What golf gear did you buy today?

Anyone know of a half decent range finder at a reasonable price,

I did have the shotscope pro lx or something it was great. Only thing was it came with the tracking stuff and I never made use of it as it was a bit of a pain compared to just having the watch to track stuff with. I then sold that and bought a cheap one.

It does the job but its very frustrating. Hard to pic up the flag and then read the numbers.

Things I need.

- Slope on and off
- Flag lock even when slope is off
- needs to be clear

any suggestion much appreciated.

I have both a GPS device (Bushnell Phantom 3 that has the slope function) and a range finder (Tasco T2G) and think it's a perfect combination. I'm not good enough to need hyper accurate yardage, and don't want to have to look thru that thing for each shot. The Phantom 3 is perfect for routine shots and is currently on sale for $125 or so at Dick's. It gives distance to front, back and center of the green, as well as the distance to hazards. It also has an app for your phone that gives a detailed map of each hole. It also has a score keeping function, tracks all of your rounds and compiles statistics like fairways hit, greens in regulation, putts per round, etc. For a golf dork like me, it's awesome. The range finder costs $70. It's bare bones, but it does what I need it to, namely tell me how far away something is within +/- 1 meter. I mostly rely on the Phantom 3. If I am skeptical or want another distance, I use the range finder.

I suspect that you won't be able to do as well for $200 with another set up.

Well, I broke my stealth driver over the holiday. Face popped out, so TM is sending me out a Qi10 as a replacement. Can't wait to see if there is any noticeable difference. I know the stealth was reportedly hard to hit, so we will see if this 20+ handicapper notices any difference.

Had some yellow bubbling on the face of my stealth in December. Sent them photos and had Qi10 within a few days.
Am getting a bit more yardage.
Trajectory similar.

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Interesting. I'm seeing similar distance, but my dispersion is WAY down. Not to mention that I can turn this one over, which I could not do with the stealth.

Taylormade sent me a Qi10 LS last week for the bubbling/tee marks on the face of my Stealth+. I've only hit it a couple times but seems promising!

It’s rare that a change in head makes a big difference unless we are talking about quite a few years. Your improvement is almost certainly due to shaft assuming the head is configured the same way.

I have irons from 2005 or so (Cleveland CG4 tour). Ball flies great when I hit it good. They’re cavity-back so I assume they’re designed to be more forgiving than blades.

Am I at a significant disadvantage if I don’t upgrade to more recent irons? What am I missing?

Serious disadvantage for sure, you’re probably giving up a club in distance not to mention dispersion. Just too much has changed in 20 years.

Any iron regardless of age will fly true on a perfect shot although perhaps not as far because of loft differences. But all the imperfect shots are where you’ll see a huge difference.

And yes, cavity back irons are still the way to go.

I'm still gaming my Taylormade R11's and I just don't know how to quit them. I love them.

Simulator data from yesterday. 7-iron is 33.5 degrees. 9-iron is 41 degrees. Not sure what I’m “supposed” to be getting for these numbers, or what woujd be different/better with post-2020 irons.

Launch angle is roughly 2 degrees too low and spin rate is way low making it near impossible to hold a green. Typical spin rate for a 9 iron is 8000, 7 iron is 6000.

Iron heads these days are built to launch the ball much higher with lower lofts. Also stock iron shafts are going to be much better. Of course each individual won’t know specifics until they test.

Thanks for the feedback.

Could the launch angle be affected by my attack angle?

I have stiff shafts (TT S300) in them. Is it possible I need regular shafts?

I am considering upgrading to Srixon ZX5/ZX7 irons or some combination of them. I found this review and was surprised that my 7-iron spin rate wasn't much different than theirs, but my landing angle was. Should I be reading anything into that?

That could affect the launch angle, so could a whole host of other things.

I fly a 7 iron 170 and TT S300's are too stiff(and heavy) for me. For the record, TT shafts are stiffer across the board than any other shaft out there. All stiff shafts are not created equal. I play an S but in a 105g Nippon. You're probably right on the borderline between S and R but with those spin numbers I'd lean towards R.

Regarding those Srixon numbers, you are comparing your data to somebody that has much more ball speed than you do. Therefore they can launch it lower but still have an efficient descent angle. Look at it this way, take a 20* angle and extend it from the ground 150 yards. Now take the same angle and extend it from the ground 180 yards. Which line is higher off the ground?

You can't compare your numbers to others in some aspects like this. I don't want launch numbers like someone who can carry a driver 320 because it's a totally different ball game at that speed. With your ball speed you need a higher launch angle so you can stop the ball on the green with a combination of spin and descent angle. Only way to determine that is with you testing clubs.

always appreciate your thoughtful (and free) advice BO.
are you still fitting clubs or off to other things?

👍

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I’m admittedly clueless and am trying to educate myself.

I know that club technology constantly changes and thus old clubs may put one at a disadvantage, but I also know that a poor craftsman blames his tools and I don’t want to be that guy.

I want my irons to hold on greens, but before I worry about the ball staying on the green I need to first hit the green. Hopefully I learn to hit it straight and then I hope to get fitted come mid-summer.

Hit used Srixon ZX7s today with ProjectX LZ 6.0 stiff shafts. Club speed was typically 83-85mph with the 7-iron & was doing what it was supposed to according to the guy there (carrying 167-70, spinning around 5.5-6k and descending at 45 degrees. PW was great, too.) Much better ball flight than my CG4s. Felt so good when hit pure.

I don't want to get different clubs, but I sure do want to get different clubs.

Got a "whole bag" fitting yesterday. Spurred by the receipt of the QI10 LS from Taylormade on warranty, I wanted to get fit for a driver shaft for the first time ever. After evaluating my swing and the stock hzrdus red shaft (came with the original stealth+), the fitter wanted me in something with a firmer tip. We settled on a Oban isawa red 65g, which was significantly firmer than the stock shaft. Dispersion was WAY tighter with this shaft, and the shaft seemed to help pull my heel miss towards center of face.

Was fit into a hzrdus black G4 75g shaft for my 5wood (still the same stealth+ head) and the fitter sold me a new callaway elyte 4h with some kind of KBS "prototype" shaft that feels like a 2x4 but it feels extremely stable and the ball flight/consistency was excellent from the first swing.

We tried a few combos of iron heads and shafts but I didn't see any noticeable improvement from my current set (2021 Taylormade Sim Max with modus tour 120g) , so I declined to buy any irons. Granted I'm a 22 GHIN, but it was a little frustrating that he insisted on having me hit these super game improvement shovels (callaway Elyte X for example). They flew not as far as my current set 6i with roughly the same dispersion.

Fitter said without getting the irons fitted there's no point of fitting the wedges because his preference is to have the same swing weight and stiffness profile from your longest iron to your shortest wedge. Maybe he was just sick of watching my shitty swing after 2 hours.

Any input from those who understand TrackMan data would be greatly appreciated. Hit these clubs the other day and got the results below for my 4,6,8 and PW. Am I in the right ballpark with these numbers? Thanks much.

based on my average knowledge those numbers look pretty good to me. The expert should be chiming in soon though.

Launch and descent angle with PW and 8 iron are better, spin rate is still too low. Just look at how far the ball is rolling with clubs that are supposed to stop quickly. 6 iron still too low, you'll never stop a ball on the green with those numbers unfortunately. Only comment on the 4 iron is that you don't need one, that's what hybrids are for.

Without seeing your swing, it's impossible to know why your spin rate is too low. That's one of those little details where it's really helpful to be there to figure it out.

Thanks for the feedback. It is greatly appreciated.

I've concluded that my launch and landing angles are too low because my dynamic loft is too low when I strike the ball. (My hands are too far ahead of the club face at impact.) Bottom line is that at this point the clubs are not to blame; it's the Indian, not the arrow.

How much of the low spin can be attributed to club design? I assume game improvement clubs or super game improvement clubs spin lower than a players iron or a blade, in general. Is it realistic to seek the full spin levels from the more forgiving clubs?