Iron advice.

tritriagain

Started year at 17 and now down to 14. Ambition for year was to get to 13 do a bit to go yet. I am playing older irons ping g2 and was wondering would a new (pre owned) more modern set of irons make a difference. I know newer clubs prob have lower lofts so increased distance so not comparing like for like. Any advice or someone who changed recently and can share their experiences.

CalamariFritti

I dont think all that much has changed in golf club 'technology'. Drivers and woods yes but irons not so much. Not as much as marketing would want us to believe anyway.
I'd say most of todays iron heads are more or less the same and very solid. Some are bigger and more forgiving than others but most important thing is that the setup - lengths, angles, swing weights - and the shaft matches you and your swing.
I bought a new set a couple of years ago and tried different shafts with the pro before I did. Between the worst shaft for me and the best shaft for me were two full clubs in distance. One felt like hitting a hammer glued to the end of an iron rod and the other felt nice. But going all nice and soft isn't the answer either apparently. Some will spin on you like mad others won't. You just have to go and try. I was lucky I have a local fitter with some sort of trackman. The money I paid him really made the difference over just buying something.

As for the lower lofts its really a matter of who cares what number is on the club that gets you there consistently. There are no extra points for 'getting there' with a pitching wedge. Again its all marketing.

Edit: Its obviously harder to do when buying 2nd hand but its still important to at least get a shaft thats not completely unsuitable to you and get a basic fitting done after.

Russman

CalamariFritti wrote: »

I dont think all that much has changed in golf club 'technology'. Drivers and woods yes but irons not so much. Not as much as marketing would want us to believe anyway.
I'd say most of todays iron heads are more or less the same and very solid. Some are bigger and more forgiving than others but most important thing is that the setup - lengths, angles, swing weights - and the shaft matches you and your swing.
I bought a new set a couple of years ago and tried different shafts with the pro before I did. Between the worst shaft for me and the best shaft for me were two full clubs in distance. One felt like hitting a hammer glued to the end of an iron rod and the other felt nice. But going all nice and soft isn't the answer either apparently. Some will spin on you like mad others won't. You just have to go and try. I was lucky I have a local fitter with some sort of trackman. The money I paid him really made the difference over just buying something.

As for the lower lofts its really a matter of who cares what number is on the club that gets you there consistently. There are no extra points for 'getting there' with a pitching wedge. Again its all marketing.

Edit: Its obviously harder to do when buying 2nd hand but its still important to at least get a shaft thats not completely unsuitable to you and get a basic fitting done after.

Exactly this ^^^^

Op, changing is fine (we all like something new and shiny !) but just make sure the specs are at least in the right ballpark for you and your swing. Nothing worse than spending X amount on new irons and finding you hit your old ones better.
One thing I would advise is that you don't necessarily buy into the "as I get lower I need smaller headed players irons" mantra that some promote.

fred funk }{

If you really want to lower your HC practice your short game. Chipping and putting. A new set of set of clubs might improve your game but I'd bet they're not the cause of you losing shots.

benny79

If it was me and I dropped that much already my next set would be new but definitely of which I be fitted for! as in custom fitted. I think you can get custom fitted for the clubs you have in Foregolf as they just change shafts lies etc.. or go new but obviously more expensive.

tritriagain

benny79 wrote: »

If it was me and I dropped that much already my next set would be new but definitely of which I be fitted for! as in custom fitted. I think you can get custom fitted for the clubs you have in Foregolf as they just change shafts lies etc.. or go new but obviously more expensive.

Precision golf in tramore are close to me and have a good rep. How much on average would fitting and new irons cost. Talking 4 to PW.

benny79

They work a price around your budget normally.. I treated myself to a good new set for €1100 that was Irons €900 + rescue + wedge. that was 3 years ago and they are still in mint condition and I don't plan on changing them for many years to come..

backspin.

tritriagain wrote: »

Precision golf in tramore are close to me and have a good rep. How much on average would fitting and new irons cost. Talking 4 to PW.

Most of these places will knock the cost of fitting of your purchase.

I would agree with a comment above about being careful not to fall into the idea that small compact heads are the next step in your advancement. I've done that a couple of times and each time went back to GI irons. I use a lot of the face when i hit the ball so the GI's suit me better. However i do not like the large offset most of these sets have. I'm still waiting for a set to come along that has a large head like say the Ping G25 irons, but with moderate offset and good spin numbers. I don't like hybrids so the set needs to go down to a 4 iron for me.

What sort of irons are you tempted by?

Seve OB

OP, it's been said time and time again. Really, you are mad even contemplating a secondhand set that you have no idea about. Sure they might actually be perfect for you, but really at your level, go and get yourself fitted. You don't pay all that much more to get fitted than just buying off the shelf irons.

And if you are looking for a deal, they can still be found. In my case for example, a couple of years ago I decided I was getting new irons. Didn't care what I was going to spend, actually my budget was probably going to stretch to about €1,500 if I had to. What I did was search for the irons I liked best. Found them in only one shop, McGuirks. They were end of line, last years stock, but they were the irons I wanted. I think they would have come in at close enough to the €1,500 I was willing to spend for 3-PW + SW + LW, maybe slightly above. But because they were last years stock, I think I paid about €900.

However I couldn't get fitted for them per say. But what McGuirks did for me was to bring me in and fit me for the newer model, which had similar specs, but most importantly had the same shaft & lies etc. They were happy that the clubs suited me but would need the lofts and lies tweaked from standard. Luckily they were forged clubs, so that could be done. So I bought them, played a few rounds, liked them a lot, went out to Foregolf and got them to check the lofts & lies. I had two options, McGuirks had given me specs that I could of supplied to them and they would have just teaked my Irons for €50. Or for €100 I could hit balls with more or less all my irons on their trackman and they would determine what suited me best. I went for the latter and straight away I could feel and notice a difference on the course.

Even recently I got a new wedge, was hitting it ok, but happened to be in Foregolf and I asked them to check it out. A little tweak really has upped my game.

It's the little things..... make sure the clubs fit!

CalamariFritti

tritriagain wrote: »

Precision golf in tramore are close to me and have a good rep. How much on average would fitting and new irons cost. Talking 4 to PW.

Funny enough thats the place I went to a couple of years ago. I don't think he's a golf pro strictly speaking, more a fitter, but he knows his stuff, has all the gear like launch monitor and you can try different heads and loads of shafts. He helped my buy the best club of what was available to me. Without him I would have been going blind into my purchase. It was definitely a positive experience and IIRC it cost me 150 or so, could have been a little less but not more. It felt like money well spent and he took his time too.

brady23

Deals are definitely to be had and if you want to get fitted which is obviously the optimal route then I would either go to Americangolf and ask them to match their UK prices or go up the North to a fitter.
The value being missed out on by purchasing in the Republic vs the UK is crazy. 60e on a brand new Scotty for example shipped

CalamariFritti

brady23 wrote: »

Deals are definitely to be had and if you want to get fitted which is obviously the optimal route then I would either go to Americangolf and ask them to match their UK prices or go up the North to a fitter.
The value being missed out on by purchasing in the Republic vs the UK is crazy. 60e on a brand new Scotty for example shipped

If you don't mind please. Where do you get a new Scotty for €60?

brady23

CalamariFritti wrote: »

If you don't mind please. Where do you get a new Scotty for €60?

I think its quite obvious it was a saving of 60e apologises for the wording .

CalamariFritti

brady23 wrote: »

I think its quite obvious it was a saving of 60e apologises for the wording .

Ok I get it now, no worries, thanks. I would have bought one (or a few) in the morning for that money.

brady23

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Ok I get it now, no worries, thanks. I would have bought one (or a few) in the morning for that money.

Lol

Running Balance

CalamariFritti wrote:

If you don't mind please. Where do you get a new Scotty for €60?

I think he means the difference is €60.. you wouldn't get a handle of a brush for €60.

tritriagain

CalamariFritti wrote: »

If you don't mind please. Where do you get a new Scotty for €60?

I'd imagine it was 60 euro difference. That's the way I read it anyhow.

brady23

tritriagain wrote: »

I'd imagine it was 60 euro difference. That's the way I read it anyhow.

I think that's the way everyone read it.

Either way decent savings to be had by taking advantage of the EUR/GBP exc rate.
American golf would be my pick at present as they may match their UK prices

CalamariFritti

I know lads. I got a little excited and misread it. Thanks.