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I play just as good (crappy) with OEM stuff as I do with component stuff.
I play just as good (crappy) with OEM stuff as I do with component stuff.
At one time had BOM driver and 3-wood coupled with KZG Evolution irons with an OEM putter for a nearly completely component bag. Recently had some TM clones in the bag for about a season and a half.
At present, trying to fill my entire bag with cheap stuff I picked up at garage/estate sales, second-hand shops, and the like. Therefore it is almost all OEM.
Driver. TM Burner bought at Play It Again sports for $50
3-Wood. Carrying two. One is a TM I bought for $20 at a golf shop used bin, The other is an old Callaway Steelhead I picked up for $5 at a garage sale. The Callaway is about 10 yards shorter and functions as a 4-wood.
5-wood. Component club I bought out of a barrel for $5. Can't even remember who makes it
Irons. TM RAC HT irons, purchased at an estate sale for $45. (Paid a lot more than that for new grips.)
Sand wedge. Ping Eye 2, pulled out of a full set I bought at a garage sale for $25
Putter. Currently gaming a Ping Zing 2 that I bought at an estate sale for $5. Just regripped it with a new oversize grip by Golf Pride that I think is miles better than any Superstroke grip ever made
Yeah. So I guess you could say I pretty much went from almost all components to almost all cheap OEM stuff.
OEM woods & putter. Component irons & wedges.
The last component irons I owned were Wishon 752 TC's (back in the early-mid 2000's) and I hit them no better than the OEM irons I'd purchased prior to that. Given that they cost me the same amount of money that I could've purchased a set of OEM irons (that I could actually demo - couldn't demo the Wishon irons) and get them at the same price point or perhaps even cheaper - I said never again.
Just a personal decision. Nothing against components, nothing against Wishon equipment.
Not into building my own equipment, never have been and never will be.
From roughly 2000-2008 it was primarily components for me (good times back then). After taking a long break to focus on my career and health, I now have all OEM. Times have changed.......
I have got a ton of clubs, some new component stuff that I haven’t hit. Mostly all component. Love my rechromed rebuilt Mac. VIP’S. Love my baby Ben putter. Love switching around all my clubs. Just regrouped a KZG Gemini that I’m going to try next time out.
I am 100% component. Geek DCT or Geek LB130 for driver, Snake Eyes 695 3w, DTG TM RBZ clone 2h, DTG Ping G15 clone 3h, Malby DBM 4-pw, Maltby 50 & 54 wedges, Inazone 60, and an Inazone Sabertooth like putter.
I have Dynacraft CB Prophet irons and an old Golfsmith 7 wood. The rest is OEM. Although even the OEM stuff is at least 3 years old. I'm pretty much done trying to buy a game with the possible exception of a putter. But really, they're all components to us, right?
Used to play an all component bag, except for the putter,(SMT woods, Infiniti irons and hybrids). Now because used OEM has become so cheap( Ping G driver $112, Ping K15 hybrids aver $50, and Wilson D-200 irons $200) , you almost can't build any cheaper. Plus the paint on DTG and Hireko woods chips easily and doesn't hold up. I found that component iron's quality, consistency and playability is all over the place, save perhaps for Wishon, Maltby and Infinity.
Used to play an all Snake Eyes bag with Ti462-Draw Driver, Quick Strike II hybrids at single length, Quick Strike II/Golfsmith Twin Tune irons at single length, Wishon PCF Wide Sole wedges, and Viper Tour 1 putter.
Driver is now an Adams XTD Ti - the adjustability is a great feature. Like others have said, the cost was less compared to components as well (less than 40 bucks from the Bay, including headcover, adapter and tool - paired it with an old school Grafalloy Valor shaft from Golfsmith). Hybrids now are Nike CPR Woods at single length. Irons and wedges the same as above. Went back to a center shaft SE Python putter. So, a mixed bag right now.
If I ever have the time I plan to assemble Wishon 775HS hybrids to a single length as well as 7-AW 770CFE irons to single length. Price is a factor re: 770CFE vs. the Sterlings. I figure the 770CFE with its hot face should do decently compared to the Sterlings.
HybridWood You may want to do a bit of study into SL before cutting your 770s to a SL. Weighting is just the first issue. The second is that the hot faces on your short irons is the opposite of what you want.
kelco9 Appreciate the heads-up, but I have done so. My current single length clubs are at about 281 g, I can weight these 770CFEs to 282 g with the heads I have on hand.
I haven't double checked Tom's background info on the Sterlings, but my recollection was that either there or a Tutleman study the high COR faces do not have as much of an effect at higher lofts, which is why the higher lofted Sterlings do not have the high COR face. Having the high COR face with the 770CFEs then, hopefully won't make much of a difference. Plus, my slow swingspeed...!
I'm also going with 4.5° loft gaps for the 770CFEs.
HybridWood Ah, I see. Sounds like you have done your homework. That is interesting about the hi-COR effect on higher lofts. That makes sense. There will probably be a diminishing effect from 7-iron to SW, but you can simply address that through loft adjustment if it does emerge. The one thing that surprised me is the 281 g SL heads. That's heavier than I expected, given the 272 spec on a pinhawks and 274 on the Sterlings. That certainly makes it easier to SL your 770s.
Except for my original Ping Eye2 BeCu irons, which now occupy a place of honor in the man-cave, I played all components for years. Cheaper than OEM and much more fun to build, especially since I had a part-time business doing so and used components from all the major components companies back then. Last several years seems many of the companies folded, merged or just disappeared. With the price of the OEM today after being on market for 6 months it is much cheaper to purchase and re-shaft to what I need - don't run the business anymore as dealing with the public is a pita. The OEM's have shot themselves in the foot by releasing new product every quarter to try and one-up each other. Marketing-types run the OEM's and most of the difference between a company's offerings will be marketing hype. Most savvy buyers will now wait 3 months and get what they want at half price and if they are really savvy they will get the shaft replaced to one that better suits their swing, unless they are lucky enough to get a proper fitting before purchasing.
kelco9 Agreed. As you probably guessed, the irons I'm currently using weren't made for SL either! The Twin Tunes have two weight ports; removing them from the 9-iron and PW left me with about 281 g. I guess since I am already accustomed to the ~281 g weight I'd figure I'd try them out with the 770CFE's.
HybridWood I suppose you're planning on doing some lie bending?
govols Reasonable point, but there shouldn't be a problem. The body of the 770s are 17-4 cast, which can be a bit of a bear to bend, but if he is going to an 8-iron length, it's only a 1/2 degree bend (the lie on the 9-iron through SW in the 770s is 64, the 8-iron is 63.5, and the 7-iron 63. Very doable. In fact, probably not even noticeable if you didn't do any bending at all, even though that flies in the face of the SL a bit. Truth be told, there's few sets I've seen that don't have this small of a variance at best (even if we would like to claim otherwise).
govols Yes, that's true...just like I had to do with my current SL iron set. And as kelco9 points out, there isn't much bending to be done, unlike if I was trying to start with a 5-iron. (Target L/L to be 36.5" and 63.5°).
Wishon claims a 2° bend limit for the 770CFE but of course 17-4 SS isn't the easiest to bend, again as kelco9 pointed out.
And Steve - sorry for the threadjack!
I played nothing but components for probably 25 years. Then when I retired I treated myself to a set of Ping i5
irons about 10 years ago. A few years ago I got a new set of Callaway Xr's to replace them. My woods are all
OEM that I have bought used and reshafted to suit me. So, I still have a mixed bag. Lately though, I've been missing the hobby of clubmaking, and I'm tempted to get myself a set of Maltby KE4 Tour heads and shaft them up to see if there's anything to the Maltby Playability Factor I've been reading about for these past several years (the KE4's are rated much higher in MPF than either my Pings or Callaways.....just curious!)