Today's Balls...... "Yesterday's" Irons

Looking for some feedback on this topic. I've heard, from reliable sources, that today's golf balls are designed for today's irons and vice versa.

In other words... I'd have a hard time bringing out my old MP-29's and using them with today's Pro-V1X and getting the performance I'm looking for.

Anyone else heard this same theory?

I don't think the age of the irons makes a bit of difference when striking todays golf balls, just my opinion.

I'm gonna have to say its the Indian not the arrow.

Looking for some feedback on this topic. I've heard, from reliable sources, that today's golf balls are designed for today's irons and vice versa.

 

In other words... I'd have a hard time bringing out my old MP-29's and using them with today's Pro-V1X and getting the performance I'm looking for.

 

Anyone else heard this same theory?

There have been advances in groove technology (size and shape) since "V" grooves, which most older irons (I know MP-29s aren't that old (produced from 1992-2000), but also think they had "V" grooves)....couple that with a ball that's not quite as soft and compresses differently than balata and you're not going to see the same spin characteristics as you would with newer grooves....that, and depending on how much play your set has seen, the grooves may not be so grippy anymore.

i just switched to mp57s from my trues and i spun them just fine with new balls and they have v grooves

There are irons still made today that have V grooves. And, if the USGA pulls back the U grooves on wedges, are all the companies going to have to change ball covers too? I don't think it matters too much.

High Volume Grooves+Modern Tour Ball=Ok, High Volume Grooves+Balata= OK, Low Volume Grooves+ Balata= OK, Low Volume Grooves+Modern Tour Ball= Harder to get enough spin to get good ball flight. Higher spin players could do it; also look at modern day iron design, higher launch because it is again harder to get enough height for lower speed players.

On full shots from the fairway, it has been known for a very long time now that grooves do nothing significant to impart spin on the ball. This has been known since at least the 1960's when Cochran and Stobbs performed the experiments with smooth faced irons and conventional grooved irons. The change in spin rates was negligibly different. You can see their results in their book Search for the Perfect Swing.

Grooves are there primarily to draw away moisture from the ball-club impact area. This is if the ball itself is wet, or if the ball is in the rough and grass gets trapped between the ball and club and them moisture in the grasses gets released through the impact. Grooves also help on less than full swing shots -- the best example is chips and pitches where the grooves can have a significant effect towards imparting spin. However, the faster the impact, the less the grooves have to do with spin generation -- the oblique impact causes the spin. So, again, on full shots from the fairway in dry conditions, the grooves on an iron face have negligible impact.

I think the OP is close, however, because I don't think it is the irons that have the problem with balls from different eras, but it is the fairway woods and drivers. The old balls were better impacting with persimmon. Today's balls are better impacting with titanium. But, I think that the irons theory is just bunk, because what really has changed about irons? But, the woods have changed a lot.

Even then, I think that the magnitudes of the differences are awfully small. I'm just guessing here, but I'd be surprised if it is more than 10 yards or so. That is, I'd be surprised if the difference between old balls and new balls hit with the same modern titanium driver was much more than 10 yards. Assuming perfect swings, of course, so you'd need some sort of robot/automatic tester. And that's ultimately the largest determiner here. A good swing is a good swing no matter what era the ball or clubs are from.

The main difference I believe would be that the lofts would be different. I'm 48 years old and I still hit an 8 iron 150 yards with my normal swing just like I could in college 25 or so years ago. Do I swing just as fast now as I did then? I doubt it, its just that my modern 8 iron has the loft of my old 7 iron. Fifty degrees used to be a stock pitching wedge, now its 46-47 or lower.

I play older irons (albeit a more modern incarnation of the design) and find they work fine with the newer balls. When I play 'pre-Pro V1' irons like my old Mizunos or 681s the flight is still comparable and they work perfectly well with a modern ball.

I'm a pretty high-spin player though, so the effect of the lower spinning balls is lessened somewhat in my case.

The only adjustment I make is to stick with old standard lofts to get a little extra height on my shots.

I think there are many people out there that have a vested interest in everyone buying new irons.

my 990's are V-grooved and i don't have any problems spinning Pro VI's, even on half to quarter swings....

sort of

back at Baltusrol they had a club pro go out and try to replicate Jacks 1 iron

one of the problems he ran into(other then its damn hard to hit a 1 iron) was that he couldn't get enough spin on the new balls. I think DL 3 tried hitting old persimmon woods and ran into the same problem

however given that the lofts are weaker in the old irons, my guess is you'd do OK with the mid/short irons as they'd likely produce enough spin with the new balls. So my guess is you probably don't want to mess with 1-2 iron and perhaps 3 iron but 4-wedge shouldn't be too much trouble