Players' Distance Irons

[hypergolf]

These so called Players' Distance Irons seem to be nothing more than slightly thicker top line and jacked up lofts.

For example, Players' Distance 7 Iron seems to be the exact same loft as my 6 iron.

 

Has anyone bent their so called Distance Irons to more of a traditional loft and compared to see if there is actual difference in distance and accuracy compared to players' MB or CBs?

Is this all marketing or is there really something to it when you compare apples to apples?

[DFS PFD]

The players distance irons (while stronger in loft) often produce higher launch than your equivalent 6 iron with less spin (more distance) while maintaining an aggressive enough angle of descent to still be playable by most.

[JasonPetermann]

Lots of threads on this already. Been done to death. Using search will give you lots to read.

[herbert7890]

I will say this again. For many good players, the players distance irons will balloon and actually lose significant distance, as in my case. It happened with T200, P790, etc. Blades and Players forged CB is where is at.

[GHIN n Juice]

> @"DFS PFD" said:

> The players distance irons (while stronger in loft) often produce higher launch than your equivalent 6 iron with less spin (more distance) while maintaining an aggressive enough angle of descent to still be playable by most.

 

This. Players distance irons may be strong lifted but the real tech is the ability of these clubs to launch higher and still hold greens. For many the key is an old 6 iron loft now launches higher, is more forgiving and still is able to hold a green like a higher lofted club. Not for all but a plus for many.

[fsusmith]

> @herbert7890 said:

> I will say this again. For many good players, the players distance irons will balloon and actually lose significant distance, as in my case. It happened with T200, P790, etc. Blades and Players forged CB is where is at.

 

Are you seeing this at a certain swing speed?

[herbert7890]

> @fsusmith said:

> > @herbert7890 said:

> > I will say this again. For many good players, the players distance irons will balloon and actually lose significant distance, as in my case. It happened with T200, P790, etc. Blades and Players forged CB is where is at.

>

> Are you seeing this at a certain swing speed?

 

my 7 iron swing speed is around 89-93but I have a really high launch angle as well. Every "PLayers Distance irons" was giving me 24-26 launch angle with 7 iron, no matter the shaft (C taper helped a bit but couldn't counter the club) I had to come back to my trusty blades to get the distance and launch angle back.............

[1Mordrid1]

> @fsusmith said:

> > @herbert7890 said:

> > I will say this again. For many good players, the players distance irons will balloon and actually lose significant distance, as in my case. It happened with T200, P790, etc. Blades and Players forged CB is where is at.

>

> Are you seeing this at a certain swing speed?

 

Everyone's swing is different, but in general, "ballooning" is usually caused by excessive spin. Player's distance irons are typically lower spin than a more traditional players iron(mainly because static loft effects spin). Therefore players distance irons could actually help a lot of high spin players avoid the ballooning effect. However players with really high ball speed and an already high launch angle can still see this ballooning effect in players distance irons because of the higher launch angle from a players distance iron.

[Golf64]

It's distance in a smaller, thinner package. ;)

[Davidv]

Jacked up lofts, higher launch, very forgiving , look great gotta love my Ping G700 irons.

[KMeloney]

> @herbert7890 said:

> I will say this again. For many good players, the players distance irons will balloon and actually lose significant distance, as in my case. It happened with T200, P790, etc. Blades and Players forged CB is where is at.

 

What's a "good player"? Not my case at all, and certainly don't see where ballooning would increase as the player gets better.

[bazinky]

These irons really seem to be hit or miss depending on the type of player. Just from observing guys at my club, I've developed a theory that they work best for smooth swingers who still hit the middle of the club face. The guys that I've seen struggle with them all have seemed to be high swing speed, agressive swingers or guys that really need true GI levels of forgiveness.

 

I'm due for a new set of irons, so I hope to be able to test this theory as the season winds down. I fall into the smooth swinger category, and I could always use a bit more distance.

[iceman1118]

I am so confused on this debate. I came from Titleist 718 CB, stock PX LZ 6.0 shaft, and was recently fitted into the 2019 P790 with C Taper 130 X. I am a 7 handicap, ball striking with irons is not an issue for me, and have gained maybe 5 yards of distance per iron. Ball flight is exactly the same as the CB, I have never hit a so called flier in almost 2 months of playing with them, and I get perfect one hop and stop on the green with every club. I know because I have tested each club on the course multiple times on approach shots. But I truly believe being fitted for the proper shaft makes a world of difference.

 

I know many guys who use this iron set, ranging from 2 to 12 handicaps and they do not seem to have any issues either. So like I said, I am confused.

 

And for reference, yesterday I played with a guy is a former Euro Tour Player and he has Mizuno MP4 blades with PX 6.0 shafts. 155 yard par 3 I wanted to test his irons vs mine. I hit my 9 iron pin high and grabbed his 9 iron afterwards to test. I put a good swing on it and hit the ball on the same line and my pitch marks and ball landing were maybe 3 yards short. The two divots were nearly identical. So I have a hard time understanding this debate when I get those results.

[KMeloney]

> @iceman1118 said:

>So I have a hard time understanding this debate when I get those results.

 

Probably because you have actual playing experience with them, and are not just theorizing.

[herbert7890]

> @bazinky said:

> These irons really seem to be hit or miss depending on the type of player. Just from observing guys at my club, I've developed a theory that they work best for smooth swingers who still hit the middle of the club face. The guys that I've seen struggle with them all have seemed to be high swing speed, agressive swingers or guys that really need true GI levels of forgiveness.

>

> I'm due for a new set of irons, so I hope to be able to test this theory as the season winds down. I fall into the smooth swinger category, and I could always use a bit more distance.

 

Totally agree with your theory, in my case I fit with 2 of the 3 criteria (higher swing speed and aggressive swinger as well)

[herbert7890]

> @KMeloney said:

> > @herbert7890 said:

> > I will say this again. For many good players, the players distance irons will balloon and actually lose significant distance, as in my case. It happened with T200, P790, etc. Blades and Players forged CB is where is at.

>

> What's a "good player"? Not my case at all, and certainly don't see where ballooning would increase as the player gets better.

 

I would probably relate good players to 12 handicap or below (not a hrd line there, could be less or more). Usually better players also have higher swing speeds (again, not 100% but many of them) which leads these type of irons to go extremely high and thus, defeat the purpose of "distance irons". They are distance irons if you have average or slow swing speeds and NEED the higher launch, otherwise these will be to your detriment. Pretty basic stuff, more launch angle = less distance and carry (for a higher swing speed golfer) Higher launch angle = more distance and carry for slower swingers (if you current ball flight is very low)

[KMeloney]

I've got to disagree with you. Whereas I'm not that good of a player, I'm @ the middle of your HCP range, and I've never experienced ballooning with these clubs. They just are not a detriment.

 

Good players (not including myself here) will tend to deloft the club. That, combined with lower-than-"traditional" lofts, will not result in "high launch."

 

Also, there's a huge difference between hitting the ball high and having it "balloon." I've always understood "ballooning" to be when the ball starts out on a given trajectory then climbs abruptly and falls very vertically. If you've experienced this with these clubs, then there's a swing or ill-fitted shaft issue.

[wobgon]

Seems to be alot of opinions disguised as fact being thrown around in this thread......Not sure being a self proclaimed "good player" qualifies someone to be an expert on matters relating to players distance irons.

[JJK947]

If you're ballooning P790's there's something wrong, whether it's the swing or the fit. They are a low spin design compared to a forged blade or CB. Not sure about how the short irons play, I'm really only speaking to the mid and long irons as those are the ones I've had significant experience with. There's also a big difference between a high ball flight and ballooning. The P790 are designed to have a higher flight relative to their lofts and players irons in general. Unless you play dinky little courses with soft greens, you want a high ball flight as long as spin is in an acceptable range and dispersion don't suffer. The knock on P790 has always been distance control, never have really heard of ballooning issues with them.

[herbert7890]

> @KMeloney said:

> I've got to disagree with you. Whereas I'm not that good of a player, I'm @ the middle of your HCP range, and I've never experienced ballooning with these clubs. They just are not a detriment.

>

> Good players (not including myself here) will tend to deloft the club. That, combined with lower-than-"traditional" lofts, will not result in "high launch."

>

> Also, there's a huge difference between hitting the ball high and having it "balloon." I've always understood "ballooning" to be when the ball starts out on a given trajectory then climbs abruptly and falls very vertically. If you've experienced this with these clubs, then there's a swing or ill-fitted shaft issue.

 

As I said before, its all about swing speed, you might have a smoother swing and thus they will absolutely work wonders for you. Of course all decent players will deloft the club, but when the club's only purpose is to hit it to the sky, there is no amount of delofting that will counter this, trust me. But again, it will greatly depending on swing's tempo and speed.

 

To me with irons; high ball flight = BAD BAD (and I call that ballooning, might be using the wrong term, but you understand me)

[KMeloney]

High =/= ballooning. If you think they're the same, then that's part of the problem in this discussion.

 

How long did you play the 790s, and what shaft did you have in them?

 

 

[herbert7890]

> @KMeloney said:

> High =/= ballooning. If you think they're the same, then that's part of the problem in this discussion.

>

> How long did you play the 790s, and what shaft did you have in them?

>

>

 

P790s was just testing 4 times in launch monitor (around 3 hours with them total) Now with T-200s, I actually got them and have been playing with them since launch (2 months now) with the stock AMT Black shaft, nonetheless I have gone through 3 additional fittings at Edwin Watts with every single shaft combination and cant bring the launch angle to any normal level. THat's when I found the MP-20s SEL (im a lefty) and finally pretty much every shaft was decent, and some of them amazing (C-Taper, Project X). For reference I have been playing for over 20 years, most of the time playing forged irons, so I may be used to they reach and launch compared to these new breed of irons. Players distance irons are just not for me. Just cant wait for my MP-20s to arrive, should be here anyday, so I can return the T-200s.

[BCC1898]

> @herbert7890 said:

> I will say this again. For many good players, the players distance irons will balloon and actually lose significant distance, as in my case. It happened with T200, P790, etc. Blades and Players forged CB is where is at.

 

I think you’re confusing PDI and SGI irons, otherwise what you’re saying makes ZERO sense.

 

 

[BCC1898]

> @herbert7890 said:

> > @KMeloney said:

> > High =/= ballooning. If you think they're the same, then that's part of the problem in this discussion.

> >

> > How long did you play the 790s, and what shaft did you have in them?

> >

> >

>

> P790s was just testing 4 times in launch monitor (around 3 hours with them total) Now with T-200s, I actually got them and have been playing with them since launch (2 months now) with the stock AMT Black shaft, nonetheless I have gone through 3 additional fittings at Edwin Watts with every single shaft combination and cant bring the launch angle to any normal level. THat's when I found the MP-20s SEL (im a lefty) and finally pretty much every shaft was decent, and some of them amazing (C-Taper, Project X). For reference I have been playing for over 20 years, most of the time playing forged irons, so I may be used to they reach and launch compared to these new breed of irons. Players distance irons are just not for me. Just cant wait for my MP-20s to arrive, should be here anyday, so I can return the T-200s.

 

Now this makes more sense. You’re comparing a fairly high spin AMT Black with a ultra low spin C Taper. Of course there’s going to be a difference, but it isn’t related to the PDI category. It’s a shaft fitting issue.

 

 

[daniel gibson]

Having just gone this way myself it is less about the distance. As a "better player" I am very aware how the loft is effecting distance. It is more about forgiveness but still having a club that suits my eye.

 

I spin a 30 degree 7 iron around 6,000 and guess what I spin my old 30 degree 6 iron around 6,000 and both around the same distance.

 

I do not understand everyone's beef. If someone wants to claim they've hit a 7 iron x distance so be it, or if someone wants to say they hit a 30 degree club x distance so be it.

 

I think the more valid point is miss an MB 5 millimetres low and a players distance iron the same there will be a difference and I think a few more people should put their ego aside and could well benefit for doing so.

[wdaig1]

Just like with the woods, you should do individual club testing when getting fit for irons now. Because every iron set is different. So you need to know the launch and spin numbers to make sure you won't be hitting fliers or not having the ability to hold greens. With the lower spin on these clubs, I haven't seen anyone have issues with ballooning.