Tee2Trees

Adams A12OS is a great set. You might outgrow them in about 10 years if you become a scratch golfer or when you get tired of hitting your 5 hybrid 190 yards and sticking it on the green. Until then expect to hit your fair share of chunks and dribblers just like with anything else. I think in general newbies will be better off spending time learning to master hybrids rather than long irons as they continue to gain dominance even at the higher levels of competition. New A12OS sets, by the way, can be had for a steal on the bay right now.

The Ping golf company was said to revolutionize golf with their introduction of the Eye2 irons. These irons featured perimeter weighting and healthy offset. These were almost universally regarded as the easiest irons to hit for many years to come. It the decades since, the perimeter weighting feature has been widely adopted while the healthy offset feature has been less so. What are the benefits or disadvantages associated with offset? "Offset helps close the face quicker and can lead to hooks." FICTION. If this is ever true it is due to psychology at setup. If one properly sets up with the clubface behind the ball and facing the target the face will close in the same amount of time, i.e. at the same point in the swing, regardless of offset. It's not like an iron byron machine will start hooking the ball if one attaches an offset club. "Offset irons get the ball up quicker." FICTION The offset puts the hands (further) ahead of the ball at impact. This will help someone with an early release reduce flipping and keep the launch down in addition to producing cleaner strikes. If anything, the offset feature counters the effect of high launch produced by the wide, heavy sole normally seen in the same category of irons. "Offset irons have a higher moment of inertia." FACT Simply put, the center of mass is further away from the axis of rotation (the shaft). This is the same reason driver heads have gotten so large from front to back. The offset irons have a greater resistance to twisting on off-center strikes. "It is harder to work the ball with offset irons." NOT FACT This all depends on what you mean by "work the ball". A golfer who is well-practiced with their clubs can produce a slice or hook with pretty much anything out of any clean lie. Flighting the ball in terms of high-low trajectory is another story and can be compromised with game-improvement clubs. I will get into the reasons for this probably in another thread. Maybe you have dismissed offset irons for fear of the hooks or a high ball flight. I believe this is simply a prejudice caused by myth. If your ballstriking could stand improvement in general, I would recommend giving a heavily offset mid-iron a try-out on the driving range. Start with the ball teed up to remove ground interation from the equation and see if it helps you strike the ball cleaner or flight it better.

"The clubhead always leads the shaft at impact regardless of flex." FACT. This is undeniably based in reality and should be the basis of our understanding of how flex affects launch. "A softer flex will give you more distance at the expense of accuracy." NOT FACT. This is already a windy-sounding claim, but I would assert that it is in fact mostly untrue. I have yet to see any evidence that shaft flex significantly affects swing speed. In theory, a softer shaft will store energy over a longer period of time and then release energy over a greater portion of the downswing, but the energy cannot be amplified. Basically the added coil adds distance to the path the clubhead travels, but as far as I have seen this doesn't translate to ball speed, (or swing speed at the moment of impact). Any distance gains from a softer flex would be realized from lighter weight and higher launch. Accuracy, however, can certainly be affected. "A stiffer flex will result in a push and a softer flex will produce draws." FICTION. This is a corollary to the established knowledge that the clubhead leads the shaft at impact. However, when many players test a soft shaft that they can easily overpower the result is just the opposite, a massive push. What gives? It is important to remember that the head is attached to the shaft at the heel. If the shaft is whipping through the impact zone well ahead of the wrists, the force of the shaft release will push the club face open. Only if the shaft has an unusually high torque rating relative to flex will the softer flex close the face and produce draws. What would be key to unequivocally demonstrating any of this is quality high-speed video of a consistent golf swing as applied to a wide array of shafts with varying flex, torque, and kickpoint ratings. The purpose of me pointing this out is to hopefully assist anyone else in their experimenting with equipment to tweak ball flight. I know the usual canard about the importance of getting fitted, but for many of use we are not consistent enough to get a perfect fit in a simple one hour session. The input data for a proper fit really comes from years of practice and study.