Keeping the blah blah blah to a minimum......Haven't swung a club in 10 years until this past July, wasn't serious before, obsessed now and play every day, hit the range everyday, hit the practice green everyday, practice swing mechanics at home and work, etc. (Yes.....my girlfriend hates me now.)
Took some lessons, high speed video and sensors. Lots of work got me down from shooting well over 100 to the upper 80's where I am now. Was hitting some Callaway Razr X irons, but purchased a new set of Mizuno MP58's that arrived in the mail today. To answer your question, yes......I am totally the guy that thinks better more expensive equipment will make you play better.
The MP58's were a steal at 500 brand new on ebay(the seller has a bunch of good deals on last years Mizuno irons if anyone is looking) and knowing that I was going to buy a new set come spring anyway I purchased them. Only thing is.......s300's on em. 7 iron for me is 150. the Razr X's have that "uniflex" which is supposed to be regular stiff or something....but certainly more flexible than the s300. So after having a bit of buyer's remorse I looked all over the internet to try and see what I was in for. The conclusion i came up with last night is that the irons were out of my league and the shafts probably a little too stiff. I don't have the fastest swing but have a very quick transition into my downswing.
If you offered me 800 million dollars and gave me 100 balls to hit one slight tiny draw with the Razr's I would fail. While I don't think that hitting a draw is the Holy Grail of golf like some people do, everything I've worked on and watching myself on tape tells me that I should be able to hit one if I tried. I just settled with the fact that I was a straight ball hitter with a tendency for a slight fade.
OK....cutting to the chase. I just got back from the range where I fully expected to hit slicing, worm-burners 30 yards right of target only to be surprised by.....a slight draw? I'm a righty by the way.
The green I was aiming at is pretty small, with a bunker to the right. 150 out so it's a perfect 7. The bunker would still be green on pretty much any course. before I would hit about 60% in the bunker, 20% right of the center pin, 10% at the pin, and the other 10% slice right of the bunker.
I didn't want to work on anything, I just wanted to rapid fire balls to see how the clubs were working with my swing. I hit 120 balls in about 40 minutes and my entire shot dispersion shifted 5 yards to the left, back on target. 80% of my shot's had a slight draw, the one's that ended up a little right were slight pushes, and the one's that were right of the bunker were slices that I could feel immediately. I expected to lose a bit of distance as the MP's have 2 degrees more loft, and it was right on the money. Every shot just on the front edge of the green or just short. The trajectory was just the same as well. I expected to have a much lower flight.
Left to right dispersion was fantastic on well struck balls, but even more so was the distance. Balls were falling at the same distance every time. If I really tried to put a little extra on it I'd get only a few more yards, whereas with the Razr's sometimes I would hit it 150. Sometimes 155. Sometimes 170!
With the Razr's I couldn't get any right to left movement. Even with foot positioning trying to promote a big hook, I would barely get a little draw towards the end. I could certainly slice it though when I wanted. With the MP's today, repositioning my feet just an inch would give me nice movement to the right or left which I know will come in handy on some of these courses I play.
Enough babble....I'm just excited to try these on the course tomorrow morning.
I guess my question is.........do game improvement irons hold people back at all? Even mediocre players? I know they're not as "workable" but can they correct a slight draw? Did I just stumble into the perfect shaft flex/lie combination. Or am I just insane?
