Blade users thread (NO DEBATING CLUBHEADS! NO Buy Sell Trade!)

[DeNinny]

Ok it is specs time. Here are my specs for both my baby blade and wedge sets. The black boron set is the lower one. Just curious if anyone else is this anal about keeping track of everything for their clubs. Also I was looking for some input and possible tweaks.- DNI

 

Irons: D2

Wedges: D5

Metals: D2

 

Pulling Hogans & Mizuno MP metals, switching out so clubs from 3W->SW are all DG S300's with same weighting and kick. Driver has a Speeder shaft. Do not like swinging anything under D2

 

I like your sense of consistency! A machinist must have strong and steady hands and LOL make sure his tools are perfectly calibrated. I bet slight differences can easily be sensed by said hands.

 

I didn't show it but my Retro TBs are the same D3 SW as my black boron bbs, BUT...they are easily heavier in both head and shaft weight compared to the bbs. So again, I cannot swing them as fast. And not coincidentally I am a club to half a club shorter with the Retros. I really like using the Retros as my off season strength training set and then switching to the bb sets and feel like a (LMAO) long baller. The only issue is redialing my distances.

 

Also I need to get both bb sets out on a side by side range session. I am playing my D1.5 satin bbs right now and I can't say if I feel a difference compared to the D3 black borons.

 

I actually don't know my woods SWs, but they are consistently built with same exact shafts and flex and length gaps, so they should be consistent SW whatever it is. I need to get my fitter to measure them though (...note to self).

[Nard_S]

DeNinny,

 

I never really honed in SW all that much until a few years ago. I was always scratching my head why one iron set appealed and another I disliked even if shafts or heads were similar. What it came down to was SW. Turns out every iron I really enjoyed had same spec, the ones I banished to basement did not.. So now, I'm nutty about it and can decipher pretty fast where a club is at. So yeah, I am seeking consistency across the bag in SW, static weight and stiffness. Finding that on some level your swing will always adapt to a shaft so why then have several adaptations in the bag on the course at once? S300's especially tapered ones, have been growing on me of late and I happen to have them in spades from top to bottom, so why not systematize it a bit. That's the idea anyway, I let you know if it works.

[Bigmean]

I just came on quick to say we better place...14 under, legit....made a lot of putts. Hot driver good two rounds in a row, that makes this game a lot more fun....we shall see, hoping for third with realistic scramble expectations.....

[Nard_S]

Ok it is specs time. Here are my specs for both my baby blade and wedge sets. The black boron set is the lower one. Just curious if anyone else is this anal about keeping track of everything for their clubs. Also I was looking for some input and possible tweaks.- DNI

 

Irons: D2

Wedges: D5

Metals: D2

 

Pulling Hogans & Mizuno MP metals, switching out so clubs from 3W->SW are all DG S300's with same weighting and kick. Driver has a Speeder shaft. Do not like swinging anything under D2

 

I like your sense of consistency! A machinist must have strong and steady hands and LOL make sure his tools are perfectly calibrated. I bet slight differences can easily be sensed by said hands.

 

I didn't show it but my Retro TBs are the same D3 SW as my black boron bbs, BUT...they are easily heavier in both head and shaft weight compared to the bbs. So again, I cannot swing them as fast. And not coincidentally I am a club to half a club shorter with the Retros. I really like using the Retros as my off season strength training set and then switching to the bb sets and feel like a (LMAO) long baller. The only issue is redialing my distances.

 

Also I need to get both bb sets out on a side by side range session. I am playing my D1.5 satin bbs right now and I can't say if I feel a difference compared to the D3 black borons.

 

I actually don't know my woods SWs, but they are consistently built with same exact shafts and flex and length gaps, so they should be consistent SW whatever it is. I need to get my fitter to measure them though (...note to self).

 

I hear you, I've been doing the same thing pretty much for the last several years. Hit stiffer, heavier on the range or off season, take softer, lighter out to play.I 'm changing it up this season a bit but I will stay with hitting clubs with different flexes on the range.It's a good exercise, good litmus on how I am swinging.

[Bigmean]

Came in second, winners of course were -16. I am really getting excited for my season about to start. Even though this was a scramble, I was 11/14 FWs, which is like a number very far off my radar for a long time, and I took risks because of the format. Even had the biggest drive I have hit in years and maybe lifetime downwind, not even going to say because it sounds stupid I am still thinking it hit a sprinkler head or something. My misses have all been in front of me last 2 times out, and my chipping is vastly improved. I feel like this lesson has unlocked a key without messing with my swing that is taking a lot of the slop out of it. Driver and green side is where it is really showing up, and I feel like my irons are fine for me, but feel they have a lot of room for improvement, which is good.

 

Deninny, my idea of the perfect blade is going to very much be modeled after the small blades. I am going to see if I can get a rhino cad book though, I am not sure I can do even a simple putter with stuck and search YouTube for help. I don't know the proper process and proper tools to accomplish what I am trying to do and it is heavily command based etc. a blade will be a lot more difficult as there will be a bulge to deal with and it is essentially a varying convex surface. I am going to try to figure out the best way to learn this software without a $400 online class.

 

I also picked up a xenon putter, pretty excited. It is a mini. I am getting the head, band and headcover and hoping to use the quadra fire express putter shaft I grabbed last year for like $30 to fill a shipment from Japan. Should work. It has a twisty plumbers neck and is copper nickel plated, looks neat and they were also on my hit list.

 

 

[Bigmean]

Oh yeah nard, I am now 2 rounds into them, but really loving the modus 130 more and more, I hit them high, but as I said, strong. I am finding them to be actually awesome compared to the 120s, and they probably get higher faster than s300, but the flight is very tour playeresque in that it is high and goes. Still early, but this is by far my favorite shaft since I started playing the 1150s, I think the 120s were nothing amazing or about the same compared to my 1150s, but these I think may be probably are better. Only other shafts I have played in last 3 years that enter my mind as something I like in same way are the roddio i10s I had. Really liking the 130s and the hieght.

[cb24]

I pulled the trigger on the Z965s!!! 4-PW w/dgs300 and standard everything. I tried every shaft out there and the S300 shafts were longer and straighter and better feel then the rest. Will post some pics of m new babies tonight!

[craz-e]

Oh yeah nard, I am now 2 rounds into them, but really loving the modus 130 more and more, I hit them high, but as I said, strong. I am finding them to be actually awesome compared to the 120s, and they probably get higher faster than s300, but the flight is very tour playeresque in that it is high and goes. Still early, but this is by far my favorite shaft since I started playing the 1150s, I think the 120s were nothing amazing or about the same compared to my 1150s, but these I think may be probably are better. Only other shafts I have played in last 3 years that enter my mind as something I like in same way are the roddio i10s I had. Really liking the 130s and the hieght.

 

Interested in trying the modus now, never had much success deviating from the dg s300

[Bigmean]

I pulled the trigger on the Z965s!!! 4-PW w/dgs300 and standard everything. I tried every shaft out there and the S300 shafts were longer and straighter and better feel then the rest. Will post some pics of m new babies tonight!

 

Good for you, you have been on those for a while, enjoy!!

[DeNinny]

DeNinny,

 

I never really honed in SW all that much until a few years ago. I was always scratching my head why one iron set appealed and another I disliked even if shafts or heads were similar. What it came down to was SW. Turns out every iron I really enjoyed had same spec, the ones I banished to basement did not.. So now, I'm nutty about it and can decipher pretty fast where a club is at. So yeah, I am seeking consistency across the bag in SW, static weight and stiffness. Finding that on some level your swing will always adapt to a shaft so why then have several adaptations in the bag on the course at once? S300's especially tapered ones, have been growing on me of late and I happen to have them in spades from top to bottom, so why not systematize it a bit. That's the idea anyway, I let you know if it works.

 

SW is very important in the physics of the swing! As mentioned to 3riC, it truly is the MOI of the clubhead as it rotates around where you grip it. In the physics of the swing, that is one of two very key fulcrums or moment arms (if you will). This is an oversimplification, but the rotation of the clubhead around the grip is one moment arm and the other is the clubhead as it rotates around the lead shoulder socket. Both your wrists and your lead shoulder socket are literal physical hinges that create rotational motion of the clubhead at different radii or moment arm lengths. And they both are occurring throughout the downswing.

 

Also as mentioned before they each have a specific moment of inertia that are simplified as pendulums of different lengths. By that math I shared with 3riC the formula is

 

MOI = mass of the clubhead x (length of moment arm)^2

 

And since a golfer has to expend energy to turn both of these moment arms, in order to be consistent and power the swing with a consistent amount of energy (or rather work if you want to get nitpicky about it), it is best to make the MOIs as consistent and identical as possible. *If* the MOIs weren't consistent, then what would happen is that, given you use the same exact work/energy to power the swing regardless of the club you use, you would swing each different MOI club with a different tempo and overall cadence! It would be harder to be consistent because each swing, in effect, would "weigh" differently to your body and hands. MOI is nothing more than what I like to call "rotational mass". Given the same work/energy, you turn the higher MOI slower and the lower MOI faster, no different than the heavier car going slower than the lighter car when they both have the same exact engine. So absolutely and unequivocally based on the mathematics of the physics, having a consistent SW set of clubs can only help you swing consistently when you switch between them. With the same SW across clubs, that wrists unhinge part of the swing is going to require the same overall work by the hands and so the golfer doesn't have to vary his effort in that part of the swing

 

Now having said all that, there is a complication in all of this and I said "that part of the swing" above for a reason. The complication of having a consistent SW when the clubs change in length is that this affects the other longer moment arm of the swing which is how the clubhead rotates around the lead shoulder socket. Remember per the equation above, the MOI changes when you change the lever arm length, so since that happens with going club to club, it will be impossible to fix both MOIs of the swing as equal from club to club, so you have to pick which of the two MOIs that you want to make consistent which is always easier with club length and weight.

 

The only other way to make the longer moment arm MOI consistent would be to have the SWs vary, but in a consistent progression, where the longer clubs would have a lower SW and the SW would progressively and gradually increase as the clubs get shorter.

 

Personally, I think it makes more sense to fix SW since you really feel that in the swing. We humans rely on our hands a LOT and so we are attuned to them and they have tons of nerve endings to sense things like different pressures and tempos from different swings and weighted clubs, so since the SW MOI involves the hands more, I believe it is more important to fix that variable across your clubs than all others, but as you can see in both of our setups we do both. We fix SW in the normal irons but then with the wedges we increase the SW in order to keep down the variability of the longer moment arm.

 

So basically it makes complete physics sense why you experienced what you did with consistent vs varying SW irons.

[cb24]

Pictures of my new money makers ?

 

 

 

 

[Bigmean]

As far as modern takes on blades go, I really like what srixon did with those. Look like the 2020 terminator version of mp14s. Nice set! I bet they are soft.

[Golfjack]

Those look amazing! I want more blades but I can only play one set lol.

[kaaayelll]

I also picked up a xenon putter, pretty excited. It is a mini. I am getting the head, band and headcover and hoping to use the quadra fire express putter shaft I grabbed last year for like $30 to fill a shipment from Japan. Should work. It has a twisty plumbers neck and is copper nickel plated, looks neat and they were also on my hit list.

Dude, that putter is not plated; it's solid CuNi. I'm sure you stole it as A's asking price was less than the material cost. If I didn't have seven Xenon minis made to my shape and specs (including a CuNi), I would have bought it in a heartbeat.

[dog flog]

As far as modern takes on blades go, I really like what srixon did with those. Look like the 2020 terminator version of mp14s. Nice set! I bet they are soft.

The look of Ping ISI irons reminds me of the Terminator 2 metal that can flux between solid and liquid states. Wait a second... Nope. It's just the tequila talking.

[Kingcat990]

I also picked up a xenon putter, pretty excited. It is a mini. I am getting the head, band and headcover and hoping to use the quadra fire express putter shaft I grabbed last year for like $30 to fill a shipment from Japan. Should work. It has a twisty plumbers neck and is copper nickel plated, looks neat and they were also on my hit list.

Dude, that putter is not plated; it's solid CuNi. I'm sure you stole it as A's asking price was less than the material cost. If I didn't have seven Xenon minis made to my shape and specs (including a CuNi), I would have bought it in a heartbeat.

 

You're teetering on addiction K.

 

I will add that the mokùme is a personal favorite. Very well crafted.

[Bingo1976]

I pulled the trigger on the Z965s!!! 4-PW w/dgs300 and standard everything. I tried every shaft out there and the S300 shafts were longer and straighter and better feel then the rest. Will post some pics of m new babies tonight!

 

I'm loving my 945s - I am sure the 965s are just as good. I am finding my mishits (apart from my 5 iron) are perfectly playable, and usually still on the green!

[NRJyzr]

Played my Rams w/SPB shafts again this past Saturday. Once again, turned out pretty well, except for a couple doubles in the middle of the round from less than stellar tee shots. Who would have thought hitting tee shots into trees or water hazards is not conducive to low scoring? LOL

 

To show my consistency during Saturday's round... I hit the water ball on #10, so I'll split it there. My first ten holes were played in nine over par. My last eight holes were played in even par. A smooth trend line if there ever was one.

 

Not sure I'm up to playing Xstiff, even if the Super Peening Blues are a slightly soft X as they're reputed to be, compared to DGX100 that is. But, there's no arguing I'm scoring better with them, with the usual small sample size caveats applying.

 

What's depressing is the distance I've lost, some over the offseason and some from now being 53 years old. Such is life, I guess.

 

edited to add: it's the distance I'm hitting the ball that is part of why I doubt my playing Xstiff iron shafts. I'm only hitting my 53° wedge about 110 yds at most, and my 6 iron is only 170. Even with my weakened lofts, doesn't quite seem like X territory. (with apologies for bringing distance into the equation)

[Bigmean]

I also picked up a xenon putter, pretty excited. It is a mini. I am getting the head, band and headcover and hoping to use the quadra fire express putter shaft I grabbed last year for like $30 to fill a shipment from Japan. Should work. It has a twisty plumbers neck and is copper nickel plated, looks neat and they were also on my hit list.

Dude, that putter is not plated; it's solid CuNi. I'm sure you stole it as A's asking price was less than the material cost. If I didn't have seven Xenon minis made to my shape and specs (including a CuNi), I would have bought it in a heartbeat.

 

Tell me more, I thought I paid a lot and seller really wasn't budging much at all, but it is definitely a cuni, and the finish on it from the shipping photos looks a tad "rough", and I was like oh man, what did I get? But it could be the style/material, it is definitely in like new condition so anything is how it was made not anything that happened after.

 

I am really curious now, hopefully you tell me that a cuni putter is at least $500 and I will feel better about it. Frankly, I really liked the head, wanted a mini, and xenon was on my hit list so this just really hit on all my cylinders except price, but maybe it hit on that as well and I didn't know it...

[Bigmean]

Also kinda funny that I had to get a xenon all the way from Singapore, which is why no shaft(shipping$$), but as far as people you know from forums go, this is a super trusted seller who is a super JDM HO and has a serious putter stash from what I know of it in posts so I trust his judgement on clubs and putters, and xenon is a company that most of their things don't fit my eye at all, so one coming up that did played a big part. After the km350 I have really wanted to try another mini and I will post pics but this one seems great style wise. I am using the fire express on it and probably a blue leather grip to match the paint fill. Really excited about it.

[cb24]

I pulled the trigger on the Z965s!!! 4-PW w/dgs300 and standard everything. I tried every shaft out there and the S300 shafts were longer and straighter and better feel then the rest. Will post some pics of m new babies tonight!

 

I'm loving my 945s - I am sure the 965s are just as good. I am finding my mishits (apart from my 5 iron) are perfectly playable, and usually still on the green!

 

Yeah it's actually shocking how straight they are, mishits don't really hurt anymore than anothe club distance wise but the left to right dispersion is really tight. And oh yeah, did I mention how soft these are!!! Amazing clubs can't wait to get in a full round today

[Steveleeifc]

Hey - I ma trying to make the switch to blades - from Srixon to Miura - played for the first time this weekend and felt like I immediately lost a club in length, has anyone else experienced this ? The lofts are identical (a little stronger) is this something that I just need to take some time to get used to ?

 

I will be going to the range to compare clubs side by side and see what distance differences that there are.

 

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[DeNinny]

Hey - I ma trying to make the switch to blades - from Srixon to Miura - played for the first time this weekend and felt like I immediately lost a club in length, has anyone else experienced this ? The lofts are identical (a little stronger) is this something that I just need to take some time to get used to ?

 

I will be going to the range to compare clubs side by side and see what distance differences that there are.

 

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Check the lofts, lengths, and (total) weights first. Besides shaft flex, any one of these will affect distance. Also if you haven't found the best sweetspot for your blades, that will take off some distance. It *may* just be you have to tweak how you set the face behind the ball. A single first time experience may not be enough time to adjust to a switch.

[Nard_S]

Hey - I ma trying to make the switch to blades - from Srixon to Miura - played for the first time this weekend and felt like I immediately lost a club in length, has anyone else experienced this ? The lofts are identical (a little stronger) is this something that I just need to take some time to get used to ?

 

I will be going to the range to compare clubs side by side and see what distance differences that there are.

 

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

If the shafts are equivalent generally you should enjoy same distance. The qualifier to that is where you are hitting the ball on the face most of the time.If you are toe-side, there will be a real distance penalty. It is really what makes a traditional difficult since it is a very common to miss on that side of the head. If you are thin and centered, some distance penalty, thin & toe, max distance penalty.

[DeNinny]

Yeah Nard, with a cavity face you can hit out on the toe a little more even though the torque on your hands is higher because that trampoline face of the CB is the biggest out there too. In essence, the trampoline CB face pushes the sweetspot out to where the face is a big wide open trampoline, so it is better to contact it there than anywhere else on the face. With a blade you want to contact the ball a little closer to the hosel (without hitting it).

[Golfingfanatic]

After falling to the allure of hollow clubs last season, where I went with T-MB long irons to go with the 716 mbs, I decided that it is time to get proper blades all the way down again. So last weekend I ordered 4-PW in the FG Tour 100 irons. Cannot wait for them to arrive.

[Sir Slicealot]

I've been getting lazy. I cleaned my MP-4'S last night after five rounds of golf. Big difference between the towel and the bristle brush. No more green faced clubs. I am definitely seeing the use on them now. I love it! I'm limping around of late trying to get into 8-PW range and get to putting. Driving is not something that helps us right now.

[PeanutsDaddy]

Biggie,

 

Do you have any photos of the Xenon yet?

 

If so, would love to see a few.

 

Big fan of Lumpy's work.

 

PS - the man from Singapore (if it's who I think) is the 'Real McCoy') with some amazing putters.

 

Just re-read your previous post and it appears you don't have photos yet.

 

Cheers

[Spanglo]

Blade user here... Ben Hogan Radials.

 

Learned to play with these clubs, like how they launch, and love the feel.

 

Plan to hang on to them, and one of these days I'll get a fitting and some new shafts.

 

[Shakester]

These were the blades I played a few years back with a CCI gap wedge.