The post This insane golf club collection will blow your mind — and it’s coming to auction appeared first on Golf.

The post This insane golf club collection will blow your mind — and it’s coming to auction appeared first on Golf.

Ryan Carey was skeptical. When you’re in the business of tracking down rare golf finds as the founder of Golden Age Auctions, potential consignors will do whatever it takes to get you to look at their collections, especially in a red-hot market.

Carey’s auction house has been the epicenter for some of the biggest golf collectible sales in recent months. There’s the Woods-used “Tiger Slam” irons and wedges that sold for more than $5.1 million, as well as a Tiger Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS backup putter that went for $393,000.

With collectors coming out of the woodwork to cash in on their golf collectibles, Carey has done his best to track down the rare one-of-a-kind items. That said, not every item is easy to spot. When a collector from Chicago reached out boasting of a massive club collection that needed to be seen, Carey initially balked.

“We first heard from this collector over two years ago,” Carey told GOLF.com. “If I’m being honest, it’s not that we didn’t believe him, but there was no way to understand the scope of the collection because it was so big. When we asked feeler questions about the best item in the collection or the sheer size — questions that usually help us weed out good collections versus decent ones — and whether it was worth the time and money to fly out, his answer would always be, ‘I’ve got so much stuff, you just gotta come see it.’ He told me it was good, but it was beyond what I could have ever imagined.”

When Carey finally made the trek from Boston to Chicago to check out the collection in person, he was greeted by more golf clubs than he could count.

“It’s at least four times the size of the largest club lot I’ve ever seen,” Carey said. “We have no idea how many clubs were in there — and we still don’t have an accurate number. It would take a week or more to count them all. It’s thousands and thousands of clubs.”

Only this wasn’t just any old club hoard. It was thousands of clubs, many of them never used, spanning from the 1800s to bags full of Cleveland 588 wedges and hundreds of mid-90s Scotty Cameron putter releases with plastic still on the grips.

“Some of the Camerons he didn’t even think we’d be interested in,” Carey said. “He wasn’t collecting them for their eventual value; this guy just loved collecting clubs. Most collectors focus on a singular area, but this guy has clubs from the 1800s and everything in between. That’s highly unusual that someone will collect from every single era like that.

“There are even old Ping Redwood City putters that Karsten Solheim made in his garage when he was still in California. We found the headcovers secured by rubberbands — and even those had calcified to the cover, so we had to get scissors. No one had touched them in three decades.”

While most of the clubs were retail releases, the collection did include a one-of-a-kind copper Scotty Cameron X with an incredible backstory. According to Carey, all but one head from the batch was stolen at some point in the ’90s. The lone head that remained sat atop putter designer Bob Bettinardi’s desk — Bettinardi machined putters for Cameron from 1993-98 — until the Chicago collector bought the head and turned it into a putter.

“It’s the only one that exists,” Carey said. “The story is that the others that were stolen were melted down because of the price of copper.”

Instead of cherry-picking the best items for a future auction, the collector made it clear it was an all-or-nothing deal. In other words, Carey needed to leave with the entire club collection or go home empty-handed. After agreeing on a price, Carey hired two semitrailers to transport the clubs from Chicago to a warehouse in New York.

“For localized delivery at his house, the two big semis had to divide up into several smaller truckloads,” Carey said. “It took dozens of people to help move — and a month to get them all to the warehouse. We actually had to get a new warehouse to house them all.”

With the clubs now in place, Carey is ready — on Aug. 31 — to unveil the largest golf club-only auction on Golden Age’s website. The auction will feature a little bit of everything, including an impressive number of Ping and Scotty Cameron putters.

“Some people think we’re releasing too many Scotty Cameron and Ping putters at one time, but we kind of think the market is ready for it,” Carey said. “We want to make a big splash and make people take notice of this auction, as opposed to letting it trickle out and selling a dozen at a time.”

As for the rest of the clubs that don’t make the auction cut, Carey confirmed they’ll likely be donated or moved in bulk at a later time.

“The cool part about this collection is we keep finding something interesting and different each time we go through the inventory,” he said. “There’s definitely something for everyone in here.”

Want to overhaul your bag? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below!

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The post How to build an easy-to-hit beginner set of golf clubs appeared first on Golf.

The post How to build an easy-to-hit beginner set of golf clubs appeared first on Golf.

For beginner golfers, having a proper set of clubs from the start is one of the easiest ways to quickly see improvement, but with so many choices in the market, it can be a confusing process to put together a set. Whether you’re new to golf, getting back into it, or are looking to help someone else enjoy the game, consider this your quick start guide to putting together an easy-to-hit affordable set.   

If you want to make things really simple and extremely affordable there are a lot of great package sets on the market, but this guide is intended for those that are shopping piece by piece.  

Let’s get started

(This is a simple baseline for beginner golfers, and individual needs based on strength and swing speed will vary greatly)

One of the most important, yet overlooked aspects of putting together a beginner set of clubs is to make them easy to hit and have them inspire confidence when using them. This means lighter shafts and more loft — there is no quicker way to hook a new golfer than to watch them hit a solid shot that takes off down range.

Another element of instilling confidence is to eliminate the hardest to-hit clubs from the start including any fairway wood with less than 15° of loft, and any wedge over 56°. There is no need to start beginner golfers with more than 12 clubs.

What should be in the bag

Driver: Most people default to a fixed hosel driver for ease of use, but what’s better than having a mini club fitting tool in your bag? I suggest starting with a driver that has between 10-12 degrees of loft and using the hosel to your advantage to make the driver as easy to hit as possible: The ultimate guide to adjustable drivers.

Longest fairway wood: Notice how I didn’t say 3-wood? Much like the driver, I would suggest going with an adjustable hosel design and not starting with anything less than 17°-18° of loft in the standard setting. Since most golfers use the fairway wood a lot to advance the ball, the more loft the better when hitting shots from the fairway and the rough. I also highly suggest that most beginners don’t use a club longer than 42” in this part of the bag either.

Next Fairway wood / Hybrid: Look, long irons arent fun to hit even for seasoned golfers, which is why having a secondary fairway wood or a hybrid will make the game a lot more fun.

Fairway Woods

For the average beginner, the likely winner for this part of the bag is either a 7-wood around 21 degrees or a hybrid around 22 degrees. I default recommend the fairway wood because the longer shaft makes it easier to generate more speed to get the ball in the air.

Iron set: Go big or go home. When it comes to irons you want the biggest and most forgiving set of cavity back irons you can possibly buy. Cavity back irons have a lower center of gravity to help get the ball up into the air faster especially on thin shots — a common miss for golfers trying to lift the ball into the air.

Wedges: There are a lot of options when it comes to wedges and none of them are wrong, it just comes down to finding one that helps the most around the green. I suggest a sand wedge with 54°-56° as a great place to start, and just like with irons, a cavity back design is going to help.

It’s also worth considering is a chipper to help really simplify shots around the green. For all the diehards out there that say you should learn with “real clubs” — I say a chipper is a real club and can most importantly help people have more fun!

Ping ChipR

Check out Fairway Jockey for Ping’s ChipR.

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Putter: You want to get basics down as quickly as possible so try not to get too picky when it comes to a putter. If there is one that fits your eye for one reason or another go with it.

With that being said, if you have carte blanche I would highly suggest a 2-Ball style putter for easy alignment. Since these have been around for close to 20 years you can find lots of previous models that offer tremendous value.

Golf Balls: Look, you’re going to lose some golf balls so it’s best to start with a value-priced, low-compression two-piece ball. Also for whatever ball you are using, stick to them — this will help create consistency and build an understanding of feel which can be greatly altered by going back and forth between different balls.

Now get out there and play some golf!

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below.

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The post These are the most common clubs that tour players carry in their golf bags appeared first on Golf.

The post These are the most common clubs that tour players carry in their golf bags appeared first on Golf.

Golfers tend to think a lot about what clubs they use. The newest models from the various brand names, and all the specifications around the new tech. But they don’t always stop to think about which clubs they should use.

Instruction

Most golfers need the basics (a driver, putter, wedge, irons, etc.) but often that’s when the creativity runs out. Which is a shame, because often the best way to get the best out of one specific club is to complement it with astute selections around it. Pros know this well: They’re constantly tweaking which clubs make their way into the bag each week, depending on different weather and course conditions.

But what’s the most common set makeup among the pros? With some of golf’s biggest names rolling through the European Tour’s DP World Tour Championship last week, the European Tour’s official equipment survey SMS broke it all down and shared the results on Instagram.

Here’s what they found.

What clubs tour players use

26 percent of tour players use a driver, two fairway woods, an iron set starting at a 4-iron, and four wedges, which makes it the most common setup on tour.

23 percent of players, according to SMS, have almost the same set make up, but have just one fairway wood instead of two, and in its place have either a utility iron or a hybrid.

The next group of players, about 16 percent, have three wedges in their bag, commonly a pitching wedge, 54 degree and 58 degree, rather than a pitching wedge, gap wedge, sand wedge and lob wedge.

The remaining 25 percent of players have a smattering of other combinations, usually around the top of their iron set: Some opt for a 3-iron, others for more hybrids in place of their long irons.

What clubs should you use?

As for what you should use, the answer, somewhat unsatisfactorily, is that it depends. It all has to do with plugging in the gaps of what you need. But there are a few universal thing every golfer needs to consider:

1. Find your gaps

If you haven’t heard of “gapping” before, you should learn up on it ASAP. Gapping is, simply put, the distance gap between each of your clubs. It should be relatively consistent through the bag. If there are big gaps between some of your clubs, that’s a good sign you need to re-jig your set makeup.

2. Specific roles for fairway woods

To answer the question of how many fairway woods you should carry, you should first ask yourself where you plan to use them the most. Pros, generally, look for their longest non-driver clubs to play specific roles: One off the tee for the holes where driver is too tight, and another to use from the fairway for approaches into long par-5s. Whether that comes in the form of two fairway woods or one fairway wood and a driving iron depends on the conditions you generally play in, and your performance with each.

3. Versatility with wedges

Whether it means carrying three of four wedges, your highest-lofted clubs should give you across-the-board versatility. That means you should be equally comfortable using them for full wedge shots, pitch shots, or finesse shots close to the green. Dustin Johnson has a particularly interesting three-wedge setup in this regard: A pitching wedge and 52 degree, which he uses for wedge shots, then a 60 degree wedge, which he uses almost exclusively around the greens.

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The post Where to store your clubs this winter (and one place they should never go) appeared first on Golf.

The post Where to store your clubs this winter (and one place they should never go) appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Stuff Golfers Should Know, a new GOLF.com series in which we’re taking a departure from traditional swing instruction to impart upon you all kinds of other useful golf (and life!) wisdom that is sure to make you the smartest, savviest player in your foursome.

***

The temperature gauge on your car has been hanging around the freezing mark for the last few weeks and there’s a thick blanket of snow all over your front lawn. It’s about this time of the year where most golfers — unless you’re lucky enough to live in the Deep South or along the West Coast — shelve their clubs and press pause on regular trips to the course. (Time to dust off that snow shovel!)

Spring will be here before you know it, but in the meantime, it’s important to find a safe, secure spot for your sticks over the next few months.

Some golfers will tell you the trunk of your car is a sufficient storage spot for your clubs, but we’d caution against leaving them in there year-round. For starters, you’re just asking for them to be stolen.

Accessories

Not to mention, the trunk of your car isn’t climate-controlled, which brings moisture into the picture. Speaking from experience, grips don’t like unnecessary moisture. The same can be said for those high-end putters — think old-school Scotty Cameron Newport — that can rust without proper care.

And unless your clubs are more than a decade old, don’t worry about moisture or heat wreaking havoc on the epoxy that keeps your driver or iron head attached to the shaft. The resin is meant to withstand extreme temperature changes, so your clubs shouldn’t come apart when you return to the course.

That being said, it’s still worth seeking out a storage location that doesn’t go through extreme temperature swings. If you have a free spot in a closet, store them inside during the winter months. Doing so will also give you a chance to go through your bag and take inventory of your gear and accessories from the season — or to easily grab your putter to work on your stroke in the hallway.

Maybe your grips are starting to wear and it’s time for a fresh set of handles. Maybe there’s a thick layer of dirt covering the grooves on your lob wedge that needs to be removed. Simply finding a good spot to store your clubs is a great opportunity to give your sticks a bath and once-over before they go into storage.

Who knows, maybe you’ll find a banana at the bottom of the bag that otherwise would’ve gone unnoticed for the next few months.

More than anything, finding a suitable storage spot beyond the trunk of your car is a simple task that’ll extend the life of your clubs and ensure they’re ready to roll come spring.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2021? Visit the expert fitters at our sister company, True Spec Golf.

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The post How the largest owner of private golf clubs is fighting against Covid-19 appeared first on Golf.

The post How the largest owner of private golf clubs is fighting against Covid-19 appeared first on Golf.

Not only is Covid-19 a deadly and unpredictable virus, it is an isolating one. As it continues to rage throughout the U.S, we find ourselves more (physically) distant and detached from our community and loved ones. However, one organization in the golf community is taking matters into its own hands, and coming together to help those in need.

ClubCorp — the largest owner and operator “of private golf and country clubs, city and stadium clubs in North America” — has hosted 75 blood drives at over 50 of its clubs across the country. According to David Pillsbury, CEO of ClubCorp, members and employees have donated over 2,300 pints of blood to the American Red Cross — which will save 7,500 lives.

Tournaments

“When we came to our membership, we said, ‘Hey,  Covid-19 has created a major problem that no one has really thought much about, and that is … no one is going to give blood,” Pillsbury said. “And as we reopen the economy and people start driving again and there’s accidents and there’s elective surgeries and so forth. There’s going to be a massive need, with an amazing shortage, because blood has a shelf life … So predictably our members quickly embraced this as a very important local community activity that would make a difference in their communities.”

Pillsbury credits the immense generosity found in these clubs to the people who comprise them. As Pillsbury notes, it is important to recognize these clubs not solely as establishments, but “a nexus of citizens in a community — and communities are made up of moms and dad’s business people and business owners and employees and retail establishments, charitable establishments.”

When asked about the origins of the idea to donate blood, Pillsbury credits a somewhat unlikely source: his wife.

“[My wife and I] were sitting around in quarantine,” Pillsbury recalls. “And we were talking about, ‘what can we do to use this platform to make a difference? And she said, ‘How about if [ClubCorp] organizes a blood drive?’ And I said, ‘Brilliant idea!’”

Pillsbury envisions a future where ClubCorp members continue to embrace this trend of philanthropy, with the goal of becoming one of the American Red Cross’ top contributors. His hope is likely to become a reality, as there are already 15 more blood drives planned for ClubCorp partnered clubs.

Pillsbury also hopes to see other clubs and organizations follow suit, and use their platform for the social good.

“I would encourage other clubs to reach out to us and we’ll hook them up with the right people at the Red Cross. And they can join the cause. This is certainly not something that’s exclusive to ClubCorp, and we’d like to see all clubs participate, and see the industry become a major partner for the Red Cross,” Pillsbury said. “I think we could make a huge impact.”

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The post Costco Kirkland Signature golf wedges appear on the USGA conforming list appeared first on Golf.

The post Costco Kirkland Signature golf wedges appear on the USGA conforming list appeared first on Golf.

Back in June, Costco broke ground with its Kirkland Signature KS1 putter, the company’s first release in the golf club space. Now, it appears the company is expanding further into the sphere with wedges.

Recently, three Kirkland Signature wedges (52, 56 and 60 degrees) appeared on the USGA conforming clubs list, which means they are approved for play.

While we don’t have much information yet on the wedges by way of design, price or public release date, the entry on the USGA list does provide some helpful hints. For example, the wedges have the words “milled face technology” on the back cavity, and “steel” engraved on the hosel. If you were wondering whether the Kirkland Signature wedges had milled faces, that appears to answer your question.

Additionally, the manufacturer of the wedges is listed as Southern California Design Company, which is based in Carlsbad, Calif. Very interesting.

Unfortunately, anything beyond what’s available on the USGA website at this point would be pure speculation. We don’t know for sure if they are coming to retail, or how much they will cost. For reference, though, the KS1 putters sold for $139.99 in-store and $149.99 online.

Stay tuned for more information from Costco about its Kirkland Signature wedges.

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The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: The differences between men’s and ladies’ golf clubs appeared first on Golf.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: The differences between men’s and ladies’ golf clubs appeared first on Golf.

On the latest episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast, co-hosts Tim Briand, Andrew Tursky and Jonathan Wall answer a mailbag question inquiring on the differences between men’s and ladies’ driver heads.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: The differences between men’s and ladies’ golf clubs appeared first on Golf.

The post What’s in the bag? A peek at everything in golf legend Mickey Wright’s bag appeared first on Golf.

The post What’s in the bag? A peek at everything in golf legend Mickey Wright’s bag appeared first on Golf.

Mickey Wright, who passed away in February at age 85, famously had a swing so beautiful that even Ben Hogan called it the best he’d ever seen.

Wright captured 82 LPGA Tour events, second all-time, despite retiring from full-time golf at 34. Thirteen of those wins were major titles, including a forerunner to the “Tiger Slam,” as she held all four majors concurrently between 1961 and ’62.

Like the equipment relics from her competitive days (which you can see below) Mickey was pure class.

1. 1962 Wilson Staff irons (3-iron, 6-SW)

2. Acushnet Bulls-eye putter

3. FootJoy golf shoes

4. Hand-sewn armband (Used as training aid)

5. Wilson Staff tour visor

6. 1962 Wilson Staff driver, 3-wood and irons (2- and 4-iron)

7. 1959 U.S. Women’s Open player badge (major win No. 3)

8. Wilson Staff golf balls

9. Wilson driver, 3-wood headcovers

10. 1956, 1958 LPGA membership cards

11. Wilson shag bag

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The post Honma’s new TR20 drivers feature top-notch style and speed appeared first on Golf.

The post Honma’s new TR20 drivers feature top-notch style and speed appeared first on Golf.

“Badass.” That’s how Justin Rose described Honma’s TR20 drivers, which are designed for Tour-level players and those in the zero-to-12 handicap range. Offered in 440cc and 460cc profiles, the TR20 ($650) is built for both speed and adjustability.

Gear

Honma designers added vertical grooves behind the titanium face to thin out the structure and make it noticeably faster. The face design is paired with a lightweight titanium frame — highlighted by an ET40 ribbed crown and carbon composite sole — that netted an impressive amount of discretionary weight. The savings was then used to add three adjustable weight ports in the sole to dial in spin, shot shape and swingweight.

Each Takumi-shaped profile offers an adjustable hosel for independent loft, lie and face-angle adjustments, and comes standard with the company’s premium Vizard shaft.

What’s under the hood?

Carbon fiber for days: Most of the weight savings (36g) can be found in the carbon-fiber sole and crown sections.

Where it all begins: The driver is built around a feathery titanium frame that allowed for the creation of adjustable weight ports.

Taking it to the max: Honma’s ET40 ribbed carbon-fiber crown boasts the thinnest construction in the golf equipment industry.

Honma TR20 driver

Purchase your own Honma TR20 driver here.

Buy Now from us.honmagolf.com

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The post Blade or cavity-back? What you can learn from the iron setups of the best PGA Tour players appeared first on Golf.

The post Blade or cavity-back? What you can learn from the iron setups of the best PGA Tour players appeared first on Golf.

Putting a set of blade irons in the bag comes with a dream. That dream is filled with flushed shots that dance around tucked flagsticks as the sun reflects just perfectly off their beautiful, no-nonsense chrome finishes.

When a blade iron is hit precisely on the sweet spot, there’s a feeling of nothingness at impact as the ball sails toward the target. It’s heavenly.

However, blades—also commonly called forged muscleback irons—have a darker side. Contact one just a fraction off-center and you’re left with tingling fingertips and an errant ball flight.

Forged muscleback irons are popular for their craftsmanship, sleek profiles, thin toplines, sharp edges, supreme bag appeal and superior feel on center strikes. They also provide high-level golfers with the control to manipulate trajectory and ball flight.

Some golfers view blade irons as a stamp of approval that they’re good golfers, while others simply appreciate them as functional works of art. Due to those temptations, blades end up in golfers’ bags when maybe they shouldn’t.

“I know of no reputable clubfitter in the industry that would recommend a forged muscleback blade for a player over a 10-handicap,” says Tim Briand, senior vice president of GOLF Magazine’s sister company True Spec Golf. “An abundance of research on a multitude of platforms has proven that your ability to strike the ball in the same place on the face is reduced drastically as skill set diminishes.”

Irons

Due to their design—thin soles, thin toplines, reduced offset, center of gravity placement and overall smaller profiles—there’s a small margin of error for off-center strikes when hitting blade irons. Therefore, this category is reserved for high-level players who hit the sweet spot time after time. Not only that, blade irons are best utilized by high-speed golfers who create enough spin and height to hold the green and to execute curved shots with precision.

“For the same reason a blade is more difficult to hit, it’s beneficial for those who hit intentional bad shots, or shape shots,” Briand says. “Blades can help control distance or trajectory. If you’re a shotmaker, what you’re basically doing is intentionally mishitting shots, using variability in the face to intentionally make the ball curve.”

PGA Tour winner Kevin Na, however, doesn’t see the appeal.

“I can’t play a blade,” Na says. “It’s too difficult, and I’m a pro golfer. I think a blade goes shorter. Off-center hits aren’t going to perform as well as cavity-backs. I don’t see a reason why you’d want to play a blade. I really don’t. I played blades in my early 20s, maybe one year—when I was dumb. But I’m wiser now and play a cavity-back.”

Cavity-back irons offer technology that provides forgiveness, distance and height, helping golfers play more consistently and hit their target more often. Slightly larger profiles and thicker constructions can hinder a bit of control, or workability, but that’s relatively irrelevant for the majority of golfers.

What about a happy medium? In recent years, many top-level golfers use blade short irons (where control is imperative) and cavity-back long irons (where forgiveness and distance play a larger factor). Mixed-iron setups, as they’re called, can help golfers find the best of both worlds.

Be careful, though, because there’s a danger with mixed sets, too. Since cavity-back irons are designed with forgiveness and distance-increasing characteristics, it’s possible that identically lofted irons from the two categories fly different yardages. This means that loft-gapping throughout the set can become difficult when combining blades with cavity-backs in your setup.

To offset this issue, golfers and club builders resort to bending irons to a certain loft. Remember, though, that bending irons weak or strong can affect bounce and overall performance of that particular iron. That’s why it’s best to either consult a professional clubfitter or seek an iron manufacturer that designs blade and cavity-back sets that match for this very reason; there are plenty of options available on the current market.

Also worth noting is that in the modern market, the lines between blade and cavity-back constructions have blurred. Numerous companies have developed irons that look like blades (Ping iBlade and TaylorMade P790 for example) but offer the forgiveness of their cavity-back counterparts. This in-between category is a great place to start if you’re considering blade irons but worry they’re not forgiving enough.

Buy New Irons from Fairway Jockey

Get a brand-new set of custom irons from all the major club manufacturers.

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The post Blade or cavity-back? What you can learn from the iron setups of the best PGA Tour players appeared first on Golf.