Driving Irons, Are They Obsolete?

I honestly never see them anywhere anymore. I do own one from a purchase roughly 10 years ago, still in good condition.. but have never hit well with it. Maybe because I always thought it was for the fairway

Most people have one of two versions in the bag. A hybrid or a SGI long iron.

Look at the thread about the new Callaway utility irons that Ernie uses ... those fit in that category, I believe, and are soon to be released to the public, so maybe its making a comeback!

Mizuno MP Fli His are basically hollow driving irons that don't look like hybrids. Never hit one, but they seem like a decent club. No one that I know of on tour uses one, though, and they use steel iron shafts instead of graphite.

They are pretty great if you have extreme length and want a really low drive. They are a lot easier to hit straight than a wood, but tougher to pure and you need a lot of swing speed and spin to carry them a respectable yardage. Unlike woods and hybrids, they're rubbish off the deck. Unless you're playing links golf and can expect 60 yards of roll, it's not enough carry to play with.

I've considered grabbing a forgiving 2 iron to carry for teeing off, but I've decided in general to just use the 3 iron in my next set. Just not enough uses for a driving iron to justify it.

I am not exactly sure what a "driving iron" is but lately I have gotten really used to just teeing of with my 3 iron. a pure 230 shot up the gut.

I have blades,  and have a big gap in my bag  (8.5* driver,  then 3i)   I'm planning on buying a forgiving  (looking at a Ping-Zing2 )  2 iron to help on longer par 5's and those enormously long par-4's I sometimes run into.   I hit my 3 iron 240 TOPS  but more often 225 or so,  from the fairway....   Even if a 2 iron only gets me more consistently at that 240 mark,  if it does so without me having to swing out of my shoes  (and if it's more on-target)  then it'll be worth the $10 I'm going to pay for it!

Obviously since I don't play any fairway woods,  I've got a lot of empty space in the bag....

On the bolded part, unless you are on a par 3, the last thing you want is a lot of spin off the tee. No matter if its an iron, a hybrid, or a wood. Spin kills distance, it doesn't improve it. Side spin worse than backspin, but you want as little as you can get of both when you are looking for distance. At least from everything I read and have been told, including ball flight laws.

Of course the choice is yours, but I would look at a hybrid, or even an 18* 5 wood for those shots. Though, for 10 bucks, i'd get the 2 iron too.

This guy is talking about Driving Irons though. They generally have a shaft length comparable to woods. I have one with a 44" shaft. I bought it for one specific course I play where a lot of the fairways are narrow and lined with trees. Accuracy is really important on a lot of holes, and that driving iron gives me that. I know I hit it 245 easily, and I know I hit it low and straight, so its a great addition to the bag for those tight tee shots.

Learn the laws of physics. Backspin + dimples + forward movement = lift. Without lift, you don't get much carry and you certainly don't get stopping power; both by the ball checking up as well as having a steeper descent angle.

Yes, at higher ball speeds, spin can cause ballooning especially at a high launch angle. But at lower ball speeds you want a decent rate of spin or else the ball won't carry. Stronger players usually have no trouble checking the ball up and they often get enough ball speed to balloon a shot. But granny needs a 16˚ driver with an LL shaft to launch it high and spin a lot or else the ball won't go 100 yards.

Most amateurs talk about wanting less spin, but the fact is they suck and want less sidespin. With an 80 mph swing, Average Joe probably wants a 12˚ driver and as much backspin as he can normally generate at that speed. Around like 100+mph is where backspin should be reduced a bit unless it's really abnormally high. At that speed, a more controlled flight can be more important to a player since they can carry the ball decently far. Generally most players will try to maximize carry on a driver, since at the highest speeds it does require a bit lower spin and launch because the ball speed is so high.

If you hit a driving iron and launch it low, you need much more spin than you'd think. The driving iron is about placement and control, especially into the wind. It's not the ideal distance tool by a long shot. Try going to the flightscope site, they have a virtual launch monitor that shows you the flight based on your input.

Also, ask Adam Scott if a little extra roll off the tee is always a good thing. He'll think it's funny. Being able to stop the ball in the limits of the fairway is important, more so than distance.

The decline of the 1 and two iron is because the average golfer cannot use them,hence manufacturers have omitted them from sets of new clubs,ie 3 - sw

I just can't imagine why anyone would want a driving iron (1 Iron).  Lee Trevino was correct when he said "not even God can hit a 1 iron".   Just for the record I didn't say it Trevino did and it is supposed to be humor.

I haven't been golfing for very long, but I actually do have a friend that has a driving iron.  He absolutely cannot hit a driver or fw wood off the tee, so he uses his driving iron.  It goes dead straight, about 200-225 yards.  I guess I'd rather take that than a 250y "in the woods" shot...

I think they're obsolete.  There are going to be a few who still use them, but I'd challenge you to find more than a handful of pros that ever carry one.  I'd guess that it's the spin-control properties of modern balls and shafts that have contributed to the demise of the 1-iron.  When you've got a ball that you can hit as hard as you want and it will still get low-spin and cut through the wind, then the 1-iron's utility is gone.

I used to carry a 1-iron about 10 years ago.  I could smash that thing--would hit a 240-yard slinging hook that never got more than about 25 feet off the ground.  Was great for teeing off into the wind or on a narrow hole with a strong crosswind.  I had to swing really hard though, and really release my hands (turn them over).  About 3 years ago I went to a doctor about some chronic arm pain I was having.  Turns out he told me that turning my hands over at impact was causing the two bones of the forearm to cross over one another, which caused me considerable pain.  I'd feel the pain whenever I hit a really hard shot into the wind (trying to hit that low hook), and by the end of a round I couldn't lift a golf bag with my right arm.

The fix was to not release my hands so hard.  I lost a little distance, and lost the ability to hit the 1-iron, but every other part of my game improved.

I ended up ordering the 2i  for $8.60 shipped.

Heck,  looking at clubs,  it's harder and harder to find sets that come with a 3i now!

I bought a Cleveland TA7 2-iron last year off ebay. ~ $24 including shipping costs. I changed the grip and had it extended an inch, but It was worth it. That club is money!!

So what does a regular set of irons start with these days??,4 iron??,i'm out of sync with todays golf hence the question

Are they obsolete? No, not at all. Very different to hybrids but I much prefer them to be honest - can't seem to get on with hybrids. Have a 2-iron in my Macgregor blades which is great if I'm swinging well or, more frequently, I carry a Mizuno MP-FliHi 2-iron - fantastic club.

Think Donald carries one a lot of the time. Don't need extreme distance to be able to use them - just a decent ball strike. Nothing wrong with steel shafts either.