Golf Club Set for beginners

Surprisingly My driver is the club i play best, by a long way. Everything between my driver and SW I can't hit for ****e. getting massive fades and slices or hitting it out of the teeth. Going to have to re-look at my grip, stance etc and see if there is anything I can simplify or change to help.
 
Speaking of hitting drives, yesterday I had a situation where we were stuck behind an incredibly slow 4 ball (2 men and their wives). By the 5th hole of waiting about 5 min for everyshot, I got fed up and decided to hit my drive while there was a good chance the 4 ball in front of us were still diddle daddling around hitting their second shots. The shot was blind so I couldn't see them but there was very good chance they were in range. I hit my drive. About a minute after I hit it, a cart from the fourball in front raced up the fairway to the teebox shouting every curse in the book. Turns out my drive had landed about a metre in front of one of the wives (so the ball came down over her head). There was a big scene with shouting and cursing from both sides and at one stage it looked like a brawl would ensue. I eventually calmed them down and apologized but stated they were playing way too slow to which he replied "I am a 5 handicap, so don't tell me how to play". Clearly his wife was not a 5.

So, what do you guys do in these situations? They were taking far too much time on each hole. Some examples of what they would do is:

1 - give a mini lesson to the wife before everyshot. Pointing out grip, stance etc.
2 - They would wait for the par 5 greens to clear before playing their second shots. Their wives included. 240 metres to the green, and they are waiting for the green to clear. They then play their shots and obviously don't reach the green and in most cases the ball didnt travel further than 100 metres.
3 - on the green, if the ball stops approx 30 cm from the hole, they will go and mark the ball, go to their cart and clean their ball, walk back to the spot, place it, survey the lie, 3-4 practice shots and then sink it. 30 cm FFS!

This was not the 1st occurance of being stuck behind a very slow 4 ball. I feel they should try and speed up their play when a 4 ball is quite clearly waiting excessively behind them. I was wrong to drive into them but the frustration is immense.

We did manage to jump them at the half way (skipped the snack in the process), and then found ourselves stuck behind a pensioner 4 ball on the back 9. FML.

You guys feel this pain too? Oh, and there wasn't a marshall in sight telling them to speed up.
 
Guantanamo said:
Surprisingly My driver is the club i play best, by a long way. Everything between my driver and SW I can't hit for ****e. getting massive fades and slices or hitting it out of the teeth. Going to have to re-look at my grip, stance etc and see if there is anything I can simplify or change to help.
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Ha ha, same here when i started. heard the driver was the most difficult and started working on that the most. Then i became the most awesome driver - i could drive consistently over 250m - some times hitting 300m. But it was for show as everything else was crap.
So then i decided to work on irons - started losing my driver a bit.
After becoming decent with irons, started working with short game, esp. chipping.
Now i can say i have a good all round game except i cant drive past 250m anymore (unless it downhill or there is wind at my back). At the same time i also take an easy swing with driver - rather me on FW than 50m in the bush.
 
Tarantula said:
Speaking of hitting drives, yesterday I had a situation where we were stuck behind an incredibly slow 4 ball (2 men and their wives). By the 5th hole of waiting about 5 min for everyshot, I got fed up and decided to hit my drive while there was a good chance the 4 ball in front of us were still diddle daddling around hitting their second shots. The shot was blind so I couldn't see them but there was very good chance they were in range. I hit my drive. About a minute after I hit it, a cart from the fourball in front raced up the fairway to the teebox shouting every curse in the book. Turns out my drive had landed about a metre in front of one of the wives (so the ball came down over her head). There was a big scene with shouting and cursing from both sides and at one stage it looked like a brawl would ensue. I eventually calmed them down and apologized but stated they were playing way too slow to which he replied "I am a 5 handicap, so don't tell me how to play". Clearly his wife was not a 5.

So, what do you guys do in these situations? They were taking far too much time on each hole. Some examples of what they would do is:

1 - give a mini lesson to the wife before everyshot. Pointing out grip, stance etc.
2 - They would wait for the par 5 greens to clear before playing their second shots. Their wives included. 240 metres to the green, and they are waiting for the green to clear. They then play their shots and obviously don't reach the green and in most cases the ball didnt travel further than 100 metres.
3 - on the green, if the ball stops approx 30 cm from the hole, they will go and mark the ball, go to their cart and clean their ball, walk back to the spot, place it, survey the lie, 3-4 practice shots and then sink it. 30 cm FFS!

This was not the 1st occurance of being stuck behind a very slow 4 ball. I feel they should try and speed up their play when a 4 ball is quite clearly waiting excessively behind them. I was wrong to drive into them but the frustration is immense.

We did manage to jump them at the half way (skipped the snack in the process), and then found ourselves stuck behind a pensioner 4 ball on the back 9. FML.

You guys feel this pain too? Oh, and there wasn't a marshall in sight telling them to speed up.
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Yep. Some guys overdo it. You should take your time and play but not overdo it.
Also good golfers will allow you to jum them.
We usually do that esp when then is say only a 2ball behind us.
Bad Etiquette.
Once had a 4-ball, where all of them will stand next to the person hitting the ball.
So for e.g. on a 2nd shot, 3 of them will go stand next to the 1st guy hiting the ball, then rotate and the next 3 next to he 2nd guy....
Almost like each guy had 3 caddies.
 
I would have just asked if you could play through on a par 3/5. Usually what we do if we the slow players.

I'm hitting my drives a good 240+m at least depending on the hole and played 9 at Houghton 2 weeks ago on a Friday afternoon and had one of my best ball striking days with regards to my irons but my short game was terrible so I decided i'd work on my short game. Been chipping in the garden and its all good, took my 7 iron to hit a few plastic balls and I couldn't connect 1. Not sure what is up with my game at the moment but it looks like I either need a lot of practice or need to try re-rebuild my swing to how it was that afternoon.

To give you an idea of how well my long game was on the stroke 1 I out drove a 2 handicap uphill then hit my 6 over the left edge of the water with a slight fade, carried it 160+ over the water and landed it just off the back on the green... decided to put it off the slope downhill, duffed it completely and rolled it onto the fringe leaving myself a downhill 2,5m putt. Which I 2 putted for a bogey.
 
Guantanamo said:
I would have just asked if you could play through on a par 3/5. Usually what we do if we the slow players.

I'm hitting my drives a good 240+m at least depending on the hole and played 9 at Houghton 2 weeks ago on a Friday afternoon and had one of my best ball striking days with regards to my irons but my short game was terrible so I decided i'd work on my short game. Been chipping in the garden and its all good, took my 7 iron to hit a few plastic balls and I couldn't connect 1. Not sure what is up with my game at the moment but it looks like I either need a lot of practice or need to try re-rebuild my swing to how it was that afternoon.

To give you an idea of how well my long game was on the stroke 1 I out drove a 2 handicap uphill then hit my 6 over the left edge of the water with a slight fade, carried it 160+ over the water and landed it just off the back on the green... decided to put it off the slope downhill, duffed it completely and rolled it onto the fringe leaving myself a downhill 2,5m putt. Which I 2 putted for a bogey.
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A carry of 160+ uphill with a 6 iron is very good going. Although I do know a 6 handicapper who hits a 6 iron 195 metres and a PW 140. It urkes me big time. :P

I have the same issues. One day short game is on and long game is off, the next day its the other way around. About once a month it all comes together when my game is solid overall, if I am lucky.

Went on a mini golf tour with some mates last weekend to the Vaal. I have not played that badly in a very, very long time. If you are in the area, I highly recommend playing Vaal de Grace. What a magic course it is. Have never played a course in such excellent condition. Gary Player Golf Course included.

Have decided to schedule some lessons to get the basics right again, and plan on visiting world of golf to get a new driver custom fitted. Hopefully then I can get my game where I want it to be.

Throw enough time and cash at this monster called Golf and maybe something will click.
 
I'm also going to invest in a lesson or two to fix my short game and hopefully going to get a hybrid and some nice wedges at the upcoming golfers club sale. Hopefully a 52 and 60 CG15 or Vokey if I'm lucky. And then I need a putter that works for me, i find a blade unstable and those massive mallets are just to big for me, I don't feel comfortable with something so big. I like the look of the TM ghost, and its the right size, also like how easy it looks to align but i haven't putted with one so I don't know if its right for me.
 
Guantanamo said:
I'm also going to invest in a lesson or two to fix my short game and hopefully going to get a hybrid and some nice wedges at the upcoming golfers club sale. Hopefully a 52 and 60 CG15 or Vokey if I'm lucky. And then I need a putter that works for me, i find a blade unstable and those massive mallets are just to big for me, I don't feel comfortable with something so big. I like the look of the TM ghost, and its the right size, also like how easy it looks to align but i haven't putted with one so I don't know if its right for me.
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The TM Rossa Ghost is a really nice putter. I currently have the Odyssey Sabretooth, which is nice'ish I guess. The bigger mallet putters are better for the longer putts I think, and the blades are better for short 2 foot putts (the bane of my existence). I find shopping for a putter very, very difficult because I always putt like a champ on those fake grass greens in the pro shops. It may be worth getting your putter fitted. World of golf charges R400 for an hour fitting, but you get a R200 voucher back which you can use for the putter you decide to buy. So it costs R200. Might be worth it.
 
Tarantula said:
The TM Rossa Ghost is a really nice putter. I currently have the Odyssey Sabretooth, which is nice'ish I guess. The bigger mallet putters are better for the longer putts I think, and the blades are better for short 2 foot putts (the bane of my existence). I find shopping for a putter very, very difficult because I always putt like a champ on those fake grass greens in the pro shops. It may be worth getting your putter fitted. World of golf charges R400 for an hour fitting, but you get a R200 voucher back which you can use for the putter you decide to buy. So it costs R200. Might be worth it.
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Had the crimson series putter. Size was in between the blade and mallet. Putter felt nice, but was not stable, does not go straight and plastic insert did not give a good feel.
Then went for the Itsy Bitsy Spider by taylormade. R2500, but bought for R1300 on sale. Its quite heavy, but its stunning. Goes where u want it to go, dead straight, very nice feel.
But i agree with the blade-short and mallet-long.
For short putts, i find it very difficult to feel the putt - tend to hit it too hard. But advantage is that it goes straight, so i tend to smash it in.
On an off day though, those small putts become a nightmare, especially on fast greens.
So i am not too sure whether to change to a blade, go for something in between or stay with the spider (BTW: it has awesome reviews and many tour players have started using it ).
 
superskully said:
Had the crimson series putter. Size was in between the blade and mallet. Putter felt nice, but was not stable, does not go straight and plastic insert did not give a good feel.
Then went for the Itsy Bitsy Spider by taylormade. R2500, but bought for R1300 on sale. Its quite heavy, but its stunning. Goes where u want it to go, dead straight, very nice feel.
But i agree with the blade-short and mallet-long.
For short putts, i find it very difficult to feel the putt - tend to hit it too hard. But advantage is that it goes straight, so i tend to smash it in.
On an off day though, those small putts become a nightmare, especially on fast greens.
So i am not too sure whether to change to a blade, go for something in between or stay with the spider (BTW: it has awesome reviews and many tour players have started using it ).
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Yeah I think Retief plays with it. Its a good putter but it is pretty huge. I putted with it and it is nice. Your putter and my putter are weighted in such a way that it is self correcting during stroke which is great for putting straight. Blade putters have much more feel which is great. Personally, the putter I really have my eye on is the Odyssey Black. A Blade putter but feels incredible. The Scotty Cameron putters are also class. Both expensive, so I won't be racing to buy one until I have totally given up on my Sabretooth.

http://www.theproshop.co.za/product/1054/Odyssey-Black-Series-TD-#2/

http://golfersclub.co.za/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=539&category_id=140&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=53
 
Went to go putt at Killarney for an hour today and used my uncles old putter, a Cleveland semi mallet/blade type thing. Nice and heavy with a millled face. Felt very good but struggled for tempo on shorter putts, much better then my anser 5 but not perfect. Still have my eye on that Ghost.

Does anyone have any idea when golfers club are releasing what is going to be on sale, it starts in 4 days and nothing yet.
 
Golfers club sale is a bit poor to say the least. It always makes me laugh when they put the standard price on their "christmas special" brochure. I might pop in and stock up on some balls and maybe a shirt or 2.

I went and got a driver fitted on Saturday, and ended up with the Taylormade R9 Supertri. Amazing feel and great forgiveness. Unfortunately it hasn't cured my fade even on full draw bias setting. But, once I get my swing right, I rekon it will knock the socks off my drives with my old driver.
 
Some of the prices seem pretty good, I'm torn between the burner and adams hybrids and some of the TM rac wedges vs CG15's. Also on the look out for a putter, hopefully they have the Wilson 8802 there. Really want to give that, the Corza Ghost a roll. Does anyone know of a brand that makes the same shape that Dave Pelz uses in his putting bible, very similiar to what GMAC is using.
 
Guantanamo said:
Some of the prices seem pretty good, I'm torn between the burner and adams hybrids and some of the TM rac wedges vs CG15's. Also on the look out for a putter, hopefully they have the Wilson 8802 there. Really want to give that, the Corza Ghost a roll. Does anyone know of a brand that makes the same shape that Dave Pelz uses in his putting bible, very similiar to what GMAC is using.
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I have the burner 08 4 hybrid. It is the best club I own. I honestly don't know how I coped without it before. You just swing and it goes, truely incredible. I'd go with the CG15, but I am a sucker for RAC wedges too (I have RAC irons).

Not sure what putter is used in the putting bible as I haven't read it. I do have it in pdf form. Worth a read?
 
Both are worth a read, I'm trying to get through them at the moment and am struggling to read on my laptop screen, a real eye killer. Went today to the Pro Shop and swung the A7OS( normal A7's only had stiff shafts) and the Burner, hated the Adams loved the Burner so I took a 3H. Picked up 2 CG14's for R1350. Going back tomorrow to look for a putter and to swing on the trackman and see my club head speed etc so I can pick out a ball to play. Got my eye on the Odyssee XG 2.0 Rossie,which is what Pelz uses I think.
 
My youngster is 14yrs and left handed. He wants to start with golf now. I don't want to spend big bucks until I know he really wants to play seriously. Any suggestions for a good beginner set. Must also mention that he plays cricket and hits the ball very hard. Thanks
 
The fact that he is a lefty really screws things up. Maybe get him some second hand irons from the Pro Shop and let him hit those for a while to see if he likes the game (chances are he will) All the golfers I know play/played good cricket at some point.

Once the bug bites buy a driver at one of the sales, and he will need a wedge and putter too I'm sure. So for some second hand irons (and I would recommend not going too game improvement with these. A normal cavity back is forgiving enough) which are probably R2000, a driver for R1300 a wedge and putter R400 and R600 (Get a Cleveland Classic putter, don't look at anything else for that price or quality) You will come out at R4300, which is cheaper than most iron sets.
 
Thread revival!

I used to have one of the Spalding sets from Makro. It was not bad for the price. I sold the irons, but still have the bag, driver, wood, hybrids and putter. I actually miss and prefer the irons.

Anyway, it seems like neither Game or Makro sell these anymore and Mr Price stopped selling golf clubs a while ago as well, so what decent budget options remain if a friend of mine wants to get some clubs? The best I can think of is 2nd hand... gumtree or at the golf shops, either at the clubs or driving range.
 
I recall that The Golfers Club sells second hand clubs (not sure if individually or as a set). Otherwise, picking up a set off Gumtree would probably be your best bet.
 
MrJacques said:
Thread revival!

I used to have one of the Spalding sets from Makro. It was not bad for the price. I sold the irons, but still have the bag, driver, wood, hybrids and putter. I actually miss and prefer the irons.

Anyway, it seems like neither Game or Makro sell these anymore and Mr Price stopped selling golf clubs a while ago as well, so what decent budget options remain if a friend of mine wants to get some clubs? The best I can think of is 2nd hand... gumtree or at the golf shops, either at the clubs or driving range.
Click to expand...

I have a very old but still working set of Wilson Hi-Flites including a bag, driver and putter I'm selling for R600. I would still be using them, but I got a deal I couldn't refuse on a much more expensive set.
 
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