Spending Confirmation Money on Clubs

TrapperChamonix

My son is graduating from Junior Clubs to full Clubs. He is 12.5 years old and about 5ft 3in and growing rapidly. He has already playing with a mens Driver and Rescue Club (both regular shafts) and has a hole burning in his pocket to get out there and spend his confirmation money on a new set of Irons.
So my question is what to get for his next clubs. I've been to a few different places and got varying advice on what we should be getting. A guy in 1/2pennys says steel shafts with wide soles, the teaching pro in my club says graphite.

Also wondering if Cobra S2's Graphite currently on sale with McGuirks at €399 look to be a good idea.

http://www.mcguirksgolf.com/cobra-s2-7-graphite-irons/cobc0326gpd.html

Dtoffee

I would steer him in the direction of a good quality second hand set and use the money saved on lessons.

I would suggest steel shafts if he is strong enough as he will develop better feel and get stronger with age.

Hope he realises how really lucky he is

Kace

Dtoffee wrote: »

I would steer him in the direction of a good quality second hand set and use the money saved on lessons.

I would suggest steel shafts if he is strong enough as he will develop better feel and get stronger with age.

Hope he realises how really lucky he is

+1 - I wouldn't contemplate buying new clubs. For a guy his age I would actually consider a good set of ladies clubs than mens as they are that little bit lighter and strength could be a bit of an issue for the full-blown heavier clubs at that age.

Although if he is able to effectively use a Men's driver (which should be the most difficult to master given its length) then it sounds like he is already strong enough to have Men's clubs. Bear in mind though that the driver is the lightest club in the bag.

The only problem will be the stigma attached to them if they're obviously ladies sticks with pink graphics etc.

mike12

Its a tough one at 5ft 3 he maybe a little short for mens clubs and they maybe too heavy for him, think the standard mens clubs are designed for the 5th 7 to 5 11 range anything outside that often need tweaking. There may also be issues with the grips being too thick.
Often the suggestion is to go with a set of ladies clubs for a couple of years or get a couple of inches cut off a gents set but that may cause issues with the lie of the clubs.
There are a good few websites that offer a fitting service on line to give u a very general idea of what should suit.
As far as i know pings are easily adjusted so maybe a second hand set of those would be the best option.
Then again if he is really shooting up and is strong any regular set of mens irons should be fine. If he really wants to go for a new set then check out MD golf really good irons at reasonable prices.

newport2

OP, I would go on the teaching pro's advice. He's seen your son swing a club, nobody here has. Get him to recommend a few irons and then have a look on Golfbidder or Ebay for a second hand set of them if you're not going to buy new.

Seves Three Iron

TrapperChamonix wrote: »

Also wondering if Cobra S2's Graphite currently on sale with McGuirks at €399 look to be a good idea

Jaysus he did well for the confirmation! Wish I could do mine again at that rate. Fair play to him. I'd be going with the pro's advice also - he has a lot less of a vested interesting in kitting out your lad than the fella in halfpenny.

kagni

Would recommend the 3nd hand route also.
No way a 12 yr old is going to play womens clubs (and I wouldn't blame him either)!
You could look for something with Light/Senior flex if you were worried about regular flex being too much for him. I would say the graphite might be better as they would be that bit lighter.
How about something like the ones below, I had a set of Cobra S9 irons before and they were excellent, should never have sold them!
http://www.golfbidder.co.uk/product/452233/Cobra_S9.html

TrapperChamonix

Tx for all the feedback.

Looking back on my original post, I should have said he is currently using a set of Ram Demon R4 Women's clubs. As per Kagni comment he's not going to use womens clubs, but the Ram ones are Blue all over and the shaft says "L" instead of ladies. I've previously told him L stands for Light.
Down side is that there is a lot of vibration in the irons.


I had him lined up for a lesson anyway(1st of a series). The pro gave him the advice during the lesson. "Stick with the clubs he already has".

So that's the plan for this summer.

Kace

Sounds like a good plan to me - fair play to the pro for not sending you straight to your nearest McGuirks.

Dtoffee

Wise decision as he will be 2/3 inches taller by christmas ..... and sure before you know it, it will be parties n girls :P

TrapperChamonix

Ok So you might remember that I asked at he beginning of the summer as to what clubs my son should get with his confirmation money.
The general feedback was spend money on lessons and wait till he grew a bit.
I took the advice and developments are as follows

• He's grown 3inches and 2 shoe sizes. Now 5'6'' and size 9.
• He's played about 25 rounds of golf (16 x18 holes and 18 x 9 holes) plus he's gone out and practiced for a hour about another 5 or 6 times. Effectively he's on the course a minimum 4 times a week.
• He's had a group lesson in my club every Saturday we've been available. He's had 3 individual lessons as well.
• He's improved immeasurably. His gross score would be on average 97 to 105. He's well able to play a fourball with me and his uncles.
• He's played for his club twice in an U15 interclub match.

So I really need to plan about getting the next set of clubs because the ones he has are not great at this stage.

I think he needs a graphite shaft with perhaps a Ladies or Seniors flex (which is stiffer?). When we were on holidays he played with rented TM Burner with regular flex and got on well with them. I'm expecting his next set to last him till hes 16 and would then expect to see him move back to steel shafts. So I'm prepared to spend some money but not the 400 to 500 that seems to be required.

So whats the advice on next steps. I'm not in a hurray and as his birthday is in Dec. I would like to trade up for his birthday & Christmas.
I have been looking at Adverts.ie and the adds on here. I've also looked on golfbidder, but so far I've not seen anything compelling so my questions are
1. What irons next? Should they be graphite or steel? Should they be regular or senior or womens?
2. Where to get good 2nd hand? None of the McGuirks / Halfpenny seem to have any decent 2nd hand sets.

I have no illusions that he will be the next Tiger Woods Rory McIlroy, but he is as keen as mustard and i want to encourage him to maximise his potential