Pros' Irons

I remember when I first started taking lessons my instructor mentioned that the pros played souped up irons - strong lofts, longer. Is that true? I always marvel to hear, "He's 223 out, hitting a 9 iron." WHAT!!!???

Lofts are stronger than they were in thepast but those clubs are available to everyone. Back in the day just about everyone had 2 or 3 iron through PW, then SW. Now everyone has 3 or 4 iron through PW, GW, SW, LW. It's basically the same clubs with different numbers/letters on the bottom, a 37 degree iron is 37 degrees whether it has a 9 or a 7 on the bottom.

LOL, players playing really jacked up lofts are ams.

I remember when I first started taking lessons my instructor mentioned that the pros played souped up irons - strong lofts, longer. Is that true? I always marvel to hear, "He's 223 out, hitting a 9 iron." WHAT!!!???

Lofts not so much. Shafts, especially in the woods, yes.

Their clubs are for the most part custom made for the player ie custom grinds, weighting (there's a story about Fowler I think and how his wedges are cut and filled with tungsten plugs to change the feel of the club), etc. But all and all the great swings pros have come first and the "souping" up of the clubs comes after. Basically they're not hitting 190 yd 9 irons because of the 9 iron. They could probably do it with a set of spaldings if push came to shove.

he must of been using that impact snap

Its not the irons....

I remember when I first started taking lessons my instructor mentioned that the pros played souped up irons - strong lofts, longer. Is that true? I always marvel to hear, "He's 223 out, hitting a 9 iron." WHAT!!!???

Your instructor sounds like the type of guy that says he is "on staff" with a manufacturer because they allow him to buy things at PUD.

No one is hitting 9 iron 223

I thought most tour pros irons were bent 1* or 2* weak

Yeah any "tour" iron set seem to be lofted weaker than a regular set, think its a marketing ploy "look how far I hit this 6 iron" but really it's just a 5iron loft with 6 stamped on it.

Rory and I think Jason day bend their irons 1-2* strong typically

lol. Is all I can say

Sure, yes, they played "custom bent" clubs.

Tour cash can buy a lot of things, but it can't buy clubs that win every week.

Another thing to consider is what announcers don't always say regarding carry distance. If they don't mention that 223 is a back pin, and they are trying to carry it 190, but it's out of fluffy rough and a touch downbreeze, they might very well hit 9. So they didn't hit a 223 9 iron, they hit a 160 yd carry with 10yds of breeze and 20yds of flyer, land it on the front and let it bumble back there.

I thought it was interesting Phil's Feherty episode when he explained the different shots he hit off his "stock 9" which was 145.

No. Pro's on average swing much faster than your average amateur, and hit the center of the club waaaaay more often. Equates to more distance.

All of these kids have grown up with 7I's that are less than 33*, stock/std used to be 36* at best(strongest). Most of the clubs I played with during the first 20 years 7I was between 36*-37*. The public consumer wanted the "yeah, I hit my & around 150" to be true, so the club designers made it happen. most people who've started playing in the past decade have no experience with anything other than these "jacked up lofts" Prgoression of life, just the way it is.

Another thing to consider is what announcers don't always say regarding carry distance. If they don't mention that 223 is a back pin, and they are trying to carry it 190, but it's out of fluffy rough and a touch downbreeze, they might very well hit 9. So they didn't hit a 223 9 iron, they hit a 160 yd carry with 10yds of breeze and 20yds of flyer, land it on the front and let it bumble back there.

 

I thought it was interesting Phil's Feherty episode when he explained the different shots he hit off his "stock 9" which was 145.

^^ Fo sho, sounds like most of us ams need to swing more controlled repeatable distances with irons and then beef up like Phil off the tee.

Depends .... and I'm not talkin bout the undergarment.

All of these kids have grown up with 7I's that are less than 33*, stock/std used to be 36* at best(strongest). Most of the clubs I played with during the first 20 years 7I was between 36*-37*. The public consumer wanted the "yeah, I hit my & around 150" to be true, so the club designers made it happen. most people who've started playing in the past decade have no experience with anything other than these "jacked up lofts" Prgoression of life, just the way it is.

Had this talk with somebody the other day when they were asking how far I hit whatever club and him comparing that he hit whatever his club one down (his 8 to my 7 type thing). When i pointed out the fact that my club may actually have the same loft as his, him trying to disprove me began, and then when we found out they were essentially the same the discussion of "why" came about. I told him that what just happened is exactly why, you feel like you hit clubs farther.

I also play a 35* 7 iron, which i think is 1 strong from my old set of 680 MBs but I totally understand what you're saying given the clubs I grew up playing were about 3 weak across the board of my current specs.

Probably all "Tour lofted" which is 1 or 2 degrees stronger than normal, but bear in mind that Pros typically massively de-loft at impact, plus lead with the hands, which effectively turns say a 6-iron loft into a 3-iron loft at the point of impact.

My distance example was an exaggeration, a little. But I am seeing examples like 180+ yards with a 9. Often. Just find that a little mind-blowing. These guys ARE good...

Anybody notice Koepka's 3-wood near the end of the Open? I think it was around 340 yards. That cracked me up.

Probably all "Tour lofted" which is 1 or 2 degrees stronger than normal, but bear in mind that Pros typically massively de-loft at impact, plus lead with the hands, which effectively turns say a 6-iron loft into a 3-iron loft at the point of impact.

But what is "normal" Standard lofts have changed over the years due to the ball launching differently due to the weighting of cavity backed clubs. Interesting that pros deloft that much... sure doesn't look like it when you watch them hit balls on the range. But I'm sure your source of information is more accurate than my eyes ;) Some guys deloft... Charles Howell being a prime example, he hits worm burners with every club basically. Ollie Schniderjans (sorry for poor spelling on that one) is another.

Number on the club does not matter. The loft does.

Interesting though above says pro's deloft so much they turn a 6 into a 3... My pro says it's more like a 6 into a 5 (about 4 degrees of delofting is normal), but I'm sure it varies a bit. I brought this up because looking at my FA video I was concerned that my hands were not out in front of me enough. He had I probably had 1 or 2 degrees of deloft, but to not worry about that and to just worry about a solid center hit. Probably good advice.

Mine are stronger by 2 degrees but that's not to hit it longer. I have a higher ball flight that most so strengthening it lowers the trajectory a little. Now my wedges...those are tweaked pretty good. The loft, lie, and length are all adjusted

It is very much the irons. They are stronger and LONGER in shaft length.

It is also the ball, and how launch angle/spin rate affects it compared to the old, soft spinny balatas.

It was unheard of on the PGA tour to hit 8 irons 170 back in the 80s. It is relatively normal now.

But another thing that leads to inflated distances (or the perception thereof) is the lack of transparency from

the commentators on TV. They don't often mention downwind, downhill holes (that 190 yd 8 iron on the par 3 was just

as stock 160yd 8 iron downwind/downhill). They sure don't mention the ridiculous downhill kick and rollout that

Koepka's 3wd got on the final hole of the open.

On tour, long hitters hit their 8 iron on avg about 160/165. That's about 10 yds longer than in the 80s. 2* and 1/2" on the shaft easily explains that.

Y'all can have as much distance as you want out of your irons. I've set up my game to have easily repeatable distances. Last Sunday I played the first round in 15 years with my 61 year old Dad (with him, I go golfing all the time. He gave up the game for a long time but decided he wanted to go with us). He was hitting the same iron into greens as I was. Most local courses have very few 450+ yard par 4's. In fact most of the 4's are drive and wedge or even chip. Most par 3's are in the 120-170 range. I've adapted my game for this type of course and will readily admit that I leave a ton of distance on the table. I only hit PW 100, 9i 115, 8i 130, 7i 150, 6i 165, 5i 180, 4i 190, and 3i 210. Obviously the further down I get the greater the distance dispersion is. Don't get me wrong I'm not short, I just choose to have an easy and repeatable swing. I can get quite a bit more out of each club but there really is no need. I also hit the ball a mile in the air, even with long irons. My normal shot shape is either straight or a slight fade with irons so I'm impacted big time by wind. If there was one thing I could change about my game it would be this. I can hit it low and hit a draw when I want but I lose a ton of control.

Around here there's no reason to hit a 200 yard nine iron. I'll grant that if I regularly played 7500 yard courses I'd rethink the way I play irons.

I use my 3i off the tee quite a bit since I can generally hit it very straight. When doing so it's a total different swing than hitting it into a green and thus the distance goes up. I can also step on any of my irons when the occasion calls for. For the most part though I'm perfectly happy to hit them the distances that I do. My dad was shocked that I was hitting the same club that he was on short par 3's since I outdrove him by 100 yards a few times. Truthfully though only his 7-8i up went the same distance. I doubt he'd get much more than 180 out of his 3i, swinging out of his shoes.

Average carry I see for full 6-irons with tour guys is ~210-215. No jacked up lofts.

Most pros play with irons made out of ore mined on the moon. The low gravity ore allows for the ball to fly further and spin anti-clockwise. Tour balls actually have a core of lead, otherwise they would never come down. FACT

Oh! Moon ore!