Are modern irons with stronger lofts easier/harder to hit than older irons?

[harpua728]

Hopefully this question makes sense....

Being that higher lofted irons within the same set are easier to hit (i.e. an 8 iron is easier to hit than a 6 iron), I'm trying to draw comparisons to modern irons with stronger lofts, and if these lofts make them harder to hit in theory.

My 10 year old 7 iron is 33 degrees and carries about 150. When comparing this to some of the newer sets out there where 7-irons are slightly longer (club length) and have lofts of 30 degrees, would this mean that "on paper" the modern 7-iron is "harder" to hit than my 10-year old 7 iron? Or should I be comparing my 7-iron to the modern 8-iron, which would likely carry as far as my current 7-iron?

Hope this makes sense. Thanks.

[CAT GOLFER]

Good question, they way I understand it, disregard the number on the bottom of the club.

a stronger(lower) loft in newer irons will produce a higher ball flight than the the weaker(higher) loft in older clubs. At least that is the marketing pitch. The intent is to make it easier to launch the ball higher and in the process easier to hit. Also, keep in mind modern clubs also have more forgiveness built into them. Stronger lofted, higher launching, easier to hit if you buy the whole pitch.

[aggiegolfer21]

Don't compare the number on the club, compare the difficulty of hitting to specific yardages instead. For instance, compare how easy it is to hit a club 150 yards from a strong lofted vs weak lofted set. So let's say in the strong lofted set you hit your 7 iron 160 yards and the weak lofted set you hit the 6 iron 160 yards. The shaft in the 7 iron is potentially shorter, giving you more control. The strong lofted iron set also probably has a face with higher moi and a lower center of gravity giving it a higher launch with less spin and more forgiveness. If this is what you're looking for from your irons then it's the way to go. If you want a lower flight with more spin then go for the weak lofted iron set (likely the more bladed iron set). Just be careful that the lofts in the strong lofted set aren't so strong that you can't get the ball in the air with the long irons. Personally, I'm a scratch handicap and I like a lot more forgiveness and less spin so the ball flight is straighter. I tend to go with slightly strong lofted game improvement irons.

[harpua728]

Thanks for this. Do the lower spin heads impact their ability to hold greens, or is that offset by the higher launch?

[Sean2]

I don't pay attention to the number on the club, so much as the loft. With the stronger lofts, I have no long irons in my bag as I simply can't hit them...maybe being 65 has something to do with it as well, lol. At one time I carried 4-iron on down, now it's 7-iron on down. But now way I can hit a 18º-19º 4-iron, let alone a 21º 5. I have the same number of irons...they just have a different number/letter on them than they did before.

[Old Tom Morris]

Some of the Game Improvement and Super Game Improvement Irons launch higher and have hot faces. I.e. hollowed clubheads with a thin spring-like face that goes longer with less spin. Really nothing to compare these clubs to from 15 years ago.

Figure out your yardages. Keep in mind the ball will have less spin so height is used in the design as a means to stop the ball on the green.

[ohioglfr]

Another element to consider with modern, strong-lofted irons are the hotter, flex-face technologies vs the weaker-lofted, pre-hollow core heads. Dispersion, distance penalties on mis-hits, etc.

[ChipNRun]

In the early 2000s, the lower lofts were part of the arms race to have 180-yard 7i (quite a goal back then).

But, you get to about 2015, and high-launching clubhead designs are such that a slightly stronger loft will keep the ball from ballooning - just like Ping did with the Eye family back around 1990.

There's a lot more to modern iron heads than stronger lofts. You have hollow heads in some models, the TaylorMade Thru-Slot, and Callaway using hybrid technology to improve irons, and infinite variations on perimeter weighting.

And, it depends on what you mean by older. My 1972 MacGregor MT musclebacks I played for 20 years, or Titleist DCI 981s from 1998?

What goes around, comes around. That's why I advised my brother to hang onto his old Burner FWs. When bubble shafts come back around, he can be the first guy on the block to play them!

[Warrick]

Important to pair the right shat with these new iron set ups, more so than ever.

[Zen_Golfer]

I think its kind of a double-edged sword. What you gain in distance you lose in spin and considering that irons are clubs that are meant to be accurate, hit the ball to a certain distance and make the ball stop somewhere around the distance, maybe more distance, more ball speed and less spin isnt always the best.

I personally enjoy older irons more because they have less loft, hit the ball higher and put more spin on the ball; which makes them more usable, even if they are a club or 2 shorter than modern irons.

I think the big advantage that modern irons have is how forgiving they are. With a modern iron, you can miss the sweet spot and still get really good distance out of it. If you take an older iron like Ping Eye2 or a TA 845, if you compare loft to loft (a modern 7-iron to a vintage 5-iron), the distance is actually pretty much the same but the difference is on mishits.

Ive got a fairly new set of Tommy Armour Atomics and while the lofts are super strong on them (the PW is like 41 degrees), I can still play pretty well with them even when my swing is off. Ive also got several sets of vintage clubs: Mizuno Silver Cup, Spalding Tournament and Ping G10s and with most of those, other than the Pings, if my swing is off, its going to be a long day.

[Mikey5e]

Easier, better technology / forgiveness.

[puttingmatt]

Look at it like this, instead of missing the green with a standard lofted 7 iron, now you can miss the green with the strong lofted 8 iron.

I do not think the modern lofted irons translate into better scores, or better misses for golfers.

The loft alone is not going to turn a 5hc into a scratch player.

[Socrates]

It's not the loft. It's the length of the shaft that makes it easier to hit. The shorter a shaft, the easier to control.

 

[jgard320]

I don't buy the anti-ballooning argument. A 45* 9 iron would balloon and go too high, but a 45* PW won't? Very few amateurs that SGI heads are marketed to hit the ball too high anyways.

[Golfinomglol]

There has been a lot of criticism of the strong lofted irons, but I still haven't really seen a definitive answer to the ultimate question. I am a 4-handicap, drive it around 265-285 in normal flat conditions, 5 wood goes anywhere from 215-235, hit my 10-year-old AP2 7-iron (35 degree loft) about 153ish and I feel like a short knocker.

I really and truly don't care about being long just to say I'm long...I don't have a big ego about these things. But, I hit my 7,8,9,pw way straighter and way more solid than I hit my 3,4,5,6 iron, which I tend to hook and have contact issues at times. If I get a stronger lofted set and am hitting a 7 iron from 175, is it going to feel like my ap2 7 iron or is it going to like my ap2 5 iron? I hit it really high anyway so I can deal with less spin/lower launch. I'd think hitting a

[disco111]

My current set have strong lofts (7 is at 28.5) for as a senior with a SS of 76 for the 7, was just looking to getting back to that 150 distance with a 7. To my disappointment, this did not happen. There came a distance disparagement from 140 to 160+. Come up short on one hole and fly it over on the next. Apparently the so-called "hot spots" in the club face happened, for it sure wasn't my SS increasing from hole to hole. So Iv'e come to the conclusion that going back to standard lofts, whatever they currently be (7 at 33*) should afford a controlled distance and allow for better scoring. As many have stated, forget what the number is and just hit what gives you the correct distance with control. One would think that having a shorter shaft with the stronger loft would accomplish what your looking for and it very well may do that, if you get the correct heads that don't have the flex face tech and hot spots.

[Golfinomglol]

Thanks for this! Good to know. I definitely love my AP2s...distance and feel is super consistent, but just wish I was maybe 1.5 clubs longer. I might demo some strong loft ones and see if I get what I’m looking for.

[Golfinomglol]

I just discovered the Titleist T400s. The 9-iron is 33 degrees! If I bought those clubs, I'd have a 40 yard gap between my gap wedge and my pitching wedge.

 

I guess you'd have to go:

5: 197 yards

6: 187 yards

7: 177 yards

8: 167 yards

9: 157 yards

P: 147 yards

AP2 9: 135 yards

AP2 PW: 125 yards

What an adventure that'd be. Make sure you grab the right 9 iron!!

 

 

[NoTalentLefty]

So true. 6 iron is the first iron in my bag. It has 26 degrees. 3 thru 5 are hybrids.

[lil'mike]

I guess you could say it something like this. Nowadays when you use a 5 iron, you get the height of a 6 iron but the distance of a 4 iron! lol

I do think that it can make it hard to hold greens with the irons producing lower spin or at least too low of spin like some reviewers have mentioned in some cases.

The bad thing about the stronger lofts is that they are getting to a point of needing two gap wedges now before you reach the loft spacing that a sand wedge loft of 56 degrees has. For example, the new Mavrik irons have two gap wedges. So it is a 4 iron at 18 degrees, a PW is 41, so AW is 46 and GW is 51. I think that is getting ridiculous as they are turning the stock set makeup from 3-PW to 6-double gap wedge! lol

 

[Mikey5e]

Same here, my 6-iron is the first Iron in my bag at 27 degrees. I have three hybrids below these that compared to lower iron distance.

[cgasucks]

Me personally as the OEMs make irons with stronger and stronger lofts, the COG of the clubhead has to be lower and lower and further back to compensate. So in my opinion...yes.

[ChaosTheory]

When I look at the Maltby MPF measurements, I see the COG's of many OEM heads being effectively higher than ever. I have a couple of different theories about it, but not sure what to think. Either the structure needed to envelop and brace the hot face is such that it raises the COG, which I see as most likely. Or the hot faces launch so high that they raise the COG to counteract it, which I see as less likely. These are just thoughts, no need for anyone to attack, lol.

[ChaosTheory]

I'm also senior and mid 70s iron swing speed. Here is my current solution, and I like it a lot. I went weaker in lofts, and slightly longer in shaft length. So I'm playing lofts from 20 years ago, meaning 35 degree 7 iron. The 6 iron is 38 inches (65 gram graphite). I dropped the 5 iron, weakened the 4 and added head weight so it could be built at 5 iron length. And slightly strengthened the 6. I get good gaps, and very good height. I'm using irons from 2005, so no hot faces. I'm actually able to play a 4 iron again, which evokes a different kind of pride than hitting a jacked 8 iron. :)

At my swing speed, I think weaker lofts at a given shaft length are the way to go. They provide a better trajectory & spin package. How many guys with our swing speeds hit their irons high enough? Not many in my experience. Now, for golfers who are 10 MPH faster, I can see why hot faces will need to be lofted down. But I personally have little interest in a 28 degree 7 iron at 37ish inches, no matter how hot the face is.

[rollingrock]

The thing that keeps most modern irons out of my bag is the lack of predictability. I've given a few sets a real try, hoping to gain forgiveness and distance and a higher launch. My distance and spin control is all over the place though. That soaring 7 iron that goes a mile in the air and way past my current club feels great in the fitting bay, but it's not so awesome when it's a Jekyll-and-Hyde thrill ride on the course. Super long misses that show up out of nowhere leave you with PTSD after the round...not what I want or need out of those clubs.

 

[xoxo_tw]

What if the loft for the modern clubs was kept the same, wouldn't that make them even easier to hit ?

[CAT GOLFER]

True, but you wouldn’t be hitting them 15yds farther on the same line?

[Golfinomglol]

Quick update: I borrowed a Titleist T200 7-iron (stiff steel shaft) from the assistant pro and hit a bunch of shots last week with it on the course. It went a smooth 175, hit one of them 180, and pured one on a 150 yard par 3 at least 30 yards over...maybe more.

I can't speak for everyone else's experience but the thing felt like a god's honest 7-iron, that just went really far. I assume with these lofts, I'll be hitting my P-wedge about 145(?), which creates a pretty big gap between my 52, which I probably max out 110, really 105. Right now I have a 3-PW in my bag and then a 5 wood, so it seems kine of obvious that now you'd have 4-PW and then maybe just keep the AP2 PW in the bag to close down the gap.

[driveandputtmachine]

If you are a low spin player and are fitted for the new hollow flex face irons that produce less spin then you will have issues. Iron fitting has become even more of a need now than it used to be.

I am a high spin player, like I have always spun the ball too much in general, even at my mid ball flight days. Playing in the wind made me develop a knock down shot as a young kid.

I still have that shot, but it is more of a knockdown to get the ball to jump up a slope on a green now than it is to stop ballooning like I used to fight. My knock downs used to hop a few feet and stop. Now the same loft produces roughly twice as much jump and depending upon the club either a mostly stop or a bit of run out beyond that.

So my Srixon 565 6 iron is set at 28*, my J40 CB irons the 5 iron was set at 28* they are roughly 1/4" difference in length. I hit the 6 iron of the 565 much better than I hit the 5 iron of the J40 CB's. I hit it probably a bit higher and a more consistent distance, deviation right/left is about the same. It is much more than 1/4 inch length shorter could account for in and of itself.

[clinkinfo]

Know this is older, but here’s an article that shares real numbers from a launch monitor fitting to illustrate 

 

https://Not allowed Per Todaysgolfer's UK request/features/equipment-features/2018/november/the-truth-about-strong-lofted-irons/