Golf Thread

Beepcake · 5 Aug 2011 at 09:42

DanTheMan said:
I've been going to the local 18 hole course now for a few months and I'm sick of having to rent out a half set of rubbish clubs; I think that it's about time that I invested in some clubs. I don't have a massive budget and I don't think that my skills warrant anything too good.

I've found this set of Wilson Prostaff clubs that can be bought individually in Sports Direct/Golf Warehouse UK for ~£16-40 a club that look to be half decent: http://www.wilson.com/wilson/golf/product2010.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674754148&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302760559&bmLocale=en_GB. Do you think that it would be a decent set of starter clubs?

Is there a reason you want to buy new? I didn't even consider new clubs when I started playing again .. get so much more for your money 2nd hand, and they're not the kind of thing that generally "wear out".

I got my Ping i3s, full set including SW, for £100 in excellent condition. They're the right setup for me and the grips are like new.

Just a thought.

coupe69 · 5 Aug 2011 at 10:38

cheets64 said:
Not played golf in over year, miss it big time.

My dad goes every Saturday/Sunday, to a private club so cant go and dont have my own clubs anymore, got my first club at 8. Might go golfing this week on my own on a 9 holer.

Surely you could still go with him as a visitor?

Blackhawk47 · 5 Aug 2011 at 10:48

Beepcake said:
Is there a reason you want to buy new? I didn't even consider new clubs when I started playing again .. get so much more for your money 2nd hand, and they're not the kind of thing that generally "wear out".

I got my Ping i3s, full set including SW, for £100 in excellent condition. They're the right setup for me and the grips are like new.

Just a thought.

I went for second hand a few years ago for my Lynx irons and haven't looked back. Get yourself down to american golf and check out what they have on other at your local store. If you strike lucky you will find a set that have been looked after and kept like brand new.

coupe69 said:
Surely you could still go with him as a visitor?

Not all clubs do this. I know a few private clubs near me which require full membership, ie no pay and play or anything. Those kind of golf clubs were wanting well over £1000 a year when I was looking to join a club. :eek:

loltim · 5 Aug 2011 at 10:53

Not put my swing in here yet!

This was a few weeks ago, I managed to get round the 9 holer at 3 over par last week, i'm getting there :cool:

edit: lulz Robbie G, I thought your swing would be near perfect with all the critism (constructive I might add) you gave me

Beepcake · 5 Aug 2011 at 11:15

Blackhawk47 said:
I went for second hand a few years ago for my Lynx irons and haven't looked back. Get yourself down to american golf and check out what they have on other at your local store. If you strike lucky you will find a set that have been looked after and kept like brand new.

Yeah, I got my driver (Nike MachSpeed Black) from American Golf .. it's more expensive than EBay and the like, but the guy at our local one gave excellent advice and let me try loads of clubs (100 free balls on the range) before I settled on one to buy.

coupe69 · 5 Aug 2011 at 11:27

Blackhawk47 said:
Not all clubs do this. I know a few private clubs near me which require full membership, ie no pay and play or anything. Those kind of golf clubs were wanting well over £1000 a year when I was looking to join a club.

Yeah there's plenty of golf clubs that charge well over a grand around here but I've never heard of one that doesn't allow members to bring along a paying visitor.
I'd love to join Brocton Hall Golf Club, but you're talking around £1200 plus a joining fee which doesn't make it feasible for me.

Fortunately my club is a more reasonable £650 a year.

Blackhawk47 · 5 Aug 2011 at 12:49

coupe69 said:
Yeah there's plenty of golf clubs that charge well over a grand around here but I've never heard of one that doesn't allow members to bring along a paying visitor.
I'd love to join Brocton Hall Golf Club, but you're talking around £1200 plus a joining fee which doesn't make it feasible for me.

Fortunately my club is a more reasonable £650 a year.

The clubs I am talking are private clubs. From what I've been told, its almost as if your a stakeholder of the golf course. In that you own a little part of it. I don't know, its just hearsay to me.

I am on a points based membership at De Vere Golf (the hotels if you don't know them) for £295 a year. Perfect for someone who plays once a week or so.

ROFL Tim, I laughed hard when she said it was floppy and you just looked up like :rolleyes:

.

EDIT: theres a bit of movement in your left arm Tim, try and keep it straight. I think you might stood to close to the ball as well.

kefkef · 5 Aug 2011 at 15:24

Blackhawk47 said:
I think you might stood to close to the ball as well.

I thought so too. Think i said it in another thread, but here is how the pro has got me lining up when i practice as i had a tendency to be too close which meant your hips body are getting in the way of releasing the club at impact so you get all stuck up. (My paint skillz are leet btw!)

Regarding private clubs and non-members playing. There are a load of top-notch clubs round here (Moortow, Ganton, Moor Allerton, Alwoodly, Scarcroft) that are £1k+ memberships. You would not be allowed to play on a saturday or sunday at any of them as that is competition day, though you may be allowed on after 2pm if the tee times arent booked. This is so the members do actually have some uninterrupted time to play their comps. Other than that you can get on as a members guest at any time during the week.

I looked at the De Vere membership, it would have been ok if i could play during the week, but at peak times i would only have got 8 rounds of golf i seem to recall) for £300.

loltim · 5 Aug 2011 at 15:29

Blackhawk47 said:
ROFL Tim, I laughed hard when she said it was floppy and you just looked up like .

EDIT: theres a bit of movement in your left arm Tim, try and keep it straight. I think you might stood to close to the ball as well.

That's what she said! oWW!!!

thanks for the tips

you're pretty much saying what my gf said in the vid

6thElement · 5 Aug 2011 at 15:31

I miss the days of being a junior member at my local golf club while growing up, my membership used to be £30 per year.

Beepcake · 5 Aug 2011 at 15:42

I'm currently on the trial membership at Helsby .. loving it, but it's going to be expensive to join for real :-(

Participant · 5 Aug 2011 at 16:25

loltim said:
edit: lulz Robbie G, I thought your swing would be near perfect with all the critism (constructive I might add) you gave me

Do what I say not what I do.

What really makes your swing for me, is the emo hair flick at the end of the follow through

. If only I could actually do that

.

Blackhawk47 · 5 Aug 2011 at 21:24

Had a great 12 holes tonight from about 5 - 7.30pm. Got my irons back after getting them regripped and the difference in shots is like night and day.

Playing so much better now. Got a good few pars.

Lonewolf · 5 Aug 2011 at 22:05

DanTheMan said:
I've been going to the local 18 hole course now for a few months and I'm sick of having to rent out a half set of rubbish clubs; I think that it's about time that I invested in some clubs. I don't have a massive budget and I don't think that my skills warrant anything too good.

I've found this set of Wilson Prostaff clubs that can be bought individually in Sports Direct/Golf Warehouse UK for ~£16-40 a club that look to be half decent: http://www.wilson.com/wilson/golf/product2010.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674754148&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302760559&bmLocale=en_GB. Do you think that it would be a decent set of starter clubs?

I believe the Wilson X31's are very good for the beginner, wish I had known before I picked up the Dunlops...

DanTheMan · 5 Aug 2011 at 22:16

The reason I was looking at those Wilson clubs for a decent starting point is the ability to buy single clubs at a time. If I was to spend ~£100 on a set of second hand irons, I'd then be left needing a putter, a driver and possibly a 3 wood and some hybrids.

If I was to go down the second hand route, what should I be looking at for ~£100 in terms of irons?

Blackhawk47 · 5 Aug 2011 at 23:14

DanTheMan said:
The reason I was looking at those Wilson clubs for a decent starting point is the ability to buy single clubs at a time. If I was to spend ~£100 on a set of second hand irons, I'd then be left needing a putter, a driver and possibly a 3 wood and some hybrids.

If I was to go down the second hand route, what should I be looking at for ~£100 in terms of irons?

Depends entirely as to what is on other in the store. Unless you buy online which I wouldn't recommend imo.

I'd rather get a set or even a half set if your just starting out. It's not as if your going to go out on the course with just a driver, putter and a 7 iron...

coupe69 · 5 Aug 2011 at 23:30

DanTheMan said:
If I was to go down the second hand route, what should I be looking at for ~£100 in terms of irons?

Mizuno MX23 possibly MX25 if you're lucky would be my first choice, although these seem to have shot up in price significantly compared to earlier in the year.

Macgregor M565 or the chunkier M455 are good cheaper irons and have the added bonus of being forged like the Mizunos mentioned above,
unfortunately there doesn't seem to be many of these around at the moment

Another one to look out for would be a set of Snake Eyes Pythons, nice and forgiving, decent clubs but again very few and far between.

Maybe a set of Mizuno MX15/MX17/MX19, these tend to be a bit cheaper but they're only cast.

The problem is you're buying in the middle of the golfing season when secondhand clubs tend to make better money. If you had an extra 50 quid to spend then it would open up a shed load of better clubs but after doing a little bit of research on the bay it seems that a hundred quid doesn't get you a great deal secondhand. It certainly appears to me like those Wilsons don't look like too bad a choice, unless of course you can up your budget slightly?

These would be my choices for a new starter around the £150 mark - link, link, link, link, link.

booyaka · 5 Aug 2011 at 23:42

Superb day out at Turnberry today - excellent weather and some good golf. 14 over for the Kintyre course playing off 10 so fairly happy with that.

You don't want to be overshooting the 8th green or your in the sea!!!

Blackhawk47 · 5 Aug 2011 at 23:50

booyaka said:
Superb day out at Turnberry today - excellent weather and some good golf. 14 over for the Kintyre course playing off 10 so fairly happy with that.

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/6919/26244423248619979631142.jpg[IMG]

You don't want to be overshooting the 8th green or your in the sea!!![/QUOTE]

That course reminds me of one that I am a member at down in South Devon! :o :)

[IMG]http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/1394/screenshot20110805at235.png

coupe69 · 5 Aug 2011 at 23:51

Not a massive links fan tbh, but that does look beautiful!

I think it's more the wind and rain I've generally encountered when playing them rather than the actual courses themselves