Hollow Irons Question / Experiences

Does anyone find hollow irons not so great on slightly thin shots and/or low shots (OFF THE TURF, not off the TEE) or is it just me?

I'm noticing this with low shots with my blueprints where I am flighting it under the wind and it was also a MAJOR problem on i500's.

Not enough spin? My low burning wind cheater shots - my go to under pressure - have not been up to snuff this windy fall. I do catch them a little thin, always have, divot way out in front of the ball FWIW

I have not in the past and do not currently have this issue any of my other "players" irons sets .... j15 mb's, s55's, 919t's, etc etc

I didn't love low shots with my Titleist t-mb's and testing p790's found the same general discontent

On perhaps a related note, I do find fliers with my blueprint to be FLIERS, if you know what I mean ... that ball is MOVING deep. Maybe grooves there, I don't know

Anyone?

Worth going back to a Ping or Mizuno or Br or Srixon cb that offers forgiveness feel and spin with reasonable distance.

I know the i500’s don’t respond well to thinned shots. I didn’t have issues with flighted knock downs though.

One off the reasons I went back to my S55’s. I find them very predictable for a pretty forgiving club. Part of the issue is just learning to read your lies with new clubs, just because they react differently doesn’t mean they react inconsistently. Once you know when it will jump and when not, you are fine.

> @Yuck said:

> One off the reasons I went back to my S55’s. I find them very predictable for a pretty forgiving club. Part of the issue is just learning to read your lies with new clubs, just because they react differently doesn’t mean they react inconsistently. Once you know when it will jump and when not, you are fine.

I'm getting better on the flier reading, they are just super hot like the old days

Why are you referring to the blueprints as hollow?

> @cardoustie said:

> Does anyone find hollow irons not so great on slightly thin shots and/or low shots (OFF THE TURF, not off the TEE) or is it just me?

>

> I'm noticing this with low shots with my blueprints where I am flighting it under the wind and it was also a MAJOR problem on i500's.

>

> Not enough spin? My low burning wind cheater shots - my go to under pressure - have not been up to snuff this windy fall. I do catch them a little thin, always have, divot way out in front of the ball FWIW

>

> I have not in the past and do not currently have this issue any of my other "players" irons sets .... j15 mb's, s55's, 919t's, etc etc

>

> I didn't love low shots with my Titleist t-mb's and testing p790's found the same general discontent

>

> On perhaps a related note, I do find fliers with my blueprint to be FLIERS, if you know what I mean ... that ball is MOVING deep. Maybe grooves there, I don't know

>

> Anyone?

>

IIRC the Blueprint irons are not a hollow design. The screw on the toe of the club is just a tungsten weight. IIRC they also have a higher CG with concentrated mass in the short irons. A higher CG will generally bring the ball flight down on normal shots, but can really punish "thinned" shots similar to what a traditional blade does.

In theory the reason to design a "hollow cavity" iron is to bring CG lower and further back to increase launch. My personal experience with the Ping G700's and the TM P790s was that "thinned" shots came out low and hot, but with a lot of spin.

On hollow irons I think the drastic difference of the solid perimeter of the iron and the hollow space produces unpredictable results. You’re literally blading the ball.

If you want the performance of a hollow design but more consistency and better feel go PXG 0311 Gen 2. The COR2 material provides a solid feel while providing forgiveness and hotness off the face. Best iron I’ve played

I thought there was a small element of hollow to the blueprints ... next time I play with toe weights I will investigate

Titleist fitting Wed next week, I love the 620mb but ideally wish the lofts were a little stronger

Need t200 performance from blade heads ...

I love my blueprints, don't get me wrong .. but part of the s55 design is better for my swing it seems

I’m interested in the new Cobra Forged Tec irons.

I played the blacks and they were fantastic. Cobra seems to come out with better Models every year.

Rox

They look good,

Rox

> @cardoustie said:

> Titleist fitting Wed next week, I love the 620mb but ideally wish the lofts were a little stronger

>

> Need t200 performance from blade heads ...

>

> I love my blueprints, don't get me wrong .. but part of the s55 design is better for my swing it seems

You should start another thread name it Stuck on s55.. Again.

The new stuff is all similar, toe weight and low tungsten

> @bunta said:

> > @cardoustie said:

> > Titleist fitting Wed next week, I love the 620mb but ideally wish the lofts were a little stronger

> >

> > Need t200 performance from blade heads ...

> >

> > I love my blueprints, don't get me wrong .. but part of the s55 design is better for my swing it seems

>

>

> You should start another thread name it Stuck on s55.. Again.

That is gold @bunta

Is the pro shop's fault ... I have too many certs

I'm not sure if it is the same case with the Blueprints, but I know that the i500's have a VERY high center of gravity. Quite a bizarre design choice if you ask me. It is one of the worst irons out there for low struck shots, I would only consider it as a tee club.

> @Valtiel said:

> I'm not sure if it is the same case with the Blueprints, but I know that the i500's have a VERY high center of gravity. Quite a bizarre design choice if you ask me. It is one of the worst irons out there for low struck shots, I would only consider it as a tee club.

The Blueprints do have a higher CG like most muscleback designs.

I agree with the i500s being an odd design choice because the point of the hollow design is to get more weight to the back of the club to increase launch. By moving the CG up, you are basically negating some of the benefits to the hollow iron design.

Finally got a chance to try 2 hollow body irons today compared to some other irons across multiple categories. So all 7 irons, I tried P790s, Titleist 718 CBs, Mizuno MP-20 HMBs and Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metal Pros. All shots were hit with Oncore range balls with Dynamic Gold S300s in stiff, and take note, I’m not a high spin player with irons regardless of model.

P790s were consistently at 178-180 yards, 22* of launch, spin was around 4500 and I believe the ball speed was around 119. I know spin will be higher with a more premium ball that doesn’t play like a rock. The other three irons all launched a little higher and spun about the same, maybe a little higher with the CBs being the highest around 5000, but with less distance. The only one that had the same forgiveness was the HM Pros. The CBs were punishing on mishits and the HMBs didn’t seem much more forgiving. I will agree that nothing feels like a Mizuno when struck well but for me, the performance was just not there. What amazed me most was the P790’s forgiveness on low strikes. Lower launch, more spin, and only 5-10yards short. And they honestly felt amazing. Granted none of these felt bad on pured strikes but P790s felt the best on mishits to me.

At my next fitting for irons, I’ll probably give the HMBs a second chance, but the P790s and HM Pros were the best for me. Overall though, I really love this category of iron.

Well I played in 8*C -13* weather today, 3 club wind at the end

77 with a six on all four par 5's ... one with two lateral strokes

919t's amazing. Even in coooler weather 155 w 9i was no problem ... they are 1 strong fwiw

No issues on low shots and knockdowns

Lost to a plus 2 that shot 75 and a plus 1 shooting 73

> @bunta said:

> > @cardoustie said:

> > Titleist fitting Wed next week, I love the 620mb but ideally wish the lofts were a little stronger

> >

> > Need t200 performance from blade heads ...

> >

> > I love my blueprints, don't get me wrong .. but part of the s55 design is better for my swing it seems

>

>

> You should start another thread name it Stuck on s55.. Again.

Or Stick with S55.

Hard to say your definition of “thinned” but I’ve always felt a miss a bit low on the face (a groove or two low) was more forgiving and flew further on my older Apex CF16 than a blade-y design like the Apex Pro or MB. That was actually something I liked about them.

And I honestly just don’t buy that one iron is that much more “workable” or able to control flight than another. That’s just all delivery...

But maybe I’m biased by too many Crossfield videos. ?

With my CB Pro Tungstens irons, shots that are a bit thin are a half-club long, but bite on a one hopper (maybe a club long total). End result I'm lagging for par, not hunting for my ball out behind the green.

Just looking for toe AND thin forgiveness.. toe is covered well by many new designs with tungsten out on the end ...

Same deal for somewhat thin shots is all I am asking ... with the new "power irons"

Blueprints are almost perfect ... for me anyways... my hdcp this summer tells me that

Can anyone reccomend a good golf ball for Hollow Irons?

I have P790 and the Taylormade speed ball is going too far with my irons.

I purchased last night Srixon Q Star 2018 version for $10 each at Golf Galaxy.

Any input would help.

> @peterrod said:

> Can anyone reccomend a good golf ball for Hollow Irons?

> I have P790 and the Taylormade speed ball is going too far with my irons.

> I purchased last night Srixon Q Star 2018 version for $10 each at Golf Galaxy.

> Any input would help.

>

>

>

There's noting really about a hollow iron that makes them different than a regular iron. They just launch higher, and with more ball speed, necessitating the lofts to be stronger. Because the lofts are stronger, you tend to lose spin. So I'd play the spinniest ball I could.

> @peterrod said:

> Can anyone reccomend a good golf ball for Hollow Irons?

> I have P790 and the Taylormade speed ball is going too far with my irons.

> I purchased last night Srixon Q Star 2018 version for $10 each at Golf Galaxy.

> Any input would help.

>

>

>

I agree with arbek, with those irons play something that spins more like a Z-Star. The combination of a Q-Star ball and P790 irons could continue to yield some low spin bombs. I have the exact opposite problem as I spin the ball too much. Currently playing AVX balls to keep the spin down some, but I can get them to take a small hop and stop on baked out Bermuda greens with standard Apex 19 (and Cobra F9 irons before that).

I have noticed with some of the low.spin balls I'm more likely to nuke balls with hollow irons. Spin just drops and they fly forever. TP5x I found and used and flew 2-5 greens when I tried it out. Wasn't playing particularly well but dang.

Same off the tee. Get a pretty big gain off the tee with them. So, 170 out the fairway can become 175-80 off the tee.

Prov1. I get pretty consistent spin. They don't back up.other than wedge, maybe 9...but pretty consistent once you kind of understand them and hit the sweet spot.