Worst equipment mistakes you've made

[tony@CIC]

Ok spies, time to come clean - what are the worst mistakes you've made in buying equipment? 

[null]

Bought a set of srixon 545s from ebay.  The posting was kind of bare, so I emailed they seller and he confirmed that they were stiff flex and standard everything else.

I bought them, but it turns out they were regular flex shafts and an inch over standard length.

[sixcat]

Probably not exactly what you're looking for.  I left my first set of clubs in a storage building when I left my childhood home at age 17, never to be seen again.  Still a bit bitter about it 25 years later!

[Shankster]

I can honestly say all of my equipment I currently own. I wasn’t fitted for any of it. I’m sure the shafts are too something, grips are the wrong something, and the lie angle is the wrong angle.

But probably the worst was some Titleist irons I bought on eBay. I didn’t even look at them, they were supposed to be the 990B but they were the regular 990’s and had completely different shafts than the listing. Ended up liking them anyways, but it was right before my Taylormade set so I was golf dumb for several years.

[bens197]

Buying a Cameron from eBay that turned out to be a hackers project gone wrong. Two weeks of battle proving it wasn’t a factory Cameron and threat of law before I was refunded.

I still reported him so he wouldn’t scam someone else.


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[edingc]

Great idea for a thread.

I fell for the whole white driver craze a few years back. Bought an Adams Speedline Super LS driver solely because of the white crown and black face. Really was a sexy club. Couldn't hit it to save my life, though. When I finally bought a used Cobra AMP for cheap last summer, my driving ability went up significantly without much change to my swing.

Knowing what I know now, I should have bought the Adams S driver which was the more forgiving of the two offerings from Adams in that line. I know both were in the shop for roughly the same price, but that was also my first adjustable driver, so I think that's ultimately why I chose the Super LS.

[Wedgie]

After a day of golf and a night of drinking bought a driver from a late night informercial.  Iron Byron crushed this driver further than every other driver they compared it to.  Had to have it, lasted 2 rounds in my bag.  I wish I could remember the name of it.

[mpatrickriley]

When I first got into golf, I bought a couple of different "strong" 3 woods (the 13° kind). Took some time to realize that those sticks aren't designed to be used by ordinary mortals.

[edingc]

 

4 minutes ago, Wedgie said:

After a day of golf and a night of drinking bought a driver from a late night informercial.  Iron Byron crushed this driver further than every other driver they compared it to.  Had to have it, lasted 2 rounds in my bag.  I wish I could remember the name of it.

Reminds me of when my wife's grandmother passed away. She was an avid golfer up to a few months before her passing. When we went through her golf bag, we found she had purchased a Hammer driver from the late night infomercial on the Golf Channel.

My mother-in-law still has the club. I should borrow it sometime this summer for some range fun.

[cnosil]

Have bought and traded lots of clubs over the years.

Worst would have to be something that was pretty short lived.

Hybrids - went though a bunch until I tried the titleist ones. We’re total hook machines with the worst being the Hogan’s.

Putters - this is my weakness, I love putters so I have gone through a lot. The worst for me would probably be a Seemore putter, the RST works, but would require significant changes to my putting stroke to make it be effective.

[GB13]

Pretty much every hybrid I've even owned, I could hook every single one of them 2 fairways over. Other than that, I'd say the cheapo 64* wedge that I couldn't hit now, and I certainly couldn't hit it when I was a 20 handicap. 

[Kwoodfield]

So this was a few years back, but I made the mistake of buying the Calloway c4 Driver. This was while the Taylormade 200, Cleveland launcher era. The Calloway c4 had a carbon fiber head. It was ... you know the sales pitch.... it sounded like you were hitting something from outer space. It was a dead driver. It went no where. I regret every red cent I spent on that.


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[PING Apologist #9]

Easy one for me. When I got the bug for this funny little game back in mid-2017, I didn't have a whole lot of $ to spend. Found an old PING TiSi staff bag and filled it with a set of i3 woods (D, 3, 5 & 7) and a set of Karsten III irons. Awful stuff really. I immediately began selling all of it off to upgrade to gear from at least the early 2010's....Though the G driver I had I really hated because of the sound it made...my ears bleed just remembering it....

[Wedgie]

57 minutes ago, edingc said:

 

Reminds me of when my wife's grandmother passed away. She was an avid golfer up to a few months before her passing. When we went through her golf bag, we found she had purchased a Hammer driver from the late night infomercial on the Golf Channel.

My mother-in-law still has the club. I should borrow it sometime this summer for some range fun.

Why limit the use of the Hammer to the range?  Get that thing out on the course and share your thoughts with all of us.

[M. Parsons]

Okay, while I was fitted for my current driver, I don't feel that I was properly fitted...but I went through with the purchase anyway. I think that it's really hard to find a good fitter, and I hate being fit in an indoor hitting bay, I just don't believe those numbers that come up on their screen. With all that said, I usually find myself choking down on the grip in order to make club shorter and stiffer. It's my dream to go to Canada and get a full bag fitting from Ian at TXG.

[GolfSpy_APH]

I've been fortunate to not have many bad choices. Although many purchases over the years most have been decent, if I was the pick the worst it would have to be the fly z hybrid. I loved the driver and figured it would be a great partner to it. It felt so hard and just didn't for work me at all... A close second would be the Nike vrs covert 2.0 tour driver. Loved the look and color, but just wasnt built for me when it came to forgiveness. Was a rocket out there middle and sounded amazing, however off center oh boy!

Edited February 22, 2019 by Apolloshowl

[PING Apologist #9]

17 minutes ago, Apolloshowl said:

I've been fortunate to not have many bad choices. Although many purchases over the years most have been decent, if I was the pick the worst it would have to be the fly z hybrid. I loved the driver and figured it would be a great partner to it. It felt so hard and just didn't for work me at all... A close second would be the Nike vrs covert 2.0 tour driver. Loved the look and color, but just wasnt built for me when it came to forgiveness. Was a rocket out there middle and sounded amazing, however off center oh boy!

Seeing a bit of a trend here with hybrids being mentioned fairly often...interesting...I guess I'm not the only one to not get along so well with them. I have a G-Series 3H that I re-shafted and can't hit it at all now. So this one may be a bigger boner for me than my my first, ugly set mentioned above...

[GolfSpy_APH]

7 minutes ago, PING Apologist #9 said:

Seeing a bit of a trend here with hybrids being mentioned fairly often...interesting...I guess I'm not the only one to not get along so well with them. I have a G-Series 3H that I re-shafted and can't hit it at all now. So this one may be a bigger boner for me than my my first, ugly set mentioned above...

It's also why I'm stupid excited for the 410 crossover. Hoping it will finally be the perfect bridge between 4 iron and 3 wood. 

I could also put several other clubs in that gap which haven't made the cut ... Adams dhy, rogue 5 wood (currently best option), titleist tmb 2 iron, Cobra f7 6-7 wood cranked down, other hybrids. Just a tough spot to fill and most clubs I get to fill it haven't worked out and are more disappointing then playable for me. Rather then a club, that's been a spot which has provided the most poor purchases. 

[PING Apologist #9]

1 hour ago, Apolloshowl said:

It's also why I'm stupid excited for the 410 crossover. Hoping it will finally be the perfect bridge between 4 iron and 3 wood. 

I could also put several other clubs in that gap which haven't made the cut ... Adams dhy, rogue 5 wood (currently best option), titleist tmb 2 iron, Cobra f7 6-7 wood cranked down, other hybrids. Just a tough spot to fill and most clubs I get to fill it haven't worked out and are more disappointing then playable for me. Rather then a club, that's been a spot which has provided the most poor purchases. 

I may have to try one of those cross-overs myself. Keep us posted on when and how you do with them and the other options for sure!

[edingc]

2 hours ago, PING Apologist #9 said:

Seeing a bit of a trend here with hybrids being mentioned fairly often...interesting...I guess I'm not the only one to not get along so well with them. I have a G-Series 3H that I re-shafted and can't hit it at all now. So this one may be a bigger boner for me than my my first, ugly set mentioned above...

Yup, I could have added two Tour Edge Hot Launch 2 hybrids I bought last summer when I was down on my game. Now, I don't think there was anything wrong with those particular hybrids, but I just don't get along with hybrids period. Something about them just gets into my head.

[PlaidJacket]

Hybrids are on my list too.

Kenny talked me into buying some 4-More Yards tees a few years ago. I only got 1 more out of them. 

[juspoole]

For me, it was the driver's that I'd purchase and more specifically the shafts accompanying the clubs.  I really would only look at shaft stiffness and I just didn't know enough about what I was buying until a couple years ago.  

I'd say how bad I would hit a club, when in reality it was most likely the shaft combo that didn't fit me at all.

[Kenny B]

19 minutes ago, PlaidJacket said:

Hybrids are on my list too.

Kenny talked me into buying some 4-More Yards tees a few years ago. I only got 1 more out of them. 

LOL!  So, you are complaining about only gaining 25% of the claimed yardage?  A gain is a gain!!

BTW, I still have a few, but I'm not playing them anymore.  

[tehuti]

I have a couple of 3 hybrids taking up space right now. I hit them fine at the range but they’re useless when I try them on the course.


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[NMNM]

I never sold or traded in my clubs.  I kept a half-century's worth.  Even if a certain model didn't work out as I'd hoped, at least it added to the collection.  So I've no regrets.  I'm even getting over not being able to play anymore.  I'd suck at my age anyway.

But it's still a great game, and I'm very happy that I got to play with prettier equipment than they make now. 

Edited February 22, 2019 by NiftyNiblick

[Kanoito]

Count me as another victim of the hybrids...

Also, I bought an Odyssey White Ice blade style putter on the bay... one day, contact on the face started sounding hollow... took it to the pro shop to check and it turned out to be a counterfeit club...

[00sportsman]

Taylormade burner irons.  Hated them from the moment I got them.  Didn't like the feel, the appearance at address, the grips or the shafts.  Bought them cheap as part of a whole bag (a few clubs of which I'm still playing) but free would have been too much to pay.

Did I mention I hated them?

[Brjpool]

Great idea for a thread.

For me it has to be a putter and two hybrids I bought from bombtech. I was new to golf and fell for all the hype. In fairness I'll say it is probably more that they weren't fit for me. Definitely didn't last long and I regret buying them.

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[gaussman1]

Bought a set of srixon 545s from ebay.  The posting was kind of bare, so I emailed they seller and he confirmed that they were stiff flex and standard everything else.
I bought them, but it turns out they were regular flex shafts and an inch over standard length.

So regular flex playing 1/2 flex soft due to length? The Bay is truly buyer bewarw

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[CFrazier]

I bought a Scotty thinking it would make me a great putter since I spent $$$ on it. It didn’t. Ping is back in the bag and my handicap is down!


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