I'm a terrible golfer... but are "tour" irons for me?

[TakeDeadAim]

You could pull the trigger and go tour, but finding out they don't work after the demo day is over and $899.00 later, is a costly learning experience. If you truly feel you hit a particular club better, search on Ebay for it and buy the 6 iron or another iron individually. Take it to the range and hit it from the mat/tee/grass for a few weeks and see if it's still the club for you. Cost, 40 bucks and few buckets of balls. Then you'll have a better knowledge of knowing if that club truly works for you.

+1 Outstanding advice.

[Gioguy21]

bear in mind that the 6 iron is probably the best iron you hit, so to be honest, hitting JUST a 6 iron might not do you any good...aside from realizing you can hit almost all the 6 irons you try with relatively the same production. ;)

[ET-Taylor]

I have a question which area of your game ifs the worst because if you iron play is very very good you will get away with playing blades

[Elvisliveson]

That is a great point, although I can attest to the opposite. The worst part of my game was iron play and it was because I was playing game improvement irons with offset. I would crush my driver with it's open (tour) face configuration and then hook my offset iron left of the green, lol. That's why I'm moving back to a tour iron.

[wkdspd]

I agree with those recommending to go with your gut, and I also agree with finding a used set to try out, maybe even rent from your local golf shop if possible for a couple of rounds. I absolutely do NOT agree that the style of iron you play is dictated by your hdcp, as ALL swing styles are different - as with every single club in your bag, you have to go with what feels right with your particular style.

The old guy babying his porsche just under the speed limit instead of buying an old beater honda to drive around in is not to be chastised for liking the porsche and being able to afford it, neither should you for going and buying what feels and looks right to you that you can afford. absolute most important thing in this discussion - your game is yours, so if the gamer irons feel right to you and it doesnt break you to pick em up, I vote pick em up.

[patriot07]

You play 15 times a year, barely more than once a month, so what's the big deal with a couple shots here or there if you really like or really want the tour irons. Buy what you think you hit the best. If you bought a 6-iron and went to the range a couple times at your normal schedule and played this out, it'd be 3-4 months or more before you bought a new set (which may or may not be a big deal, but I wouldn't wanna wait that long). I'd take a little more time on the launch monitor and make sure that the tour irons not only feel great, but hit straight and consistent too. But if you like tour irons, go for it. Instinct is always more important than specs in my book.

[Addicted2Golf]

I am going to side with those who have said you should be careful about jumping into the tour irons. My experience was similar to yours, and I ended up struggling quite a bit after I decided to go with some blades. I used to hit my GI Titleist 822's great on the good days, and pretty good on the bad days. I tried out some MP-32's and was hitting them great, so I decided to go for it. I ended up selling them within a few months. When I had a bad day it destroyed my game. I started getting nervous over shots that were pretty stock. I sold those clubs and got my current set that is a cavity back from 3-7, and muscle back from 8-p. If you can hit the tour irons like that every time you try, then good on ya, but just be aware that they can really mess with your game if it starts to go south.

[WUTiger]

...

As others have said, consider a season of lessons and practice, and then get new irons after your swing stabilizes.

Also, at the start of the lessons, get a fitting to makesure your current irons match your stance and swing . If the shafts are too long or short, or the lie angle too upright or flat, you may be headed for the rough before you even swing the club. Just a thought.

[Bullitt5339]

I was in a similar situation as you. I was playing hybrid irons, and wanted something that I could actually start feeling my shots, so I could improve.

I went and was hitting irons that were "supposed" to fit my handicap, like the Callaway X-22's, Taylormade Burners, Mizuno MX-300's, Cleveland CG Golds and some other Game Improvement irons. They just didn't feel right to me, and my ballflight was super high on all of them, even with stiff shafts, and I was losing a lot of distance. I just kept hitting different irons over and over again, even going to the used rack, and trying X-18's and a set of CGB Max irons. I wasn't happy with any of them, and had almost resigned to just keep playing with hybrids, since there was no sense in buying clubs that I hit worse than what I had.

I then just started pulling everything, blades, GI clubs, SGI's, and a few players irons. I definately wasn't at the level to hit blades yet, after a few nice shots, I got a stinger and my hands were numb for a few seconds. The GI clubs hit the ball waaaay too high, the SGI clubs felt like my hybrid irons, so there were the player's cavity backs. I ended up hitting the R9 Tours, a set of Mizuno's (can't remember exactly which they were), the X-22 Tours and a few others.

What I immediately noticed was that I loved the way the ball flew, and they gave enough feedback to let me know I hit a good or bad shot, but I didn't get any stingers with them. While the guy at the shop said they were probably too much iron for me, he ate his words when I hit them all better than the GI irons. It just seems that with my swing, I can't hit clubs with a lot of offset in them, which the GIs and SGIs have. The player's irons don't have the offset, and were easier for me to hit straight, and to keep a more reasonable ball flight. I walked out that day, came back the next day and hit the top 3 I liked the day before. The R9 Tours, the Mizunos and the Cleveland CG Red Tour Specs. After 40 minutes of hitting those 3 alternating clubs every 5 shots, I decided on the Clevelands, got fitted, and walked out a couple hours later with my new clubs, and haven't regretted it since.

[BottleRocket]

Thanks to all of you who replied. Lots of really good ideas.

FYI, I went to the demo day excited to try the G-15's which I had read so much good stuff about. I was especially interested in Ping because of their expertise with club fitting. I was really hoping that the G-15's would be the right club. I had never even considered blades, I just took a few swings to try to understand what this "soft feel" was that I've heard about. I just happened to hit them square and saw beautiful results... but it was only a few swings, I realize that. I'm a pretty rational person -- that's why I was surprised and also why I figured I'd ask here to see how unusual it was.

As far as looks, believe me, I've been playing with my old beat up irons for over 10 years, I couldn't care less what brand they are. I'm not trying to impress anyone with my sticks, my crappy game speaks for itself. The looks of the GI irons is not what bugged me, just that a clean swing visualization in my head is clearer with thinner clubs, it's just a mental confidence thing. And the Titleists are more expensive, so none of this is about brands or looks or hoping to save some $$$... I just want to find the clubs that will help me enjoy the game the most.

I will definitely keep my mind open and try a few different sets out. I spoke with a guy at a local shop, told him I had a bunch of sets I wanted to try, he was cool letting me use their launch monitor for a few hours if necessary, so I'll probably do that sometime soon. Investing a few bucks to pickup a used 6-iron on eBay is an awesome idea, whoever posted that.

Your opinions and experiences are all very helpful (especially the other "terrible golfers"!), thanks.

[Travtex]

As far as looks, believe me, I've been playing with my old beat up irons for over 10 years, I couldn't care less what brand they are. I'm not trying to impress anyone with my sticks, my crappy game speaks for itself. The looks of the GI irons is not what bugged me, just that a clean swing visualization in my head is clearer with thinner clubs, it's just a mental confidence thing. And the Titleists are more expensive, so none of this is about brands or looks or hoping to save some $$$... I just want to find the clubs that will help me enjoy the game the most.

I'm in a similar boat, I think. I've been to the golf store more times than I care to admit and pretty consistently hit the 'tour' or 'player-friendly' irons better than the SGI's I've hit. It has to be a mental thing at least partially, but some of it is my swing. I tend to close the clubface, and the monster offset shovels just tend to exacerbate the problem. (Ideally the answer there is, "Don't close the clubface, dumbass", but... )

Also, I seem to get a bit lazy with the bigger clubs (Probably a reason why my iron play is vastly superior to my hybrids, woods, and driver play). Another thing is that the shovel-looking clubs (I'm looking at you, Ping. My Slazenger set was the same way, kinda modeled after Nike Slingshots) make me tend to want to flip at the ball wheras a narrower look at address makes me see I need to really hit down to put some stank on it. Haven't tried any blades, though, and don't really have an interest in doing so right now... BUT, I brought some strengths to the game (Got scary-good visual acuity and excellent body proprioception) that do help me benefit from having more 'feel' with my irons. On the other hand, I can usually feel off-center hits just from my swing and the way the impact feels -- Even with GI irons (My Nickents will sting the hell out of me if I'm not careful). (Every OTHER club in the bag is hopeless, mind you, but 160-120 is my money zone. *heh*)

[Woodtek]

Hi guys,I'm new on here and I'm a typiclal new golfer, three years 24 HC. I started with Callaway big berthas that went way too high, tried the callaway fusions that I didn't like, then went to x-20s. After using those irons for a couple of years I decided to try the x-20 tours. My usual shot with the fusions and x-20 from 180 in was a dead pull or hook. I figured I'd try the x-20 tours with DG S300s because of the low offset and unilex shafts in the others. I've only played once so far due to the weather but the difference in direction was immediate. I found them much easier to hit, actually hitting the ball first and taking a divot, but what impressed me the most was the ball went where my setup and swing said it should. So for this 24 HC the "tour" model seems to be the better answer. Thank God for Callaway preowned.

[Gebus]

I work at a golf course's pro shop and help a lot of people buy their new iron sets. Most people ask me why a player would want the expensive "hard to hit" player's irons. My response is always the same, we want irons with a soft feel (something very tough to describe to someone that has never played with softer clubs), we need clubs we can work the ball with (shorter blade length makes hitting draws and fades much easier) and we think we look cool with them (admit it having a nice set of clubs in your bad makes you look cool). A player that is still struggling with their swing shouldn't worry about how their clubs feel, shouldn't be trying to work the ball left or right (hitting it straight is the ultimate goal) and with a horrible game having a cool looking set doesn't change the fact you have a horrible game.

My suggestion to you is forget long irons, replace a 3 and 4 iron with hybrids, I am a good player and I use my hybrid everywhere from chipping to sand traps. Get cavity back irons but don't get shovels my suggestions would be the Cobra S2s, Titleist AP1s, Taylormade Burners or Callaway Big berthas. The most important thing is the shaft, if you don't get the right shaft for your swing it doesn't matter what head you have the clubs will not work well for you.

If your not great at shafts Ill give you a simple guide
Swing speed- under 80mph look at regular graphite shafts
- 80-90 regular steel shafts
- 90-105 stiff steel shafts
- 105+ x stiff steel shafts
Weight Light=high trajectory Heavy=Low trajectory
Kickpoint Low=high trajectory High= low trajectory

Example your swing speed is 85mph and you need help getting the ball in the air: Cobra S2s with Dynamic Gold SL R300

[Shanks A Million]

I call this phenomenon hacker envy. You take a club that you can't possibly hit, and go into a simulator, and bash it perfectly. Great, so why not carry them? Here's the thing:

Back when I was a 30 something handicap, this store near me had a Mizuno set, pure blades, not a hint of cavity. I used to go and hit the 2 iron perfectly, right down the middle, and 235 yards. I used to think that meant I could play blades, and all that. Not so. In the simulator, everything changes. You are focused solely on the ball, and not where it's going. You are using a foreign club, so you swing easy to feel it out. At this point, you can not do this on the course, you don't have the nerve.

This lesson was hard to learn. I grabbed an old blade 2 iron and took it down to the driving range... wanna guess what happened? Shank, top, skull, sclaff, slice! I couldn't hit it to save my life. I kept it around though. My rule was, once I could hit it on the course, I had a good swing. I practiced, and practiced, for over a year until I could hit that thing. It took a lot of work, and an incredible amount of discipline. Finally, I went out one day, and just smoked it, every time.

Even now, I don't play a full set of blades, because my ego is not large enough to think that I can hit them squarely every time. I need some forgiveness, as do most PGA tour pros. Even Titleist's highest ranked pro uses cavity back irons. The cold hard fact is, that while blades may feel better, and you may feel superior for playing them, the scorecard has the final say. In a sport where the tour pros get paid by that number alone, more and more are turning to easy to hit clubs.

[jurban05]

I'm not trying to sound harsh or mean spirited. I'm just telling you how it is.

usually if you start a quote off with that you had all the intentions in the world of being a dick. and if you ever played a sport besides golf you would know some people dont play the game to be the best or better than everyone else. some people play the game because they love it and it makes them FEEL good. so if buying these nice clubs FEELs better then he should do it. so before u start poping off being an a-hole maybe you should see where some people are coming from. he said in his comment that he is never going to be a great golfer. not everyone runs around pissing golf balls and spending endless hours trying to get scratch. maybe explain why its a bad idea instead of just being a dickhole. if hes not a good golfer he might not understand. if u gonna write a whole bunch of bullshit explain why. noone cares when you were a bad golfer. I think he should do it. if it makes him feel better about playing then of course he should do it. the whole idea of the game is fun not to run around 18 holes pissed off at the world because u sliced a shot 5 yards. who cares.plus the first step to getting good at any sport is getting comfortable. you will never perform your best unless your confortable. so if he feels comfortable hitting his clubs thats the first step to success

[Woodtek]

I do know that when I used the FT's I wasn't comfortable at all, whether it was the look or the feel I don't know. The X-20s "felt" much better. What I didn't like was being pin high and twenty yards right from 160. After a lot of reading on this sight and others I've learned the value of the right shafts. I don't have the advantage of a golf store to try different clubs and when I took my first lesson my pro said I needed stiff shafts. The X-20 tours are quite forgiving in their own right, almost as forgiving the regular X-20s, but no offset and stiff shafts. I'm pretty stong and quick, due to years of swinging a hammer no doubt, and I "feel" that the DG S300s are a much better fit than the uniflex shafts. I know one round of golf isn't going to prove that they are a btter fit, but I founfd it quite nice to see the ball go go in the direction I thought it should not wide left. That being said, after a few trades my X-20 tours cost me $69.99 delivered to my door, much cheaper than having my X-20s reshafted. Now if I can just find the right shaft for my I-mix driver.

[Jcp907]

To answer the question directly, probably not. That is not to say a smaller head with a thinner topline isn't for you. Check out the pocket cavities, that are out there. Perhaps some may inspire similar confidence.

Anyway, I can say that I hit the Titleist blades better because, on this day, most of my shots were straight, high, and felt clean. With the G-15's I also hit some good ones, but also 2 that were thin and generally more fading/slicing. But if I went back tomorrow, the results could be switched, I admit that.

Go to the launch monitor, or grass range, and demo more clubs. As suggested by someone else, pay attention to the shaft as well.

I do agree that much of this is mental. However there is something to be said for standing above the ball and knowing there is no excuse

I am all for eliminating excuses, and believe that you should be playing with a club that is a bit better than you if you are working on improving your game. You spoke with the Titleist guy, and he stated you might be better off with the AP2. As suggested, grab an AP2 off of Ebay, just the 6 iron-or whatever. (read the cautions and what to look for on the fakes, but with just a 6 iron, I would suspect it's likely to be real).

When I was addressing the ball with the G-15's and Burners, and I could see the back of the clubs, it just didn't seem right.

I haven't paid any attention to the G15, but if you can see the back of the club at address, perhaps something is wrong with your alignment at address. I do want to caution that if a lesson, or series of lessons is a possibility, do that before a purchase, and ask the instructor for their opinion!

My main question was whether it was unheard of for high-handicappers like myself to prefer blades.

It's certainly not unhead of, but it is not recommended.

As far as looks, believe me, I've been playing with my old beat up irons for over 10 years, I couldn't care less what brand they are. I'm not trying to impress anyone with my sticks, my crappy game speaks for itself.

Be certain you swing Srixon and Bridgetones! I have 299 into my Bridgestone J36 pocket cavities (3-PW), and love them! Wish they made a gap wedge though.

I just want to find the clubs that will help me enjoy the game the most.

Afterall, that is what it's all about! Enjoying the game. From what I understand about clubs, a game improvement pocket cavity is the club for me. I don't think a blade will ever be the club for me, not because I am not good enough, but because there is technology in the pocket cavity that helps me, and the looks at address, are confidence inspiring.

I will definitely keep my mind open and try a few different sets out. I spoke with a guy at a local shop, told him I had a bunch of sets I wanted to try, he was cool letting me use their launch monitor for a few hours if necessary, so I'll probably do that sometime soon. Investing a few bucks to pickup a used 6-iron on eBay is an awesome idea, whoever posted that.

Sounds like a great idea, and go with your gut. Good luck and have fun with the process!