What’s your favourite book? What’s your favourite song? I hate those type of questions. They are simply impossible to answer and anyone who does have an answer must be a little, well quite frankly, simple. We all have favourites for different circumstances, different times in our lives, different relationships and places.
If someone asks me to name my favourite film or album or artwork, my mind always goes blank because there’s too much to consider to even begin thinking, and if I do, I start to get emotionally distressed. But when a clubhouse discussion the other week turned to, “the best golf club you’ve ever owned,” there were far fewer options to choose from and my mind went into a happy frenzy, recalling the best memories of my near 40-year golfing life.
In fact, that golfing life flashed before my eyes in about 30 seconds – My first thought was the Caddy 3-wood I had as part of a junior set that came in a red sausage bag. That thing was only about two feet long, but I can remember giving it a fair skelp. Given I was only about twice its height, a fair skelp was probably only about 95 yards, but hey.
As I grew up, I had a lovely set of Wilson Patty Berg ladies’ clubs, then I recall a beautiful Mizuno persimmon 5-wood that had belonged to the club pro for a time.
Later, there was a Ping Eye 2 driver that was a great favourite and a very early Callaway Big Bertha 1-iron that I could hit a country mile. My current set-up includes some great sticks. My Srixon ZX7 irons are crackers, and I’ve had the same Titleist 915 3-wood for nearly 10 years. But nothing in today’s bag made the cut when we decided to narrow our selections to the top three clubs we’d ever owned. These are the three I went for...
Titleist 905T Driver
This was my first choice. It was an absolute weapon. I have never driven so straight as I did with this driver. 9.5 degrees, a beautiful sleek head, smaller than a modern driver but still big enough at 400cc. A deep face and just so comforting to look down on. No fuss, nothing adjustable, only a super solid head that produced great feel and highly consistent results for its time. I only gave up on it when I had to accept, I was losing distance versus contemporaries who had moved on with newer head technologies.
A key reason I loved the club so much though was the shaft. Graffaloy Blue. It must be one of the best shafts of all time. For me, the stiff Graffaloy Blue produced the perfect flex and kick point, and it just always felt so incredibly solid. There’s a reason why Henrik Stenson keeps 10+ of them in his loft! Although his are a bit stiffer!
I had a nice Lamkin Crossline grip on the end of it (it’s still there) and I can picture myself, in my late 20s, belting dead straight drives with a nice low trajectory. I must take it out for a spin again.
Scottie Cameron Studio Style Newport 2.5 Putter
I invested in this beauty thinking it would be the last putter I would ever buy. It’s so pretty and I love the simple, coloured-dot graphics on the back. But I really love the short flowing neck which positions the shaft just fractionally ahead of the face. The feel off that face is so pure and when you’re putting well, there’s nothing to beat it.
I used it for about 12 years before, unfortunately, I started to putt not so well. In fact, I got a bit of a dose of the semi-yips. My right hand started to get too involved, and a putter designed for great putters started to be inappropriate for my twitchy stroke. I was loathe to admit it so took the sacrilegious first step of sticking a Super Stroke grip on her. Unfortunately, that didn’t work so I was forced to make the move to a more forgiving mallet-style putter.
But the Scotty still lives in the corner of my office. I look at it all the time and often take it out for a putt on the carpet. Occasionally, I think, ‘surely, I can make this thing work again – the feel is so incredible, I’ll forget my twitches and putt like a 25-year-old again.’ But I’ll take it out for one “bounce” round and remember why it’s now better off as an ornament and a reminder of more stress-free days on the greens.
Mizuno MP32 3-iron
I had to go for one club so opted for the 3-iron. I would have picked the whole set as these are the best irons I’ve ever owned. I acquired them around the same time as the 905T driver and played the best golf of my life with the combination. Not only are they a gorgeous, sleek design but they also offer an amazing blend of feel and forgiveness. They look like they shouldn’t be forgiving at all – blade like on the topline, but they actually let you off with all sorts of mis-hits and poor swings. I got down to my lowest ever (pre crazy WHS) handicap using those sticks, and I really trusted them. They produced a superb, low-spinning, penetrating ball flight. I played about 2000 rounds with them I reckon.
I made a mistake though, I originally had them with S400 shafts, but a couple got damaged and I decided to re-shaft them with KBS X-stiffs… I was playing super well at the time and, for a little while, they worked. But when my game dipped, they just did nothing anymore and I had to admit defeat and get a new set.
The reason I picked the 3-iron is that I remember this being an incredibly useful and versatile stick. I often used it from the tee, and I turned to it any time I needed to shape a shot round a dogleg or under some trees. It was a great tool.
Great memories and some great golf clubs. Please write in to let us know the best three golf clubs you’ve ever owned.
