24 replies to this topic

[BeTheBall]

My 12 yr son loves golf and plays once per month with me when he doesn't have baseball. He's only 62" and 90lbs but swings his senior flex sumo driver 93mph per monitors. He cracked his graphite shaft in ping moxi last week so time for upgrades. Those of you with junior experience, shall I find some used ladies irons or some mens regular per his swing speed? I'm guessing mens regular steel and just choke up like Kim? I'm guessing ladies would be right length but not strong enough? Would a hybrid set like Adams A3 be a good match or some old Ping G2's? Help?????

[Chappie]

You could go the older G2 route and then have the clubs trimmed down about a quarter or half inch. If he's 12 and swinging it at 93mph... well damn, that's pretty impressive!

[Zooko23]

He is 5'1'' and 90 pounds, the kid is prolly an eating machine too! A fair guess is how tall are you, cause he is only going to get bigger and stronger. Odds are if he sticks with it your going to end up replacing the clubs in about 2-4 years. Mens regualr shafts should do him fine. G2's are great clubs, actually if you get maybe a set of G5's he could play those till the cows come home. Where are you at in arizona? Get him into a junior program the first tee is great in Phoenix and if your in Tucson they have had some great golfers come thru there in such a short period of time. You got the right idea here dont hesitate. Keep him swinging baseball or golf, I did both

[lsutigerz2001]

When I was in the 7th grade, so 13 years old, I got a set of G2's full length. I about the exact same height and body weight. For a little bit I choked up but gradually just gripped them full length the older I got. Never had a problem hitting them then and still don't now. Awesome clubs especially for a young guy. I would also reccomend the HL(high launch) 3&4 iron at least. I may be in the market for some I15's this summer and my G2's are probablly 8/10. So if your interested in possibly going the used route keep in touch. Im not 100% sure if im going to get new clubs or not but it's a possibility.

[BeTheBall]

Isu....
If u get new sticks please let me know what you'd sell he G2's to us for, thanks.

[Vendetta]

Why don't you get him fit? It will give him the correct shafts and club. Most fittings are around $50

[VTHOKIES]

+1

[dpb5031]

BeTheBall, on 24 February 2010 - 12:09 AM, said:

My 12 yr son loves golf and plays once per month with me when he doesn't have baseball. He's only 62" and 90lbs but swings his senior flex sumo driver 93mph per monitors. He cracked his graphite shaft in ping moxi last week so time for upgrades. Those of you with junior experience, shall I find some used ladies irons or some mens regular per his swing speed? I'm guessing mens regular steel and just choke up like Kim? I'm guessing ladies would be right length but not strong enough? Would a hybrid set like Adams A3 be a good match or some old Ping G2's? Help?????

My 11 year old daughter is 5'1", 90lbs  and swings her driver about the same speed.  I had her fitted for Ping G5s, 6-SW.  We went with Nippon 850s in men's regular flex, 1/4" short of standard women's length and Ping's purple color code.  They have been fantastic for her.  She hits her PW 100 yards and her 7 iron 125 and has gained some more control since switching from ultra light graphite in her irons.  She also has the women's Ping Rhapsody driver (43 inches) and 19 degree fairway wood.  She also has two Cobra women's hybrids, one at 25 degrees and one at 32.
Take a look at the Ping G5s.  They sell brand new at a steep discount to Ping's current lineup and are excellent clubs, plus Ping's fitting system is second to none.

[oscarpepper]

when i was 12 i got custom cobra s9s they worked amzing get senior flex 1/2 inch short and should last like 2 years im moving on to the new taylormade 50% of at school or ap2s good luck

[Ping33]

I would go with the Pings and have them fit, proper lies and shaft lengths. You can adjust the clubs and replace shafts as they grow, which saves mom and dad some money. Unless they are really good and land a sponsorship.

[Ping33]

I just looked at the dates on this! I wonder what the op did? The kid is probably in college by now...

Edited by Ping33, 06 February 2011 - 10:26 AM.

[Brendon1215]

I would get him the women sized clubs. If you got him regular men sized clubs, they'd have to be cut down quite a bit. I'm 5'6", 5'7", 125lbs and I have men sized clubs and they're a little bit big on me even & I'm am 15 years old. But junior clubs would probably be too small for him.

[J_D]

Mens clubs, regular irons, and stiff in driver if he needs it, cut them down all by 1-1/2" so he will grow into them some.

[lukesmurf59]

I am a club addict and self proclaimed guru and let me say he needs a driver that is about  1 to 1-1/2 short depending on his wrist to floor measurements.  If he likes Pings stick with some of those and make sure to get them with the notch in the hosel so you can easily adjust the lie as he will need to as he grows.  Sure you may need to reshaft them later but that will just have to be done if you want him to be a successful golfer.  Get a driver that is 10.5 degrees with a men's stiff, but have him get fit, mess around with different bend profiles.  Take him to a club fitter and have him properly fitted.

Edited by lukesmurf59, 21 July 2011 - 10:22 AM.

[wakeusam]

G10 w/ Graffalloy ProLite Regular

[jollysammy]

My 12 yr old is 5'4" weighs about 110 and also comes from a baseball background.  He has tremendous hand/eye coordination and would swing larger bats in baseball.  He uses Mizuno Mp-33s with S300 stiff shafts.  He loses a little distance but makes up for it with tremendous accuracy, he just clubs up to make up the difference.

The advantage of the Mizunos is that they are grain flow forged, which allows the lie angle to be bent flatter.  His are bent 3 degrees flat which brings the toe down and gets him more square contact.  Yes, they are muscleback blades, which are slightly harder to hit and demand a consistent swing, but that is the benefit, they train you to have a good swing.

From the date of the original post, your son must be 14 now and probably a lot bigger.  What we found was that so many people seem to buy blades and then give up on them pretty fast, so we can usually pick them up for a great price.  My son's first set cost us $100 and $100 for new grips but were in great condition.  He now has 3 sets of MP-33s and a set of MP-58s.

[tmfool]

12yr old w/ 4 sets of mizuno "blades"?

really?

[jollysammy]

I know, but we bought them all used off ebay or from the local store.  He liked them so much, and since they don't make MP-33s anymore we got one set for practice, 1 for tournaments.  1 set has Precision Rifle 5.5 shafts which we thought might get him more swing speed, but they felt lighter and he tended to hit those really high, so we're saving those for later.  They're gorgeous though, the previous owner was a PGA pro who had them refinished at the Chrome factory, regrooved and new grips.  The MP-58s have graphite shafts and the lady who sold him the 1st blades took them in for trade in and sold them to us cheap.  All told, I've spent about 700 for 4 sets, which if we bought new, would be the cost of 1 set.  However, my wife is getting suspicious about the number of sets that are floating around, especially since she knows I'm no longer playing.

Forged blades like these Mizunos are pretty soft steel, so the down side is with heavy use they will wear down.  On the flipside, we notice that blades like this tend to sell for less in the used market since many buy them, but I guess realize they can't hit 'em and give up on them quickly.  His first set she charged me $100 for, and that's what convinced us to try blades.

[tmfool]

wise shopper...
certainly not here to call 12yr old names  -- but there is a term for people here w/ 4 sets of blades

[jollysammy]

tmfool, on 30 November 2012 - 09:28 AM, said:

wise shopper...
certainly not here to call 12yr old names  -- but there is a term for people here w/ 4 sets of blades

... , would it be better if I said, I needed to match the 4 drivers he has too? Not too mention the 4 putters, lost track of fairway woods and hybrids...

oh well, he's the golfer, I'm just the caddy and the club 'ho

[tmfool]

good dad -- he's fortunate to have support & opportunity

[tembolo1284]

Make a man out of him: strippers and forged blades.

[KYMAR]

OP I have lived your "what to do with my sons equipment needs" life for the last 3 years! My son will be 15 in march. Well my son has always tried to swing pretty much as hard as possible. So i decided to just let that happen because he never listened to me tell him to slow it down. That has paid off now, he has a quick tempo in transition and just whips the club through impact. he has grown so much in that time, he is a completely different person, he is now about 5'11 and weighs about 135-140. He is a die hard at working out, his upper body strength and definition change is shocking to see! I caused such a huge problem trying to baby him with his equipment even 3 or 4 seasons ago. Lighter shafts and grips, light flexes throughout. It was a total fail looking back because now, in that short amount of time, he is in between S and X in a driver shaft and I should have seen it coming. The mistake being that I should have let him swing hard with some s300 in his irons. Get him used to heavier equipment now because it will be a difficult adjustment IF YOU THINK he is going to be a strong/hard swinger. it's much more comfortable to go lighter than it is to go heavier later as he grows into knowing what he likes. heavy/stouter stuff is inevitable. My son was on a monitor the other day and his average SS after about 40 drives was 104,that is about an 8 MPH increase from late spring. . I am sure that by the end of summer he will routinely outdrive me if he continues to build muscle and I just continue to build dirty cake plates in the sink. he is getting used to stiffer and heavier shafts but it's taken a lot of trial and error and practice. So bottom line advice having gone through this age, have him swing clubs that are slightly stiffer, and slightly heavier than you think he should be. It may be hard for a while, but it will be much harder later when he has to move from some ladies flex graphite to something more stout and heavy. Obviously, these are only my thoughts based on my regrets with how i handled it and every kid is different. Regardless of all of this Have fun with your boy out there!

[jollysammy]

Actually, I'm in a hurry to get him to below scratch before girls become the only thing on his mind...

[tembolo1284]

jollysammy, on 30 November 2012 - 03:24 PM, said:

Actually, I'm in a hurry to get him to below scratch before girls become the only thing on his mind...

Keep pushing. The sooner he makes it the quicker you can retire hehe.