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Maltby Playability Factor


tgdmd

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I have been looking at the Maltby Playability factor for irons ( https://www.golfworks.com/iron-head-mpf-ratings/a/870/ ) and I am surprised by what's on there. I am a ping fan so I was specifically looking at the ratings for their irons. Its crazy that a majority of the "S" line of irons and iBlades have a higher playability factor than the "i" line. What is even more crazy is the newer ping irons...i200, i210, and i500 all have pretty low playability factors. Either the MPF is not an end all be all determinant for playability/forgiveness, or a lot of the marketing hype and each new generation of irons is not really improving as much as they say...in some cases the playability gets way worse.

 

One of my biggest questions is how can a wider soled "i" iron like the i210 or i200 have a lower playability factor than lets say the S55 or S56?

 

I currently play the iBlades and play to a 1.2 handicap, but im thinking of picking up some older i15's or some S55's because why make the game harder than it already is?

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I have been looking at the Maltby Playability factor for irons ( https://www.golfwork...-ratings/a/870/ ) and I am surprised by what's on there. I am a ping fan so I was specifically looking at the ratings for their irons. Its crazy that a majority of the "S" line of irons and iBlades have a higher playability factor than the "i" line. What is even more crazy is the newer ping irons...i200, i210, and i500 all have pretty low playability factors. Either the MPF is not an end all be all determinant for playability/forgiveness, or a lot of the marketing hype and each new generation of irons is not really improving as much as they say...in some cases the playability gets way worse.

 

One of my biggest questions is how can a wider soled "i" iron like the i210 or i200 have a lower playability factor than lets say the S55 or S56?

 

I currently play the iBlades and play to a 1.2 handicap, but im thinking of picking up some older i15's or some S55's because why make the game harder than it already is?

 

The MPF is Matlby's suggestion to maximize playability. He prioritizes the vertical CG location and C dimension in particular. The new Ping i series irons have high vertical CG so they score poorly.

 

DT

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This is a topic that has been discussed on many occasions for many different models. A quick search will show up lots of pretty heated discussion on this topic.

 

The drivers for the observed differences between the older S series irons and the newer i series irons are the vertical centre of gravity and the distance the cg is from the hosel (c dim). The i series have c dim values closer to the hosel and or very high vertical centre of gravity measurements.

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The MPF places a high value on the precise location of an irons sweet-spot (COG) in both the vertical and horizontal. They believe that in an iron, this is much more important than MOI, in determining how easy the design will be to play.

 

To start to understand this, you have to realize what it actually is in detail, that determines solid contact in the vertical aspect of impact...

 

The center of a golf ball is .840". Pure solid contact requires that the Actual Vertical COG of the iron design arrives 'in line with' or better yet slightly below the center of the ball. So for most players, an iron that has an AVCOG higher than .840" is more difficult to hit solidly from normal to tighter lies....

 

Therefore in the MPF, higher AVCOG's are penalized.....regardless of how big the iron is or how forgiving it might look.

 

What most will tend to do, is look at the overall size of an iron, how big the cavity back is, width of the sole, etc, and then assume whether or not it will be easier to hit, forgiving, or "more playable"....It's not that simple

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The MPF places a high value on the precise location of an irons sweet-spot (COG) in both the vertical and horizontal. They believe that in an iron, this is much more important than MOI, in determining how easy the design will be to play.

 

To start to understand this, you have to realize what it actually is in detail, that determines solid contact in the vertical aspect of impact...

 

The center of a golf ball is .840". Pure solid contact requires that the Actual Vertical COG of the iron design arrives 'in line with' or better yet slightly below the center of the ball. So for most players, an iron that has an AVCOG higher than .840" is more difficult to hit solidly from normal to tighter lies....

 

Therefore in the MPF, higher AVCOG's are penalized.....regardless of how big the iron is or how forgiving it might look.

 

What most will tend to do, is look at the overall size of an iron, how big the cavity back is, width of the sole, etc, and then assume whether or not it will be easier to hit, forgiving, or "more playable"....It's not that simple

 

Lots of other important factors they don’t even factor into their formula. There is some valuable data there, but the overall score is complete junk science. Especially with modern thin faced irons.

Ping G400 Testing G410.  10.5 set at small -
Ping G410 3, 5 and 7 wood

Ping G410 5 hybrid-not much use.  
Mizuno JPX 921 Hot Metal. 5-G
Vokey 54.10, 2009 58.12 M, Testing TM MG2 60* TW grind and MG3 56* TW grind.  Or Ping Glide Stealth, 54,58 SS.  
Odyssey Pro #1 black
Hoofer, Ecco, Bushnell
ProV1x-mostly
 

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As low as a HC you are, I would ignore the whole concept of MPF and just get fitted into a best feel and playable shaft set.

 

What I can demise from that concept is that I probably could get along with many heads provided the shaft allowed me best delivery path into the back of the ball. There are so many premium lines with different profiles these days.

 

Much different than just 20 years back.

BAG ONE:                                                                                                   BAG TWO:
D - Callaway Rogue ST Max D                                               - Cobra F9 Tour Length  

5 -  Ping G425 Max 5(16.5)                                                    3 -  TEE C721 Pro 3 HL(16.5)

H - Callaway Mav P (18) Titleist TS2 (21)                              H - TM SF 2.0 (18) & (21)

I -  Titleist T300 4                                                                   I -  Taylormade SIM Max 4      
I -  Titleist T100 5-P/MR KK TiNi 105                                     I -  Taylormade P760 5-P/Recoils 110 F4

W - Vokey SM8 52, Vokey SM6 58                                        W - Vokey SM8 52, Vokey SM6 58 
P - Bellum Winmore Midi  787                                                - Guerin TS Black 370

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I just bought new irons and I found the MPF to be a pretty valuable tool in narrowing my choices.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the score is based on the 6 iron. For some sets, that means some clubs will be significantly more forgiving, and others less. For example, the set I'm replacing are Mizuno MX-25s. In that set, everything up through the 6 iron is a GI style cavity, while the 7-PW are more of a players cavity. So the MPF for that set is really only relevant up to the 6 iron, as the 7-PW are quite different.

 

I'm positive that MPF is flawed, but it's really useful to have an objective measurement. It's not going to be an substitute for trying the clubs yourself, if you have that option, but it's a good reference point.

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Man this community is amazing. You guys really cleared up a lot of my questions and helped me understand this a lot better. I guess it really just boils down to what looks, feels and hits the best in my hands. Thanks!

 

Certainly some iron designs are easier to hit than others, but if you are comparing irons within the same “family”, i.e. “players game improvement irons” or “super game improvement irons”, they are all going to be very playable. The major manufacturers aren’t putting out equipment on a whim. They put a massive amount of time, money, and research into each new iteration of an iron. None of them are actually “bad” designs.

 

Find one in the family that makes sense for your skill level, and as you said, “that looks, feels and hits best in your hands.”

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Man this community is amazing. You guys really cleared up a lot of my questions and helped me understand this a lot better. I guess it really just boils down to what looks, feels and hits the best in my hands. Thanks!

 

Certainly some iron designs are easier to hit than others, but if you are comparing irons within the same “family”, i.e. “players game improvement irons” or “super game improvement irons”, they are all going to be very playable. The major manufacturers aren’t putting out equipment on a whim. They put a massive amount of time, money, and research into each new iteration of an iron. None of them are actually “bad” designs.

 

Find one in the family that makes sense for your skill level, and as you said, “that looks, feels and hits best in your hands.”

totally agree......irons in same category are far more similar than different......and have gamed most of em
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If you're hitting the center of the club almost all the time, I can see how it might not be as applicable. For my swing, the MPF does seem to line up fairly well with how forgiving a club is. Perfect? No, but a good guideline.

 

Agree that it's a good guideline. I use i200 and they were for my swing. I also used it to hone in on an older set of Mizzy blades that would be playable for me and it worked. The Mp32s work well for me. I have also hit the MP 18 SC which I thought were terrible and pretty hard to hit. Guess what? They're like 100 on the scale. There is some merit in it IMO.

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  • 8 months later...

So using Pings i series irons

The ie1 has an mpf of 566 or game improvement catagory

The i200 have a mpf of 474 or conventional catagory

The i210 have a mpf of 338 or classic catagory

Can the 210 be that much different to play or that much less forgiving than the ie1 ?

Each on line review you read states that the 210 is a slight improvement over the200 and the 200 a slight improvement over the ie1. So maltby must not agree with that.

 

Callaway mavrik max 10.5

Callaway mavrik max 3 & 5 wood
Ping g30  26* & 30* hybrids
Ping i200 6 - UW

Ping glide 54* & 60* wedges
Odyssey #7 putter

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MPF is a guideline but it's mainly kind of BS as far as the 'rating' goes. I usually only look at the C value and the actual vCog. Ideally a C dim that's a bit larger (but still in a compact club head) and a vCog that's lower. My miss tends to be low and toe so small C dims and higher vCogs are bad news for me.

 

Also... this has been discussed on here NUMEROUS times. OP, do yourself and all of us a favor, learn to use search function.

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