Burner Plus irons, question about shafts: regular, uniflex, stiff

[paulballs]

So Ive settled on getting these irons but am a bit confused about the shafts. One site has regular and stiff available while another has only uniflex. I was at Golfsmith the other day and demoed a set and they were the uniflex. The guy there said uniflex is in between regular and stiff. I felt like I was swinging that club and striking the ball very good, so I suppose I prefer to stick with the uniflex. But is regular that much different? The site that only has regular/stiff is the one Id prefer to order from, because they also have a bag I want and if I buy the clubs and bag at same time it eliminates the shipping cost.

Lastly, does Golfsmith ever price match online prices? The BP irons at Golfsmith are "on sale" for 399, plus another 35 for tax  here in TX. I can get them shipped to me for 340 online.

Thanks

edit - also, without actually getting on a computer diagnosis of your swing, how would you know if you need stiff shafts? I know its all about swing speed, yada yada, but just for joe average hacker would it ever be advisable for go with a stiff shaft? My driver is stiff and I hit it fairly well. Previous to that I had a driver with a regular shaft and I couldnt hit that to save my life. But I presume a graphite shaft on a driver is somewhat different than steel shafts on an iron? So in a nutshell, stiff shafts on these irons, pros vs cons?

[jeffrey r]

First of all, not sure how comfortable you are buying preowned, but I see online that Golfsmith has preowned sets of Burner Plus irons for $313, and then if you apply promotional code JXT012CVN, it will take 15% off and give you free shipping, so you'd be getting a set for $266 plus tax (the code does not seem to work on the new sets of the Burner Plus irons).  Note that the preowned models are in stiff and regular, while I see that the new models offer stiff, regular and uniflex.  Just throwing it out there if you want to save some money.

As to the shaft flex, I've never had a problem with uniflex shafts, but that is with my swing. I could handle stiff flex shafts that are not terribly stiff, but I generally prefer to play uniflex or regular flex with my steel iron shafts.

I'll just say that on the "internet", people seem to swing really hard, hit the ball really far, and play stiff and extra stiff shafts.  In my "real" world, which is just taking a look at how people play and what people play, I see more people who play regular flex shafts (or should play regular flex shafts).  That is purely anecdotal though, and you should play whatever works best for you.  It is based on swing speed and other factors.  I generally prefer to play a bit of a softer shaft than a stiffer shaft, as long as I am able to keep control of my shots.

Do you know your swing speed at all?  That will help people recommend one shaft flex over another for you.

[mtsalmela80]

I got mine on the bay for 200 and change. From an established golf seller.

I would pay $400 for these if you can get them for half.

Just letting you know...

[erock9174]

I recently got my burner+ set from Golf Galaxy.  $399 less a $50 coupon.  I needed to have mine fitted since I am a shorter guy.  I knew they would all need cut down, regripped and loft adjusted.  If you buy at Golf Galaxy they will do the labor for 1/2 price.  So actually with my fitting and adjustments Golf galaxy with the $50 coupon ended up being a little cheaper than buying on ebay and paying full price for adjustments.  Just something to consider.

Also mine are regular flex.  My swing speed with a 6iron was about 78 mph on average and they recommended Regular flex for me.  My ball speed on a launch monitor was about 103 with the same club.

As far as price matching I believe the golfsmiths, golf galaxies of the world will match but it usually has to be from an established well known seller (like Golfsmith, Edwin Watts, Golf Galaxy, Dicks) and not a lesser known  internet based only distributor.

[inthehole]

I bought Burner Plus irons at the end of last year & paid $377.      Like them alot except for the wedges - will probably go for more traditional blade style wedges eventually.       I've seen some scary good deals on eBay since I bought mine - close to half price, NEW.     If you've decided this is what you want, I'd look on ebay...

[paulballs]

I ended up going with the regular flex over the uni or stiff. I doubt my swing speed is anything to write home about, Im just your average weekend warrior that does well to break 100 consistently. I got the 4-AW set from Hurricane for $339. I saw many sets on Ebay for considerably less, but almost all were only 4-PW. Then to add an AW separately would have added another $40 or so, so the net savings was only about $60.

Yes, $60 is $60, but then the bag I also bought wouldnt have been shipped free, so throw in another $12 for shipping on that and now Im around only a $50 savings total. So I opted going with a dealer instead of individual on Ebay.

[tsplash75]

After some hmming and hawing, I had chosen the Burner Plus, but bought them off of eBay considering the fact that I would want to purchase a set of wedges. TM RAC Satins filled out the rest of my set.

[paulballs]

ay caramba! Never fails. I ordered yesterday, now Rockbottomgolf has these for $299!!!!! So if Id bought from there Id have saved about $90 total. Thats 2 rounds of golf!!!! Paulballs is sad

[erock9174]

after switching to these clubs have you guys notice a difference in your game ? I haven't had a chance to try mine out yet on the course.

[tsplash75]

Take this with a grain of salt: I have very little experience with other sets, but I have found it very easy for me to go from complete hack to executive hacker in six visits to the range.

They are certainly forgiving, but keep in mind that the enlarged sweet spot on the clubfaces takes distance off a perfect shot. To balance this out, these club lofts provide a lower trajectory squeezing an extra few yards out of your shot.

For example:

Burner Plus 3I: 19

PING I15 3I: 21

Burner Plus 6I: 28

PING I15 6I: 30

Burner Plus 9I: 40

PING I15 9I: 41

Now that I got the science out of the way, they are extremely playable and make it more fun for the high-handicapper and weekenders.

[erock9174]

Had my first chance to hit the new Burner + irons today at the range.  Even with 3/4" an inch taken off the shaft these are longer than my previous clubs.  So once I adjusted for that and shook off the winter rust off the higher irons felt really good in my hands.

I have to admit I was impressed.

I warmed up with a 9iron and noticed a nice consistent baby draw.

My last set of el cheapo Maxfli's had both a 4 and 5 hybrid  which I later replaced with TM r7 draw based hybrids.  My luck with the hybrids was hit and miss so I was eagerly waiting to try out the 4 and 5 iron in this set.  It took me a few balls but by the end of the bucket I was hitting some very solid 4 iron shots roughly 195 yds maybe even longer which is long for me given my slower swing speed (about 75-78mph with my irons).  I wish the range was marked better for distance, but I know I was hitting both the 6 and 9 irons further than any other irons I have tried before.  Could be the stronger lofts or just the fact that this is the first decent name brand set of irons I have ever tried.  For instance my old 9 iron was my 125-130yd club at best.  The 9 in this set was easily going 135+.

Another nice thing was the un-pure shots would have still been playable shots on the course.  So the game improvement technology seemed to be doing its job.

Going back tomorrow to see how rd 2 at the range goes.

[paulballs]

Hit these for the first time on the range the other day and wow, was I AMAZED at what I saw and how they felt. A massive improvement over the budget Adams irons Ive used the last 2yrs. I was absolutely striping the ball for about 30min. Didnt hit 1 singular bad shot.

After that, however,like Im prone to do, I lose my form, my swing begins to feel weird, nothing feels right, and I suddenly cant hit the ball at all. But that first 30min showed me what I can do with these clubs when I finally get some consistency. Completely happy with my purchase.

[paulballs]

Originally Posted by erock9174

I was hitting some very solid 4 iron shots

Id long given up on my standard 4 iron with my old set and had gone to a 4 hyrid which I hit decent when I catch it flush. I was crushing the ball with the burner 4 iron, completely surprised how pure I was hitting it. 5, 6, 8 in a row with that 4 iron, just pure bombs dead straight. Man do I wish I could do that even half the time on a consistent basis :)

[erock9174]

I went back to the range and hit the 4i well again.  Actually better than even my PW.  For some reason, over the past year I have developed a nasty pull with my PW.

Anyone have any recommendations on what I might be doing wrong?  I'd like to get it sorted out before I hit the course this spring