Moving onto Blades

[-BAMA-]

(to the OP)

me and you are similar handicaps, so i can probably give you some fairly sound advice on this subject...

i've played everything from a true blade to a MB to a SGI to a small cavity back in the last 10 years, here's my honest unbaised thoughts on them..

the blades i played were an old set of macgregors. (70's model, they were hand me downs from my grand dad), i played them from when i was 14-16 years old.. when i hit them pure i was in complete control of the ball. however, if i even missed the center, especially towards the toe, the clubs jarred my hands and i watched the ball sail almost directly to my right, often into the woods or into the water... i loved these clubs regardless of the strokes i lost with them, but at the time i wanted more forgiveness...

got a set of ping isi-k's. they set up like a blade, despite the slight offset and the oversized head.. they were more forgiving than the old macgregors, but miss hits hurt my hands even worse and it seems miss hits were even harder to control than with the blades...

after about 6 years, i got tired of the isi-k's so i got a set of ping g5's... i thought they would save my game, but boy was i wrong. i started duck hooking them everywhere, i consistently missed the green left, i hit them a mile into the sky and had no control whatsoever. i seriously contemplated quitting golf after playing these...

my buddy gave me a set of ben hogan apex plus irons (muscleback design, but has moderate offset and perimeter weighting)... these irons were leaps and bounds better than the godforsaken g5's. i shot an 84 my first round out with these and the hooks magically dissapeared. ive hit some of the best shots of my life with these irons...

played them awhile, finally decided to get a set of mizuno comp-ez's cause the hogans are extremely worn out (grooves are dull... very rusted on the clubfaces)... the mizunos have a small cavity back and some perimeter weighting, and a slightly larger hitting area and very minimal offset.. i LOVE these irons. i'm very consistent with them and i know exactly where i hit the ball on the clubface, they provide quite a bit of forgiveness on miss hits and the ball flight is beautiful. i plan to keep these for a very long time...

blades are not for everyone.. and neither are cavity backs. the highest scores ive ever shot in recent memory were with the g5's. could be a mental thing... but i play much better with a smaller club. i'm mainly a mid handicapper cause i can't putt to save my life and i usually rack up a few penalty strokes from wild drives. my ironplay is fairly consistant.

i'd recomment a MB over a blade, and a small cavity back over a MB. but i wouldnt recommend a SGI iron to anybody other than people who absolutely suck at golf. my expeirences with them were hoorid.

go to your local golf store and buy a bunch of demo 6 irons (everything from a blade to a mb to a players cavity) and hit the range. decide for yourself based solely on your own results and not on other people's opinions, we all play golf differently, regardless of our similar handicaps.

[jamo]

Indeed a good question. The people who hit the ball unbelievably high may prefer blades, like Tiger and Phil, maybe Adam Scott and Anthony Kim, but I don't see too many amateurs hitting it that high. The ball, for every club, should go about 100 feet in the air. Any higher and you need blades. So, if your 3 iron goes 130 feet into the air, then blades may be a good idea.

Adam Scott plays AP2s.

[Shanks A Million]

Adam Scott plays AP2s.

Yeah, he switched. He used to play blades though. I think once he made that massive drop, he changed to some CBs.

[GJac10]

I've gotta say that after trying both my current irons (Taylormade RAC MB TP) and the Nike VR Blades, both were ungodly easy to hit and felt like butter. Have I probably hurt myself by buying/playing blades? Yeah, but geez you just cannot beat the feel of them, knowing pretty much every time if it was low off the toe, heel, high, or dead center flush. As someone else said, they are more modern and aren't

Now those are nice!!!

[Coluejack]

Shortly after college, I purchased a set of blades (Mizuno MP-32) and was sitting at a 1.2 index. For the time, they were unreal. Crisp on contact, lower ball flight, and looooong. That being said, if you aren't playing a lot of golf, it's an awfully hard thing to keep a set of blades in the bag. I recently switched away from them back to a set of game improvement irons, and I would argue that if swung correctly, the quality is still very much there. Yeah, I lost a bit of distance, and am back to hitting some of my higher degrees as far up as I do forward, but as long as there isn't a gale force wind, I get the same quality I would, with a bigger sweet spot and an easier swing.

I probably won't go back, even if I do start playing more than twice a week again. They were a fun experience though!

[atrapasuenos]

What I find most amusing is that the lower handicaps all seem to say play GI, and many of them play cavity back irons. On the other hand, all the higher handicaps claim blades are great, and they feel "like butter."

I like reading your posts man!

I will tell my story, when I was a 10 handicap, I used the Callaway X-20 Tour irons, they were very forgiving. So, like you, I thought I was ready to play a MB iron, so when I went to Vegas to buy my new irons I tried everything, Titleist ZB, ZM, AP2, Callaway X-Forged, Mizuno Mp-57 and the 67's, I don't remember well. My original idea was to buy the ZB's, but after I hit all of them I realized that I was having a hard time hitting the ball. My ego won and I bought the AP2 because I thought they forgive me a little bit. At that time I used to play every eight days, I continue doing this and my socres went up, when I thought their will be lower and it was because of the irons, I wasn't able to hit them. Now I play/practice every day, my swing has changed and now I hit them and I now really know the advantages of having this irons. Back in the days when I recently bought them I claimed I can shape my shots, I was fooling myself, my draw was more a pull-hook and my fade, it was a fade but as I used to say "I did something wrong that the shot came out well" because I didn't know what I was doing. I know a few 12 to 16 handicappers that claim they can shape the ball, but they really don't, so don't care about shaping the ball right now, hit it straight and you will see how your scores will be lower. Nowadays I will really like to play an MB set, but I'm really comfortable with this irons and I'm shooting good scores so if I make a change I will look for something similar to the AP2's. But after that long post... this is my final thought and this is what really matters and I hope that if you didn't read the whole post you read this... The final choise is yours, you're the one that will decide if you buy them or not, we are nobody to tell what to buy with your money. Good luck! Greetings!

[Dave40]

If you switch to blades, give yourself some time to adjust to them. Usually the sweet spot on blades is a bit closer to the hosel than a GI club. It might take a few sessions on the range to adjust your eye and hand coordination, so don't get frustrated if you don't hit them well at first.

The smaller clubhead on a blade or a players style forged cavity back does seem to make the club more sensitive to the wrist-turn in the swing, which I think is why better golfers prefer them to draw and fade shots.

But just try them for a while and you will discover the differences.

[shades9323]

(to the OP)

Again, Mr. KJ says hi. There are tons of single digit handicaps playing GI and SGI irons. If you are ever in Northern Michigan, we'll play a skins game and I'll use my "godforsaken" G5's.

[Leftygolfer]

I switched from a GI iron to a players cavity (MP 60s) and my index went up three point in 3 months. They quickly left the bag after less than a year. With a less forgiving iron your misses are magnified. A mishit with your current iron is a chip. With a less forgiving iron it is a 25 yard pitch. This is my expensive experience and mistake I made.

[sean_miller]

What I find most amusing is that the lower handicaps all seem to say play GI, and many of them play cavity back irons. On the other hand, all the higher handicaps claim blades are great, and they feel "like butter."

Really? There at least a couple single digit guys on this site playing Miizuno blades. Like MP-33s for example.

You know what feels better? Turning in a good score.

Good scores probably do feel great - trying to do that a couple times this season - I'll let you know how it turns out.

GI irons are great. I learned to play the game on blades (Northwestern J.C. Sneads) like most others, and I would not recommend them to anyone who doesn't have a very consistent swing. I struggled in those early days with the blades, and it was a harsh learning curve to overcome.

It's unfortunate that you learned the game on Northwesterns. I played with a few guys who carried Northwestern clubs. Their irons (and woods) felt like garbage even on a good strike. The few summers I worked on a golf course, we found more Northwestern clubheads on the driving range (and in the bush) than almost any other brand - in first place was the rental brand (Waterford). Aah, the Northwestern blade - a chrome plated pot metal piece of crap right there.

[EZ33s]

Ok guys have at this one... This will be my first year actually carrying a handicap. early scores put me at a 7.1, and thats with a few not so good rounds... I have played ping zings for nearly 10 years, just found out they are the wrong length and lie, orange dot with added length. I really do like to try and shape my shots, but with the zings, it is very difficult. With the Zings, even shanks feel like a million bucks. the shafts are also regular flex, so I hit the ball a mile in the air. I have hit the callaway x-22 tours on the range and absolutely loved them. Better feel and workability, and added distance. Are the X22 tours considered players model, or GI? I don't really care either way, but it will give me an idea of what to expect from a GI or PI. I am also looking at mizuno mp67, mx 200. Titleiest ap1, ping s57 and s58. What is everyones thoughts on this? No ego involved here, I would just like to move to an iron with more feel, and workability.

[shades9323]

Good scores probably do feel great - trying to do that a couple times this season - I'll let you know how it turns out.

Switch to some game improvement irons and it will happen more often!

[sean_miller]

Switch to some game improvement irons and it will happen more often!

I'll hit more fairways and sink more putts with GI irons? Sign me up!!

[shades9323]

I'll hit more fairways and sink more putts with GI irons? Sign me up!!

Not sure of your skills with putting with an iron(mine are decent), but I guarantee you will hit more fairways!!!

[kevin.chan]

My opinion , try them out before you buy.

You have to try their long irons ( 4 to 6 ) and see if you can handle them.

[ET-Taylor]

I tried blades (nike VR TW Blades) and i hit them one after the other within about 3 feet landing zone of each other im not sure about final position as most of them rolled a mile as i was hitting downwind so they werent stopping at all. I tried the split cavaties hit them not very well hit my mizuno MX23s just worse than that and Taylormade R7 Draws even worse than that. So to sum it up i hit blades miles better than anything else.

You know the Taylormade RAC TP MB and The smoke version is there any difference in performance

[DarkPrince]

I tried blades (nike VR TW Blades) and i hit them one after the other within about 3 feet landing zone of each other im not sure about final position as most of them rolled a mile as i was hitting downwind so they werent stopping at all. I tried the split cavaties hit them not very well hit my mizuno MX23s just worse than that and Taylormade R7 Draws even worse than that. So to sum it up i hit blades miles better than anything else.

just color, thats it.

[ET-Taylor]

just color, thats it.

thanks might get my self a set on ebay for next to nothing