Have a few ?'s about Irons

[Xbmchs12X]

Im playing the Callaway Big Bertha Fusions right now and im going to be getting a new set for Chirstmas, either the Titleist 695MB's of the Mizuno MP-67's. Im going to be getting custom fitted for these and have a few questions about it

1) The Fusions have a much stronger loft than both of the forged sets that im going to be switching into, is it a good idea to get them bent so that they have the same loft as my fusions so that I dont loose any distance?

2) Im thinking about going with a split set:
Titleist-695MB's 7-P and 695CB's 3-6
Mizuno-MP-67's 7-P and Mp-60's 3-6
What do you guys think about this idea, has anyone every tried it?

3) Right now im not using my 4 iron because it goes the same distance as my 5 iron, which allows me to add an extra wedge to my bag, I was thinking about doing that with my new set to, but de-lofting my 3 iron a few degrees so that the gap between my 3 and 5 iron is not so big, and then add a degree or two of loft to my 16* hybrid, good idea or should I just leave the wedge out?

Those are my questions if anyone could help that would be great. =)

[Shindig]

Im playing the Callaway Big Bertha Fusions right now and im going to be getting a new set for Chirstmas, either the Titleist 695MB's of the Mizuno MP-67's. Im going to be getting custom fitted for these and have a few questions about it

You aren't really losing distance, unless you insist that a nine iron is a nine iron is a nine iron. I would suggest against that, unless the club-fitter says otherwise. You just have to learn a new distance number for each club, and that's likely to be reasonably close to the old ones.

2) Im thinking about going with a split set:

Sounds like you're trying to make a progressive transition set, akin to something Cobra sells, albeit yours is aimed at your handicap instead. I haven't tried this, but I did toy with the idea of getting a set of irons aimed at low-double digit handicappers and gradually introducing them into my bag.

3) Right now im not using my 4 iron because it goes the same distance as my 5 iron, which allows me to add an extra wedge to my bag, I was thinking about doing that with my new set to, but de-lofting my 3 iron a few degrees so that the gap between my 3 and 5 iron is not so big, and then add a degree or two of loft to my 16* hybrid, good idea or should I just leave the wedge out?

IIRC, Jim Furyk does something like this: has irons 5-9, and then his 3 is really a 3.5 or 3.3 ; a bit weak for a 3-iron, a bit strong for a 4-iron. The issue is, he isn't really in that range all that often, and I doubt you are either.

If you use all your wedges, keep them. If you have one you don't use, then maybe allow yourself another long club. Is your weakness distance or finesse? The answer to that may well determine whether you want to trade a wedge for a 4-iron.

[Xbmchs12X]

Thanks, and I got the idea of a strong 3 iron from Furyk ;)

Im only going to change the loft on the irons if theres a HUGE difference in the yardages in the sets of irons

[Tomboys]

1) The Fusions have a much stronger loft than both of the forged sets that im going to be switching into, is it a good idea to get them bent so that they have the same loft as my fusions so that I dont loose any distance?

You could, but I wouldn't suggest doing that unless you have a professional club-maker handy (and they're very adept at customizing heads). First off, the 695mb and MP-67 are blades and the Fusions are (basically) cavity backs. The center of gravity is different on blades (higher), so they hit the ball on a lower trajectory compared to cavity backs. My concern is that if you lower the loft of the blades, your trajectory may be too low resulting in shots that lose carry and don't generate enough spin to hold the greens.

Secondly, by changing lofts, you will be changing the effective bounce that each club has. The bounce of each club determines how much a club will "dig" into the turf. Also, you end up changing the angle of the leading edge, again, changing how they react with the turf. So, I would stay away from changing the lofts of your irons. While just bending the head to decrease loft is easy, you have to consider what this change will do to the amount of bounce and the leading edge angle each club will have.

2) Im thinking about going with a split set:

I don't know anyone specific who has done this with these sets of clubs, but the idea in not new and has been used by some players including pros. If you want to check them out, Titleist makes the 735cm, which is a progressive set that you're trying to achieve by blending cavity backs and blades. I think Nike makes a progressive set as well.

3) Right now im not using my 4 iron because it goes the same distance as my 5 iron, which allows me to add an extra wedge to my bag, I was thinking about doing that with my new set to, but de-lofting my 3 iron a few degrees so that the gap between my 3 and 5 iron is not so big, and then add a degree or two of loft to my 16* hybrid, good idea or should I just leave the wedge out?

Is there a problem with your 4 iron causing it to go the same distance as your 5 iron? The reason why I say this is because there should be a noticeable difference in distance between the two. By de-lofting your 3 iron, you could be making it the same loft as your 4 iron (albeit with a slightly longer shaft). So, I fail to see how this is beneficial since you already have a 4 iron.

Now, if you can't hit your longer irons well, then I would definitely suggest hybrids instead and use them in lieu of your longer irons. The criteria for them is the same as for determining wedges. It's all about yardage gaps with your full swings and where your bad shots put you. DT

[Xbmchs12X]

Wow great advise, thanks, I never thought of that happening when i deloft the clubs, thanks for the advise, and im only 15 which is why both my pro and I think that my 4 and 5 iron are going the same distance. But I do have stock shafts in them as well which could be another factor

And I can hit my long irons fine, my ball striking is the best part of my game which is why I want to keep all of my irons and go with a 17* hybrid, and I dont want to add so much loft to my 3 iron so that it becomes a 4 but do what Furyk did and take out the 4, have a little larger gap between my 3 and 5 irons and add an extra wedge

[Beach Golfer]

I completely agree with what Tomboys said about changing the lofts on your irons, this is not a good idea.

I do agree with you on though on making a combo set. I am looking at doing the same thing with the MP-57's and 67's and I think it would be a great idea as it the 57's or 60's would still be easy to get in the air with long irons while the 67's would provide a lowere ball flight and a lot of control and workability when hitting shorter shots into greens. This is especially important if you play on a really windy, links course like I do.

[Tomboys]

And I can hit my long irons fine, my ball striking is the best part of my game which is why I want to keep all of my irons and go with a 17* hybrid, and I dont want to add so much loft to my 3 iron so that it becomes a 4 but do what Furyk did and take out the 4, have a little larger gap between my 3 and 5 irons and add an extra wedge

I'm sorry, I meant no offense. I didn't mean to suggest that you couldn't hit your long irons well. Merely, I was trying to find out why your 4 and 5 iron go the same distance because I've never seen that before. I've played with some pretty bad golfers (some days I am that bad golfer), and while they may not hit their 4 iron as consistently, it usually does go farther than their 5 iron.

The fact that you hit your clubs well makes this even more puzzling. I would suggest that you have your pro hit your 4 and 5 iron. See what kind of results he (or she) gets and go from there. DT