hybrids, tried the belly putter, SCOR's.

I need forgiveness and I know it. Just don't understand the point of having MB's in the bag if I can't break 80 or 85 with them. I have nice clubs, they are pretty, but they aren't helping my score or lower my HC?!?! Makes no sense to me.

I care about what my scorecard looks like at the end of the round. If I find something that helps lower that number, you can bet your a$$ you will find it in my bag.
 
I started playing in high school, and started with an older set of irons and miscellaneous woods. As I played more and more, I started testing out newer clubs, and went with the ones that I really liked hitting.

I'm not good enough to have a golfing ego. :bulgy-eyes:
 
I play R11's right now. I mostly play them for the forgiveness and the looks. I think they are a solid iron that not only looks good from the address, but produces great shots. I have played a players iron in the past (R9 TPs) and liked them. I just move to the R11s for a bit more distance. I do miss the shot shaping ability I had with the R9 TPs. I don't think I would really take advantage of shaping shots on the norm, but it is nice when you need to play "Bubba Golf" to get out of trouble.

I think my next set of irons will move towards a players iron again. I have found that I really don't care about hitting a 7 iron farther, but I want more precision in my irons. I think this would be obtained through a players iron over a distance iron.
 
I definitely had an ego about playing certain clubs before coming on THP.. I had Mizuno blades (which I did hit well) but have slowly gotten more and more forgiving irons.. I refused to touch a Superfast driver yet game a 2.0 TP.. I hated everything Callaway/Odyssey yet officially rank my tour design #9 as my top gamer.

The more I read about and experience fittings, the more I buy into the fact that there is simply the right club out there for everyone. It's not about the best players using the most difficult blades anymore. I'm just glad I was never a "ProV" guy.
 
No ego for me, which is good for a 20+ handicapper. I recently bought Nike VR_S irons, despite the fact that the soles are huge, and with the middle irons you can clearly see the "power bow" sticking out at address. I expect that would bother many a purist -- but I hit them better than smaller cavity backs, which makes me enjoy the game, so I don't care. I can still hit a crappy shot with them, so I still feel like I've accomplished something when I hit a good shot.

Where the ego does come into play is with the Driver, I won't even try a square or hex shaped head. I just like the "traditional" shape (if you can call any 460cc head a traditional shape). (And I guess the VR_S driver isn't exactly pear-shaped).
 
I don't care what I'm playing as long as it works for me. I gamed some hand-me-down Founders Club irons while I learned the game, then when I decided to get a new set I'll admit that a big factor was budget. I'd narrowed it down to a couple of sets and when I read the reviews of the Wilson Staff Di11's it made me want to try them. I fell in love with them, bought them and don't regret it at all.

I ended up with the Diablo Octane driver after trying a few different ones and I just picked the one which worked best for me. I've no ego problems with using a 13.5* driver, even though someone I play with sometimes ribs me about it.
 
For me its because i get it for a good price the only clubs i bought new is my iron set

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
 
Chunky, I do have a question for you to make this interesting.

You shot a couple of your best scores ever with your Nikes in the bag and I can't really recall hearing you talk about a truly bad day. Maybe you had some poor days for you, but it's not like you were going from 75 to 105 from round to round.

The point of that statement isn't to say that the Nikes were the best iron for you, but more along the lines of - do you think it really makes a huge amount of difference either way? Did you notice any huge changes to the way you scored with different sets of irons?
 
For me cost is a bigger consideration than I'd like. The weather only lets us play part of the year up here in the PNW. Plus I'm just getting back into the game more seriously this year and with two smaller kids there just isn't that much time left in the day to play. So it is hard to justify spending big coin on new sticks. So I look for GI or SGI clubs at a favorable price then determine if I actually like them / if they fit my swing. So far I've been really fortunate to bag some clubs that I really like and which seem to be doing me solid.
 
I am dying to put the RBZs through the rigour, I wouldnt say ego plays a role in terms of what I play anymore
 
Every club in my bag has earned its way there, with the caveat that I am always shopping for bargains. If I was willing to pay for a full club fitting and just buy whatever clubs totally fit my game the best, then I would probably have a few changes. But through a combination of fittings, bargain hunting, and trial and error, I am pretty happy with my current setup.

I don't think ego really plays a part in my decisions, although I could be wrong. However, I do rely on some totally subjective qualities that aren't backed up by launch monitor numbers. For example, a couple years ago I decided I needed irons with more forgiveness. I settled on Callaway X-22 Tours, primarily because I could get them for a good price. I wound up using them for less than a year, because I just wasn't satisfied with the feel of those clubs. I could hit the ball straight with them and with reasonable consistency, but I just wasn't having fun with them. I went to see a fitter last Summer, and I chose the Mizuno combo set I have due to a combination of feel and results. They probably were not my fitters first choice for me, and I do have some small problems with directional control, but I really enjoy hitting them.

My other clubs were all chosen through trial and error, and each one is a surprise to me. I never liked Vokey wedges before. I got to demo some SM4s for a couple of rounds, and they beat out several other wedges I was trying. The Mizuno fairway woods are something I found on the pre-owend rack, and they fit me very well. The Cleveland Classic driver was chosen after months of demo'ing and number crunching. I thought I needed a higher loft and a more flexible shaft, but this one won out.

Next up for me is a putter fitting.
 
they are the onyl clubs I got
 
This will be my fourth full summer playing golf. When I started I had found an old pair of blades n my grandparents basement that my grandfather let me have. I was at the course one day golfing and outside of the clubhouse my cousin was there and was looking at my bag, then started laughing. Not knowing any different, I asked what he was laughing at, he then told me that there's no way he would even hit them (4 Handicap) and that the groove were no existent. So he told me on my way home from the course to stop by his house.

When I stopped by he had a set of Deep Reds waiting for me in amazing condition. I have had them that day forward. Due to being in university and irons costing a crap load, I'm still gaming them and sure I will be until I graduate.
 
For me, I played the game improvement irons for a couple of years, and they really helped. I finally learned to swing better, and developed a real problem with the high lefts....the clubs seemed to really favor that. :D I hit some of my friends irons that weren't as game improvement as my Burner Plus', and found I could bring the ball flight down a bit, and my hook turned into more of a draw. So, I decided to get something a bit different, and went with the CB's. I even have gained a few yards in the process. Hasn't made my score better dramatically, but I do see the course from closer to the center at times.
 
In my next set of irons, I think it will be about how comfortable I am. I've hit my friend's blades on the range and hit them just fine. I feel like normally I am not a great ball striker, not nearly good enough to hit blades well. I strike my 4 iron very badly. But standing over his 712 MB 4 iron, I feel like I can hit it really well. And I do hit it pretty well. I'll try not to fool myself, I know I need forgiveness, so I think my next iron set will be moving towards a players iron. Slim and good looking but with a bit of forgiveness. I think that will be best for me.
 
I gave up on ego. Ego just leads to higher scores.

My irons were fitted by GolfTEC over a number of hours based on hard computer data and then trying the top contenders out on the course. My woods and hybrid were all clear winners for me at big demo days where I hit everything available head-to-head and got to see them all in the same conditions with the same balls, etc.
 
I went to a more forgiving iron. I was playing some Player's Cavities, but went with more of a GI. I took ego out of it. Of course I want to play some serious blades, because I want to be a serious golfer, but I knew better.
 
I have what's in my bag based on what helps me play my best.....I've gotten past the point of trying to play a club based on what it looks like in the bag sitting around. I tried that route and it did nothing for me on the golf course but add stress and hurt my scores.

Here's a point we all need to remember......

...you're not as good as you think you are...you think you're better than you actually are so play something forgiving and have fun...we aren't doing this for a living.
 
I wonder why fun has to be tied in with forgiving? I'm still having fun and my last set of irons were a lot more forgiving. I play some forgiving clubs too - Mashie fwy and 2 hybrids are about as forgiving as you get.
 
I play the R11's because of the reviews here on THP and then a fitting where I hit them the best. The SeeMore putter because I liked the feel of it better than anything else in the store at the time. My Hybrid because I also hit it better than anything else I had tried. My woods were the only thing available with my shaft requirement and I hit them just fine. If I was going to change anything it would be to upgrade the woods.
 
I don't think ego plays a role in what I play whatsoever. I don't really care what anyone else plays to be honest so it shouldn't matter why I play what I play. Prior to finding THP, I played player's irons (I had the i3 blades, the i10's, and the CCi Forged irons). WHen I found THP I became somewhat obsessed with picking up distance, so I naturally found myself enveloped in distance irons. I liked the idea of hitting a 9iron 150 yards. It mades sense. Well, I went from X22's to Burner 2.0's to Razr X Tours to R11 irons. All great irons. All do what they are advertised to do to an extent. However, I found myself just wanting to hit them far. I found myself not really concerned with dispersion as much as I was with raw length. A lot of that has to do with playing with guys like biggsy. I'll never forget the first time I played golf with him. He hit it so far that I thought, "if I could do that, golf would be easier". All of the above irons I mentioned were good, but I found that my level of concentration was lacking. I knew I could get away with more and I knew that if I just whacked the ball, it would go far.

Then I demo'd the i20 7iron. Over and over and over again. I found some things to be interesting when I did. I wasn't losing a slew of distance and I was hitting balls much tighter than ever before. So I pulled the trigger. And honestly chunky, you didn't help with that either, LOL. Then I get them in, I take them to the course and I find that I am hitting the exact same iron from certain distances that I was with those irons I mentioned earlier. How is this possible? SOmetimes I still don't understand it, but I now have an iron that is as long, more precise, and gives me a level of confidence and concentration that none of the others did.

So in that regard maybe it is an ego thing. Because I can tell you right now that when I pull an i20 iron out of my bag, I know I'm going to hit it well, I know I'm going to hit the green, and I know I'm going to put my golf ball inside of yours. Quite simply, they make me feel like an elite ball striker. And my i20 wielding head is massive right now!!
 
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