My Little Blade vs. GI Iron Test

[dwade247]

Here are some photos of a little test I did while practicing at the PGA store.

Photo 1 - "8 iron" is with the PING G30 7 iron. Distance dispersion seems pretty good but right and left dispersion is not good.

Photo 2 - "5 iron" is with the Mizuno MP4 6 iron. Distance dispersion isn't great but right and left dispersion is quite nice.

Just wanted to show you all what I got when hitting about 7 shots with these clubs. All the shots I hit are shown on the screen and good as well as bad shots were hit with both clubs. It was totally random.

Not trying to persuade anyone in either direction I just found the results interesting and wanted to share them.

Hopefully I can get the photos uploaded correctly!

[dwade247]

PING G30 7 iron

[dwade247]

Mizuno MP4 6 iron

[Jakester23]

Here are some photos of a little test I did while practicing at the PGA store.

Photo 1 - "8 iron" is with the PING G30 7 iron. Distance dispersion seems pretty good but right and left dispersion is not good.

Photo 2 - "5 iron" is with the Mizuno MP4 6 iron. Distance dispersion isn't great but right and left dispersion is quite nice.

Just wanted to show you all what I got when hitting about 7 shots with these clubs. All the shots I hit are shown on the screen and good as well as bad shots were hit with both clubs. It was totally random.

Not trying to persuade anyone in either direction I just found the results interesting and wanted to share them.

Hopefully I can get the photos uploaded correctly!

So what are you implying?

[dwade247]

So what are you implying?

Nothing right now. I have some thoughts but I'd rather wait to see what others have to say first.

[Jakester23]

Nothing right now. I have some thoughts but I'd rather wait to see what others have to say first.

Well let us know your thought so I can let you know mine.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jakester23

So what are you implying?

Nothing right now. I have some thoughts but I'd rather wait to see what others have to say first.

Are the shafts the same?

[Jakester23]

Are the shafts the same?

Please tell me your just giving me a hard time.

[670forged]

Kind of hard to compare when you have a 7 iron and 5 iron with 2 different lofts and probably 2 different shafts  All I get out of this is the 5 iron is somewhat more accurate except for a couple of thin/flyer shots. The only thing I don't care for is any type of simulator as I have found real world results are always different. Only other thing is the 7 iron appears to be just as long as the 5 iron. So my question is......what is your point you are trying to make because I don't get it?  Sorry, maybe it's just me.

[Ernest Jones]

Why is the 7i labeled as an 8 and why is the 6i labeled as a 5?

[dwade247]

The 7 iron G30 is labeled as an 8 because I had already practice with my gamer 7 iron with the 7 iron setting on the simulator and the 6 iron MP4 is labeled as a 5 iron because i also already practiced with my 6 iron on the simulator.

I could only get my hands on a 7 of one and a 6 of the other. Besides total distance isn't the stat of interest. Simply looking at dispersion. It doesn't really matter what the lofts are.

Shafts were different but both were stiff shafts. I know flexes vary with companies but the G30 had the ping CFS (i think) stiff shaft and the MP4 had DGs300.

Now I know there are a million possibilities as to  why I got the results I did but I just wanted to share what I got with a during a random practice session with good and bad hits. I don't have an official handicap but I shoot around 90. My game is obviously inconsistent. As it was when I hit the shots with these clubs. Both irons had good and bad strikes with good and bad results.

This little random, unofficial, uncontrolled test of only a few shots just showed quite well how the clubs don't make the difference. If I see similar results as those throughout the course of a season I don't think either type of iron is advantageous or a hinderance to my scores. And I don't think it would make that big of a difference for others either. So everyone should play the clubs they enjoy. The clubs don't really matter that much especially for those of us that are very inconsistent. My other point was that I think most golfers need to strongly consider how much GI clubs are really helping them.

I just have not found much data out there that shows a GI club is actually more "forgiving." So I did this little experiment and found the results interesting so I wanted to share them.

[Lihu]

Nice experiment. I admit to having done a similar series of tests. I did find that the GI clubs launch high and go far. Now that my swing is coming back again, I'm going to try more types of tests as you did here. Thanks for sharing.

[dwade247]

Nice experiment.

I admit to having done a similar series of tests. I did find that the GI clubs launch high and go far. Now that my swing is coming back again, I'm going to try more types of tests as you did here.

Thanks for sharing.

Please share any results you get if you feel like it. Like I said I have not found much data on the "game improvement" effects or lack thereof of GI irons and I am very interested in seeing some.

All "data" is welcome here

[Jakester23]

Please share any results you get if you feel like it. Like I said I have not found much data on the "game improvement" effects or lack thereof of GI irons and I am very interested in seeing some. All "data" is welcome here

I'd you wanted to make this more realistic you would hit 1000 balls not 7. You would also do it on different days and change the order of which club you hit 1st. I switched from G15's to x2 hot pros this year and there is a noticeable difference on miss hits. The G ' s definitely go further and straighter when you hit them way off center. Lihu is definitely right about the launch. I hit my G ' s much higher. I actually hit the X2 Hots farther even though they are lofted the same. I think I was losing distance with the pings (I was hitting them to high). I think you can play anything you want but there's no doubt the pings help with miss hits and definitely help with launch.

[dwade247]

I'd you wanted to make this more realistic you would hit 1000 balls not 7. You would also do it on different days and change the order of which club you hit 1st. I switched from G15's to x2 hot pros this year and there is a noticeable difference on miss hits. The G ' s definitely go further and straighter when you hit them way off center. Lihu is definitely right about the launch. I hit my G ' s much higher. I actually hit the X2 Hots farther even though they are lofted the same. I think I was losing distance with the pings (I was hitting them to high). I think you can play anything you want but there's no doubt the pings help with miss hits and definitely help with launch.

I would love to do a test with 1000 and more shots. It was just a little messing around I did after practicing yesterday. I did hit 3 shots with one club then 3 with the other and then switched back. Then I hit one more with each club just to get the data up so I could look at it.

As far as launching higher, yes a GI club of the same loft with launch higher. However I think things have changed a bit for many club manufacturers in that area. Now companies know that the GI clubs launch the ball higher so they are strengthening the lofts to get them launching at the same as a players clubs would and getting more distance. So I don't think strengthened lofts help forgiveness and neither do some of the longer shafts companies are putting in their GI clubs.  I think a custom fit set of GI irons with more traditional lofts and length shafts would provide higher launch and good control/forgiveness. And PING G series irons are the closest GI club to doing this and I believe most would say they launch higher than most other GI irons with standard specs.

I also have some reservations with the hot springy faces of GI clubs. I think these can put strange spin on the ball causing it to go offline.

I also wonder about the application and dynamic use of MOI and perimeter weighting in golf clubs. If MOI helps prevent the club from twisting when the ball hits it towards the toe then wouldn't it also have to make it harder for the golfer to open and close this higher MOI club head? I'm not a physicist but this is just something I don't quite understand and I could be wrong but I know the club companies haven't explained it to me.

[Dave2512]

Smaller sweet spot, distance suffers when the contact with the ball is anywhere but that spot. Dispersion is tighter because the bad strikes tend to not have any steam behind them and they fly lower, those are the ones falling short after that clank you hear. I have some older Macgregor's that are forged CB's but smaller heads than most of today's blades. Very difficult to hit with any consistency. Good shots feel great but bad shots are real bad. I only hit about 4-5 really good iron shots a round. The rest are playable mishits. My irons are considered better player irons but really are GI irons. Honestly I can't imagine playing with anything else, need all the help I can get.

[saevel25]

I also think dispersion is less on blade type irons because they sweet spot is more focused on a smaller spot. Basically it is a feel thing for the player. They try to seek the solid strike, so they are actually more precise with a small sweet spot. When you add in a trampoline effect, you might increase the sweet spot in terms of distance loss, but in reality you are still missing the COG by a certain amount and that causes greater dispersion. Basically mishits don't feel like mishits.

[Dave2512]

Sure but it's the swing not the club. I'll take a little left or right to losing distance. I always feel like my L to R dispersion is crap and then I get on FlightScope and see it averages around 40-50 feet or so with longer irons.