First sticks?

Cast your mind back, with all these weird and wonderful advances in golf equipment, can you remember what your first bag contained?
A second hand set from uncle Pete? Argos's best half set of Howsons? The odd rusty stick sourced from a boot fair?

What did you have and how did you come by them? (A year would be nice too)

Hi Tone -Only 1 answer to this question -PINSEEKERS!and of course a brass putter.Probably about 1980 from mates dad.
I still use a set of Slazenger XTC irons with original grips(soft hands)which must be 20 yrs old plus.

1/2 set in a Lillywhites sale, about 1976. Can't even recall the make.
Bought a full set of Titleist Lite three years later, still have the irons and 5-wood!

(It's not the clubs, it's the swing but I am having difficulty replacing the one I've got.)

A half set of David Low junior size blades, cut-down hand-me-down putter and woods.
Cheap pencil bag.

My first full set of matched irons were a 3 to 8 iron ladies Joyce Wetherhead.
Woods were generally a mix and match of old Ben Sayers

First adult set was 3 to wedge John Letters Fred Daly. This was the set with the plain stamped signature. Beautiful set of irons that had been previuosly been the starter set for two guys that had led The Open.

Had mine last year all 2nd hand. Set of nike vr cavity and a nike SQ sumo 5000 driver that I bought together from a friend. Had a cleveland VAS 3wood from eBay and a couple of Tom Watson adams wedges from an eBay shop, a wilson 3hybrid I got for 13quid from another eBay shop, completed with a titleist bullseye putter I found in my dads loft along with a powakaddy trolley bag.

Fast forward 14months not a single one of those items is in my bag now I've got:
Ping G20 Driver and 3wood, Cobra S2forged irons, Cobra trusty rusty wedges and just this week bought a TM Spider putter.

I am on the look out for a decent hybrid if anyone has some suggestions

womens wilsons at 10- so thats 87(there were my mums). then i moved on to hogan apex at 12 so 89(which constantly bent but i learnt to play alot of shots with them, the fact that many where such random lies and lofts could have helped me become a shot maker), then mizuno pro 2's,then titliest 980's now taylor made mc's

my taylor made r11 hybrid is amazing fader- 17 degree- but down to 16 degrees(as its adjustable)

mysti

I also got a set of ladies clubs for my first few rounds, they were a mix of real hickory and hickory style. After that it was a set of Howson juniors.

Nice , showing your age abit there!

Petron Impala junior blade half-set w/ a Slazenger 4-wood and a hickory shafted, brass headed blade putter w/ a leather grip.

Have fond memories of all of those clubs.

mystiroakey wrote:my taylor made r11 hybrid is amazing fader- 17 degree- but down to 16 degrees(as its adjustable)

Thanks Mysti

Am going to give that and a RBZ a try tomorrow along with a ping i20. Hopefullt one will find its way into my bag in time for Saturdays club championship qualifier

First set of my own clubs was a 21st birthday present from my folks ('82) of Slazenger B51 Mk II's - lovely pure blades that are still in the garage. Driver's like a clenched fist and the 5 wood only has a sweet spot I reckon as the head's so damn small.
Played them for 21 years before finally getting something with a little forgiveness (TM300's) though it was hard to find something that I liked the look of when stood over the ball.
Been thinking of getting myself a small set of hickory shaftededs (5 or 6) for fun at some point having had a go at the Old Musselbrough course a couple of years ago.
There's a very interesting website if anyone wants a different read -
Worldhickorygolfer.com
guy does a regular magazine style site with past ones available in the Archive option.

Doon, Kwini and I are of an age I suspect.

My first club was a cut down Hickory shafted ladies 7 iron I was 5 and the year would have been 1957. Battered that to death for a number of years, then the rest of the set appeared, would have been 10 or 11 - Dad also reshafted the 7 iron so I had 3-8, no wedges in the set, but the 8 iron had an incredibly sharp leading edge that could be used as a traditionl 8, or open the face wide to hit a flop shot years before it was 'invented', I never managed it myself, but my Dad could pop a ball vertical with that 8 and then catch the ball in his pocket.

I also used a lightweight wood that has brassie driver imprinted on the sole plate, I say has, because at this very moment, it is in the loft together with my next set, or at least what is left of a set of Henry Cotton irons with plastic coated steel shafts (at least the rust doesn't show)

Then it was hand me downs from my Father - a full set of Ben Sayers about 1966 - then joy of joys, a much coveted set of Wilson Staff Dynapower Fluid Feel (probably the sweetest clubs I have ever hit) I gave those to a dogs***t of a person who decided to leave my daughter, but kept the clubs.

The end result is I have numerous clubs in the loft that I find difficulty in parting with, much to the bemusement of my playing partners.

First club was a Ben sayers putter that my granny gave me when my grandpa died in 1996. I'm not sure how long he'd had it.
First set was bought for £30 in 1999, including a wooden headed 3 & 5 wood, Wilson 1200 cavities and a putter which never saw the inside of the bag. Used the irons until i got my first pay check in 2003 and i forked out for some second hand titleist 990 muscle backs. Picked up a set of mizuno mp32's last summer.

My first half set was bought from a golf course pro. I had all the even irons and a wilson 4 wood. He said it was better to get the even irons rather than the odds since the four was a bit easier than the 3 etc. "Double duty" wedge and a putter which looked like a wing nut. No idea what make they were.

I filled the gaps with odd clubs and til I had a full bag. Then my first ever full set were Ben Sayers Crown (because that's what my 5 iron was and I hit that quite well). The woods were not good - started to crack where the head meet the hosel, so had to send them back. Kept the putter for quite some time.

oldshanker wrote:...then joy of joys, a much coveted set of Wilson Staff Dynapower Fluid Feel (probably the sweetest clubs I have ever hit)...

Now, they were nice .

I had a bizarre selection of strange hickory shafted clubs that my parents cadged from all and sundry. Then, when they were sure that I could hit it, they bought me a second hand set of Dunlop Peter Thomson irons, and an old Wilson two wood.

I managed to break 100 first time out with them, so about a year later, they bought me a set of Tony Jacklin clubs - woods and irons. I didn't really get on with the driver, so I changed that for a Peter Alliss Slazenger driver (best driver I ever had). With that lot, and Ping Anser putter, my handicap went from 22 to 2 in four years.

And since then, it's been heading north again, at the rate of one per decade. By the time I'm 200 I'll be playing off 22 again.

I can never remember the woods but the irons have been as follows:

1. half set of Auchterlonie branded irons from the shop in St Andrew as a kid. These are still in the garage. Lovely blade putter as well.

2. my dad then gave me an old set of his - "Nicoll of Leven" Pinsplitters [nice clubs but I didn't split too many pins with them I'm afraid]

3. worked in the tented village at The Open at Lytham in 1979 [great fun - was lucky enough to do it the following year at Muirfield too] and, with the money I made there, I bought a set of John Letters blades [Bernie Gallacher Master Model]. Loved these clubs - still out in my garage. I look at them now and wonder how I hit the ball - they are about the width of an After Eight mint at the end of a shaft !

4. my dad then gave me a set of Mizuno MP19 which he was struggling to hit - really nice irons.

5. bought a set of Mizuno MX200 around Easter 2010 - 1st set I have had that have not been blades. Cracking irons.

mystiroakey wrote:Nice , showing your age abit there!

I am only in my twenties, I think the clubs were all my dad had in the attic at the time. They were certainly a tough introduction to the game.

I first used to use the clubs my old man had as a kid which had hickory shafts. I remember the 8 iron had a really thin profile (as said above) and didn't have grooves but had small drilled holes. I would guess that they dated from around 1955.

When I decided to play properly and joined a club he got me my Grandmother's Slazenger clubs and there was a seriously whippy persimmon 5 wood and a driver. I still used the hickory putter. This was in about 1986 but the clubs would have been at least ten years old then.

I only played for a year or so and cannot remember what I played with on the twice yearly trip to play but then in 2001 a friend asked me to play on a tour so I started again and bought a set of John Letters clubs from Nevada Bobs. They were cavity backs but turned out they were an inch shorter than normal (I found this out when I joined my local club and decided that they needed an upgrade). I don't think that I used a wood for a couple of years as they were considered best for better players. Funny how in a little over ten years that has all changed. Now if you are started you will end up with a bag of rescues.

I now have some Mizuno MX-20s which were reshafted a couple of years ago, a 20 year old Callaway 3 wood, a 5 year old R7 and some MD Golf wedges. The only newish stuff in there is the TM Rosso putter and a couple of Orka hybrids.

I have just realised that my set makes me sound like some sort of old fart who never upgrades as they think that its all just marketing guff! (I'm not....really)

Actually a pretty good story on my first golf clubs: a set of "First Flight" aluminum clubs. Just awful, but they were given to me by my brother who was handed them by Tom Weiskopf. My brother served in the Vietnam war with him and Weiskopf evidently got lots of clubs back then.

Shotrock's post reminded me of another set of irons lying in my garage !

Set of TopFlite irons which one of my brothers passed on to me. He had been given them by his pal who caddied on the European Tour for a while. He himself had been given them by Rolf Muntz [one of a number of players he caddied for]. They were about an inch longer than normal as Muntz is pretty tall.

I used them for a bit but were not my favourites to be honest. However, there was a really powerful 1 iron in the set which was great if you caught it flush as it flew for miles - but not pleasant when thinned on a winter's day !

McLaren wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Nice , showing your age abit there!

I am only in my twenties, I think the clubs were all my dad had in the attic at the time. They were certainly a tough introduction to the game.

yeah i bet!!

I suppose i was lucky that my dad bought my mum some sticks which never got used or i may have been in the same boat!

First set was a set of FAT shafts before Wilson brought out FAT shafts.

I can remember the shafts were aluminium.

From there I went onto Maxfli blades (Roberto de Vicenzo). I still have these in my loft, sometimes bring them out & play with them during the winter.