Single Length Irons

[mnhacker]

Hi all, just joined.  I'm 41 and live in rural northern MN.  I didn't start golfing regularly until I turned 30.  I'm a tinkerer (very messy workbench) and frugal (cheap) by nature.  My wife bought me my first box set from a big box store, but we got them from for free as the cashier failed to ring them up.  I understand now that first set was extremely poor quality, but as I was just a beginner, I just thought it was cool to have a "complete, matching" set.  Also, I learned some invaluable lessons about equipment from that first set.

The first thing I wondered about/noticed was the different lengths of clubs.  After my first 9 holes, I "fixed" my putter.  The head wasn't even glued on completely.  I used air to blow off the grip, and hacked it down to 33 1/2" and have been playing that length putter ever since.

I also noticed I hit my 8 iron most consistently.  I have never hit a 1, 2, 3, or 4 iron as that first set came with a 3/4 hybrid and 5 wood.  I really like the hybrids and discovered I had trouble with fairway woods.  I tell you all this to let you know where I am now.

I play 3 lengths: 60/56/52 wedge, PW, 9 and 8 iron are all 38".   7 iron, 5 and 6 transition irons (steel shafts), 2, 3, and 4 hybrid are all 38 1/2"  (stiff, graphite) My driver is 10.5 stiff shaft 41".  (No fairway woods: people have even told me that you HAVE to have a fairway wood and if you don't it's cheating!  I hit my 2 hybrid 240 consistently in case you're wondering.)

You see, I want to battle the course, not my swing or equipment.  Money is an issue for me (cheap, remember?) so I want the bulk of my golfing funds to go to green fees.  I know I'm suppose to go get professionally fitted and money is best spent on lessons, but who can you trust?  Machines?  People you've never met?  I figure the person who knows my game best is me.

I'm not headed for the PGA and I really don't know what my handicap is.  The course I play most often has 4 tee boxes and I play from the "whites" not the "tips."  My best score on 18 is -2.  I only battle "Ol' Man Par"  I most like to golf with myself because I get frustrated playing with people who brag about their new $400 driver and have an excuse after every swing.  (Oddly enough, these people are also the ones who give me the most swing "tips")  I love to play new courses, and it's exciting to know I can hit the fairway, hit the green, and 2 putt on holes I've never even seen before.

Glad to be here and hit 'em good!  Sorry for the long post!

[fRzzy]

I'm gaming a set of Value Golf Pinhawk SL built at just less than 37". They works, really allow me to groove my swing, one setup for all irons.

However, there are some drawbacks you need to pay attention to:

1. "Long" irons are shorter, the 4 hybrid only have 20* loft, so if you don't have decent swing speed, you might have trouble getting the balls up to travel far.

2. "Short" irons are longer, ball flights are higher, more backspin, I hit my P about 115 yards and it launch like missiles.

Accuracy wise, they are pretty good, since "long" irons are shorter, I got less mishits, the set 9 iron loft is 45* and P's loft is 50*, so if you choke them down to conventional length of a wedge, they work like P and G, good for shots that need more control.

I will game with them for few more months and if I still have problem hitting the 4 hybrid, I might have them reshafted with progressive tip trimming, may helps launching balls with lower lofted clubs and keep the balls down with higher lofted ones.

[jeff nott]

Hi all,  I have quite a serious back problem within the lumber region and found playing golf (which I love) becoming more painful and some days impossible. I have since bought a set of 2012 MD st2 irons costing £99.95 in their sale and extended every club SW - 4Iron to the same  length of the 4 iron, With the longer clubs I can stand upright over the shot, never needing to bend my back and letting just the arms provide all the power, Place the ball as you would normally for each shot, this also makes squaring the club easier. If you keep the backswing close to the body (don't worry about keeping the lead arm straight) up to the 12 o'clock position and then swing through the ball under the clubs own weight off the shot goes, when you get this part right then you can try to muscle the ball a little.

The idea with extending the clubs was to eliminate any stress on the lower back and I have achieved this. My handicap has gone from 28 down to 22 in six weeks (I never said I was good) this is probably down to playing pain free rather than being a better golfer. I have not changed anything about the clubs apart from the length,

I bought club extensions and new grips and did the work myself and I am very happy with the results. By the way the clubs may send the ball only a few yards further but it will go much higher.

Please refrain from telling me this is all wrong, I am aware of this but extending the clubs works for me and it keeps me to just one swing plane which I never have to change so I never have to worry about further back injury. If you wish to try this for yourself then go to your local charity shop buy a 4 iron and a 9 iron just swap the shafts and try it, (for tips look on youtube) what do you have to lose.

[Irish]

I have just assembled a set of Pinhawk SL from and am going to use them for the first time next weekend. The Pinhawk are a good quality, nice looking set.  Moe Norman was a big proponent of SL clubs.  I will let you know when I get back.

Irish

[vangator]

I have a set of Pinhawks. Just posted on a thread about single length shafts. I'm on vacation this coming week, so I'll get a few rounds in. The Pinhawks are the best set of irons I've owned. Been playing for 40 years, so I've gone through a few sets.

[MS256]

Hi all,  I have quite a serious back problem within the lumber region and found playing golf (which I love) becoming more painful and some days impossible. I have since bought a set of 2012 MD st2 irons costing £99.95 in their sale and extended every club SW - 4Iron to the same  length of the 4 iron, With the longer clubs I can stand upright over the shot, never needing to bend my back and letting just the arms provide all the power, Place the ball as you would normally for each shot, this also makes squaring the club easier. If you keep the backswing close to the body (don't worry about keeping the lead arm straight) up to the 12 o'clock position and then swing through the ball under the clubs own weight off the shot goes, when you get this part right then you can try to muscle the ball a little. The idea with extending the clubs was to eliminate any stress on the lower back and I have achieved this. My handicap has gone from 28 down to 22 in six weeks (I never said I was good) this is probably down to playing pain free rather than being a better golfer. I have not changed anything about the clubs apart from the length, I bought club extensions and new grips and did the work myself and I am very happy with the results. By the way the clubs may send the ball only a few yards further but it will go much higher. Please refrain from telling me this is all wrong, I am aware of this but extending the clubs works for me and it keeps me to just one swing plane which I never have to change so I never have to worry about further back injury. If you wish to try this for yourself then go to your local charity shop buy a 4 iron and a 9 iron just swap the shafts and try it, (for tips look on youtube) what do you have to lose.

I wouldn't tell you that you are wrong but I will say that anybody that wants all of their irons to be the same length would be better off if they buy clubheads that are designed for that. They will be the same weight and one company even lessens the loft on the "long irons" to make up for the shorter shaft lengths. Simply using standard heads and putting them all in the same length shafts puts a lot of variation in the swing weights, and sort of defeats the purpose of having all of the clubs swing the same way.

[brettfan]

Hey all,

First post... thought I'd let everyone know my experience.

I was watching the NCAA championships and they mentioned that one player was playing irons with the same shaft length from 3I to SW.  Seemed to make sense to me since my big misses are hitting shots fat/thin... if every club is the same length then this should not be a problem.  I did some investigation and bought the clubs (I got the 1-Irons) knowing I could return in 30 days if I didn't like them.

I've been to the range once (hour and a half) and played two rounds with them and LOVE them so far.  I am 5 yards shorter with my five iron and maybe 3 yards shorter with my six but length isn't a big factor for me so its an easy adjustment.  My big problem before was consistency with my mid/short irons and my wedges... having a uniform club length, uniform clubhead weight, and uniform offset has made my mid/short game so much more consistent so far.  I am really happy with them so far.

One other thing...  When I was looking for reviews of these clubs I looked EVERYWHERE for feedback.  I was struck by the lack of negative reviews.  This made me figure that the 1-Iron guys were spamming golf message boards with positive feedback.  I have nothing to do with the company (never heard of it before two weeks ago) for whatever that's worth to you.

Love the site!

[vangator]

I've never struck the ball more consistently now that my irons are single length. Whenever I used to have a 4 or 5 iron in my hand, I'd tend to scale the swing back a little for fear of losing it. Not anymore. Just think if the norm were single length irons and someone said they wanted to vary the length of every iron by 1/2 inch and decrease he clubhead weight by 7 grams each and adjust each iron lie by 1/2 degree to compensate for the extra length and play each club from a slightly different position. My only complaint is that I'd love to see a set of Ping G25 single length irons. Then I could die a happy man.

[David Lake]

Obviously I am biased.  However, Bryson DeChambeau (NCAA) plays single-length irons as well as Moe Norman did throughout his entire competitive career, and many others as well.  Single-length play is nothing new and is the way golf clubs were fitted and made up until the advent of mass production.  Prior to that all sets of golf clubs were custom fitted to a single length - mass production did away with that and the result was the 1/2" length progressions and 0.5º lie angle progressions between successive clubs that you see today.

[brettfan]

Update: After three weeks of play I'm sending mine back. From the 8 iron through the wedges they were nice but the distance lost with the 4-7 irons was too much to play with. I had a huge gap between my 5 iron (which went the distance of my Rocketballz 6 iron) and my 4 hybrid. I never could hit the 4 iron well so it never went in the bag. I was super pumped about the idea of using them but they weren't for me.

[vangator]

Single length does take a while to get used to. It's a mental thing. I'm at the position now where I'm gaining distance over my old irons because my swing is better. I'm more confident. There is a par 3 at my course that plays ~200 yards from the back tees. I would usually cut a 3 iron and hope I would hit somewhere near the green. Right is death. Today the hole was playing into the wind and I drew a 5 iron right at the pin and it just rolled off the back.

[VegasRenegade]

I just got a set of Pinhawks. I hit them a little yesterday mostly using the short clubs. The 50 Degree pitching wedge went just about the same as my standard 46 degree wedge carry about 115. Looks like I will still be able to use my favorite club my standard 50 degree gap wedge carrys about 105.  So I will have to 50 degree wedges. Might move it to 52 as time goes by have to see. I also carry a 56 and 60

I ordered a three iron from 1 iron golf. this will be 6 degrees less loft that the Pinhawk 5 same length  . I want to compare the quality and see if I can hit the 3.  Pinhawk does not make a 3 or 4.

Could not pull the trigger on the one irons for the price without seeing if the concept works for me.

Will keep you posted.

[vangator]

Single length really is the way to go. Golf is such a demanding game as far being able to strike to ball clean. All the variability of standard clubs, especially for golfers who don't practice often, is tough. That's why the average golfer has such a hard time. Stay with it. One day it will "click" and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

[rdsandy]

Single length really is the way to go. Golf is such a demanding game as far being able to strike to ball clean. All the variability of standard clubs, especially for golfers who don't practice often, is tough. That's why the average golfer has such a hard time.

Stay with it. One day it will "click" and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

what he said

[VegasRenegade]

Well so far not a good result, when I hit the 5 iron it is very low, also trying two ping hybrids 6 and 5 and I hit them great, so that is they way I am going

[vangator]

I did the same. Remember, the idea is to play the ball in the same position because the shaft is the same length, the lie is the same and the swing weight is the same. In truth, I play the 5 slightly forward of where I play my wedge. I want more back spin on my wedge and less on my 5 iron. My guess is that you're still playing it like your old 5 iron. I did that and hit low shots that didn't fly very far. Play it in the middle of you stance. BTW, I wouldn't be making any radical changes before play the "pro". Stick with your old clubs until you learn how to him the new ones.

[VegasRenegade]

Yea that is why I only hit them a few times. But I do not think the will ever get in the bag. I am hittubg the hybrids so good at leasr 20 yards than my best 5 iron ever and with little effort they ping K 15s

[tincup61]

I would like to buy some left hand single length clubs.