As an expert in the golf industry, I can tell you that really worn out irons can be hard to come by. It takes me back to the days of using my father's old clubs that had seen better days. But if you've really worn out your clubs, you can lose between 7 and 10 yards with them. Golf irons break down and wear out over time as their grooves and club face deteriorate from repeated use.
Golf technology is always changing rapidly, meaning that irons older than five years are likely to be outdated and don't perform as well as the latest models. McKee says that when the irons and wedges lose their grooves, the ball loses its effect when it enters the green. So, if you've had a sand wedge for years and you've noticed the ball bouncing and rolling instead of bouncing and spinning, you probably need a new wedge. Yes, drivers can lose distance over time. I admit that time frame can be reduced considerably if you're a tour professional like Bryson DeChambeau, who has the fastest swing on this year's PGA Tour at 133 miles per hour. Metal, even space-age materials made for combat aircraft such as titanium, can suffer from fatigue and wear and tear, and this is especially true when the manufacturing process stretches it extremely thin like with a golf driver.
Repeatedly hitting a golf ball, thousands of times on the thin metal face can leave it deformed, leading to performance problems and eventually cracking. As highlighted above, you don't want to go out and buy the most expensive golf clubs money can get in the hope that it will improve your game because you won't. When not in use, store the sticks in an area where they are protected from the sun and strong temperature variations. Of course, it's easy to blame your clubs when things aren't going well on the field, but if you use old technology or second-hand clubs that have already been used a lot, you're probably not giving yourself the best chance of success. When starting out in any sport, it can be a little confusing what equipment you need, but golf can be especially confusing.
Remember that even if you buy a high-end set of clubs, they will wear out over time so always protect and clean your clubs to keep them in the best condition for as long as possible. Golftec Vice President of Instruction Nick Clearwater says that for golfers who play regularly, they should replace their irons every 30 months to ensure their clubs have the latest technology that can give them better forgiveness, workability, distance, throw and stopping power. You can certainly learn to make the club shallow and make it less steep to address any issues but better-tuned golf equipment can be a quick fix. However, this can be a costly exercise and the used club exchange market is not always the best return on investment. As stated above, there is no real test to see if the stick rod is starting to lose flexibility because that's not really a problem.
Each golfer goes through one or two swing changes over the years to adapt to their improved swing, improve their swing or adapt to some physical restrictions that may have been introduced. Golf equipment technology is advancing at a rapid pace and manufacturers release new irons annually at worst every two years. So if you want to stay competitive on the course it's important to keep up with these advances in technology.
