What can you tell me about forged irons?

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

What can you tell me about forged irons?

I can tell you that I can't hit them worth a damn.  LOL

[jamo]

What can you tell me about forged irons? I can tell you that you will need to get your lie angles checked on a fairly regular basis, possibly your lofts as well. Also, they will reduce your handicap by 10 strokes. And hot looking women will follow you around.

I knew there had to be a reason.

[hacker100]

Forged suck. They get beat up faster. Lose lies and lofts from bad mishits and practicing off mats. Need more maintenance. You will replace more often and make the manufacturers happy. I have cast irons and forged wedges. There's no change in feel or softness or any of that other LOL BS when I go to my wedges. The one advantage with forged is you can get a greater degree of fitting adjustment than with cast.

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by GaijinGolfer

Well then youre different from most of the tour pros (you know, the guys who play golf for a living) in that they prefer forged clubs because the distances are more consistent.  Also, Id agree with your quote from Miura-san in that forging is more dense because you are packing the molecules together instead of simply pouring them into a mold.

Well, I'm not good enough to tell the difference in consistency between a good forging and a quality cast club - I never had issues with Pings and hot spots, or with Callaways and hot spots. Of course, with poorly cast clubs, you will see a difference.

I prefer a good forging, but when pured on a full swing, I can't tell the difference - they feel like nothing - which is great. Only on delicate shots around the green do I discern a difference in feel.

As to Miura-san, I agree. I owned a set of CB-201s in Nippon Shafts some time ago - and those felt different than any other forging or cast club on every swing. Can't explain it - but they felt more dense and surgical. Wish I had them back. But I went PP-9003.

[bajapalm]

Just read this entire thread

While confused, I was certainly entertained

[newtogolf]

Just read this entire thread

While confused, I was certainly entertained

We can help confuse you more if you like It comes down to personal preference, just about any iron made today is going to hit the ball well.

IMO, the main advantage of forged is you can have them bent to your specifications where as with cast most won't bend them more than 1*.  I'd guess that except for the top players, most wouldn't be able to tell the difference between forged and cast but if forged helps you mentally then it's worth it.

[Dirtyzecret]

I have been hitting the new Ping S55 quite a lot, they are cast irons but feel really nice and give nice response on impact. Why I have always liked cast irons is the feeling in the ballstrike, you can feel if you hit the ball nice or not. But as  a regular blade user, Maxfli Australian  Blade, Titleist MB 710/712 and Nike VR Pro I also have to the feeling is buttery yes, but it's also quite a hype! People buying blades because they like the feel are many, but the fact is you do not buy blades for the feel, you buy them for shot shaping when you are strong hitter. If you hit the sweetspot perfect there is very little difference in softness between blades, forged players irons and maybe the new Ping S55, they all feel quite buttery. Even my 15 year old Maxfli Revolution Black Dots is like a hot knife trough butter in the sweetspot, and they are old school cast with some nikkel insert or something....

[joekelly]

Really. Nice to know.

[bajapalm]

I was thinking about forged (and butter for some reason)

but now think my new set will be cast,

it just sounds easier in every way

I play off a 14 anyway so I couldn't tell any difference anyway

[Paiste]

I've always gamed cast irons until recently. I was lucky to get myself a set of Scratch EZ-1 Forged irons for a killer deal. This is the first time I have ever used forged clubs and I noticed a difference in feel immediately. When hit pure, the Scratch irons feel softer yet more crisp then any cast irons that I've used. I love cast irons but I do like the "feel" of forged irons better. The cast irons that I've used (I've used some excellent cast clubs) have always had a slight "click" to them in the sound and feel department. My last set of cast irons were the Rocketbladez Tour and when struck pure they felt great but were a little "clicky".

As well, the cast irons I've used had some hot spots so there could be as much as a 5 to 8 yard difference in distance, sometimes hard to dial in. I find that forged irons, so far, are a little bit more consistent with distance. I guess it boils down to preference in feel (if you can tell the difference), and looks. I can notice a difference in distance control but that's not the case with all cast irons, just the ones that I've had experience with that have had hot spots.

Personally, I love the feel of a forged iron and the look of Scratch EZ-1 irons is pure class, 100%. I get steady compliments on them and when people try them, they are all smiles!!! Their are a lot of beautiful cast irons out there as well. I wouldn't of traded my Rocketbladez Tour if it wasn't for the X-stiff shafts, they are beautiful irons with a player's/tour profile. I'm glad I did though because of the deal I got and the pure feeling of a well struck forged iron.