Ever hit the range with your older set of clubs just to preserve your new set?

rollin

"Just playin golf pally"
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Just as the title states. Ever consider practicing at the range with the older clubs just to help preserve the new very expensive tools we own? perhpas youve done this or considered it with a specific club like the driver given how expensive they are.

I have not done this yet at all but honestly Ive thought about it (more so with driver) especially if going in the winter and hitting freeziong cold balls. Im thinking why not? Just to help preserve wear and tear on my newer latest expensive tools..lol
Don't know if ever actually will do it...but I have thought about it.
 
Unless the old set is pretty much identical I would think that the costs outweigh the benefits for that.

Plus most people on here probably don't keep a set of clubs long enough for it to matter :laughing:
 
I think if you're just hitting the range to practice, and not really working on your swing, I don't see any harm in it. I just wouldn't expect to see the same results using two sets of clubs.
 
No, never considered that.

But long ago I did buy a set of old Hogan Apex PC blades and had them shafted with the same as my set. Also had length, lie and swing weight synchronized. Didn't bother with loft because I wasn't working on distance control, just quality of strike.

I'm not trying to claim it the best or even a sound approach, but my iron ball striking improved by leaps and bounds with only moderate practice.
 
nope, I hit what I use
 
No, don’t really understand the point. I want to be able to trust my distances which really affects my confidence!
 
I haven't hit the range with old clubs to preserve my new clubs, but I have purchased and extra 6 or 7 iron that matches my set to use solely for range and practice. Also, I have an older driver and a couple of old titleist tour model blades that I break out when I'm unhappy with my swing. If I can groove a swing that will give me a good strike with the old unforgiving equipment it makes it very easy to use the new stuff.
 
No. I would hit what I use.


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Practice with what I play, that's what I got them for.
 
I do it all the time. Don't see any drawbacks at all switching between sets. I have 2 sets of Titleists and a set of Mizunos and choose them at random for the range and even for playing rounds. They are all set up the same as far as length and lie angles, and I do notice subtle differences but the distances are close enough for me.
 
No, don’t really understand the point. I want to be able to trust my distances which really affects my confidence!
well....the point would be if working on swing mechanics, not necessarily distance per say. Besides, most range balls are often not flying the way are game balls fly anyway. Very many of us go to ranges where the balls are worn and also not the same as are game balls even if they are newer ones. That said, the range for many is often used to work on the swing itself. Tempo, mechanics, develop repeatability, perhaps also vary swing paths, ball placements, etc,etc…

If ones last set of clubs were of similar fitted or close enough, then there imo would be no real disadvantage in doing this. But one advantage could be simply just to preserve the wear on ones latest (possible new) set. I suppose a lot depends on how many thousands of balls one might hit at the range in a given year.

One my reasons for considering this was with driver. Im at a place right now where I need to work on my driver swing due to problems since my swing rebuild the past 2 seasons. I honestly have a need to hit the range and work with driver specifically (which I always seem to avoid but really I need to) and so Im thinking why not use my old one and beat on that vs beating my newer 500 dollar one just to work on my swing? Especially if winter and freezing hard cold balls.

So that would potentially be the point of doing it.
 
Sounds like something to try. I have an old set that is heavier than the more modern equipment, may be good to use for working on my swing. I never worry about distance on the range anyway.
 
Something I have honestly never thought of doing. Probably something I would not do


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Absolutely. In fact, did this with my vokey wedges from the Titleist event in March. Iirc, I think @obedt and I even discussed this at one point!

Practiced on my home range with my older wedges and only hit the voks on the course since they all had the same shafts and specs.


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Sounds like something to try. I have an old set that is heavier than the more modern equipment, may be good to use for working on my swing. I never worry about distance on the range anyway.

now that is something Im not sure id do. I would think using clubs with a significantly different feel would now bring an element into it that may offer a downside to this. My old clubs vs my new ones have a similar enough feel and play the same lengths and lies etc... Im not sure id be considering this quite as much if that was not the case. For me....my range sessions would be to work on my swing and find repeatability and having only minimal (at most) difference in club feel vs my game clubs is what I feel allows me to consider this option. But hey...what do I know? lol
 
My regular play set of irons has Project X LZ shafts, which are not a good fit for range mats.
When I visit the range for swing practice I take my DG S300 shafted irons.
 
My regular play set of irons has Project X LZ shafts, which are not a good fit for range mats.
When I visit the range for swing practice I take my DG S300 shafted irons.

I have those same shafts in my irons (hence the new..lol) but why I wonder you suggest are they "not a good" fit for the mats? Perhaps something I now need to know.
 
I have those same shafts in my irons (hence the new..lol) but why I wonder you suggest are they "not a good" fit for the mats? Perhaps something I now need to know.

The lighter weight steel iron shafts , when used to strike shots from synthetic mats, produce a harsh-tinny impact sound. I
I've noticed this with both the Nippon 950 shafts I played some years ago, as well as the Project X LZ shafts I currently play. My guess is that these lighter weight shafts are constructed with thinner walls than the relatively heavy TT DG shafts, which have a fine sounding impact sound-feel when played from synthetic mats.
 
The lighter weight steel iron shafts , when used to strike shots from synthetic mats, produce a harsh-tinny impact sound. I
I've noticed this with both the Nippon 950 shafts I played some years ago, as well as the Project X LZ shafts I currently play. My guess is that these lighter weight shafts are constructed with thinner walls than the relatively heavy TT DG shafts, which have a fine sounding impact sound-feel when played from synthetic mats.

The LZ's are not heavy but are not light, yet fall midweight. Of course also depends on which LZ we are playing. The 5.0 being the lightest and 6-5 heaviest but still all far from the light 85/90 gram shafts out there.

Interesting you brought this up though because I am almost to believe the constant mat pounding is what helped lead to the failure of my old set (cobra amps with dynalite 90 shafts) breaking off at the hosel on 3 of my clubs in just months (less than a year) apart from each other.

When I bought those clubs about 5/6 years ago (new) I fitted length , and lie but didn't fit the flex and weight per say. It was sort of a halfass fitting in some ways. I only new I needed a stiff but that didn't mean much by just picking the stiff in that shaft at the time without actually comparing it and fitting it vs other shafts and certainly in that very light weight. My new set now (ping g400's) Im in the "prj X LZ 6.0". I do think that those dynalite 90's were too thin walled and light for my swing and speed which could be what lead to the failures at the hosels via the mat poundings.

But (I am far rom any expert here) but the Lz's are heavier and hence thicker walled from what I learned. Also the shaft is considerable thicker at the hosel vs my old D90's were. The thinner area of the LZ seems to be much further up the shaft where the loading zone is placed. And I believe had a thicker wall at the hosel area than a number of other shfts. Anyone can correct if that's wrong. In the end I was now fitted in greater detail for my new ping irons than I was for my old set of cobra amps at that time. But in the process of doing that Ive come to see and realize (just by default as a side note) that it may very well been the too thin hosel part of the shaft of those old very light D90's is what may have caused my problem via constant mat pounding for my swing. Hence it made sense to talk of this here now and bring it up as possibly interesting notes for what you mention.
 
No never thought to do this and for me, don`t see the point. My old Ping G10`s probably saw 200+ rounds and when I traded them in, still got $150 for the set. I don`t think clubs wear down as quick as most of us think they do. Or it could just be me, maybe I just don`t hit hard enough to cause any wear! LOL!
 
Nope! Once I get a new set, I'm putting everything I got into 'em!
 
this is the worst Idea I have heard this year, we all know that a different club might give you slightly different results, therefore your practice is useless if you use different clubs IMO
 
Not something I'd ever do but no qualms about others doing it if they think it'll somehow benefit them. FWIW I do practice outdoors in the winter several days a week but I make it a point to never ever hit those 'freezing cold balls' referenced in the OP. Not only would there be a risk of damage and stinging mishits, I just don't see where I'd learn anything if I didn't get to sense 'good impact feels' because the balls were frozen.
 
this is the worst Idea I have heard this year, we all know that a different club might give you slightly different results, therefore your practice is useless if you use different clubs IMO
I agree....but only to a degree. Results are not always as telling as we think especially at the practice ranges. Firstly the mats themselves will mask flaws. The fat shot being the biggest one, but also general turf/club interaction can certainly be a bit different via mats vs real turf. Then we have (what very many deal with) at ranges and that rae very poor conduction balls. Even newer "range" balls dont necessarily produce the best flights, but so many of them are worn down and often just outright terrible creating all kinds of crazy ball flights. Sometimes it can be comical.

So that said.....between the mats and the balls at many ranges, results of ball flight can often be misleading and are not at all "always" very telling about ones swing or the flaws. And besides that, we can also produce a good ball flight result via a not so good swing anyway. Combine that with the mats and what often are beat balls and the flight results we see via a range session need not be the most important nor most telling factor. And so using a set of clubs that are similar enough in feel but are also the same length and lie isnt exactly a bad thing and should no more skew results than that other stuff and may even be far less a reason for skewing them. But working on swing mechanics is often done in spite of all that stuff.

trying to ingrain proper mechanics, swing path, face angle, club positioning, tempo and swing feel can imo certainly be worked on with a different set if similarly fit enough. Obviously if one set (or club) is a different fit and also has a totally different feel then yes i agree it may throw things off and i wouldn't really want to do that. But outside of that, I do feel it can make sense to beat on the older set/club just for sake of preserving a new expensive club or set. i have yet to do this but I dont think its such a bad idea nor one that would hurt progress or the purpose of a range session.
 
this is the worst Idea I have heard this year, we all know that a different club might give you slightly different results, therefore your practice is useless if you use different clubs IMO

Eh, maybe slightly. I can practice and play with the different iron sets I have and can still practice clubhead angle/path that will translate no matter what clubs I use. Sure, if I’m trying to dial distance in then it wouldn’t help, but alignment/club path and a few other things will translate just fine.
 
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