My 1-Iron=my best club?

[PLAYHOUSE]

Originally Posted by abubacar

I seem to be a bit backwards.  Most people seem to hit a 9 iron or other shorter iron better than the longer irons.  However, my 1-iron is probably my most consistent club.  I rarely hit it fat, duff it, top it or anything like that.  Nearly all of my shots with it are very nice straight shots with good height that carry about 180 yards.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by PLAYHOUSE

Quote:

Originally Posted by abubacar

I seem to be a bit backwards.  Most people seem to hit a 9 iron or other shorter iron better than the longer irons.  However, my 1-iron is probably my most consistent club.  I rarely hit it fat, duff it, top it or anything like that.  Nearly all of my shots with it are very nice straight shots with good height that carry about 180 yards.

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by Mikeod5785

I could see hybrids being allowed for SENIOR players, like geezers u know? :) but for tour pro's, cmon, if you aint got what Nicklaus had, you don't belong out there. Suck it up and hit the blades or beat it

Yeah - if you aren't as good as arguably the best player ever, you shouldn't be out there.

[abubacar]

Its not that i don't like hybrids because they are for baby men who can't hit irons (im def. a baby man).  I just prefer the feel of a long iron such as a 1 or 3 over a hybrid. Like the one guy said, i can pick it clean off of the fairway or rough with an iron.  When i hit a hybrid, most of the time i hit it really poorly, usually topping it.

I just thought it was odd that i turn to my 1 iron but am an average golfer and still in the process of learning the game properly.

[Lost-Ball]

i play the TM superlaunch irons which only go down to a 4 iron (23*) . i bought a superfast 2.0 rescue (19*) to act like a 3 iron. it gets me about 15-20 more yards then my 4 iron and feels really good. there was a huge gap though between my rescue and my RBZ 3 (15*) wood (like 40 yards on average) so i bought a superfast 4 wood (16.5*) yesterday and tried it out at the range. i was gonna get a 5 wood but my RBZ 3 wood is super long and thought i might need a little something extra. the superfast 4 wood seems to fill the gap pretty good.

[dak4n6]

I have always thought that the idea of long iron difficulty was overplayed (perhaps by the manufacturers touting hybrids and rescues?).

Just stay still, don't try to overswing, and they aren't really that hard...

[KrazyTrain18]

My best club is my driver, consistent and long

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

I have always thought that the idea of long iron difficulty was overplayed (perhaps by the manufacturers touting hybrids and rescues?).

Just stay still, don't try to overswing, and they aren't really that hard...

I love hitting long irons. Forged blade muscleback long irons.

PS. and I still think 1-irons are silly. No way a high handicapper is hitting a1-iron how it was meant to be hit - no way.

[Jmdmbike]

I think the long irons that come with most GI sets today are reasonably easy to hit. I had the 1.0 Burners and now AP1's and found the 4 iron in both sets to be pretty user friendly. I carry a 22 degree hybrid ( which is 10 - 15 yards longer than my 4 iron) as my 3 iron replacement and a 19 degree to switch out with my 7 wood. Hybrids are great, but I don't believe that the long irons made these days are that tough to hit. Whatever works I suppose.

[MikeyGolf]

Is it possible to get a 1 iron that complies with the new groove rule?

[LuciusWooding]

I have a 1 iron; an old Hogan Radial. I hate the sole and the face is so small my ball marks with it are close to the topline. I can get it about 200 in the air, maybe 30 yards or more of roll. I hit my 5 iron just as far in the air. Enough said. Just took it out last week and it reaffirmed why I don't like to hit it.

Tiger Woods has said he tried hitting his 1 iron a few years ago that he had from college, and couldn't get it high enough because of the new balls. They spin a lot less than wound, and you'd need too high a launch angle to make distance. Forget about stopping power. The 2 and 3 iron are the realm of higher swing speed and trajectory players. Especially with modern lofts; now even the 4 and 5 iron are becoming rarer.

I dislike hybrids but I wouldn't carry below a 3 iron except as strictly a driving club; I probably would just use my 3 as a driving iron and carry a couple FWs. The woods just have a better trajectory and better shaft options. Also, woods aren't hard to get off the deck; long irons work well off the tee but aren't ideal off the grass.

By the way TS, learn to hit your short irons and throw the 1i into a lake. I used to be able to hit long clubs better than the short ones, it was because I was flipping and adding like 10 degrees to the loft. That resulted in epic failure on the course until I learned proper striking. Now I hit a mid iron from 180 instead of my 3 wood and believe me it works better. Are your 9 iron shots going about 300 feet in the air and landing at 90 yards? Probably don't get much distance between clubs? Been there.

[Mattplusness]

I just tee off with my putter instead.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Mikey Ernest

Is it possible to get a 1 iron that complies with the new groove rule?

Is that a trick question?

[MikeyGolf]

Is it a trick question if it is possible to get a new 1 iron??

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Mikey Ernest

Is it a trick question if it is possible to get a new 1 iron??

Another trick question?

You don't need a 1-iron, but if for some strange reason you do, I've read they're exempt.

[LuciusWooding]

Just get a 2 iron, build it +.5" with a soft stepped shaft and bend it 2-3˚ strong. Voila.

Cleveland still makes a 2 iron, as do Titleist, Miura, and Callaway among others. It should tell you something about the club that the manufacturers not only stopped making it, but mostly stopped making 2 irons and now 3 irons and 4 irons are custom orders in a lot of cases.

The 1 iron's sweet spot isn't smaller than a 2, 3, or higher iron by much, what makes it difficult to hit is the height and spin of the shot. It's hard to launch using proper technique at higher than like 6 degrees, even off a tee, and you'd need tons of spin and ball speed to get any real carry.

[MikeyGolf]

Another trick question? You don't need a 1-iron, but if for some strange reason you do, I've read they're exempt.

They are not exempt and thanks for telling me what clubs i should/should not use.

[LuciusWooding]

Originally Posted by Mikey Ernest

They are not exempt and thanks for telling me what clubs i should/should not use.

Wrong.

"Please note that, because the edge radius requirement does not apply to irons with lofts of less than 25°, some searches may yield a mixed result indicating that some lower lofted clubs in the set meet the 2010 requirements while other, higher lofted clubs, do not." -The R&A; site

Even the R&A; doubts you can hit a 1 iron, and they even let you use square grooves. Feel free to get one, but it won't be more than a novelty in any realistic sense. It's not an insult to you or anything, but I'm with Sean on this. When the best players in the world abandon the 1 iron, even those who are noted ballstrikers, blade snobs, traditionalists, and bombers, think twice about bagging it.