Taking up Golf

[simoid]

Laplace said:

I'm looking for a used set at the moment to get me back into the game after giving it up for fishing as a teenager.

I'm looking to spend about £200-£300. I have no idea what to be looking for but after some research over the past couple of days I've came up with Ping G15 irons, G10, Callaway x20 or 22s.

Am I looking in the right place and are there any other clubs I should be considering?

Cheers.

I wouldn't set a lower limit on the price, plenty of very good sets of irons kicking about for 100 odd quid or below that may be perfectly suited to your game

EG I bought my TM Burner Tours with Dynamic Gold S300 shafts for £100 locally, and a mate has just bought some Ping something or others for £140 at American golf - he plays off 1 and is discerning when it comes to irons.

[taaffy]

simoid said:

Laplace said:

I'm looking for a used set at the moment to get me back into the game after giving it up for fishing as a teenager.

I'm looking to spend about £200-£300. I have no idea what to be looking for but after some research over the past couple of days I've came up with Ping G15 irons, G10, Callaway x20 or 22s.

Am I looking in the right place and are there any other clubs I should be considering?

Cheers.

I wouldn't set a lower limit on the price, plenty of very good sets of irons kicking about for 100 odd quid or below that may be perfectly suited to your game

EG I bought my TM Burner Tours with Dynamic Gold S300 shafts for £100 locally, and a mate has just bought some Ping something or others for £140 at American golf - he plays off 1 and is discerning when it comes to irons.

Any of those should be just fine .. go to a driving range and try some demo clubs so you can get an idea of what suits your eye and what gives you confidence when looking down at them. You don't have to spend masses as club manufacturers change their designs so often that each non current model becomes extremely good value as a used purchase. You won't go far wrong with something from Callaway, Ping or Taylormade.

Buy what works not what's pretty to look at...... stay away from blades, they look great but are hard to be consistent with when you mist them.

[Laplace]

taaffy said:

Any of those should be just fine .. go to a driving range and try some demo clubs so you can get an idea of what suits your eye and what gives you confidence when looking down at them. You don't have to spend masses as club manufacturers change their designs so often that each non current model becomes extremely good value as a used purchase. You won't go far wrong with something from Callaway, Ping or Taylormade.

Buy what works not what's pretty to look at...... stay away from blades, they look great but are hard to be consistent with when you mist them.

Did just this today at a golf store in town. I was convinced I was going to come out with a set of the ones I mentioned (x-22/G15) and in the back of my head I wasn't keen on Nike irons as I know nothing about them, I don't even think they made clubs when I played before.

However after an hour or so knocking balks into the net I came out with a used set of Nike Slingshots. I'm glad I took the time to try different clubs as I was ready for ordering x-22s online off the back of their reviews.

They came with a 3 and 4 hybrid which I reckon will come in pretty useful.

Now to practice.....

[Welshbeef]

For myself a butter knife coming (1Iron). I mentioned it at work and was set a challenge that no way could I strike it so had to buy it. Got it for a few quid so doesn't matter.

[danneth]

1 Iron actually makes me cringe lol, I doubt theres many single figure golfers who would actually use one never mind on a regular basis.

[DuncanM]

Play off around 10-12 and my 1 iron is my 2nd favourite club after my putter.

I can play a whole round just using 1 iron off the tee

[FellowPazzini]

So, went the range today. Alike skii I also based by my basic swing principles from Paul Wilson video's. His video's have been somewhat brilliant and super informative for a newbie like myself BUT I have developed a horrid pull hook (think that's what it's called, to the left then sways off even more).

Taaffy's theory seemed quite contradictory to Mr Wilson's advice but I've gotta say my irons (took the 9, 7 & 4) was getting smashed very nicely indeed thanks to the little tweaks. 7 iron 150 yards every time & 4 iron about 190 yards but more importantly they was so straight and while having a nice crack sound off the face. Perfect for the first 60 balls but after that it got a little so so, the feel at the top of the swing started to not feel right and rotation started to slack, think I was getting a little tired really. All in all though I was extremely pleased with the results. I now just wish I could replicate that on the course.

Thanks (again) taafy! You de man

Just curios what everyone pays at their local range? What's considered expensive or cheap.
Range rating imo 6.5-7/10
50 balls = £4
100 balls = £7

1 irons sound a little crazy. What kind of range do you get from one of them bad boys?

Edited by FellowPazzini on Friday 12th October 20:32

[Tycho]

PatrickOUFC said:

Playing at Caversham Heath Golf Club on Saturday, just outside Reading. Anyone ever played this track before? Any good?
Cheers

It is a nice course but the greens are pretty undulating so get your putter working on the practice green. American style course which they had left to grow quite tall just off the fairway.

[Tycho]

DuncanM said:

Play off around 10-12 and my 1 iron is my 2nd favourite club after my putter.

I can play a whole round just using 1 iron off the tee

I Loved my 1 iron until Ryan Air bent the hosel and I couldn't get it "just right" again

[DuncanM]

The beauty of a 1 iron to me is accuracy, particularly in windy conditions

[taaffy]

FellowPazzini said:

Taaffy's theory seemed quite contradictory to Mr Wilson's advice but I've gotta say my irons (took the 9, 7 & 4) was getting smashed very nicely indeed thanks to the little tweaks. 7 iron 150 yards every time & 4 iron about 190 yards but more importantly they was so straight and while having a nice crack sound off the face. Perfect for the first 60 balls but after that it got a little so so, the feel at the top of the swing started to not feel right and rotation started to slack, think I was getting a little tired really. All in all though I was extremely pleased with the results. I now just wish I could replicate that on the course.

Thanks (again) taafy! You de man

I was at the range today to help a friend who has been playing quite well of recent, a good 12 handicapper but he has started to hit some weak shots high and right with driver and very inconsistent with irons ...so he asked me to have a look.

I explained to him that I thought that he had far too much lower body movement and a slow arms through impact.

First of all we started with some drills...

1) feet together with 3/4 swings, just swinging the arms to get used to the swing of the club whilst staying centred and balanced.

2) right foot back with narrow stance again just swinging arms to feel the arms and hands drop into the right swing path into impact and a good release.

3) Half width stance feeling like the legs do nothing but swinging only the arms.

Then we went back to full shots with an 8 iron keeping legs and hips very quiet with a feeling of swinging arms faster from top of backswing with a centred body.

My friend said it felt so weird, it was like having tin legs that did no work at all. So I video'd him in super slow motion and showed him that although he thought that his legs were doing nothing as he swung his arms faster, they were in fact working as they should... but now they were actually in sync with his arms in the downswing rather than racing ahead of his arms.

The first hour of hitting balls was quite a struggle for him to get this new sequence as he had the lower body first feeling so ingrained, but when he finally got the feeling he hit another hours worth of balls with far more consistency and fluidity, and said that the power just felt so easy.. he could really go after it with fast arms and quiet legs.

I'm not advocating this as some new fangled teaching method, just explaining it in a slightly different way.
The lower body still leads, it just leads on a subconscious level rather than the player trying to make it happen and overdoing it as you see with most golfers.
The feeling of starting the arms moving first just allows mere mortal golfers to get everything synced at the start of the downswing, creating a smoother more powerful swing (although it may not feel powerful)

Edited by taaffy on Friday 12th October 23:22

[Welshbeef]

In theory 300 yards + for a 1 iron ideal for links courses or Iif you struggle with the driver.

Note Wilson did make a 0 iron for John Daily yes that's zero and it was called the knife that was a 350+ yard stick.


I'm playing tomorrow but its loser pays for the evening meal for three couples.... Hmm they are better than me (or used to be) so I'd be bonkers to try that out and risk what £120+ to pay for he other two couples meals.
One of them always shouts "in the hole" as you walk up to the tee and smirks

[Stingercut]

JD was able to hit his Scotty Cameron putter 275yds in his hey day !

Lets not forget that in the 90's and earlier, the old 1 irons played with a similar loft to a modern 3iron.

[Welshbeef]

Should I go for 20 balls down the driving range pre the game today?
An very worried about the first tee shot to a par 4.
If I screw it up that will ruin the hole and potentially damage my confidence for the remainder of the game.

I know it's going to be hard to clear my thoughts and just get the posture correct swing and strike.


Think ill be using the 7 iron off the 1st tee just to calm any concerns safety first and then play the course always safety first

[DuncanM]

Welshbeef said:

In theory 300 yards + for a 1 iron ideal for links courses or Iif you struggle with the driver.

Note Wilson did make a 0 iron for John Daily yes that's zero and it was called the knife that was a 350+ yard stick.


I'm playing tomorrow but its loser pays for the evening meal for three couples.... Hmm they are better than me (or used to be) so I'd be bonkers to try that out and risk what £120+ to pay for he other two couples meals.
One of them always shouts "in the hole" as you walk up to the tee and smirks

Are you honestly saying that a 1 iron should go 300 yards?

Some of the yardages mentioned on here are crazy.

For me a 1iron is good for 230ish with roll which is more than enough for most holes.

[Welshbeef]

Well just finished. ...
I'm buying grub... However I'd say a marked improvement over all.

Sure I three putted quite a few par 4's when I'd got to the green in three and I also went just out of bounds on 4 drives only just but narrow fairways which added quite a few strokes to my score.

Overall I'd say it went well - and I enjoyed the game I certainly didn't look forward to finishing the 18th quickly
More practice lots more and I can see it coming better. However not concerned about putting for me it's get to the green in regulation that's the hardest bit the rest will follow and improve over time

[condor]

FellowPazzini said:

Just curios what everyone pays at their local range? What's considered expensive or cheap.
Range rating imo 6.5-7/10
50 balls = £4
100 balls = £7

Bedford's municipal golf club (Mowsbury) charges £1 for 25 balls or £3 for 100
Last year I was at the range at Colmworth ( about 7 miles away) was £2 for 50 balls

[DuncanM]

Welshbeef said:

Well just finished. ...
I'm buying grub... However I'd say a marked improvement over all.

Sure I three putted quite a few par 4's when I'd got to the green in three and I also went just out of bounds on 4 drives only just but narrow fairways which added quite a few strokes to my score.

Overall I'd say it went well - and I enjoyed the game I certainly didn't look forward to finishing the 18th quickly
More practice lots more and I can see it coming better. However not concerned about putting for me it's get to the green in regulation that's the hardest bit the rest will follow and improve over time

Good to hear its getting better, what did you shoot?

[Welshbeef]

DuncanM said:

Good to hear its getting better, what did you shoot?

110 - so 9 shots off my previous best I made three par 4's

So need to take a further 10 shots off. When I review the game I played I could do that by simply playing all drives in bounds and taking one of those three or four puts down just one!!!

I played one 3 iron off the tee at maximum power and made it it felt great and was dead straight - back of the net. That drive was actually further than both the other two drives (though neither were perfect off the tee still ill take it)

[DuncanM]

110 is getting there so well done on your progress