Originally posted by: Riprorin
Thanks for the advice. I'll see if if they'll loan me the MX-15s with a deposit.
I'm currently using a set of Ping Zing clones. I have no idea what the shaft is other than they are regular flex.
I bought them from a friend who didn't like them because he couldn't get the ball in the air. I have the opposite problem - my trajectory is way too high.
You're absolutely right - I haven't tied enough clubs to know what the critical parameters are. Of the clubs I hit, the trajectory was about the same - too high in my opinion. I did hit the Mizunos the most consistently though.
Any suggestions on clubs in the $250 - $400 price range I should try?
My swing speed is 85/105 and I tend to hit a high fade. I play once a week (if I'm lucky) and tend to shoot in the mid '80s
If your swing speed with a driver is 105, you belong in stiff shafts, not regular. That's a prime factor in hitting the ball too high. However, you said you like the Dynalites better and that's a high trajectory shaft. Therein lies the problem with a range session, hitting rock-like range balls off mats gives an inaccurate reading of what works and what doesn't. You really need to see how clubs stack up where you're going to be playing them. Hitting a large bucket on a range isn't nearly as informative as hitting a couple of 5 irons and a couple of 8 irons from real grass into greens you know with balls you use from distances you can verify.
I think you're likely getting fooled on the shafts here. Softer, tip-flexible shafts almost always FEEL better than a tip-stiff, high kickpoint shaft and will usually hit the ball farther too. The manufacturers know this and set up their drivers that way with very whippy shafts so that they feel good hitting on a range or into a net at a pro shop. But what feels best there doesn't necessarily work best on the course. I like the feel of Dynalites too, they seem effortless to hit and the ball explodes off the face. But I hit them too high and with little distance control, so they'd be a detriment to my game no matter how good they feel at first touch. I need clubs that are more like tree trunks, they don't feel as nice or as lively, but they perform much for my swing speed and launch conditions.
Believe it or not, your Ping clones might actually be excellent club heads. Some knock-offs are cheap junk and some are every bit as good as the OEM clubs. If you're having trouble hitting them, I'm willing to bet that it's just a shaft that does not suit your game. If that's the case, you can possibly get them reshafted for $200 or under and wind up with clubs that you can hit really well. The fact that you don't even know what the shaft is worries me. A quality shaft will have a shaft band identifying the manufacturer, style and flex. If it had those bands you'd know at a glance. Since there doesn't seem to be a band it leads me to believe that the shafts are pure garbage and whoever built the clubs in the first place used the absolute cheapest sticks available.
If you're not going to get fit by a pro (and a clubmaker sitting there saying you're hitting something well doesn't count) then I'd suggest you hit as many clubs as possible. At first concentrate solely on shafts, pay attention to what you're hitting, how it feels and how it impacts ball flight. The shaft has a lot more influence than the head, trust me, take a Minzuno club and test it against a similar Cleveland and a similar Titleist with the same shaft and the differences would be tiny. But if you tested 3 sets of identical Mizuno heads with 3 different shafts the differences would be huge. Settle on a shaft model and flex first indepenent of the head. Then try several heads with that EXACT SAME shaft, that will lead to your best fit.
At your price range, I'd suggest you look into clubs that are custom made. Most iron sets I do are in the $300-$350 range and are every bit as good as $800 pro shop sets with the one difference being that they're built to fit you, using the right shaft and grip to suit your game. But if you want real OEM clubs, take a look at the Top Flite 2000 or Wilson Deep Red. They're highly rated clubs that perform well and are considered to be really easy to hit well. They're well within your price range and fit properly with a suitable shaft should improve your game quite a bit.
