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Clubs for Early Teenagers

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Canadan

Canadan

LGND
Albatross 2024 Club
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I have a friend dealing with that transition of his two boys from junior clubs to the next stage, and I thought I'd pool my THP resources to hear how you guys accomplished this with your kids. They are 14 and growing fast, both athletic as they play soccer.

What steps did you take as your kids grew out of their junior sets? Graphite? senior flex? regular flex? Straight into stiff?
 
Depends a lot on their strength and size. I probably did it the hardest way possible for my daughter. Bought some components including the lightest graphite shafts I could find and had them assembled. She was growing rapidly so I extended and extended them until she transitioned into women's clubs. Even then I had to cut them down length wise.

About the time she was transitioning into adult clubs Adams came out with a complete set for just this stage. They have a set designed for boys and one for girls. If I had not just bought her a set of women's irons and cut them down a little I would have bought these. It is a good quality set weighted a little lighter, and a better quality than the US Kids stuff. Comes with driver, irons, hybrids, bag, and all.
 
When I started playing in high school, we went with R flex in steel. I would imagine there are a whole lot more options now though.

Maybe try to get them on the mizuno optimizer? Not perfect but could get in the ballpark.
 
One of the guys I work with bought my old burner plus in stuff for his son who was 14ish.

He just started playing at the time and the shaft was a bit much as he built a swing and learned the game but in about 3months he had grown into them and hits them well.
 
I think we got my son fit for shafts and he used an old set of Tommy Armour 845 heads I had laying around, he was growing so quickly though they only lasted him a season and then he went to some Titleist irons that he got fitted for. it was an expensive time in golf lol, he fell in love with the game and hasn't looked back.
 
Depends on the kids. I watched my fitter do a fitting earlier this year for two kids in that 14/15 range. He fit them into what they could "grow" into within the next year but something they could still handle now.
 
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mpeterson said:
When I started playing in high school, we went with R flex in steel. I would imagine there are a whole lot more options now though.

Maybe try to get them on the mizuno optimizer? Not perfect but could get in the ballpark.
Click to expand...

This is what I was leaning on telling him.. Regular flex in graphite or steel.

....n a forgiving package used that won't break the bank like the old Burner 2.0 irons.
 
The Burners were perfect for this, that is what I bought for my daughter at that age. The irons tended to be lighter than some others, and that is probably the hardest part to account for. The Superfast woods tended to be lighter also. A club that is too heavy can create issues with their mechanics. The Optiforce line in the woods and drivers might be a good alternative since they have a lighter overall weight and can be bought relatively cheap now.

This is a tough age since they hit that growth spurt at some point. You will have a point in a 12-18 month period where it seems like you have to extended them every three months. And their swing speed will increase to the point they need a change there as well.
 
I took the PING philosophy route....12yr in stiff CFS shafts - 1/2. As he grows, which he already has 2" since I put him in the above set-up, I'll just change shafts as needed keeping the G10 heads. Matter of fact, after Xmas I'm putting him in a set of zz65 ssx1 standard 37.75" 5-iron. I got him choking down on the orange whip already....
 
Canadan said:
This is what I was leaning on telling him.. Regular flex in graphite or steel.

....n a forgiving package used that won't break the bank like the old Burner 2.0 irons.
Click to expand...

Burner 2.0 , JPX 800/825 or something like the Razr X or X hot off of preowned would probably be perfect. A lot of great choices that can be had for cheap in that class.
 
I have a set of Callaway "clone" irons I got when I was 13 or 14 (3 or so years ago) lying in my basement. They have graphite senior flex shafts in them and are 1/2 an inch shorter than standard. They worked out really well for me.
 
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I appreciate your thoughts everyone!

TMAdidas said:
I have a set of Callaway "clone" irons I got when I was 13 or 14 (3 or so years ago) lying in my basement. They have graphite senior flex shafts in them and are 1/2 an inch shorter than standard. They worked out really well for me.
Click to expand...

This is the route my dad took with me, but I can't for the life of me remember what shafts were in them.. Probably standard stiff.
 
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