Equipment Surprises?

[fixyurdivot]

It's really great we have so many options in choosing equipment - in particular clubs.  I say this because, following a recent bag fitting, I was really surprised by some clubs.  Specifically because some make/models I would not have considered fit great, and a couple I was expecting to be the bees knees were anything but.  I was delighted that TrueSpec had the Wilson D7 and D7 Forged irons available (they aren't listed as an OEM on the website), but neither were a good fit for me.  I was fully expecting the TM P790 to be a contender... it was not.  Titleist T300 contended but not as good as the Mavrik - a club I had never really considered.  Just this past week, while testing a Recoil shaft from a PING kiosk, I grabbed the G710 for grins... terrible. At my iron fitting in 2018, the KZG's and Tour Edge did not make the cut but the JPX900 HM were neck and neck with the G410's.

To be honest, until having joined MGS and now delved WAY deeper into the equipment abyss, I would have figured differences between clubs to be pretty negligible.  But wow, that is definitely not the case based on my experience.  I'm talking about having a good swing/hit groove going, simply having a different iron head attached to the same shaft, and seeing distance and/or dispersion go off the rails.  Outwardly, I just wouldn't expect irons to perform so differently - particularly those in the same basic category.

What are your experiences with trying iron and woods?  Have you ever been totally surprised by performance based on your expectation going in?  Personally, this just fuels my interest in wanting to test more combinations... because the "surprise" works both ways and you won't ever really know unless you try it .

[pulledabill]

Last summer I hit a few different drivers and one of them was the TM Sim driver in several shafts. I figured since some of the top players hit it and the price point, that it would feel great off the ball. I was dead wrong and it wasn't for me. Felt hard, clunky, and I personally  hated the sound. 

[cnosil]

Obviously as a most wanted tester,  I get to swing lots of clubs or all types and over the 4 years of doing the testing nothing really surprises me anymore.   The single thing it has taught me is that every clubs is unique and it may or may not work well for you;  this applies from driver down to the putter. 

[dlow206]

I am surprised that my new Srixon ZX5s with Nippon Modus 120s actually launch higher (better trajectory) for me than my Mavrik Max with Nippon 950 Neos. Hit a high, drop on a dime 7 iron yesterday on a par 3, 12 feet from the pin. Even more surprising, i made the birdie putt 

[tony@CIC]

It's really great we have so many options in choosing equipment - in particular clubs.  I say this because, following a recent bag fitting, I was really surprised by some clubs.  Specifically because some make/models I would not have considered fit great, and a couple I was expecting to be the bees knees were anything but.  I was delighted that TrueSpec had the Wilson D7 and D7 Forged irons available (they aren't listed as an OEM on the website), but neither were a good fit for me.  I was fully expecting the TM P790 to be a contender... it was not.  Titleist T300 contended but not as good as the Mavrik - a club I had never really considered.  Just this past week, while testing a Recoil shaft from a PING kiosk, I grabbed the G710 for grins... terrible. At my iron fitting in 2018, the KZG's and Tour Edge did not make the cut but the JPX900 HM were neck and neck with the G410's.
To be honest, until having joined MGS and now delved WAY deeper into the equipment abyss, I would have figured differences between clubs to be pretty negligible.  But wow, that is definitely not the case based on my experience.  I'm talking about having a good swing/hit groove going, simply having a different iron head attached to the same shaft, and seeing distance and/or dispersion go off the rails.  Outwardly, I just wouldn't expect irons to perform so differently - particularly those in the same basic category.
What are your experiences with trying iron and woods?  Have you ever been totally surprised by performance based on your expectation going in?  Personally, this just fuels my interest in wanting to test more combinations... because the "surprise" works both ways and you won't ever really know unless you try it .

I was somewhat surprised this past summer at my fitting. I knew the D-7's would work, since I had a fitting in 2019 and they turned out best for distance and dispersion, but didn't buy them because my wife was getting new irons. At this last fitting in 2020, I tried the T-300, loved the look but their performance was no better in distance than my 3 yr. old W/S C300 and the dispersion was worse. Ping? Nope, nada. I wanted their irons to work since I have 410 driver and hybrids in the bag. Mavrik? Same performance as the Ping's. What was unexpected were the Cobra SZ irons, I had never considered Cobra. Another surprise was the F-Max 5 wood, that's another club I would not have picked.

End result - picked the SZ with Recoils. Since the fitting I've substituted the F-Max with a King F-9 5 wood. I need a bit more distance with my F-Max and couldn't pass up the deal on the F-9.

Regrets? Perhaps pulling the trigger too soon on the SZ because the 919's were sold out at the time. On the other hand the SZ are working well for me.


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[MadMex]

Hopefully am on subject:

I always saw COBRA as a mediocre company, full of gimmicks, i.e RIcky Fowler and his loud clothing. 

Somehow ( I think based on color) the wife hit a women's Cobra F-8 driver at the PGA Superstore, she really liked it but she did not want o pay the price. So, off to eBay I went, bought one new for less than half the PGA Superstore asking prince. While at the driving range, she asked me to hit it, I KNEW I was going to hate it.

Besides being about 20 yards shorter than by Callaway XR-16 with a white board shaft, it the best feeling driver I had hit in a while. two months later and right before this COVID shut everything down, I had my own F-8 , 45" length with same shaft as hers but in Regular flex, about 5 yards longer than my Callaway BUT much tighter pattern and much better trajectory.

[fozcycle]

Hopefully am on subject:
I always saw COBRA as a mediocre company, full of gimmicks, i.e RIcky Fowler and his loud clothing. 
Somehow ( I think based on color) the wife hit a women's Cobra F-8 driver at the PGA Superstore, she really liked it but she did not want o pay the price. So, off to eBay I went, bought one new for less than half the PGA Superstore asking prince. While at the driving range, she asked me to hit it, I KNEW I was going to hate it.
Besides being about 20 yards shorter than by Callaway XR-16 with a white board shaft, it the best feeling driver I had hit in a while. two months later and right before this COVID shut everything down, I had my own F-8 , 45" length with same shaft as hers but in Regular flex, about 5 yards longer than my Callaway BUT much tighter pattern and much better trajectory.

What shaft do you have?

I have the MC Tense Ck Blue.


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy
Cobra F8 (12*)w/ Mitsubishi Tense ck Blue Regular; 3W & 5W Cobra King F8 w/ Mitsubishi Tense ck Blue Regular shafts; Tour Edge CBX119 22* Hybrid w/Project X Evenflo Regular shaft; Wilson Staff D-7 5-PW + GW + SW w/UST Mamiya Recoil 460 Regular graphite shafts; Cleveland RTX Zipcore LW(58*) w/DG Spinner shaft. Putter: 33” Slotline SSi 693 Bag: Cobra Ultralight Cart bag, Peaccoat Blue.

[MadMex]

15 hours ago, fozcycle said:

 

What shaft do you have?

I have the MC Tense Ck Blue.


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy
Cobra F8 (12*)w/ Mitsubishi Tense ck Blue Regular; 3W & 5W Cobra King F8 w/ Mitsubishi Tense ck Blue Regular shafts; Tour Edge CBX119 22* Hybrid w/Project X Evenflo Regular shaft; Wilson Staff D-7 5-PW + GW + SW w/UST Mamiya Recoil 460 Regular graphite shafts; Cleveland RTX Zipcore LW(58*) w/DG Spinner shaft. Putter: 33” Slotline SSi 693 Bag: Cobra Ultralight Cart bag, Peaccoat Blue.

 

 

2KNV Blue, regular, tried the orange but, for once I can say I was hitting too high, tried the blue stiff and the feel was was not there, tried the blue next and that was it.

[NRJyzr]

On 12/28/2020 at 9:17 AM, fixyurdivot said:

What are your experiences with trying iron and woods?  Have you ever been totally surprised by performance based on your expectation going in?  Personally, this just fuels my interest in wanting to test more combinations... because the "surprise" works both ways and you won't ever really know unless you try it .

I've had a few complete surprises over the years.  Having been quite the club ho for a while, and living in the state where 2nd Swing started, I had a lot of opportunity to hit a lot of clubs over the years. 

One of my first surprises was with driver.  After being told by many, and believing it, that I needed a stiff shafted driver, I found a club I hit quite well (randomly at 2nd Swing), with a shaft having no flex label.  Come to find out, the flex was on a label under the grip, it was 2X and over 100g.  Surprise!  LOL

Another is one that I'm sure a lot here will love, when I found I hit blades better than my own CB irons.  Traded two sets of CBs for a set of Golden Rams, watched my scores take a big drop.  Counter-intuitive to the prevailing thought, but it worked.  Surprise again! 

A couple disappointments...  the first was the Peerless PHD Tour irons.  I really liked these, had picked up a demo 5 iron for myself, rather liked it.  Picked up a full set, built them, took them to the course for a couple months.  And found they didn't really work for me, they seemed to flare the ball right on heel misses, where other irons did not.  Heel is my primary miss, not a good combination.  The second was Precept Tour Premium irons.  I've owned two, maybe three, sets of these.  I loved the concept behind them, loved the feel, really wanted them to work.  They didn't, and off they went.  I may have even owned a set previously owned by Brother Chisag, after it passed through another set of hands.  It's possible I didn't give them a proper chance.

I still think about Precept Tour Premiums from time to time.

The last I'll mention is the TaylorMade adjustable driver.  Not any specific model, but all of them, really.  Especially like the moveable weights.  I ignored TM for a decade or so, until the R11s was just phasing out.  A friend got an R11s, I hit it a couple times, hit one at a demo, and finally bought one a year later from Global Golf.  It's the total adjustability that was the pleasant surprise.  The ability to unplug a shaft and replace it with only a wrench.  And now with the TM Adapter version 2, you can use any shaft from a TM stick over the last eight years and plug it into any new one in seconds.  

The moveable weights are nice for me because it's an easy way to change the headweight of a clubhead for the any length changes I might care to try, in either direction, without going through a bunch of lead tape, either removing or adding.

The surprise with the TM isn't native to TM clubs, as other companies like Cobra, etc, have done similarly, and have adapter continuity.  Using TM only because it was the company involved with my personal realization.  It took longer than it could have because I had to let my speculation punch through the TM-antipathy I had at the time.  LOL

Sorry for the TLDR post   
 

Edited January 1, 2021 by NRJyzr