35 replies to this topic

[zakkozuchowski]

Ho, ho, no: My ho'in days fade to black

By Sean Foster-Nolan

GolfWRX Contributor

We've all been there. Some of us, maybe most of us are still there. We buy, sell, buy, sell, buy, sell new equipment. Incessantly -- with abandon.

Obsessively. We can't help ourselves. We swear that's it. No more. Yeah, right. Yet, and yet. We continue to do it. Why? Oh, we have all kind of reasons. Good, irrational reasons. I have to have the latest stuff. I can't help myself. Uh-oh.

Do you find yourself getting your latest purchase(s) delivered at work? Finding places around the house to squirrel your clubs so your wife doesn't find them? Buying clubs, and before you even receive them, already getting ready to sell them because you want to buy something else? Do you buy things on impulse? Do you visit the BST forum regularly? Do you have these long cardboard boxes scattered all over your garage, breeding like Tribbles.

Of course you do.  You have entered ... no, not the Twilight Zone ... but the Buy, Sell, Trade, Gotta Have It Zone. How many times have you said to yourself, "This is it!"? Lots. Do you want to stop? Sometimes, "Yes!" Sometimes, "Hell no!" Anyway, I decided to stop ho'in (cue for laughter). Yes, really. Scoff if you want.

What Led Me To This Point

My garage and the Tribbles. Well, not Tribbles really but dozens of golf club boxes, neatly stacked liked brown legos. It kind of just hit me. They were always there before, mocking me. It was a few weeks ago while rummaging around that I overheard them speaking.

"Hey Callaway, there he is," said TaylorMade.

"Yeah, who's coming next I wonder," responded Callaway.

"I don't know," said Ping. "The gang's all here."

"Maybe another BSTer?" asked Adams.

This went on for a while. I pretended not to listen. Eavesdropping is impolite. Walking back to the house I realized I was contemplating another major purchase, site unseen, without even having hit them. How many times have I done that in the past? Too many.

I emptied the shopping cart on my computer. Sat back, and sighed. Getting up I went back out to the garage, loaded up the Tribbles and dropped them off at the recycling center. I then drove to the nearest golf shop and started hitting irons. Over a period of a few weeks I hit and kept hitting different brands. But, I also kept shopping around on the computer. Hey, I couldn't help myself. I came so close to buying a set of Callaway Tour Authentic X-Protos. Over a period of three days it took everything I had not to buy them. Whew.

"Alright, I'm going to make one more purchase, but I'm going to do it right this time."

What Makes Me Think I Can Stick to It

Yes, I've been fit before, many times. But what made this fitting different is I decided to go for a much more thorough one. I opted for a Ping nFlight. A good two hours where the "i's" were dotted and "t's" were crossed: length, lie angle, launch angle, spin rate, shafts, wedge grind, grip size, proper gapping, the whole shebang.

What an eye opener. My previously fit irons? Not a very good fit it turns out. Wrong shafts. Wrong grip size. Wrong lie angle. Previous driver? Wrong shaft. Face too closed. Wedges? Now a bit flatter with a nice "T" grind. I now will have a hybrid that doesn't hook, and two fairway woods perfect for my needs.

The fitter even recommended a premium ball and a mid-range ball for me. Nice. I learned a lot about my clubs (sometimes it is the equipment ... I discovered why I was hooking it so much...the shaft and lie angle of my current clubs had a lot to do with it). Given that fitting it's in the best interest of my game to keep this new set of clubs. I learned not only how important it is to get fit for a set of clubs, but how important it is to get properly fit for a set of clubs. I know, sounds obvious right?

So, if I'm tempted to buy another set of clubs, or another driver, I know I'll be asking myself a number of questions: will they have the right shaft? what about the lie angle? how about the length? how about the grip size? what would the spin rate, launch angle be? For every new set of clubs I'd buy in the future, I'd have to go through another two hour fitting. Yes, it was a great experience, but I don't want to go through it on a semi-regular basis, e.g., every couple of months. Sure, I could make a pretty good guess on what I'd need, but I'd always have some doubts. Every OEM clubs specs are a little bit different.

What the Future Holds?

Good question. I'd used to buy and sell clubs like a lot of people change socks. But you guys know the drill. Most of you pretty much do the same thing. I'll still follow the latest and greatest, but I think I'll be able to contain any impulses. Am I fooling myself? I hope not. I think not. No.

The gear's on order. It's time to focus on my swing.

What I Was Fit For

After trying a number of clubs and shafts, this is what it all came down to in the end:

Ping i20 10.5º Ping TFC 707D

Ping G20 16.5º 21º Ping TFC 169F

Ping i20 23º Ping TFC 707H

Ping i20 5-PW Ping CFS

Ping i20 50º 54º 58º CFS

Ping Anser Milled #1

5-UW +1-inch, Yellow Dot

54º 58º +1-inch, Blue Dot, "T" Grind

Mid-Sized Grips

Anser Milled #1: 35.5 inches, Blue Dot, 4º loft, AVS Mid-Size Grip, Slight Arc

[TheMoneyShot]

Very interesting read here.  I almost felt that I was reading about myself.

[pdaero]

Interesting read, undoubtedly. I love trying new clubs and everything, but I don't want to buy multiple clubs (nor do I have the finances to) - I want to find something that works, and stick with it. I've had a Rapture V2 driver since August and had an XVS6 in mind, and it performed decently well but felt a little too light. I took it back in and had a strip of lead tape placed low and back on the sole, and it's increased the swing weight, feel, and sound and really turned this driver into a bomber.

I'm considering getting fit for a set of i20s as I really like the appearance and could use the extra bit of forgiveness. I'm thinking of having the 6-9 bent one degree weak and having the Bounce grind put on the entire set as I don't have that strong of a downward hit - plus, the 1* weak on the irons would add more bounce to the already high-bounce sole.

[puttingmatt]

Nice fictional story !!!  You and everyone else buys on impulse !!!
That's what we do !!! You'll be back to your hoing ways !! Just ask
  any wrxer here !!!  Not certain if its an addiction, or an affliction .

[Thrillhouse]

meh, i just like to try new and different stuff, I don't view this as some sort of compulsion as some others seem to.

[puttingmatt]

Thrillhouse, on 11 March 2012 - 09:55 PM, said:

meh, i just like to try new and different stuff, I don't view this as some sort of compulsion as some others seem to.

Yes i see that from your signature, wink wink,  I have used that
line on  the Mrs. Lol's

[Thrillhouse]

puttingmatt, on 11 March 2012 - 10:00 PM, said:

Thrillhouse, on 11 March 2012 - 09:55 PM, said:

meh, i just like to try new and different stuff, I don't view this as some sort of compulsion as some others seem to.

Yes i see that from your signature, wink wink,  I have used that
line on  the Mrs. Lol's

Im still using some of the stuff in my signature too!

[cameron4givin]

Haha i say that everytime I trade "I'm done for at least 2years" then a month goes buy and $1200 later I'm trading again and the sad part is I only play once a month job won't let me I work a 7 to 7er Mon - sat and Sunday is for church and the fam so I go to the golf store at night hit every club the guys don't mind who work there cause they know ill be in around a month from now trading driver to putter and bag I give you 2 months till ur titleisted out only this time your gonna have to get your clubs in your specs and that'll cost ya an extra $600 Haha please God deliver me from my strange addiction

[Sean2]

I'm the one who wrote the article. A lot of what you guys say is the truth. Addiction? Affliction? Hobby? Will I want a new set in two months? Do I just want to find something that works and that's it?

It's kind of strange (is that the right word?), when you know the names of every employee in every golf store in your area (and have some of their email addresses).

Anyway...I had a great fitting...the clubs fit me like a pair of hand made shoes...I have no "logical" reason to need anything new.

Right? :-)

Because you guys who've been through the same thing ask yourself the same question?

[Conrad1953]

Sean, I'm on your side. Actually, after store fittings, self
fittings and general tinkering I've decided to do the same.

I mentioned earlier in another post on i20s that I plan to
call the Ping NFlight Center in Alpharetta, Ga and finally
get a REAL fitting when I get home.

I've never had the luxury of playing with clubs fit to me
with that great of detail. I'm looking forward to it.

I don't have anything against hoing. People do it for
their own reasons. I've kinda lost interest in it.

[cameron4givin]

I meant no disrespect I didn't know you felt that strongly ,if I hurt your feelings I'm truly sory (realy I am) I just was having some fun with it,sharing or venting about our similaritys,I was mostly talking about myself and yes I consider what I have a strange addiction .that being said I hope you have found what you have been searching for and you keep your clubs 10 years.God bless you.

Edited by cameron4givin, 12 March 2012 - 12:45 AM.

[tsupo]

" I came so close to buying a set of Callaway Tour Authentic X-Protos. Over a period of three days it took everything I had not to buy them. Whew."


hahhhaahah

i did!

[Johnny T]

Nice write-up and I wish you luck!  I say the "luck" because I did the same thing this past fall.  I went through a driver, fw, hybrid, and iron fitting.  The fitting was an outdoor fitting (well, it was more like what you see on the Nike Oven commercials - you hit onto a range out of a small 'garage' building type thing) with a Zelocity doppler system.  It was a great experience even if it did cost me quite a bit of money.  Going in, I thought the fitting would do two things - 1) it would tell me what I should be playing and 2) it would stop my hoing tendencies.  Well, the fitting is 1 for 2...it told me what I should be playing.  I am still hoing just like before, although now I am more picky about what I buy (gotta have a shaft I like).  So even though I hit my current clubs great, I still can't resist the urge to try the 'latest and greatest'....you know, just in case it is!

[wolffer25]

So funny you mention this...I spent several hours this weekend cutting up all of my cardboard boxes I had stacked in my basement!! For some of us that cannot play as much as we'd like, buying clubs stimulates our love for golf. I've slowed down on my impulsive buying, but I still have quite the collection. Does anyone else have the need that I do? To buy several backup drivers, with different shafts/specs. So that I can take one of the backups for a spin when I'm not hitting my gamer very well. But, it ends up collecting dust in their basement/garage until the next new club grabs your attention? Vicious cycle, that is no doubt.

[Honman]

I'm in the process of doing this at the moment. I've always changed sticks a lot. Now I'm going through the fitting process and will stick with my next set of sticks for the season, with the aim to improve my golf.  It sounds stupid but ive never had 13 matching grips, and i think that will make a differance.  My bag should look like the sig below although I'm going through one last session before I finalise.

Edited by Honman, 12 March 2012 - 08:02 AM.

[tbomb]

"buying clubs stimulates our love for golf"

Beauty line, I can relate to this...

Nice article OP, but....wait until you get your mid-side mitts on a set of nice forged irons. Then you'll need some legendary mizuno forgings, that won't be legendary. Then you'll have a SCRATCH that needs itched...might as well get some AR1's to compare to the pings..."just for fun"

I ask myself, with some many places to try clubs in the US, why bother ho'ing? The closest golf store to me is 3 hours away, and won't have much for X shafts, let alone high end X shafts.

IMO, the BEST part of the bst is the high end shafts you can get...for 1/4 off retail and much cheaper then OEM's offer.

[Swingie]

Soooo.....a crackhead just gets a big bag(or however its sold!) of crack, uses it and then swears off crack for the rest of his previously crack filled life....Im from the show me state so....

I think you are still on the euforia of a crack hi and the fever need hastnt hit you yet with new gear,new marketing,new space age materials like zolex etc.

Please update in a little while, I feel you tho...altho I aint makin no promises!

[Ness]

Good luck in your efforts to quit hoing!

I am a member of this community, so obviously I am very interested in equipment. I don't really view it as an addiction, but it can be a slight problem when you think about how much money is lost through the trade-in game. I just try to ask myself how much I would benefit from having a new club and the answer is usually not very much. I also try and view older model clubs as ones with character and if you can get into that mindset then it can help you. That being said, I haven't fully been able to commit, but I am working on it. I have had my 735's for almost three years and my Vokey wedges for about the same. Although a combo set of 712's would look nice in my bag, I doubt I would benefit very much from the upgrade. The fairway and hybrid spots reveal my weakness though and I'll continue to work on those. I finished runner up in my club championship last fall to a man with worn out MP 33's and a 510 TP. Confidence can be so much more important that technology sometimes, and that's a lesson I'm still trying to teach myself.

[enis750]

Thrillhouse, on 11 March 2012 - 09:55 PM, said:

meh, i just like to try new and different stuff, I don't view this as some sort of compulsion as some others seem to.

agreed
dont have many "hobbies" so ill spend my cash as fits
if im playing good in the season, ill usually stick w whats working
if its clearly NOT working, then ill change

winters are tough tho, ill admit
new gear coming out, and time for shipping it here etc.....

[tbomb]

I think a junkie has a better chance at kickin the powder then most of us do ho'ing btw


just saying

[jfzhorseman]

wolffer25, on 12 March 2012 - 07:49 AM, said:

So funny you mention this...I spent several hours this weekend cutting up all of my cardboard boxes I had stacked in my basement!! For some of us that cannot play as much as we'd like, buying clubs stimulates our love for golf. I've slowed down on my impulsive buying, but I still have quite the collection. Does anyone else have the need that I do? To buy several backup drivers, with different shafts/specs. So that I can take one of the backups for a spin when I'm not hitting my gamer very well. But, it ends up collecting dust in their basement/garage until the next new club grabs your attention? Vicious cycle, that is no doubt.

So True.

[Sean2]

Conrad1953, on 12 March 2012 - 12:00 AM, said:

Sean, I'm on your side. Actually, after store fittings, self
fittings and general tinkering I've decided to do the same.

I mentioned earlier in another post on i20s that I plan to
call the Ping NFlight Center in Alpharetta, Ga and finally
get a REAL fitting when I get home.

I've never had the luxury of playing with clubs fit to me
with that great of detail. I'm looking forward to it.

I don't have anything against hoing. People do it for
their own reasons. I've kinda lost interest in it.

I have nothing against it either Conrad...I've done enough of it and had a lot of fun, but after a while it started getting well, a bit ridiculous. For me anyway. Enjoy your fitting. If it was anything like mine, you'll have a blast. :-)

[Sean2]

cameron4givin, on 12 March 2012 - 12:41 AM, said:

I meant no disrespect I didn't know you felt that strongly ,if I hurt your feelings I'm truly sory (realy I am) I just was having some fun with it,sharing or venting about our similaritys,I was mostly talking about myself and yes I consider what I have a strange addiction .that being said I hope you have found what you have been searching for and you keep your clubs 10 years.God bless you.

Cameron, I took no offense and didn't take your post the wrong way, because there was a lot of truth in what you said...at least a good description of me in the past. Heck, I never had to regrip clubs before because I never held onto them long enough. :-)

Thanks for your good wishes. I hope I stick with them too.

[Sean2]

tsupo, on 12 March 2012 - 12:53 AM, said:

" I came so close to buying a set of Callaway Tour Authentic X-Protos. Over a period of three days it took everything I had not to buy them. Whew."


hahhhaahah

i did!

LOL! You'll love them! :-)

[Sean2]

Johnny T, on 12 March 2012 - 07:47 AM, said:

Nice write-up and I wish you luck!  I say the "luck" because I did the same thing this past fall.  I went through a driver, fw, hybrid, and iron fitting.  The fitting was an outdoor fitting (well, it was more like what you see on the Nike Oven commercials - you hit onto a range out of a small 'garage' building type thing) with a Zelocity doppler system.  It was a great experience even if it did cost me quite a bit of money.  Going in, I thought the fitting would do two things - 1) it would tell me what I should be playing and 2) it would stop my hoing tendencies.  Well, the fitting is 1 for 2...it told me what I should be playing.  I am still hoing just like before, although now I am more picky about what I buy (gotta have a shaft I like).  So even though I hit my current clubs great, I still can't resist the urge to try the 'latest and greatest'....you know, just in case it is!

Oy vey Johnny! My fitting was in a similar set-up as the one you described. I can only hope I stay 2 for 2. I'll have the latest, I'll have the greatest. Maybe I can ho golf balls to keep me busy.

[Thrillhouse]

Im ordering a 14.5 degree rbz tour 3 wood with a diamana kalii 80x in it tomorrow. will it work or wont it? isnt that the fun?

[Sean2]

wolffer25, on 12 March 2012 - 07:49 AM, said:

So funny you mention this...I spent several hours this weekend cutting up all of my cardboard boxes I had stacked in my basement!! For some of us that cannot play as much as we'd like, buying clubs stimulates our love for golf. I've slowed down on my impulsive buying, but I still have quite the collection. Does anyone else have the need that I do? To buy several backup drivers, with different shafts/specs. So that I can take one of the backups for a spin when I'm not hitting my gamer very well. But, it ends up collecting dust in their basement/garage until the next new club grabs your attention? Vicious cycle, that is no doubt.

Amen Wolffer. I didn't have backup drivers/clubs so much as I would recycle them. Once I decided to get a new club(s), I had to get rid of the "old" ones. It was a compulsion with me. Vicious cycle? No doubt.

[Sean2]

Honman, on 12 March 2012 - 07:50 AM, said:

I'm in the process of doing this at the moment. I've always changed sticks a lot. Now I'm going through the fitting process and will stick with my next set of sticks for the season, with the aim to improve my golf.  It sounds stupid but ive never had 13 matching grips, and i think that will make a differance.  My bag should look like the sig below although I'm going through one last session before I finalise.

Funny you should mention that about that about the grips, I was thinking the same thing today: for the first time I'll have the same grips on all my clubs too. My aim too is to focus on the swing. Good luck with your last session!

[Sean2]

tbomb, on 12 March 2012 - 08:23 AM, said:

"buying clubs stimulates our love for golf"

Beauty line, I can relate to this...

Nice article OP, but....wait until you get your mid-side mitts on a set of nice forged irons. Then you'll need some legendary mizuno forgings, that won't be legendary. Then you'll have a SCRATCH that needs itched...might as well get some AR1's to compare to the pings..."just for fun"

I ask myself, with some many places to try clubs in the US, why bother ho'ing? The closest golf store to me is 3 hours away, and won't have much for X shafts, let alone high end X shafts.

IMO, the BEST part of the bst is the high end shafts you can get...for 1/4 off retail and much cheaper then OEM's offer.

Thanks Tbomb. I understand what you're saying. There is a lot of great stuff on BST. A lot of "just for fun" equipment at great prices.

[Sean2]

Swingie, on 12 March 2012 - 10:09 AM, said:

Soooo.....a crackhead just gets a big bag(or however its sold!) of crack, uses it and then swears off crack for the rest of his previously crack filled life....Im from the show me state so....

I think you are still on the euforia of a crack hi and the fever need hastnt hit you yet with new gear,new marketing,new space age materials like zolex etc.

Please update in a little while, I feel you tho...altho I aint makin no promises!

Well said Swingie, and I realized that when I wrote this. I'll keep you updated.