new irons and New bag?

[MrT]

Okay. First things first. I'm saving up for some new irons. I play Callaway Big Berthas and I'm looking for something that is less extreme player imrpovement

here is what I am finding: as my handicap goes lower, I'm at a 17 right now, I see the need to control shots more, even as simple as just lower shots. The Berthas don't let me do that. So I'm looking for some irons that are for a player who is lowering his handicap and wants a
more workable club.

Any suggestions?

Last questions is bags..... Should I stick with name brands like titlelist or callaway? Or are the ogios and sun mountains any good? I'd like a stand bag and the wife said for chrstmas, so help me out! Lol.
Thanks!
Mr T

 

[WMitch6]

Mr T - If you're playing to a 17 it might not be the time to switch to forged blades.

 

[xamilo]

OGIO and Sun Mountain make great bags. They are mostly bag companies. OGIO makes bags for about any possible sport, so they know what they do. I would choose an OGIO or Sun Mountain over any golf brand bag. I think they make extremely durable and functional bags, and their looks are most of the times correct.

About your irons, I think you can go for less game improvement clubs without any problem; maybe not blades, but switch to game improvement or cavity back players, although I would find the second ones a little bit tough fr your HC (at least they are tough for me standing on a similar one)

If you want to stay with Callaway, you could be looking for the X-series, but I don't find them very appealing due to a very very thick top line.

My recommendations would go to smaller heads than he ones you're using which still provide enough forgiveness like:

1. Mizuno MX-200
2. Wilson Staff Ci7
3. Titleist APs

Still, the only way to know if you like an iron is to try and hit it before hand in the pro shop or a demo day. Sometimes you discard a set until you hit it and realize that is exactly what you need. Other times you just fall in love with a set's look, but when you have it at address, you can't just hit it....

I think its like getting a new girlfriend, you have to know her a little bit before committing to know you're going the right direction

 

[chemboy2]

Xamilo is spot on with Ogio. I'm a pretty big fan of Ogio bags. Every bag is a little different wrt pocket configurations so just check some out and see what you like. Also, Costco is a pretty good place to look for a carry bag. I picked up a sweet Ogio there a couple of years.

As for irons, my advice would be to be careful. I got all excited as my cap dropped and I wanted to get new irons to celebrate/reward myself. Well, the thing is, the current gamers are playing a key role in getting your cap down. As you improve, your irons get more and more predictable and your confidence goes up. Switching irons actually set me back a touch as I had to rebuild a relationship with my irons (still not all the way there yet).

So, I'm not saying that it will happen to you but I would caution you from straying too far from your current set-up (eg. going to a player's cb). The Wilson Ci series and Mizuno MX-200 (or 23/25/300) are both great suggestions as they will be a little smaller and provide a little more feedback but they're still definitely GI iron sets. If you can stomach the look of PINGs, I would suggest anything from the i3 to i15 (depending on taste).

 

[Rockford35]

I'm a big fan of Ogio bags (I have 4 of them), but you can't go wrong with a Sun Mountain either. Both make a different style and geared bag, so maybe your best bet would be to head down to the shop and see which one has the right pockets, catches your eye and won't have your wife's jaw hit the floor when she sees the price.

Same thing with irons. Go hit a bunch. Then, head to the classifieds and find a set with the same specs and save some coin.

R35

 

[LBlack14]

4 Ogios in da house here. I'll either have a Sun Mountain or a Sasquatch Tour next, just for the 14 individual dividers.

 

[LyleG]

Have had 2 Ogio's and 2 sunmountains and you couldnt give me another Ogio. Sunmountain all the way.

 

[MrT]

Thanks fellas! I'm in the process of saving for the irons. Anyone have a good link or can explain the difference between the game improvements, full cavity, split cavity, forged and blades. It gets a little confusing.

As fo the bag I like both sun mountain and ogio. They have cool color combos and lots of pockets. I like pockets lol

 

[warbirdlover]

Ping S59, S58 or S57 series. They are perfect.

 

[xamilo]

Thanks fellas! I'm in the process of saving for the irons. Anyone have a good link or can explain the difference between the game improvements, full cavity, split cavity, forged and blades. It gets a little confusing.

As fo the bag I like both sun mountain and ogio. They have cool color combos and lots of pockets. I like pockets lol

1. FORGED: Forged is just the process on which the head is produced. You can either have a forged which means its built from a piece of metal and let's say "hammered" to their final form. The contrary is a Cast head, which means its "casted" on a mold. Forged is usually used in more expensive sets due to the "feel" they give. To tell you the truth, I don't see a big difference between both.

2. CAVITY: Full cavity means a big cavity back game improvement iron. I think I've only seen such denomination in Nike clubs. Split cavity goes for a player's cavity back, which means a smaller head, smaller cavity and more playability than full cavity or Game Improvement Irons. Many players in the tour like Adam Scott switched back to player's cavities after using blades.

3. BLADES: Or Muscle-Backs mean clubs which have no cavity. These clubs have the smallest heads, are usually forged, provide very little forgiveness but supposedly a bigger playability. This type of iron is recommended for low handicap players, although some hackers or high handicappers feel more comfortable with them.


In resume you can have forged or cast

You can go in this order (not exactly but its the traditional):

Super Game Improvement (Big Berthas), Game Improvement (Mizuno MX-200), Player's Cavity (Callaway X-Forged), Blades (Titleist MB)

I really don't think you should go under GI irons. Player's Cavities are still not that easy to hit for most....

Cheers...

 

[MrT]

Wow thanks Xamilo. That's good info. I've heard good thing bout the mizunos. Ill definitel. Be researching while I save up. I'm no where near the blades yet.
Thanks again
mr t

 

[mddubya]

MrT, Xamilo is spot on. I've got a set of Srixon i-506's which fall into the players cavity backs. They feel awesome on a well hit shot, you can't really even feel the ball come off the face. But there is VERY little forgiveness built into them. The Wilson Staff Ci7's that Xamilo is bagging are some sweet looking irons, and can be had for dirt cheap brand new right now. I'm thinking about picking up a set of them myself. Check out his thread, "look what I found" for some nice looking pictures of them.