General questions about GI and SGI long irons

[saevel25]

3 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

 A 6-iron weighs in the 260s in grams for head weight. But even if you move most of the weight away from the face, it still will not lower the CG that much. If you are lucky it would lower it 3 to 4 mm.

More mass, the more potential you can move the CG.  

They can move the weight downward as well, not just away from the weight. There is also using different metals. 

3 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

This is my theory on this. It's all a damn marketing ploy... I don't honestly care what number is stamped on the bottom of the club, as long as I know how far I hit it. I think on tight holes a SGI 18.5° or 19° 4-iron would work as a driving iron... but I honestly think it's almost unhittable for a 20+ handicap.

Their not unhittable. 

A SGI 4 irons has a lower CGI, wider sole, bigger club-head, and other designs to help get the ball into the air. These companies have done a good job to design these clubs to allow slower swing speeds to get the proper yardage gaps in the long irons. Which they would struggle to do with a conventional iron. 

 

 

[mvmac]

On 3/2/2018 at 7:55 AM, onthehunt526 said:

But why sell these clubs in a set to high handicappers?

If a high handicapper goes in and gets fit they probably don't walk out with a 3 or 4-iron in their set. Having said that a lot of the 4-irons in those sets are crazy easy to hit, they are almost mini-hybrids.

Off the rack, OEM's provide a set of 8 irons because they want to sell 8 irons. That's coming from people that I just played with that decide that stuff for a well known equipment brand, not me. 

They also said that most golfers in that GI/SGI category don't care that much about gapping, they just want to hit their 7-iron farther than their buddy.

[onthehunt526]

9 minutes ago, mvmac said:

If a high handicapper goes in and gets fit they probably don't walk out with a 3 or 4-iron in their set. Having said that a lot of the 4-irons in those sets are crazy easy to hit, they are almost mini-hybrids.

Off the rack, OEM's provide a set of 8 irons because they want to sell 8 irons. That's coming from people that I just played with that decide that stuff for a well known equipment brand, not me. 

They also said that most golfers in that GI/SGI category don't care that much about gapping, they just want to hit their 7-iron farther than their buddy.

Paragraph 1: For me they are dumb easy to hit... Almost like a rocket firing.

Paragraph 2: I get they want to sell an 8 iron set (mostly 4-GW these days). I know if you order directly from the OEMs, you can pretty much tailor your set to your needs.

Paragraph 3: Also very true.

"Bill that was a good shot, what did you hit?" Says Ted(They are walking up to the green on a 170-yard, par 3).

"7-iron, Ted", says Bill

So the next time they play this hole, Ted pulls his SGI 8-iron. And comes up short. 

[saevel25]

5 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

Paragraph 3: Also very true.

"Bill that was a good shot, what did you hit?" Says Ted(They are walking up to the green on a 170-yard, par 3).

"7-iron, Ted", says Bill

So the next time they play this hole, Ted pulls his SGI 8-iron. And comes up short. 

When someone asks me, "What did you hit?". I answer, My insert yardage club.

There is no fault with the club makers for that person thinking their 8 iron is the same as another 8 iron. 

[onthehunt526]

32 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

When someone asks me, "What did you hit?". I answer, My insert yardage club.

There is no fault with the club makers for that person thinking their 8 iron is the same as another 8 iron. 

That's what I do too. "Hey, Shane what'd you hit?"

"My 184 yard club."

No, absolutely no fault of the manufacturer.

[JonMA1]

14 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Their not unhittable. 

A SGI 4 irons has a lower CGI, wider sole, bigger club-head, and other designs to help get the ball into the air. These companies have done a good job to design these clubs to allow slower swing speeds to get the proper yardage gaps in the long irons. Which they would struggle to do with a conventional iron. 

I agree.

As a high capper with a slower swing speed, I can hit my SGI 4i longer than my 5i, which I can hit longer than my 6i, etc. Even with my slow swing speed, I can get very good height from the 4i. That only happens because of the design of the club.

However, because I mishit those longer irons more often than I do the mid irons, it shows up on my averages in the form of uneven gaps. IMO, that has nothing to do with the clubs and everything to do with who's swinging them.

My guess is if I were a better player/ball striker - even with my same slow swing speed - my average distances would be gapped pretty well.

The design of these clubs is amazing to me. Make "ok" or "decent" contact and you get the desired distance.

[Mr. Desmond]

We need to forget about looking at loft on an iron and only care if it fits you - does it offer you sufficient launch, spin, carry, distance.

Get fit.

The design paradigm has changed - the number on the iron only matters in relation to the next iron in the set.

[onthehunt526]

2 hours ago, Mr. Desmond said:

We need to forget about looking at loft on an iron and only care if it fits you - does it offer you sufficient launch, spin, carry, distance.

Get fit.

I think every golfer should be fit. Whether they are a beginner or a tour pro. Some of us, have better access to fitting than others, though. 

I think that an absolute novice that hasn't ever played needs a full fledged dynamic fitting, a static fitting will do until they get lessons then get a dynamic fitting.