Moving from a Game improvement cast iron to a better player's forged CB

Would love a little wisdom from anybody who has made this transition.

I'm a high handicapper with a relatively good/athletic swing. Inconsistency and lack of playing time keeps me shooting in the  high 80's rather than lower scores.

I'm really not obsessive about gear -- I'm a "It's your swing, stupid" kind of guy.

That said, I've been playing Bridgestone GC Mids with Nippon NS Pro 1050GH shafts for the last 4 or 5 years. They have felt great to me, but are getting pretty beat up. I just picked up a set of Bridgestone J36 cavity backs with Project X 5.0 flighted shafts. I don't know what my swing speed is, but I wanted to err on the side of not getting too stiff of a shaft.

I read that the J36s are not the most forgiving CBs, and after two range sessions, I think this is indeed the case - at least compared to the GC Mids. But the other thing that really stands out is that even on pretty well struck balls, I don't feel like I get the same CRACK - both in terms of audio feedback and snappy/compressed feel - as I got with the GCs. The J36s just feel a little dead by comparison, and it might be a little too early to tell, but I think the ball flight might be a little softer and higher.

Anyhow - I'm just a little disappointed, and I wouldn't take any offense if people were to suggest that I'm probably just not a consistent enough ball striker to take advantage of what the J36s offer. I will happily go back to a more "forgiving" club if that makes the most sense.

Thanks!

Game improvement irons are made to help get the ball in the air and hit it further. That's why the Bridgestones feel "dead". You can see the proof when you look at the smash factor (ball speed / clubhead speed) on irons comparing the PGA Tour to the LPGA Tour. The LPGA players have a higher average smash factor because they typically play more forgiving irons versus the PGA players who typically play blade irons.

Ex.       PGA #1   LPGA #1

4 iron     1.40         1.48

http://www.trackman.dk/download/newsletter/newsletter3.pdf

What prompted you to make the move?

Have you also found a difference in the sound and sense of snappiness between the two?

Perhaps - as suggested by xmanhockey7 above- GI clubs allow higher smash factor.

If this is the case, I can't imagine why anybody would go to a so called players club unless they had a tremendously repeatable swing and could really take advantage of the supposed control and feel advantages.

I'm going to work with my J36s more, but if they remain a less rewarding club to hit, I will swallow my ego and go back to the GC Mids.

Players clubs are usually pretty forgiving in some ways; they don't provide as much launch upward, but they still have a bit of heel/toe forgiveness. They don't have hot faces normally, but that's because they're irons and are supposed to have good distance control. If you have a fast swing, a bit lower launching head with less offset can be nice, since the typical shovel is designed for hacks with a 75 mph driver swing to carry the ball over 50 yards. Plus, if you're buying stock clubs, most GI designs have very inferior shafts, where players clubs often have at least a Dynamic Gold to begin with. Sure you can get the GI set reshafted, but it's crazy expensive. Try swinging the stock RBZ shaft at like 90mph, and see how that works. Even if your swing is great you won't be able to control it as well as something like an S300 or X100.

Blades, however, are another matter. Though most these days have a bit of forgiveness built in, they don't have a large sweetspot compared to a cavity, even a players design. The change OP is suggesting isn't as drastic as one might think.

You should also mention lower club head speeds also contribute to higher smash factors and it is likely the clubs have different lofts. Without knowing what clubs the pros are using, I wouldn't try to draw much of a conclusion.  If you use pro #3 (smash factor of 1.46), there is effectively no difference between the LPGA and PGA.

I have forged cavity backs that are kind of players irons but I went to them because with my R7XD's I was fighting a snap hook because of the offset. I dont have a "tremendously repeatable swing" but I dont find them that hard to hit besides a long iron sitting fluffed up in the rough. Teed up for me but long irons have such a short face its hard to hit straight. Fairway or tee though and They aren't that hard to hit.

Thanks for everybody's input. I hadn't understood that GI irons were typically less consistent for distance, and that pros give up some overall distance for more distance consistency. That makes sense.

I'll see if I warm up to the J36s, and if not, I'll park them in the basement for the theoretical day that my swing goes to the next level.

On a tangential subject: to be honest (and I can really only speak for myself here) I don't understand how folks that don't shoot in the 70's or lower can really evaluate golf equipment, whether that's a ball or a club. I know that my swing is not consistent enough to dependably evaluate shaft trajectory, workability, how well a ball grabs the green, etc.

Again - this is not to take a shot at those here with high indexes who CAN evaluate equipment. But unless I'm hitting a quality shot better than 50% of the time (I'm not) - I'm going to have to depend on others here for input - and I really appreciate it.

If you have a good swing, there shouldnt be much of an adjustment to players' irons.  Your distances will be different but other than that it wont be that big of a deal.  Honestly though, if you dont have a consistent swing, you wont get consistent distances no matter what irons you use.

Do you think that getting blades is a good idea for a training tool to become a better ball striker?

FWIW, this is a good point. I would say go play what you fancy playing. Moving to a 'players' CB or even blades is not that much of a deal but they will reward you spending a bit of time learning and then honing a decent, repetitive swing. If that's something you want and have time to do then you'll undoubtedly find them good bats.

Maybe; I think so. I like to know where on the blade I made contact and you get great feedback of that nature off a bladed head. Personally, I think there's a lot of hocum about how hard blades are to use - especially modern blades/MBs. They definitely find you out if you mishit a bladed long iron but then you won't get much more out of a badly mishit GI/SGI. A flushed, bladed long iron is pure golfing opium as well.

When you put a good strike on a ball with "better player" irons, it should feel special. At a 15 handicap you may or may not do it often, but when you do, it should make you feel "wow."

I went from Callaway Fusions (early model) that felt smooth but almost like nothing when well hit -- the ball flew off the face without feeling much at all and distance varied a lot on excellent strikes. I demoed a lot a of "better player" clubs and then tried Mizuno JPX Pros. The JPX 800 Pros felt awesome when I hit them well. I tried some others and they too felt great when hit well too but I did not hit them well as often. So I went with the Pros. As my ball striking got better, I picked up some PM53's and now play them ( a bit less forgiving but even better distance control on short irons).

If you are not getting that "nearly better than #*x" feeling when you hit the ball well, test other clubs. Find that great feeling for your swing.

As for blades as practice clubs. I'd say get a Tour Striker Pro and use that for practicing your ball striking. Lots of threads here about the TS.

I find that any club feels, "wow" when you hit it in the sweetspot.  I just find that the ballflight with the shovels still looks pretty, "wow" even when you dont hit it perfectly.

When I hit the sweetspot with my Fusions, the ball flew off the club so that it felt like there was no ball there. It felt good like a sweet, warm kiss. When I hit the Mizunos on the sweetspot, it feels like... you know. Perhaps the best feeling I've had with my golf shoes on.