Within the last year or so, I’ve started keeping tabs on golf clubs on craigslist. Not surprisingly, I mostly see worthless Costco sets and/or overpriced brand name gear. Every now and again, though, I find an underpriced gem. It started last summer, when I snagged a mint condition Odyssey White Hot Tour #9 putter with an upgraded grip for a mere $35. I followed that up the next week with a Nike VR wedge with an upgraded grip for $30. Both are currently in the bag and have saved me a stroke or two a round- not a bad return on a $65 investment.
Having filled the need for a different putter and a more versatile lob wedge, I’ve been looking for a decent set of irons to serve as my back-ups and to offer up to out-of-town guests. While I do still have my old set of blades that I used in college, I don’t think it would be good for my psyche to try to play them again. So I’ve been looking for some sort of game improvement set that still appeals to lower handicappers. In other words, I was hoping for some sort of “tour” cavity back- ie a set of Taylormade R7 TPs or a set of forged cavity backs. My spending limit was $100, which isn’t much when it comes to a set of irons. I figured I don’t really need another set of irons and that it would have to be an out-of-this-world deal for me to spend money on a set of clubs I would rarely use. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever find a decent set for less than $100.
Then came a rather innocent post about a set of “player’s game improvement” irons for $60. I clicked on the link and was shocked to see a picture of a set of Ben Hogan Apex Plus irons. I was lucky enough to hit one of these on a driving range once back in high school. I remembered hitting a 5-iron and being floored by how soft it felt. This was exactly what I was looking for. The picture in the ad, however, only showed the cavity side of the irons- there were no shots of the faces, grips, or shafts. I called and left a message with the seller. He called back several hours later and a couple hours after that, I was in his garage with an iron in one hand and my baby boy in the other. The seller lived in the wealthy town of Lake Oswego. He said I would find his house if I looked for the red BMW convertible in the garage. His car was sparkling, the clubs were not. They were caked in dirt, but there were no visible dings or gouges or scratches. Beyond that, he had just had them regripped last year with Golf Pride Tour Wraps. The shafts were the original Apex 3s. I picked up the 6-iron. The clubhead looked bigger than I remembered, which was a good thing since my bogey-golfer father would likely be using this set in a month. It also felt a touch shorter than my set, again, not a bad thing considering my father and I are both 5’6”. I gladly handed over the $60 and hoped that when I scrubbed the dirt off, I’d have a set of forged cavity backs in pretty good condition.
That evening, I gave those irons a thorough cleaning. The clubs were in even better shape than I thought- they were in nearly mint condition. As I had suspected, they were a quarter inch shorter than my set, and the clubheads were larger (specifically, the clubfaces are much taller in the area between the middle of the face and the hosel). The next day I took them to my buddy, who is an assistant pro at the country club where we worked together. He adjusted the lie angles one degree flatter and refused to accept any money for his work. What a deal!
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