dwade247

Just wondering why the loft gap between iron lofts changes? For example, my set of MP-58s have 3* of loft between each of the longer irons (3-4-5) and the shorter irons (5-6-7-8-9-p) have 4* of loft between each iron. Why do manufacturers do this? Why does the loft gap change between the 5 and 6 irons for some sets and between the 6 and 7 on others? Would it be a bad idea to have them all with 4* gaps (3-P)? I feel my distance gaps start to get too close between the 4 and 5 iron, so i think I could use an extra degree of loft difference. (don't game the 3)

I have thought that it may be helpful too. But what about bladed/scalded shots? I feel the bounce may make the leading edge of the club face too high and lead to scalds if the club "bounces" into the ball if i hit it a bit fat. I think in most situations i would rather have a chunk than a scald.

WUtiger - I would say I have a fairly shallow angle of attack since I hardly take any divot at all. My current wedges have a heal and toe grind but I feel that when I open them I have a tendency to blade/scald the shot. Thats why I want a lot of loft with the face square however I'm afraid too much bounce might cause blade/scald shots on tight lies. Don't really think I'm in the market for seasonal wedges. Tat14 - I would love to have a sand wedge and LW but I don't really want to spend the money on new wedges. I have some pretty good wedges currently and I just want to mess with the lofts if possible. I also have a weird thing about my wedges all being the same model (makes me more confident in the sets consistency). Therefore I don't want to buy just a random sand or lob wedge. Thanks for the ideas so far

So I have a 58* lob wedge with 10 degrees of bounce. This past season I played it at 57* but found myself wanting some more loft without having to open the face. I also had a 5* gap between my wedges and found that to be a bit too close since I really like choking up on my p-lw anyway. So I want to bend my lob wedge to 59* to get a 6* and have some more loft when needed. But I play course with quite a few tight lies and I am afraid 11* of bounce would be a bit much for those tight lies. What do you guys all think about a 59* wedge with 11* of bounce when most of my shots are from tight lies?

I had the shanks for a while too. I got over it with a simple drill. I placed a tee just outside the ball fall enough that I would be able to make decent contact with the ball at center or towards the toe only. Then I took a swing and simply concentrated on not hitting the tee, which led to good contact. Then I moved the ball away from the tee and my body was used to the good swing Its the swing, not the clubs.

Well I usually shoot around 90 so i'm not a good golfer by any means. And guess what, I play blades or close to them (just got some Mizuno MP58 irons). I play them because I like how they look and i hit them as well as any GI club. What I would say about forgiveness of blades vs gi clubs is that blades give good direction dispersion and GI irons give good distance dispersion on mishits. I would say play whatever you like. Go on eBay, PGA superstore, golf galaxy, goldsmith, global golf, secondswing, or anywhere that has used clubs. Buy anything that was released since 2000 or newer and is close to your fitting specs with shaft flex and length and lie. I would not spend more than 200$ cause great sets can be had for that price. Don't worry if the clubs are GI or blades, buy whatever you like the look and feel of. The ping i3 blades are nice semi cavity backed clubs. The grooves will be illegal in 2024 but if that doesn't matter to you Pings are built like tanks and will last forever. Be sure to evaluate the grips and shafts on used clubs because replacing those may be more expensive than the clubs themselves. This wasn't the point of my post, but i am selling a set of Mizuno tzoid pro forged irons. Standard length/lie/loft on eBay for a great price because they are in fantastic shape. Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221651225365?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 Best of luck

I would say that a GW seems to be the only possible hole in your bagging depending on the lofts of your clubs and the distances you hit each club. I think everyone would be able to provide better advice if you told us the lofts of your clubs and how far you hit each one.

I agree with this for the most part, except I would say that it's all about choosing equipment that makes golf the most enjoyable for you.

Exactly. So what do you recommend a high handicap golfer with an ever changing swing should do about fitting? Do you like dynamic fittings for such golfers or do you think stat is good? I am guessing you get dynamically fit at a 1?

Yeah this would probably be a general idea of what I think about the two different types. But for me mishits with a blade are simply not unbearable. I also like the turn interaction and confidence bladed irons give me. I don't like to look down at a club that says "you are only playing with me because you suck." Not sure many people have thought about that but I do and I think it is a bit comical. I once saw in someone sig on a forum this little quote, "Life is too short not to play blades." Haha I thought it was funny and the looks and the feel of a well struck blade are hard to beat.

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.

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

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.

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

Mizuno MP4 6 iron

PING G30 7 iron

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!

I'm not quite sure how I feel about dynamic fittings. I have been fit twice with a lie board and the first time I was fit at 2* upright and then the next time I was fit at 1* flat! Not very consistent! I'm not blaming the fitter either, I just don't have a repeatable swing yet. Therefore I don't see the point of a dynamic fitting till I do. However I think that the static fitting info is important. I love PINGs online fitting system for that. I also use gigagolf for their fitting wizard. Just to compare the two. They are quite similar for me. I think it is important to get close to the correct lie angle with a static fitting then tweak that as needed either because you develop a consistent swing or you have a dramatic posture that is severely upright or bent over. Just my thoughts/experience

That is exactly how my relationship with the Winn grip was. They feel amazing whey you are holding the club, but too spongy when swinging IMO

By the way I used to have a Winn drt-tac grip on my hybrid and I did not like it at all. It is much too soft and seemed to move around like a sponge under my hand.

Thanks for the input, and that is what I figured. I will probably be going with platinum cause I like the grey with the navy. I thought that guys info seems a bit silly.

Sorry to steal this thread, but I have a question about the multi-compound grips. When I was looking at new grips the guy at the pga superstore swore by the "black on top" multi-compounds but said that they "grey on top" were not as good and got slipper when wet. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks kenstl, Really helps to compare.

Yeah I think I am going to stay the used route but just be more picky about the shafts than I have been.

So I just sold my irons in order to have some money for new ones. I am kind of an iron snob and only like 1-piece forged irons. They can be muscle back or cavity back. My issue is that the irons I like are all very expensive. Therefore I have looked at used irons and the Maltby TE forged irons. I have had used irons in the past, but always sell them as find myself wishing I had a brand new set that was all mine. This may be because I have not found the perfect used irons or just the fact that I have a weird thing about things being new when I buy them. Do you guys think that I should go with the Maltby heads (which I have already read good things about) and pick my own shaft and grips or buy a set of brand named used heads and pick my own shaft and grips, or buy a set of used irons?