First Season With Blades - Let's Discuss

[OrangeDot]

Originally, I had Callaway X-18s. I was in an after work league, and was hitting terrible with them. My partner, a more seasoned retired golfer, said, "were you fitted for those?". I told him where I bought them, but said no, I wasn't fitted.
He said, "they should have fitted you"..."most clubs are designed for taller men"..."you can go get fitted, but I suggest you take a Ping Dot measurement, easier and cheaper, and get a set off of eBay and try them out".

So, I did that. First, I tried my wife's Lady clubs on a Par 3 and was shocked at the score. I measured. Orange Dot. Score dropped 10 strokes the following week (43 on 9 holes). I was excited.
I traded the Callaway X-18s for 2 sets of clubs: Harvey Penick Take Dead Aim, and Titleist CB690s.

I cut the Titleist CB690s down half an inch and regripped them. Started playing with them, and wow, I started hitting better than the Ping Eye 2s (more distance, same or better accuracy).
I didn't hit well with the Harvey Penicks, so they have sat in a box. I have considered pulling them back out.

Finally, I decided to try Blades. Felt like this was the year because I might be aging out of them.
I bought a used set of Par Ace Tour Blades for $50 off FB Marketplace. There is a 1 iron all the way down to Sand Wedge. They seem heavy (maybe it just seems heavier due to the 2 extra clubs, the 1 & 2).
I took the blades in, and had them bent (2 degree flatter, or lower, per club). This makes them match the Ping Orange Dot lie angles.
Played with the blades last Summer and Fall. They're accurate! If you can hit consistently in middle of club, which I do, they do quite well. But they seem to cost me a lot of distance - at least 10 yards per club.

I was thinking of completing a full 2026 with these blades, but after going to Top Golf for a virtual round, I noticed I was getting smoked on the distance, and am now re-thinking which clubs, of the ones I have, would be best to play with.

So now, I am wondering...if you had these sets to choose from, which set would YOU choose?
- Ping Eye 2
- Titleist CB690
- Blades (Par Ace Tour Blades)
- Harvey Penick Take Dead Aim

.... and yes, at some point, I will probably get more current and get a nicer newer set. But for now, this is what I have to choose from.

[Clemsonfan]

I am pretty familiar with equipment and I have never heard of Par Ace Tour Blades. If they are old their lofts might be weak, which would cause the perceived distance loss. A few years ago I had a friend upgrade his old irons to modern equipment and his PW loft was 6* stronger than his old clubs. May not be the case, but just a thought.

I think you might have better luck being fitted, or spending time on a launch monitor comparing these 4 irons. Then you can identify the distance gap between irons. You may find the ones you hit longer are really close together at the top of the bag.

Good luck!

[tomfig]

I’d go with the Titleist if you liked the look of the blades but were suffering with distance. They should be a little more forgiving than a full blade and still retain some workability. Also remember to consider the shafts each have as this will be a big contributor to how they feel. Clemsonfan is right though… get fit or spend a bit of time on a launch monitor 🤙

[OrangeDot]

The launch monitor is a good idea actually.

Par Ace was a company that came about in the late 80s through the 90s, and wound down in the early 2000s (based out of Florida). They were known for budget/clone clubs, but they were known for hitting surprisingly well.

Harvey Penick, he wrote a number of golf books (including the legendary Little Red Book of Golf). He was a golf instructor in Texas, and taught/influenced golfers like Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw and others. The Take Dead Aim clubs were designed by him and licensed to Golfsmith. So these are older clubs, although in mint condition and regripped.

The Ping Eye 2s, well, everyone knows about those and those clubs are awesome. Mine were in great shape (I gave them to my son in law but he discovered he is a blue or black dot so he said he is going to return those to me).

The Titleists, I cut those shafts down 1/2" and regripped them myself. Those were my go-tos before trying out these blades. 

But, as accurate as they seem to be - even MORE accurate than the Titleists - I cannot afford to be hitting short all the time, and confused about what club I should be grabbing.

I will try out that launch monitor and see what happens! When it gets warmer that is.
 

[saevel25]

On 1/29/2026 at 9:45 PM, OrangeDot said:

So now, I am wondering...if you had these sets to choose from, which set would YOU choose?
- Ping Eye 2
- Titleist CB690
- Blades (Par Ace Tour Blades)
- Harvey Penick Take Dead Aim

I couldn't say. Not enough information. I am not a fan of saying what you should go with. I don't know your swing or what not. 

On 1/29/2026 at 9:45 PM, OrangeDot said:

Originally, I had Callaway X-18s. I was in an after work league, and was hitting terrible with them. My partner, a more seasoned retired golfer, said, "were you fitted for those?". I told him where I bought them, but said no, I wasn't fitted.

If you are a casual golfer, lets say if you shoot 50 or worse, I would say getting fitted is not going to help much. Blades will not make you better. Getting quality lessons and putting in effort would. 

[mdl]

Just keep hitting them all and play with whatever you enjoy most! No one will be able to say more than that! If you want to try to be a little more scientific you could find a trackman. Some ranges have them for coaching they'll let you rent. You could beg into stalls at a golf store, say you'll come in at an odd hour when there's usually low traffic. Or go to an indoor/simulator place and just use the range feature instead of playing a course. Then basically do your own fitting. Hit 10 shots with like P, 7i, and 4i from each set and choose the one with the best results in terms of accuracy, distance, ball flight, spin, etc. 

[xrayvizhen]

IMO - you need to do a little more than just hit balls in a simulator and look at numbers, Here's something you can do - no simulator needed. Draw a straight vertical line on a ball with a sharpie, carefully place it on the mat with the line straight up & down and then hit. A mark will be left on the clubhead that matches the line on the ball. If it's pointing straight up & down the lie angle of the club is good. If it's leaning one way or the other, then you need clubs that are either more upright or flatter. Do it a few times to see how consistent (or not) your swing might be. Forged blades can be usually bent without a problem but cast clubs, not so much.  I'd go with the CB's; classic forged irons...but not very forgiving with off-center hits.

Edited February 4 by xrayvizhen

[mdl]

On 2/3/2026 at 5:16 PM, xrayvizhen said:

IMO - you need to do a little more than just hit balls in a simulator and look at numbers, Here's something you can do - no simulator needed. Draw a straight vertical line on a ball with a sharpie, carefully place it on the mat with the line straight up & down and then hit. A mark will be left on the clubhead that matches the line on the ball. If it's pointing straight up & down the lie angle of the club is good. If it's leaning one way or the other, then you need clubs that are either more upright or flatter. Do it a few times to see how consistent (or not) your swing might be. Forged blades can be usually bent without a problem but cast clubs, not so much.  I'd go with the CB's; classic forged irons...but not very forgiving with off-center hits.

I also love the CBs. I played one of the CB 700s, I think 710s, for years and they were great.

I also like your old school lie angle test. But I'd just warn that's not dispositive. I've gotten better with this finally, but for years I came in steep and was toe down, but I'd get the same toe down even at the fitter no matter how upright the lie was. Point being, the test you propose can point to lie angle problems but can also point to swing problems.

[xrayvizhen]

Well, I went to four years of college & 2 years of grad-school and I had to look up what "dispositive" means. Anyway...So, you're right, no amount of "fitting" will correct swing issues. To elucidate (how's that?), when buying forged clubs of an older vintage, the odds are the loft & lie angles will be off anyway so adjustments of some sort will more than likely be necessary.

[mdl]

1 hour ago, xrayvizhen said:

Well, I went to four years of college & 2 years of grad-school and I had to look up what "dispositive" means. Anyway...So, you're right, no amount of "fitting" will correct swing issues. To elucidate (how's that?), when buying forged clubs of an older vintage, the odds are the loft & lie angles will be off anyway so adjustments of some sort will more than likely be necessary.

Haha. My wife fairly regularly makes fun of me for using "SAT words". Solid use of elucidate

Def agree on the older clubs point. I didn't think of that. I bought a replacement for an old wedge I loved when they reissued. I wanted it bent upright to match my other clubs. Had my lofts/lies checked on my then quite old Nike irons, and a few of the lofts and lies were off by several degrees!

[OrangeDot]

I played this weekend, a full 18 (which is rare for me these days). Hit a pretty solid round, but I think it was more about the short game being on and some of the drives off the tee going straight and far, than it was due to the blades. I had one hole that I absolutely butchered using a 6 iron off the tee. I hit a 2 iron that went straight and far out of the wind, and I remember a 7 iron dropping onto the green. But I also remember several of the shots going left on me. The blades didn't really cripple me or hurt me badly at all. So indeed - maybe the next thing to do is really get the swing analyzed. And go from there.