Different feel/sound to forged vs. GI?

[Wildcat]

Quick question:

When I use my Nickent 3DX hybrid oversized irons I usually get a pretty solid "thwack" sound and can feel the ball impact.

I was trying out some Callaway and TaylorMade forged irons in GolfSmith the other day. I noticed most of my hits made no sound at all, and I could barely feel the ball impact, if at all.

Was this just the difference between hitting off their mats versus real ground, or will you usually get more sound/ball impact feel out of hollowed out oversized GI irons like the Nickent than you will from a forged iron?

Just curious, because the overall experience of hitting those forged irons felt a lot more buttery than the Nickents.

[motteler621]

to me forged irons are softer compared to cast. I listened to my buds iron shot with his pings when we were playing the other day and it was a loud thwack, I hit mine and its just a woosh.

[Stretch]

Not a lot of people know this, but milk solids are widely employed during the quenching stage of the production of forged club heads. This is of course the reason for their buttery feel.

[VolunteerGolfer]

Not a lot of people know this, but milk solids are widely employed during the quenching stage of the production of forged club heads. This is of course the reason for their buttery feel.

I had them use "Smart Balance" on mine since I have high cholesteral. Don't need my groves clogging.

[boogielicious]

Excellent Stretch! Hope Cape Town is treating you well.

To the OP: Sound is an important factor in choosing irons. I chose my Adams because they felt great on contact and they sounded right to me very similar to Mizunos. A lot of research is done by club manufacturers on sound at impact.

[Bryan SD2]

Forged Irons sound like you are hitting a golf shot. Cast shovels sound like you are hitting a plastic ball with a piece of metal on a stick. But for me the major difference is feel. If I hit a ball one ot two grooves low you can most definitely feel it. 1/4 away from the sweet spot towards the heel or toe? You can definitely feel that as well. There is no better feedback when hitting balls on the range imo.

Then there are the well struck shots.... Forged irons let you know it, no doubt about it. It feels like you hit nothing at all with regards to impact, but it also feels like 5X the feedback as compared to an off center hit. It's contradictory, I know, but it's hard to describe.

[Arsenal8807]

I'm with Bryan on this one. I felt that my Nike's gave me a better sound when playing and the feel was much softer and smoother..

[tristanhilton85]

Forged irons seem to have a quieter sound along with a softer feel than cast irons. However, you can get GI irons that are forged or "player's" irons that are cast.

[Wildcat]

Forged irons seem to have a quieter sound along with a softer feel than cast irons. However, you can get GI irons that are forged or "player's" irons that are cast.

Yeah, the irons I was hitting probably had some GI weighting, but they were definitely smaller and less GI than my Nickents. I know they were forged because they said it right on them.

Thanks for the responses, everyone. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't just the hitting from mats that made the difference. Those forged clubs sure felt nice to hit.

[Gerald]

hohohohoooo yet another topic on BUTTER ...... wowwwww.....

[Shorty]

Those forged clubs sure felt nice to hit.

But it has nothing to with the fact that they are forged.

[ohiolefty]

Forged clubs are going to give you more feel/feedback on a mishit IMO. Maybe it's mental, but you get a better sense of what's causing your shots - good and bad.

[VolunteerGolfer]

In all seriousness, you get more feel and feed back from a forged club than a cast. This is of course my opinion.

[delav]

But it has nothing to with the fact that they are forged.

Right. As Stretch pointed out earlier, it's the milk added during the process rather than the forging itself.

[WUTiger]

What about forged irons with a cavity-back design? Callaway Diablo Forged irons, for example, have a distinctive cavity-back design to the head.

Again, forged vs. cast is a difference in manufacturing process, although forged irons have softer/less dense metal in the heads. The better "feel" in part is because of the smaller sweetspot you usually find in forged irons.

[soloredd]

All I can contribute is when I hit my 7 iron (Diablo Forged) and my friend's 7 iron (X22), there is a distinct difference with contact. When I make contact I can tell instantly if I hit it perfectly or not. I did not get the same results with the X22. But this had nothing to do with my purchase, I simply liked the top line at address much more on the Diablo.

[WUTiger]

Similar experience with other Callaway comparisons. On X22 Tour, I could tell at impact if it was a great, OK, or lousy shot. X22 doesn't give a much feedback.

But, I selected foregiveness over feel.