2024 What is safe in your bag? What's on the chopping block?

[vandyland]

Well, always a risk out there that things get replaced, currently here is the length of tenure for all my clubs:

Woods: Mizuno - only been in the bag for 152 days so they should be safe. 10% chance any of these get replaced. 
Irons: Ben Hogan - have been in the bag for 863 days -- I must admit I am tempted by the TS-3 Maltby irons but there is nothing wrong with the Hogans (it is my swing that is the issue). 60% chance of getting replaced.
SW/GW: Ben Hogan - been in the bag for 740 days -- these are fine but if I got new irons my lofts would move 2* which may necessitate some change here. 30% chance. 
LW: Ping Glide - been in the bag off/on for 641 days -- this gets a fair amount of use and I could be tempted by either the toe weighted Mizuno wedge or a Maltby TSW in 58*. 50% chance.
Putter: I have had the LAB for 490 days -- I think this would only get replaced by another LAB. 5% chance. 

[BNewton51]

On 12/27/2023 at 11:00 AM, BNewton51 said:

2024 will definitely be a first for me.  NOT because I have big plans to change anything, but mostly by virtue that I probably wont be changing anything. 

Callaway Triple Diamond - SAFE.... Hands down the best I've hit in a LONG time. 

Titleist TSi2 3-wood - Absolutely reliable SAFE

Titleist TSi2 3-Hybrid / Mizuno Fli Hi 2 iron - Both SAFE and used in different conditions

Titleist U505 4-iron - SAFE  CHEAT STICK really

Mizuno Pro 225 Black Out Edition - 5-GW (4 iron too but not used much) SAFE

Vokey SM9 54-58 - SAFE until I feel like I need some fresh wedges

Scotty Cameron Super Select 5 Flowback - Custom Shop done in Copper and Black - SAFE

Balls - Srixon XV / Titleist ProV1x - Already shifting towards Srixon because economically and performance they get the job done well

So, that's it!  I don't see anything changing in that bag anytime soon. Each has gotten me to shooting far more consistent scores and actually allowing me to do all of the different types of shots I like.  

But there's another Spy here that as always has a way of twisting my arm and acting like a Narcotic pusher... I won't name any names, but you know who you are!

Welp, that took exactly 7 days to prove me a liar!

So, with that, the irons have changed.  

This year and moving forward I will be playing the Titleist T-150 irons 4-pw with the SteelFiber 110 CW S shafts.  In addition, I've taken the GW and moved that to a Vokey SM9 rusty.  

I don't even know why I even say I'm staying with things only to be swayed when I go out innocently to play at the local stores and or sims with friends.  LOL

[Emag315]

Only club safe in my bag is my PXG Bat Attack putter.  I play  Gen 3 woods and Gen 5 irons. I feel I am swinging pretty good now since I avg 85-90 every round. As an amateur…I am good with that. I definitely win a few skins no matter what skill level my competitors are bragging about.  I don’t have a brand in mind but I will be renting and testing new clubs monthly until March. That is when Dad’s Bod Am Tour(our group of misfits) is in full swing we measure our by how many balls we lose

[TheRealKimKong]

This thread makes me feel much more „normal“ than my wife say´s I am, when it comes to golf equipment. Thx guys.

[berkeleybob]

30 minutes ago, TheRealKimKong said:

This thread makes me feel much more „normal“ than my wife say´s I am, when it comes to golf equipment. Thx guys.

A woodworking teacher once told me, “There are folks who love working with wood, and folks who love working with tools. Figure out which one you are and embrace it.”

I can’t deny, I do love shiny.

[TylorJudd]

Shafts are the monster that sits on my butcher block. I have gotten all of my clubs that see zero reason to change after a few seasons. At the top I have a Paradym TD that won’t be going anywhere but the shaft has a 140% chance of leaving, the Stealth 2+ 3 wood has a 0%, TSr3 5 wood 0%, Takomo 301CB irons won’t be moving but there is a 50% chance the shafts go bye bye this season. Vokey SM8 48-60 are safe this season but will be 100% by October. The jailbird has a -400% chance of leaving the bag. Hell the bag just got chopped haha.

As tinkerers always do, they find things they don’t need lol. Shafts are my crutch

[Jim Shaw]

19 minutes ago, TylorJudd said:

Shafts are the monster that sits on my butcher block. I have gotten all of my clubs that see zero reason to change after a few seasons. At the top I have a Paradym TD that won’t be going anywhere but the shaft has a 140% chance of leaving, the Stealth 2+ 3 wood has a 0%, TSr3 5 wood 0%, Takomo 301CB irons won’t be moving but there is a 50% chance the shafts go bye bye this season. Vokey SM8 48-60 are safe this season but will be 100% by October. The jailbird has a -400% chance of leaving the bag. Hell the bag just got chopped haha.

As tinkerers always do, they find things they don’t need lol. Shafts are my crutch

wow, great post, I feel the energy... 

[StrokerAce]

Safe

- Driver; as I said in another thread I'm done playing musical drivers. Unless a G430 lands in my lap I'm content with the 425; y'all are just going to have to get over the loudness of it.

- irons; they're 4 years old but I just can't get over the counterbalance aspect. I *may* swap in a heavier shaft but we'll see.

- wedges; only a year old and even though I'm not in love with them they're fine.

- putter; another one that's a year old and I recently counterbalanced it so I'll be hanging on unless a L.A.B. Mezz comes walking through the door.

Not safe

- everything else; I have a Ping 3w (G30), Sub70 4w, Callaway UW hybrid and TourEdge 722 hybrid that I'm pretty pleased with.

I can see the g30 getting replaced with another 3w, maybe a 410. Going to take something special to knock these out and my wife is starting to take notice of my growing collection in the basement. (I have 3 other iron sets right now and another driver and some extra bags and some other stuff...) 

[Dead Solid Bogey]

7 minutes ago, StrokerAce said:

Safe

- Driver; as I said in another thread I'm done playing musical drivers. Unless a G430 lands in my lap I'm content with the 425; y'all are just going to have to get over the loudness of it.

- irons; they're 4 years old but I just can't get over the counterbalance aspect. I *may* swap in a heavier shaft but we'll see.

- wedges; only a year old and even though I'm not in love with them they're fine.

- putter; another one that's a year old and I recently counterbalanced it so I'll be hanging on unless a L.A.B. Mezz comes walking through the door.

Not safe

- everything else; I have a Ping 3w (G30), Sub70 4w, Callaway UW hybrid and TourEdge 722 hybrid that I'm pretty pleased with.

I can see the g30 getting replaced with another 3w, maybe a 410. Going to take something special to knock these out and my wife is starting to take notice of my growing collection in the basement. (I have 3 other iron sets right now and another driver and some extra bags and some other stuff...) 

Last year, I earned an “ Attaboy “ that had a shelf life of a nanosecond from the wife person, after I donated excess  ( according to the female leader ) clubs to the local high school’s golf team. Both the male and female team’s  coaches declined the opportunity to have me give a recruiting pitch to possible golfers on how golf was the only sport that you got out of school all day to play and that you could also drink, gamble, and engage in other possible anti-social behaviors while earning their letter in golf. 

[Preeway]

Had a chance to hit the Aerojet LS I won on IG and compared it to my PXG Gen 5. Based on my Rapsodo data, the PXG is done for. Same swing speed and launch angles bun5 more yards carry and 8 more yards total. Going to take it to my local shop to get some track man data and verify what my Rapsodo is telling me. For now, looks like I have a new driver for 2024!

[Josh Parker]

38 minutes ago, Preeway said:

Had a chance to hit the Aerojet LS I won on IG and compared it to my PXG Gen 5. Based on my Rapsodo data, the PXG is done for. Same swing speed and launch angles bun5 more yards carry and 8 more yards total. Going to take it to my local shop to get some track man data and verify what my Rapsodo is telling me. For now, looks like I have a new driver for 2024!

Sounds like a good contest win!

[chisag]

... I scheduled a Qi10 Max fitting next week. While I am very content with my Stealth2 HD I am intrigued by the 10k MOI produced by the Qi10 Max. It isn't often that a 1 yr old generation driver can be bested by the next ten driver, other than a look, sound and feel. But 10k is a pretty big jump in MOI so a free fitting from Taylor Made is too good to pass up because ya don't know unless you try. Easy enough to find out it is no better than what I am playing OR provides a quantifiable boost in stability with slight miss hits. 

[David Leighton Reid]

6 minutes ago, chisag said:

... I scheduled a Qi10 Max fitting next week. While I am very content with my Stealth2 HD I am intrigued by the 10k MOI produced by the Qi10 Max. It isn't often that a 1 yr old generation driver can be bested by the next ten driver, other than a look, sound and feel. But 10k is a pretty big jump in MOI so a free fitting from Taylor Made is too good to pass up because ya don't know unless you try. Easy enough to find out it is no better than what I am playing OR provides a quantifiable boost in stability with slight miss hits. 

Hey Chisag - I am interested to read your results from your upcoming Qi10 Maz fitting.

[Javs]

I’m running which clubs are going in the bag like a sports team. No one is safe. Doesn’t matter how high you were drafted (what I paid for you). Every club is competing for a job. The lineup could change based on the opponent (course setup). Everyone needs to do their job!! 

[David Leighton Reid]

I don't have anything definite on the chopping block, but I am selling some of my extra clubs.  And once the clubs are sold and extra money is in hand it will be impossible not to buy something new.  That's just the way my world turns!

[KC Golf]

My Hybrid is definitely ready to be chopped.  My Vokey 60 and probably my Takomo PW are on precarious ground and likely will be chopped.

[Preeway]

3 hours ago, Josh Parker said:

Sounds like a good contest win!

It’s still early but if it hits this well on the course then it will indeed have been a great contest win! Eager to hear from @CFreddieand how his Paradym win turns out.  

[CFreddie]

4 minutes ago, Preeway said:

It’s still early but if it hits this well on the course then it will indeed have been a great contest win! Eager to hear from @CFreddieand how his Paradym win turns out.  

Same here! Excited to try out the built Paradym (ended up going with TR Blue 6 ).  

[GolfSpy_APH]

It's still wedges for me. 

The Toura wedges were really good on the sim, even if they were too upright. I'll get that sorted and they will be the leaders going into the season, but are lofts I don't normally play. 

[Wu1f]

I just saw this topic for the first time.  At first glance, it looked interesting.  After reading the responses above, I've decided to upgrade that to GREAT.  There are so many funny responses above, I may have to bookmark and revisit it to help me get through these dreary winter months, compounded by having just had surgery to repair my rotator cuff and to reattach my biceps tendon up in my shoulder.  It's my forward shoulder/arm this time.  I had the exact same thing on the trailing side about 4 years ago.  More pain this time, but way ahead on range of motion.  Still hoping to be ready for spring golf.

As for my response to the question, I just had a full bag fitting back in August and am so pleased with the improvement over my old 20-25 year old set that I don't see anything leaving.  That said, I'm only carrying 12 clubs and I'm so in love with my new hybrids, that I am pondering a couple more to bookend the two currently in my bag.

[berkeleybob]

35 minutes ago, Wu1f said:

I just saw this topic for the first time.  At first glance, it looked interesting.  After reading the responses above, I've decided to upgrade that to GREAT.  There are so many funny responses above, I may have to bookmark and revisit it to help me get through these dreary winter months, compounded by having just had surgery to repair my rotator cuff and to reattach my biceps tendon up in my shoulder.  It's my forward shoulder/arm this time.  I had the exact same thing on the trailing side about 4 years ago.  More pain this time, but way ahead on range of motion.  Still hoping to be ready for spring golf.

As for my response to the question, I just had a full bag fitting back in August and am so pleased with the improvement over my old 20-25 year old set that I don't see anything leaving.  That said, I'm only carrying 12 clubs and I'm so in love with my new hybrids, that I am pondering a couple more to bookend the two currently in my bag.

Best of luck with your recovery time.

I notice that you don’t have a fairway in your bag. My 3-wood has been on my mind lately. I don’t really use it, and I’m starting to wonder if I can make better use out of that slot, or if I should just get better at making it more useful.

[Wu1f]

42 minutes ago, berkeleybob said:

Best of luck with your recovery time.

I notice that you don’t have a fairway in your bag. My 3-wood has been on my mind lately. I don’t really use it, and I’m starting to wonder if I can make better use out of that slot, or if I should just get better at making it more useful.

Thank you.  The doc quotes a 4-6 month recovery time.  I was closer to 4 months with the other shoulder.  Since my range of motion is considerably better this time, I'm hoping!  I'm aggressively doing my physical therapy exercises, hoping that will also speed recovery for spring golf.

I wrote about fairway woods on the forum question about hybrids vs. fairway woods.  I just added hybrids last year, but find them much easier to hit and I am getting much better results with them than I ever got with fairway woods (off tight lies AND out of rough).  I no longer carry fairway woods.  I have also eliminated long irons.  Again, for me, the hybrids are much easier to hit than long irons.  My hybrids have more height than the equivalent long iron, and the steeper angle of descent gives less rollout.  Distances with my hybrids are more consistent and predictable than long irons.  My bag currently starts at a 6-iron.  I don't hit the 6 all that well, and I'm so impressed with hybrids that I'm thinking about either replacing or at least supplementing the 6-iron with a 29-degree hybrid.  I only carrying 12 clubs now, and those two empty spaces are begging to be filled!

[Wu1f]

5 minutes ago, Wu1f said:

Thank you.  The doc quotes a 4-6 month recovery time.  I was closer to 4 months with the other shoulder.  Since my range of motion is considerably better this time, I'm hoping!  I'm aggressively doing my physical therapy exercises, hoping that will also speed recovery for spring golf.

I wrote about fairway woods on the forum question about hybrids vs. fairway woods.  I just added hybrids last year, but find them much easier to hit and I am getting much better results with them than I ever got with fairway woods (off tight lies AND out of rough).  I no longer carry fairway woods.  I have also eliminated long irons.  Again, for me, the hybrids are much easier to hit than long irons.  My hybrids have more height than the equivalent long iron, and the steeper angle of descent gives less rollout.  Distances with my hybrids are more consistent and predictable than long irons.  My bag currently starts at a 6-iron.  I don't hit the 6 all that well, and I'm so impressed with hybrids that I'm thinking about either replacing or at least supplementing the 6-iron with a 29-degree hybrid.  I only carrying 12 clubs now, and those two empty spaces are begging to be filled!

The forum question about hybrids vs. fairway woods clearly shows that there are a lot of members who have struggled with hybrids and have gone back to fairways.

When I brought my first hybrid home, I couldn't hit it.  Like most golfers, I had best results with my fairway woods when I used a swing that was more of a sweeping motion, whereas with irons, I try to hit down slightly on the back of the ball to leave a small divot just forward of the ball (or at least that's the goal).  When I got the hybrid, I tried to hit it using the sweeping fairway wood swing, and it just didn't work (for me).  It finally occurred to me to try hitting it like an iron.  Success!  Mis-hits are rare, I hit them much straighter flight, more height, better out of rough, etc.  

A few months before I bought the hybrid, I bought a Ping G430 Max fairway wood.  I hadn't yet found a driver I could hit, and had been using a 20-some year old 3-wood off the tee (but rarely off the fairway).  The head snapped off and no-one, not even the manufacturer would repair it with its old bore-through shaft.  I bought the Ping hoping I could use it off the tee, but the face height was less than half the old 3-wood, and I either topped it or launched it into orbit off the top of the club.  (I later had a fitting and FINALLY found a driver I can hit, and I really hit it well.). Because the Ping is so new and was expensive, I have tried to put it back in the bag and find a use for it.  I just don't hit it well and I do so much better with my hybrids.  I'll probably either sell the Ping or donate it to the local high school golf team.

Hybrids don't work for everyone, but maybe the swing change I found will help someone struggling to hit them.

[BNewton51]

21 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

Shafts are the monster that sits on my butcher block. I have gotten all of my clubs that see zero reason to change after a few seasons. At the top I have a Paradym TD that won’t be going anywhere but the shaft has a 140% chance of leaving, the Stealth 2+ 3 wood has a 0%, TSr3 5 wood 0%, Takomo 301CB irons won’t be moving but there is a 50% chance the shafts go bye bye this season. Vokey SM8 48-60 are safe this season but will be 100% by October. The jailbird has a -400% chance of leaving the bag. Hell the bag just got chopped haha.

As tinkerers always do, they find things they don’t need lol. Shafts are my crutch

Taylor, I do enjoy your enthusiasm!  But as a self discovered liar and a notorious shiny thing sucker, I proclaimmed my bag safe one day, and then 7 days later I've changed out Irons.  Now, this could just be that I know nothing, am a sucker for new and shiny things and was talking out my end pipe, but I always enjoy allowing some wiggle room.  However, the percentages were a nice touch!   Gotta remember to use them next year myself.  Might keep me from saying everything's safe. 

Great bag though btw.  Hit them straight this year!

[Owengeorge13]

1 hour ago, Wu1f said:

The forum question about hybrids vs. fairway woods clearly shows that there are a lot of members who have struggled with hybrids and have gone back to fairways.

When I brought my first hybrid home, I couldn't hit it.  Like most golfers, I had best results with my fairway woods when I used a swing that was more of a sweeping motion, whereas with irons, I try to hit down slightly on the back of the ball to leave a small divot just forward of the ball (or at least that's the goal).  When I got the hybrid, I tried to hit it using the sweeping fairway wood swing, and it just didn't work (for me).  It finally occurred to me to try hitting it like an iron.  Success!  Mis-hits are rare, I hit them much straighter flight, more height, better out of rough, etc.  

A few months before I bought the hybrid, I bought a Ping G430 Max fairway wood.  I hadn't yet found a driver I could hit, and had been using a 20-some year old 3-wood off the tee (but rarely off the fairway).  The head snapped off and no-one, not even the manufacturer would repair it with its old bore-through shaft.  I bought the Ping hoping I could use it off the tee, but the face height was less than half the old 3-wood, and I either topped it or launched it into orbit off the top of the club.  (I later had a fitting and FINALLY found a driver I can hit, and I really hit it well.). Because the Ping is so new and was expensive, I have tried to put it back in the bag and find a use for it.  I just don't hit it well and I do so much better with my hybrids.  I'll probably either sell the Ping or donate it to the local high school golf team.

Hybrids don't work for everyone, but maybe the swing change I found will help someone struggling to hit them.

I take donations as well…

[Fongle]

Already ordered new irons, wedges are safe (for now), putter has been the rock my handicap is clinging to, love my driving iron, driver shaft (and maybe the head) is definitely going to be assessed, and you'd have to claw my 3 wood from my cold dead hands while I aggressively haunt you. 

[sman3115]

Everything, nothing.  That's the beauty of the game! Though my irons are pretty safe I'd say given the much higher switching cost, plus they are only two seasons old.

You are always one angry club smash away from needing a new shaft, and if you need a new shaft, why not a new head?  If you are getting a new head why not another, soon enough you have a whole new set! That's just science. 

 

[BNewton51]

18 hours ago, Javs said:

I’m running which clubs are going in the bag like a sports team. No one is safe. Doesn’t matter how high you were drafted (what I paid for you). Every club is competing for a job. The lineup could change based on the opponent (course setup). Everyone needs to do their job!! 

That's right Jav!  Sometimes, you gotta let them top picks know who the boss is!  If nothing else, you can trade that first rounder for a 2nd and 3rd sometimes!

[Samuel09152]

nothing is safe in the bag this year... looking to see what I can upgrade/update. It wont happen unitl Sept, so we will see. 

[Shrek74]

Nothing is safe in my bag, except maybe my LAB DF2.1, only because I just got it and I'll want to work with it as the season begins.

I may run the Spring like a season of Survivor (without the drama BS) for each club category. Only the strong make the bag. Plus, fittings will tell me if there are better options than what I have currently, which is very likely. But we'll see.