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

[braincramp52]

Why is that?

[MtlJeff]

I play blades too then. My set is LW .

From 4 to SW I use G410s for a bit of extra forgiveness. But I'm a blade guy . You should see me work that LW

[Marco Colo]

???

If I was hitting the ball as you do, being scratch, I would play with the bunker rake..

How are the fairways where you usually play? Here from May to September are pretty hard and it affects my ball striking, since the good habit of ball first and then turf doesn’t happen 99,99% of the time.

I have discovered that playing with thinner soles I get similar/better results and more content and satisfaction.

 

[MtlJeff]

I play early in the morning so usually they are wet. But I take a very small divot and sometimes no divot. So it doesnt really affect me

[Hit em good]

I can't stand hitting GI clubs.

[8thehardway]

I’ve had the same drive since I took up golf, 170 carry plus 20 - 40 yards roll depending on conditions. 10 years into the game and halfway through a bucket a I hit two consecutive drives into the middle of the driving range net 220 yards out, I’m thinking 240 – 250 full carry. No gradual increases prior to this miracle, no gradual decreases after and no idea what I did differently; that’s my experience with a golf gods joke.

I’ve seen two examples that somewhat mirror your experience. I play a lot with a buddy who got back into golf after a long absence; he used TM Burners (2007/2008 model), maybe the ultimate SGI irons at that time with 60g regular graphite shafts, and over five years he became a good golfer with them. For reference re what I consider “good,” the course is an easy par 70 muni playing 5908 yards and rated 67.9 from the middle tees. He was 52, drove around 230 (total distance) and averaged 78 over approx. 60 rounds in his last season with the Burners.

He wanted to get better and picked up some Wilson Staff Tour Blades from Edwin Watts on sale brand new for $189 (just a ridiculous price) with True Temper TX 105 stiff shafts. He hit them higher and more accurately. In his first season he averaged 76 and broke par for the first time; next year he averaged 74 and he shot an inspired 4-under 66.

2nd example, same guy. A few years later I’m playing with a friend who is a very good recreational golfer – big, athletic with a Fred Couples-like swing, massive distance and, of course, different specs… Epon 503 irons (cavity back) with back weighted 135-gram stiff shafts and oversize grips. MY buddy rides up to chat, tries the Epons and gains 15-yards, a higher trajectory and impressive accuracy and spin. He confirmed the results on five other occasions after which he spent a year trying to match my friend’s fitted and tweaked set without success. No way those specs should have suited him to begin with, but you don’t know what you don’t know.

[nsxguy]

Just a thought. People might have some idea about what you're talking about if you used the "Quote" function.

Surely you don't think, after 200+ posts, anyone remembers what the OP wrote. Or do you ?

[8thehardway]

Actually I thought general interest had waned but the OP might still be interested, but I've been away since the format change so I'd probably have forgotten the next time - thank you for the heads-up.

BTW, when Acura first introduced the NSX they brought 10 of them to Pocono Raceway and hired Bondurant drivers to show guests (as passengers) what the cars could do, how we could do it and then switched places so we could take curves at speed, accelerate on straightaways and drift through the chicanes like adrenalized puff adders.

[nsxguy]

In '91(?) when they first introduced the NSX I couldn't afford a Toyota. LOL

Didn't get interested in the car until about 2000.

[8thehardway]

Yeah, either '90 or '91. I bought an '89 Acura Legend early in 1990 and an invite to the track came within six months. It was just the sort of car that would wrack up a bunch of tickets, wreck my marriage (see "Gold-digger" videos on YouTube) and then kill me.

[BobaDefett]

I was interested, thank you for your post.

[bladehunter]

nevermind. I’m too tired for this. ?

[pb08]

Me Too! When I am hitting it good, I want a smaller head...then I went retro (40 yr old blades) and hit it even better. Experientially better, but cognitively confused with all the lingo (high handicapper, game improvement, ... marketing stuff).

There are degrees of mis-hits. It seems to me a mis-hit is a mis-hit and the ball never goes to the right place.

With the blade (soft iron), I get rewarded with a silky smooth buttery feel on a good hit and that brings me back. When I mis hit, it is not so good but I get a lot of feedback (the clang) and that forces me to focus and that is all good. When I play bad, it is terrible and if I can't focus, it is really bad....and time to enjoy the walk and go practice. If it doesn't come back, I switch to cavity backs.

With the cavity back, I also get rewarded with a good hit BUT it is not the same buttery feel But still very good harder solid feel and that brings me back too. When I mishit, it is more in the right place (distance and direction wise) though not really where I want the ball. I find that with a larger cavity back slight mishits have more dispersion and are all over the place, some high, some left and right but generally up in the air so all seems ok.

I also switched back due to "less offset". In past year/monthsI developed a problem with my grip and squaring the club. Tried different grips but switched to blade with much less offset to sort it out. Something screwing up my head with the visual of offset...strange creatures that we are.

Well, as Hogan says, "...only 1 or 2 perfect shots per round...". I score better with cavity back but love the soft solid buttery feel (and the potential consistency/accuracy) of a blade.

[m5rider]

Well, me too. I went in to get fitted for Mizuno JPX-900, either Tour or Forged. With the same shaft, they launched the same, but the Tour was consistently 1.5 mph faster and went straighter/longer. The fitter just shrugged his shoulders and said "can't explain that one."

[Rbsiedsc]

So having MBs from 6-PW or 7-PW is likely a way to go with CBs in the upper irons? I have noticed with my 4-6 I wondered why I keep hooking them and never thought to think it was an offset issue.

[Liveonce]

I started with hot metal pro mizunos but I felt like the face was too hot and got punished for solid strikes as I sometimes would catch a flyer. Switched to cavity backs and pretty much forced myself to become a better ball striker, which I’m still working at but getting better

[Leftlove94]

For whatever reason, I’m about a full club longer with every Blade/players cavity I play. On the range they look the same, but once I get on turf with real balls there’s a discernible difference. I’m convinced it forces you to make solid contact. With GI’s you can also lump the “non-aggregious” mishits in with the solid shots, because you can’t really tell the difference. With blades, absolutely know exactly where you struck it everytime.

 

[Rbsiedsc]

Ya, i am still tinkering with my swing. huge over the top move than now i have made too flat. i feel like I will now have better ball striking. Something about my Speedblades throws me off.

[Bad9]

I don't discredit or question your experience in any way but I have never hit an iron yet where I din't know where on the face I hit it. The results of the shot may or may not be dramatically different but I know where I mishit it, IE if I miss towards the toe the result may be a little shorter or what have but I know I missed towards the toe. I can tell the difference"absolutely, every time". Same goes for a driver that many also say they never can tell on the face where they hit the ball.

[Leftlove94]

Driver I can 100% tell every shot exactly where it was struck

GI irons, I just find too muted to tell sometimes, especially at a range off matts where everything feels like crap.

[Vater]

A lot of amateurs use clubs that are too heavy. It’s not that they are weak, but they don’t have the proper golf muscles to swing the clubs they’re swinging. They also should use more forgiving irons. I see a lot of 10- to 12-handicappers using very small irons and they need to realize they’re going to miss a lot more shots than hit those solid. … I’ve always thought clubfitting is super important for guys like that.

Not me... Webb Simpson said that.