Question about iron lofts

[Young04]

I am playing Cleveland Launchers right now but will upgrade to a "player's" cavity back soon...something like Mizuno MP60, Titleist 695 CB, Bridgestone J33, or the like. My overall handicap may be a little high for these clubs, but my iron play is by far my strength, so I figured, why not.

Question is, my Launchers are pretty strongly lofted (PW is 45 degrees), but some of the other player's irons are weaker. I do have decent club head speed, and hit my 9 iron around 145, my 6 around 180 with the Launchers...how much distance should I expect to lose with the weaker lofted player's irons? Would it be sensible to strengthen my new irons a degree or two to keep my normal distances?

Thanks.

[muskegman]

I am playing Cleveland Launchers right now but will upgrade to a "player's" cavity back soon...something like Mizuno MP60, Titleist 695 CB, Bridgestone J33, or the like. My overall handicap may be a little high for these clubs, but my iron play is by far my strength, so I figured, why not.

My irons are out of my handicap range but I love them. There is nothing better to me than playing a forged iron. I'm willing to sacrifice forgiveness (most of the time) for that buttery forged feel.

Question is, my Launchers are pretty strongly lofted (PW is 45 degrees), but some of the other player's irons are weaker. I do have decent club head speed, and hit my 9 iron around 145, my 6 around 180 with the Launchers...how much distance should I expect to lose with the weaker lofted player's irons? Would it be sensible to strengthen my new irons a degree or two to keep my normal distances?

Your loss of distance will depend entirely upon loft and it doesn't matter one bit that you'll "lose distance." It isn't a loss of distance at all. Distance is entirely a question of swing speed, swing type, and loft. Nothing more. One 9-iron goes 135, the other goes 145 and its only a matter of loft.

One of the most meaningless conversations on the golf course involves the question, "What are you hitting?" The only thing any golfer should care about is hitting irons a consistent distance. I wouldn't change your irons lofts because you'll change the bounce in the process. Its wasted money in my book. I'm playing both Titleist's 690.CB and Callaway's Fusions and there is almost a club and a half difference between the two. I prefer the feeling of the 690's and hit them a lot shorter but big deal. I don't play golf to impress anyone. I play because I love this crazy game. Happy hunting! P.S. The only place where distances might be important is when you're matching an iron set to wedges (or the other way around). If, for example, you play a 45-degree pitching wedge you probably wouldn't choose only a 58-degree sand wedge because the distance gap would be too great. If I were playing a 45-degree pitching wedge I might fill out the set with 52- and 58-degree wedges. Just a thought.

[YoungTom]

You might not notice as much distance loss as you initially think even though the clubs have a stronger loft.

Clubs with extreme perimeter weighting and very deep COG (Nike slingshot, Cleveland Launcher, TM R7) often need strong lofts to keep the ball from going straight up in the air and a little bit "outwards."

Clubs with a little higher COG tend to keep the ball down, and thus don't need as strong a loft to get the ball moving outwards.

That's why muscle backs traditionally have weaker lofts than even players cavities, the high center of gravity combined with strong lofts would result in too low a ball flight.

[Young04]

You might not notice as much distance loss as you initially think even though the clubs have a stronger loft.

that's what i've been told...they even said the amount of distance loss would depend on your clubhead speed (why i quoted some of my distances). i was further told that with a faster clubhead speed, these deep COG clubs tend to balloon more than they would otherwise. does anyone know about this?

[YoungTom]

Ballooning is all about spin, the more spin you put on the ball, the more your ball will balloon in the air.

Angle of attack is the number one factor in spin, loft is the number two. All other things being equal, the club with less loft will spin less.

[allin]

You might not notice as much distance loss as you initially think even though the clubs have a stronger loft.

I agree that you probably won't see that much distance difference, especially on well struck shots and short irons. For me on long irons and slightly mishit shots there was be a bigger difference I actually feel that I missed fewer shots with a forged cavity back club. Perhaps the feedback of the club helps diagnose the problem more quickly, or perhaps feeling that since I now had a super game improvement club I could try to cream it.

[Young04]

My irons are out of my handicap range but I love them. There is nothing better to me than playing a forged iron. I'm willing to sacrifice forgiveness (most of the time) for that buttery forged feel.

thanks for all of your help guys. i went to my local golf store and tried out some irons. i got it down to Bridgestone J33 Cavity Back, Titleist 695CB, Mizuno MP60, and Cleveland CG2.

Then i had it down to the titleist and Mizuno. both felt good to me, but the Mizuno edged it out. i'm having the lie angle changed 2 degrees upright...hopefully should be ready by end of tomorrow.