Rule of 12 and Changing Lofts

[darthweasel]

I am not an equipment aficionado from a knowledge standpoint. I play game improvement clubs...I think they are Mi5 or Mi6 (or a mix, I think the irons are one of those and the woods/driver are another)..but I don't actually know what brand they are. Those things just don't fall in my interest realm... tested several, got fitted for them, liked them,  bought them, I use them, like them, they do well for me...that is as far as thinking about clubs go.

 

I also tend to use the rule of 12. I don't have the time (or inclination) to spend hours a week dialing in my clubs enough to use the "one club around the green for all situations" approach...but keeping one simple chipping technique and the rule of 12 tends to give me "good enough" results...I can typically get on the green, usually in reasonable range and occasionally in the awesome 3' radius I strive for. 

But for reasons that elude me, I started wondering...it is my understanding that manufacturers have been changing lofts on clubs significantly. I don't actually know the loft on my clubs (other than the ones stamped 50, 55 and 60 of course...those I know). 

So if the rule of 12 is predicated on the lofts, it is entirely possible i have been selecting the wrong club for the ratio. But i am not sure where to look to find out.

 

Anyone know if I should alter my club selection based on the new lofts? or is that a dumb question?

 

appreciate it

[DaveP043]

15 hours ago, darthweasel said:

I also tend to use the rule of 12. I don't have the time (or inclination) to spend hours a week dialing in my clubs enough to use the "one club around the green for all situations" approach...but keeping one simple chipping technique and the rule of 12 tends to give me "good enough" results...I can typically get on the green, usually in reasonable range and occasionally in the awesome 3' radius I strive for. 

......

Anyone know if I should alter my club selection based on the new lofts? or is that a dumb question?

It seems to me that the results are what matters.  If your chipping is generally good enough, why would you change it?  If you were consistently long, as a result of the trend towards stronger lofts, you'd probably notice.  

[darthweasel]

3 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

It seems to me that the results are what matters.  If your chipping is generally good enough, why would you change it?  If you were consistently long, as a result of the trend towards stronger lofts, you'd probably notice.  

I feel like one of the easily improvable areas of my game with limited practice would be things that don't require swing work. Played league last night (two man scramble event) and due to life getting in the way, had not touched the clubs for a week. That means no chance to work on tweaks to say...my driver swing which has been a weakness lately and I very much know I need to spend a serious amount of time at the range doing the 5 P practice.

Same with my wedges...the chunking struck twice last night and on a completely unrelated note two easy pars turned into disappointing bogeys. But that takes time at the range.

 

But something like chipping with basic motion if I can knock a stroke a round off by better math would be cool, I just didn't know if the rule had changed.

 

Hopefully things get better soon and I can get back out to the range and short game areas to have actual mechanical improvement...I feel like that is the true path to improvement but also looking for little edges.

[jlbos83]

I believe that the Rule of 12 used to be the Rule of 11.  This meant that before, you expected to get a 1:1 fly to roll ratio with a "10 iron (11-1) or a pitching wedge.  Lofts today are about a club strong (more or less), so it became the rule of 12, where 1:1 would be an "11 iron" or a gap wedge (or approach wedge, or whatever the manufacturer want to call it.  After that, the rule works, as the relative lofts between clubs are the same (or close enough for this purpose) as they were before.  If you need to roll less that you fly, you can go to more lofted clubs, obviously the "rule" doesn't directly work, at some point you have to "feel" it!

In any case, the "rule" is just a starting point.  Depending on how you chip (deloft, etc.), the rule might be 9, or 13.