End of 2005 - The first time I picked up a golf club properly. Really enjoyed it but was completely crap.
Mid 2006 - Bought my first set. Skymax Ice + irons. Played crap still, got bored and gave up.
Mid 2007 - Took up golf again. Played crap some more. Local pro suggested better clubs would help. Bought Nike Sumo SQ irons.
End of 2007 - Got frustrated and stopped playing again.
Early 2010 - Invited out to play golf with partner's family. Sliced every ball into the woods. Sliced every shot out of the woods straight back in. Went through 36 balls in the round (I know this as they were my Christmas present) and decided that if I was every going to get good I needed to figure out the basics and get myself into a position to play "ok" golf.
Read an article on Stack and Tilt, bought the book and the DVD's and practiced diligently. Bought a TM Burner 4 hybrid to get more distance off the tee.
Mid 2010 - S&T swing started to take a toll on my lower back (I have an excessive lumbar curve). Can't be sure if it was solely S&T or my own interpretation of it or just that my back wasn't used to it but either way I started to gravitate away from S&T toward a traditional swing. The swing still stayed reasonably consistent and I bought a Yonex Nanospeed 3i 3W for more tee distance.
End of 2010 - Improved to the point that every shot was a straight push shot. Thought the clubs might be part of the problem. Sure enough several reviews said the Sumo SQ's were toe-heavy and caused the club to fan open at impact. Time for new clubs!
Early 2011 - Went to local golf superstore and asked to try TM Burner 2.0's. Salesman suggested Yonex's VMS irons based on my 3W. Hit them for several test sessions and decided that they were fantastic and worth buying.
Mid 2011 - Decided that I wanted a driver for more tee distance. Went for a driver fitting and they tried to sell me every expensive driver they could. Eventually I told them I has a tiny budget and would only be interested in anything <£250. That left me with the Cleveland Summinkorother (DST?) and Mizuno JPX 800.
I hit the JPX 800 like a bat out of hell. 1.5 smash factor on every strike with little to no effort (I'd never swung a driver before) and most of my shots reasonably straight. I was sold. As soon as I realised how much I loved the Mizzie driver I asked to try the 3W. Again every single stat was better than my Yonex so I bought the 3W at the same time.
I then sold the Yonex 3W and was happy with my set. Except that my 4i striking was good enough to go longer than my 4h.
Loving my driver and 3W I decided to try the JPX 800 3 hybrid and again it was amazing. Bagged it and gave the 4H to my grandfather who wanted a longer club to slice everything with.
End of 2011 - Was on my way back from a mate's and my grandfather called to see if I fancied going to the range. I had no clubs but the range had a superstore there so I decided to try out the MP-59 that day. I hit each and every shot within 20yd of where I'd aimed compared to the 40-60 yard dispersion of the VMS's.
I set up for a draw and drawed the ball perfectly to the target.
I set up for a fade and I faded the ball perfectly to the target.
The sound at impact was soft but firm and felt powerful. Amazing!
The following week I went back to the range to try them again but the MP-59 heads were out on test so they suggested trying the MP-58 head. Again the feeling off the face was great. I had more trouble shot shaping but next to the VMS irons they were like superstars. More Mizuno love!
From there every time I picked up my clubs I hated the look of them at address. The sound at impact was a loud "clack" noise and each shot would have a drastic difference (20-40 yards) in distance between a perfect sweet spot contact and a few mm away from the sweet spot. When I hit a 4i off the tee on a 200 yard hole, expecting a regular 180 yard strike and it overshoots the green there's something seriously amiss!
I tried the MP-59's again and once again they were amazing so I decided to book myself for a free fitting at the NFC.
Fitting was fantastic and I found out that my swing is firmly in the stiff band and right in the middle of medium weight shafts. Little wonder my dispersion had been so erratic with the VMS irons with regular shafts!
Both the MP-59 head and the MP-53 head were hit reasonably well with not a huge amount of difference in them. A little more forgiveness with the MP-53's though meant they were optimal for my fitting.
Over the next week I kept going back to "what if I get the 53's but could hit the 59's almost as well?" and "if I get the 59's they're less forgiving but look at how far your swing has come in the last year" etc so I booked a second fitting to make sure.
The second fitting went horribly. The DNA machine was on the club sideways (remembered this afterward unfortunately) and I think that's why the 'release' figure was 9 and suggesting completely the wrong shaft. My "handicap" suggested JPX800 heads even though I don't have an official handicap and knew it would be either the MP59 or MP53 for me. My swing was ridiculous and all over the place which was later attributed to me flipping through the ball when we did the lieboard test and I was hitting the back of the bounce, not the front edge.
Having written off the second fitting completely I went back the next day to the range and tried the MP-59 with s300 shaft as per my first fitting and everything about it felt right. Weight, flex, ball flight, my balance during the swing etc. Coupled with the offer of £200 trade-in on my old irons and I was sold.
My Mizuno love is quite recent but nothing else has come close so far so I can't see that changing.
EDIT: Think I've mixed golf story and Mizuno story into one. Whoops!