Newest gear, is it really the silver bullet? (rhetorical question)

JohnnyDee

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My first set of big guns when I started playing seriously 20 years ago consisted of a TM Firesole driver and TM 3 & 5 Burner woods with.... cue fanfare: buddle bur-bur bur-bur! Bubble Shafts.

Over the years I have of course changed my clubs many times but have always struggled with fairway woods. I have had Cobras, Callaways and other TMs but I could never hit them particularly well. Always straight but not always in the air, far too many topped and consequently lost all confidence in that department.

I flogged my latest on ebay (a lovely-looking blue head 3-4 Cobra F7) a while back and had been making do with a 4 rescue and a 7 wood since.

Yesterday I decided to put my Bubble Burner 5 wood in the bag, and as the kids say, O-M-G! Hit it like a pro and suddenly I was able to take on long approaches.

Three of them, one on the green and one pin high just off to the right and another in a greenside bunker in the 190-200 yard range (not Forum distances by the way as I was allowing for roll-out ;))

Anyway got me thinking, we are often very keen to run out and embrace the latest technology even when we're getting good results with what we've got already and perhaps we ought not to believe so much of the manufacturer spiel.

Before the onslaught.

I'm not suggesting that things have not come a long way - particularly with drivers - but I am now putting the 5’s brother or indeed sister, the 3 wood, in the bag for Monday and really looking forward to seeing what happens.

I have even scrubbed up the original grips (a sort of rubbery silicone mix) with Fairy liquid and a nail brush and they’ve come up like new.


3 & 5 Burners.JPG
 
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JohnnyDee

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Not sure what you meant Timbow, to be honest. But I certainly feel confident ahead of Monday and that could be half the battle. I have lost all confidence with fairway woods in recent couple of years but yesterday was a revelation.
 

HomerJSimpson

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No silver bullet in golf. However I don't think gear has really moved on, especially in irons in the last 15 years. I do think drivers have changed and nor have wedges really. Putters are always subjective so hard to say if they have moved on. Certainly in terms of faces and feel they have
 

Imurg

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No silver bullet in golf. However I don't think gear has really moved on, especially in irons in the last 15 years. I do think drivers have changed and nor have wedges really. Putters are always subjective so hard to say if they have moved on. Certainly in terms of faces and feel they have
2004 Big Bertha 7 iron - 33°
2019 Big Bertha 7 iron - 29°
I'd say they've moved on a bit........
 

Imurg

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Granted the iron lofts have been cranked and that's not necessarily a good thing but in terms on design how much have they moved on
Just taking those 2 irons....
2004 - made from the hardest steel imaginable, only real "tech" is a massive cavity back and wide sole
2019 has tungsten weighting, sound and vibration dampening, cup face, pvd finish, bigger choice of shafts and grips.
Whether the new tech has made things better or worse is another debate but purely in terms of advancement of design I don't think it possible to say irons haven't moved much in 15 years.
 

Hobbit

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Took me a good few years to find a fairway wood that did what I wanted. The original TM RBZ 3HL. I've since tried a couple of newer models from various manufacturers but the TM ends up back in the bag.

I struggled with my 3 & 4 iron for a good few years, then bought the Titliest 716 T-MB 3 iron - wow! I then bought the 4 iron, double wow!

Sometimes you have to keep searching. The right club is out there, and it might not be a new model.
 

JohnnyDee

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My first set of big guns when I started playing seriously 20 years ago consisted of a TM Firesole driver and TM 3 & 5 Burner woods with.... cue fanfare: buddle bur-bur bur-bur! Bubble Shafts.

Over the years I have of course changed my clubs many times but have always struggled with fairway woods. I have had Cobras, Callaways and other TMs but I could never hit them particularly well. Always straight but not always in the air, far too many topped and consequently lost all confidence in that department.

I flogged my latest on ebay (a lovely-looking blue head 3-4 Cobra F7) a while back and had been making do with a 4 rescue and a 7 wood since.

Yesterday I decided to put my Bubble Burner 5 wood in the bag, and as the kids say, O-M-G! Hit it like a pro and suddenly I was able to take on long approaches.

Three of them, one on the green and one pin high just off to the right and another in a greenside bunker in the 190-200 yard range (not Forum distances by the way as I was allowing for roll-out ;))

Anyway got me thinking, we are often very keen to run out and embrace the latest technology even when we're getting good results with what we've got already and perhaps we ought not to believe so much of the manufacturer spiel.

Before the onslaught.

I'm not suggesting that things have not come a long way - particularly with drivers - but I am now putting the 5’s brother or indeed sister, the 3 wood, in the bag for Monday and really looking forward to seeing what happens.

I have even scrubbed up the original grips (a sort of rubbery silicone mix) with Fairy liquid and a nail brush and they’ve come up like new.


View attachment 28062

Took ‘em out for nine this evening. First hole I had 210 yards to go uphill for my second and hit the 5.

Boom! 3 feet above the hole on the green. OK so putt for a birdie just stopped on the lip but nevertheless well pleased.

6 Pars two bogeys and a double. We played skins and I took the money.

Well chuffed, and to think they've been banished to my garage probably for 15 years and have cost me nothing to put in the bag.
 
D

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Changing clubs regularly is NOT the answer, I'd never advise it 😉

Glad to hear this... Literally today I sAw a little sidebar in a golf magazine that said you should change your iron’s every 12-18 months!
 
D

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Glad to hear this... Literally today I sAw a little sidebar in a golf magazine that said you should change your iron’s every 12-18 months!

Oh wait, not irons, wedges...
 
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