Thoughts on selling your old clubs?

[The Artful Duffer]

After some long thinking and growing comfortable with my current setup, I finally broke down and posted a craigslist ad here locally looking to move my old irons and an assortment of fairway woods and other random clutter. I've had my TM Firesole irons for 13 years and feel like I may cry when the time comes to let them go. It was the first set I purchased new for me with my own hard earned college job paychecks. Tried a couple other sets but always fell right back into these irons for some reason. I'd love to keep them but they're still in great shape and deserve to be out on a course in the sun somewhere, not packed away in the corner of the basement with the rain cover on them. It got me to wondering, who else out there has had a similar experience letting go of an older set and did you come to regret the decision later?

[RoverRick]

I have a set of Ping Eye 2's out in the garage. The grips are still in good shape and I had a couple of friends play them last year, One guy asked to buy them this weekend, I told him they were for sell but he wanted to trade his old clubs on them. I said if I wanted to have a third set of clubs, I would rather have Ping Eye 2's than Callaway X Tours which is what he has. I have them because they are not really worth anything. They do not have the original shafts, and they have dark hosels from burning the old shafts out. I used too much heat to do it, but I bought them for $20 in '91 and reshafted them myself and played with them for 10 years. I keep them because it costs me nothing and if I ever have a friend show up and need clubs, well anyone can play Ping Eye 2's.

[Shambles]

I have a set of Ping Eye 2's out in the garage. The grips are still in good shape and I had a couple of friends play them last year, One guy asked to buy them this weekend, I told him they were for sell but he wanted to trade his old clubs on them. I said if I wanted to have a third set of clubs, I would rather have Ping Eye 2's than Callaway X Tours which is what he has. I have them because they are not really worth anything. They do not have the original shafts, and they have dark hosels from burning the old shafts out. I used too much heat to do it, but I bought them for $20 in '91 and reshafted them myself and played with them for 10 years. I keep them because it costs me nothing and if I ever have a friend show up and need clubs, well anyone can play Ping Eye 2's.

 

Seems like we have the same story about the old Eye 2's. Mine also have dark hosels from my shaft shuffling done with the kitchen stove and I also cannot let them go. This was not my first set. My first personally bought set was a set of Hogan Apex that I had the devils time learning to use though friends and acquaintances assured me they were a fine set and they would be interested if I let them go. When I moved on to the Eye 2's I had no plans of selling my Hogan's but a friend asked to borrow that set and later left an excess payment at my home for the set without my permission or agreement. Far beyond the value of my set but he was determined to own it and I could not recover my property.

 

I have since then moved on to other clubs but always returned to the Eye 2's especially when I needed a good round. I learned a lesson from the Hogans and these days when a friend needs to borrow a set I lend one of my newer sets and play with my old Eye 2's, or some other set depending on mood. I won't be lending out my old Eye 2's. There are too many memories with them and I remember them all when I use that old set.

 

I don't sell my old sets. I learned to choose them for different characteristics in use and play, and shilly shally from set to set as mood strikes. To date I still believe I play better with my old Eye 2's but Golf gets boring when you do the same things over and over. I use the other sets to be able to change for the sake of change, or to compare. The ones I feel are not worth keeping I dismantle for parts, sell or give away to a nephew or niece.

 

 

Shambles

[Matt Saternus]

I have sold many sets of irons, but never my first "real" set.

[The Artful Duffer]

I'm starting to feel guilty about this after the replies I'm getting. Lol.

[GolfSpy WD]

I'm starting to feel guilty about this after the replies I'm getting. Lol.

 

I sold my first real set of Jack Nicklaus clubs and honestly I miss them from time to time . I'd never hit them again, but there was an attachment. Still, they helped fund my current set, so I'd probably do it again.

 

My son's old sets, however, are totally off limits. They get to collect dust in the attic, but whenever I'm up there, I give them a look for sentimentality. He's getting a new set at the end of this year, and his current set is going into the same collection. My wife likes to justify it saying we can give it to the grand children some day, but in my mind it's a big hell no. My grand children will be playing with new sets . Plus he's only 8 right now, so thankfully I don't have to think about that much right now.

[JMiller]

If it gets to the point that it is not worth my time in trying to sell something for like $20 then I donate it to the First Tee. Just find the local chapter near you and then give it to them. Here is a link on supporting the first tee with equipment donations and finding a local chapter --> http://www.thefirsttee.org/club/scripts/section/section.asp?NS=OWTG

 

Now if it is worth the sale then anything can be taken off my hands for the right price even stuff I currently play

[Will Par]

Your comment "they deserve to be out on a course in the sun somewhere" tells me you have a personal attachment to the clubs. I have a couple of sets of old irons that are basically worn out and don't have much value. They were not my first clubs but I'm sort of a pack rat anyway and these clubs just seem to "belong" in my old golf bag in the corner. I would rather keep them than get what few dollars they would bring if I sell them.

[hckymeyer]

My very first set of clubs was a half set of Northwestern clubs. I couldn't let them go, so I ended up cutting them down and now my 5yr old nephew hits them around the yard. Funny that I couldn't sell them or give them away, but I have no problem at all hacking them in half. It's worth it to see the enjoyment of my nephew playing golf just like Uncle Brian

 

My first 'real' set of clubs were original Titleist DCI's. I ended up giving them to dad and he is still gaming them. Don't think I'll ever get rid of those either.

 

Other than those two sets I've had no remorse about selling my old clubs.

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

My first "real" set of clubs was a set of Ping irons, circa 1981 -- bought 'em used in '83. Wound up trading with my brother for a set of Palmer Axioms. He played them for years -- after he died my best friend from childhood took ownership of them, and he played them until two years ago. In all that time, no one re-gripped them!

 

My friend is a lawyer, and took care of my mother in the last years of her life (the rest of us lived in different time zones)...so to thank him I bought him a new set of Mizuno's. The Pings are still in his garage -- and I hope they stay in the extended family -- albeit with new grips.

 

That said, I've traded in more sets of clubs than I can remember - without remorse.

[RookieBlue7]

Rick, if you decide to sell those eye2's let me know.

[RoverRick]

It seems that we only form a sentimenal attachment to the "first" clubs. It may be the first new set, or the first name brand set, or the first whatever set. I have my first name brand set. I have kept the Ping Eye 2's not so much for the sentimental value as because they were, are, some of the best irons ever made. I played a few rounds with them last year and they are still as good as any game improvement irons made today. I thought about gaming these but I could not move the ball to the right. The left movement was fine but they would not go the other way at all.

 

As far as other irons, I sold my gamers last weekend. Leaving me only a back up set. I actually had to go back to the house and get a set of irons because I allowed one of my opponents to play my gamers. I was planning on reshafting them but when the guy offered me $25, lunch and beer, more that I said I wanted for them I had no sentimental attachment at all.

[RoverRick]

Rick, if you decide to sell those eye2's let me know.

 

I tried to PM you but you can not recieve PM.

 

 

These were reshafted with TT Lites. This was my first attempt at reshafting, and the only torch I had was a cutting torch. Therefore it left black marks on them. I will take pictures and send you, probably Thursday. I have a shaft fitting tomorrow. These Eye 2's are 3 - SW and the originals.

 

 

I have a Ping Eye 2+ BeCu Sand Wedge that I still play today. I just regripped this one with one of my personalized Pure Grips, I do not see selling this club at all.

[RookieBlue7]

I tried to PM you but you can not recieve PM.

 

 

These were reshafted with TT Lites. This was my first attempt at reshafting, and the only torch I had was a cutting torch. Therefore it left black marks on them. I will take pictures and send you, probably Thursday. I have a shaft fitting tomorrow. These Eye 2's are 3 - SW and the originals.

 

 

I have a Ping Eye 2+ BeCu Sand Wedge that I still play today. I just regripped this one with one of my personalized Pure Grips, I do not see selling this club at all.

 

 

Hmm... didn't realize it but my PM box was full... Try it now.

[JohnBarry]

I have been passing along my old clubs to two former Pro Basketball players (over seas) I work with to get them into golf, they are both hooked now!

[The Artful Duffer]

I didn't realize that by asking one question I'd let loose the sentimental floodgates. So yeah, I pulled the ad off craigslist. I wasn't getting any takers. And after reading several of the stories, I don't think I would have actually been able to let them go, 13 year old set of TM irons I didn't figure they'd be at the top of anyone's wish list other than my own. So the Firesoles and they're matching stand bag are headed back into storage until the next time my iron play goes south. As for the other bag with the Tommy Armour woods and assorted other goodies that I have no attachment and no use for, I'm taking a note from JMiller and dropping them off at the local First Tee chapter at Columbus State. So I clear out some room and help grow the game. Karma win.

[JohnBarry]

You could always pass them down to your son or daughter some day!!

[Shambles]

I didn't realize that by asking one question I'd let loose the sentimental floodgates. So yeah, I pulled the ad off craigslist. I wasn't getting any takers. And after reading several of the stories, I don't think I would have actually been able to let them go, 13 year old set of TM irons I didn't figure they'd be at the top of anyone's wish list other than my own. So the Firesoles and they're matching stand bag are headed back into storage until the next time my iron play goes south. As for the other bag with the Tommy Armour woods and assorted other goodies that I have no attachment and no use for, I'm taking a note from JMiller and dropping them off at the local First Tee chapter at Columbus State. So I clear out some room and help grow the game. Karma win.

 

I didn't realize that I had waxed sentimental and never intended it. I tend to keep things I invested a lot of time learning and do not like tossing tools that are still perfectly good, especially for a fraction of what I spent on them. I do have memories with my old clubs but those memories are more of how well they worked for me and if I get into trouble, sometimes a return to the old tools helps me find the reason for my problems. Most times it's a feel good exercise seeing that they can do just as much as the new stuff and even more than I remember ever doing. That feels particularly good because it tells me I was the one that got better and not the club.

 

It's the stuff I dislike or am disappointed with that get recycled to find another owner. I try very hard to understand my clubs and after about six months or a year of fiddling with them I may or may not decide to keep them. Each purchase is hopefully different enough to be worth the expenditure but more often the same or inferior. Automatic Obsolescence is pervasive regardless that I look for improvements in new products.

 

I have a lot of Golf clubs but do not consider myself a Ho. My inventory has very little value to anyone but me and are not worth the effort of selling. Some of my most precious are so disfigured from my mistakes that even I would not buy them if they were not already mine. However, most of them can still be played.

 

 

Shambles

[The Artful Duffer]

Shambles I wasn't calling anyone in particular out on that one, just generalizing. You did hit the nail right on the head. Clubs are an investment, as well as the time that each of us puts into our games. Blood, sweat, tears, blisters, and range time. But no one can dispute the return on investment when you see the ball drop in the hole. How about we call it waxing poetic then? There's no greater feeling than a well struck iron be it 30 years old or fresh from the forge. Knicked up or mint condition. Forged or cast. All clubs have value be it monetary or sentimental. Often times the sentimental value far outweighs the monetary and maybe that's the way it should be.

[Shambles]

Shambles I wasn't calling anyone in particular out on that one, just generalizing. You did hit the nail right on the head. Clubs are an investment, as well as the time that each of us puts into our games. Blood, sweat, tears, blisters, and range time. But no one can dispute the return on investment when you see the ball drop in the hole. How about we call it waxing poetic then? There's no greater feeling than a well struck iron be it 30 years old or fresh from the forge. Knicked up or mint condition. Forged or cast. All clubs have value be it monetary or sentimental. Often times the sentimental value far outweighs the monetary and maybe that's the way it should be.

 

I didn't feel called out. I felt guilty for once again having drifted from topic just because someone mentioned a set of Eye 2's. I'm such a foolish OC when those clubs are mentioned.

 

 

Shambles

[The Artful Duffer]

Shambles, everyone gets a little OC when the ol Eye 2's come up. It's all good. I've never met anyone who didn't love those clubs.