Top 5 Best & Worst Golf Purchases

[Sonny Beach]

Best Purchase,  of course that would be what I'm playing with right now. #1 & 2, Ai Smoke driver and 3 wood, #3, Cobra Snakebite CB wedge, #4, Ping G430 hybrid, $5, Apex Forged 21 irons. Worst Purchases, #1, Zero Restriction jacket $500.00 heavy weight knitted picking and pilling POS! #2, Sims 2 irons, #3, Cleveland CB Full Face OS wedges, #4 Stealth driver, #5, Cleveland Launcher XL FW 7 wood. 

[Rob Person]

I don't have alot of club experience,  but I'm sort of becoming a home training collector. Also I'm a bit of a goodwill wh0re when it comes to finding golf items in the off seasons.

Best 5

Outdoor tent style hitting net and chipping net.  Absolutely love setting them up in 5 minutes and just hitting balls into them.

A $3 goodwill 7wood. This is my favorite 140-150 yard club. It's cut down 2" and Absolutely is my most reliable par 3/short approach club.

Ai-one DB putter (while I didn't purchase it, it's still my #1 golf club!)

FootJoy flex golf sneakers. After replacing the insoles with good ones, I can and have gone all day with them.

My temu rangefinder.  Partly because it was my first rangefinder, and partly because it was so cheap. But its accurate, has great display features, and rechargeable. 

Worst golf gear decisions 

#1 - the blasted raycook mallet putter.  I'll always refer to it as a tank on a stick. No feedback from impact at all. For me, it's just a finicky putter.

The TM Burner 2.0 driver. I just couldn't make it work for me at all. I gave it to a friend who is absolutely bombing it. So it went to a good home.

And this may be the most trivial thing, but those magnetic tees. I've broken 2, lost 1, and they are harder to remove from the ground than any other tee out there.

 

 

[Don O]

Best:

1. Vokey SM9 wedges. Just perfection.
2. Tour Edge 2h. So easy to hit and goes as far as my 5-wood, so no more 5-wood in my bag.
3. Feetures golf socks
4. Nicklaus Muifield 20th irons. Back when I was good and could actually play them. They were so pure. 
5. Arccos 

Worst: 

Not too many purchases I'd say are terrible, but...

1. Vice golf balls. Don't remember which type is was, but they were god awful.
2. Nike Sasquatch driver. No comment needed.

[Bortery]

On 6/8/2018 at 11:45 AM, PING Apologist #9 said:

WORST

1: Footjoy M-Fit gloves size XL-ordered wrong hand (right) because apparently I cannot read eBay postings

2: PING Karsten III iron set-Immediately upgraded from them and they're still for sale

3: Golf Pride MCC+4 Align grips-Put on above irons and never used them

4: 1980's PING Staff bag-Immediately upgraded to DLX bag which I love, sold it at a loss...

5: PING Anser G2i putter-It's too long and I need to send it in for refitting <_>

 

BEST

1: PING G400 SFT driver

2: PING DLX cart bag

3: PING Vault Anser 2 putter 

4: All of my Footjoy shoes

5: Kentwool socks

 

I play with an old set of Karsten III, because I got back into golf and wanted something inexpensive and the Ping brand. They play fine for me, but I will upgrade to the i230’s before too long and that is not due to not liking them. It is because I have found I love the new Ping technology. Speaking of Ping technology, if you like the G400 driver, you are missing out on the G425 max. It is the most forgiving driver I have ever played with and the adjustability is crazy good too. The option of moving the 26g weight from center to toe to heel. But do what I read in a forum such as this, buy two 13g weights and place one on the heel position and the other on the toe position. Forgiveness even better and you don’t loose the weight balance from the factory. And bonus, you don’t have to pay extra for the newest model to get the great technology, ie the G430 which I’m sure is an awesome driver as well. I was so impressed with the G425 max driver I purchased the G425 max 3 wood fairway wood to replace the 1 and 2 iron in my bag.  I will have to post how that works out for me at a later date, once I get a chance to test my theory out. 
 

Happy Golfing and here’s to lower scores and handicaps!!!

[archship]

Best: 1. Sun Mountain Speed Cart Circa 2003  (I have  walked over 10,000 miles with this cart!) 2. Garmin G80 GPS & Launch Monitor 3. Callaway Rogue ST Max Driver through AW  

Worst:  1, 2, & 3. Callaway UPro GPS was the worst money I’ve ever spent on ANYTHING, golf or not. It originally cost around $300 and only came with 10 free course downloads. Then you had to purchase more courses. It was notoriously NOT user friendly.  It only had it maybe two years before they refused to support new updates, etcetera. By that point I only had maybe 20 courses on the thing. I had a neighbor give me his out of frustration and he only had about 2 dozen as well, many of them the same courses. Complete waste of money for most users. Callaway should have been ashamed of themselves. I usually love their products. 

[BeeGee]

I see a lot of great comments and chuckle at a lot of them as they bring back memories .. not all good ones either. 

Top 5 Best

1.  Scotty Cameron putter

2.  Odyssey arm lock putter

3.  Mizuno JPX 923 hot metal irons

4.  OnCore ElixR golf balls (yellow)

5.  Garmin Approach Z80

 

Worst 5

1.  Lag shot clubs

2.  Cheap gloves

3.  Plastic tees

4.  Metal spikes ... had to replace them too often

5.  Balata balls .. loved the feel and playability but the durability was really bad .. look at them wrong and they would become egg shaped.

[Mr_BogeyPro]

11 minutes ago, BeeGee said:

I see a lot of great comments and chuckle at a lot of them as they bring back memories .. not all good ones either. 

Top 5 Best

1.  Scotty Cameron putter

2.  Odyssey arm lock putter

3.  Mizuno JPX 923 hot metal irons

4.  OnCore ElixR golf balls (yellow)

5.  Garmin Approach Z80

 

Worst 5

1.  Lag shot clubs

2.  Cheap gloves

3.  Plastic tees

4.  Metal spikes ... had to replace them too often

5.  Balata balls .. loved the feel and playability but the durability was really bad .. look at them wrong and they would become egg shaped.

I'm interested why you had said plastic tees as one of your worst. I love playing the martini tees (I think I used them before they became so popular) and rarely use anything else. On short Par 3's I use a plastic tee or a broken wooden one. in 

[goldenhawk]

Best:

1.  Titleist TSR2 Driver

2.  Ping G430 Max 10K Driver

3.  Titleist T200 Irons, 2021 and 2023 models

4.  Titleist 2023 T200 Irons

5.  Adams XTD Super Fairway Wood and Hybrid combo that I played for 3+ years.

Worst:

1.  The original Nike SUMO Squared Driver

2.  Callaway RAZR Fit Driver

3.  Callaway FT-I Driver and 3 Wood

4.  TaylorMade ATV Wedges

5.  Some Ogio Bag with the stretchy, bouncing straps

[Rob Person]

23 minutes ago, Mr_BogeyPro said:

I'm interested why you had said plastic tees as one of your worst. I love playing the martini tees (I think I used them before they became so popular) and rarely use anything else. On short Par 3's I use a plastic tee or a broken wooden one. in 

Your response is so timely,  as I just created a poll/discussion on this!

[Rico_de_Gallo]

Worst 5 :

5. Wal-mart Driver from 2008 (I was in college .. it was cheap..... it broke after 4 rounds

4. Thinking I needed a set of ball markers for the green, when just any coin is fine

3. A 3-in-1 club cleaner tool .... was just cheap and crappy

2. Golf Tees .... plenty of places will put them in the cart now

1. Refurbished golf balls .... just don't do it. The inconsistency ball to ball is crazy. Learned the hard way for a couple years after thinking I could get some "good" balls for cheap

 

Best 5

5. divot board 

4.  Range Finder

3. Arccos 

2. Quality golf balls. - something good and be consistent has done wonders

1. Fitted clubs (currently playing with some PXGs)

 

[JRDuck40]

Ooooo Top 5 BEST

5. Takomo Irons - just purchased but quickly climbing the list. 

4. Ping ISI Irons (first new set of irons I had in HS)

3. Cleveland Quadpro Driver 

2. Titleist TSI 5w (quickly replaced my 3w and is my new favorite club!)

1. Titleist Scott Cameron Golo S 

 

Worst

5. Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero Driver (that club was more unreliable than than a drunk ex)

4. TaylmorMade SLDR - Why, just why. One out of every 5 shots was 'ok'. 

3. Odyssey white fang mallet - just zero feeling. Thank god I only dropped $35 on it. Haha. 

2. Titleist Vokey SM8 50* F grind. I could not hit it to save my life. Purchased it online because I have a $100 GC to burn. Wish I would've never wasted that. When in doubt, always buy more balls, gloves or grips. Always! 

1. Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 - Spent over $400 at a golf show... not it just looks pretty in my basement. FML

[JRDuck40]

1 hour ago, Don O said:

Best:

1. Vokey SM9 wedges. Just perfection.
2. Tour Edge 2h. So easy to hit and goes as far as my 5-wood, so no more 5-wood in my bag.
3. Feetures golf socks
4. Nicklaus Muifield 20th irons. Back when I was good and could actually play them. They were so pure. 
5. Arccos 

Worst: 

Not too many purchases I'd say are terrible, but...

1. Vice golf balls. Don't remember which type is was, but they were god awful.
2. Nike Sasquatch driver. No comment needed.

All you have to do is TYPE Sasquatch and IYKYK... Haha. I played a round in Myrtle Beach last year with a guy that was playing that god awful thing. I damn near asked for ear plugs at the turn. Hahaha. 

[WisecrackWard]

On 6/8/2018 at 7:45 AM, PING Apologist #9 said:

WORST

1: Footjoy M-Fit gloves size XL-ordered wrong hand (right) because apparently I cannot read eBay postings

2: PING Karsten III iron set-Immediately upgraded from them and they're still for sale

3: Golf Pride MCC+4 Align grips-Put on above irons and never used them

4: 1980's PING Staff bag-Immediately upgraded to DLX bag which I love, sold it at a loss...

5: PING Anser G2i putter-It's too long and I need to send it in for refitting <_>

 

BEST

1: PING G400 SFT driver

2: PING DLX cart bag

3: PING Vault Anser 2 putter 

4: All of my Footjoy shoes

5: Kentwool socks

 

3 of your favs is Ping and 3 of your worst is Ping. That's pretty interesting! You must like the brand overall to have such a Ping spread.

[Jeremy26]

On 6/8/2018 at 11:45 AM, PING Apologist #9 said:

WORST

1: Footjoy M-Fit gloves size XL-ordered wrong hand (right) because apparently I cannot read eBay postings

2: PING Karsten III iron set-Immediately upgraded from them and they're still for sale

3: Golf Pride MCC+4 Align grips-Put on above irons and never used them

4: 1980's PING Staff bag-Immediately upgraded to DLX bag which I love, sold it at a loss...

5: PING Anser G2i putter-It's too long and I need to send it in for refitting <_>

 

BEST

1: PING G400 SFT driver

2: PING DLX cart bag

3: PING Vault Anser 2 putter 

4: All of my Footjoy shoes

5: Kentwool socks

 

You should really give PING a try. They make great clubs

[TylorJudd]

Love this!

Best Purchases

1 Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond

2 Vokey SM8 Wedges

3 Lessons. Period

4 Sun Mountain Speed Cart V1

5 Bushnell Wingman 

Worst

1. Puma Fusion Soft Spike Shoes

2. Fujikura Ventus Black (I know, doesn’t make sense)

3. Cleveland Launcher DST Driver

4. Scotty Cameron Select Laguna 1.5 (Again, I know)

5. All adidas shirts

 

The pumas word some of the most uncomfortable shoes I have ever worn, just beat your feet to a pulp. The Ventus was merely a terrible choice because I wasn’t fit for it. Same with the Scotty, although haven’t really liked the feel of a Scotty overall. The Cleveland driver is of a bygone era where my entire bag was Cleveland, didn’t want to spend a fortune on a driver, and didn’t want mismatching clubs, such a silly concept. Adidas shirts just feel cheap, I don’t wear Nike either and I guess it’d be the same thing. 

[Aur0nX]

Don’t know if I can come up with 5 each but here it goes:

Best

1 ping g430 driver

2 adidas codechaos 22 shoes, (I even bought a second pair on clearance to stay with them as long as possible)

3 club fitting fees

 

worst

1 TM Stealth 1, chipped the face in less than a year

2 driving 2 Iron, experiment gone wrong

3 vice pirates and origin of golf balls. (Try finding a black or blood red ball, can’t see those even in the fairway)

 

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

Love that this thread is getting new action and was highlighted in the forum email - definitely a topic I'd overanalyze, so instead of five, here's a few of each off the top of my head:

Best: 

Bushnell Hybrid Rangefinder - the first iteration wasn't great because of a single, shared, rechargeable battery, so once dead, the laser doesn't work. The newer version has the more classic, replaceable battery for the laser, and rechargeable for the GPS, so if the GPS dies, the laser still runs. It was a game changer at the time. 

Garmin Marq Golfer - It has a ton of embedded golf features, but in a versatile, full-featured, everyday smart watch (including things like activity tracking and other sports features). It's a splurge, but not as bad as it seems if the alternative is smart watch + golf watch. This let me retire the Bushnell in favor of a new toy. 

LAB Mezz XL - bought for a reasonable price off of LAB Outlet with "good enough" specs. Opened my eyes to how good this brand is. Still plan to get a real LAB fitting one of these days ..

Worst: 

Game Golf Pro - hands down the worst golf product I've ever used. 

Puma Solelace shoes - still memorable 5 years later. An eyelet broke when tightening for my second round, making them useless (Puma replaced them for me and let me pick a different model).

Honorable mention: This contraption. Not a purchase by me, but a joke gift from my dad. But, it's on the market, and should be considered one of the worst golf products made (no offense if you have one for real )

Edited March 22 by ChiefMikeOfficer

[GolfSpy_KFT]

6 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

How many of the worst purchases were led by a lack of fitting?

It is probably a pretty safe bet to say that my Rocketballz irons weren't great for me as they were not fitted. I did have them extended 1" by 2nd swing before having them shipped, but that only goes so far. This was well before I knew how big of a deal things like that were lol

[joncoke86]

Man there are so many that could go into the worst list for me but lets try to narrow it down:

1- Callaway Rogue ST LS driver. not so much because the driver was bad but I bought it off the rack at Golf Galaxy because I grooved like 7-10 balls in the bay with a baby draw (at the time not a normal shot shape)

2- a big list of training aids I've tried. My worst being a knock off tour striker (I think) little blow up ball that hangs on your neck. absolutely hated that thing. I gave it away when I sold a shaft.

3- Tinkering with way too many driver shafts... I love to tinker and try new things. So I constantly have swapped shafts out of my driver and woods...

4- Cut golf balls. the ball itself wasn't that bad but man that cover was awful

5- Founders Club golf bag. I really liked the thought of having a bag with the fully separated top that keeps all of your clubs from banging together. Its a good concept just not a good bag. Much prefer a stand bag now.

Best:

1- PXG Blackops Driver. I absolutely love this thing. I went from the rogue to a PXG gen5 and decided to upgrade to the Blackops after reading all of the reviews. I could not be any happier. I stole the heavy weight out of my gen5 driver and have two heavy weights in the front. This thing is a missile launcher.

2- Ping Hoofer stand bag. Looks great and is very versatile with the bottom it has. great for carrying, pushing on a cart or strapping into a cart.

3- Mizuno Hot Metal 921 irons. These were the first iron set I bought myself new from the local shop. I have played them for about 3 years and decided to try something with a little less offset this year but these with the shaft optimizer that Mizuno offers gives you so many options without an upcharge.

4- Graphite Design tour VF 5x driver shaft. Tried this on a whim and cut/built it myself. It fits perfectly in my driver about an inch longer than standard. If I swap drivers this will go into the new one.

5- LAB Mezz putter. Hands down this has been the best golf purchase I have made for my game. I got the pistol grip for it from lab and its so money. My putts per round have never been lower. I also lag putt much better than before.

 

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

2 hours ago, Don O said:

Best:

1. Feetures golf socks

Worst: 

Not too many purchases I'd say are terrible, but...

1. Vice golf balls. Don't remember which type is was, but they were god awful.

Feetures are phenomenal -- I got my first pair as some kind of trial, and almost immediately bought more. 

For Vice...my guess it was the Tour or the Drive. Their urethane models perform well (I've used both Pro and Pro Plus; have heard good things about Pro Soft). I think I read that at least one of the two Surlyn models are produced by a completely different factory from their other models (can't find the article now though...), which can contribute to quality/performance being worse than the others (but also, Surlyn vs. Urethane is a big difference too). 

Edited March 22 by ChiefMikeOfficer

[flsw19]

Best:

Tour Edge Comp Irons - only hole in one with 4 iron 170 over water

Sub70 699 Pro - only eagle hole out from 90 yards

Louisville True Center Putter (Persimmon insert)

Cypress Point Headcover - it was Cypress Point after all

Orlimar 4 wood - I mean real wood

Worst: - They no longer are allowed in my memory bank.

[tanmanbarber]

Best

1. Ping G400 3 wood
2. Ping G430 LST driver
3. Trunk organizer
4. Apple watch (GPS and score tracking)
5. Golfers lift off

Worst

1. Vice Tour golf balls 
2. Putter fitting from Golf Galaxy 
3. Balzee
4. Green monster driver
5. 68 degree wedge

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

52 minutes ago, Aur0nX said:

 

3 vice pirates and origin of golf balls. (Try finding a black or blood red ball, can’t see those even in the fairway)

 

Man, I keep reading through these and finding things that probably should be on my list too... those red Origin of Golf are almost impossible to follow off the clubface. 

[Don O]

23 minutes ago, joncoke86 said:

Man there are so many that could go into the worst list for me but lets try to narrow it down:

1- Callaway Rogue ST LS driver. not so much because the driver was bad but I bought it off the rack at Golf Galaxy because I grooved like 7-10 balls in the bay with a baby draw (at the time not a normal shot shape)

2- a big list of training aids I've tried. My worst being a knock off tour striker (I think) little blow up ball that hangs on your neck. absolutely hated that thing. I gave it away when I sold a shaft.

3- Tinkering with way too many driver shafts... I love to tinker and try new things. So I constantly have swapped shafts out of my driver and woods...

4- Cut golf balls. the ball itself wasn't that bad but man that cover was awful

5- Founders Club golf bag. I really liked the thought of having a bag with the fully separated top that keeps all of your clubs from banging together. Its a good concept just not a good bag. Much prefer a stand bag now.

Best:

1- PXG Blackops Driver. I absolutely love this thing. I went from the rogue to a PXG gen5 and decided to upgrade to the Blackops after reading all of the reviews. I could not be any happier. I stole the heavy weight out of my gen5 driver and have two heavy weights in the front. This thing is a missile launcher.

2- Ping Hoofer stand bag. Looks great and is very versatile with the bottom it has. great for carrying, pushing on a cart or strapping into a cart.

3- Mizuno Hot Metal 921 irons. These were the first iron set I bought myself new from the local shop. I have played them for about 3 years and decided to try something with a little less offset this year but these with the shaft optimizer that Mizuno offers gives you so many options without an upcharge.

4- Graphite Design tour VF 5x driver shaft. Tried this on a whim and cut/built it myself. It fits perfectly in my driver about an inch longer than standard. If I swap drivers this will go into the new one.

5- LAB Mezz putter. Hands down this has been the best golf purchase I have made for my game. I got the pistol grip for it from lab and its so money. My putts per round have never been lower. I also lag putt much better than before.

 

Man, I'd forgotten about Founders Club and the fact that I had a set. They were ok, but glad I didn't pay for them though. I dated one of Gary Adams' daughters in college and he gave me a set. 

[TJ Hall]

4 minutes ago, tanmanbarber said:

Best

1. Ping G400 3 wood
2. Ping G430 LST driver
3. Trunk organizer
4. Apple watch (GPS and score tracking)
5. Golfers lift off

Worst

1. Vice Tour golf balls 
2. Putter fitting from Golf Galaxy 
3. Balzee
4. Green monster driver
5. 68 degree wedge

A 68 degree wedge…wow!  That thing must have been laying wide open

[johngschulz]

Best:

1. Ryder Cup tickets 2016 Hazeltine

2. In 2006 my Odyssey White Hot #7

3. Fitted Maltby DBM iron set, love em

4. First rangefinder

5. Garage setup w/ mat, net, Rapsodo MLM

Worst:

1. Golf lessons with a guy that didn’t listen

2. 1000 count bag of golf tees that were *really* short off of eBay

3. Box of Pro V1s in my 2nd year of golfing (that was literally throwing my money away)

4. A gap wedge from a different iron set from my gamers, literally had the same distance as my PW

5. A single 7iron, just to see if I should play the “Pro” version of the Callaway XRs.. The answer was no.

[poprocksncoke]

21 minutes ago, Don O said:

Man, I'd forgotten about Founders Club and the fact that I had a set. They were ok, but glad I didn't pay for them though. I dated one of Gary Adams' daughters in college and he gave me a set. 

Back in the day they had a pretty nice forged set of irons and The Judge driver was solid for its time.

[poprocksncoke]

Best: (in no specific order)

1.  Taylormade SLDR - some like it, some love it I guess

2.  Taylormade R11s 3 wood

3.  Callaway Apex irons

4. Oban Kiyoski Purple (wish I still had it)

5.  GoSports golf net bundle

Worst:

1.  Great Big Bertha titanium 3 wood - a hook machine

2.  FT-9 tour with Fubuki shaft

3.  Aerotech steelfiber iron shafts

4.  Had a mallet putter, dont remember the brand (must have blocked it out of my mind) was a burgundy color and felt like it was made of plastic when you made contact with the ball.

5.  Any hybrid I have ever tried to play with

[ElTigre88]

This thread is honestly so helpful seeing what has worked and hasn’t over the years, so much insight and good info!

 

Bottom 5

5. Too many tees, I have more tees than I’ll use in my lifetime 

4. testing too many different golf balls, I know what I hit well and for some reason I keep buying into the hype of every new ball

3. knockoff gloves, just spend the money a good feeling glove is like a comfy pair of shoes

2. Random putters, stick with what works

1. the set of “big 5” store brand clubs I got in high school, they stuck around way too long and I didn’t realize how much they hampered my game until too late in life

 

Top 5

5. Nike golf shoes and apparel it’s the best

4. My Paradym Driver and MD5 wedges

3. Sim2 3 Hybrid, my go to club off the tee when I need to keep it in play

2. Odyssey #7 putter

1.  Putting mat for my house invaluable hours of practice rolling the rock

Edited March 22 by ElTigre88

[Preeway]

Best 5:

1. Ping Eye 2 Irons in 1990
2. OG TaylorMade Burner driver. Steel shaft. 
3. Ping Anser Putter
4. OG Ping Hoofer Bag. Finally wore it out after 30 years and had to toss it.
5. Srixon Z Star Diamond balls

Worst 5:

1. Sun Mountain Carry Bag- Granted this was late 80s but that bag lasted me two years before dying
2. Pinnacle Golf Balls
3. Top Flite Golf Balls- Didn't call them rock flights for nothing
4. Pinnacle blade putter- Looked like the OG Wilson flatstick but performed awful for me
5. Plastic tees- Give me wood tees all day long