Question for technical savys.

Hi everyone,

I'd like to ask those who have some real technical golf knowledge to look into the following and tell me if my assumptions are correct.

I'm a beginner, playing with a second hand set (except for the driver and the putter).

My irons have aluminium shafts and probably date from the late 60's to early 70's.

Today I learned that the weight of the iron-shafts is about 130 grams.

Today's graphite iron shafts often weigh about 90 grams or even less.

I found information on the net, saying that a weight loss of 20 grams (in the shaft), could generate extra club-head speed up to 5 mph.

Assuming that 40 grams lighter shafts could generate up to 10 mph higher club-head speed, this could, theoretically, generate a gain in distance of 20-25 yards (correct???)

However, I also found out that the length of my iron shafts is actually 1" shorter than what is currently used for irons.

Knowing that the short irons differ 1/2" per club, and there is a difference in distance of 10 to 15 yards between each club, this could mean, IN THEORY AND UNDER IDEAL CIRCOMSTANCES, a total distance gain of  over 50 yards (25+30) if I would switch for modern days graphite irons.

This seems to be confirmed by the fact that, 1 year ago, while practicing with a rented graphite 7-iron, I suddenly started hitting 10-15% of my balls around 200 yards and more, instead of the usual 150-160 yards (unless the yardages on that driving range were wrong off course!).

Can anyone confirm this, or is there a mistake in my reasoning?

The reason I haven't changed my irons yet, is that  1) some of this information only came to me in recent days, and  2) after this short period of success, I've hardly been able to play or practice and lost virtually everything I had build up before.

Thanks for the answers!

I'm not a certified club fitter so this is not from "real technical knowledge" but here goes anyway:

1. A club fitter would match the length of clubs to each inidvidual based on their wrist to floor measurements. Then might tweak those standards a little to better match a swing or a preference.

2. Those clubs you have from the 60s are very likely more lofted than the clubs they are selling today. Some 3 irons today have less loft than a 2 iron (or even a 1 iron) from the 60s. That 7 iron you rented probably has the same loft as your 6 iron, plus it's longer, hence more distance.

3. It's more important for a club to have the MOI that matches your swing than a decrease in weight per se. It's why you see many good players with lead tape added to the head, or the fitter adds weight in the shaft, to attain the wanted MOI.

4. Of course I have absolutely no way to know for sure but I would be skeptical of the 200 yard 7 irons you were hitting, unless you really de-loft the club at impact. I know one guy that hits a 7 iron with about the same loft that most of us hit a 4 iron (and about the same distance we hit a 4 iron). Good player though.

5. Especially when it comes to the scoring clubs it's much more important for the clubs to have the right MOI, and be the right length, for consistent impact and controllable ball flight than maximum distance. I really couldn't care less how far any of my irons go as long as they are consistent and with consistent spacing. I happen to hit my irons farther than many players that routinely whip my butt, so I would trade my distance for their accuracy any day if I could.

6. Would new clubs help you? Probably so. Especially if the new ones fit your swing.

Thanks for the reaction MS256!

I just saw some track-man stats, showing that, in order to hit a 7-iron 200 yards, you'd need a 130 mph swing.

if de-lofted to 6-iron, you'd need 125 mph.

assuming that your driver usually goes 25% faster than your 6-iron, that would give you a 156 mph swing-speed, all things being equal!

This seems ridiculously high, but the distance I shot 1 year ago, was reported to me by other people, since I couldn't see the ball myself!

Also, after watching a video, I just discovered that my swing from that moment seems to be the exact same swing used by the late Mike Austin, known for reaching extremely high swing-speeds.

I'm also extremely flexible in my waist and shoulders, maybe that helps.

Now, I must say that I've never tried using the same swing with my driver. Hell, I didn't even have a driver yet at that moment! And since I forget how to do it afterwards,....

However, I believe I now know how to repeat that same swing I was using 1 year ago and I'll check it out in about 3 days when I come home from work (being a tour-guide).

If you want to know the result, check again in a few days, I'll post it here!

For the record I wasn't saying that you couldn't hit a 7 iron 200 yards; just that I would be skeptical if I didn't know for sure. I have no idea how far I could hit a 7 iron if I was really trying to hit it as far as possible (never tried it). I will say that my iron distances don't translate to my driver distance in a steady ratio. My swing is very efficient for power with short clubs in my hands but has enough flaws to make it not efficient at all with a driver in my hands. I usually hit about two clubs less with irons than people that can hit a driver longer than I can.

Seldom much (if any) advantage to my being long with irons. If I had the choice I would much rather be shorter with irons and longer with a driver.

Just try some newer clubs and see what happens. If you got all the calculations right, it's still not accurate enough to guesstimate the distance.

And I'm not buying the 200 yards 7 iron.

a little later than expected, but here are some new results regarding my 7-iron.

still using my own, 45 year old, 7-iron, which is basically a modern days 9-iron, I'm now hitting it up to 155 yards with a high trajectory.

I'm trying to get the trajectory lower, hoping for a little more distance.

Realizing that this is in fact a 9-iron with a rather heavy aluminium shaft (130 gram), logically a real 7-iron should give me

about 30 yards more, right?

That would be 185 yards.

Add to that a modern shaft that weighs 30 - 40 grams lighter, theoretically resulting in higher swing-speed (up to 10 mph more according to some information I found on the net), and occasionally (NOT ALL THE TIME OFF COURSE!!!), you should be hitting it around 200 yards or even more (back wind, down slope,...).

Tomorrow I'l start testing some more recent 7-irons (rented, steel and graphite shaft) and see what it does to my distance.

I'll keep you posted!

Finally getting the stability and distance I was looking for.

after being out for 4 days due to a wrist injury, I just played 2 rounds of 9 holes.

wrote down 48 and 47, my first scores sub 50!

In the next few days and weeks, this should drop further to sub 45, considering the ridiculous misses I'm still making.

Finally found the right swing and posture, resulting in much more stability and thus having the same results on the course as I had on the range.

Using a slow swing and a rented graphite iron (as mentioned before), I'm now hitting this 7-iron 160-175 yards.

My swing speed is still much lower than it was 1 year ago (easily 10 mph), so I'm quite sure I'll be able to add 20 yards or more once I increase my swing speed.

Driver is improving as well, usually reaching 200-240 yards, but using a really low swing speed.

finally found a good teacher that speaks sufficient English (living in Thailand!) and started a 10h cours yesterday.

I already felt the result in my chipping and bunker shots today!