Looking for Longer Irons

[kshudog]

I currently use Ping G15's.  I am starting to look around at other irons.  Not sure how much technology has changed from these clubs to more current ones, but I am looking to increase my distance.   I have grown a liking to Titelist AP1 716, Callaway XR and Mizuno 850's.  My handicap is around 16.  Anyone made a similar change in irons ?

[stealthhwk]

On August 31, 2016 at 2:25 PM, kshudog said:

I currently use Ping G15's.  I am starting to look around at other irons.  Not sure how much technology has changed from these clubs to more current ones, but I am looking to increase my distance.   I have grown a liking to Titelist AP1 716, Callaway XR and Mizuno 850's.  My handicap is around 16.  Anyone made a similar change in irons ?

Its been my experience that iron distances are gonna be very similar without some kind of massive change. Ive thought I gained distance but it appears to be just a honeymoon phase. Ive been thru 6 sets of irons over the 15 years Ive played and my distances only changed twice. Both times it was the shafts that led to more distance. More flexible steel shafts gave me 12 more yards per iron and I had a graphite set that produced 16 more. Every other set was indistinguishable. YRMV, but thats my observations.

[Brian W]

I think a lot of the distance you may see on newer irons comes from the decreased loft.  

That said, I think the Mizuno 825pro that I play are quite long so the 850's might be what you are looking for.  When I did my fitting at the beginning of last year, I was down to the Mizuno's vs the Ping I set.  I went with Mizuno because they were a hair longer, I got them up in the air a bit more and they seemed more forgiving.  The final note was a more personal thing as I struggle to look down at a Ping club as they just look to "pointy" to me at address.  The performance of those 2 sets were very very close for me 

[MrFreeze]

I have hit the G15s, G20s, Gs, Gmaxs, and none of them come close to my K15 irons. I have, recently hit the M2 (Taylormade) irons and they reach way longer than my Ks.

Try those...

[ay33660]

Go get yourself fitted by a good club fitter.

Don't use a brand specific fitter rather go to one who can offer you all the brand name shaft combinations with any of the brand heads.

Here in Canada I used Modern Golf there are several similar companies in the US.

Having the proper shaft and head combination is a big factor in getting distance and consistency.

During my fitting the optimal shaft for me increased my ball speed increased by 17 mph without any increase in my club speed.

This translated to an average of 15 yards increase in carry distance based on Trackman data. In real life I think the carry increase is more but it is hard to tell because of the roll out.

Or maybe I am just drinking the Kool-Aid.

 

 

[Steviestuboy]

The m2's are crazy long but the lofts are also extremely strong.... My wife has the Mizuno jpx ez(cast ones)  and they really put it out there!  Great iron quite similar feeling to the ping range.  

[onthehunt526]

I'll agree the JPX-EZs are stupid long as are the TaylorMade M2... 

I personally play the Tour Edge Exotics EXI, but their cousin the EXD is stupid long... Thinking about switching shafts in my EXI's.

[pganapathy]

New irons are only really longer (forgetting what is stamped on the bottom and taking actual loft into consideration) because the shafts are better.  Yes, the SGI and GI irons help get the ball airborne more easily but once you have a decent swing, this is not so much of an issue.  The best thing you can do is get yourself fitted.  That will help the most with distance and accuracy

[TourSpoon]

I have been kicking around the idea of new irons myself and I always look at the specs. What I know now is that I can hit my driver, 3 wood, and 2 hybrid X yards and I hit my 54* and 60* X yards. What I want is to fill in the gaps and in a way that spreads those distances out logically, so that I pull the right club for the distance and not have overlaps, especially in the upper yardage end. I see a lot of guys that have a 56* sand wedge and a 44 degree pw that I think are doing themselves a disservice.  What they don't understand is that they created a big gap in their scoring clubs (think approach wedge here) and then they have a bunch-up in the 3-4-5 irons range. They wonder why they can only hit their sw 75 yard while they crush their pw 140. Conversely, the longer clubs bunch up and they only get a few yards spacing between the longer irons (or they end up benching the 3-4 and doing hybrids).  My point is to make sure you have logical gaps. 

When it comes to newer technology, I am not looking for distance, but consistency. If I hit my 48* pw 125 yards, I want that to be consistent, especially on a slight mishit towards the toe. This to me is where the technology pays off, in have a predictable yardage and ball flight, even on those mishits. 

 

Edited September 19, 2016 by TourSpoon

[Groucho Valentine]

I use the AP1's for my 4 and 5 irons. Im happy with them. Im not too sure i hit them further (comparatively) than the AP2's i use throughout the rest of my set though. 

Ive heard the Taylor Made Rocketballz irons go forever. 

[DaveP043]

44 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

Ive heard the Taylor Made Rocketballz irons go forever. 

A friend of mine bought the Rocketballz irons a couple of years back, and said he got a huge jump in distance.  I went from relatively old Mizuno MP30s to Titleist AP2s a couple of years ago, and saw no real distance change, but the KBS shafts helped me hit the ball a bit higher.

[Jeremie Boop]

I picked up an old set of forged mizuno's not long ago, lofts are weaker *35 vs 32 for 7 iron* but I only see about 1/2 a club less distance for the most part. I haven't even played a round with my Ping I's since I got the T-Zoids, so it's possible that a swing improvement has occurred and I didn't notice it. Next time I go out solo I may drop a couple of the Ping irons in that I know I'll need and hit a ball with each to see actual on course differences.

I say all that to say this, if clubs are well fit for you and are of at least somewhat similar lofts you'll rarely see much difference in distance on well struck shots. What you are going to want to look at is the distance you retain on off center/not well struck shots as well as how tight the dispersion is. Don't go specifically for distance, look for a combination of distance AND accuracy.

[Groucho Valentine]

38 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

A friend of mine bought the Rocketballz irons a couple of years back, and said he got a huge jump in distance.  I went from relatively old Mizuno MP30s to Titleist AP2s a couple of years ago, and saw no real distance change, but the KBS shafts helped me hit the ball a bit higher.

I hit a couple of AP2's with KBS shafts in them and they do get the ball up in the air a little more than the Project X i use now. And the AP2's launch high to begin with so i was hitting moon balls with those lol. 

[Liko81]

On 8/31/2016 at 2:25 PM, kshudog said:

I currently use Ping G15's.  I am starting to look around at other irons.  Not sure how much technology has changed from these clubs to more current ones, but I am looking to increase my distance.   I have grown a liking to Titelist AP1 716, Callaway XR and Mizuno 850's.  My handicap is around 16.  Anyone made a similar change in irons ?

I have noticed that Pings as a brand seem to get me less distance on average than other GI lines like Callaway, Taylormade, even Mizuno (their JPX lines are some real rockets). However, 9 out of 10 times, the difference has turned out to be in loft for each number, which IMO is cheating. All these brands (including Ping) have, since the release of the G10s I play, delofted their clubs even more than the big shift in the late 90s, so that the JPX 850 forged 7-iron at 32*, for example, is a full 2* stronger than my G10's stock spec at 34*.  Your G15s have about the same loft as the 850; I really wouldn't expect much additional distance, but you can always try em out with a clubfitter. Callaway's current XR OS sets are even more delofted at 31.5* 7-iron (and a 44* PW!!! I mean seriously! You need a gap wedge just to get to where gap wedges used to be when they became a thing!)

If you want pure distance, stick with GIs/SGIs, and definitely take a look at TaylorMade, Callaway and Mizuno; these are three brands I've personally A/Bed recent sets of against each other and my own G10s, which have produced serious distance gains for the same number on the toe. To give you an idea of some of the possible gains, my G10 7-iron is my 140-150yd club. The JPX850 7-iron in my hands is good for a 170-yard average in the same basic conditions.

However, remember that it's not all about maximizing distance, especially with irons. You have enough irons that it doesn't really matter which number is your 150-yard club; what matters is that you have a 150-yard club you can trust. And a 140-yard, and a 130-yard, and a 120-yard, etc. The shorter your irons play, the smaller your distance gaps will be where it matters; in the approach game. It's extremely rare for me to have to come up with a shot with high carry distance precision and low rollout beyond about 170 yards (if you do face this often, you're probably playing from the tips; bad golfer, no cart girl flirting for you). It's extremely common that I have to stick my landing at exactly some given distance inside 170 yards. If your longest reliable actual iron is in the neighborhood of 160 to 180 yards, and you have reliable gaps between irons down to about 80-100 yards, congratulations, you have an iron set that's actually useful on the course. Beyond that, if you really want to impress someone, you just get a custom set with your 25* club labelled a 9-iron instead of the 4 or 5 that it should be and goes up from there; "Yeah, my swing's so powerful I need a 17-iron for those close-in shots". 

Edited September 21, 2016 by Liko81

[MrFreeze]

Well I had my first lesson, ever, a couple of weeks back. Apparently I didn't need longer irons I just needed to learn how to release my hands and engage my hips.

One lesson, 3 minutes long, taught me how to release my hands. It was on the driver. I was hitting -hit and miss- about 160 with the driver (SLDR 460). I was at Titleist Thursdays at Haggin Oaks in Sacramento for the "fitting." 

I have never been fit for clubs nor had a lesson. I was really terrified to have a pro golfer/teacher watch me swing the club. But Brian Eilders made it comfortable and easy. I am a good learner (and quick) so it didn't bother him.

He watched a few strikes and then gave me the information. He watched me swing through. Gave some more insight. Watched me swing through. Two strokes later (no not heart attacks) I was releasing my hands perfectly (he said). 

I transferred that information and feel to all of my clubs. The problem now is that I have to go and figure out what the yardage is for them because they are all really long.

3wood - 252 highest 230 average
5wood - 225 highest 217 average
4hybrid - 200 highest 190 average
5hybrid - 185 highest 180ish average
6 iron?
7 iron - ?? highest 155 average
8 iron - ?? highest 140ish average
9 iron - 137 highest 125 average
PW - 128 highest 115 average
50* - 110 highest 105 average
54* - 102 highest 95 average
58* - 90 highest 80ish average

I can also shoot the wedges shorter but crazy higher (like flops but ...)

Before the lesson my go to 100 yard iron was the 9 iron and I didn't have anything that would reach 200 yards. Nothing.