TV ad said that Callaway irons 20 yd longer?

Where are they getting that from ?? adjusting the loft standard ?

Yea, the lofts are stronger and the shafts are longer.

Essentially, they took a 3 iron and stamped 5 on the bottom. The old 4 is now stamped 6; etc...

To make up for the fact their 9 iron now has the loft and length of a 7 iron--which creates a huge gap between the 9 and wedge--they have added two new clubs: a 10 iron and an 11 iron.

when they make a claim like that chances are its one club only,probably a 6 iron. The first thing that I become suspect about is " compared to what? and who is striking the ball? Besides the changes above that you mentioned they may have a design that reduces some spin and a higher trajectory- much like the TM speed pocket on the sole of the speedblade- (like it or not, believe in it or not)...it does work according  to what I have seen and witnessed on a launch monitor with my own swing. The ball goes higher and further for me, same loft, same length of club, same shaft.

Longer, what do you think.....maybe 1/2"

Manufacturers should just put loft degree numbers on the bottom of their irons, instead of the number game they use today. Hybrids are clearly marked with lofts; why not irons?

I agree, the numbers are meaningless at this point as sets no longer conform to defined lofts for a given number.  Since woods and after market wedges already use lofts, the rest of the clubs in the set should as well.

I'm pretty sure the 20 yards longer claims come from the videos they have with their Tour pros. They have them hit their gamer 6 and their new 6 iron with "Face-Cup Technology", and then have the pros pace off the distance. It's always over 20 yards. Of course they never specify the loft and length of the 6 irons used.  Just youtube "Callaway Patrick Reed Facecup" you should be able to find it.

When they make the first 48 inch 6i with a huge sweet spot, I'm going to give up my driver.

read something about these a couple of weeks ago.  apparently they are basically fairway wood faces on irons and the ball pops off the face in addition to the strong lofts and longer shafts

On one of the "Lesson From A Pro" episodes on Golf Channel they had Greg Norman on.  One of the shots he hit was with his 1 Iron from way back, he compared it to today's 3 irons and showed where the lofts were very similar.  I'm sure the newer technologies make the 3 iron easier to hit versus the old 1 irons but yeah, it's more of the manufacturer's making the lofts stronger to meet their claims.

Curious, what do most people think. Should USGA and R&A; define loft limits for clubs?

No, I just agree with @Archie Bunker e become meaningless and lofts would be more useful.  You can't discuss an iron generically anymore without first qualifying what set you are talking about and what the loft the club is anyway.

Bubba Watson hits his 9i 170 yards, I'd rather know what the loft is of his 9i so I can compare apples to apples.

No way. The average golfer struggles to get their distances as it is, why make it harder? I think they should take away the COR restrictions and volume restrictions for the driver as well.

If the pros use the same faces, they'll get destroyed after the first shot so they pros will use thicker faces and smaller heads anyway.

I adjust/repair/build clubs for Country Clubs around here and "Even" the club pros have me adjust there free OEM irons stronger..... I assume to impress someone.

I remember in a Mark Crossfield interview in the Ping van that the pros use the standard clubs. Guessing standard lofts.

http://www.ping.com/tour/prodetails.aspx?id=2750

Bubba swings his driver 125 mph there's no reason to think he can't hit a standard 41 degree club 170 yards.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/44344/bubba-watson-uses-a-9-iron-from-178-yards

Standard clubs don't necessarily mean standard lofts.  I think Bubba is using pretty old irons S59's so his lofts might be close to regular sets but a 7i in a S59 or 56 is not the same as a 7i in the new Callaway Big Bertha set.

In a recent interview, Tiger commented that Rory's irons were almost 2 irons stronger lofted than his.

According to the Ping website, he's using S55. The interview stated that the heads were blue printed, that is, they are made exactly to specification so that the players know what to expect. One thing they sounded pretty proud about is that their pros use the same clubs as us, only the more accurate ones from standard production.

My almost 15 year old son hits his 8i 165 yards about 30% of the time, 170

So, I don't see why it's hard to believe that Bubba (one of the longest professional golfers) can hit his 9i 178, which is only like 2 clubs longer? I'm guessing that Bubba can hit his 9i more than 178 when not playing for money.

Unfortunately, my son has his eye on the S55 $$$.

I am not questioning how far Bubba hits his 9i, sorry if I was not clear on that point.  My point is that someone else with a lower swing speed could jack up the loft on their 9i and claim to hit it 180 yards too.  The numbers on the irons these days are meaningless, so that's why I believe putting the lofts and not numbers would better represent what someone is hitting.

Their 5i loft (23°) and 6i loft (26°) are both stronger than my Callaway X-24 5i loft (27°). That's a big difference. I think the biggest impact is on how you construct your set. I would maybe worry about hitting that 5i. My irons are 5-PW right now. I would have to get a 6-PW to match the loft range, and then you're getting into significant gaps in your irons. They have 4-5° jumps between their irons from 6i to PW. I don't see the benefit there. I need precision in my shorter irons more than I need length from the long ones. It's a curious decision that, at first blush, seems to be marketing-driven over being focused on what can help the mid to high handicaps they're being aimed at. Because otherwise the tech seems interesting.

The 4i is 20.5° for Christ's sake. I don't stand a chance with that.