All Things Golf

I love golf

It is a hobby my wife and I took up when my son was born 8ish years ago for thing to do together. Now I(we) structure our summer around golf!

Positives:
-Life long sport
-Get outside, exercise! I carry 95% of the time.
-Insanely hard to achieve a low score (assuming you use the appropriate tees for your distances)
-Mental toughness training... manage your expectations/patience so you don't hate golf. Golf should not be punishment.
-Always a challenge, impossible to master... you won't get bored.
-Networking! I have met and maintained relationships with countless people that have impacted my life. Even hired someone I played with's Son who was in my field.
- Gear gear gear (I love gear)

Negatives:
-Cost... this sport is not cheap at all, green fees, lessons, gear, balls, beer, tips...
-Gear gear gear, you can go overboard very easily. I have back up putters from when I want my main putter to 'do better
- Time, can be a huge time suck depending.

But the positives vastly outweigh the negatives.

I belong to a golf club (common in my area, Columbus Ohio) that provides quick rounds, multiple tournaments to scratch my competitive itch. I have won a few times which only stokes the competitive fire!

I have been through lots of gear as my skill has improved and optimize it a bit for the courses I play often. It's fun and I will be getting a new set of irons this spring! Played with the Titlist t100s irons last fall and loved them, want to try out the new 150's as a bit more forgiving. My P790's are a bit hot and give up spin which I 'want' in my irons now. Also ready for a narrow sole to make it a bit easier to hit down on the ball.

Get out an play!!!

(almost made a hole in this summer)

 

My Grandfather got me started playing golf as a youngster when I would visit in the summer. I played Pitch and Putt back home off and on over the years, and started playing full courses again in the early 2000's. Haven't touched a club until a few months ago when my friend picked his clubs up again, and is trying to get his boys playing. We joined a small 5600 yard local course for $75/mo, that includes unlimited range balls, and $10 twilight fees with cart included. We manage to get out to the range 3-4 times a week and play 6-7 twilight holes once a week. We're both trying to get a little more competent before we (me much more than him) take on a full day. Even though my friend is probably a single digit handicap, and back in the day if I broke a 100 that was a good thing, lol.

Great to get out and have a frosty beverage at the man garden and maybe hit a few balls into the bush drooling over beer girls.

I decided to upgrade my driver first and get something more modern, carbon fiber, and picked up a mint Mizuno 2023 driver for $190, a Mizuno mint 2023 hybrid as well. Next up were my aging Taylor Made R7 irons that were starting to get long in the tooth and wanted to try something new and innovative. Once again Mizuno... I picked up a set of 5-PW mint 245 irons from Japan for $800 shipped, still unreleased here and going for $1250 plus tax for the pre-order. Why all the Mizuno? Well I'm a lefty and found the best deals on mint used clubs were Mizuno. For irons I would rather have forged piece of Japanese steel, than something made in China when both are comparable in retail price.

Ball wise I lost my only Pro V1 last outing, it did last 20 holes though, it didn't end up in the water. It hit a tree and never came out. I have a mish mash of old Titleist mid range balls and am looking to buy a box of something up to date.

Anyway this is a great thread and am excited to get back into golf, cheers!!!

 

Nice to see some love for Mizuno irons. I saved up enough working at the golf club in the early 90s to get a set of the TPZ forged irons. They were just right for me in having the cavity backs diminishing in size down through the 9-iron, IIRC, and then having blades for the wedges. I had the 1-iron and 3-SW in my set (the pictured one's not mine).



I get the feeling they were more popular in the UK than here, to judge from the number of fleabay listings - I've thought about selling them but can't quite bring myself to do so as I'd get nothing for them and they have sentimental value.

I've no idea how they compare with today's irons. I like the look of the latest Mizuno irons which seem to have a similar design. From the little I've seen online, it seems as though stiff shafts are now recommended; mine are regular, which is what best suited me as a kid, but there's no way I could generate the club speed today compared to the days of my supple youth.

 

I’ve never purchased a big name for irons. I’ve gone DTC - first set way back from Gigagolf, and more recently, a set of Pursuit M410 irons and M510 wedges (Gigagolf) and 699v2 irons and 286 forged wedges from Sub 70.

 

Not that I have anything against big names. I currently have a Callaway Paradym X driver, and my previous driver was Cobra and my ancient wedges were forged Nike. Those wedges are awesome.

I just had good luck with my first set of irons from Gigagolf, so I went back there when I upgraded. I was curious about Sub 70, so I gave them a try and really liked what I purchased (949X hybrids and 699v2 irons).

This golf thing could get a lot like audio if I didn’t have a shred of self-discipline. Sort of…

 

@Tchoupitoulas I’ve never seen a 1-iron before. I only remember that Lee Trevino story - Trevino was asked what he’d do if he were out on the course and a lightning storm materialized. Trevino said he’d grab a 1-iron, because not even God can hit a 1-iron.

Ironically, I think Trevino did get struck by lightning at some point in his life. I guess he had already gone to 3-PW for his bag by then. Lucky to be alive!!

 

I have a driving iron that used to be my dads. It is very hard to hit well, but very satisfying on the rare occasion that you do.

 

Remember the days when warm up for golf meant hitting a few balls at the range before tee time?

 

Back in the day I used to only carry irons and used a 2-iron off the tee... this was before the modern drivers (pumpkins on the stick) of today and my woods were persimmon (which were sweet when well struck, but I could just never strike them consistently).

Now I have a set of Taylor made woods and mizuno MX-200 irons... but I guess "now" is relative, neither have been out of my bag in almost 20yrs (I stopped playing when life became too busy... at some point I hope to pick the game back up).

 

Sorry, I somehow missed your post. Yeah, the 1-iron was impossible to hit off the ground. I had it for tee shots as my local course had a bunch of narrow fairways. Remember this was a cavity-back forged iron, not a blade. I remember those blade 1-irons that looked like knives from above.

 

Is that not true anymore?

I still keep a 2 iron in my bag. I leave the 1 iron at home.

 

The best golf gear purchase I ever made was when I retired my Wilson blades for a set of Titlelist DCI cavity back. They never felt as pure, but boy were they forgiving. That's actually the reason I eventually went with the Mizuno irons... they were forged cavity back... not as forgiving as the DCI, but they gave that pure feeling again with a well struck shot.

 

Likewise switching from my hand-me-down blades to cavity backs was like suddenly playing a whole new game. Same deal replacing a persimmon driver with an oversized alloy one. Technology has probably improved my game more over time than my actual skills have .

 

Not at my age. I am developing a routine to stretch out and to also activate my core muscles - before and during my “hitting balls to warm-up” time.

 

Slowly turning to golfing weather.

Last weekend, went to a pitch and putt course to get a feel for the game again. All holes between 30-65 yards, so brought the new 54° SW (my other SW are 56°). I like using only one club because it forces me to adjust rhythm/tempo/backswing for distance control.

The night before, my son and I did about 50-60 practice putts each on the indoor mat at home. It paid dividends, as our distance was good the next day. I’ll link to the putting trainer we use at home. It forces you to focus on your putting stroke!

 

Played my first full 18-hole round of the season with my kids. I told the youngest to take the pitch and putt we did a couple of weeks earlier seriously - FAIL. I told him to hit the range - FAIL. So... halfway through the round, he had lost a dozen balls and decided to quit.

My tee shots were all over the place, but my irons, wedges, and putter were pretty good, so I salvaged a respectable round. The weather was great, and the company was good, so all in all, a great day.