Ever have a club you just can’t hit?

[aguybadatgolf]

Much to my wife’s displeasure I enjoy poking around my local golf stores and play-it-again for the odd diamond in the rough. I’ve found some truly great deals and some clubs that I absolutely love and some that never even made it to the bag. 
This past spring I found a basically new GEN5 PXG 3 Hybrid with a xflex Blue Ventus Velocore shaft for a $100. I like to tinker and try new clubs and shafts. Based on past fittings and experience I have a pretty good idea what suits my swing and in theory this setup should fit me well. Unfortunately I can’t hit it to save my life. I’m not just talking a bad dispersion but topping it badly (which I haven’t done in a while). When I do hit it ok it tends to hook like crazy which is not something I do with any other clubs in my bag. I hit my old hybrid and my brothers the other day to do a direct comparison and I had no issues with them at all. Then hit the PXG, which was immediately all over the place. 

This leads me to my question. Have you ever tried a club that for whatever reason you just can’t hit but have no issues with other clubs in the same category? 

[Josh Parker]

2 minutes ago, aguybadatgolf said:

Unfortunately I can’t hit it to save my life. I’m not just talking a bad dispersion but topping it badly (which I haven’t done in a while). When I do hit it ok it tends to hook like crazy which is not something I do with any other clubs in my bag. I hit my old hybrid and my brothers the other day to do a direct comparison and I had no issues with them at all. Then hit the PXG, which was immediately all over the place. 

This leads me to my question. Have you ever tried a club that for whatever reason you just can’t hit but have no issues with other clubs in the same category? 

Have you checked the weights or moved settings on it?  Could be offset is way different as well.  

Yes, I have gotten several over the years that just don't work out at all. 

[cnosil]

15 minutes ago, aguybadatgolf said:

This leads me to my question. Have you ever tried a club that for whatever reason you just can’t hit but have no issues with other clubs in the same category? 

All the time.  As one of MGS most wanted testers there are always clubs that just don’t work for me even with shaft changes and tweaking the settings (if possible).  This is one of the main premises for the human centric testing.  Robots hit everything well but humans react to the dynamics and looks of the club.  

Edited October 30 by cnosil

[Rob Person]

I tried to figure this out the other day too.  Had 2 of my friends 58⁰ wedges he was parting with. Vokey sm6 and a hitoe wedge. With the hitoe, I was missing right, 10 yards shorter and when I hit it well, it was inconsistent.  With the sm6, almost every shot did what I intended  (almost)

[RetiredBoomer]

I've never had a major OEM club that I couldn't hit because of its design.

If I can't hit a major OEM club, it's because the fit metrics are too far off for me.

More likely, I'll leave a club that I actually can hit out of the bag

because it's not one of my most useful fourteen or fifteen choices [with 15-club cart bag].

 

[The TXBexar]

15 minutes ago, aguybadatgolf said:

This leads me to my question. Have you ever tried a club that for whatever reason you just can’t hit but have no issues with other clubs in the same category? 

The only clubs I could not hit to save my life, have always been the ones that were bought 2nd hand. Not every 2nd hand club is a bad one, but 1 out of 5 seem to always give me issues.

Sounds like, since it's not an issue that occurs with quick switching between different clubs, that the club has been modified or damaged in your instance. Could try taking the club to a fitter and see if if they can determine if the weighting is balanced or if something is weird & off with it. More times then not, for me at least, the club was forcibly modified and wasn't worth repairing since I got it at such a cheap price. 

[aguybadatgolf]

41 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

Have you checked the weights or moved settings on it?  Could be offset is way different as well.  

Yes, I have gotten several over the years that just don't work out at all. 

I’ve adjusted just about everything I can and played with the weights as well. Just can’t get along with it sadly. 

[Josh Parker]

2 minutes ago, aguybadatgolf said:

I’ve adjusted just about everything I can and played with the weights as well. Just can’t get along with it sadly. 

Always have a few that it happens with. 

[aguybadatgolf]

25 minutes ago, The TXBexar said:

The only clubs I could not hit to save my life, have always been the ones that were bought 2nd hand. Not every 2nd hand club is a bad one, but 1 out of 5 seem to always give me issues.

Sounds like, since it's not an issue that occurs with quick switching between different clubs, that the club has been modified or damaged in your instance. Could try taking the club to a fitter and see if if they can determine if the weighting is balanced or if something is weird & off with it. More times then not, for me at least, the club was forcibly modified and wasn't worth repairing since I got it at such a cheap price. 

That’s in interesting point. The play-it-again I go to has told me there is some club fitter/builder in the area and a couple times a year he’ll come in with 20-30 high end barely used clubs and just unload them. My friends and I have had good luck with a few things this guy brought in but this one could have been an experiment gone wrong. 

[slash25rc]

Back when I gamed a Ping G425 Driver, I got fitted into a Tensei CK Orange. I went and bought a G425 3 Hybrid in the same specs and, same thing, could not get it above 8 feet in the air and hook every time. I took it to where I got my driver and he brought out 6 different shafts and tinkered with the loft sleeve in every setting, and was the same result. Put a new, at the time, G430 7-Wood in my hands and I never looked back for that distance. I have a TSR2 24 degree hybrid that is the opposite. Perfect launch and consistent ball flight. The PXG 4 Hybrid I also had, was a 0317 Gen 2, and I hit it very well, but did use it enough to keep it in the bag alongside a 7 wood. 

Edited October 30 by slash25rc

[aguybadatgolf]

15 minutes ago, slash25rc said:

Back when I gamed a Ping G425 Driver, I got fitted into a Tensei CK Orange. I went and bought a G425 3 Hybrid in the same specs and, same thing, could not get it above 8 feet in the air and hook every time. I took it to where I got my driver and he brought out 6 different shafts and tinkered with the loft sleeve in every setting, and was the same result. Put a new, at the time, G430 7-Wood in my hands and I never looked back for that distance. I have a TSR2 24 degree hybrid that is the opposite. Perfect launch and consistent ball flight. The PXG 4 Hybrid I also had, was a 0317 Gen 2, and I hit it very well, but did use it enough to keep it in the bag alongside a 7 wood. 

Thanks for sharing! Good to know I’m not crazy and sometimes you find a club that just doesn’t work for you

[Parshooter36]

For me it was the Taylormade GAPR HI. I don't know what it was about that club, but I'm pretty sure I never got one solid hit out of it. 

[DeleteMe]

Adams Tour Peanut with a Motore shaft in it. Cant hit this club to save my life and I keep on trying like sticking my finger in an electrical outlet every darn time. 

[Shank_Aaron]

I've never been able to hit (insert any driver ever made), like.... literally. I could set up a swing robot to tee off for me and it'd still get f**ked in any direction other than where I wanted the ball to go. I've spent the last three years experimenting with settings, weights and distribution, shaft profiles and flexes, balls and head. Name it, I've given it an honest go. Finally broke down and got lessons with a focus on fixing my driver game and come to find out that my swing was so big/long that I had no other choice than to hit the ball to the next county to the left or right.

 

Mind you, I wasn't over swinging or trying to Berkshire anything, my GCQuad numbers were actually very consistent. I just had a massive shoulder turn coupled with a matching hip turn in the back swing, neither of which meshed well with my natural over the top baseball swing from a lifetime in the game. I'm not saying that I now hit drivers better than any club I have, in truth I'm still wary of it, but I'm carding lower scores and less penalties.