Reverse Offset Irons

[johan]

Can someone explain what's the reason/logic behind the "reverse offset" design in irons?
I just got an old Japanese ironset (Honma from mid 1990s) and the offset in shorter irons is more than the longer irons. Thanks.

[uttexas]

Maybe to encourage a high fade with the short irons.

[mgresh]

Found this interesting post...looks like it may apply here.

http://www.tourspecgolf.com/forum/t27356.html

[johan]

uttexas, can you elaborate more on your idea? i think you're on to something here because i do hit fades more easily with these irons, especially the 9 iron and 10 iron (PW). i thought the popular belief is that offset would help to reduce the tendency to slice/fade.

mgresh, thanks for the link. but it only explains how offset can be measured differently. I'm not talking about the "offset numbers" on papaer, but I can physically see the short irons have goose-neck offset and the 3-iron has very minimal offset.