Iron set advice

[Innivus]

Hi everyone, first off, I've been impressed with this site for a while, and I'm finally breaking down and joining the conversation.  Like many, I'm a bit of a novice with a relatively high handicap looking for some advice on replacing a hack set of irons that I bought years ago when I first started.  And boy it is easy to get lost in the world of iron set research.

I have a very quick swing and tend to hit the ball pretty far... I average around a 160 with a 7 iron.  I'm willing to sacrifice some of the distance for a better feel, accuracy and a bit more forgiveness (I'm slowly becoming a better ball striker).  I'm also not looking to break the bank, and I'm more than willing to pick up a decent used set.

Any suggestions not only on club sets, but also on specific things to look for/avoid in a set?  For instance, would a cavity set be a good thing?  Forged irons?

Appreciate any advice, and I look forward to some responses.

[sofingaw]

I'm a novice as well. I got a set of Ping G15's a couple of months back, as an upgrade to my old sticks. I would highly recommend them. Bad shots are often not SO bad.  These can be found new, still for a good amount less than lots of sets, due to the fact that Ping has come out with the G20, which are the newer set in this line. If normal length clubs can fit you, you can probably find them used for 350 or so. I got mine new for 440. But I had to have mine lengthened slightly.

Plenty of other companies making great iron sets as well. Callaway, Taylormade, Mizuno, come to mind off the top.

I would look at what are called 'Game Improvement Irons'. These (generally) have cavity backs, and usually have stronger lofts than forged clubs or blades or things like that. They are designed to be forgiving on not perfect shots, and any of the brands, plus others, I'm sure have great game improvement options.

Go to a big golf store and hit as many as they will let you, and you will know which ones you wanna hit. Then do some online research and get em used, if you don't have the coin for new.

Hit em' straight!

[Innivus]

Thanks for the advice.

Anybody want to chime in on a set of game improvement irons that give great 'feel'?

I was looking at a few sets of callaway irons, specifically the x-series (I found some x24's for relatively cheap), and others in the callawaypreowned.com website.  Would someone mind sharing their experience with theirs?

[rustyredcab]

Get fitted so you know the correct lie and length. Go to any big box and they can measure you for those static numbers. Then, you can buy from them or anywhere and know what you get fits your intended swing. The best thing you can do for your game is to play clubs that fit in terms of length and lie.

You'll find a lot of love for Mizuno's here. This site put Mizuno on my radar and I'm now a huge Mizuno fan. The JPX and JPX HD are both game improvement sets. But Mizuno has most of its focus at better player clubs. When I got under 10.0, I felt I could start looking at Mizuno.

There are great options from most manufacturers including Adams and Cobra. I'd look at those two for sure.

[WUTiger]

As a general class of irons, you might try Game Improvement vs. Super Game Improvement. The GI class give you decent help without causing the shots to balloon too much.

Get fitted, and play special attention to what shaft you get. The shaft type/flex are half the club.