Are Your Golf Clubs Too Old? My 20 Year Old Irons Weren’t But ..

I recently walked into a golf club fitting carrying what some might consider golf club antiques – a driver from 2010, wedges from 2009 and irons dating all the way back to 2004.

Not that long ago I’d always felt pretty comfortable with how far I hit the ball but playing partners were now consistently outdriving me, sometimes by 40 to 50 yards.

At par 3s, they were routinely reaching for irons two clubs higher than mine. My ego was taking a bit of battering, and those questioning looks at my “vintage” equipment weren’t helping.

There is no evidence however that golf clubs deteriorate over time simply due to age. Well maintained clubs will last a lifetime.

Also I have always been wary when it comes to new clubs. Every week there seems to be a new ‘revolutionary’ golf club design being launched that will make ‘the difference’.

Golf clubs don’t change that often surely I kept telling myself and I’ve always been a big believer in improving via the practice fairway rather than via the credit card.

But there is no doubt that golf tech advances over the last couple of decades, in particular, have been rapid.

And what was happening out on the course was making me increasingly question whether my clubs’ age was the culprit behind my distance struggles.

Were my 20 year old irons now just too old?

What my fitting experience has confirmed for me very clearly though is that it’s not the year clubs are released that matters!

Golfing Focused Takeaways For Time Pressed Golfers

• Age Doesn’t Matter – Well-maintained golf clubs don’t deteriorate simply due to age. A properly cared for club will last a lifetime.
• Performance Over Age – Focus on how your clubs perform, not when they were made. Even pros like Matt Fitzpatrick and Fred Couples still use decade-old clubs because they work for their games.
• Watch for Warning Signs – Monitor significant changes in your game, physical wear on clubs (worn grooves, damaged faces, slippery grips), and whether different clubs are hitting similar distances.
• The 90/10 Rule – 90% of your performance comes from technique and preparation, only 10% from equipment. Focus your time and money where it will have the biggest impact.

Focusing On The Age of a Club is Not the Answer

Golf club design and technology has exploded since the turn of the century so it’s natural to wonder if your current clubs are maybe now too old.

But if you’re thinking it is time to replace them it’s not the age of your clubs that should determine if they have become obsolete. Assuming of course you are not playing with an old hickory set from way back!

As here’s the thing about modern golf clubs – they are built to last a long time.

The science backs this up.

Take titanium for example – a key material that is combined with very strong and thin steel in a lot of irons.

It has a half-life of around 60 years which in practice means your clubs aren’t going to suddenly “expire” or lose their engineered performance characteristics just because they’ve been in your bag for a few years.

“The basic construction of the metal head and metal or carbon fibre shaft is tested … at forces higher than most golfers can ever achieve and for thousands of impacts to make sure that unless there is some manufacturing defect the club itself will last longer than the golfer swinging it.”

Paul Wood (Ph.D), VP of Engineering at Ping Golf

So unless you are wrapping your clubs around trees on a consistent basis or leaving them out in the rain for weeks it highly unlikely that they will ‘go bad’.

Keep giving them a wipe clean and dry with a towel every now and again and when struck properly near the middle of the club face they should do pretty much what they always did.

In short it takes a lot to break a golf club and there is no evidence to suggest that clubs weaken over time and become ‘too old’ simply by virtue of their age.

Would you game an old driver, say 20 plus years old?

Is performance still good enough with old technology?

Here are my numbers with the old C4 graphite driver. pic.twitter.com/fSWlyLIbFx

— Mark Crossfield (@4golfonline) February 22, 2023

But Your Clubs May Not be Performing for Reasons Other than Age

Now that’s not to say some newer clubs may not give you a few extra yards, be easier to hit or give you some more spin.

Golf technology hasn’t stood still and the last couple of decades especially have seen significant advances in club design and materials.

So if you’re clubs are more than 5 years old, you might be missing out on some improvements in:

• Forgiveness on off-centre hits
• Spin control, and
• Distance potential.

But – and this is crucial – the key is to focus on the ‘performance’ of your clubs and not the manufacturing date when determining if it’s time to replace them or not and what with.

And my experience with what ‘changes’ were needed with my own ‘old’ clubs shows this perfectly.

• The reason I wasn’t hitting the ball far with my 2010 Mizuno MP-630 driver was because the loft was wrong for my swing and my attack angle was negative.
• My 20 year old irons weren’t performing because the shafts were too heavy and not because they were too old.
• And there was nothing wrong with my old 2004 Odyssey White Steel putter that simply flattening the lie angle couldn’t solve.

The only clubs where ‘age’ worked against me really was with my 2009 wedges where the grooves had worn slightly due to consistent use over time.

As a result I was told I would be losing spin on half wedge shots and in the rain compared to a new club.

But as this proves when you’re deciding whether it’s time for an upgrade the release date isn’t the key consideration.

And this is further backed up by the fact that even the top pros will keep using old clubs as long as they are still performing as our in-depth analysis of the clubs the best players on the PGA and Champions Tour showed.

For example:

• 3-time Champions Tour winner Doug Barron for example continues to use his 4-year old TaylorMade Stealth driver because he says he “hits it 15 yards longer than anything else I tried.”
• Fred Couples’ Callaway FT-i Squareway 3-wood is not only potentially the oldest fairway wood in professional golf but still features the same shaft as when it was originally built for him in 2008.
• Seven-time Senior Major Champion Steve Stricker has used his Odyssey White Hot 2 putter almost exclusively since 2006.

And former US Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick has recently decided to return back to his 2013 Ping S55 irons after a short period testing out much newer Ping Blueprint S and Titleist T100 irons because as he says in the most simple terms “… they work me”

So if some of the best players in the world still continue to play old clubs it feels like amateurs are on safe ground ignoring age as a prime consideration in any replacement club decision.

Will New Clubs Make a Difference? 3 Tests to Help Get You Started

When it comes to the interlinking questions of whether your clubs are too old or when is the right time to replace your existing set or whether new clubs will make a difference the answer depends on two things:

1. How your old clubs have been used to date and
2. Whether their performance is now below the standard available from newer clubs?

In other words are you losing out on a bunch of improvements because you are faithfully sticking with your old clubs?

Lots of people will automatically say the answer is to get a professional fitting and I must confess I have a brilliant result personally by doing just that, albeit with costs attached.

That is of course a legitimate option but some golfers are wary of custom fitters, thinking it’s a just way for the manufacturers to sell more clubs more often and complain that when they do go regularly they seem to get different results every time.

Before a fitting becomes a consideration also there are three straight forward ways to evaluate whether it’s time to consider some newer clubs.

1. Watch Your Playing Partners

Have you noticed your regular playing partners:

• Consistently hitting it further than before?
• Getting more accurate off the tee?
• Pulling out different shorter clubs than you on similar shots?

While their improvement might simply come from more practice, take a peek in their bags and ask them if they’ve changed anything.

If you spot newer equipment and your clubs are significantly older, you might be missing out on technological advances in both distance and forgiveness.

2. Track Changes In Your Own Game

While how you stack against your regular playing partners may be affected by some new equipment it’s also possible that it’s due to you no longer swinging the club you way used to.

Your swing evolves over time and your equipment needs change with it.

So consider if your game has dropped off a bit:

• Is your club head speed lower than it used to be?
• Are you struggling to get the same distance?
• Do you find your mishits being punished more severely?

Modern club technology, especially in head design and shaft materials, can help compensate for lost speed and consistency.

An upgrade might help maintain your standard rather than trying to fight against less forgiving older clubs.

Or if your game has improved:

• Has your swing changed significantly?
• Are you now finding yourself hitting very different shapes of shot with different club types?
• Do some of your old clubs feel very heavy or light compared to others with your upgraded swing?

Sometimes better play demands different equipment.

And while it’s tempting to stick with what’s working, your improved swing might benefit from clubs that match your new capabilities.

Very different outcomes with different club types, whether that be hooks with one club but big slices with another, can also be sign that your existing clubs are not working for you as well as they might.

3. Look For Physical Signs of wear and tear

And some of the different results you notice in your game can also be a sign of simple wear and tear.

As even well-maintained clubs eventually show signs of use.

If you’re playing a lot, or have chipped your irons by playing once too often from rocky cart paths, it stands to reason that this could affect how long your clubs last and how often you should replace them.

So check for:

• Dents or damage on driver faces
• Worn grooves, especially on wedges that cause the ball to spin less than it used to
• Shiny, slippery grips that require you to hold the club tighter to feel like you’ve got control of it.

There are different things to look out for in different club types, and we go into how to know when it’s time to consider replacing them in another post, but another thing to look out for is loft and lie changes.

If you hit a lot a balls from practice mats on driving ranges these can change over time and especially with forged irons.

And one way to notice this is that you find yourself hitting different irons roughly the same stock distance with a good shot.

This is exactly what happened to me when simply as a result of regular use the manufactured 3º gap between my 3-iron and 4-iron had narrowed to two degrees causing them to frequently carry similar distances.

So while some elements of wear and tear such a big dent or chip can be obvious others may take a slightly keener eye to spot.

Ignore The Marketing Hype!

One additional thing we would say when it comes this topic is this – don’t be fooled by the marketing hype of the golf club manufacturers!

While golf technology has made remarkable strides over the decades, not every new release is the “game-changing breakthrough” manufacturers claim it to be.

A cursory search of the web and social media will show you numerous examples of older clubs that are well over 10-years-old performing just as well as new ones.

So think about this way:

• 90% of your performance comes from your technique and preparation
• Only 10% comes from your equipment
• Your skills will likely decline before well-maintained clubs do.

If all your clubs predate the 2000s however you are undoubtedly leaving some easy club wins on the table.

And if your clubs are a decade old like mine were it’s probably a useful exercise to test them against new ones with a club fitter or by yourself on a launch monitor to see what the numbers say.

But even then rather than immediately spending a lot on the latest clubs think about whether you play enough, and are serious enough about getting better, to justify it.

Also remember there are loads of used-club outlets where you can look at buying clubs that are 2-3 years old and which can still represent a good upgrade on what you have.

Always save your money where you can and make sure any time you replace clubs it’s going to be worthwhile.

Do the maintenance basics on what you have – keeping the club heads and grips in good order – and don’t change just for the sake of it.

It may be that money spent on lessons to improve may be a better bet than a change of clubs!

Before You Go ….

If golf clubs don’t really ‘go bad’ what about the piece of equipment that every golfer uses for every shot – golf balls. Check out our next article to see what happens to them!

Do Golf Balls go Bad? Have you Got a Dime or 5p?

Or if you want whether your golf clubs are too heavy rather than too old read on here.

Are My Golf Clubs Too Heavy? Trust Your Feelings

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