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I recycle use clubs. Go green and give them to me!

If money is not an issue, I'd be looking at a set of Miura's. At least for irons and wedges. I like the look of the CB-301's. I've never actually hit them, but the reputation is first rate and they look like what I want a club to look like.

Working from a budget, I'm not big on any one brand. I'd settle on a price range and try everything in the store on a launch monitor and see what felt and worked best for me.

If you are going non-budget I might be your perfect match. I can speak directly about high end custom clubs.

1) Miura- I have played them and I love them. Most every day golfers don't know the name Miura but I would guess every tour player does. Miura is often the guy behind the guy. When you read a player like Tiger is playing prototype irons that usually means Miura made them and then stamped the club with the other manufacturers logo. Miura uses a 5 step forging process that was the same technique hundreds of years ago used to make samari swords. They are beautiful and soft!

2) Scratch Golf- as custom as you will ever get. I will attach a photo of my Scratch Custom set of irons and wedges. The kicker with Scratch...everything is custom and handmade. You want copper clubs done...you want custom grinds and stamps...done. I just ordered 3 custom Scratch wedges with custom skull and crossbone stamps and custom grinds for my specific game.

Scratch can make the most unbelievable irons for the right price. Scratch just signed a deal with a 300 year old gun manufacturer in England to perform handmade custom engraving like you see on custom shotguns. Can you imagine how amazing that set could be?

As for woods I would stick with the big boys but invest heavily on your golf shafts. My current driver shaft is a Oban Kiyoshi Purple xflex. I am not longer, but I am straighter than ever. My brother in law bought the same shaft and added 20 yards to his drives.

I think the most important thing is to get FITTED. Doesn't matter what brand you end up with. As long as the club, shaft and head combinations are the best for YOU and only a fitter can do that. Don't just go to your regular box store or pro shop and have them take some measurements. Go the extra step and get fitted on a launch monitor trying different combinations.

Just because you might like the way a club may feel, look or sound does NOT mean it's what's best for you. A perfect example is when I got fitted for a complete set last year. I hit Adams irons farther but the spread pattern was all over the place. I was about 5 yards shorter with Titleist AP2's but my spread was within about a 7 yard circle. Same with the driver, I was banging a Taylor Made Rocketballz Tour driver 15-20 yards further but I was all over the place no matter what shaft or loft we tried. We settled on a 8.5* Titleist 910D2 dialed down to 7.75*. I never thought a loft that low would work for me but it's what worked best and was most consistent. Not as far, but at least it was down the fairway.

What are you willing to spend?? How much time do you want to dedicate?? How low do you want to go?? Answer those three questions.. then you know what you want.

If you like the driver and 3w you need to keep them. You are a single digit hdcp and probably a good ball striker so I would move into muscleback irons and a quality set of wedges ( Vokey, 588s, Scratch, Mizuno MP t12s or Miura if you are willing to pay the price). Find a feel and look that you like and get fitted. As for your putter, you need to find something that looks and feels good off the face and works for your stroke.

Carve out some time, find a place to hit as many different clubs as you can stand and let the clubs choose you.

Miura are great, but my bet is you'd like the flight pattern better from your current irons ... or AP2s. I say that because Miura basically makes blades and old-school blade/cavity hybrids -- they do not make an iron as forgiving as the AP2.

But whatever ... if you hit enough different clubs, you'll find what you like.

Ian, happy days for you. This should be a fun adventure with a pay off at the end. I want to build on what Mongo said, your first and most important quest is to find THE BEST club fitter in your area. Find that person and everything else will fall into place.

Everybody talks about the club heads, but shafts and a proper fitting have far more impact on the performance of the club than the heads.

I eluded to this a second ago on another forum. Fancy irons won't make you a better player. At the end of the day whether you play Titleist irons or Ping or whatever chances are you finish the round with the same amount of strokes. I buy weird and exotic sticks because I don't like to conform on the golf course...that may shock some of you. I like to play the game as a game so I have fun with it. I experiment with new irons, shafts, putters and even crazy golf bags...thats just me.

The only way it makes me play better is because it allows me to be me.

...and there is ONLY one Connor.

The trick is finding a good clubfitter... I live near a pretty decent location for golf courses (Destin, FL), but it's mostly a resort area and vacation destination. Which means most of the golfers bring their own clubs/etc, so their isn't a huge market for local golf shops and club fitters. So I might end up traveling, which is fine. Only one way to find out...

Guys and gals, let's help Ian out some more. What would you suggest for him as far as how to go about finding a top notch clubfitter? Where should he look? What are like the checklist criteria they must meet? What are the attributes that separate the really good ones [the top dogs] from the rest?

Yes! Any and all input is welcome! I've looked at Golf Digest's 100 best club fitters, but like all of their other ranking lists, it seems to be almost completely arbitrary. Based on earlier inputs regarding Miura, I figure anyone that Miura trusts as an authorized club fitter probably knows what they're doing. Other than that, I welcome inputs and suggestions.

Cheers!

Let me take the unpopular route. I don't buy the entire high end club fitting process. I think it's important to get your lofts and lie angles down, but beyond that I just don't buy it.

This is just me but at a certain point a club is a club. You are applying a club head with a certain loft at a certain speed to a stationary ball. The ball doesn't care what the brand is.

As most of you know up until last year I played 100 year old clubs exclusively for 4 years and was a single digit handicapper with them. I can tell you without a doubt that a super high end club is not much better than a run of the mill Ping or Taylormade. Now maybe there is a bigger difference between Ping and Walmart clubs, but I bet I could break 80 with Walmart off the shelf clubs.

That gives me an idea.

Why new clubs, looks like you have the top end allready, maybe a hybrid revamp.

My suggestion is pay for a professional fitting for the whole bag if money is no object. You can replace clubs every year with the best of the best but if your swing is not changing and your faults are not being corrected , then its money wasted to be honest.

Breakdown your game, Long game, Iron game and short game (most important aspect of anyones game). decypher where your problems are and concentrate on them clubs if need be.

Just a thought, Heck remember for example Tiger still hits a Nike Sumo SQ 3 wood from way back when, so its not always the clubs.