Iron flex question . . .

BCULAW · February 19, 2007

Need stiffer iron shafts????

I have demoed plenty of irons recently, and fallen hard for the R7 TPs. Hit them on a launch monitor and had great numbers compared to all other sets I tried. My typical shots were VERY high (20-25* of launch with 6 iron) and high spin (62-7000 rpms with 6 iron). Bottom line is that the R7 TPs gave me the lowest launch and spin of those I tried (with the exception of the X20 Tours/PX 6.0, which were 20-21* and 5700-6100 rpms). My 8 iron swing speed is 86 mph.

On the course, I am not getting as much out of these (or any of my previous irons) in terms of distance and dispersion). I have a consistent high, right miss that comes from what I perceive as being good swings. ALL of my iron shots are very high, and I have been peeling 7 irons back several feet on some holes. It is not uncommon for me to pull a nine iron back 12 feet. As crazy as this sounds, my angle of attack is not overly steep. I'm not digging craters to get this much spin.

I was hitting a driver on a simulator yesterday. It was a 10.5 TM Superquad with stock stiff - - way too loose for me, and I was hitting it, on average, 212 yards with the typical high, right miss I see often with my irons. The fitter dismissed it as my swing until I pulled out my 8.5 Ignite 460 Tour w/ Diamana 73 (x) and proceeded to hammer long, straight drives one after the other past the 280 mark on the simulator. Bottom line, the "fitter" (who is a sales clerk with no real fitting training) had never seen a high swing speed player, and the store did not even have a single club with an X-stiff shaft for me to try. It got me thinking. I have been "fitted" on a launch monitor for these irons, but they were the lesser of the evils. They play comparably in distance to my old irons, but they were also the lesser of the evils. The fitter did not have any other shaft flexes for me to try during my iron fitting, and had probably never attempted to fit anyone in anything other than a regular or stiff flex iron shaft. (He even admitted to me that I was the first person he had ever recommended a 425 TP driver to). Bottom line, I have never tried a stiffer flex in my irons, but it seems clear to me that I may be a pretty good candidate for a little stouter shaft. Any club fitters out there with any thoughts based on my symptoms and numbers? At 86 mph with a 6 iron, am I a condidate to go stiffer than dgs300, or is a lower spin shaft (such as PX or BG) a more appropriate option for me?