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Playing COTS Stock Equipment

SuperStroke
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Stribs

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Just a quick story.

I have been playing this game for just over 10 years and have always play stock equipment, standard L/L/L, stock shafts, no adjustments period. After seeing all the MC equipment order forms and the amount of upgrades per club that everyone is ordering, I am really beginning to think that I should invest the time/money to get a proper fitting. I've always just been a feel type of player and never bothered with investing the enormous amount of money to custom order equipment. I'm basically a COTS kind of guy and I truly believe this is now starting to affect my game. I could not believe the amount of customization people had in their entire bag at the THP Bstone Indy event this past weekend. Many of the guys are playing $300+ shafts in each of their 3-5 wood set-up and here I am with my off-the-shelf Ping i20 driver with it's stock shaft LOL.

Do you think I'm truly missing out with my COTS gear, or am I fine with what I have?
 
Probably fine with what you have. $300 shafts are certainly not needed to play good golf. Might be worth checking lie angles or seeing if you can optimize your setup though. Certainly doesn't have to be an expensive thing unless you make it that way.
 
golf3rguy said:
Just a quick story.

I have been playing this game for just over 10 years and have always play stock equipment, standard L/L/L, stock shafts, no adjustments period. After seeing all the MC equipment order forms and the amount of upgrades per club that everyone is ordering, I am really beginning to think that I should invent the time/money to get a proper fitting. I've always just been a feel type of player and never bothered with investing the enormous amount of money to custom order equipment. I'm basically a COTS kind of guy and I truly believe this is now starting to affect my game. I could not believe the amount of customization people had in their entire bag at the THP Bstone Indy event this past weekend. Many of the guys are playing $300+ shafts in each of their 3-5 wood set-up and here I am with my off-the-shelf Ping i20 driver with it's stock shaft LOL.

Do you think I'm truly missing out with my COTS gear, or am I fine with what I have?
Click to expand...

Ummmmm.... I'd contend that you are pretty good with what you've got. Sure, you could get some better results, and have a lot of fun tinkering with custom shafts etc, but do you think it would be earth shattering? How funny would it be if you went to get fit for those ping irons you game and you happened to be standard across the board?
 
I'd get a fitting and find out, they aren't to expensive and thats the only way to truly know. i think most people can play stock equipment and be fine. Theres a reason golf companies invest so much money into finding the right shaft and specs to fit the masses. i also think theres a lot of tinkerers on THP so you see more from people here than the average golfer.
 
You're probably fine. Absolutely tricked out and optimized? No. But the standard stuff fits the majority of people fairly well.

If you have the money and the inclination, by all means, have at it. Might find some tweaks that help a bit, or find out what won't help you.
 
All my woods are stock. Sure, the 5w and Driver are of the adjustable variety, but they are stock setups. My irons are stock as well, aside from being bent 1 flat.

I would also say you do pretty well with whatcha got.
 
There's a reason that shafts are chosen as stock, I would think. They're designed to pair well with that head for the majority (of course not all) of golfers. I would imagine that most people would be able to play pretty close to what they would with an "optimal" setup with stock head/shaft combos, especially if you were looking across all manufacturers.

Length and lie, on the other hand, I think are more important to tweak.
 
My opinion is that sticking a $300 aftermarket shaft will make not the blind bit of difference to the vast majority of people. It is however nice to blow a load on a nice new shiny piece of equipment. IMO, it's far more important to check you have the correct flex of shaft rather than worry about upgrading from a stock shaft.
 
Hawk said:
Probably fine with what you have. $300 shafts are certainly not needed to play good golf. Might be worth checking lie angles or seeing if you can optimize your setup though. Certainly doesn't have to be an expensive thing unless you make it that way.
Click to expand...

I agree. I've played so long that I know what class of clubs work best for me, so I buy then go to my fitter to have clubs adjusted. Stock shafts still work for me. Loft and lie is what I get tweaked.
 
Getting fitted for my driver was a game-changer for me. I was playing a Cobra L4V-X. I didn't mind the driver because it felt hot off the face. Our pro put me on a launch monitor and I was getting upwards of 4500 RPM spin. After going through numerous drivers I settled into a Titleist 910 8.5* that was adjusted to 7.75* and slightly closed. It got me to 2300-2500 RPMs and I now hit a piercing trajectory through the wind. Lost a bit of distance but way more consistent. It still has an off the shelf Titleist Diamana X-Flex shaft in it though. I don't see the need to buy a special $300 shaft.
 
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