Long, High, Forgiving Irons for a 13 hdcp

[Hoovedawg]

Im looking for a new set of irons. Im a decent ball striker and am a 13 ish handicap. Im currently playing some ben hogan bh-5's.

What I want:

Very Long (I know iron length isnt a big deal, but right now i have to muscle up to hit a 7 iron 150 yrds and can only hit my 4 iron 175 ish. I feel like a few extra yards would be helpful to my game)

Very Forgiving (I hit well but have my fair share of not perfectly struck balls)

High (I want something that throws the ball up in the air more than my hogans)

Little or No offest (My hogans are offset and it still bothers me, even after having them for a few years)

About $300 or less (Im a broke college kid)

I dont really care about workability because at this stage in my game I generally get into more trouble trying to hit anything other than a straight shot.

Im looking at the TM r7's, Wilson Staff Ci7, Callaway X-20/X-22 and Cobra 3100.

One other question is what do you all think about steel vs graphite. I hit a graphite shafted cobra club the other day and really liked the feel and weighting. Do any of you 18-50 year olds use graphite or is it just for slower swings?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

[nuck81]

It's tough to beat any of the clubs you already mentioned you were looking at, so it will really come down to which you like the best and what's the most comfortable.

Personally I really like the look of the Callaway X series. But all the clubs you mentioned are really good high quality clubs...

[JML22]

If you can find a used set of G series that'd be awesome

[billysandy]

The Ping g series have a lot of offset, but the i series don't really. you could try them and they are forgiving. The I5s are very cheap now. But i think your best bet is Titleist because their lines never have a lot of offset. AP2, AP1 are expensive, but the older lines go for cheap.

[WUTiger]

Im looking for a new set of irons. Im a decent ball striker and am a 13 ish handicap. Im currently playing some ben hogan bh-5's.

Long... With loft deflation, the clubs with lower-than-average lofts start to bunch up in the long irons.

High... The Hogans rate out as an SGI iron with fairly low center of gravity. Possibly you were having trouble with shaft rather than head design. Might try for low kickpoint shaft on new irons which would get the ball up more. Also, the stiffer the shaft, the lower the ball flight. Very Forgiving... Little or No Offset. These two tend to work against each other. Very forgiving clubs (UGI) tend to come with a fair amount of offset. You might check out the X20 Tour irons, an SGI iron with lesser offset and a smaller head. They are popular on resale, so it probably will cost more than $300. Also, you might go online to True Temper and Project X websites and check out the different shafts available. You can see a side-by side comparison of performance characteristics. Getting the right shaft for you is every bit as important as the right head design. I'm a college prof, so I'm sympathetic to broke college student. Even so, try to squeeze out some extra $$ if you find the set of used clubs you want.

[Hoovedawg]

Thanks for the suggestions.

To WUTiger

I know some of the things that I said kinda go against each other but im trying to find a balance. For example, with the offset, Im looking for as forgiving a club i can find with out it having a bunch of offset. I want something that is forgiving but i dont necessarily need big berthas or nike sumos. I guess I should have said that Im looking for gi irons moreso than the ugi irons.

Also, i appreciate the shaft suggestions. That is the one part of my equipment that I really overlook and honestly dont know much about. Its likely that my shafts are too stiff, because I got stiff shafts on my irons thinking that I should because thats what was on my driver. But i should have probablly gone with the regular flex because i swing way more controled with my irons than with my driver (which was already on the regular/stiff border).

How much would it cost to get the irons i have reshafted with better shafts?

Thanks again to all for the suggestions.

[ajschn06]

My question is, why are you muscling up to try and hit your 7-iron 150 yards? I'd say I can hit my 7-iron 160, but I don't remember the last time I pulled it out for a shot over 155 on the course. Why not hit a nice smooth 6 iron from 150? I'm not trying to talk you out of new clubs or anything, just trying to help with some course management...

[Hoovedawg]

I never said that when Im playing I swing as hard as i can or anything remotely like that. I was just using that as an example for how short my irons are. I havent hit a 7 iron on the course over 145 this entire season. Maybe its not my irons, maybe its my swing but the point is that i hit my irons incredibly short as compared to my handicap and driver distance.

As I said maybe its totally swing related and not iron related but i feel like i should be hitting farther with them. I would guess that it is out of the ordinary for someone who can, on a fairly consistant basis, carry their driver 265-270 (GPS verified) to hit their pw-100, 9i-110, 8i-125, 7i-145, 6i-155, 5i-165, 4i-175.

But the bottom line is that you are reading into my post and inferring things that I didnt say. I appreciate the sentiment but as I said before I was just using that as an example.

[Meddle]

I can certainly relate to being on a budget. Ebay is going to be your best bet for cheap irons. Ping and Titleist are really hard to find cheap. Callaway and Cobra are a little easier, but Wilson Staff will go for the cheapest.

By the way, I got the irons in my sig of ebay for $100 new a little while back, and they still go for around there. They're really quality SGI irons for broke guys like us.

[GaijinGolfer]

Mizuno MX-300s.

[Zeph]

My question is, why are you muscling up to try and hit your 7-iron 150 yards? I'd say I can hit my 7-iron 160, but I don't remember the last time I pulled it out for a shot over 155 on the course. Why not hit a nice smooth 6 iron from 150? I'm not trying to talk you out of new clubs or anything, just trying to help with some course management...

I don't think he really muscle 7 irons regularly, but that he has to do so to reach 150 yards. I'm in the same boat really, my 7i is around 145 yards. I don't like hitting long irons into the green, but have to when they don't fly all that far.

To the OP I would recommend finding a shop where you can try out the different sets to see what works best. You could also consider a ball fitting to find one that might give you more distance.

[mdbuschsr]

If you can go back even a little further and find a set of Callaway X-18s, you'll like them. At least I do. If you find them, they will likely be on clearance.

[WUTiger]

To WUTiger Its likely that my shafts are too stiff, because I got stiff shafts on my irons thinking that I should because thats what was on my driver. ... How much would it cost to get the irons i have reshafted with better shafts?

My local golf shop gave the following estimate to reshaft 8 steel-shafted irons:

$104 (labor + basic new grips) + cost of new shafts .

New shafts could be up to to $270 for some PRoject X sets, or about $140 for eight Dynamic Gold shafts.

So, between $250 and $375 total cost for a reshaft. Zelph may have a better idea to just replace the set.

...To the OP I would recommend finding a shop where you can try out the different sets to see what works best. You could also consider a ball fitting to find one that might give you more distance.

At a shop, get on the launch monitor and get a recommendation on what shaft you should be using.

Before you switch irons, you might take a lesson to make sure you don't have a swing glitch that hurts your iron distance.