I’m ready for this to date me, but one of my favourite shows that I used to love getting sucked into was Antiques Roadshow; it offered the perfect format. You got mystery, storytelling, learned a little history, and then at the very end (because they wanted to lock you in and build interest), you found out exactly what they had was worth. It was perfect television.
For me, shopping for used clubs feels like I get to live my own little version of the show, except I get to play the role of treasure hunter and expert appraiser, thanks to my years of obsessing over golf clubs from the moment I got into the game. It also helps that I grew up in what I consider the golden age of modern equipment, when titanium drivers first hit the scene and club technology, along with the marketing machines, were just getting bigger.
This is why I love the searching for used clubs, because it’s rarely about actually buying something—God knows I have enough golf clubs already, but it’s about the thrill of the hunt, sharing the story, and in many ways reliving the nostalgia of clubs I once owned or wish I did.
It’s this constant searching that recently brought me to Scottsdale Arizona where thanks to a free afternoon, I decided to spend the day hunting the desert for hidden treasures and sharing the search on my instagram.
Where To Shop
Now this is far from a comprehensive list, but I got a head start thanks to Cole Young from Skratch’s own Range Pickers series, who visited the area just over a year ago to shop for gear. If you’ve never seen Range Pickers, it’s like American Pickers meets golf on a budget, with the goal of building a set and playing some local golf.
You can check it out below…
My first stop of the day was Vans Golf in North Scottsdale, where I found several classics, including some great Odyssey putters, along with a set of Wilson forged CBs. Also, a shoutout to shops that have those big open bins of logo-overrun golf balls; I snagged myself three Pro V1x Left Dash balls for $3.50 each!
Next up was Jerrys Golf, who had a small but mightly collection of used clubs to go along with their massive selection of used golf balls.
At Jerry’s I found a left-handed MacGregor Response putter, a Nickent square driver, and older built up component clubs from Golf Smith including a moveable weight driver (I used to own one of those) plus a 7-wood from their Jet Stream series.
You ready for a full brain dump on this one?
The whole selling feature of the Jet Stream series was the driver was made from the same titanium as airplane black boxes, which allowed the engineers to make the faces thinner and faster. They also has a slightly unusual hosel configuration that allowed for them to be bent to spec (including the driver) with a wood lie loft machine. (Honestly this is the stuff that lives in my brain from years of pouring over Golfsmith catalogues as a kid).
I also spotted an original 200 series Vokey wedge, a Rocket Ballz (RBZ) fairway wood, plus a Ping Ally series Anser.
These putters featured a build-your-own format that could be custom-ordered with various Ping head shapes and hosel configurations. At the time of their release, they were an extremely premium offering that put a huge focus on raising MOI through materials utilization.
After Jerrys, I headed to All About Golf, where I met Todd Batt who not only had a large selection of used clubs but a great shop dog to come along with the experience.
Their iron section was extremely were curated and included Bridgestone J33 blades (one of my favorites sets of all time), a set of Mizuno TN91s (my first time seeing these in person), and a set of BeCu Ping Eye2s from 3-iron down to sand wedge. It had been a very long time since I had seen a set of these in this shape in the flesh.
I guess it should be no surprise given Ping’s roots in Phoenix that the likelihood of finding great Ping gear would be higher, but then again you never know what you’re going to find on any given day.
After a later lunch and a few stops to say hello to some friends I decided to finish my day at a stop that I had heard so much about, the 2nd Swing in North Scottsdale.
When it comes to this store, I’m not even sure where to begin. They had everything from $20 bargain bins, to some of the most exclusive and rare Scotty Cameron putters, all in one place, mind you, the Scotty Camerons were tucked behind glass.
I have seen some used shops in my day, including a visit to Golf Avenue’s headquarters in Montreal last fall, but nothing prepared me for the enormity of the retail space 2nd Swing dedicated to used clubs. And, since I don’t want to bore you with every last detail, I’ll let the pictures below do the talking.
The Final Haul
So after a day spent touring around for used clubs, you’re probably wondering what I actually ended up with. Well, the truth is relatively underwhelming.
Now, if I had an endless budget (and a way to get them all home), I probably would have ended up with a few sets of irons (including the Mizunos and the BeCu Pings) plus enough fairway woods and putters to outfit a golf team, but reasoning won out, and I ended up with a single wedge.
Why the wedge, you might ask? Well, let me go Antiques Roadshow one more time.
You see, after SRI Sports Sports (the parent company of Srixon) bought Cleveland Golf in 2007, the company opperated as usual until around 2012 when it released the last set of forged irons in the Cleveland’s history – the precision forged 588s which came in both a blade and cavity back model.
These are widely considered one of the best irons they ever made.
To go along with those irons they also released the precision forged 588 wedges based off the shape of the famous 588 wedge. It was a rare offering for Cleveland since they never did a forged wedge before, and for a long time, they were the only wedges Hideki Matsuyama would use, even now he still uses custom forged wedges.
Although it wasn’t a complete set for the amazing price of just $20, the 60° wedge was too good of a deal to pass up adding to my collection – and like any treasure hunter, it gives me an excuse to keep in searching.
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