my irons are huge

[clearwaterms]

today I stopped at the range to hit a quick bucket on my way home. Having only an hour I decided to be very systematic with my intent. I started with my shortest (distance) club and demanding that I hit 3 good shots in a row (starting over with that club if I hit something fat, thin, or off target) As I moved towards the 7 iron and into the 5 and 6 iron, I tried to put a small draw on one of those three balls.

Well the point I was trying to make is that moving from my gap wedge to my pitching wedge I realized that my pitching wedge and my irons are HUGE, they are like shovels. For reference they are Grand Hawk XP24 (similar to Big Bertha 08 clubs)

I am not sure what that means, I prefer the smaller look of my wedge's (Acer XC wedges)

thoughts? comments?

[wedge player]

they do look big because they are game improvement irons which mean longer blade length thicker topline and sole as well as wider on the toe.the reason they do this is to make a more forgiving club.lets say you were to get a players iron it would appear to be much smaller as it is not so forgiving.

[CG031]

One of the main reasons I went from Taylor Made RAC OS to Mizuno MP-57's. It's not that I couldn't hit the TM's, I couldn't stand the look of them!

[lumpuckeroo]

The look of an iron plays a huge part in my decision to buy/play them. I much prefer a smaller, "players" blade over a GI iron.

[HytrewQasdfg]

IMHO, what the f... does it matter what your clubs look like. How they play is all that matters.

I've seen any number of people say "I loved the way my clubs played, but I couldn't stand what the looked like so I got rid of them." Huh????

To me, the obsession some people seem to have with "the blade look" has less to do with really liking the way they look and more to do with wanting to look like they are good players. "I may not be a scratch golfer, but at least I can look like I'm a scratch golfer by playing blades."

[sean_miller]

  HytrewQasdfg said:

IMHO, what the f... does it matter what your clubs look like. How they play is all that matters.

Most people who see my bag of blades are surprised I can play at all - the pros are switching to players cavity backs and so are many top amateurs. They think I must be a crappy golfer who's playing something they got at Goodwill. I play them because I love them - the way they look in the bag and at address, the way they feel when I'm playing well (and when I'm not), the way they sound when I hit the ball and when they're clicking together while I'm walking, they way they fit together so compactly in my carry bag. I hope my wife doesn't read this.

[lumpuckeroo]

  HytrewQasdfg said:

IMHO, what the f... does it matter what your clubs look like. How they play is all that matters.

It f...ing matters a lot, if they look good to me, then I have the confidence to play them. If they look like a shovel to me, I can't get past that to play them. I don't care if it looks like a tire iron, if it looks good to me and I can hit them, I would play them.

[HytrewQasdfg]

  sean_miller said:

Most people who see my bag of blades are surprised I can play at all - the pros are switching to players cavity backs and so are many top amateurs. They think I must be a crappy golfer who's playing something they got at Goodwill. I play them because I love them - the way they look in the bag and at address, the way they feel when I'm playing well (and when I'm not), the way they sound when I hit the ball and when they're clicking together while I'm walking, they way they fit together so compactly in my carry bag. I hope my wife doesn't read this.

If you like the way they play, I have no problem with that. Nothing wrong with like the way a club feels when you play it or choosing blades because you think you play better with them.

But worry about how they look? I had a conversation with a friend this AM. He had purchsed a new truck and was telling me about it. We talked about the things he was planning on using it for (hauling a trailer), the engine, age, mileage, etc... About 10 minutes into the conversation it occured to me that had my wife been there the FIRST question she would have aske would have been "what color is it?" The subject never came up with us (I still don't know the color, and don't really care.) Applied to golf clubs, is it nice to have good looking clubs? Yea, but looks are way down the line compared to function (at least in my book.) I know looks rate pretty high with others, but (imho) if it's so important that they would dump quality clubs simply because they don't like the style, well... I'm sure there's a LPGA event they can enter so they can stand around and discuss how stylish their clubs are.

[sean_miller]

  HytrewQasdfg said:

If you like the way they play, I have no problem with that. Nothing wrong with like the way a club feels when you play it or choosing blades because you think you play better with them.

If somebody told me I could permanently shave 5 strokes off my rounds (I typically shoot somewhere between 80 and 86), but I'd have to play Callaway Big Berta irons and use a belly putter, I'd tell them to shove it. I'm not superficial - I don't care what others think - I just don't like the thought of dry heaves every time I pull my bag out of the car.

[HytrewQasdfg]

  sean_miller said:

If somebody told me I could permanently shave 5 strokes off my rounds (I typically shoot somewhere between 80 and 86), but I'd have to play Callaway Big Berta irons and use a belly putter, I'd tell them to shove it. I'm not superficial - I don't care what others think - I just don't like the thought of dry heaves every time I pull my bag out of the car.

See, I have exactly the opposite attitude. To me, functionality is beautiful. The more functional it is, the more beautiful it is.

[lumpuckeroo]

  HytrewQasdfg said:

See, I have exactly the opposite attitude. To me, functionality is beautiful. The more functional it is, the more beautiful it is.

I guess it is the chicken and the egg thing for each of us. If they look good, I will play good, for you, if you play good, they look good. Interesting, we should start a thread will a poll and see which way people think on this issue.

[sean_miller]

  HytrewQasdfg said:

See, I have exactly the opposite attitude. To me, functionality is beautiful. The more functional it is, the more beautiful it is.

"

Handicap Index: 36" I guess when you find something beautiful, you'll know it - good luck.

[GTV8]

  sean_miller said:

If somebody told me I could permanently shave 5 strokes off my rounds (I typically shoot somewhere between 80 and 86), but I'd have to play Callaway Big Berta irons and use a belly putter, I'd tell them to shove it. I'm not superficial - I don't care what others think - I just don't like the thought of dry heaves every time I pull my bag out of the car.

What is funny is that I bet a good number of golfers could shave 5 strokes off their round if they did play something like the Big Berthas...I am sure there are many golfers needlessly suffering because they purchased their irons based more on looks than function. I know I have done that before.

[kafka01]

  HytrewQasdfg said:

I know looks rate pretty high with others, but (imho) if it's so important that they would dump quality clubs simply because they don't like the style, well... I'm sure there's a LPGA event they can enter so they can stand around and discuss how stylish their clubs are.

LOL - good one, but somehow i get the feeling, that this more a male thing, not playing shovel like clubs. Women seem to be a lot more into the stuff that actually helps there game...

I never saw any women discuss playing blades cuz they look so awesome - did you?

[sean_miller]

  GTV8 said:

What is funny is that I bet a good number of golfers could shave 5 strokes off their round if they did play something like the Big Berthas...I am sure there are many golfers needlessly suffering because they purchased their irons based more on looks than function. I know I have done that before.

I'm sure they could.

Personally, I've tried so-called game improvement clubs and I hate them. The set up and address position just seems wrong to me. My irons went so high it was ridiculous. Plus, I can't get past those thick toplines. The day I switched back to blades (I've hit quite a few different blades - I like most of them better than GIs) was the day my iron-play jumped ahead by a mile. You can do what you want how you want - I don't need forgiveness in my irons, I just need more practice on my putting.

[Dub]

My irons are fairly large, too. They are much different looking at address than the blade-ish style irons I had prior.

The results are what I'm after...not worried about the looks even though I've grown found of the looks.

[jeffhale08]

It is a personal preference as to what style irons you play, but as I look at most of the handicaps of those here claiming they can't stand GI irons and use only blades are not exactly low. Maybe you should try and stick with some better equipment, try getting to where you can hit 12-14 GIR a round and I'll bet you can get that down to a single digit pretty quick.

[ping23lefty]

In my opinion, how a club looks lined up to a ball before i swing is key to making a good swing. I just recently switched ping models (G10 to S57) because of the fact that i was hitting my buddies MP-57s better than my obese G10s. It just seemed like the features that were put in the G10 to help my game were working against me like the huge offset and thickness which produced weak, chunky slices. If you have the swing to hit blades, by all means get them and don't feel that your trying to be a pro, golfs a game of feel.