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How hung up do you get ont he aesthetics of your clubs?

SuperStroke
For me the looks and design of a club have a lot to do with me initially trying them out and demoing equipment. That said, performance definitely trumps all so if it works, I'll use it. I just might never find out if it works. Which sounds like a problem...
 
IMHO, looks do matter.
How many times, did I say no to callaway irons because their offset look was and still is too much *even though they are good clubs*? :D
how many time did I say no to ping irons because I just don't like their looks? :D
 
I just changed irons and it's really taking some getting use to. I have been playing Bridgestone J33 CB for the last 3 years and to me the J33CB are some of the prettiest players cavities anyone has made. They rate right up there with my old set of Staff FG17's that I played back in the early 80's. My new clubs are Mizuno MX200's and the game improvement size is tough to get use to. I love their performance, the MX200 long irons are some of the easiest to nut irons I've ever hit. I just got a get use to their size.
 
Jimbud said:
I just changed irons and it's really taking some getting use to. I have been playing Bridgestone J33 CB for the last 3 years and to me the J33CB are some of the prettiest players cavities anyone has made. They rate right up there with my old set of Staff FG17's that I played back in the early 80's. My new clubs are Mizuno MX200's and the game improvement size is tough to get use to. I love their performance, the MX200 long irons are some of the easiest to nut irons I've ever hit. I just got a get use to their size.
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And I am looking at both sets here and they dont seem that different to me. Ironically, the MX-200s are probably one of the smallest and thinnest GI irons I have seeen. They are more of a hybrid between GI & GE.
 
JB said:
...
We hear it all the time, when it comes to the word or term OFFSET. I think, and this is ONLY my opinion, that people relate the amount of offset to skill level. Like it is a crutch, or training wheels.
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I agree with what you said here, but just in the opposite direction. I remember looking at early Pings with the gigantic offset, and thought to myself at the time, "there is no way I could hit that club. The head is a mile behind the shaft." To this day, I still have never even picked up a Ping iron. That first impression made such an impact on me, that I don't even look at them when I go into the stores. I "know" I'm not gonna like them so why even look!

To add to the OP's question, what about brand? Are you loyal to a certain brand? Personally I'm loyal to my wallet. There are tons of clubs that I don't look at because they are so far out of my price range it's senseless to bother with them.
 
Joshzilla said:
Do looks matter? It's what's on the inside that counts, right?

I gravitate to equipment that has a sleek/traditional look, but I'm using an Odyssey Sabertooth putter. I get great results with the thing, but I really want to be able to use a blade putter...or even a normal style mallet. It's really just a visual thing and pretty silly when you think about it, yet it's an almost irresistable urge to make the change.

How do you guys feel about the looks of your equipment?
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Well as you can see from my sig I am using the Ping G15's so I guess that answers the question. I am drawn toward the traditional looking clubs but I will play what works best for me looks be damned. I will say as I keep playing the Pings the looks get better and better. Kind of like the plain jane girl who has the really awesome personality. A few times hanging out and all of a sudden you think she looks hot!!
 
Yep! Of course I like the way the VR blades look but I know I'll score better without them. And I could careless what others think of what's in my bag. I'm sure some just can't hit with certain sticks b/c of how they look and I'm sure some just can't get any confidence when holding something that's thick and bulky, and that's not a problem at all, just unfortunate.

Chunkylover77 said:
Well as you can see from my sig I am using the Ping G15's so I guess that answers the question. I am drawn toward the traditional looking clubs but I will play what works best for me looks be damned. I will say as I keep playing the Pings the looks get better and better. Kind of like the plain jane girl who has the really awesome personality. A few times hanging out and all of a sudden you think she looks hot!!
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Doesnt hurt to try broski!
TC said:
Yep! Of course I like the way the VR blades look but I know I'll score better without them. And I could careless what others think of what's in my bag. I'm sure some just can't hit with certain sticks b/c of how they look and I'm sure some just can't get any confidence when holding something that's thick and bulky, and that's not a problem at all, just unfortunate.
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I usually dont care if a club looks thick , thin , fat , skinny , as long as it builds confidence & feels good , thats what matters , end result is the shot .
Its like the Adams V3's I just bought , the 7iron half hybrid half iron does look funny at address & most hate the looks of it , but after I hit it and hit it well the looks went away .
 
Those new V3's look pretty cool IMO
 
They are nice CL77 , the 4h, 5h & 6h have a very solid hit with a tink metal sound when hit . The forged 9-G have wonderful feel . The 7mid H has an inbetween feel of the hybrids and irons .
 
No doubt. Im constantly hitting all sorts of clubs because I work at a Golf store that doesnt do any business. I debated on getting a set of g15s, and most recently, burner 1.0s lol.

JB said:
Cant the same be said the other way?
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I think people will play what they like to play and if they believe they have the time to devote to their game to play blades and want what a blade will give you in the form of feedback etc, they will play blades.

I have a problem with hybrids. I can hit my 3 iron better than I can hit a hybrid. In fact, it is not even close. However in my case when I stand over a hybrid and feel the weight of the head at the end of what is essentially an iron shaft I just cannot place the club in my head, Regardless of how many times I try to get past it, the number of times I will hit a hybrid right is not worth taking the club out of my bag. I suppose that if I practiced as much with it as I do my woods and irons I would very likely hit the thing. However, then I am concerned that I am already treating it like a third club type. I am a feel player so acclimating to a third club type that I will only play rarely does not make much sense to me.
I wonder if it might not be that simple for some folks when they look down and see the larger head of a GI iron. By that I mean that we tend to “nail” people when they say they cannot get past the looks of a GI iron. In a sense there is sometimes (not always but sometimes) the implication that they have something of a shallow view of things. Maybe we are not considering that the problem is much more real for them than we think. Maybe it is a version of my problem with hybrids. We would all I think agree that a 3 hybrid should be easier to hit than a player’s cavity 3i. However as I said, comparing the two, it is not even close in my case.
 
I had a conversation with a THPer not all that long ago that really surprised me.

"I find blades are just more forgiving for me than GI"

There is nothing about that statement that makes any sense, and I have been trying to figure it out since we talked about it. Reading this thread brings up many of those same points from that conversation and leaves me just as confused. When push comes to shove, I simply cannot understand how you can put aesthetics over performance.

What I think it boils down to is the placebo effect. If you have convinced yourself that you won't like them then you wont hit them well (or like them) you'll unconsciously put poor swings on them because your swings will lack confidence. I saw an interview once about needing to see and "feel" the ball flight that you wanted before the swing- and if you can't feel that good flight you won't be able to achieve it. All of the science supports that GI irons are more "forgiving" than blades. The testimony of 1000s of people support the science, but there will always be people who believe they can't play a GI iron. Why? "Offset! It makes me hook", "The soles too big", etc etc. All it boils down to is a mental block. Some people will never get over their mental block to a type or brand of club but most (IMO) could if they took the time to.

This isn't just irons though.
This is the Powerbands. And ProV1s. And Vokey Wedges. And needing to wear a glove.
We all carry our biases around with us. I guess it shouldn't surprise me so much that we carry those onto the golf course as well.
 
I don't think I have trouble hitting GI or SGI iron's at all, the question here was about being hung up on the aesthetics. I continue to go back to a players cavity because that's what I prefer based on looks at address confidence in getting a clean strike on the ball. I've hit a ton of GI iron's and some I liked while others not so much for many different reasons. I really liked my Burners, but felt I was more consistent with the 4DX irons. The CG7 irons were just beautiful to me, but I was all over the course with them and didn't get the length I was getting with the burners or Nickents.

Several of the GI irons I hit at the outing gave me better results than my 4DX pro's and I will likely be switching to one of those this summer, but why buy now with another chance to test at the upcoming outing, along with the TMPL possibly? I hope to compare several players cavity and GI irons before making the change.
 
RxGus said:
I had a conversation with a THPer not all that long ago that really surprised me.

"I find blades are just more forgiving for me than GI"

There is nothing about that statement that makes any sense, and I have been trying to figure it out since we talked about it. Reading this thread brings up many of those same points from that conversation and leaves me just as confused. When push comes to shove, I simply cannot understand how you can put aesthetics over performance.

What I think it boils down to is the placebo effect. If you have convinced yourself that you won't like them then you wont hit them well (or like them) you'll unconsciously put poor swings on them because your swings will lack confidence. I saw an interview once about needing to see and "feel" the ball flight that you wanted before the swing- and if you can't feel that good flight you won't be able to achieve it. All of the science supports that GI irons are more "forgiving" than blades. The testimony of 1000s of people support the science, but there will always be people who believe they can't play a GI iron. Why? "Offset! It makes me hook", "The soles too big", etc etc. All it boils down to is a mental block. Some people will never get over their mental block to a type or brand of club but most (IMO) could if they took the time to.

This isn't just irons though.
This is the Powerbands. And ProV1s. And Vokey Wedges. And needing to wear a glove.
We all carry our biases around with us. I guess it shouldn't surprise me so much that we carry those onto the golf course as well.
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Good post and I agree with most of it. I had developed a hook with my X14's and I was convinced that it was because of the offset. I would hit clubs with no offset and not hook it and go back to the 14's and back comes the hook. Went with some blades and played reasonably well(in fact had my 2 best rounds by far this year with them). Started to struggle with the longer irons and went back to some GI's(heck the G15's might even be SGI) and the offset does not bother me at all. In fact for some strange reason I was hitting a consistent draw with my blades and I'm now hitting a fade with the G15's. The one thing I will disagree on is a glove. I've got some sweaty hands and I can't even hold on to the club in the summer without a glove.
 
thedue said:
I don't think I have trouble hitting GI or SGI iron's at all, the question here was about being hung up on the aesthetics. I continue to go back to a players cavity because that's what I prefer based on looks at address confidence in getting a clean strike on the ball. I've hit a ton of GI iron's and some I liked while others not so much for many different reasons. I really liked my Burners, but felt I was more consistent with the 4DX irons. The CG7 irons were just beautiful to me, but I was all over the course with them and didn't get the length I was getting with the burners or Nickents.

Several of the GI irons I hit at the outing gave me better results than my 4DX pro's and I will likely be switching to one of those this summer, but why buy now with another chance to test at the upcoming outing, along with the TMPL possibly? I hope to compare several players cavity and GI irons before making the change.
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Sounds like possibly it was the shaft in the CG7's that you didn't like?
 
You might be right CL, man I wanted those to be THE ONES, lol. However, I did hit several at the outing that performed really well. The 800's and 800 pro's come to mind.

I spent too much time on the drivers and wish I'd have devoted more to the irons.

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Yeah I really liked the Black Pearls. They feel forge like when hit right. It was between those and the G15's. The long irons on the G15's are almost cheating though so I went with them. Love the 800's but couldn't justify going from the 200's to them as I felt the 200's were more forgiving and I was switching mostly based on added forgiveness.
 
Hey Chunk,

You might consider gaming a split set. As my swing improved this year I eventually went to a split set because I could hit the ball good in the scoring irons with what was a tougher club for me to use at the beginning of the year and love the feel and the added ability to control the shot I get with the blade scoring irons. However I did not see much chance of using blades for long/mid irons so I am not going there. I don't think I am going there regardless of how much I improve. In fact when I bought my blade scoring irons I got a blade 5i that I did not need just to have something that I could pull right out of the bag at the range and remind myself of reality right away if I ever get the wacky notion that I can hit those things. Bonk...clonk....OK so much for that idea!
 
JB's comment about something possibly missing with my players iron's has me thinking how right he may be. My irons are on or off day to day, or even 9 to 9. I have day's where I'm straight as a string, but some days I find myself really having to concentrate on my head/arms positions, etc. I've not used GI's enough to know if their "forgiveness" would help in these areas, but am guessing so.
 
That is exactly what I was going to do when I decided on the Pings. When I went to hit them for the last time I just decided that I didn't mind the scoring irons for the G15's. They look awfully clunky but at address they don't bother me at all.
 
thedue said:
JB's comment about something possibly missing with my players iron's has me thinking how right he may be. My irons are on or off day to day, or even 9 to 9. I have day's where I'm straight as a string, but some days I find myself really having to concentrate on my head/arms positions, etc. I've not used GI's enough to know if their "forgiveness" would help in these areas, but am guessing so.
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That is exactly what I was going through Due. When I was on with the Pro Blacks it was awesome. Hitting the different shots was fun. It was on my off days that the struggles were just too much. I was not having any fun. My best rounds by far this year were with the blades. My worst rounds by far were also with the blades. My 2 rounds with the G15's have both been solid. Both I scored poorly but that is mainly because I'm usually hitting 3 from the fairway after having to pitch out from the woods because of a poor tee ball. I would think of looking at some GI's. Also remember that a lot of the GI clubs come stock with shafts that are not designed for better players. GI heads with the proper shafts are IMO the perfect club
 
JB said:
And I am looking at both sets here and they dont seem that different to me. Ironically, the MX-200s are probably one of the smallest and thinnest GI irons I have seeen. They are more of a hybrid between GI & GE.
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The size difference of the MX 200 irons & J33cb irons is only noticeable on the short irons. I've only played 3 full rounds with Mizunos so it will come a round. But you're right, compared to other GI irons the MX 200s are much easier to look at.
 
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