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Big jumps in tech

SuperStroke
tomcat

tomcat

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Several years ago I transitioned from some old knock-off irons by Cougar to '15 Big Berthas, then two years ago changed from progessive to one length. Both were pretty decent changes in technology, one more so than the other. It got me to wondering what the biggest jump in technology that you've made in your equipment.

Did it end up making an improvement in your game, or was it even something you could distinguish?
 
golf balls. i used to cheap out on them, assuming they couldn't help me that much. but then i won a dozen bridgestone balls on thp and had a convo with one of their employees about which would be best for me. i saw a huge drop in my scores, more distance, better greenside performance, yadda yadda yadda. really opened my eyes to what (the right) ball can do for you.
 
I went from Ping Eye 2 set wedges to Cleveland RTX3 wedges. Huge improvement and gains for me.
 
McLovin said:
golf balls. i used to cheap out on them, assuming they couldn't help me that much. but then i won a dozen bridgestone balls on thp and had a convo with one of their employees about which would be best for me. i saw a huge drop in my scores, more distance, better greenside performance, yadda yadda yadda. really opened my eyes to what (the right) ball can do for you.
Click to expand...

I'd hate to think how many strokes people are leaving out there, just because they're using a ball that doesn't really fit their game.
 
Having been out of the game for a while my head was swimming with all the differences in the last 8 years. It is easy to get overwhelmed and not do anything. It has taken move over 2 months to learn about wedges. I still have no idea what grind means! LOL
 
Biggest jump for me was driver since I rarely hit one and when I did it was my dad's old 2007 TM Burner driver he gave me maybe 5-6 years ago, maybe more. Hit my FWs so much better but knew I was losing distance without hitting driver. Of course it also wasn't fit for me since it was reg flex, but also came with no adjustability. Now I have an Epic Flash with jailbreak & flash face, along with finally having a club that has adjustable lofts and a sliding weight! Now hitting driver is fun!!
 
Most recent for me was going to graphite shafts on my irons a couple of years ago. Some of today's graphite iron shafts are just incredible, and it's pretty likely that just about anyone could get fit into graphite shafts that would really impress them with their feel and performance.
 
When I turned 30, I jumped from Titleist DTR irons that I had been playing since junior high (had to be mid 80s at the newest) to TM Burner 2.0. I give the DTRs credit for making me learn how to hit the center of the club, but the distance and forgiveness going to a more modern iron was a huge jump for me.
 
I went from Ping iSi irons to JPX 900 Hot Metal. It was like going from rifles to a rocket launchers LOL! Ball flew higher and further.
 
I think the biggest tech jump that I made was the modern super long 3 wood. It's the biggest performance jump by any club that I can think of. The RBZ seemed to pave the way for all OEM's to really push their fairway woods to the legal limit. The Callaway Alpha 815 was probably the longest 3 wood I had ever hit by a long shot.
 
Biggest jump I could think of was in graphite shafts. I played a 1999 set of hand-me-down MaxFli irons with graphite shafts for about 3 years and they were terrible. It made me think that graphite was bad, but then when I jumped on the Recoil train my mind was blown.

Not only did it help my body but it definitely helped with accuracy and forgiveness on mishit iron shots.
 
I'm going to follow this thread - I haven't played long enough to see really big jumps that are worth mentioning. Nothing that revolutionized the game, at least.
 
For me, the biggest jump I see is in overall forgiveness.

Distance gains? Not so much. The ability to be all over the face and still have consistent distance? Yes indeed.
 
I am going all in on the tech Callaway is preaching in the EPIC irons and hope to be a scratch golfer soon..with a 160 yd PW like the pros..

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
 
the difference between my callaway razr x tours and Cleveland cbx irons is about 10 yards further, and much more forgiving on the cbx's. No comparison.
 
My Jump in Tech was a backwards one. Was playing the Cobra F8 15* 3 wood and 22* 4 wood, both with the Cobra rails on the bottom of the clubs. Hit them well, straight and decent distances. Watched a Rick Shiels video titled "Best clubs from the past". When he got to the 3 wood, he said he still doesn't know why he quit playing the TM RBZ 15* 3 wood. He hit it a mile and straight. I checked out eBay and found a RBZ 15* 3 wood for a great price, checked out the pic's of the club, and bought it. The day after receiving it I put it in play. 2nd hole at my course is a par 5, so I hit the RBZ for the first time. Wow, straight and deep. Hit it on 2 short par 4's for tee shots and for the 2nd shot on the 4 par 5's. When I got home after the round I looked at eBay again for a RBZ 22* 4 wood and was successful. I can't believe the distance and straight flight both these 5 year old metal woods deliver. Sure are game changers.
 
I hadn't played in almost 15 years until this year, and wasn't sure how long it would last, so I was hesitant to make too many 'jumps' in equipment. The most obvious one I've noticed is driver forgiveness and adjustability. I don't remember many really poorly hit balls still flying 250 yds with the old ones even though I was a lot younger and faster. I had an old Big Bertha driver in my bag that looked like baby bertha compared to what we play now. I bought and played a lot of cheap used drivers and fairway woods while I adjusted to the new realities, and I'm with Mach2 on the value of the RBZs. Really good for how cheap you can get them. And the M1. Really easy to adjust out some things and move the sweet spot around. Regardless, when I can actually swing a club I can out drive 20 yr. old me with a much slower swing now thanks to the new tech.

I gamed 13 year old Nike SS Tour irons until I got hurt but hit a lot of others, and while there have been obvious strides in tech with them, I didn't notice it to the extreme I did with drivers. If anything, I've noticed the plethora of shaft options these days. And the groove tech on wedges! I'm still getting used to that. I finally made the switch to a slightly newer set of irons and wedges recently, but I got them back from being bent a day too late, so I'll have to wait to see the ultimate effect on scoring.
 
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