1970's 3 Iron the same length as a 2012 7 Iron?

So last night I played my first 9 with my new Adams a12 os irons and Blue Driver and 3 Wood. Figuring out that driver is going to be a chore. Anyway, I noticed that the Adams 7 iron is about the same length as the Wilson 3 Iron from the 70's.

Is that one of the game improvement tricks - making the clubs longer so you hit them farther?

If that is true, and if irons are supposed to be accuracy clubs, how does that make sense?

Or do I have a set of Wilsons that were cut down? When I regripped them, I saw no evidence of that. The number on the bottom of the driver says 4300. I assume that is standard length, from what I have read.

I didn't measure the clubs, but when you compare both 7 irons the Wilsons are about 2 inches shorter.

Confused .......

Club lengths for the same number iron are longer now (and lofts are stronger, but that's another story), but 2 inches seems excessive. Are your Adams club new-new or second hand new, because another possibility is that, if pre-owned, the original owner ordered them longer than standard.

Club lengths for the same number iron are longer now (and lofts are stronger, but that's another story), but 2 inches seems excessive. Are your Adams club new-new or second hand new, because another possibility is that, if pre-owned, the original owner ordered them longer than standard.

Adams are a new demo set, so never used, from 2012. I will compare the irons against my Pings & 845s and take some measurements.

Hard to be definitive about standards, but you could work off a 38" 3 iron and half-inch increments down through the bag from there and not be too far from what might have been considered standard spec in the '60s.

Thanks! That will be a good place to start. It's supposed to rain here on Saturday afternoon, so I'll tackle it then. (After the Honey-Do list is completed, of course...)

Modern set are graphite shafts ? I think they are typically longer spec than steel ?

50s steel set vs modern steel set would be an inch difference in standard length for "7-iron vs 7-iron". 70s I would have thought would be half an inch.

Yeah, turns out that my set is standard length, according to the chart I found online. The Adams graphite shafted irons are the longest, followed by the 845s, then the Pings, then the Wilsons. The difference between the 845s and the Wilsons is about 1/2 inch.

Just knowing that they were standard length, and ok for me based on my wrist to floor measurement, gave me a little more confidence (for some stupid reason) on Saturday...