Tour Players Iron Club Length

[juppalgae]

Hi,

 

Do players like Sergio Garcia, Camillo Villegas, and Tiger woods use shorter than standard length for their irons? I am certain they do for their woods and drivers.

 

What about their irons? What about their wedges?

 

Thanks!

[diablojoe]

You're assuming there is such a thing as "standard." There isn't. Mizuno's "standard" is different from Callaway's, which is different from Adams'. Nike has several "standard" lengths, depending on the model.

 

As for driver, I read that Sergio uses a 43.75". As far as I'm concerned, that IS standard, while most other guys play "long" drivers at 44-44.5".

 

Bottom line -- there is no "standard."

[villa]

As far as woods go, I think the average length of a driver on tour is 44.5". Bear in mind that some guys i.e Sergio have very short drivers and some i.e Robert Karlsson have very long drivers (46.5").

 

A lot of the guys have their three wood shafts installed somewhere between original steel length and new standard graphite length.

 

I actually thought there was a 'standard' steel length but I could be wrong. I don't know of anyone with shorter irons than standard but a lot of the guys over 6ft have their irons anywhere from 1/4"-1" longer. I presume their wedges would match the setup of their irons.

 

I did hear that Tiger is a bit of raririty. He's over 6ft but has 'standard' length shafts in his irons.

[juppalgae]

does anyone have spec for these tour players' irons?

[spencer0071]

does anyone have spec for these tour players' irons?

check this post.

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?sh...mp;#entry520664

[NPVWhiz]

It is true that the golf industry has had little in the way of standardization, which isn't really too much of a problem. The basic truism is that for as long as companies have been making and selling irons to the masses, they have taken into account that the average player is, say, 5' 9" and if you gather 1000 of them together, a 35.5" pitching wedge is going to be a pretty good fit for about 850 of them, and 100 of the other 150 are going to be plus/minus 1/2" from there.

 

I have an old Maltby club ruler that has descriptions of the "modern standard length" and the "traditional length" scales, the former having a 3 iron at 39" and the latter having it at 38 1/2".

 

Mizuno, for example, comes out right in the middle of those two.

 

Some of the changes, I think, came out of the industry trying to figure out how to deal with the problem of offering graphite shafts in the same model. The challenge was to not have to manufacture two different weight heads, because it doubled the cost of the dies.

 

Eventually it seemed like a lot of the OEMs just started making graphite shafted irons 1/2" longer than their steel shafted counterparts.

 

Anyway...I think at the professional level, the length issue is relative, in that a professional isn't going to see a noticable difference in accuracy from the PW to the 9 iron. They'd just adjust the lie angle accordingly.

 

Over the years, I've seen WITBs that seem to suggest a lot of pros use irons that are 1/2" over. Now, whether that's just to pick up swingweight (which seems unlikely, but would be reasonable) or a little extra distance (marginal, unless you jack the lofts down as well). And I've certainly seen amateur players with 1/2 over irons bent strong, just to be able to hit the 8 iron 160. But I think the bigger factor is that out on tour, the taller/stronger is becoming more and more prevalent, and they can usually take advantage of a 1/2" over fit.

 

For drivers, I think all the tour players recognize that there are diminishing returns to shaft length, and most are at 44" to 44.5". A lot of the older guys on tour made the move from 43.5" to 44" with graphite, and just didn't want to try any harder than that. The ProVI revolution killed any lingering need to go beyond 44 or 44.5.

 

If your 8 is really a 7, it's just a number on the sole....nothing more.

 

I've always advocated starting with the pitching wedge and getting a comfortable setup, length, and lie angle dynamically. The lengths for the rest of the set (unless you go with something very non-traditional) work out from there, with the lie angles set dynamically to produce a neutral ball flight. For the vast majority of players, those lie angles will fall on a slope that gets about 1 degree flatter for every 1/2", but it can certainly vary with preference, consistent swing elements and other factors.

 

There are a wide variety of legitimate, valid approaches to fitting.

 

There are a few players that might actually fit out to shorter than standard on the irons, and I'm thinking about Jeff Sluman, but even in that case a "standard" 35.5" PW could just be "1/2 over" for him.

[juppalgae]

Thanks for your answer. It was great!

 

One more question for you though,

 

1* upright clubs can increase the ball flight? Or it's only going to affect the direction of the ball?

[Young04]

As far as woods go, I think the average length of a driver on tour is 44.5". Bear in mind that some guys i.e Sergio have very short drivers and some i.e Robert Karlsson have very long drivers (46.5").

 

A lot of the guys have their three wood shafts installed somewhere between original steel length and new standard graphite length.

 

I actually thought there was a 'standard' steel length but I could be wrong. I don't know of anyone with shorter irons than standard but a lot of the guys over 6ft have their irons anywhere from 1/4"-1" longer. I presume their wedges would match the setup of their irons.

 

I did hear that Tiger is a bit of raririty. He's over 6ft but has 'standard' length shafts in his irons.

 

height is not the dispositive factor. it's your wrist to floor measurement. i'm a tall 6'2" and i've been fitted for standard length Mizuno irons. I must have long arms.