Drills or Fundamentals for getting use to new irons

[Bflem55]

Hell all I am a 12 handicap and I had a set of king cobra 2 irons for over 10 years.  I just got fitted and bought a new set of TM 2.0 burner irons. I have hit them twice off grass and once off mats in the past week.  I have been getting a little frustrated with my distances with the new clubs.  I am a long ball hitter with my old clubs I was hitting a 5 iron 190 and 8 iron 150.  With the new clubs so far I am only getting 175 - 180 out of the 5 iron and maybe 130-150 with the 8 iron.  Is it possible that I could hit a little shorter with the new clubs?  Are there some drills or things I can try to do to get more familiar with the new irons?  Thank you

[poser]

Honestly I figured you would hit them farther with the taylormade irons but, then again I know cobra is known for stronger lofts. New irons shouldn't make you have to change your swing either.  When you were fitted what were your distances?  Also did you change shafts?

[Bflem55]

My old shafts were regular.  When I was fitted though they said I need a stiff because I was in the low 90's for swing speed.  Could that change make a difference?  Um when I was fitted on the monitor I was hitting a 6 iron 153 carry 163 roll.

[Shindig]

My old shafts were regular.  When I was fitted though they said I need a stiff because I was in the low 90's for swing speed.  Could that change make a difference?  Um when I was fitted on the monitor I was hitting a 6 iron 153 carry 163 roll.

That distance is on the low end for where they generally estimate stiffness (the ballpark figure used to be 7-iron 150 ~ stiff, although that of course depends on your definition of 7-iron... and I suppose altitude and so on). Was your swing speed a driver measurement? Because there's a difference between driver in the 90s and 6-iron SS in the 90s. Finally... the options aren't simply regular vs stiff, especially if you're buying new. Any reputable company - and, my opinion of TaylorMade's clubs aside, they fit into this category - could soft step stiff shafts for you, or hard step regular shafts, to find a more close fit. From what you've said, I would guess that soft-stepping a stiff shaft would be right here. Where did you buy them and what's the return policy? I'd especially go back and see if they have Mizuno's shaft optimizer -- see what that thing spits out for suggestions.

[WUTiger]

For a new set of irons, it might take a while to get your eyes retrained to what a "square" set-up looks like at address. One way to do this: If you have a tile floor in your house, use the blocks to see if you are lining up the clubface "square." When I switched to irons with less offset than my previous set, I had trouble at first with closing the face slightly at set up. The blocks cured me.

As for distance, are the shafts on your new irons as long as your old ones? A half-inch difference could matter several yards.

Also, you don't say where you live. If you haven't played much the last few weeks, your swing muscles may be a bit out of shape, and the source of the distance loss. If this is the case, you might want to hold off on soft-stepping the shafts until late spring - make sure you need it.

[Rednax1530]

Originally Posted by poser

Honestly I figured you would hit them farther with the taylormade irons but, then again I know cobra is known for stronger lofts. New irons shouldn't make you have to change your swing either.  When you were fitted what were your distances?  Also did you change shafts?

I have heard this before as being a cause for different sets of clubs hitting different distances. Allot of times some club lofts may be adjusted higher or lower. This could make it seem like a 7 iron from one set hits like a 6 iron often referred to as de-lofting the clubs. This is of course not discounting the possibility of different clubs and shafts providing different attributes which may cause you to hit shorter or farther, just a possibility.

I recently went for a club fitting as I was replacing my set, and they asked if I would like my clubs to be de-lofted. And as much as seemingly hitting further with certain clubs is appealing I decided to stick with the original lofts. That is completely up to the individual.  I have also heard that some golfers will have wedges adjusted to specific lofts so they can tweak distances and feel of specific wedges.

I hope this helps,

Mitch G