Got new irons, everything sucks right now... Thoughts?

[cvisinho]

Good morning,

 

I bought new irons this winter in hopes of better game play, tech, distance blah blah blah. I really wanted to dive in and "get better" this year.

NOS Nike Vapors to be exact. Mainly because of the slightly longer length that was recommended by a fitter during a casual fitting (at the local warehouse) and i loved the way they felt when hit clean.

 

Long story short...I have been hitting the ball like s***. I had 2 great range sessions early this spring then 3 crappy rounds where i was hitting shots i never would have with my older adams graphite idea irons, ball slice came out of no where this year, and my swing feels/is slower. I can assume swing speed is from the change to steel shaft?

 

Is this all mental/rust and should i ride it out or is there something wrong with this picture?.

 

I dont expect to jump into a new pair of shoes and have them be broken in immediately, but im pretty baffled at the moment, I knew what to expect in the past. I haven't shot over 100 with them, luckily my wedges cover my a** but im upset none the less and feel like im in no mans land right now.

 

I am fairly committed in busting out the 10 yr old irons next round or range visit to see if there is a story there worth following.

[Nessism]

You may want to go through something like Ping's webfit to see what they say about length and lie angle, then compare to your new clubs. If the new clubs are significantly longer than recommended that won't help you in terms of making solid contact. I doubt the problem relates to the shaft material type but it will take some adjustment if the new shafts are a lot heavier, which is likely. Is that adjustment period bad? Most likely not if you are young and strong. If you are over 50 then staying with the lighter shafts may be advised.

[Bobb3rdown]

Muscle memory from the old clubs. When I went 1/2" long on my irons it took a while before I was getting consistent results.

[Doyouevenblade]

Im experiencing this with new wedges. Thin/fat. Muscle memory is a hell of a thing. It is slowly getting better though!

[ChipNRun]

You may want to go through something like Ping's webfit to see what they say about length and lie angle, then compare to your new clubs. If the new clubs are significantly longer than recommended that won't help you in terms of making solid contact. ...

I got a custom fit for Nike Vapor Speeds, and had trouble hitting anything longer than a 7i. The VS model came with a 38.75" 5i, which was about .75" longer than my previous irons. I had been recommended on other irons for maybe a 38.25" in 5i.

 

I'm thinking the factory did standard rather than just over 38", which I thought the fitter recommended.

 

If the clubs are longer than standard with no factory adjustments in weight, you may have a swingweight that's hard to handle, along with too long a shaft.

[platgof]

The swing weight is a huge difference. You go longer with graphite, not steel. I say cut the 7 iron to std length and try it. I bet you are all over the heel on these, shank city. Get some sole markers that are used on the bottom of the irons, and see what your contact looks like.

[cvisinho]

Good info, thanks guys. I'm only 36. Coming off my most enjoyable golf season last year.

The set back is aggravating. I'll try the ping webfit tomorrow and dig up the specs of my new clubs. I can't help to feel like steel shafts may have been a bad move coming off graphite. But we will see.

[cvisinho]

The swing weight is a huge difference. You go longer with graphite, not steel. I say cut the 7 iron to std length and try it. I bet you are all over the heel on these, shank city. Get some sole markers that are used on the bottom of the irons, and see what your contact looks like.

Your exactly right also, heel/shank city.

[wkuo3]

You're not only just dealing with changing to a new set of iron but with longer length and from graphite to steel shaft.... takes a long time to get switched over.

Can not have instant switch over with several range session, because hitting off the mat is not a good indication of how you'll strike the golf ball off the turf.

In the mean time, you might try to grip down on the iron 1/2" - 1" to see if you'll improve on the ball contact.

 

Have someone check the swing weight and compare to your old set. If you have time and a scale , you could try using this estimate for assembled golf clubs. You can also compare the static weight of both sets to know if you'll need more muscle to swing the new set.

http://www.leaderboard.com/swingwt.htm

[cvisinho]

Luckilly i do have a scale at home, Ill give that a try.

 

Searching around i found this little calculator below, claims i should actually be in a standard length set for my height/wrist to floor length. Go figure

Ping webfit had me at +.5

Needless to say, im probably going to stroll into a real fitter soon and asses a re tooling of my current Nikes or figure something out.

 

http://www.goldeneaglegolf.com/lengthhelp.htm

 

[cvisinho]

Funny how i matched up old and new clubs, length seems to be a match

 

Biggest things i noticed were face offset was deeper on the old Adams and the Adams has more heel weighting than the new Nike, which is mostly toe.

 

Im sure both of those things play a decent factor.

 

I have not weighed them yet for comparison. Couldn't find my scale.