Good player with clubs with fatter soles?

Hello,

Im a 2 hcp player and am currently playing the razr forged irons by Callaway. They are close to blade clubs and I feel they dont suit me at all. I have previously had some big bertha irons with fatter soles and alot of bounce which suited my preference on hitting down on the ball with alot of turf.

The question is, is it a bad idea to get irons such as the Titleist AP1s although im a relatively good player at 2 hcp? I have heard they are harder to fade/draw but that doesnt matter to me in my game. I have also heard that they are not as consistent as thinner irons in distance control. How true is this? Comparison for example Titleist AP1 vs AP2.

Any comments appreciated.

thanks,

D

First, the AP1 & AP2 sets were designed to be mixable, so you could get, say, short irons in AP2 and longer irons in AP1. So you aren't obligated to get everything in AP1. Second, if the AP1 has everything you want in an iron, why [i]shouldn't[/i] you play it? It's not like the golf course is going to look in your bag, see AP1s, and prohibit you from breaking 85. There are plenty of instances of players winning on the PGA Tour with clubs in their bag aimed at high handicappers -- Brian Gay won a tournament with his higher irons being Mizuno's MX series (the particular iron was aimed at hcp 15+, something he certainly wasn't when he won!). IIRC, his "players irons" started at 8. That having been said, I think there was a study a while back about some distance control being better in "players irons", to the effect that a well-struck shot had a more consistent distance. I don't recall it being a big difference, but it wasn't zero either.

Cleveland 588 TT and MT series are great for this.

Though this is probably true, with players irons, you will see a significant loss of distance control on off center hits. On the other hand, game improvement irons will give you more consistency on off center hits. It is certainly a give and take, and OP ought to swing whatever gives him the best results. I say ditch what you've got and try out something with a thicker sole. Ping I25, Titleist AP1/2 etc.

I have a set of 910 AP1's and a set of 912 AP2's. I'm a 5 and though I want to love the AP2's I hit the AP1's much more consistently. I might put the same shafts in the AP2's (Dynamic Gold SL) that are in the AP1's. If that doesn't work I'm dumping the AP2's.

I really like the KBS tour stiff shafts, are they available for the AP1s? Im looking for a light shaft but dont want graphite. How is the SL shafts? Do you have stiff as well?

I see that the True Temper XP 95 S300 are really light weight with 95 grams only. Anyone have these shafts with their AP1s or AP2s?

http://www.truetemper.com/products/xp95/

KBS Tour stiff aren't what I'd consider light at 120g.

I like the SL shafts. My prior set of Ping S58's had the Ping ZZ-65 shaft which is similar so I went with the SL's for a familiar feel. I don't really care for the extremely light steel shafts. The SL gives me the same feel as the normal weight Dynamic Gold that I had played for years.

Nobody's mentioned i20's yet!!  Or i25's I guess.  In my limited experience, these clubs have some pretty fat soles, and I like them A LOT.  I think they'd be worth a look for you.

Yeah in this category I would say the i20s and the AP1 irons are as good as it gets.  I did not have any problems really with distance control with my i20 irons.

I had Rifle 6.0 shafts and bought new irons with Nippon 950 shafts.  The difference?  30 grams of weight  in each shaft.  I can tell you that makes a HUGE difference, for me.

The TaylorMade SLDR irons would also be worth a look; I think @saevel25 would agree.

Im thinking about buying these but not sure I should have such a light shaft as the True Temper XP 95, only 95 grams:

http://www.golfbidder.co.uk/product/530936/Titleist_714_AP1.html

I guess what im worried about is being a pretty good player and having these very light shafts. I really think my callaway razr x forged, 0.5 inch longer with project x 6.0 shafts are too heavy so I do want a lighter shaft, just not sure if it would be too light as I have read that its easier to swing a heavier shaft on the same swing plane than a lighter shaft, im torn, I need help :)

What are the main differences? You dont lose accuaracy with the ligher shafts?