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Maltby irons or oem?

SuperStroke
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buc_fan

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Any one out there playing w/ Maltby irons? I am looking at some of their game improvement irons on-line trying to get ideas.

Good or bad or should I check out some OEM irons.

I am getting back into the game and am not looking to spend a forturne.

Other sets I have looked at are Nickents 3dx rc, Adams A3os, and Mizuno MX950s.
 
WHen picking new irons, your best bet is to try out as many as you possibly can and go with what fits your game the best. Then get them fitted to your specs.
 
buc_fan said:
Any one out there playing w/ Maltby irons? I am looking at some of their game improvement irons on-line trying to get ideas.

Good or bad or should I check out some OEM irons.

I am getting back into the game and am not looking to spend a forturne.

Other sets I have looked at are Nickents 3dx rc, Adams A3os, and Mizuno MX950s.
Click to expand...

Here's what I would do:

Go to a golf store that has a selection of irons for demo purposes. For example, the Golfsmith's near me use 6-irons for demo purposes and they usually have at least one from every OEM set they sell as well as their own brands. These are usually all shafted the same (the stores near me were all TT S-300's).

Get yourself a Maltby 6-iron head and an S-300 shaft (or whatever shaft is common in the demo clubs) and either you or someone else can assemble the club and then take that club down to the golf store and hit it side by side with any of the other clubs you're interested in purchasing and see how it compares. It's a simple way to compare apples to apples and if, after you've hit a variety of clubs, you decide that the Maltby iron feels good enough to buy, then you can order the rest of the heads and shafts.

That's how I settled on my Snake Eyes irons. I went to Golfsmith with a pocketful of cash and I was ready to buy a set of Mizuno MP-33 blades. The sales guys were all busy at the time so I wandered over to the components section just to have a look around and I happened upon their Snake Eyes 600B irons. I loved the way they looked and so I went over to their demo bin to see if they had any to hit. They did (a 6-iron) and they also had an MP-33 6-iron, both with TT S-300 shafts.

So I took both irons into their launch monitor area and I must have hit about 20 or 30 balls with each club. I wasn't looking at computer stats as much as I was trying to determine which club felt better to hit and felt best in my hands. In the end, I chose the Snake Eyes irons and I used the money I brought with me to purchase an entire set of heads (2-SW) as well as shafts, grips, ferrules etc. In the end, I spent about half of what the Mizuno's would have cost me and I even walked out with a new driver head and shaft to try out as well.

I absolutely love my Snake Eyes irons and I wouldn't trade them for any OEM club that I've seen. They fit me perfectly and I am totally comfortable with them. In fact, when I decided to try a set of cavity backs, I went and got a set of 600C's without any side by siade testing because the "B's" were so good that I had no doubt the "C's" would be too and I wasn't wrong.

Maltby makes some top-shelf clubs and I have several maltby clubs which I think are better than many OEM offerings of a similar style and construction.

Since buying and building a Maltby iron is something you can do for less than fifty bucks, I think it's well worth the investment to do so and then be able to compare that club to any others you may be interested in buying on a side by side basis, To me, that's the only sensible way to decide if you'd like it or not. Once you've decided on a manufacturer and a club style, you can then have a set fitted to your needs and then you're good to go.

I'm not saying that you wouldn't be happy with an OEM club, but don't forget that Maltby as well as Golfsmith and several other component makers are also "Original Equipment Manufacturers". They're not knockoffs or clones, but are original designs with the same R&D behind them that the "Name Brand" manufacturers go through and are, in my opinion, equal to them in all ways.

Good luck in your search!


-JP
 
While everything that JP said is true, I would NOT say that all companies use the same R&D. SOme of the big OEMS spend MILLIONS of dollars of year on their research and development and there is not a component company out there that can match that. Whether that helps, is entirely up to the golfer. However you cannot compare the R&D of say Taylormade, Callaway, Nike, Titleist, and more to that of the component companies. While they produce some incredibly high quality and great equipment, it is up to each individual to determine if the latest in technology is something that they need.
 
+1 on JPsuff's Snake eyes. Had the pleasure of hitting a few on the course.
But I think they are harder to find ?

3 other great bargains out there are:

MacGregors
Hogan CFT
Hogan Apex Edge.
 
JB said:
While everything that JP said is true, I would NOT say that all companies use the same R&D. SOme of the big OEMS spend MILLIONS of dollars of year on their research and development and there is not a component company out there that can match that. Whether that helps, is entirely up to the golfer. However you cannot compare the R&D of say Taylormade, Callaway, Nike, Titleist, and more to that of the component companies. While they produce some incredibly high quality and great equipment, it is up to each individual to determine if the latest in technology is something that they need.
Click to expand...


You're right, Maltby probably can't bring the same money and (to some extent, I suppose) the same testing technology to the table as TaylorMade and other "Big Time" companies can, but their desire to bring a top-shelf product to the market is the same as TaylorMade's and their R&D - though perhaps not as deep-pocketed - is just as exhaustive and just as rigorous.

Even though Maltby may not be able to compare bank accounts and test facilities with TaylorMade, Maltby HAS been around for a long time and they do invest quite a bit of effort into their R&D and they do produce a top-shelf product as do many other component manufacturers.

Put it this way, when buying new clubs, component manufacturers are definitely worth just as much a look as any name brand manufacturer.


-JP
 
timbertoes said:
+1 on JPsuff's Snake eyes. Had the pleasure of hitting a few on the course.
But I think they are harder to find ?

3 other great bargains out there are:

MacGregors
Hogan CFT
Hogan Apex Edge.
Click to expand...

Yes they are getting harder to find.

I was talking to a club guy in Golfsmith a few weeks ago and he told me that Golfsmith is phasing out their in-store component selection and that all of their components (with the exception of the sundries like grips and gripping supplies) will only be available through catalog orders.

But the good news is that they'll still be offering club components and since the "catalog thing" has worked well for Maltby for over thirty years, I don't see Golfsmith having a big problem with that.

I don't know if they'll have any new designs for demo at the stores though.


-JP
 
I do not dispute that they are worth just as much of a look. I have said since this forum began that every person should test out as many products as they possibly can before determining what irons are best for them.

Maltby makes top quality equipment and nobody could deny that. I however do not feel their R&D is the same as any of the top tier companies. I feel most components are about 1 year behind in their efforts. That is not ever a bad thing by any means, but it is different when it pertains to R&D.
 
JB said:
I do not dispute that they are worth just as much of a look. I have said since this forum began that every person should test out as many products as they possibly can before determining what irons are best for them.

Maltby makes top quality equipment and nobody could deny that. I however do not feel their R&D is the same as any of the top tier companies. I feel most components are about 1 year behind in their efforts. That is not ever a bad thing by any means, but it is different when it pertains to R&D.
Click to expand...


That's probably true especially when you consider that Maltby and other component manufacturers don't have nearly the exposure (and the capital to be gained from that exposure).

I tend to think of component manufacturers in much the same way as I once thought of Radio Shack (the consumer part, not of Tandy Corp. itself). For a long time, most people (including myself) thought of RS as being little more than a supply house for ham radio hobbyists and electronics geeks. But over time, they began to become more of a force in the everyday consumer electronics market and though I don't think they'll ever compete toe-to-toe with the likes of Sony or any of the other industry giants, the do offer quality products and do have loyal following.

The bottom line in any of this is that a person should sample as many different offerings as they can in order to make a truly informed decision and not just limit their choices to the ones who advertise the most or manage to get their name plastered all over the place. There's a lot of good stuff out there and not all of it is a household name.


-JP
 
If you do not need "customization" of your clubs, I think the used club market is the way to go. One or two year old OEM's can be had for a big savings over their original price, and they'll probably work just as good as a new set. JMHO
 
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