Titleist 755 Irons - aka Where did my distance go?

[envoy98]

So I bought a set of these based on reviews and I got them for a song off eBay. Paid $228 dlvd for a 3-PW set and I couldn't pass it up.

I was playing with fitted Titleist 822os. 1* up and 1/2" short. (I'm 5'10) with the dynamic gold stiff shaft.

My question is, I had lost about 5-8 yds / club going from my old TM LCG irons to my 822's. I associated that with the loss of 1/2" of shaft length and maybe some minor change in loft plus the stiff shaft over regular. IIRC, my 5 iron was around 92mph.

Now going to the 755's, I lost another 6-12 yds / club. I know the 755's are anywhere from 1-2* more lofted which could explain about half of the distance loss but going back to a regular flex and "standard" length shaft, I thought that would negate the loft. Plus I figured my 5 iron would now land like a 6 iron. That has to be good right? :)

So the question is, do you think I should just play with the clubs as they are and just get used to taking an extra club or should I look at changing shafts? Maybe something else? The local golf shop guru suggested I try putting my old DG Stiff shafts in a couple of the irons to see if I noticed any change but I haven't done that yet. I did have them tape the 6 iron and the lie was well within spec so they suggested I not modify these. Whether or not that is true for all of the irons is a mystery atm.

I will say, I lost my high fade I had with the old clubs and I hit the ball much straighter with these. (I cant for the life of me figure out why, but I'm not going to complain)

So to reiterate:
822 os - 1/2" short, 1* upright avg 1-3* less loft than 755, stiff DG shaft
755 - std lie, 1-3* more lofted for same club in 822 set. reg flex

To give you an idea on club distances. I don't bother with my 3i. My 5 iron was my 180 club, now it's 165-170 carry. 7 iron went from 155 to low 140's. 9 was 130 now 125. PW was 120 now 110. I don't have any appreciable gaps in distance and I love the ball flight. So it's really just an ego thing I think.

[whip_it_out]

My dad had them and noticed that they go really low, which could take away from carry, and overall distance. But that doesn't mean it's in the shaft or the lofts, it could just be the heads. He switched to Nike VR blades, same shafts and lofts and the ball just goes further, and higher, definitely higher.

[envoy98]

I suppose that could be true. I had thought that maybe forged just didn't give me the same "pop" as the cavity backed irons did. Did your dad sell his set on ebay by chance? The guy I bought them from used them 3x and said he hated the ball flight. I like it so far, it's just the distance I'm whining about. :) Maybe Titleist irons are just shorter? I've heard the Ping and Taylor Made irons are a little bit longer. The Callaway x-18's I played with in February were consistent with my 822's.

[iacas]

You switched from a stiff shaft to a regular shaft?

Don't get caught up in the lofts of clubs - Titleist shoots for consistent launch angles. Lower CG = higher launch, which necessitates a bit stronger loft to negate the higher launch.

So you've lost 11-20 yards per club? Something's not right. It may be the shafts.

[envoy98]

Yes, I did switch. It was only because I got such a good deal on the irons. I figured I'd play with them as they were and see if I liked them before spending the money to change out the shafts. I think 12-15 yds is the high end. Better than half are in that half to full club (6-12 yds) range.

I will admit, I haven't had my swing speed tested in the last few years so perhaps some of it is my age and inflexibility. However, in one season (I can't play from Nov-Mar here in MN) I lost that distance. I only played about 4 rounds with the clubs last fall and finally committed to them this spring. I was switching back and forth late last summer. I forget what shafts are on these. Tri-Spec maybe? I'd have to go look. I seem to be able to control them just fine and as I said in my original post, I lost that high fade that was pretty consistent in my last two iron sets. Maybe I just slowed my swing down and that is the culprit. I'm not good enough to know if I should change shafts or not so I wanted to check with the experts to see if anyone had thoughts on either the heads as the first poster did or maybe the shafts.

Of course, it could just be me I suppose, but I'd rather blame the clubs.