Conference 7.286::golf

662.0. "Buying Metal Woods (from a novice)" by PICKET::LAGASSE () Mon Jun 26 1989 16:02

Here's a brief recap on what I learned/looked for when recently
buying a set of mid priced metal woods (from a novice perspective).  
Hope it's helpful.  (Also check notes #51 Club Selection, and 
#69 Buying & Selling).

  Metal woods: From all I heard, selecting metal woods over wood/woods was 
  a given.

  Price range: For the low end, I guess you can get away with $129 or less
  for a set of three.  I was shopping in what I call the mid range, $159 -
  $225 (an arbitrary cutoff, which includes Taylor Made @ $75/club).

  Models: Below are some clubs I found repeated (positive) references to
  either in this notesfile, or from people I talked to:

    Taylor Made ($75/per, can vary)
    Titleist - Pinnacle, DTR (has Dynamic Gold Shafts, $189)
    Dunlop - PWS ($149), DDH II ($159) = Diamond Max, Red Max, Max 357
    Golden Ram - Laser X2's
    PowerBilt - ProSonic
    Spaulding - XL4's, Cannon II ($139)
    Ram - Accubar

  Stiff shaft?
    It seems my club swing is very fast - indicating a need for a 
    stiff shaft.  Someone can tell you this by watching you hit a 
    few balls into a practice net (or you can visit someone who has
    a swing analyzer to clock your speed (eg. Middleton CC - Bob Toski's).
    I'm told most people can stick to regular shafts, though.

  Standard Grip?
    If your hands are longer/bigger than most, you might want to get an 
    oversized grip (large or extra large).  The large felt a lot better 
    than the regular grip for me, but I decided to get standard grips
    for now (I didn't want to wait for a special order, and someone 
    told me the larger grips might affect your wrist action).

  Standard height?
    Height can make a difference in the length of the shafts you need.  
    For most, the longer/shorter arms tend to make up for various heights.
    Wasn't a factor for me.  If you want to check, I saw a chart on this
    either at Nevada Bob's in Westboro, or Stow Acres.

  Loft of Driver?
    If you get Taylor Mades, or otherwise have an opportunity to select
    the loft you want, you have quite a range (7 - 12.5 degrees, or so).
    The standard choices seem to be 9.5 - 12.5.  I was after something
    around 11-12.

  Club Face:
    I don't remember seeing this listed as a factor before, but I found
    it mattered to me.  Many metal woods have a "plain" face, especially
    on the higher priced models (or so it seemed).  I found I needed
    something on the face of the club to help line up the ball (and for
    concentration).  Some have shaded groves, or artificial sweet spots, etc.

  Closed face, Offset, Lie
    You might want to check the notesfile for more info on these (if you
    really want to get selective).

  Testing
    It's amazing how different some of these clubs feel.  A few swings
    into a practice net and you rule out a few.  I brought my own 3 wood
    along for comparison.  (I never got so many complements on my swing,
    as from a salesman.)

  Places
    New England Golf Supply (Marlboro, Salem N.H., Auburn)
    Pro Shops (eg. Wayland, Middleton CC (aka. Bob Toski's))
    Nevada Bob's
    Department stores (Lechmere's, Spag's, etc.)
    Fran Johnson's (West Springfield)
    Catalogs

    Wayland lends out demo clubs (can try various lofts & shafts for
    the Taylor Made).  Some places will let you exchange clubs (ask first)
    for a comparable or more expensive set within a set time (eg. 30 days).

  Deals
    It's hard to beat a sale.  On mid priced sets, I generally saw about
    $20 off for a set of woods in golf shops.  New England Golf Supply 
    (Marlboro) will give you a discount on just the woods, even if the sale 
    is for the whole set.  Some places will throw in head covers and/or balls 
    (N.E., Nevada Bob's).  New England also gives a 5% discount to DECies 
    (or 10% in the Salem store?) or to anyone spending $200.

Oh, I should also say I ended buying a set of MIZUNO Cimmaron's
with stiff shafts ($159 at Nevada Bob's).  I wanted the Dunlop DDH II's, 
but they didn't have them in stock at the time, and the MIZUNO's had 
the same look and feel.  

Note, New England G.S. said the DDH's were made just for Nevada Bob's,
and that the PWS (also by dunlop) were similar (same look anyway).

    Don,
    
    re:  (I never got so many complements on my swing, as from a
    salesman.) 
    
    From the progress I've seen you make over the years with your swing, a
    salesman will be only the only source of compliments! :-} :-}:-} :-}
    :-} :-}:-} :-}
    
    						Mike
    
    P.S.  We missed you Saturday.  Paul broke his driver on his backswing
    on the 10th tee!  Snapped the shaft in half.

    Sometimes it's worth the frustration to buy from novices.  In the
    barrel of loose clubs at Lechmere, I found Ram Accubar 1-3-5 woods
    messily taped together. There were a variety of price tags stuck on the 
    individual clubs.  I asked the kid working there what it all meant,
    were they on sale, etc.  He didn't know, the next sales person didn't
    know, and so on up the line.  (Naturally they didn't appear in the
    computer!)  Finally a harried manager said I could have all 3 for
    $42.00.  Tasty, very tasty...
          
    Mike

Ram Accubar's -> Wow, that's some deal!
(Did they have any more?)

I noticed that Stow Acres has a barrel on Spaulding Metal Woods 
for something like $29 apiece.  Don't know if they're any good, though.

(Gee Mike, what kind of wood was Paul hitting when he broke his club?
 Actually, it doen't matter, any shaft would've eventually given in
 after all that wear and tear!)

Don