Iron Advice

[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by LBlack14

I believe that fitting is a waste for the mass majority of "golfers" in the world today. I believe that proper practice and instruction are far more important that a "fitting" for an inconsistent swing. I also believe that all the rocket scientist "fitters" that are out there are just trying to get deeper into the ignorant consumer's pockets. If "fitting" was so important there'd be less than 1000 different ways to do things and more on the same page. Go to 3 different fitters and you'll get 3 different results. Got to 10 different "fitters" and you'll get 7 different results.

In other words, work on the swing and when a person gets that down, fine tune NOT fine tune then practice a poor / inconsistent swing.

I believe that playing golf is a waste for most of us, but I still do it and we all love it. Nonetheless, L does have a point. Until you are able to "own" a swing and play to a certain level, you are customizing a club to an inconsistent swing. Once you progress and correct the deficiencies you may well need to be fit again. You could probably get away with a basic fitting for much less and still have the same or similar results. At this point in your career, your score would benefit more from proper form than it will ever benefit from a proper fitting. I know that my 18 cap swing would have different options than my 10 cap swing and would need some more changes to my 5 cap needs. It's just something to think about. Then again, having the right equipment to help you get there is part of the learning process. It's all a journey. I still like getting the newer stuff for your situation.

[Mr. Desmond]

Well, since most of us are probably not less than 10 hc, our swing may always be inconsistent. But that does not mean a properly fit club won't help you.

Golf is a game of mental confidence, too. And if you believe your clubs are consistent and you can't blame your LOFT (lack of freakin' talent) on the clubs - then you go about fixing the Indian.

Comprenez vous?

Some people keep on blaming the clubs and the search for the magic clubs is endless. So once one has a decent swing, getting fit gives you no excuses -- it's you!

And that's the point where some people start prioritizing more money in a better place - on their swing.

[Mr. Desmond]

As to your issue, Nike probably can't cut them more than one inch because they don't make a club head light enough for that short of a club. The other option is no option -- graphite shafts for you to go with a lite weight head.

Ask your club maker what he does when he cuts it off 2 inches - does he weigh down the club head and go with a regular shaft and blend the weighting and the flex less 2 inches to get to a 5.8?

Or you can wait until Nike closes out these irons and buy them at close out pricing - which I think is your best idea, and then have your guy do his thing. These irons made a debut in 2011 (?) - so if Nike makes club introduction in the fall (like Ping and MIzuno, for example), then you might wait.

I know Ping does a lot of custom work - you like anything in Ping?

[avega]

The fitter does weigh the club head with a standard weight shaft to get to a 5.8.  The standard weight shaft feels much better to me and gives me much more control in my swing.  I can actually feel the club.  With my current clubs I can't feel anything in the swing and have a hard time getting solid at impact.  My current sticks are at a 4.8 flex and a swing weight in the C7 range.  I need to be at 5.8 flex and around a D2.  Again the 8 iron feels really good.  I wonder if I could get some heads on eBay, shafts and grips on the web for significantly less then my fitter will charge me, and then have him put them together?

Im not a huge fan of the look of pings at address.  I find mizunos feel a little hard.  I did like the bridgetone feel of their forging.

And I thought it was tough buying pants at my height.  I guess this is just another annoyance of being a shorter guy.

[TourSpoon]

And I thought it was tough buying pants at my height.  I guess this is just another annoyance of being a shorter guy.

Just think of it as being closer to the ball! :-)

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by avega

The fitter does weigh the club head with a standard weight shaft to get to a 5.8.  The standard weight shaft feels much better to me and gives me much more control in my swing.  I can actually feel the club.  With my current clubs I can't feel anything in the swing and have a hard time getting solid at impact.  My current sticks are at a 4.8 flex and a swing weight in the C7 range.  I need to be at 5.8 flex and around a D2.  Again the 8 iron feels really good.  I wonder if I could get some heads on eBay, shafts and grips on the web for significantly less then my fitter will charge me, and then have him put them together?

Im not a huge fan of the look of pings at address.  I find mizunos feel a little hard.  I did like the bridgetone feel of their forging.

And I thought it was tough buying pants at my height.  I guess this is just another annoyance of being a shorter guy.

Typically, one can find Bridgestones at a fine discount.

I thought I saw some Nike VR Pro Combos at $500 on ebay.

Your club guy has got to make money so he will frown if you buy stuff - just pay him, but also make sure he has  a good reputation.

[WUTiger]

Originally Posted by LBlack14

I believe that fitting is a waste for the mass majority of "golfers" in the world today. I believe that proper practice and instruction are far more important that a "fitting" for an inconsistent swing. ...

... In other words, work on the swing and when a person gets that down, fine tune NOT fine tune then practice a poor / inconsistent swing.

What type of fitting are you talking about? A static fitting - checks shaft length, lie angle, grip thickness and shaft flex - can benefit most golfers. If you are 5-foot-4 with long arms and hit your 5.iron about 150 yards, you're going to be in big trouble if your irons have a 2* upright lie angle and PX 6.0 (stiff!) shafts.

Static fitting can eliminate no-go club features that would prevent someone from ever getting a (somewhat) stable swing. Once your swing gets more stable, a dynamic fitting might help.

Originally Posted by Mr. Desmond

Well, since most of us are probably not less than 10 hc, our swing may always be inconsistent. But that does not mean a properly fit club won't help you.

Golf is a game of mental confidence, too. And if you believe your clubs are consistent and you can't blame your LOFT (lack of freakin' talent) on the clubs - then you go about fixing the Indian. ...

Improving your swing involves alternating work on your swing and your equipment. Once you get your game established, practice gets you more benefit than new equipment.

[avega]

I hit my 8 iron 150 yards.  I have an iron swing speed of around 89 mph and a driver swing speed of around 106.  The most recent fitting that I have gotten done was both a static fitting and what I am calling a "load fitting" (not sure of the actual name).  The load fitting measures both swing speed and the amount of load that I put on the club in my swing using a special club with a cord attached to a computer.  I believe True Temper developed it some years ago.  The fitters that did my last fitting are really excellent and highly reputable.  They did a great job on my current 8 iron.

That said, I do practice and have a relatively consistent swing.  With the reshafted and rebalanced 8 iron I am much tighter with my dispersion and the ball travels quite well.

Hence, my interest in trying to figure out the best way for me to get into clubs that will work best for me.

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by WUTiger

Improving your swing involves alternating work on your swing and your equipment. Once you get your game established, practice gets you more benefit than new equipment.

Such a revelation!

:-)

I agree.

At the same time, there are so many bad OEM shafts, and it's tough to find some clubs, fairways for some, wedges for other, or hybrids, crap, finding a hybrid - I know it's best to have a very good swing before you go buying equipment, and that's what I advise people - get a swing, and then it's easier to evaluate equipment.

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by avega

I hit my 8 iron 150 yards.  I have an iron swing speed of around 89 mph and a driver swing speed of around 106.  The most recent fitting that I have gotten done was both a static fitting and what I am calling a "load fitting" (not sure of the actual name).  The load fitting measures both swing speed and the amount of load that I put on the club in my swing using a special club with a cord attached to a computer.  I believe True Temper developed it some years ago.  The fitters that did my last fitting are really excellent and highly reputable.  They did a great job on my current 8 iron.

That said, I do practice and have a relatively consistent swing.  With the reshafted and rebalanced 8 iron I am much tighter with my dispersion and the ball travels quite well.

Hence, my interest in trying to figure out the best way for me to get into clubs that will work best for me.

I've done the load test before with similar equipment - and found out this old man did not put much load, or did not know how to load the shaft about 5 years ago - I know better now.  :-)

Your mission is tough - you might have to explain to the wife that you only plan to do this once, and because of the shaft length, you need custom work, and that it does not make sense to spend money on 2004 clubs - the grooves are nonconforming and worn, and you want to do this work on relatively new clubs - buy once and you will be happy.

[mlf16507]

Food for thought!----- http://www.diamondtour.com/golf-clubs/irons/dtg-pro-c-golf-clubs.html Since they carry Project X shafts, I am sure they could give you a price.

[1puttit]

Originally Posted by mlf16507

Food for thought!-----http://www.diamondtour.com/golf-clubs/irons/dtg-pro-c-golf-clubs.html  Since they carry Project X shafts, I am sure they could give you a price.

I've dealt with these guys a few times. Good equipment and top notch workmanship.

[avega]

I think Im leaning toward getting new or newer used irons and then getting them cut, balanced and reshafted. The question now is do I have the small shop club fitter to do the work, or Golf Galaxy, or Golfsmith?

Anyone have experience with a big box store vs a small shop in terms of quality. They would be cutting, and balancing clubs. The question is, is it worth $560 for new shafts, cut and balanced at the small shop or much less (around $350) at a Golf Galaxy type place? The other consideration is that I can get brand new irons from golf galaxy with the shafts I want ordered at no additional cost and have them cut the shafts down and rebalance them at 50% off the normal custom cost.

I will have to convince my wife that this expense is going to be more of a one time thing.

Options in short:

Used heads from eBay with reshaft at small shop total range $910 to $1110

New Clubs from big box store cut and balanced - total $960

Used heads from eBay with reshaft at Golf Galaxy - total $690 to $890

[TourSpoon]

Get them new ordered with the shafts you want already cut and gripped from the factory. No one has any work to do. Throw your independent a 50 for sizing you up if you have not paid for a fitting and give him the business after that. If you get them ordered from a big box, you want them checked at the store to make sure they are perfect. This is what I call a condition of sale or at least me buying something.

[Jeffrey71]

There are a lot of great thoughts here. Personally for me, I've got some things to work out out with the consistency of my swing. Maybe when I get to a 7-10 handicap I'll consider a custom fit set of clubs

[Mr. Desmond]

Have the guy who did your 8i do the work since you like what he did with that club. If the boutique shop has a good reputation, stick with them.

[avega]

Once again thanks for your help on this.  However I do have a new question:

I pulled the trigger on a used set of excellent condition irons through Global Golf.  The price was really, really good.  They come with s300s stock.   That shaft is one that will work for me and my swing speed as long as they are cut and balanced properly.

My question is, do I stick with the s300s or pay the extra dollars for the precision rifles?

It is getting really tough to find Rifle shafts to purchase and I have also learned that the small club maker bored out my old 8 iron to fit a parallel tip Rifle 5.0 and FCM to 5.8 by doing a little tip trimming.  It turns out that s300s seem to FCM at around 5.8, perfect for me and I can soften the feel of the shaft with some sensicore inserts, but is the Rifle going to be tighter for me in terms of dispersion or is it the flex and shaft length that really dictate that?  I could also go with Rifle 6.0's soft step them and not worry about the parallel tip trimming, or even go with Rifle 5.5 straight in.

I would love to say that I can go to the golf shop and try these things out, but no one has clubs to my specs for me to try out and the balance is really off when I just choke down 2 inches on the club.

Any advice would be great thanks  again.