New Irons?

[shakogolfer78]

About four years ago, I bought some Titleist 755 irons from a golf shop going out of business at the time.  At the time I wasn't in the market for irons, but since I got such a great deal for the set I had to pull the trigger.  I feel that in today's game players can gain more (especially your average golfer) from more of a cavity back iron rather than a blade or my mid-sized 755s.  I went to the golf show a few weeks ago and I talked to the Mizuno rep for a while and ended up hitting the new JPX 800 irons and loved them.  They go against the traditional Mizuno player's blade club and they have a lot more perimeter weighting than my 755s.  I noticed when i hit them that I could get a higher launch on them then my current set and I was wondering if this would equal more yards if I decide to make the switch.  I have always heard that once someone goes to a blade iron they should suspect to hit the ball shorter.  Does that statement hold any weight?  I have had trouble with my iron game in the past, and I think these new clubs would give me just the extra yardage and forgiveness that I need to shave a few shots off my scores.

Any comments or suggestions of other iron sets that I should investigate?

[ajschn06]

If your transition from a GI club to a blade, your avg distance will go down only because you won't hit the sweet spot as consitantly.

[alo1984]

I find that with my players irons I hit the ball further than GI irons if I hit the sweet spot.  GI irons will be longer on mishits for sure.

[shakogolfer78]

sorry guys I posted this in the wrong forum.  I haven't used the site since the all the new upgrades, and by the way thanks for all the help.

[shakogolfer78]

About four years ago, I bought some Titleist 755 irons from a golf shop going out of business at the time.  At the time I wasn't in the market for irons, but since I got such a great deal for the set I had to pull the trigger.  I feel that in today's game players can gain more (especially your average golfer) from more of a cavity back iron rather than a blade or my mid-sized 755s.  I went to the golf show a few weeks ago and I talked to the Mizuno rep for a while and ended up hitting the new JPX 800 irons and loved them.  They go against the traditional Mizuno player's blade club and they have a lot more perimeter weighting than my 755s.  I noticed when i hit them that I could get a higher launch on them then my current set and I was wondering if this would equal more yards if I decide to make the switch.  I have always heard that once someone goes to a blade iron they should suspect to hit the ball shorter.  Does that statement hold any weight?  I have had trouble with my iron game in the past, and I think these new clubs would give me just the extra yardage and forgiveness that I need to shave a few shots off my scores.

Any comments or suggestions of other iron sets that I should investigate?

This is reposted from the golf talk forum

[Steel]

If you buy a set of blade's I can almost guarantee you your handicap will go up.  Unless you are a pro or are hitting the ball pure every time don't bother you will be disappointed.  I used to play Wilson staff blades because i got a great deal on them, played them for 2 years, they did teach me to hit the ball but your misses are huge.  Worked my handicap down to around 10, bought a set of Bridgestone forged cavity back's with no offset, they set up exactly like a blade, great look, immediately my handicap dropped 3 strokes.  The main reason was my misses were way better with the cavities, hit a blade thin or fat and you will loose at least 30% of your distance, you thin a cavity and your distance is almost the same.  Another thought to ponder, A friend of mine used to play NCAA university golf, plays off of a 0+/-1 all year round and he plays cavities, I for one will never pick up a blade again, other than my wedges.  just my 2c's

[Blades4me]

I'd suggest a combo set, which is cb's 3-7 or 8i then mb's for the rest. As loft increases so does forgiveness. You really won't notice a real differnce between a cb in a 8i or better and a 8i or better in a mb, well may be in your mind there will be a difference and of course asthetics;(on a side note I can't take the looks of a cb in 8i and above; it just doesn't look right, but that is a personal thing and has nothing to do with playabilty). That is one reason why the splint is at a 7i, but usually the 8i in a combo set. The other reason is you have better distance control with a mb. Not a big deal with the long and mid irons, but very important with the scoring clubs, which are the 8i and up.

Not to be rude, but considering your hc you may want to consider hybrids for 3-4 and may be the 5, then cb's, then mb's at the 8i and above. Most ppl can hit from 5i and up okay; below the 5i its a different story.

When I got back into the game about 10 yrs ago I started with a cheap knock off set and played them until I felt pretty good with my ball striking. Then I bought a combo set of 1025 MacGregor V-foils cuz I wanted a set I'd grow into and I still have and game them now. It took me awhile to get used to excellent clubs. What I found was the better the club, the more it just wants a good golf swing put on it and it will do the rest; that lesson took a lot of furstration and some time to learn for me.

In short, you can play any clubs you like. It just depends on how much frustration you want to deal with; and there is no way around frustration with this game, its part of the game.

Thank God even though they try to make this game easier, it isn't easier. Hell, if I wanted easy I'd go snowboarding.

[WUTiger]

First of all, let's make sure we're all using the same club class definitions.

The original club classification system (ranked according to user-friendliness) was devised by Ralph Maltby. It has six categories: Player's Classic (really hard to hit), Classic, Conventional, Game Improvement, Super GAme Improvement, and Ultra Game Improvement. Maltby focused on the physics of the clubheads for this classification.

Golf Digest created a more popular version of club classification system: Player's (roughly Maltby's lowest three categories), Game Improvement, and Super Game Improvement (roughly Maltby's two highest categories).

Most of us on Sand Trap appear to use the three GD categories.

OP appears to be dividing the iron kingdom into blades and GI. This makes discussion difficult.

As far as losing distance goes, we should be talking about GI and SGI clubhead, and GI and SGI clubs. GI and SGI clubs tend to come with certain stock shafts.

For SGI, irons such as the G10 and the Big Bertha models had extreme perimeter weighting, which got the ball up, and tended to come with high-launch shafts, which also got the ball up. Give these to a player with a solid swing, and his/her clubhead speed will also get the ball up higher.

So, if a player with high clubhead speed hits an SGI head iron with a high launch shaft, this person would likely lose yardage with this combination. Given the high clubhead speed, less perimeter weighting and a mid- to low-launch shaft would probably maximize this person's launch angle.

-------------------------

Note: The original reason for loft deflation - strengthening lofts in irons - relates to perimeter weighting. Ping strengthened the lofts in its early irons about 2º to correct for perimeter weighting (PerW). The PerW definitely got the ball up higher, but in doing so lost about five yards off of each iron. The -2º loft adjustment was meant to maintain the benchmark distance for each iron. Then, the marketing cluster got ahold of it, and we have irons today which are about 1.5 clubs stronger than equivalent ones of the 1980s.

------------------------

The SGI Callaway X20 had perimeter weighting, but a midkick Unfilex shaft which kept the short-iron shots from ballooning. Plenty of clubhead lift, tempered by a midlaunch shaft.

GI clubs rather split the difference - a mix of workability and foregiveness with a medium-size sweet spot. But it you just flat miss a shot, no amount of perimeter weighting will save you.

Suggestion to OP: If you put blades into the Player's category, and also talks GI and SGI irons, you might get better view of your options.

[shakogolfer78]

What categories do you think my current Titleist 755s fall under, and how about the Mizuno JPX 800s?  These are the clubs that I am considering buying to add a little more forgiveness to my iron game.

Originally Posted by WUTiger

First of all, let's make sure we're all using the same club class definitions.

The original club classification system (ranked according to user-friendliness) was devised by Ralph Maltby. It has six categories: Player's Classic (really hard to hit), Classic, Conventional, Game Improvement, Super GAme Improvement, and Ultra Game Improvement. Maltby focused on the physics of the clubheads for this classification.

Golf Digest created a more popular version of club classification system: Player's (roughly Maltby's lowest three categories), Game Improvement, and Super Game Improvement (roughly Maltby's two highest categories).

Most of us on Sand Trap appear to use the three GD categories.

OP appears to be dividing the iron kingdom into blades and GI. This makes discussion difficult.

As far as losing distance goes, we should be talking about GI and SGI clubhead, and GI and SGI clubs. GI and SGI clubs tend to come with certain stock shafts.

For SGI, irons such as the G10 and the Big Bertha models had extreme perimeter weighting, which got the ball up, and tended to come with high-launch shafts, which also got the ball up. Give these to a player with a solid swing, and his/her clubhead speed will also get the ball up higher.

So, if a player with high clubhead speed hits an SGI head iron with a high launch shaft, this person would likely lose yardage with this combination. Given the high clubhead speed, less perimeter weighting and a mid- to low-launch shaft would probably maximize this person's launch angle.

-------------------------

Note: The original reason for loft deflation - strengthening lofts in irons - relates to perimeter weighting. Ping strengthened the lofts in its early irons about 2º to correct for perimeter weighting (PerW). The PerW definitely got the ball up higher, but in doing so lost about five yards off of each iron. The -2º loft adjustment was meant to maintain the benchmark distance for each iron. Then, the marketing cluster got ahold of it, and we have irons today which are about 1.5 clubs stronger than equivalent ones of the 1980s.

------------------------

The SGI Callaway X20 had perimeter weighting, but a midkick Unfilex shaft which kept the short-iron shots from ballooning. Plenty of clubhead lift, tempered by a midlaunch shaft.

GI clubs rather split the difference - a mix of workability and foregiveness with a medium-size sweet spot. But it you just flat miss a shot, no amount of perimeter weighting will save you.

Suggestion to OP: If you put blades into the Player's category, and also talks GI and SGI irons, you might get better view of your options.

[WUTiger]

To find the MPF for the Forged 755 irons, you might e-mail Ralph Maltby. I was unable to retrieve the 2007 MPF Ratings from his site.

http://www.ralphmaltby.com/

I suspect that, using Maltby's Six Category system, the 755s came in between GI and SGI - the Titleist archive ads said the 755 had a lower center of gravity than earlier irons to increase launch angle. The Miz JPX800s come in as GI.

Year #1	Model	MPF	Maltby Clasf
2002	Titleist 690CB	431	Conventional
2005	Titleist 735CM	648	Game Impv
2006	Titleist Forged 755	??
2011	Mizuno JPX800	604	Game Impv