Forged irons. Their life span.

[Crafty]

I have a set of mp-30s that have been heavily played for the last 8 years by me and my father. They seem to be holding up fine with the excpetion of the hit marks and bag chatter.

My dad also has a set of wilson tour staff blades from the early 80s that are in about the same condition, maybe a touch worse.

[Guest]

I used to play the taylormade tp forged irons 3-pw for 3 and a half years. checked the lofts and lies on them every 6 months and when i sold them they were still in very very good shape. PW, 9i, 8i, had some ball marks in the middle of the club from just hitting to many balls but made no effect what so ever to ball flight, shape or spin of ball. I would say you can get at least 4 years out of them if you take care of them.

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[Blades4me]

  hypergolf said:

People keep saying that forged irons don't last long. But I have seen a few golfers who have bagged their forged clubs for more than 4-5 years.

I have a old set of 78 Wilson Staff tour blades and a old set of Golden Rams and I couldn't disagree more. Whoever you are talking to doesn't know very much IMO. I'll even take it a little further, again IMO the old stuff was built much better than todays stuff and definetly feels better with a pured hit.

[AlCzervik]

i have some forged macgregor's and while the face of the club is still in nice shape. It looks like i might of hit a rock or something while swinging and the chrome on the toe has some gouges in it. they look like little dots

[sandtrap]

I think it depends on how many range balls you hit.

Those rocks are killers to the face of a forged iron

[Zeph]

What problems can occur to forged clubs, why do they occur, and why does it not occur to other?

[Alex1]

The golf section of About.com claims that forged are not really softer than cast irons: http://golf.about.com/od/faqs/f/cast_forged.htm

How long do typical clubs last with, say, once a week use?

[bflat450]

Well I think they are softer because they get dented soo much easier than cast irons. You could smash a cast iron against a rock and not have much more than a scratch.

[Lefty731PM]

  Zeph said:

What problems can occur to forged clubs, why do they occur, and why does it not occur to other?

If you hit 5,000 balls a day, you will see some wear on the faces.

Of all the things there are to worry about in golf, irons "wearing out" is not one of them. If you play once or twice a week, your irons will last a lifetime. And all this talk about "cast v forged" is wearing a bit thin (unlike the clubs themselves, which won't). Get out and play the game and worry about the game itself. Your clubs won't wear out. I can see that there are a few newcomers to our game who think that golf clubs are like other items we have which we like to keep looking new. It doesn't work that way. Who has honestly heard of anyone other than a pro who has had to replace worn out irons, apart from the odd wedge?

[sk71]

I played my mp-33's for about 5 years. once a week.
they are still awesome except for the bag chatter. you get a lot of small dings. I retired these just this week for some 57's. There's nothing like a brand new forged irons...

[patrick_the_pup]

Been using my MP29 (bought in Milham Park, Kalamazoo) since 1997, it's still very much playable and still able to provide me the buttery feels on well struck shots :)

[cigarnut81]

I have been playing a set of Nike Pro Combo forged irons for 3 years and they were played for atleast one before I got them and they are showing some age. I keep them clean but I don't really take care of them. Irons are designed for being smashed into the ground guys. They are tough. If I have a great lie or line from the cart path I go ahead a rip it off the cart path. It is alot of fun and it does not hurt me but I am a sweeper not really a big divot taker.

[Lemay427]

I would say you should get the loft/lie checked every year if you were fitted for your clubs.

[bthroneburg]

I have a set of Wilson Staff irons, 2-PW from the early 80s that are in near perfect condition and have been played pretty much. I even had them re-shafted about 6 years ago with S300 TT and they will still perfom as good as most others out there. They are not my every round clubs and I rarely pull them out now, but they are the irons I started with and have played many rounds with. Play them maybe once a year just for the heck of it and still to this day get great results.