1 Iron Golf Clubs

[vangator]

Heading out this afternoon (it's 9 am now). I'm looking at my Pinhawks right now. Need to clean the grips. Haven't played in 5 weeks due to work. I'm working a project that has me putting in 80+ per week 7 days a week. But I'm getting out today! Glad to hear about your improvements. It seems strange that golfers that continually mishit their irons wouldn't try something else. Doesn't it seem natural that your consistency would improve when you simplify the swing? So why don't pros play single length? According to David Lake, many do. they get their clubs "modified" even though they are still OEM. They get paid by the OEMs to play their clubs. They don't tell them they can "tweak" them. Just keep the name. Many pros do not. But they practice long enough that they could play with a broom and a rake. I don't practice that much, so I'll go with the single length. I spine aligned and FLOed these irons this time. I never did that with any previous sets. I'm think that helps dispersion, but don't have definitive data. But that wouldn't account for my improved ball striking.

[vangator]

After a 5 week layoff, I shot a 37 on the front with 7 GIR, 8 pars, one bogey. The greens had just been aerated and slow. Six birdie putts from 15 feet and in, but none dropped. It's really nice to know that the rust isn't as bad with these irons.

[Johnny1790]

...awesome stuff mate....so what about the back 9? :-)

[vangator]

Got rained out on the back (actually lightning). Irons were still working really well. Hit two bad drives which led to bogeys, but stuck both the par 3's. Was a couple over. Still no putts dropping but no 3 putts.

[Johnny1790]

Sounds like you have got it all in order then....roll on this weekend for the next installment...good luck :-)

[vangator]

Tropical storm coming, but it may hit early next week so this weekend sounds good to go. 60% to 70% chance of rains Sat and Sun but that's normal for Florida this time of year. My iron play was remarkably good. twice I hit my approach shot within two feet of the pin, but they released a few more feet. They had just aerated the greens so no putts were falling for anybody. Plus, they were painfully slow. I may wait a couple of weeks before playing there again. I need to spend some time with my driver. I'm hitting more of a hook than I like. Damn Ping K15. I think I may have to spring for a Ping G25 or Ping G30.

[Johnny1790]

Well...I have a Ping G25 (stiff), and have just replaced it with the 1-iron driver.

Won't be going back any time soon...although the Ping was very nice to use.

Play-ability wise the 1-iron is way more consistent (or I am way more consistent with it), and goes just as far.

Hoping for some good golfing stories next week....

[dmcnab]

Hi all...haven't been here for a while, but have been traveling and trying out the new 1-Irons......it has been a bigger adjustment than I expected, but it is coming along nicely. I find that b/c I really only have 'one swing', it is much easier to diagnose the fault behind a mis-hit ball......I have been shooting in mid-90s to low-100s, but about a week ago, I shot an 89...I was ectastic.

I find the distances are slowly creeping back up (with the driver and woods)....I am hitting my driver about 220-225 yds, my 3 wood about 200+, my 5 wood about 190, and my 7 wood about 175-180 yds......still some loss with the irons (with my former set, I was hitting my 7 iron about 150 yd....now, it is about 135 yds -- don't know why...any suggestions?)

Also, I ordered a new driver clubhead, intending to put a graphite shaft on it, hoping to get a few more yards......1 Iron (Dave Lake) said that they couldn't put  a graphite shaft on b/c they only use steel shafts, but that (obviously) I could do what I wanted...so, I ordered the driver clubhead (and a grip -- love those oversized grips, even tho my hands ane not big) and want to put on a graphite shaft...have any of you tried this? Any suggestions?...thanks.

[vangator]

I would love to find a demo day where 1 Irons were available. I'd like to try the driver. I think I'm in the market for a new driver and would like to see what they feel like.

[Johnny1790]

The distance changes are quite easy to qualify....

Take a look at the specs for your previous set on the net, and compare the lofts against the 1-irons.

I did this with my G25's and Burner 2.0's against the 1-irons and found that my Ping 8 and Burner 8 iron were both actually stronger lofted than my 1-iron 7 iron.

This explained why my 7 iron was not flying as far.

Indeed, I found that for my previous sets all of the clubs were lofted stronger, or as Tom Wishon calls it "vanishing loft disease".

For the loft I am playing more or less the same distance to within a yard or two, so I have listed each club and a distance spread for each iron.

It means that maybe I'm now hitting a 6 iron where I would have used a 7, but the lofts are the same.....just a head-space thing. It can be a bit embarrassing taking a 6 iron when everyone else is pulling out 7's and 8's, but not so much when you hit the green and they don't :-)

As you will have found out, the 1-irons are very consistent and have the 4 degree loft between clubs.

I am also now starting to hit them further than the distances I initially listed down, so I must be catching them in the middle more and more.

Hope this helps...

[dmcnab]

Hi vangator and Johnny1790...I have done/experienced all of what you say....I think that I am getting the hang of the 'new' irons and that the 'expected' distance will materialize.....the driver is fantastic, in terms of accuracy (and distance)...I may not hit it as far as others off the tee, but 80% of the time, I am dead center in the fairway and in a much better spot than others......all I want is an extra 10-20 yds off the driver and I will be happy......my irons are 'pretty much" OK, altho I would like more distance...I did the 'cross measurement' or 'comparison measurement' with my 'old' set (Taylor -made driver and woods and Mizuno irons...about $3,200 worth of clubs..) and so I know, for example, that my 'old' 7 iron hits 150 and my 'SL' 7 wood hits about 130-135.....it's not a 'macho' thing, it is simply about having the correct clubs in my bag to cover the distances......I am figuring that out, and really only need to also figure out my alignment (how to line up the clubface and ball) so that I can hit it perfectly straight....any suggestions?...o/wise, I am loving my SL irons and woods, and cannot imagine going back to the 'old' style......in fact, I saw an online article/video that compares Moe Norman with Bryce Deschambeau (??) and shows you how their swing style is so much like what you would want (for yourself) if you were trying to re-build your swing.....very good video and I would recommend it to all of you....any suggestions about any of this are welcome.....thanks

[dmcnab]

Here is the video that I mentioned:

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/watch-and-learn-moe-norman-swing-analysis/

[dmcnab]

This actually a better video that shows the use of single length clubs.....

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/two-kind-moe-norman-vs-bryson-dechambeau/

[vangator]

Hi vangator and Johnny1790...I have done/experienced all of what you say....I think that I am getting the hang of the 'new' irons and that the 'expected' distance will materialize.....the driver is fantastic, in terms of accuracy (and distance)...I may not hit it as far as others off the tee, but 80% of the time, I am dead center in the fairway and in a much better spot than others......all I want is an extra 10-20 yds off the driver and I will be happy......my irons are 'pretty much" OK, altho I would like more distance...I did the 'cross measurement' or 'comparison measurement' with my 'old' set (Taylor -made driver and woods and Mizuno irons...about $3,200 worth of clubs..) and so I know, for example, that my 'old' 7 iron hits 150 and my 'SL' 7 wood hits about 130-135.....it's not a 'macho' thing, it is simply about having the correct clubs in my bag to cover the distances ......I am figuring that out, and really only need to also figure out my alignment (how to line up the clubface and ball) so that I can hit it perfectly straight....any suggestions? ...o/wise, I am loving my SL irons and woods, and cannot imagine going back to the 'old' style......in fact, I saw an online article/video that compares Moe Norman with Bryce Deschambeau (??) and shows you how their swing style is so much like what you would want (for yourself) if you were trying to re-build your swing.....very good video and I would recommend it to all of you....any suggestions about any of this are welcome.....thanks

For me, to strike the ball consistently, I line up my club face along my intended line (slightly right of target since I draw everything). I set up with my left shoulder ever so slightly closed. This is key. During my downswing, I try to keep my left shoulder from opening too soon. Keep your eyes glued to a spot on the ball and drive the club face through the ball down your line. I keep a mental image of my body staying perpendicular to my target line. That's what they call "staying down on the ball". Trust your alignment. Don't open up to try to see your ball flight immediately. This will have a negative impact on your ball flight. It's much the same concept of keeping your head down while putting until you hear the ball drop in the hole. I actually don't keep my head down that long because I want to see the path of the putt when I miss the hole . :-) Think of what you do when you punch a ball back onto the fairway. I bet the ball goes pretty straight.

[Johnny1790]

Could have done with that advice about the shoulder yesterday. Had maybe 80% of all my shots pulled left. Felt myself spinning out of shots, but you know what it is like when it's not going well....you just hit it harder and harder as the animal instinct takes over. I guess one terrible round once in a while is to be expected. Some range time this week with a focus on left shoulder is in order. I did strike some very good shots, but everything was just a little bit off...and nothing dropped on the greens at all. 15 shots worse than last week's best round...hmmmmmm Looking forward to putting that one behind me very quickly :-)

[dmcnab]

Same here....assuming that we are all talking about using single length irons, I find that the driver and woods perform much better than my other set (the custom fitted Taylor Made woods and Mizuno 825 irons), and the 3-8 (or maybe 3-9) irons also perform better...it is the 9-SW that I have trouble with -- always seem to end up left of target. I did read somewhere that the greater the loft on a club, the more the clubface will close, and I am wondering if that is what is causing so many of my shots to pull to the left?

I played 9 holes this afternoon and I did experiment with the Moe Norman/Bryson DeChambeau (see my reference to Golf Channel videos on this topic) stance and setup -- and was pleasantly surprised to see that my accuracy improved and so did my distance.....noticeable enough to warrant some more experimentation on the range and out on the course, but using DeChambeau as my reference point seems to be a very good place to start. I didn't keep my score, but simply played thru 9 holes, practicing this new setup etc and it was better than I hoped for.....think I need a 'real' lesson, especially on alignment, b/c as I start to improve my ball striking, poor alignment and shots that end up off course are starting to undo any other kind of general 'improvement'...any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.............PS: on Tuesday, I am going to see a guy (in Jupiter, FL) about mounting my 1-Iron titanium driver clubhead (I bought a 2nd clubhead) on a graphite shaft, and will also have a chance to measure and compare distances b/w my 'old' clubs and my 'new' 1-Irons....will report back on that if there is anything worthwhile to share.

[vangator]

Today was a red letter day. I birdied 3 of the first four holes and shot a 3 under 33 on the front side and shot even par 36 on the back for a 69. Ties my low round ever. Once again I really putted poorly but I couldn't have hit my driver or irons better. I hit 11 of 14 fairways. The only driver I missed was on the 18th and that was a good lie in the first cut. The other two fairways I missed were with my 3 wood which both led to bogeys. So much for playing conservative. I hit 5 approaches under 6 feet and holed another approach for an eagle on a par 4. I lipped out 4 putts. This could have been a real nice round. I had a real shot at a hole in one. I think the ball may have hit the stick on the way by. I lipped out a 3 foot down hill putt for the birdie. Argh!!!!! Not bad for unconventional irons! :-)

[Johnny1790]

You are the only person I know who could be upset with a 69....!

I'm still dreaming of an 89 :-)

Well pleased for you...would have been very nice to watch...

Have been trying your tips for the left shoulder, and I can definitely "feel" it when I spin out now....and is quite obvious why I am pulling the ball left.

Was the round a comp round, and if so, that must mean you will come down a shot???

Congrats :-)