golfrewind.com

All,

I currently golf what are at best "store brand" clubs. Acuity RXH from Dicks.

Not to be confusing - but I always believed no one suffered from good equipment. My question is are these "game improvement" clubs really that or are they simply marketing? I mean look at a set of Calloway Fusion Wide Sole irons at 1200 and I have to wonder if they really improve your game or are they labled that to get hacks like me into spending money?

We all compromise on one thing or another-- what's your whistle? Pick up one of those Callaways and feel the weight in your hands. Look at the style and form of the clubhead. Hit them on the range, or ask someone on the course to let you take a shot or two. Then go back to your Acuitys and tell me what you think. The problem, I think, is that everything costs so much. You could get a great set of irons for probably 300 bucks, brand new.

BTW-- I'm pretty sure those Fusions would improve most golfer's games, depending of course on what they are presently using.

I know they are better - probably to the extreem other side of what I am playing but lets say a guy is moving from a more mid level club? Or maybe the better question is "At what handicap does a "game improvement" club not offer as much?"

To a guy like me - I am sure it would help a guy a bunch - say a 5 ot 7 handicapper - not so much?

"game improvement" is an exceptionally broad term, that can mean any one or more of many things: wider soles, perimeter weighting, cavity backs, a more rounded sole shape. These are all features that are put into the club to increase the club's forgiveness.

Saying a club is "game improvement" is the opposite of calling it a "player's club" which will be smaller and less forgiving.

What is "forgiving"? It allows the ball to fly straighter and farther on mishits than it would otherwise. This comes from the features in the list above. The cavity backs and perimeter weighting increases the club's moment of inertia (MOI) and thus the club twists less on off-center impacts (twisiting at impact is a big cause for hooks/slices). Wider soles obviously increases the hitting area. Slightly more rounding increases the gear effect.

I would be willing to bet pretty good money that your club would already fall under the "game improvement" category. They are probably cavity backed and have a larger sole.

I would even go further and say that your clubs are probably 99% as good as the Callaway clubs. The name brands may be a little better manufactured, may have a tiny bit extra technology to squeak out an extra yard or two, and you have to decide if that is worth it. Unless you are abusing the heck out of your current clubs, they are probably going to serve you well.

If your swing is really consistent right now, or you really want a new set of clubs, I would make sure that you get a set fitted to you. Have a pro take your measurements, swing off of a lie board, etc. A fitted set will be built to fit you as perfectly as possible. Plus, if you go to a fitter, they should be able to show you, and you should be able to hit, a wide range of clubs. But, if you are a beginner and your swing isn't consistent, I wouldn't worry about it at all. Your clubs will be more than adequate to get you to the point where getting a fitting and really picking the perfect club for you will make sense. The reason I'd wait until your swing is very consistent is that you may end up making significant changes to your swing to make it more consistent, and then the clubs you paid for to be fitted would probably be way off now.

And finally, there is no reason to feel bad about playing a cavity back club, this wasn't true until recently, but today an awful lot of PGA touring pros play cavity backed clubs. If the pros are using that forgiveness, why shouldn't you? And if you cacluate the touring pros handicap's, they are like +8, +10-ish. So there is no "number" where the break occurs. As you practice and become more consistent and learn your personal game, then you can start to make decisons about what kind of clubs you want to play (and decide on the shaft, and ball, and all the other varibles that this game offers. I know, it is head-spinning at first, isn't it?).

So take a look at your current clubs, and if their design is a whole lot different from the ones you are looking at. Also, take a look through some of the older threads here, there are many, many examples of people who do not play name-brand clubs but have exceptionally good games. Every club probably has one or two guys who play to scratch with the set of clubs you find in Sprawl-Mart in the box. I hate cliches, but "it's not the arrow, it's the archer" sure is pertinent in this case. The clubs aren't going to provide some miracle cure, and that money is probably much better spent on practice sessions, and paying for lessons.

get fit, then buy ebay, sell what you don't like, keep the ones you like

Hey Teal,

I'm looking at more "forgiving clubs" right now and I'm a single digit handicapper. To make a long story short I recently went to the Leadbetter Academy at Champions Gate in Orlando, paid one of his lackeys a lot of dough, and found out my blades are basically kicking my backside. No kidding; even without the computer I could see my 6-iron shots reach the green with a poor toe-hit with the cavity back, after missing the green by 20 yds with my blade with the same poor swing. To sum it up-- more forgiving clubs make poor shots better. BTW-- there wasn't much difference when I hit both irons well.

I am gonna play my irons some more and then decide. I liked the G5's I played of a friends so much - just felt so much better that maybe I am a bit biased now and not putting enough effort into my swing - these may not be perfect but they should be good enough.