Master "Forged vs. Cast" or "Blade vs. Game-Improvement" Iron Thread

[bunkerputt]

If you can handle the blades, then go with them. I love the classic look. MP-67 would be a good choice.

I second the MP-67 recommendation. I played these last year. Excellent irons, great trajectory in the 8-PW, super small profile, very thin sole. Also sweet to look at.

[verse214]

I'm shopping around for a new set of irons and am torn between what to get between blades or game improvement irons. I hear that getting blades at my handicap might not be such a good idea. However, I enjoy blades look so much more than anything else. I like my clubs to be very simple looking. My main question is, is it a terrible idea to get blades at my current skill level? I wonder how much I will handicap my improvement if I do decide to switch to blades.

Another thing that you should keep in mind is how much you plan on going to play rounds at the course versus how much time you plan on spending at the range to practice your ballstriking. I have a high handicap as well, however I just switched to a blended set w/ blades (musclebacks) that you can see below in my sig. Reason being, I'm from NY and the golf season is winding down. Last winter I just went to the range every other day to practice my ballstriking- my first set of irons were actually MP-52's. I barely went to the course when I started last year but the 52's definitely accelerated the progression of my ball striking.

I figure blades on a range won't do any harm to your sanity since you'll be able to just pull another ball outta the basket and work on that swing, but I can definitely see why some people are so adamant about not using blades on the course - they can drive you crazy if you're having an off day. Regardless, do what you think it right - you can always switch back if you're wrong. When I started playing last year I didn't think blades even looked that good - but after seeing them in person and lining up to the ball I haven't been able to resist. They're just so damn sexy!

[pal51961]

I do agree that a CB Cast would be your logical choice. To play blades to correctly you should have a consistent swing, and your handicap does not indicate that level of control. I suggest you go to a golf shop with a driving range and hit, hit, hit. The club will tell you which one to choose. Look for the right speed shaft, once you know if it is S or R you can proceed to evaluating irons. Look at ball flight, look for easy lift but not ballooning flight. Hit 6 or 7 irons at first. Look for a nice penetrating flight and consistent feel. Once you find the demo irons you like proceed to look at the other irons in the set for appearance. Look at the offset and topline from club to club. If you like the look and feel, that is your new club. Then find it used on ebay!!! If you are strapped for cash a nice set of Callaway X-14's are as good as any Cast CB iron ever made. My son plays them and I hit them occasionally and they are rock solid. At any price TaylorMade or Callaway make fine, easy to hit irons. Good luck and remember, you will learn to hit whatever you buy so it is not life or death. Wedges on the other hand are life and death, buy forged blade wedges, you will never regret it.

[sean_miller]

I do agree that a

Rock solid - rock hard - my thoughts exactly.

[andef]

i've used very forgiving CBs to get to 13 but now i've bought the AP2s and still adjusting to them, although i find them much easier to hit than my CBs.
If I was a more solid ballstriker i'd definately play blades

[doubletake]

I like to work the ball both ways on pretty much every approach shot. The blades allow me to do this more consistantly and with more feel and control. I also love the lower trajectory that blades produce for me..and the difference in turf interaction between a blade and a chunky thick soled cavity back...just ordered a new set of mp-68 irons..cant wait.

[pal51961]

Sean, whereas the X-14's maybe "harder" than forged, they were solid enough for Annika and Monty to lead both their tours for 10+ years. We are talking about a 20+handicap player here that needs clubs. More than half the tour players play cast cb's. Hard maybe, but easier to hit by far. I play forged Macgregor PCB tours now but grew up hitting Wilson staff blades my dad gave me. I went on to play collegiate golf with those blades. My forged CB's hit as pure as any blade made. I can work the ball both ways with ease, and control flight easily as well. I teach many accomplished H.S. and college players and the split is about even on cb vs blades, so the choice is all about feel and confidence. I would also note that in a recent test featuring tour players 75 percent could not tell if they were hitting cast cb's or forged blades on a blind testing, so there you go.

[sean_miller]

Sean, whereas the X-14's maybe "harder" than forged, they were solid enough for Annika and Monty to lead both their tours for 10+ years. We are talking about a 20+handicap player here that needs clubs. More than half the tour players play cast cb's. Hard maybe, but easier to hit by far. I play forged Macgregor PCB tours now but grew up hitting Wilson staff blades my dad gave me. I went on to play collegiate golf with those blades. My forged CB's hit as pure as any blade made. I can work the ball both ways with ease, and control flight easily as well. I teach many accomplished H.S. and college players and the split is about even on cb vs blades, so the choice is all about feel and confidence. I would also note that in a recent test featuring tour players 75 percent could not tell if they were hitting cast cb's or forged blades on a blind testing, so there you go.

Damn you and your "history", and your "solid anecdotal evidence", and your "logic".

[pal51961]

I know. Don't you hate when that happens?

[Paulbee]

Cavity backs for me, but I'm an old fart. Played blades for years but need a bit of help nowadays. I can still move the ball around, just get that bit of extra help from the cavities.

Yes, there is a slight drop in the feed-back. Not so much on a pure strike but rather on an off-center hit. With blades, hit one towards the toe and you know it. With cavity backs the feed-back on bad shots is a bit deadened.

[wolverine_man]

For the past 8-10 years, I was playing clubs that were "better than me." I was playing Mizuno MP-14 blades. I consistently shot around an 84 - sometimes better, sometimes worse.

This year, I switched to a players cavity back - the MacGregor PCB Tour. It isn't a super forgiving iron, but much more so than the Mizunos. Now, a bad round for me is an 84 on a tough course, and I consistently shoot around 79 or better. With my current irons, I get the feel of a nice, forged club, but with some added forgiveness. Only thing I wish to change is the shaft, swapping out the DGS300 for either some Nippon 1050GH or the KB Tours. And who knows, if I went to a game improvement iron, I'd probably play even better.

[pal51961]

I play the PCB Tour's with Nippon 1150's. Great fit, great feel and flight. I would suggest those or the TT Black's.

[wolverine_man]

Thanks for the tip. I def need something a fair amount lighter than the DGS300 and I had thought the 1150s were not that much lighter - hence the reason I was leaning towards the 1050s.

[andef]

I have noticed there's a thread on the forum about Forged vs. Cast and Blades vs. GI. Although this thread is similar I couldn't finds the answer I was looking for in that one. My question is: why do so many professionals not play forged club. I first thought of this last weekend when Sergio Garcia was playing in a European Tour event. The live commentators kept on mentioning he switched irons because they have the new grooves. He currently plays the new TaylorMade R9 TP. These clubs are not forged. The same thing goes for Hunter Mahan (Ping S57) , Angel Cabrera (Ping S57), Retief Goosen (R9 TP), Miguel Angel Jimenez, Sean O'Hair, David Toms and so on. Why do they not play forged clubs? Is it just because the company's clubs are not forged and they therefore have to play them? Apart from TaylorMade and Ping, Cleveland CG7 Tour is not forged. What is the reason for this...if there's one?

[iacas]

Forging is just a process. Too much weight is placed on the process used to create the clubs.

This thread perfectly well fits the existing one - "forged vs. cast." So I'll merge it in.

[bunkerputt]

I definitely need some forgiveness with my ballstriking, or lack-of. But I'm stuck because I like the look of blades much better and want to keep things simple. The worst clubs I could never stand to look at were the Nike slingshot irons. I played the Mizuno Mp-67 irons for about a year, but gave up on them even though when I would actually hit the center of the face, they felt really incredible. I just lost way too much distance on off-center hits. Now I play a "forgiving" blade. It's one designed by Ralph Maltby that still looks somewhat like a players club with a fairly thin top-line and thin sole, but a somewhat larger heel to toe size. When I mis-hit it (towards the toe), it still sends the ball out there pretty decently but gives a lot of feedback on whether I caught it good or not. I probably dropped 10 strokes just by switching. At some point soon, I'll be able to switch back, since it's all starting to come together, but I need the training wheels on for a while.

[farmer]

Compared to the blades of the 60's and 70's, todays blades are considerably more forgiving due to the length of the blade. All cavities do is move the CG toward the toe and todays blades do that with length. The irons I started with (Haig Ultras) were about the same size as the Miura baby blades. In about 1973 I had a beautiful set of Hogan Apex irons that apparantly had no sweet spot. But, they were pretty.

[Blades4me]

I had a set of Maxfli A 10's (cast club that I gave away) and a set of MacGregor 1025 mb V-foils (forged club that I still have). I could feel a difference, (not to say that one was better than the other). The MacGregor's felt a little crisper, but that was the only difference I noted.

10 or 20 years ago casting wasn't as good and there would be air pockets which made of inconsistant hits. That isn't a problem anymore as the casting process has become much better. However, IMO its the shaft that makes the biggest difference in feel when fitted correctly, graphite or steel.

I don't really buy the, "I switched to cb's and don't get punished for mis hits and have dropped 5 strokes". We all have mis hits, and yes there is some loss in distance. That is why one should practice the short game and putting b/c that is where you drop strokes. I practice from 150 and in a lot and that is where I've been able to shave strokes along with putting, (the closer to the green should be directly proportional to confidence, IOW the closer to the green one is, they should become increasingly confident). On a side note, the reason I practice from 150 and in is b/c after my drive on a par 4 I'm usually 160-140 out. For me thats 7,8 or 9 iron, therefore those are clubs I'll practice a lot with.

In the end though, one should play whatever clubs one likes and are comfortable with b/c that is what feeds into confidence. I can't say enough about how important it is to feel comfortable over the ball; it can make all the difference in the world. So whatever gets one to that point is what one should consider