Any advice for one-length switch?

I'm a 6 index (56 years old) and have a set of Cobra Forged Tour one lengths in-bound. I currently use Arccos and my long iron performance isn't very good. Iron play used to by a strength in my game, but not for the last couple of years. I'm sure my problem is more technique than it is the clubs, that I could overcome it. But I'm compelled by the simplicity argument and am willing to give it a try. I'll be putting my Apex/Apex Pro 19 combo set in the garage while I try this.

I'm interested in any learnings from other who have tried one length irons. How long was the adjustment, was there any particular mode of practice that worked well/badly, what was easy/hard about the transition, did you stick with it or not?

Thanks in advance.

Comments from a 55 year old that switched over 4 years ago when the Sterling irons came out.

The adjustment period was fairly quick, but I decdied early on that I was going to commit to them for the year. I play 5-Sw, and then play my 60 degree in the standard length that I always played which is 1" over. I am tall, so the longer "short" irons just felt very compfortable for me right from the start. I have always been a pretty high ball hitter, but I tend to hit my "short" irons pretty high with the SL. I do not have the issue that some have reported of hitting the 5/6 iron too low, as I tend to be high ball hitter anyway. I can tell you that I have never been so consistent with my iron play with SL.

Practice: Best part for me, I don't really practice hitting my irons very much anymore, they are all the same length, same ball position, distance from the ball, etc. I spend most of my time working on chip / pitch and putting and hit a few drivers. Initially I hit all of my irons to zero in on my carry distance but after that, If I do go to the range, I generally hit a 6 iron and a PW and move one after that. Hardest thing to adjust to is taking the same swing with the 5/6 iron. Initially, because they feel short at address vs what you are used to, you think you need to do something extra. After I settled down and realized I do not need to do that, those two clubs have become very accurate irons for me. Overall my ball striking is improved as I have been hitting the center of the club face with much more consistency.

I am still playing them and have no intention of going back to VL irons. Currently playing at a 6 and trending down.

I switched a few years ago and am a believer. I had to stop playing temporarily last september for cancer surgery, but prior to surgery was playing the best golf of my life and my irons were key to that. I am a bit backwards from most golfers as I did not see benefit with the 5 and 5 iron but the 7-GW were AWESOME!!!!! my short/scoring iron play was sharper because as a taller golfer I did nor feel like I was holding a child's toy amd was no longer all hunched up and uncomfortable over a 7 iron or less...amd especially a 9, Pw, or GW.

I have edel sls01 irons and love them. The transition was very quick for me and I wont be changing back.

I plan on returning to golf with a vengeance after I get a new kidney and have my transplant and recovery completed.

Interesting.
I'm average height (5'9), so I don't find wedges uncomfortably short. I have watched youtube videos where the clubhead speed with onelength irons is consistent from PW down to 5 iron, give or take, which does suggest you don't have to give it extra oomph to get the ball in the air with the long irons. If a smooth 7/8 iron swing works with a 5 iron and gets me 180-185 more consistently, I'll be happy. My confidence level with a 7/8 is significantly higher than with a 5 iron.

Great to hear that the time to learn how to play with SL was not long.@OsnolaKinnard good luck with your procedure and recovery!

I did the cobra set, since the one length is 7 iron length, I did 7-AW variable Cobra, then my usual 54/58. 5 and 6 iron are One length. 4 hybrid is One Length. I can't pull off a 3H one length since my SS is too low, so a regular length 3H.

So one length for 4-5-6-only, 7 iron doesn't matter, 8-wedges in variable. I was thinking about a similar path, but want to first see if I can get along with a long PW (the set I ordered is 4-PW, so I have to go traditional length after the PW).

I like my Apex Pro AW more than a 50 deg MD4. It flies further and I'm more consistent with it on full or nearly full shots than I am with the 50 deg MD4. If the Cobra OL PW goes further than my current Apex PW, I will have a gapping issue. They are both 45 deg, but the Apex Pro is 35.75 and the Cobra OL is 37.25, so you might expect it to go further. I guess I'll need to learn to choke down on the OL PW to fill the 110-125 yard gap.

don't do it. golf is played inside 100 yards, and one length irons means wedges with longer shafts. there's a reason why Bryson is not a good wedge player.

If golf were playing exclusively inside 100 yards, then a golf course would be 1800 yards or less. I do not intend to change my 54/58 wedges, which are my sub-100 yard clubs. And note - maybe I should change them, as sometimes I feel like I'm better from 110 with an AW than I am from 90 with a 54 deg.

That's one strategy but you'll end up with a big gap in distances or a funky set of lofts to work with with the PW at the longer length.

Start with all of the yardages you want to hit the clubs... and frankenstein a set to match those distance with them all having the longer shafts, but the sand and lob wedge for scoring. Get the swing weights correct so it doesn't feel like 8 sets in the bag as well. imo, I think you'll find this is not a fruitful adventure.

Collect some stats on your game and determine where you hit more shots. For most people, about half are inside 100 yards. Chipping, pitching, bunker play, and putting.

I played OL for about a year. At the time I was a higher handicap golfer that seldom practiced. I can tell you I quickly became a better ball striker and initially loved them. Especially in the long irons where I struggled to hit a 5 iron and now contact was no problem. Literally like swinging a 7 iron. Found the short irons to be just as easy to hit.

But, after a few months I realized I was having distance control issues with the short irons. The high ball flight at first, was appreciated, but I was having trouble shaping any shots or playing in wind. Was having distance control issues with the 9, PW, GW that was killing me. As a higher handicap, those have to be clubs I feel confident in. But I could hit 2 really good balls and have them land 10 yards apart. So I fashioned a combo set and used variable length in the 8, 9, pw, gw and OL in the 5, 6, 7.

I continued to improve. Started playing more, starting practicing more, and continued working on my ball striking. Eventually, the improved contact with the 5 iron wasn't good enough. Whereas, I used to hit it better than my variable length 5 iron. now on the range I would flush them the same, but the OL 5 iron would get less height, less spin, less distance. Worked fine as a ball advancement club, but when I was looking to hit it into greens, it became a problem.

So I have gone to a complete variable set. But it was a worthwhile ride. I did learn alot, and became a better player for it.

Lofts look reasonably similar to a conventional set. I'm hoping that it's easier to make a consistent, easy swing, as while funky yardage gaps are a risk, so too is inconsistent yardage with the clubs I have. I can hit a flushed 185 yard 5 iron and follow it up with a thin 155 yard 5 iron and I'm humbly not the worst player by any stretch. If I end up with a PW that goes 135, that will be a problem, as it will be 1.5" longer than a standard PW.

The clubs arrive later this week, at which point the experiment begins.

I used to play the OL up until AW and then standard 54/58. I found that there was no distance gap as long as I kept the shafts consistent. Maybe there was a bigger gap than normal from when I transitioned from OL at the GW and regular at SW but I usually do half swings and chips with my 54/58, so I didn't have any issues.

On here, 95% of critics and skeptics of one length have never played them.

I have, and my advice would be to commit to them for a month at least. Try not to muscle the lower loft ones. I enjoyed the longer short irons and wedges. I stayed with a shorter 58 degree.

Currently I'm not playing them because my swing speed is on the low side for the lower lofts.

I hope I have the clubhead speed. I'm about 97-100mph with the driver and have no problem getting my irons in the air. Since my set is 4-PW, I expect I'll bag 5-PW to start and carry 50/54/58 in standard wedge lengths. Hopefully I can make that work. If I like where the irons go, maybe I'll try a OL hybrid as well.

I enjoy my F9s, I have them cut short and bent weak, 5,6,7 are 36.75, 8-PW are at 36.5 since I'm pretty short. The 5 and 6 fly a tad bit lower than my variable but have a much more penetrating flight which I enjoy the look of and they stay on line due to center contact. I stuck with GW from previous set, not sure I'd be able to handle these clubs at stock loft, but with weaker lofts they do great.

I have sort of tolerate the 5 and 6 iron because the 7-GW play has been so good. I really have to bash the crap out of the 5 to get a good 180-185 out of it. I find that I hit it about 175 a lot easier which is right on top of my 6 iron. What I am contemplating doing is going back to Edel and having them extended and, if necessary adjusted with the head weighting to make them the same as my old variable length irons, which were based on a 39" 5 iron, or +1". The problems that people have with distance gapping at the top are true, at least they are for me.

It's not all that bad for my game as I don't have a lot of 'those shots', but I still want to get it sorted out and improved and, like I said, what I give up for the 1 or 2 180-185 shots makes up for it with the 12 shots from 7=GW range for me.

Well said. I should add that my wedges are a 54 and 58 and are VL wedges that are +1" long. When I get new wedges they will be to the same specs as these. I am not committed to SL like some kind of religion, I am committed to finding what works for me, and VL in 7-GW REALLY works for me.

I played OL for a year. I'm not overly tall (5'9) and never really got along with the short irons. The long irons were a different story, loved them. Like other have mentioned, I ultimately ditched full OL after a season and went with a combo set. After playing around, settled on a OL 4 hybrid and 5 and 6 irons in OL. 7 thru wedges are variable. Im a much better long iron player and still just as bad short iron player, but better with variable short irons than OL. Play around and see what you like. But the shorter long irons are great

How did you decide on which irons to get 7-wedge and what shafts that would match or feel close enough to your OL 5&6 irons? I see what you ended up with in your signature. The Cobra Forged Tours I have coming have KBS TourFLT 120's in them. I sort of foresee ending up roughly where you did, with 5-6-7 in OL (maybe 8 if I like it) and 9-PW-wedges in variable. But I'm going to give it at least 2-3 months of playing OL from 5-PW and see if I have problems with distance/height/consistency with the higher lofts.

I was playing mixed sets for a bit so shafts were all over the place (5 and 6 OL f7 from my original set with forged tec blacks last year) and finally went matching clubs and shaft this year. I debated going with a higher launching shaft in the 5/6 but for now have them all the same. I see a little bunching at the top of the bag so some different shafts may come into play at some point

So true here.. I have the same issue and use a standard hybrid ease at 185 or just a bit more. Like you I do not see a lot of those shots.

I have been on the OL since the Cobra F7's. I have a 5-PW, traditional 52, 56, 60 wedges. My PW is a dart at 110 with a smooth swing. I can get 120 if I step on it. I also use it for short chips where I want to get more roll out.

Received my clubs (COBRA Tour Forged 4-PW) on Thu evening. Took them to the course yesterday without a warm-up session and played without any woods/hybrids. That wasn't the best idea, as I had quite a bit of trouble. My observations and first impressions (my comparison is a set of 2019 Apex/Apex Pro combo's with KBS C-Taper Lites stiff vs. these with KBS Tour FLT 120 stiffs).

1 - pronounced right to left ball flight with all clubs until I started making adjustments

2 - loss of distance - probably 20 yards with the 5 iron, 10 yards with the 7, not really sure with the 9/PW as I didn't hit many of those

3 - with the 4-5 irons, the ball was falling out of the sky, kind of like a knuckleball, even off a tee. By the end of the round, I was opening the face significantly and getting a little more air under it, but still with pronounced loss of distance. the 17th hole at my course with a back pin is a solid 6 iron for me. I hit 2 5 irons yesterday, one thin and one better and they were both 10-20 yards short of a good 6 iron

4 - hard feel - there was a loss of feeling with these vs. the Apex. A loss of sweetness. I didn't have many shots where I felt like "I hit that nice." Even ones that had decent results didn't feel that great.

I'm going to the range and will hit 100 balls before playing this afternoon. I'll also take my Apex 5-7-9 irons and compare against the Cobra 5-7-9 with my portable launch monitor to see what the ball speeds say. Last night, after playing, I wanted to call it a bad experiment, but my golf buddy said "no, you have to go to the range and hit at least 300 balls before you make that call." I suspect I will never be able to hit the 4 iron into the air. Not sure about the 5 iron.