long irons, especially 1 irons....

[Hacker James]

Originally Posted by dbuck

I frequently play with Wilson Staffs and Joe Powell persimmon. My "vintage bag" includes a butter knife 1-iron. I also have a set of Titleist DCI's which has a 1 iron. I can hit them both ok-relatively speaking- especially off the tee, and I enjoy doing so. The Wilson is the classic butter knife and the DCI has a fairly deep cavity and almost plays like a hybrid. I can hit my Callaway 20* 3 hybrid, though, about the same distance as either of my 1 irons with a good bit more ease and consistency, especially off the fairway. Off the tee In the wind , there may be some advantage to the 1 iron because of the trajectory.

Yes, I kind of miss my DCI Blacks. I had them made up for me when I worked at Titleist and were outfitted with Rifle Shafts.  I sold them on EBAY but even though I like my Hogan Edge set, the DCI's were a fine set of irons.  The only 2 iron I ever owned was with an old set of Bobby Jones which had Driver, 3W,4W,5W and 2 through SW. The swing weights were D4 I believe. I think they were made by Spalding.

[Ole_Tom_Morris]

Originally Posted by LuciusWooding

They're not really "Utility" irons, they're more utility "irons". Like Shorty said, they're hollow and they're simply iron shaped hybrids.

For me, what makes a hybrid a hybrid is bulge and roll versus a flat face.  Hybrids have bulge and roll just like woods.     I own a set of hollow irons, but because they have flat faces like irons, I call them irons.

The complaint against blades is involved here too and muddies the discussion about 1-irons.      To clarify the issue under debate, there are 1-iron blades, Muirfield 20ths for example, and then there are 1-iron cavity back irons, for example Armour 845c or Ping Eye.   Cavity-back 1-irons are not as hard to hit.

[dbuck]

Back in the day, it was not uncommon to see a PING 1 iron riding in the bags of pros and better amateurs, even if the rest of the irons were blades. I am neither a good player nor a poser, but I do like to try to hit the 1 iron. Most of the time,I can keep it in the fairway about 195-210 with a kinda weak fade. Yesterday, I hit probably the best 1 iron I have ever hit with my "butter knife". A medium par 4 along a ridge with trouble left and right, it is 379 on the card. I was well inside the 150 marker and straight down the middle. It would have been "ho-hum" for Tiger, but pretty good for me!

[GaijinGolfer]

I love long irons but I dont exactly hit them as well as Id like to.  Theres nothing that feels better than a pure shot with a long iron.  When I was in my early 20s, the only wood that I carried was a driver and I was actually pretty good at hitting even a 1-iron off the tee (forget about it off the deck though).

I do feel though that much of the perception that long irons are impossible to hit and that everyone should be gaming 3, 4 and even 5 hybrids is a bunch of nonsense though.  If long irons are so impossible to hit, how then did the old-timers hit them with clubs that are supposedly vastly inferior to what we have today?  Just like with any other shot, you have to work at it.

[Hacker James]

Originally Posted by GaijinGolfer

I love long irons but I dont exactly hit them as well as Id like to.  Theres nothing that feels better than a pure shot with a long iron.  When I was in my early 20s, the only wood that I carried was a driver and I was actually pretty good at hitting even a 1-iron off the tee (forget about it off the deck though).

I do feel though that much of the perception that long irons are impossible to hit and that everyone should be gaming 3, 4 and even 5 hybrids is a bunch of nonsense though.  If long irons are so impossible to hit, how then did the old-timers hit them with clubs that are supposedly vastly inferior to what we have today?  Just like with any other shot, you have to work at it.

A lot of has to do with the 1 and 2 irons being out of "vogue" and they are not usually included in a set now so golfers coming into the game in recent years just did not have the experience of learning how to hit them. The hybrids and newer fairway woods are simply easier to hit and given the choice, would be the wiser clubs to use.   I do not consider myself as an old timer exactly, but when I started playing some 40 years ago, that is what we had. I am not saying hitting a one iron off the deck is "easy" but since I practice a lot with one, it is not as difficult for me. As I mentioned in a similar thread, I have even been pitching with one in practice and it does help me build a better tempo.