Blades and distance

Is there such a thing as a particular blade (independent of loft differences) being longer than others? Or, because of their basic design are they all the same loft for loft? Are there any blades that stand out as being a tad bit longer?

I'd say it would be shaft dependent for a difference in distance.

Loft for loft it’s pretty tough to adjust CG enough to have a discernible difference in spin and launch in a compact head so they will be very similar when it comes to distance.

Based on comments in other threads, Wilson and Srixon blades seem to be longer than some other options.

^^^ THIS^^^.

The blade potentially could just give you better launch characteristics so in that way give you better numbers

it is all in the shaft like the guy says above..

It would be pretty hard to make the face of a single piece blade faster than another single piece blade. Even with different metals (1025E, 1025B, 1025, 8620, etc) the thicknesses of the faces are such that you can't make a face any faster than another. You can pretty much only do that with a cavity or a hollow club by making the face thinner, creating a bit of a trampoline effect.

Other than that, it's loft (traditional, standard, or jacked), and how well the shaft (engine) fits you for delivery...as stated above.

the shafts, loft, COG placement in the head.. all a factor..above all..effective contact.

Exactly this. Not all blades are created equal, you can see this in looking at the CG locations in the Maltby MPF data.

Real world example.... I was playing Golden Rams, with old school FG17 era lofts. Bought a set of Mizunos, MS-11s, 27* 5i, 48* PW. I hit the Mizunos higher than the same numbered Golden Ram club, in spite of the Mizuno being 3* lower lofted.

I've also found over the years, that Mizuno set spins the ball more than my various Ram sets.

And, adding to the shaft comments... I've found different spin results with different shafts. Precision stepped give me different results than KBS Tour, which give me different results than Super Peening Blue. And somewhere in there, DG was used, as well. The KBS Tours spun most of all, which is why they're no longer in that particular set.

Blades are player dependent when it comes to distance, you will get out of it, what you put in it .

for the best parameters, loft, spin, distance, you would be better served with consistant center strikes.

you can't hide with blades, that is part of the allure .

why i love blades lol. they sure don't have manners. i need to know if i suck...like..how bad lol. and when i am on, i can bring pins to their knees.,.flag them down..no matter where they are hidden on the greens.

Srixon Z forged are 1 degree stronger and they're definitely longer. My MP5 are longer than MP33 or 690MB due to lofts also.

No modern blade is going to have CG placement poor enough to effect distance that much or to move spin enough to have a radical effect on distance. It's nearly impossible to increase ball speed on a blade using materials. Loft for loft, almost all blades are going to be similar in distance.

The biggest factor in distance between two sets of blades is going to be mostly dependent on loft.

The next biggest factor is going to be sole design, even the best of us are often fractionally interacting with turf before the face hits the ball. A club that minimizes the impact of that interaction is going to retain more clubhead speed at impact, and hence more ball speed. The Srixon clubs with their V-Sole work very well for many people in this regard and quite a few people actually see their ball speed increase loft of loft when they switch to this sole design.

Shaft is the final thing making a difference, but it does it in two ways. First, depending on the player and bend profile, one shaft simply might allow the player to find the middle of the club face more often. Strike is king and if you strike one shaft better, it will go further. The second is that certain shafts will have more or less deflection. If the deflection is adding loft, you'll generally see less ball speed on strikes and lower distance. However I'd expect two blades with the same shaft to behave the same way for the same golfer.

One would imagine it'd depend on whether it has turbulators or not...

I've played some of the more recent blade models such as the MP18, MP20, P730, and Z-Forged. The longest for me was the Z-Forged. There is one less degree of loft, which would usually add about 3 yards of carry for me. I was finding that the Srixon 7 iron would fly 5-6 yards further than any of the others. I don't know if this comes down to better strike, which it very well may because the blade length (heel to toe) is dramatically longer and I would say that these were the most "forgiving" for a blade but there really isn't much in it. On top of that, something about the Srixon brought my launch AND spin down considerable as well. I would imagine it's the V-sole but I really don't know.

Anybody else have similar findings with the z-forged?

Yeah the Srixons going back to the 45 series I believe have been considered lower spin/long for their respective categories.

If distance is priority, are blades the best answer? As others said, mostly going to be shaft if we're talking true blades, which aren't designed for distance but for control.

A distance blade goes against the purpose of a bladed club. Most, if not all, are built with feel in mind. Distance is pretty far down the list of what the manufacturer's designs and and markets when it comes to blades.

Irons are about accuracy and feel rather than distance. If you crave distance, go with a bag full of hybrids.

I think you mean the Taylormade CGB irons...……"BAG FULL OF DRIVERS"..... LOLhttps://www.taylormadegolf.com/m-cgb-irons.html?lang=default

Blades tend to launch lower - so if you're someone who hits the ball too high with something that doesn't have strong lofts I could see you gaining a few yards. I just got fit for PING blueprints and picked up nearly a full club on average. but that had more to do with shaft/length/weight changes

Long time lurker here--I'd like to chime in if you don't mind.

I own S55 blades and i500s, but I think that we may be ignoring some perspective.

When my coaches and I decided to go with blades, we were looking for a profile of club that allowed me to better control the shot shape and trajectory.

Provided you practice enough to use blades effectively (obviously), the reduced offset really helped me to work the ball much easier than more forgiving irons where I had to exaggerate shots a bit more. The KBS Tour Stiff C-Taper was used to keep the trajectory down while keeping the spin reasonable. More forgiving irons like the i series typically have hotter faces which often results in high trajectory. However, the shafts can affect trajectory significantly so it's not *all* about the face.

Given the profile of the club and its purpose for use, I hit Wilson blades longer than Pings, and Pings longer than Mizuno. Those are the only blades I have experience with.

S55s and i500s are not "blades".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1qNdImfoXMChart at 3:20 on has a nice comparison of a number of new blades and all their tracking values.

In order to make a true comparison, you’d have to match lofts, shafts, balls and weather conditions.

My MP 37’s flew higher, but I would say the distance seemed the same within a yard or two to my MP33’s and MP67’.....they did have a PX 6.0 in them Pears? to Apples I guess, because of the shaft

I feel that my Mp 33’s were the same in everything to my Mp67’s, but they had DG S400 in them...... so Apples (Ambrosia) to Apples (Honey Crisp) Blindfolded, I’m not sure I could tell the difference.

To me, there was no discernible difference from my 33’s to 67’s...... I only bought them because they were “the New” 33’s, In reality, I was just young and impressionable.

I feel they are the same club. I flight them and shaped them the same, plus they felt the same to me. Hindsight, I wish I just kept the 33’s, they seemed to have more of a following, which brings the resale value up, but the two are indistinguishable in my eyes anyways.

You'd also need to use real measures from something like a Trackman, etc., instead of the old "butt dyno". "I feel," "I would say", and "to me" aren't a sound basis when it comes to saying what's what in reality. I'm just saying it's a bit much to put forth you need to match lofts, shafts, balls, and weather conditions but then rely on your own two eyes and feel to decide if two clubs are the same. You are possibly missing the big picture because you don't use real measures to get things like spin numbers, launch angle, carry, etc., to give you more details on the if and whys of the differences occurring between the involved clubs.

Blades launch lower but also launch with higher spin. It's the main difference between them and CB variety clubs, whether GI or players' type. Within MB's there are variations of initial spin & launch. CG in 3 planes largely determine this with a given loft. That's why, shaft choice matters so much. You can accentuate or attenuate base characteristic to suit predominant swing tendencies. This is obviously done in fittings with all clubs but MB's work from a different ratio of spin & launch. If average dude gets this, they become a lot easier to carry for a long time.

Very true. I didn’t use the technology back around 2000-2007ish for anything other than a driver and even then, I would just compare an off the shelf stock driver vs another stock driver, that may have had different lofts and shafts, then just picked what was the best of 3-4 that I hit. The first time I did an actual club fitting, was a month ago or so at a PGA superstore.

I “assume” With the same lofts, same shafts, same balls on a Trackman or GC Quad The difference between manufacturers would be nominal on blades, unless there are big swings from one manufacturer to the next on head weight and GC placement which I am unaware of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It would depend on the CoG of the head, design* and the delivery, one design might have benefit over the other for a player, but if you made everything equal and robot tested there wouldn't be a huge difference unless it was inherent in the design. You could in-theory play around with the grooves to drop spin (Srixon's player irons seem to have quite low spin), but most players buy blades for their higher spin profiles. You might see a difference with forged versus cast blades, but a ball change could even that out.

*I can't imagine there's a huge difference in CoG these days, back in the '90s OEMs like Mizuno and Maruman had healthy blade line-ups with nearly a dozen options between them over a few product cycles, designs were more varied.