New irons or refinish some classics

Hi everybody,

I'm just getting back into golf after playing for my high school team 5-6 years ago. Back then at my best I was about a 12 handicap, but now I'm probably closer to 22 since I haven't played in so long. I have my old irons from back in the day, ping eye 2 black dot with steel shafts, but they are in pretty horrible condition. I know these are one of the best set of irons, if not THE best ever, but I'm not sure if I should refinish, regrip, and reshaft them or if I should just get a new set or irons. I've always hit them pretty accurately, but I never had much distance (on a good day I'll hit my five iron about 170 yards).

Any suggestions? The new irons I'm looking at include nike slingshot and cleveland ta6, but I don't know if they will be better than my revamped eye2s.

current set (a blast from the past!)
Ping TiSi TEC 8.5*
Cleveland quadpro 13*
Ping isi 19*
Ping eye2 black dot 3-LW
Taylor Made Nubbins putter WOOT

If you like them, stick with them. The heads are stainless so they virtually never wear out, and shafts might get a little rusty but that won't affect performance. The only thing you might have to do is regrip them, which is alot cheaper than buying a new set that may be of inferior quality.

As for you distance problems it might be that your clubs don't fit you. Your best option would be to go to a Ping fitting session and see what your specs are, and compare them to your current set. If they are a really bad fit you might be better getting a new set of Pings. At least if you stick with Pings you should gte a fair trade in on the eye 2's. Or if you go for another brand, sell them on ebay. Eye 2 are still in demand, especially black dots.

Welcome back to the game... You might find greater distance than ever with the old Ping Eye 2 Black dot because of the improvement of the ball - that according to the experts is the big reason for the distance increases. I had the very same clubs until this year and just wanted to get some newer models - with all the bells and whistles. So I got the Taylormade R7s. I find I am about 1 club longer with those than the Eye 2s. All that being said the Eye 2s are in my opinion, some of the finest game improvement clubs ever made (while I may have purchased new R7s I didn't trade in the Pings... They're in the basement -just couldn't part with them).. May want to look at more forgiving driver and fairway metals before you part with those irons.... Just my opinion and again welcome back to a game that to paraphrase Al Pacino in Godfather III: [I]"Just when you think you can get out they suck you back in" [/I] :)

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look for a ping center around here to get fitted. I was thinking of switching to graphite shafts for my irons for a little extra distance. The club faces and grooves seem really worn in so I was looking into refinishing them but that seems rather expensive.

I've been hitting my woods pretty well at the range, they seem to be pretty forgiving. I don't think I'll ever replace my driver. Five wood...that's another story! I can't wait to get onto a course. I want one of those new ping craz-e-lite bags. Pretty sweet!

you have clubs that are new enough to play with just fine... but you may want ot consider upgrading your driver thas about the only thing that is a bit behind just due to technology advances...

My real issue is not what type of club but the condition of clubs. My irons have been out of play for 5-6 yeears and they're pretty dirty. I haven't been able to get them really clean, which is why I was considering getting them refinished. Does anybody know anything about refinishing clubs?

Refinishing clubs can be a pretty expensive job. You may want to just get fitted like they said and get a ney set of Eye2s. That would be my suggestion anyway.