Golf Clubs?

[turbotrip]

Since I dont know much about golf, I need beyond's help here. Lets say you were looking to buy a complete golf set as a gift for an older man that plays 1-2 times a week and were looking to get the best set possible (=most expensive?). What would you buy and how much would you be spending? Is $3-4k going to get you the best set?
I know its a matter of personal preference but am looking for some kind of idea so as to shortlist a few for him to try out. Ive been told R11's, Ping Answers, and G20's; does anybody have any experience with these sets?

thanks

[colinxx235]

Quite a few things go into buying clubs.

Handicap
Swing speed/strength (usually older will be slower/weaker)


Depending on age, typically older people choose graphite shafts.
If he's a very good golfer the clubs you listed (blades) will all work well.
Titleist also makes very good clubs and I would consider those as well.

R11 would probably be your safest bet, or the callaway Razr. once again depending on the handicap. The titleist/ping are less forgiving than the other two.

As for woods, personal preference again. Full set of Taylormade hard to go wrong. I personally prefer Taylormade irons and have a callaway driver, but thats mostly because I didn't want to spend ~1-1.2K on 1/3/5 woods for taylormades.

In summation, safe bet. Pick the R11s/RBZ all the way through, in graphite. Normal stiffness woods.

[Type_S1]

^^ Agreed

R11 graphite's.

[~Leah~]

Ping's shafts are not really for a beginner golfer.

I'd highly recommend Taylormade R11's/RBZ or Callaway Razr for the beginner to average golfer.

[turbotrip]

sorry shouldve clarified, he is not a beginner; probably above average player
he currently has a good (but a few years older) callaway set, so im trying to upgrade him to the best set possible. thats why im trying to figure out which is the top top, as in there is nothing better you can buy right now (under $5k)

also if i was to just buy a gift card and tell him to choose his own which store would you guys recommend? golf town? nevada bob's?

[Anton]

I know this is probably not the answer you're looking for but picking clubs for someone is like picking a woman for someone.

Sure you can pick one with good qualities but doesn't mean he'll be happy with it.

Clubs are so personal, especially for a good golfer that he'll probably want to demo some before buying them.

If this is a surprise, maybe just take him to golf town and make a day out of it. Hit some clubs with him, pick a set and buy it for him.

+1 for RAZR thoughs, gonna pick some up for myself shortly. I'm an average golfer though (and a Callaway fanboy).

[leftwing]

Originally posted by Anton
I know this is probably not the answer you're looking for but picking clubs for someone is like picking a woman for someone.

Sure you can pick one with good qualities but doesn't mean he'll be happy with it.

Clubs are so personal, especially for a good golfer that he'll probably want to demo some before buying them.

If this is a surprise, maybe just take him to golf town and make a day out of it. Hit some clubs with him, pick a set and buy it for him.

+1 for RAZR thoughs, gonna pick some up for myself shortly. I'm an average golfer though (and a Callaway fanboy).

Agree, clubs are one of those gifts you cant pick out for someone else. Especially if the golfer is decent and if you are planning on buying top of the line (lots of $$) you dont want to go wrong. I agree with taking him out for a day and making it a day of it. Some golf stores have a 'simulator' inside them where you can try out clubs.

[JLau]

get burner 2.0, they are very forgiving and are good clubs that come with hybrids.

[ffmf]

There are just too many factors in finding the right club and I agree with others who disagree with just picking up a club off the rack at a big box store.

If he's not a brand whore then get him a set of custom built clubs. Much more detailed analysis than you'll get at Golf Town etc. You won't be able to "buy" the clubs but you can pay for the analysis and the clubs being built. Being a fairly regular golfer, he would probably enjoy the experience as well. This would be an awesome gift in my opinion.

This guy has fitted actual PGA Tour players, has won World Clubmaker of the Year, and is in Calgary.

http://www.ericksonscc.com/

This books tells you all about the advantages of actual custom built clubs versus the big brand name clubs you get "custom fitted" for. Spending more does not mean you will get a better club suited to someones swing.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Search-Perfect-Golf-Club/dp/1587264439/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335489773&sr=8-1

[ExtraSlow]

Gift certificate and then pay for the clubs to be fitted. That makes a big difference.

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by ffmf
There are just too many factors in finding the right club and I agree with others who disagree with just picking up a club off the rack at a big box store.

If he's not a brand whore then get him a set of custom built clubs. Much more detailed analysis than you'll get at Golf Town etc. You won't be able to "buy" the clubs but you can pay for the analysis and the clubs being built. Being a fairly regular golfer, he would probably enjoy the experience as well. This would be an awesome gift in my opinion.

This guy has fitted actual PGA Tour players, has won World Clubmaker of the Year, and is in Calgary.

http://www.ericksonscc.com/

This books tells you all about the advantages of actual custom built clubs versus the big brand name clubs you get "custom fitted" for. Spending more does not mean you will get a better club suited to someones swing.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Search-Perfect-Golf-Club/dp/1587264439/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335489773&sr=8-1

I was just going to write this. I think it's better for him to get a set of clubs fitted. There are a couple around town that do this service.

My dad got fitted for a set of Ping irons. He loves it and it made a significant difference in his game using proper fitted gear.

If he's above average (15-18 HDCP), a nice set of blade style clubs would be ideal, maybe?

[~Leah~]

Yeah if he is an above average player, DO NOT attempt to buy clubs for him.

Since my brother is the national buyer for Nevada Bob's, I'd say go there, but even I go to Golf Town. Or as these guys say, get custom fitting.

[Spoons]

Originally posted by ~Leah~
Yeah if he is an above average player, DO NOT attempt to buy clubs for him.

Since my brother is the national buyer for Nevada Bob's, I'd say go there, but even I go to Golf Town. Or as these guys say, get custom fitting.

Right there.

Someone bought me a nice pair of golf clubs, went right to where they bought them and exchanged them for ones I actually liked. Nothing on the person who bought them, I just didn't like them.

Golf clubs come incredibly down to personal preference and feel. The best thing you can do is take him to a golf store and have him try out a bunch and then buy him them.

Golf clubs are a terrible idea for a gift that is a "surprise".

[20incheyes]

Originally posted by colinxx235

If he's a very good golfer the clubs you listed (blades) will all work well.

None of the clubs OP listed are blades fyi.

The best irons out right now for good players that fit in your budget are these:

Titleist AP2, Ping i20, and Mizuno MP 59

These brands only bring out new clubs every 2+ years and they hold their value the best since the demand is the highest for them. All 3 iron sets above are new this year

Golf Town > Nevada bobs. This isn't even close.

Fitting and feel are vital to picking out the right clubs.

Miura irons are also something to look into if the player is a single digit cap but these clubs you will most likely have to buy used to fit your budget.

[turbotrip]

thanks for all the replies. I wont be choosing the set for him.
but i am going to try to go to golf town (beacon hill) tomorrow and check some of the suggested sets out before taking him

[JLau]

:thumbsup: AP2, i was debating on getting that or the R11s i ended up getting. Because my handicap is not great, i didnt want to go with a blade set.

[98brg2d]

Ping's shafts are not really for a beginner golfer.
ping are less forgiving than the other two

Where on earth are you two getting this from?

Ping makes several shafts that cover a very large range of golfers, arguably the largest range of golfers of any OEM, if they don't make it you can still order it (e.g. True temper shafts, KBS, Nippon etc in addition to their own graphite shafts and CFS or zzlite steel shafts, which are both very, very good).

They also make some of the most forgiving heads in the industry and the G20s certainly fall under that description. They are generally regarded as a brand aimed at easy to hit, forgiving heads, even their "blades" (the S series) are very easy to hit for the average golfer. Ping invented "game improvement" clubs and continue to make some of the best designs around for this segment.

Ping is all about getting custom fit for length, lie, grip size and shaft. They can put almost any shaft in for you in any combination of stiffness, soft stepping, hard stepping (for taper tip shafts) swing weight etc. and most are not even an upcharge. The easiest way to get the closest to best clubs for almost any golfer is to be fit for Pings, they do a far better job at this than any other OEM you will find at Golftown for Nevada Bobs. This generally doesn't cost any more than the price off the rack. Your recipient will probably also really enjoy the personal attention they should receive from a proper fitting (Ping or otherwise). If you like the idea of fitting, talk to Rey Ericksson, Tour stix at Harvest Hills, Ted and Dave Custom Golf at RCGA or Simply Golf.

OP, if you want to educate yourself go ask this same question at Golfwrx.com and go read stuff at wishongolf.com.

[turbotrip]

so just to post an update, i didnt realize how much goddam time it would take to actually pick a set- but we've gone 2 times now and hit at the simulator and narrowed it down to the following:

irons: callaway razr xf & ping g20
drivers: ping g20, callaway razrfit, titliest d2, taylormade rbz

looks like its gonna be one final trip to decide between these (leaning towards razr xf and rbz) and pick a putter, bag, etc. but any input on these option so far would be great.

and golf town told me ping will be at the sundridge location early june for fittings, and callaway will not be in a store till end of june or july. is this the custom fitting that everyone is referring to? if so why do you guys suggest "talk to Rey Ericksson, Tour stix at Harvest Hills, Ted and Dave Custom Golf at RCGA or Simply Golf." is there any difference between the fittings they do at golf town and at these other places? golf town says that their fitting is included in the price.

[ffmf]

I don't think Golf Town has detailed analysis for club fittings. I would at least try the Callaway Golf Performance Centre in Calgary. From their site: "The Performance Centre systems analyze a number of important swing factors, including: clubhead speed, ball speed, angle of attack, launch angle, ball spin rate, carry distance and total distance. This provides the specially trained CPGA professionals with a wealth of information to assist in the fitting process."

Hitting into just a simulator pales in comparison to the other analysis and a "real fitting".

I would suggest emailing one of the other custom builders (Rey, Tour Stix etc) to see what they offer in comparison. They would likely have the same analysis as the Callaway Centre but access to other brands of clubs and access to way more different shafts which is just as important as the clubhead. I'm assuming at Golf Town you're limited to 2 or 3 different shaft choices in R, S, XS flexes.

At the end of the day for your situation, I would go with the Callaway Golf Performance Centre. They have pretty detailed analysis and you're getting brand name clubs. The other custom fitting guys often use component club brands (Wishon, Maltby) rather than brand names and it doesn't seem that the person hitting the clubs would be comfortable with that. I guess the only drawback is that they only fit Callaways instead of Ping Titleist etc. which also seem to be contenders right now.

http://www.callawaygolf.com/global/en-ca/custom-fitting/performance-centres.html

[98brg2d]

Real club fitters will use equipment like Trackman (used for fitting and teaching, this is the cutting edge and is driving most of the legitimate research into why a golf ball does what it does after struck), Vector and Zelocity to measure and/or calculate club head speed, angle of attack, path angle, face angle, d-plane, spin axis and speed, velocity, shot height, carry. They use proven systems/programs to determine length, overall weight, swingweight (or MOI), grip size, set make up, shaft options etc. One option you can get when custom fit is to frequency match the entire set which takes blueprinting the entire set. This does not mean selecting a "frequency matched" set of shafts, to what frequency are they matched? Is that the best frequency for you?

Golftown will most likely do a static fitting for length, have you hit off of a lie board to check lie and put impact tape on the club to double check lie and length. They do have real launch monitors at most stores but they don't let you use them unless you are getting fit or taking lessons. They use this to check trajectory but they don't have the options available that custom fitters do to tune trajectory (spin, launch conditions etc.), only what the OEM offers.

If you want OEM custom fit (to get name recognition), Ping through Golftown is fine, Callaway is great and Ted and Dave Custom Golf specialize in custom fitting OEM clubs. Fitting days should also work but it is hit and miss which manufacturers provide a good product (i.e. a proper fitting) as it is not consistent across the industry, some co.s do a much better job than others.