Titleist 704 CB irons

Zak Flaps

Hi. My 15 year old nephew got these clubs for Christmas. I've never seen him play but I was told that his local pro said he was very good for his age. He hasn't been playing that long. The last 2 months, he's become fed up with the game claiming that he's constantly hitting bad shots.
I asked his Mum what are the clubs he uses and they are the Titleist 704 CB forged irons. I'm not a golf expert but it seems to me that they are for the much better player. Would he be better off selling them and getting a much more forgiving modern club? Or would he be better learning on a harder club?

Would really appreciate the help.

Zak.

copacetic

the 704.CB are a mid level iron, not ultra forgiving, not for low handicappers in particular. I'd say they are suitable for any decent ball striker, so if a pro says he is
a good player for 15, then he is a good player and the irons are fine.

Senna

Sounds fairly straight forward to me, hes not playing that long, using irons that are not that easy to play and so becoming fed up, just get him another set. The Titleist should get a descent amount in trade-in or ebay will probably get them sold quickly and get enough money for a different set.

Zak Flaps

Actually he's been playing a little longer than i thought. 2 years. Every Saturday for a few hours. I was looking at them online and they don't look too forgiving. I thought that if he had more forgiving ones, he may not play as many bad shots, and may get some confidence back. Which would hopefully regain his interest.
Also, he has a handicap of 27.

Mister Sifter

copacetic wrote: »

the 704.CB are a mid level iron, not ultra forgiving, not for low handicappers in particular. I'd say they are suitable for any decent ball striker, so if a pro says he is
a good player for 15, then he is a good player and the irons are fine.

I think that's a really poor advice.

I had the 704s for about 5 years or so. I play off 4 and found them pretty difficult club to hit, particularly during times when i wasn't playing an awful lot.

Although they are a cavity back, I would put them firmly in the 'better player' box. They're great for shaping the ball and shot making. When you mis-hit even slightly though it can feel like you're playing with a wooden hockey stick. Not a very forgiving iron so i can understand completely why a young lad would get frustrated using them.

I decided to ditch them at the start of this season in favour of a nice forgiving set. That would be my advice to you - at this stage of his development he wants something easy to hit and forgiving.

On a trade in you'll be looking at between 60 and 90 euro depending on what you are buying/condition/retailer. On a private sale you might get up to €150.

EDIT - Just saw your edit saying he plays off 27! No way are those clubs gonna do a 27 handicapper any good.

5989

No way he should/could use those off 27. Trade them in (you wont get a whole lot) and get him a nice large set of cavity backs with graphite shafts if possible.

DonkeyPokerTour

I wouldn't trade them in, their worth more as a gift to someone than to trade them in. You could get him to play with cavity backs (say like the ping g10 or something like that), but Padraig Harrington recomends that youngsters actually learn to play with blades so that they learn how to hit the ball properly!

Its one of those catch 22's if he sticks with them and learns how to hit them, he will be a much better golfer, if however he gets pissed off he may not want play the game again!

copacetic

Mister Sifter wrote: »

I think that's a really poor advice.

I had the 704s for about 5 years or so. I play off 4 and found them pretty difficult club to hit, particularly during times when i wasn't playing an awful lot.

Although they are a cavity back, I would put them firmly in the 'better player' box. They're great for shaping the ball and shot making. When you mis-hit even slightly though it can feel like you're playing with a wooden hockey stick. Not a very forgiving iron so i can understand completely why a young lad would get frustrated using them.

I decided to ditch them at the start of this season in favour of a nice forgiving set. That would be my advice to you - at this stage of his development he wants something easy to hit and forgiving.

On a trade in you'll be looking at between 60 and 90 euro depending on what you are buying/condition/retailer. On a private sale you might get up to €150.

EDIT - Just saw your edit saying he plays off 27! No way are those clubs gonna do a 27 handicapper any good.

well it certainly looks it now! a good player for 15 years old? but off 27? crazy stuff!

I had the 704s for a couple of years too, off 13 and found them clunky and didn't like them, but pretty forgiving. I moved to various sets that are 'harder' to hit and was much happier.
I said they were suitable for any decent ball striker and they are, but someone off 27 isn't a decent ball striker, thats for sure..

Zak Flaps

copacetic wrote: »

well it certainly looks it now! a good player for 15 years old? but off 27? crazy stuff!

I had the 704s for a couple of years too, off 13 and found them clunky and didn't like them, but pretty forgiving. I moved to various sets that are 'harder' to hit and was much happier.
I said they were suitable for any decent ball striker and they are, but someone off 27 isn't a decent ball striker, thats for sure..

sorry copacetic, i didn't know that info when i posted first!

so would you suggest some ultra forgiving clubs to get him back into the game or would you see logic in Harrington's claim that all youngsters should learn using blades?

Jimdagym

5989 wrote: »

No way he should/could use those off 27. Trade them in (you wont get a whole lot) and get him a nice large set of cavity backs with graphite shafts if possible.

Why are you recommending graphite shafts for a 15 year old?

Zak Flaps

Jimdagym wrote: »

Why are you recommending graphite shafts for a 15 year old?

is that a bad idea?

Jimdagym

Zak Flaps wrote: »

is that a bad idea?

I'm not sure, but.....
I'm 29 and playing non-seriously for a good few years now. Recently started taking lessons trying to get my game together and the first thing that the pro said was dump the graphite shafts I have. Said I am far too young for them and I would get a lot more consistency with steel shafts.
I asked because I have my clubs years and wanted professional advice about which would be better for me before I shelled out on clubs with the wrong shaft. But the point is he answered me in the car park before the first lesson and before he had seen me hit a ball. We were chatting and I took it to be a given the way he said it.

5989

You're right I shouldn't have 'blanket recommended' the graphite shafts just because hes 15.

However, because hes off 27, is 15 and probably not hugely strong, the graphite shafts would prob do him no harm....unless hes 6'2', 14 st of muscle and is off 27 because he cant keep the ball in the park ...though I suspect this isn't the case.

Zak Flaps

5989 wrote: »

You're right I shouldn't have 'blanket recommended' the graphite shafts just because hes 15.

However, because hes off 27, is 15 and probably not hugely strong, the graphite shafts would prob do him no harm....unless hes 6'2', 14 st of muscle and is off 27 because he cant keep the ball in the park ...though I suspect this isn't the case.

he's not hugely strong actually....he's approx 5ft 7 but is growing fast!

would be thinking along the lines of Cobra S9s for him as they are available for a good price in McGuirks, are well regarded and are very forgiving....
His 704s haven't been used much so maybe he can get a couple of hundred quid for them....

5989

Zak Flaps wrote: »

he's not hugely strong actually....he's approx 5ft 7 but is growing fast!

would be thinking along the lines of Cobra S9s for him as they are available for a good price in McGuirks, are well regarded and are very forgiving....
His 704s haven't been used much so maybe he can get a couple of hundred quid for them....

Couple of hundred would be doing very well.......the price of new golf clubs has come down, but more than that, what has surprised me more is the arse has fallen out of the second hand market...Shops pretty much dont take trade ins now, unless theyre something special, and re-sale vale is so much lower than it was....Anyone remember the days of the XR-03 and XR-05 for 500e ...and Taylormade TP drivers for approaching a
tonne!?

Whatever he gets, don't pay more than a couple hundred, make sure theyre nicely oversized and aren't stronger than R300 in the shaft. Then its just a question of getting a head he likes.

Id say you could get fantastic deals on such sets of irons...callaways, taylormades pings cobras etc...try adverts.ie

Mister Sifter

I'll say it again, i looked at trading in an immaculate set of these only weeks ago. I was offered 70 by Halpenny against a top of the range new set. McGuirk's offered me 80. Another pro offered me 90.

All three advised me to sell them privately for up to 150.

5989

Mister Sifter wrote: »

I'll say it again, i looked at trading in an immaculate set of these only weeks ago. I was offered 70 by Halpenny against a top of the range new set. McGuirk's offered me 80. Another pro offered me 90.

All three advised me to sell them privately for up to 150.

704's?? Yup Pro shops cant risk having more clubs when they can barely shift new stock.

fullstop

Tell him to get a new pro, the one he has must be full of shyte!

Adiaga 2

Mister Sifter wrote: »

I'll say it again, i looked at trading in an immaculate set of these only weeks ago. I was offered 70 by Halpenny against a top of the range new set. McGuirk's offered me 80. Another pro offered me 90.

All three advised me to sell them privately for up to 150.

Glad it wasn't just me then. I was offered similar trade in value for my mizuno MX-23s a few weeks ago. I eventually got Halpenny up to 110 and very reluctantly accepted because they had the best price for the irons I wanted and I had a voucher(and didn't want the hassle of private sale at the time). I still felt a bit ripped off. The guy kept telling me the margin on new irons is so small. Private sale definitely the way to go to get anything like the value of your clubs back.

Zak Flaps

Thanks everyone for your help. I'm going to go down and play with him next month. I'll bring some much more forgiving clubs with me, so he can have a go with them. If he likes them and finds them easier to use, i'll go about helping him find a set of super improvement irons.
Will try to get a few quid for the Titleists privately, rather than a trade in.

Zak.