Hi. I'm new to this site and a 1st time poster. Seeking some direction. I have been playing the game, or it playing me for about 20 years and have been using the same hodge podge of clubs for about 15. Sad, I know. Although I am petite, I have always used men's clubs as they seemed to suit me better. I hit my driver and my woods excellent but can no longer hit an iron at all. I have been playing my clubs and not the course!
Driver, 3W, 7W, SW. That's it. Obviously alot more shots. My driver is a Cobra Ti offset that was considered a big head driver when new. A couple of the guys that I play with use the new Taylormade big head and I have used it on occasion. Much more distance. I don't want a driver over 10.5 deg. loft and would like to replace the unused irons in my bag with woods, especially my short irons. Any suggestions out there?
Thanks, Darla.

Welcome Daria. Glad you found the site. You're likely to get a wide array of responses to this, so be prepared to take a little from each as there's no wrong answer.

So one thing to do it go to your local golf courses and ask them if they are having any demo-days anytime soon. If so attend them and see if there's anything there you like. Mostly I see men's clubs there which you say you think fit you better so you can hit them, but I really think you should try some women's clubs. The lighter weights on the shafts will help you swing speed be faster. That being said I think Laney here has used (and maybe still does) men's clubs so it's what you feel like works best for you. Another option is to head to the GolfSmiths/GolfGalaxy's and just spend an hour hitting clubs.

but do give the current womens clubs a try. And any new club should give you more distance and be more forgiving. You can also get iron sets that are really mostly hybrid designs that will be easier to hit and get the ball in the air quicker.



As an aside, I've been looking at women's clubs lately for a friend of mine and I'm amazed at how expensive they are and how few mid-tier options there are. It's like you get the "all-in-one" sets for $200-$300 or you pay $799 and up for top brands. At least in men's clubs you have quite a few options in that $200-$400 range but I guess a lot of companies don't make women's clubs.

And used, forget used from what I can see. Everything is like 15 yrs old or the all-in-ones.

Good luck though

Scott makes some good points, but I'll also put a reminder in to check out www.callawaypreowned.com, since they have a lot of used women's irons. Great customer service and both me and my husband have bought clubs from them.
Check your local golf stores to see if they will let you demo clubs on the course if you leave a credit card number as security. New York golf, which is a chain in NY/NJ has that policy. You can use a club for 2 days at no charge.
If you like the feel of men's clubs, you can look at "senior" flex which is a less flex than men's "regular" flex but a more stiff than "ladies" flex. The shafts may be a bit too long for you if you are petite, you should consider that factor as well.
I have men's clubs, senior flex, and my irons are 1/2" shorter than "normal" men's length.

Welcome to the site, Darla.

Do you have any hybrids in your bag? If not, then you may want to try some out and perhaps replace the long irons/fairway woods with hybrids.

And do go to various manufacturer's demo events in your area (usually at golf stores or local golf courses).

So Ladies of the site, how do you think newer clubs compare to more mature clubs (Isn't that the politically correct way to say older? ) in terms of performance?

I'm looking at trying to find some clubs for a gal I know who's starting to take up the game and as I look at used women's clubs, there aren't many out there of what I'd call good quality. I see tons of names of clubs I've never heard of that look "mature" and then I see the newer clubs and can see the offset, the low COG, the extra perimeter weighting and think that those would be better for her, but they are also much more expensive. She doesn't want to put a LOT into clubs for starting out but I also don't want to see her play with the 15 yr mens clubs someone gave her.

I saw, thanks to Aimee's message above, some X12 Callaway irons for around $300 but having never seen the X12's I'm not sure how forgiving they are for a newbie.

Other's been through this?

Scott, I don't think the X-12's are particularly forgiving in that they may have a smaller club face than "current" models, but compared to 10 year old clubs, they're probably much better.
Of course, if you are really a beginner, I'm not sure how much difference it really makes if you are just trying to learn how to swing/make contact. The irons I learned with were tiny and blade-like, who knew the difference? Until one can make decent contact consistently, "feel" isn't going to be a factor. Perimeter weighting is probably a feature to hone in on, since most women have trouble getting enough trajectory and that feature will help.
I think if you are patient and troll thru Ebay, you'll find something less than 5 years old. Lots of women got clubs from well-meaning men and never really play...not that I'm making a judgement about your intentions, of course

Hello and thank you for the responses to my question about new clubs. I don't know much about hybrids as I've never used them and wouldn't know what to replace for what. What would be good to replace a 7 to a 9 iron?
Scott, in answer to your ? about a beginner lady and older clubs. I learned to play with "older" clubs as they were not old at the time. LOL. I took to the game fairly quickly and at that time carried a 9 HC. An inexpensive but gently used set of clubs might just be a good thing. If your friend can learn to hit the ball well with an older club, she could probably excel later with the newer clubs out now. I still play with my old clubs but unfortunately, like my set, I am also 15 years older!
I will still be looking for advice on what I should be looking for.

Darla, hybrids are generally used to replace longer irons (3, 4, sometimes 5 iron). They have slightly longer shafts than those irons, so as an example, a 4 hybrid is closer to a 3 iron in distance. They are supposed to be easier to hit than fairway woods, but that is not true for ALL golfers...you have to play them to know. The hybrid sets that are marketed mostly to women golfers will often have 3-4-5 hybrid then 6-7-8-9-PW-SW irons.
It's a lot more "challenging" to shop for women's clubs since there isn't nearly as much in the stores. Don't know what part of the world you're from, but oftentimes you can find club manufacturers doing "demo days" at a local golf club or range. It is free and they will have women's clubs to hit. It will be all the brand new models, but at least you can get an idea of what style suits you.

Scott - I looked at the X-12's and they would probably work well for a beginner...relief on toe and heel so less likely to "dig". Probably a decent place to start.

Darla; First off, I'd like to welcome you to the site, and say I'm glad we have one more lady golfer to add to our membership. YOu might also want to look into components and having a set of clubs built just for you. This is exactly what I did for my wife. I built her a 460CC driver, and a full set of woods to go with a nice set of irons. You can have a very nice set of clubs built to your needs and wants for less money than you can buy a set of clubs in a store, if you know what to get. I'd be happy to help you in this if you decide to go in this direction.

You mentioned that you don't want a new driver with more than 10.5*'s of loft. May I ask you why? and can you tell my how far your carry distance is now with your current driver? The reason I ask, is that for most golfers, a higher loft driver will give them more distance and straighter ball fliight at the same time.

Darla,

Hi and welcome! I'm wondering why you would want to replace your 7-9 irons? That means that you are basically removing irons from your bag. Now, I just played a couple of rounds with my mom and her friends, and they, realistically, do not play irons at all. It's a wood or a wedge for them. Rarely, a longer iron that will be hit wedge distance. So, I know that this is common among women, but you have said that you've been playing for 20 years, and presumably have had a strong enough swing to play your irons. If that is so, I would think that you've just gotten off track with your swing, and a series of lessons might help more than new clubs. I am just speculating, of course...

Hi Don. Having a set of clubs built is definitely a direction that I am considering. I'm sure there are several websites that I could find to help me with this. If you could point me to a good one I would appreciate it. As to the loft on the driver, I get the ball up in the air with no problem. I have found with a higher lofted driver that the ball gets too much height and less distance. My average drive is about 200 yds with my 10.5 driver and about 175 with a higher loft. Finding a lower loft in a ladies club is not easy.
Darla