um...driver/3W distance?

[Shanks A Million]

...yes, they are stronger in terms of loft, lol i am by NO means a pro-level golfer...hahahaha

I know, I had a friend fall into the same trap. He bought some Burners and started raving about how his new 9 iron was going 150 yards. Sounds amazing, until you realize that his 9 iron is the same as my 8 iron. Same club, same distance.

[Applewhite24]

I have a Callaway Steelhead Plus 3w with an x-stiff 73 gram Fubuki shaft and I absolutely love it. I've had my hands on tons of new fairway woods but this classic club cannot be replaced. 13 degree strong wood that can manipulate ball flight in every way. I can carry it about 270 and with some roll and Texas dry fairways make it a great off the tee club.

[Gioguy21]

I can carry it about 270 and with some roll and Texas dry fairways make it a great off the tee club.

at a 7 handi?...can't putt or hit anything other than that?....

I know, I had a friend fall into the same trap. He bought some Burners and started raving about how his new 9 iron was going 150 yards. Sounds amazing, until you realize that his 9 iron is the same as my 8 iron. Same club, same distance.

Yea basically...but hey, what's an ego boost worth? lol

[Shanks A Million]

Yea basically...but hey, what's an ego boost worth? lol

But it's not just about that. You have 11° between your pitching wedge and sand wedge, that's almost enough to need

two gap wedges. When will the madness end? The whole idea of the numbering of irons is to keep them between the woods and the wedges. Originally, you had a driver, 2 wood, 1-9 iron, pitching, and sand wedge with a putter. That's 14 clubs. Then, the 2 wood was replaced with a 3 wood, and the 1 iron dropped, and amateurs dropped the 2 iron for a 5 wood, which allowed room for a higher lofted lob wedge. Now you had a 1, 3, and 5 wood, 3-PW, SW, LW, and putter. This setup makes good sense, you have pretty good gaps between your clubs. You can also drop the long irons for hybrids and still keep this setup intact. But now, you have 1, 3, and 5 woods, 4-GW, SW, LW, and putter. What's the point? The numbers moved up, that's all. People are so obsessed with hitting the ball further, they'll actually renumber irons. That's pathetic. The LPGA's shortest drivers can still whoop the piss out of me any day, it's not how far, it's how many.

[Gioguy21]

Hey, it's the magical word in marketing: Distance. Best part about their ingenius marketing plan was to hide the loft change in their shift of focus which is the 're-engineering' of each club to allow for greater feel on the shorter irons and longer distance and forgivability with the long irons...never mentioning how each one is also club-upped. (not a word but, you get what i mean) As for the original topic, i'll be heading to golf galaxy or dicks today at lunch to get some #'s on my swing to get some advice from all you guys...thanks for all the replies

[sean_miller]

. . .Originally, you had a driver, 2 wood, 1-9 iron, pitching, and sand wedge with a putter. That's 14 clubs. Then, the 2 wood was replaced with a 3 wood, and the 1 iron dropped, and amateurs dropped the 2 iron for a 5 wood, which allowed room for a higher lofted lob wedge . . .

I could easily stand corrected on the history of golf club sets, but I think originally there were no numbered clubs, there were very few irons (hard on the old balls - no pun intended) and most irons were customized to be one-purpose oddball clubs with oddball names that filled any number of niches required by the local course. There were more types of wedges, grooves (and holes) that you can imagine. There was no limit of 14 clubs. There were many reasons people didn't typically carry more than a dozen clubs. For one, they didn't need to (they were more creative, the courses were shorter and not as well manicured, the ball didn't fly as far as it does now), the clubs were often purchased one at a time and were expensive to make and buy, it was hard to match that many hickory shafts, and try getting a good caddie (twice) after he lugged your bag bulging with clubs.

Irons were numbered once they started to be mass marketed (once cheaper and more consistent - not necessarily better - heads and shafts were available due to manufacturing processes) by Spalding, Macgregor, Wilson and others. Early sets had several woods (most commonly 1, 2, 3, and 4) and later came with 1, 3, and 5 - look at vintage ads (see the vintage ad browser site iacas posted) vintage matched sets (ebay and your local Goodwill or garage sales) and vintage wood covers. There were many more long clubs than wedges as the game was played more along the ground in the old days - there wasn't the need for flop shots like there are today. The courses just weren't set up that way. I wouldn't worry about iron sets getting longer and longer - as long as people buying Burners put their old blades up for sale at a reasonable price!

[ET-Taylor]

I know a friend of mine who can drive the ball about 200 yards he plays of 17. He is a junior. Another friend of mine drives it 260-270 he has a handicap of 25 so distance doesn't matter

[Gioguy21]

So, I was testing out some new irons since I'm in desperate need for them (been gaming the same Ping's since 1996). I typically hit my 7 iron about 165-170 at MOST with what i have now, only to get fitted for new R9 and 2009 Burner irons, hitting the 7 iron a very nice 185-190. I then hit the 6, 5, and 4 accordingly going out to about 225-230 with the 4 iron. Now, I can hit my driver on my best day a solid 265 with a stiff, 9* Cleveland Launcher (2009) and 245 or so with my 3W of the same make. Would a greater degree (9.5+) driver help with extra yardage? Are there any drivers out there some of you guys found to be definitively longer than the Cleveland (through own experience)? Any help/suggestions/opinions would be awesome...

Aright, just got back from GG at lunch and here were my findings on the launch monitor:

Irons: Average SS: 83mph Average BS: 118mph Avg distance (both 7 irons): Burner 2009 - 186 total/179 carry...PING ISI-K (1996) - 176 total/158 carry should i or could i get more distance out of my driver?

[kpaulhus]

DAMN thats a long 7 iron. Last week at GG I was hitting the Titelist AP1 6 iron 185-190 total. I also picked up a driver box.

[Gioguy21]

DAMN thats a long 7 iron. Last week at GG I was hitting the Titelist AP1 6 iron 185-190 total. I also picked up a driver box.

Keep in mind the burner's 7 iron...is strong so it almost plays like a 6 iron ;)...and i'll be sure to put the cleveland in the mail probably tomorrow at lunch...pleasure doing business with you lol

[kpaulhus]

Im going to do the same. No problem.

[Shanks A Million]

I could easily stand corrected on the history of golf club sets, but I think originally there were no numbered clubs, there were very few irons (hard on the old balls - no pun intended) and most irons were customized to be one-purpose oddball clubs with oddball names that filled any number of niches required by the local course.

No, you will not stand corrected on this, you are totally correct. However, you're going back way too far. I started in the early 1930s, when Spaulding introduced the first numbered iron set to the market.

Prior to that, the clubs did indeed have names. The longest was the play club, or driver. Then came the brassie, which is like a 2 wood. Then was the spoon, these were like 3, 5 and maybe 7 woods. The baffler was a higher lofted wood, equal to todays hybrids. The irons had names too, they were (from long to short) cleek, mid mashie, mashie iron, mashie, spade mashie, mashie niblick, pitching niblick, niblick and jigger. The Jigger was the equal to the pitching wedge. The sand wedge was invented in 1931 by Gene Sarazen. Dave Pelz came up with the idea for the lob wedge, and Karsten Solhiem named it the "lob" wedge.

[Scott_K]

Aright, just got back from GG at lunch and here were my findings on the launch monitor:

I believe you could. You should if you can maintain your accuracy. Long balls aren't that great in the woods.

[Gioguy21]

I believe you could. You should if you can maintain your accuracy. Long balls aren't that great in the woods.

My last year cumulative stats I had 68% of drives in the fairway...and 0.18 penalties per round. Accuracy isn't usually it I just can't for the life of me figure why I'm not getting the extra 20yds on my drives. :-/

[kpaulhus]

Hopefully the FT-5 will solve that problem :)

[Scott_K]

My last year cumulative stats I had 68% of drives in the fairway...and 0.18 penalties per round. Accuracy isn't usually it I just can't for the life of me figure why I'm not getting the extra 20yds on my drives. :-/

That's some sweet accuracy. I probably avg. like 4 or 5 per round last season with this new driver. I figured going to a stiff would help my dispersion, but the TM stiff doesn't seem to stiff. It's also only 49 grams, so it's light as a feather. Try it at a store for laughs, you'll probably hit it really long.

[Gioguy21]

That's some sweet accuracy. I probably avg. like 4 or 5 per round last season with this new driver. I figured going to a stiff would help my dispersion, but the TM stiff doesn't seem to stiff. It's also only 49 grams, so it's light as a feather. Try it at a store for laughs, you'll probably hit it really long.

Believe it or not, I hated it haha...I hit it before I bought the Cleveland which is at this very moment on it's way to kpaulhus in exchange for his FT-5 haha...the Cleveland has their lightweight shaft and for me, I wanted something beefier with a bit more feedback

[Scott_K]

Fair enough. I didn't give the Cleveland a fair try. I think it sounded a little off to me, but might have been one of the Nikes. Haven't tried any of the FTs, but the Diablo would have been my second choice. I didn't give the Titleists or R9s a fair try either mainly because of the price tag.