These PING M/B (medium bounce) wedges were both purchased used. The 52 degree wedge was purchased from Callaway Preowned (www.callawaygolfpreowned.com) and the 56 degree wedge from ebay. The 52 degree wedge was in fairly good condition but the 56 was barely in fair shape. In both cases these wedges were purchased only for the club heads. The intention was to do the following:
- Have both wedges completely refinished.
- Have them both re-shafted (+1/2 over standard length). It goes without saying that when they are re-shafted that new grips are also applied. The grips chosen were the PING NTS grip, gold color (+1/32 over standard).
- Have the lie angles on both clubs changed from zero degrees flat (black dot) to two degrees upright (green dot).
- Have new weights installed on both (the 56 degree wedge was missing its weight when purchased which was not an issue due to the intent of having it refurbished).
It was easy to have them refinished and brought up to the new measurements that would fit me. The standard PING repair form was filled out from PING's website, which is linked at several points on this blog. The form was included in the box with the golf clubs when sent to PING. The time to send to PING, repair and ship back was about two weeks or a little less. For that time I wasn't playing golf as it is winter and has been very cold, snowy or raining. Not playing was not and issue.
PING does an excellent job and is easily the club repair facility of choice for all our PING clubs. Zip will have his clubs re-gripped locally, but our local golf shops don't carry the off-size PING NTS grips and besides PING does not "eye-ball" grip placement on the shaft. The have a laser-guided grip fitting and alignment tool. As such, Skip prefers to send his clubs to PING for such a repair. Besides, PING, once they have your clubs, always does some amount of cleaning of them and they come back looking much better than when sent. Their customer service is also quite good and they are always happy to answer any question you might have.
You might be asking yourself what is the bottom line. The bottom line is that the 52 degree wedge was $42.00 from Callaway. The 56 degree wedge was $14.00 from ebay. Each club cost $32.00 for the re-shaft plush other work. The new weights were free of charge since other major work was being done. Grips were also included in the re-shaft/refinish price. The total out the door and in my bag price was $128.00 including the approximate $9.00 shipping cost to PING. The cost of these wedges when new was $100.00 per club. Today, since they are not in current production each club is a special order which PING is only too happy to fill for you but will set you back $145.00 per wedge. I have both of these in my bag for about $128.00 in full - for both!
You're probably asking yourself, "How can I do this?" The answer is... shop around for great club values in lots of places. They are out there you just have to look. Look in golf shops, garage sales, used golf stores, country clubs, municipal golf course pro shops and online retailers. Make a stop at the used club rack every time you go to your favorite local golf store. Prices are always negotiable on used clubs in stores and sometimes online. Be careful however and don't buy fakes, because then all you have is a fake and PING will never repair counterfeits. Always ask for the serial number of any clubs you buy online from places like ebay. If they won't give it to you, skip it. There will always be another one. Callaway Golf Preowned is a great place to buy online and they are a fine retailer that is centrally located in Austin, Texas. Standard shipping is pretty fast to nearly any part of the United States.
Again, shop around and have fun finding that club that would be a great bargain and wonderful to have - or that you've always wanted. That's what it's all about... having fun!
When's your next tee time?
- Skip
