- 9 minutes ago
Joe Ferguson picks out the 10 best golf clubs of all time all of which you can still buy today (for bargain prices!) as he demonstrates in this video.
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00:00Are you ready for an argument? Because I think that's where this video might be headed.
00:04So I test golf clubs for a living. So in my opinion, I like to think I know a little
00:08bit
00:09about them. So in this video, I've picked out my 10 favorite clubs of all time. I've picked
00:14two in each category. So I've picked two putters, two wedges, two sets of irons, two fairways,
00:19and two drivers. And I am intrigued to know what you think about my choices.
00:23So I've teamed up with Golf Clubs for Cash, one of the leading retailers of pre-loved
00:27equipment. I've put all the links to their various channels down in the description below.
00:32So make sure you go and check those guys out because they've provided me with some absolute
00:35gems to have a little look at today. Let's get started. And I want to show you my first putter.
00:40So my first choice, and you can probably see it already in my hands. It's one of the most
00:43distinctive looking putters of all time. It's the original Odyssey 2-ball. Now I can still
00:48remember in around 2001, 2002, when this came out, it was radical in terms of its look. But when you
00:55thought about it, it was pretty obvious. What better way to line up a golf ball than by having
01:00an extra two golf balls on the back and creating that visual for the golfer at address. It was truly
01:06a phenomenon. And those people who really struggled with alignment around that time found this an
01:09absolute godsend. So while this is a bit of a historical pick, it's worth looking around on
01:14all of the tour events you might be watching on TV, and you'll still see this type of head model
01:19in
01:19heavy usage. You'll see these two white balls still knocking around. The head shape may have
01:24changed. The insert may have changed a little bit, but the whole concept of this two ball,
01:28you'll still see in really heavy usage. Now I've picked this one up for some great value. This is
01:32only $65.99. It's in really, really good condition. There's barely a ding on it. It's also got my
01:38favorite insert of all time, the white hot insert. And again, when you think about this insert,
01:44it's successful, but it's obvious success. What better way to create a good cohesive feel than use
01:49an insert of the same material that's on the ball. So you haven't got any of those conflicting feels
01:54and it just creates a really nice impact sensation. I stand by this choice vehemently. This is one of
01:59the greatest putters of all time. Next up is a real big hitter. And this is arguably, in fact,
02:05not even arguably the most copied golf club of all time. This is the Ping Anser putter. Now,
02:11if you look around any website of most golf manufacturers, you'll see some derivative of
02:16this Anser style putter with the plumber's neck, the bumpers, and this head shape. It really was a
02:21phenomenon. This putter was first designed in 1966 by Carsten Solheim of Ping. And it was the first
02:28putter to really offer perimeter weighting. So moving some of this weight to the side to add
02:32stability on those off-center hits. Now this putter has chalked up, I mean, it says on the Ping
02:37website over 500 tour wins, including 19 men's major championships. And that's not even counting
02:45the copy wins of putters like Newport 2 from Scotty Cameron, Odyssey No. 2s that have won multiple
02:52majors and tournaments with the same shape. This is the winningest putter of all time. Now I can sit
02:58here and try and list off all of the people that have won tournaments with a Ping Anser putter or
03:03even
03:03a derivative thereof. But this video needs to end at some point. And I would be here all day
03:08listing your Sevys, your Tiger Woods, et cetera, et cetera. It has been used by almost everyone in
03:13the game. Now I've picked this up for a really ridiculous price. $38.99 from golf clubs of cash.
03:20You can own a piece of history that has won more golf tournaments on a professional level than
03:24anything else. So that was my putters. And we're going to stay in the short game now and onto some
03:28wedges. And I couldn't mention a wedge without mentioning the modern day boss of the wedge
03:33category from Mr. Bob Vokey. All of the Vokey design wedges have been incredibly successful from
03:39Titleist. The tour usage just speaks for itself. The numbers I see from tour reports week after week
03:45are pretty overwhelming even to this day. And a sign of a good wedge or any good golf club is
03:50the fact
03:50that it doesn't actually have to change much because what you had to begin with was pretty good.
03:55But I've had to pick a favorite because that's what this video is all about. And my favorite of
03:59the Vokey range of all time so far, at least, has been the SM4 when they started to get into
04:03that
04:03spin mill technology. Might be a nostalgic pick because this is when I was playing an awful lot
04:08of competitive golf. But I really love the look, the finish and the spin available from this
04:13particular SM4 wedge. Like I said, one of the great signs about a wedge or any golf club is the
04:19lack
04:19of change. And you can put this wedge down now up against an SM10, the latest variety or any of
04:25the
04:25the last SM9, SM8, SM7. And you still get a very, very similar head profile and some of the same
04:31sole geometry. Now, this one really surprised me for a wedge that's still in such great condition,
04:36particularly face wise, which I always look for in a wedge because you don't want too much sort of
04:40groove degradation. It's 40 quid, 40 pounds and 99 pence for a 60 degree wedge in great condition from
04:48Bob Vokey. You can't say fairer than that. So staying in the wedges. Now, many of you watching
04:52this won't even remember a time before Bob Vokey's dominance, but I can assure you there was a time
04:58pre-1999. If you were a player, you were probably playing a wedge by Roger Cleveland. And my favourite
05:05of the Cleveland wedges of all time was the Tour Action Reg 588. Now, I just pulled this out and
05:11showed it to Dan behind the camera. We were both looking at it and saying this could go on the
05:15shelf
05:15now and not look out of place. It's such a classy, simplistic looking wedge with a beautiful finish.
05:21It was used by some of the best players in the game. Ernie Els, who was widely regarded as having
05:26one of the best bunker games and short games of all time, was a big Cleveland user. And a little
05:30known fact is Tiger Woods in 1997, when he burst onto the scene at the Masters, he had two Cleveland
05:36wedges in the bag that week. Now, back then, there wasn't that much on offer in terms of bounce or
05:42grind
05:43options. So a lot of the work that you'd see on a sole was done on a tour van or
05:47on the grinding wheel
05:48manually. You just kind of got what you got, but that's how it was back then. But again,
05:53as I said, condition-wise, this is absolutely fantastic, as you'll see from the images up in
05:57front of you. And to be able to pick up a wedge in this condition that looks this great
06:01for $31.99, well, that's pretty extraordinary to me. Right, sorry to interrupt, but if you are enjoying
06:06this video, don't forget to subscribe to the channel, hit that like button and comment down below.
06:11Do you think I'm going wrong? Have I missed anything really obvious? I'd love to hear what you think of
06:15the best
06:15clubs of all time. So that's the short game taken care of for me. So we're going to up the
06:19ante now
06:19and move into some longer stuff with some irons. And the first iron I want to talk to you about
06:23is the Mizuno TP9. That's one for the purest. Don't shoot me here. I know this isn't going to be
06:29a mass appeal sort of an iron, but I couldn't put everything in a game improvement category. I
06:34couldn't put everything in the better player category. So I've tried to spread it out a little bit.
06:38And this is a really iconic iron. So let me tell you why. This came from 1986,
06:44and Mizuno just led the way with precision forging and the feel you get from these irons
06:50when I've been hitting them away. It's just like, I know it's cliche, but it's like butter. It just
06:54melts into the face and it's softer than anything I've hit. Certainly modern day. It's really impressive
07:00off the face. One thing to note from the visual is quite a lot of offset. Now, a lot of
07:05offset has
07:05been taken out of blades that you see in the modern day market. It seems to be a modern day
07:09player
07:10preference to see less of that hosel in front of the ball, but there is quite a prevalent offset
07:15here. And they've got a really boxy toe shape, which I love. It looks really familiar to me,
07:20having looked down on that for quite some time.
07:22Now I've picked a three-iron to pitching wedge set up here for $127.99. And to give you some
07:28idea of the
07:29type of player that played with this iron, we had the likes of Sandy Lyle, Alathabao,
07:34Faldo won a couple of majors with a TP9. So this really was one for the purist and the elite
07:39ball
07:40strike, which might not tick the box for all of you. So let's have a look at another set that
07:44I've chosen,
07:45which might do a little bit more for you. So my next one is from Ping, and it is the
07:49Ping
07:49I2, and I've gone for the copper beryllium model. So this was hugely sought after when I was a junior,
07:56I think mainly because of the visual. We've been so used to chrome or steel, that kind of silver
08:01finish. So to just see this lovely soft brown coppery finish sat in a pro shop, it just had
08:06everyone mesmerized. And it wasn't just the look that sort of took people's fancy. The performance of
08:12these clubs was incredible from a, I guess, from a game improvement standpoint. Now they weren't the
08:17first perimeter weighted golf clubs around there. So Ping, before that had the 69 Boulnamic iron.
08:24So that was really the first time that engineers decided to move weights around the back of the
08:29cavity to help stabilize things on off-center hits. But this was the one that really caught
08:34the attention of a lot of players and went in so many bags, whether that was at club level
08:38or even on tour level. So once again, I'm not going to try and list all the names that played
08:43these
08:43Ping i2 irons because we would be here all day. But one name that you will certainly recognize that
08:49you might not know was a Ping i2 player during his junior days was the great man himself, Tiger Woods.
08:55Now he didn't play the copper beryllium version that I've got here, he played the steel version.
08:59But it took me a little bit by surprise when I was doing the research for this video because I'm
09:03so
09:03used to seeing Tiger with a small forged shiny chrome blade that he's played for the bulk of his career.
09:08So I found it really interesting that he played a lot of his junior career with a more
09:12perimeter weighted club. Now I've picked this set up for £273.99, which I think is really good.
09:19But I want to know what you think. Would this set make your list of the greatest irons of all
09:24time?
09:24And do you think that £273.99 represents good value for money?
09:28Okay, so let's move up the scale now and into some longer stuff. We're going into fairway woods. And I've
09:33picked a fairway wood from Callaway because Callaway back in the sort of mid to late 90s were absolutely
09:39dominating the fairway wood market. And I think a few of you at home might be screaming at the
09:44television now about the Warbird. Well, I've gone a little bit past Warbird and I've picked out
09:49the Callaway steelhead. This is my absolute favourite Callaway fairway wood of all time. They took all
09:56the technology and aesthetic package that made the Warbird so popular both at retail and on tour,
10:03but just modernised it a little bit. And I thought they absolutely nailed the aesthetic here and nailed
10:08the feel in particular. Now it sat in that era when I was watching and playing an awful lot of
10:13golf and
10:14two of my favourite players played this particular fairway wood. Colin Montgomery, I used to love
10:19watching him pick fairway woods off with that gentle fade. And he actually used it in driver as well.
10:24And Annika Sorenstan was also one of my big favourites. And I remember her
10:28playing at the US Open with these fairway woods. I think she had three, five, seven and possibly
10:33nine at the time. And her green in regulation stats were off the charts. I used to love watching her
10:39hit
10:39these fairway woods. Now I've picked this one up at £19.99, less than £20 for an absolute all-time
10:47classic. I'll be intrigued to know if you've ever played it and what you thought of it.
10:51Okay. And next up in fairway woods, and this might be my favourite of all of the clubs that I've
10:57picked, truth be told, this is an absolute banger. This is a TaylorMade Rocket Balls fairway wood.
11:03Now this came around in around 2012 and took massive fanfare from TaylorMade, really heavily
11:10behind the marketing here. And the marketing was all about this little speed slot on the bottom,
11:16which they were claiming created exceptional ball speeds and actually marketed it, I think,
11:2017 yards extra was the tagline at the time. And a lot of the time, this sort of marketing can
11:26be a bit
11:27hit and miss, but this was very much hit. These things were absolute rocket ships. They came off
11:32so quickly and so many other manufacturers quickly adopted this kind of channel behind the face to get
11:38that extra flexing and added it to their fairway wood designs, which allowed them to try and keep up
11:43with what TaylorMade were doing. This fairway wood actually made me question whether I needed driver
11:48for a while. I had it in the Tor spoon version, which was 13 degrees, I think, and it was
11:53so hot
11:54and so strong that I wasn't really gaining much with driver. Now, this is around the time where
12:00TaylorMade started to really dominate the fairway wood category. That year in particular, 2012 and 2013,
12:07every bag you seem to look in seemed to have this little white headed fairway wood that we hadn't
12:12seen for a little while. It was really distinctive and whether they were Titleist players, Callaway
12:17players, you saw so many of these in bags all over the global tours. Now, the one I'm talking about
12:22here
12:22is the stage one version. They went on to have a sequel as so many great things do with the
12:27Rocket
12:27Balls stage two, but for me, the original was absolutely the best. And believe it or not,
12:32you can pick this absolute classic fairway wood up for just $63.99. Right into the big stuff. Now,
12:39this one might be a little controversial for some of you and contrary to the fairway wood I've just
12:44spoken about from TaylorMade, this one was actually a sequel. I've got the 2017 TaylorMade M2 driver.
12:52Now, this one's very personal for me. You might have a lot of other things going on in your head,
12:56so you might be thinking, why the TaylorMade M2? Well, I use this for four or five years and I
13:01test
13:02drivers for a living. And quite honestly, I don't know that I've ever played a driver that I like
13:07as much as this. The looks, I love the two-tone head, the black and white crown, the shaping was
13:13perfect. It had just for me, the optimal combination of penetrating ball flight to optimize distance,
13:20but with enough spin to help you hold your line. Also, heel and toe strikes, I just found them
13:25gobbled up so easily from this head and it was so widely used on tour. And one other thing that
13:31I
13:31think will back up my claim here is Rory McIlroy, who I think many would argue is the greatest driver
13:37of a golf ball of all time, has said on a few occasions, if he wasn't contractually obliged with
13:43anything else, he would probably still be playing the TaylorMade M2 driver. So I don't think
13:48I need to give any other explanation other than that. That's why this has made my list.
13:52And my final choice in driver is an absolute classic from Callaway Golf and the beautifully named
14:00Great Big Bertha. And this was Callaway's first ever foray into titanium, getting away from steel. So
14:06what it allowed Callaway to do is make the head significantly bigger because they'd be using a
14:12lighter material, but it was stronger. So they weren't sort of compromising any of the integrity of the
14:18head. Now back in the day, you put this down behind the ball and people were just aghast at the
14:23size of
14:24the head. Yet when you put it down nowadays, not that long later, it actually looks pretty tiny.
14:30This looks like one of the mini drivers you see from today. Now, from a performance point of view,
14:36it stood out from the ball speed and the sound. It was quite a high pitched, tinny noise. And just
14:41getting into that titanium market really caught a lot of players' attention. One of the things I love most about
14:47it
14:48and we speak about this on the Kickpoint podcast with my co-host Dan, names of clubs. So often now
14:54we go into the sort of scientific numbers and letters and trying to create something clever or
14:59just give it a good, fun, characterful name. Like we went from Big Bertha to Great Big Bertha to
15:05Biggest Big Bertha. It does exactly what it says on the tin and I love that about it. From a
15:09performance
15:10point of view, there were a few standout features of this. The titanium, as I said, being very light and
15:15very strong offered some really high ball speed. So people started to hit the ball a little bit
15:19further around this time. But what stood out for me was just the sheer size, comparative to what
15:25was available on the market at that point. When we gave people more head volume, confidence went up.
15:32And when confidence goes up, people started to swing at the ball a little bit more freely,
15:36not fearing the heel and toe strike as much because they had so much mass behind the ball.
15:40So not only did that free up the player to be able to swing more confidently and quicker at the
15:45ball,
15:45not fearing the heel and toe shots quite so much, it actually freed the manufacturers up to go longer
15:50in shaft length. Again, for the same reasons, because it wasn't so imperative that people in
15:55it bang off the sweet spot. So they could give up a little bit of control from a shorter shaft
15:59to
15:59extend the shaft and increase swing speeds, which again, in turn, help people hit it a bit further.
16:04With all that being said and all the pioneering technology I'm talking about here, I was pretty
16:09staggered to see this one available for £29.99. So there it is. That's my list of what I believe
16:16are the 10 best clubs of all time. Now, I said at the start of the video, get ready for
16:21an argument.
16:22And I'm sure you sat at home, a lot of you, furious that I've missed out your favorite club.
16:26And I do want to hear about it. Pop it down in the comments below. I really want to know
16:29what you
16:30think I've missed that's very, very obvious and what you would change. Now, I've really enjoyed the
16:34trip down memory lane. I think as much as anything else, the most outstanding part about this is the
16:40value on offer. We've seen drivers under £30. We've seen full sets of irons under £130. So if
16:47you're willing to look and go on websites like golf clubs for cash, you can really find some intriguing
16:52stuff. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.
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