Does weight placement in irons affect performance?

[BombsAway]

1st Question: We're seeing a number of manufacturers adding tungsten to the toe area in irons. Adding weight to the toe in drivers generally causes fades. Is the same true with irons? 

2nd Question: Club shafts bend downward at impact, causing the toe to be lower at impact. Does placing more of the club weight on the toe increase this bend at impact?

I've played MB blades for the last 10 years, but I'm considering the switch to more forgiving toe-weighted irons. 

[boogielicious]

13 minutes ago, BombsAway said:

1st Question: We're seeing a number of manufacturers adding tungsten to the toe area in irons. Adding weight to the toe in drivers generally causes fades. Is the same true with irons? 

2nd Question: Club shafts bend downward at impact, causing the toe to be lower at impact. Does placing more of the club weight on the toe increase this bend at impact?

I've played MB blades for the last 10 years, but I'm considering the switch to more forgiving toe-weighted irons. 

The weight added to the toe is done to increase the moment of inertia of the head, not to promote fades. Increasing MOI helps the head resist twisting on off center hits. It can increase he “sweet spot” size slightly, which is the area where energy transfer is the greatest at impact.

An example would be the Titleist MB blades versus their CB line. Titleist moved weight away from center of the head (they’ve left a good bit behind the sweet spot) and moved it to the perimeter. This allows off center hits to still get a good bit of the energy at contact and still achieve good launch characteristics. They add tungsten in the toe of the lower lofts because with longer shafts, hitting the center at impact is slightly harder. 

Their AP2 line takes it a bit further, moving more weigh towards the perimeter of the head. But in all cases, the heads weigh about the same, so effects on the shaft would be the same. The shaft only cares about the total weight with respect to flex, because the position of that weight is almost negligible with respect to the shaft length.

[Adam C]

The short answer to the second question is yes. The further out the cg is on the club, the more toe droop you can expect during the swing thanks to centrifugal force. However that being said, the amount of change would be minimal, the biggest difference seen in a driver, less so with irons. And as lie angle becomes less important as loft decreases, doubt you would ever notice it with driver.