Distance for irons

[onthehunt526]

I think golf companies are purposely delofting newer sets of clubs so that people hit irons farther... let me know what you think?

I think I may have a solution... for more distance in irons... i think lighter clubheads would do the trick... not like a lot but a little would help... like I'd say between 5-15% would give more distance without sacrifing control... let me know what you think...

[JaY_B]

I was always under the impression heavier club heads would give more distance, as it creates more momentum etc, my old callaway X Tours went quite a long way simply because of the heavy head that they had.

[Shindig]

I think golf companies are purposely delofting newer sets of clubs so that people hit irons farther... let me know what you think?

This has been going on for quite a while. I became fully aware of it - instead of casually aware of it - after demoing the Cobra UFIs. I hit their PW about to my 9-iron distance, maybe a bit more or less. Sure enough, it was 43 degrees.

The issue, us well-informed golfers know, is how far you hit your x-degree club, not how far you hit the one marked y. Of course, if all you really need to do is brag that you hit "wedge" into a green, I guess we can invent names for 3-4 more wedges and take a 7-iron on down and call them wedges.

[polred2007]

I think golf companies are purposely delofting newer sets of clubs so that people hit irons farther... let me know what you think?

Whats the problem withe less loft exactly? There are always other clubs available to fill the void

[mikelz]

This has been going on for quite a while. I became fully aware of it - instead of casually aware of it - after demoing the Cobra UFIs. I hit their PW about to my 9-iron distance, maybe a bit more or less. Sure enough, it was 43 degrees.

I noticed the same thing. At 59 I'm hitting my irons 'nominally' the same distance I did at 29. The irons I'm using are seven years old and it's gotten worse. Iron numbers don't mean much to me anymore. When someone says, "I'm 190 so I pull out a 6 iron..." I yawn. I am totally confused by the guys who claim to hit PW 150 yards. I had a set of Sounder irons that behaved like that. I got rid of them. Is 122 yards a 4/5 wedge or 25/32?

[onthehunt526]

I think the only pro now that you can really listen to what club they are hitting number wise is Tiger Woods... he has played traditional lofted irons his entire career and hit them just as far as pros using clubs with the decreasing loft disease... though most pros carry like a 47 or 48 degree PW on Average... low c/g irons would be good a lot of the delofted clubs are Low C/G... We need there to be the 50 or 51 degree PW... in game improvement irons... some companies there is a need for a 5th wedge that is what I am getting...

[Gapwedge]

No doubt. When I had my PING s58's checked while getting the lie properly bent my s58's were all 1-2* stronger than standard. That is why company's like Royal Percision frequency flights their shafts. My Project X shafts are flighted which allows me to still get my 3 and 4 iron airborn with the trajectory I need in a long iron. Yeah, I hear the bragging going on about hitting a 7 iron 180 yards stuff too. Means nothing if you have a gap as big as the Grand Canyon when you get past your PW.

[onthehunt526]

Flighted shafts I'm still playing Dynamic Gold X100 shafts my irons.... where do I go to get these flighted shafts...

[Gapwedge]

Flighted shafts I'm still playing Dynamic Gold X100 shafts my irons.... where do I go to get these flighted shafts...

http://www.royalprecision.com/precis..._projectx.html http://www.royalprecision.com/precis..._flighted.html You can order them through Golfworks and other places, but make sure you get them fitted to your swing. I got the Project X Flighted 6.0 with the satin finish. My 5 iron swing is 91mph if that helps. I have played with the S300 for years and hands down the Project X are the best feeling stiff steel shafts I have ever hit. Deadly accurate as well. The regular Rifle Flighted are available also. I am guessing you would be a 6.5 or 7.0 in the Project X if you use DG X100.

[Golfme]

Those project Xs are amazing, i was hitting a PW the height of my 7 iron..it was great the shafts just make then irons bore thru the wind specially the wedges.

[Big_M]

I agree... the Project X are nice... but don't overlook the Black Golds when looking at stepless steel shafts

these are not a flighted shaft, but the feeling is unmatched... better than the rifles IMHO. must have something to do with the frequency tuning...

http://www.truetemper.com/golf/blackgold.asp

[andre112]

i was thinking about bending my 4i(24) and 5i(27) to 22/26having 4 deg gap from my 6i(30)
so my irons will have the right loft gap but 1 club stronger
then i'll add a 50 deg GW.
they will actually be the traditional 3-pw but with 4-gw stamped on
but how much difference is this going to make?

[Gapwedge]

i was thinking about bending my 4i(24) and 5i(27) to 22/26having 4 deg gap from my 6i(30)

http://www.leaderboard.com/LOFTINFO.htm The above link is a nice little article on the salesmanship or marketing of golf clubs. They all want to say their club hits it further. I would suggest just learn your distances with what you have in your bag. Don't forget the shaft length has something to do with distance as well.

[Shindig]

I noticed the same thing. At 59 I'm hitting my irons 'nominally' the same distance I did at 29. The irons I'm using are seven years old and it's gotten worse. Iron numbers don't mean much to me anymore. When someone says, "I'm 190 so I pull out a 6 iron..." I yawn. I am totally confused by the guys who claim to hit PW 150 yards. I had a set of Sounder irons that behaved like that. I got rid of them. Is 122 yards a 4/5 wedge or 25/32?

Exactly. And if they keep increasing like this, we're just going to need to have clubs to fill the gaps. And then the long irons have shorter gaps between them in distances, and so some become useless.

[NOVA_Golfer]

i was thinking about bending my 4i(24) and 5i(27) to 22/26having 4 deg gap from my 6i(30)

I might do the same. i just bought the 775.cb and I realized my PW is a 45 loft and my next club is a SW at 54 degree. Incorrectly, I assumed my PW was closer to a 48. I wish they would keep to traditional lofts on player and game improvement clubs.

Chris

[onthehunt526]

Even Ping Eye2s made before 1988 were not as strong lofted as the irons you see today... The 1, 2 and 3 iron lofts have not moved much its more the 4-iron thru the pitching wedge... Some companies have an 8-iron stamped P on the bottom of the club... The Wilson DI7s have a PW with 43 degrees of loft... My Nike Blades which I don't play any more... (I had my lofts weakened) has a 51 degree pitching wedge... which was standard 35 years ago... I still hit that PW 150 if I needed it... I've since went to a set with a 47 degree Pitching Wedge and noticed about a 1 club difference... so I cut down my shafts a 1/2 inch to compansate... Length of shaft has something to do with it as I found out... but still overall lighter club weight will hit the ball farther... I've thought about getting a set of U.S. Kids Golf Irons Just the heads... and put a set of DG x100s in there to see if there was a difference...

[Gapwedge]

Even Ping Eye2s made before 1988 were not as strong lofted as the irons you see today... The 1, 2 and 3 iron lofts have not moved much its more the 4-iron thru the pitching wedge... Some companies have an 8-iron stamped P on the bottom of the club... The Wilson DI7s have a PW with 43 degrees of loft... My Nike Blades which I don't play any more... (I had my lofts weakened) has a 51 degree pitching wedge... which was standard 35 years ago... I still hit that PW 150 if I needed it... I've since went to a set with a 47 degree Pitching Wedge and noticed about a 1 club difference... so I cut down my shafts a 1/2 inch to compansate... Length of shaft has something to do with it as I found out... but still overall lighter club weight will hit the ball farther... I've thought about getting a set of U.S. Kids Golf Irons Just the heads... and put a set of DG x100s in there to see if there was a difference...

While it is true that an overall lighter club weight will produce a slightly faster clubhead speed removing 1/2" does take away 3 swingweight points making a C9 now a C6. If someone is fitted for a certain swingweight and length the only thing to do would be to have the lofts adjusted if they are not what you want. A golfer with a slower swingspeed needs the extra loft to get the ball airborne. Thus the advent of the hybrid. A brillant marketing move. The OEM's de-loft the irons making them harder to get the ball up, thus saying, ok, we have built these hybrids that will help get your ball in the air.

To me that is why especially in today's golfing world getting properly fitted is more important than it used to be.

[TourSpoon]

My pitching wedge is 48 degrees and I know that when I started with these they were a little bumped from the previous generation of 50 degrees. I remember a guy playing Cobra could hit his pw as far as mine once he switched and I later found out that the pw was 46 degrees. Shocking. Now a pw is 44-45 degrees. Everytime I think of looking at irons, I look to see if anyone has a pw near 48 degrees. It is hard to find. When I do bite the bullet, I know I will have to reconfigure the wedges because that pw will be an 8 iron.

I really don't care how far I hit a club, I just want to know the typical distance. The club manufacturers have played to our distance dreams and we are now calling 8 irons pw just so we can say we hit it 150.

Does anyone know if the same holds true for shaft length? Have irons grown longer? Along those lines, does adding 1/2" have any other significance other than increasing swing spead, distance, and being a hair upright? When does it stop?

"Here we are at the US Open of 2035. Bazooka Joe tees off the Par 4 570 yard hole with his 48", 18 degree pitching wedge and puts it next to the green. The next shot is a doozy because he has 9 wedges to choose from."