Found an old beater set of Sam Snead blue ridge irons in my father in laws shop. Old, rusty and the cheapest shafts I've ever seen, so took them for 9. I'm a ping isi guy so that's the comparison,
Past the 7 iron they were fairly bad, but short irons were OK. Longer irons were probably my fault and would need to practice with them. They did hit shorter, even on the sweet spot. I began to sense a better feel with the old Sam's after a couple holes. I think i would lose a few strokes a side even if i got in tune with them, but cheap isn't that bad. There was a pro tennis player back in the day that would challenge players using the best equipment to a match while he used a sawed off broom, and he would beat them. A lesson there somewhere.