Hitting "players" clubs better than G.I. clubs?

[Marco Colo]

Lessons shall be part of the equation, or you just repeat the same wrong swing over and over. If any, I lack in practicing more, but work, family and distance form the golf club shall be taken into due account.

It comes to having a good swing motion, good rotation and connection to achieve decent the accuracy and compression . Am I there? No but I am certainly improving and I take a lesson a month in average, just to check that I didn’t pick new bad habits and learn a bit more.

Wide soles affect my swing, whether is mental or connected to my swing characteristics. If not in my brain, maybe it has to do with the bounce and my shallow swing with almost tiny divot, if any. Whatever is the reason, wide soles equals to big times right or left in bad swings 4/5 times a round. With thinner soles I tend to be much straighter with my miss. This is valid for the bad swings.

Coming to the decent ones but not great (the stove burns), I believe that the more indulgent is the club with slightly misses, the lazier becomes the player, because everything becomes shaded.

At the end of the day, no one can put players in clusters due to the handicap or GIR and it looks that the low handicappers forget that it is a learning process and everyone learn in different ways. Not to bu misconstrued as we all should play thin soles and for sure that category helps more people than it hurts, but I personally didn’t find the game easier or funnier with GI irons.

I play for fun and if I hit 94 instead of 90, it is fine. It is a game and I like playing at my best, but who cares. I take the game seriously, but I am learning every day something new and if I want to shave points on the card chipping and putting would come much stronger than 4/5 shots lost from irons play.

Today I didn’t swing very good, I really felt lack of rotation throughout all the swing (back and down) and connection especially in the downswing. However I have scored my average score as when I was playing with the GI, but the sensation of hitting a 4 iron into 30 km/h wind over the water and ending up on the green with a forged iron made my day, more than a birdie.

 

[chippa13]

This is the only sport where people will choose equipment that makes the game harder for them on purpose.

[Marco Colo]

This is the only sport where every player with some knowledge syndicate what someone else should play, as they have the truth in their pocket. What is good for someone could be not that good for me, especially in a sport where the mental part is so active

[chippa13]

So funny how golfers think it is the only sport with a mental side. The difference is that in other sports the athletes pick the equipment that allows them to perform the best at that moment, not a year down the road or so.

[nsxguy]

"the sensation of hitting a 4 iron into 30 km/h wind over the water and ending up on the green with a forged iron made my day, more than a birdie."

That's all I need to hear.

So long as you enjoy yourself that's all that counts.

Good luck with the game.

 

[hdgolf44]

In my experience, If I'd have a better game from the Tee (hitting more fairways) I'd absolutely play GI's over PLayers clubs.

Don't get me wrong, it is awesome hitting a GI mid-iron sky-high and getting it to land softly from the fairway.

My reasoning is solely based on the increased workability that I'm getting when I'm playing from off the fairway. The wider soles and "point and shoot" style of the GI clubs have given me trouble at times when I whave to work the ball. The courses I play are mainly tree lined, so you can often find your ball, but will have to deal with overhanging limbs which will prevent just hitting a stock shot.

I wouldn't say i hit one or the other better, but using GI's hasn't lowered my score either. I just favor the ability to flight the ball a bit better.

Now, to work on my Long Game to make this point moot...

[braincramp52]

Many golfers play the game just to enjoy themselves in their own way with no regards to a score also. You may find that hard to believe but I know it's a fact.

[Marco Colo]

I saw amateur tennis players with Federer's or Nadal rackets and they barely can hold a tennis racket in their hands. I am sure the same happens with baseball bats or hockey sticks.

Golf is not the only mental game, but being more static than others, the mental side plays a big part. Also tennis has a strong mental component, but in my experience less

[Tree Levino]

Surfing as well. Bad intermediate surfers thinking they rip and buying chipped out shortboards.

[Tree Levino]

That’s a myth. It’s all technique. I can flight a Ping G under a tree with ease.

[MtlJeff]

Skiing too.

I wouldn't say its exclusive to golf

But as another poster mentioned, many golfers are playing just for fun and not to shoot their lowest potential scores. And that is perfectly fine.

[Orange Hog]

I hate seeing manufacturers with recommended handicap ranges for certain types of irons. As a 13 handicap I've played CB/MB irons for the last several years. Ball striking in general hasn't been my weakness. My issues have been 1) hitting a decent amount of GIR's so I have a shot at birdies and 2) short game (or inside 130 yards). When I'm practicing my short game my handicap drops and when I don't then I see a noticeable difference in my scores. So with all that being said I want to play an iron that feels, sounds and looks amazing. It's why I've been a Srixon guy since the 45 series came out. I think their stuff looks incredible and feels just as good. Currently I play a blended 785/Z-Forged set and I wouldn't trade them for anything on the market.

 

I've always struggled with the concept that bigger clubs will suddenly cure bad ball striking. IMO handicap improvement comes from practice and working with a qualified teaching pro vs equipment. Fitting is essential but once that's done go and play and practice. When it comes to what goes into the bag I say play what looks good to your eye and will give you confidence standing over the ball.

[Westcoastlefty]

I play to a 3 handicap or so (sometimes 2 ... sometimes 4) - I find the sole of clubs make striking challenging. Thinner sole, easier to hit ... maybe weird, yet never can get along with these wide / V soles ....

[Westcoastlefty]

Lot of guys like distance control as well with smaller / simpler clubs - no hot spot takeoffs

[DevilDog]

One thing that is fact that club engineers know is the smaller head of a blade, while maybe not as forgiving, is easier to keep square to path than a larger cavity back. I've heard an actual Ping engineer talk about this in conjunction with the design of the Blueprint irons. Golf, like any other sport, is a game of trade-offs. Have to make own decision as to what is important to you and then play the clubs that support that approach.

[Westcoastlefty]

Best of both worlds? Check out Epic Pro irons ... gone through 10 sets, these rock.

[Tree Levino]

The crew that goes on about blades being just as friendly as irons with more "help" often reference this Ping Blueprint thing. The quote was that for SOME VERY GOOD PLAYERS (important to emphasize here) that the smaller hitting area was beneficial. They did not say, for the 15 HC that hits 3 or 4 greens in reg that they are going to have an easier time.

 

To the second quote, if you're missing greens - blades aren't helping you. If you go hit a Mizuno 919 Forged (IMO one of the most forgiving "players irons" ) vs the MP20 MB (a great iron which I gamed) - I almost guarantee you that you hit the ball straighter with the 919F. Of course this thread was always going to turn into this it's the same old song and dance. MOI is a thing. If you don't hit dead center of the club there will be minor twisting of the club face. Depending on path and face to path that means your shots with a lower MOI iron will likely be slightly more offline. Narrower soles are also easier to manipulate at impact - again making you miss more off target.

Play what you want to play but you can't have it both ways. Guys saying they have lower dispersion with blades or small CBs but that they love how workable they are? These threads are a mess. I play and love blades but also understand that they are punishing if you aren't on your game.

[Bad9]

C'mon man stop being reasonable

[nsxguy]

You picked a bad analogy here my friend.

While I haven't been "into" tennis for quite some time now, and there is definitely some fine tuning involved with tennis rackets at the uppermost levels, string tension being the obvious one, the old style racket, equivalent to a blade iron, is gone forever. I believe nobody uses one (seriously) anymore.

The "oversize" rackets, akin to golf's SGI iron, are generally for folks who have trouble generating swing speed. Gives them more power and forgiveness at the expense of a loss of control. IIRC a few pros actually played an oversize racket way back when ? Now ? Don't really know but I doubt it.

The "midsize" racket, likened to a GI iron, is the thing now. Small enough to be easily maneuverable and larger enough to be forgiving enough to some/many/most(?) players.

Now I don't know if the true blade iron will ever disappear from the manufacturers' arsenals but does any (or ALL) of this sound somewhat familiar ? LOL

 

[nsxguy]

 

"As a 13 handicap I've played CB/MB irons for the last several years. Ball striking in general hasn't been my weakness. My issues have been 1) hitting a decent amount of GIR's "

 

Wait. What ??? 

[DevilDog]

Never said Blueprint was as forgiving. What I did say is that the smaller heads help keep face square to path easier than a larger head. This is a fact whether it is Blueprint or something else small. I also said the blades are not as forgiving. One needs to determine game objectives and choose the club that meets that approach. That was the point

[Marco Colo]

I’ve been a lot into tennis and trust me, more similarities than you could expect. Size dish of the racket, weight, profile (slimmer or fatter), grip size, weights on the various parts of the head, cords quality and tension. Modern rackets have had a full range to chose from covering the beginner up to the pro, exactly like golf

[Tree Levino]

That part of my reply wasn't directed at you. I also don't understand the argument with squaring the face. I have had sets of Titleist MB and Srixon 785 - very different blade length and no issue squaring either. That's on the player.

 

[chippa13]

You're confusing 2 different things. Every sport has plenty of amateurs who will purchase equipment because they believe it will make them perform like their favorite star of that sport. That is different from knowingly and willfully purchasing equipment which one knows will make a game harder for them than other equipment. I've yet to have this conversation in the lockerroom:

 

"Say, Todd, its been ages since you've scored a goal, what gives?"

"I decided to start working with this new curve that I can't shoot a lick with, but man, am I sure having fun."

[chippa13]

This is what I hear when a higher handicapper defends their decision with this kind of logic......

"My clubface is square, sure is. I haven't a shot on the sweetspot all day or hit a green but, boy, is my clubface square."

[nsxguy]

For me that (grips size, weight added) falls in the area of "fine tuning" I referred to. Yes, there are those things in both golf and tennis.

But there are basically only 2 size rackets today; mid-size and oversize, no ? Why doesn't anybody use the old small ("blade") racket anymore ?

There are still golfers who prefer blades. There are NO tennis players that prefer "blade" style rackets. The (presumed) added precision of the old small racket is completely outweighed by the much more forgiving mid-size racket.

And after all, in golf, isn't the forgiveness of a GI vs the "precision" of the MB/blade the overriding/main point of all these MB/blade vs. GI arguments ?

[achappy]

I'm not the OP but I will only add this to another one of theses threads. Ever since I started the game, I didn't have a problem hitting the sweetspot. From a high teen handicapper down to a +2 at my best. When I was a high handicapper, my issue was that I couldn't hit woods. So I teed off with a Tommy Armour 845 0 Iron (16* of loft). My bad shots were always path related (so no iron will help) but I still rarely missed the swing spot so blades were never a problem.

 

[Marco Colo]

It comes down to the same result.

Trust me, I can’t understand why two or three guys here are so keen that GI are better clubs for high-mid cappers. I have played GI irons for almost all of my golf life (3 years) and once I have hit something considerably thinner, I didn’t see a huge difference in the performance, but I felt more satisfied entering into a new challenge with a ton of feedback and (my personal feeling) better control.

What does it bug you so much? Am I not part of the elite thar hits 15 greens in reg so am I not dignified to hit a players CB? If you are scratch and play GI, it doesn’t disappoint me.

I am tired of wide soles and want to use CBS for the next season and the results so far tell that it is not a silly decision. Maybe I will appreciate the GIs later on, or will get single digit at the end of the season. For sure it will be fun

[Marco Colo]

Do you recall any analogy between golf and tennis gears?https://youtu.be/Lqh0OTuhyLg

[nsxguy]

Sorry, not "biting" (or watching the video)

Enjoy your afternoon.