Blades help ballstriking?

[GingerGolfer]

I'm a 9 handicap yet ball striking is by far the worst part of my game. I'm curious as to if buying an old set of blades off ebay would make me a better ball striker in the long run, as I would have to learn to hit them being as unforgiving as they are. Any thoughts?

[geauxforbroke]

Originally Posted by GingerGolfer

I'm a 9 handicap yet ball striking is by far the worst part of my game. I'm curious as to if buying an old set of blades off ebay would make me a better ball striker in the long run, as I would have to learn to hit them being as unforgiving as they are. Any thoughts?

The short answer is, no. Getting old blades (which are exponentially less forgiving than even modern blades) will only leave you frustrated, and may even make you develop bad habits. Your best bet is to take some (more) lessons and work on your ball striking. Then once you feel that you are in a position where you can hit the majority of your shots dead flush, then consider some "players" clubs.

[birlyshirly]

Nothing magic about blades - but anything that encourages you to bear down on your practice and learning WILL help. I think lots of the people who say that blades DO help ballstriking have done exactly that. They've committed to a set of clubs and set about learning how to hit them. In the long run, that's going to be a much better strategy than trying to buy a game off the shelf [not that anyone HERE would try and do that!]. Of course, you could bear down on a set of shovels too...

I do think that "exponentially harder to hit" is exaggeration-squared.  I don't believe that clubs that fit you in terms of length, shaft and weight are going to cost you much, if anything, in terms of strokes compared to fancy head designs.

[tomvk77]

Well if ball striking is decent you can benefit from hitting a players club on the range.

It gives you a good feedback on where you hit the ball on the face and how the face was on impact. Opened or closed or square. however if your not striking the ball well it only make things worse.

[GaijinGolfer]

IMO, money spent on lessons would be much better than buying an old blade off of Ebay.  How can you improve your ballstriking when you dont know what youre doing wrong?

[PirateJim]

I play Ping G20 irons that are, I suppose, pretty much the "shovels" birleyshirley mentioned.  I can definitely tell when I've hit one off-center, and I do work on trying to hit 'em flush.  The thing is, on the course less than perfect ball striking doesn't cost me as much is it would with players clubs.  And I can't imagine practicing with one set of irons and playing with another, so...

One of these days I may come to the point that I feel my ball striking is up to more "player" oriented clubs, but I'm not sure when that will be.  I'm used to the way the G20's look at address and when I hit them square (which happens more and more often these days) they fly nice and straight, but I can work them at least somewhat if I try, which I seldom do.  Nice straight shots work most of the time for me and I don't care what people think of my clubs, just my scores.

[GingerGolfer]

It was more oriented for work during the off season, in golf domes, things like that...My friend just recommended it as he played blades for a summer and it greatly improved his ballstriking. My ballstriking is very streaky and I would just like to be more consistent...there's many different factors that go into it more than just getting lessons..the pros at my club are good teachers for new players but not necessarily for someone with a more advanced swing...I guess I just need to keep practicing.

[Micah]

I learned to play on a set of blades so when the first thick soled cavity back irons came out I was in heaven. To this day I still rock a nice set of cavity backs in the bag.

[GaijinGolfer]

Originally Posted by GingerGolfer

It was more oriented for work during the off season, in golf domes, things like that...My friend just recommended it as he played blades for a summer and it greatly improved his ballstriking. My ballstriking is very streaky and I would just like to be more consistent...there's many different factors that go into it more than just getting lessons..the pros at my club are good teachers for new players but not necessarily for someone with a more advanced swing...I guess I just need to keep practicing.

You need to figure out why you are inconsistent.  Be it a mechanical flaw in your swing or just something in your mental game that is throwing you off.  I dont see how a more difficult to hit club is going to help you in that regard.  All its going to do is frustrate you and make you question your swing even more.