Kevin Na vs WRX

[SwingMan]

Since I can hit a 48 PW well, I'm thinking that I can hit a 42 and 46 - 9i and PW Blade in MP20 well. But that's it. The rest of my bag is either 919F or HMP in 4-7i for distance. I do not like the 919F PW that much - I may order an MP 20 Blade in 45 and see what happens.

[PGizzle]

Its because Kevin Na is 75 pounds and swings golf clubs like an old lady, He's accurate and can sometimes putt out of his mind.

[MUNIGRIT]

Hard to argue with his success.

[AC168]

Kevin can hit blades ... just that the trade-offs don’t work in his favor.  Part of it is that he’s a little short distance wise and associated issues.  He’s pretty sharp with irons of the shots I’ve seen him hit.

[Yoshifan151]

15 minutes ago, AC168 said:

Kevin can hit blades ... just that the trade-offs don’t work in his favor.  Part of it is that he’s a little short distance wise and associated issues.  He’s pretty sharp with irons of the shots I’ve seen him hit.

Yup, any tour player can play blades without a doubt. But when you're playing for hundreds of thousands of dollars, you might want a bit more help that CBs would give.

[joostin]

Just sayin... my avatar preceded his putter headcover and shirt logo... I'm gonna go ahead and claim it inspired him 😉 Though of course it came from himself. 

 

Play blades if you like, play CBs if you like.  Comfort, confidence, performance, repeatability, reliability, enjoyment.  For someone like Na maybe CBs can at least give mental comfort even if he hits the sweet spot 99.9% of the time.

[mahonie]

Don’t be fooled by the marketing, his irons are only to be played by the likes of Na anyway:

 

‘Overall whilst I like the Apex Pro 16 they are really for elite amateurs and tour players, which is a shame as I like the story and the looks a little more than the Apex CF 16. As a forged semi-blade with a touch of forgiveness then this is worthy of a waggle if you are in that market.’

 

(Review from Golfalot).

[MUNIGRIT]

There are rad dads and IG pros playing blades all over. Jon Rahm still isn't good enough but the whole point of selling golf clubs is to make money and the manufacturers want the Bob Parsons  (before PXG) and other need the latest and greatest gearheads buying the clubs as often as they can. 

[lefthack]

I can honestly say that switching from my blades to a split cavity, I don't think my scores have gone down. My misses aren't are harsh or as short, but a miss is still a miss. I'm not hitting more greens, or at least it doesn't seem so.

[CTranggggg23]

Personally alternating between p770s and 620mbs, a hosel rocket or thinned shot results in pretty much the same thing... lol

(though tbh, I would prefer hitting thin since there's a higher likelihood of it ending up somewhere down the fairway 😅) 

Doesn't take away from enjoyment (or frustration) of the game, and I'm not going to blame the clubs for my insufficiencies. 

 

[kiwihacker]

3 hours ago, lefthack said:

I can honestly say that switching from my blades to a split cavity, I don't think my scores have gone down. My misses aren't are harsh or as short, but a miss is still a miss. I'm not hitting more greens, or at least it doesn't seem so.

I tried a combo set of MP30 4-5 irons and MP33 6-PW. I also tried a full set of MP32 4-PW just to see what all the fuss was about. I can honestly say none made any difference to my scoring. If my mishits cost me more distance with the blades it's hard to know because a mishit is a mishit whether with a blade or a cavity back and neither is pretty. If I miss the green with a blade or cavity back scoring then comes down to my short game and playing blades or cavity backs made no difference to my ability to get up and down and save par. 

Edited June 22, 2021 by kiwihacker

[lefthack]

My blade misses can be 20+ yards short on a slightly fat strike where the CB seems to almost still get there. Short, but almost. 

 

I started with the Vapor Pro Combo, then VR Pro Combo, then my KZG's were initially combo, but I liked the blades so much I went full blade.

 

I can see why folks (even pros) are happy playing a CB. I prefer the blade, but I'm giving these a full go.

 

There are only 15 sets of these split cavities, so if nothing else, they have novelty. 🤣

[MUNIGRIT]

I wonder if Stricker told NA he was going to pick him for the Ryder Cup but when he saw he wasn't good enough to play blades he passed? 

[R5Two]

I wonder if he switched out of blades when he made that 16 on a par 4 in 2011. I like Kevin Na but who cares man. People should play what they want 

[MUNIGRIT]

Is Ricky Fowler good enough for blades?

[Brooks_Cupcake]

56 minutes ago, MUNIGRIT said:

Is Ricky Fowler good enough for blades?

Strong dislike on the garbage take….I think this is the final reason for WRX to add a thumbs down 

[Lemonde]

This thread was started 4 days ago with almost 700 posts, most of them lengthy. And almost 40,000 views.   How it isn’t labelled “ hot “ from a site algorithm perspective is beyond me.  

[Ghostwedge]

8 minutes ago, Lemonde said:

This thread was started 4 days ago with almost 700 posts, most of them lengthy. And almost 40,000 views.   How it isn’t labelled “ hot “ from a site algorithm perspective is beyond me.  

In the year 2020....  

[MUNIGRIT]

2 hours ago, Brooks_Cupcake said:

Strong dislike on the garbage take….I think this is the final reason for WRX to add a thumbs down 

Well NA isn't good enough and id bet his ball striking ranks higher..........

[Lemonde]

16 minutes ago, Ghostwedge said:

In the year 2020....  

yeah messed that up.  At least the thread is now labelled ‘Hot’ lol

[Brooks_Cupcake]

11 hours ago, MUNIGRIT said:

Well NA isn't good enough and id bet his ball striking ranks higher..........

Wrong. He is good enough - he just chooses not to. Same reason 99% of the dudes on here playing TX flex when they shouldn’t be, and Rors still cooking drives with Ventus Black 6x tipped 1” and not the TX 😉 

[MUNIGRIT]

2 hours ago, Brooks_Cupcake said:

Wrong. He is good enough - he just chooses not to. Same reason 99% of the dudes on here playing TX flex when they shouldn’t be, and Rors still cooking drives with Ventus Black 6x tipped 1” and not the TX 😉 

NA says he isn't so I will take his word for it. He seems to know his game well enough.. its his word not mine. If Na gains .5 stroke pr using CB he should be. Even .25 pr think of his money. 

[Chunkitgood]

As usual the choice of equipment by a pro has little to do with what ordinary people should do, and I find it hard to believe that the playing characteristics of a pro’s equipment is much like those of what we might buy in the store with the same branding.

 

I personally have never felt good enough to not use blades.  That is, my swing is not good enough for the difference between a relatively modern blade and other designs to make a practical difference in terms of horizontal MOI and I want to hit the ball first consistently so don’t want a club that hides my fat shots.  I do not want to teach my cns that fat shots are acceptable because, unlike a pro, I hit them far too often.

 

There’s an obvious tradeoff between skill/efficacy and ease of use.  It’s easier to hit a nail with a frying pan than a hammer, but better to hit with the hammer if you can.  Pro’s have an abundance of skill and can give up a little of its potential benefits for ease of use;  I don’t, so am willing to give up ease for the potential of gaining the skill, which of course may never be realized.

 

If I had to compete for real money or even ego points I might rethink things.  There may be a trade off between immediate better scoring and the use of equipment with better prospects for long term improvement, but again, there may not be.  Neither is a proven phenomenon as far as I know. 

[Tree Levino]

4 minutes ago, Chunkitgood said:

As usual the choice of equipment by a pro has little to do with what ordinary people should do, and I find it hard to believe that the playing characteristics of a pro’s equipment is much like those of what we might buy in the store with the same branding.

 

I personally have never felt good enough to not use blades.  That is, my swing is not good enough for the difference between a relatively modern blade and other designs to make a practical difference in terms of horizontal MOI and I want to hit the ball first consistently so don’t want a club that hides my fat shots.  I do not want to teach my cns that fat shots are acceptable because, unlike a pro, I hit them far too often.

 

There’s an obvious tradeoff between skill/efficacy and ease of use.  It’s easier to hit a nail with a frying pan than a hammer, but better to hit with the hammer if you can.  Pro’s have an abundance of skill and can give up a little of its potential benefits for ease of use;  I don’t, so am willing to give up ease for the potential of gaining the skill, which of course may never be realized.

 

If I had to compete for real money or even ego points I might rethink things.  There may be a trade off between immediate better scoring and the use of equipment with better prospects for long term improvement, but again, there may not be.  Neither is a proven phenomenon as far as I know. 

 

 

Literally no club hides fat shots. Hitting behind the ball is one of, if not the worst excuse I've heard to use blades. If you're hitting fat shots often it means you don't have a proper golf swing and working on that would be the best course of action. By your logic you should pick up some Greg Norman negative bounce irons and really show your CNS what's what. 

[High Plains Driver]

"Any pro can play blades"...

Anyone else remember CHIII being inspired by Tiger and taking 1999 Hogan Apex's out for a few tourney rounds? That experiment didn't last long at all and he went right back to a CB. 😳

Edited April 17, 2022 by High Plains Driver

[chisag]

On 4/16/2022 at 10:11 AM, Chunkitgood said:

There’s an obvious tradeoff between skill/efficacy and ease of use.  It’s easier to hit a nail with a frying pan than a hammer, but better to hit with the hammer if you can.

 

... To be fair it would be easier hitting a nail with a hammer head that is 10 times larger than the nail head than it would be hitting a nail with a hammer head that is only twice the size of the nail head. It isn't about hitting the nail dead center, it is about missing it a little and still getting good results. 

... Too many responses compare MB's to SGI's, like a hammer to a fry pan. The goal is finding an iron that takes advantage of your ball striking attributes while providing juuuuuust enough forgiveness when you mishit it a little. And for every player that is different. It isn't "marketing" that produces Cobra RF Forged MB's, MIM Tour, Forged Tec, Forged Tec X and LTDx irons. It is giving customers an opportunity to play an iron that provides the right amount of forgiveness for each individual players ability to miss the center and by how much.   

Edited April 17, 2022 by chisag