Loft/Lie for Juniors

[yellowlover519]

Hey junior golf parents. Quick question. Moving on to adult clubs with recoil or nippon zelos shafts. For those of you that have transitioned for your children, what route did you go re OEM. Mizunos seem great bc they are already a degree to two flatter than other OEMs. However, their lofts are more traditonal (e.g, 7 iron is 34* as opposed to 30* or less from a different OEM). I don’t want him to feel discouraged if he hears others are playing irons with jacked up lofts and, therefore, using a higher numbered club for similar distance. Also, would prefer less offset as he grows into understanding how to make good contact consistently, meaning would prefer a players club profile. But is that really smart to do if we’re competing in tourneys and forgiveness is your friend, as opposed to mishitting it and losing 8-10 yards?

 

Thoughts on this and loft/lie issues and moving to adult clubs is greatly appreciated.

 

 

[heavy_hitter]

I never gave any consideration to loft angles. The only thing we worried about is "Do you like the clubs and how does it fell.". My kid is 12 and has swung Wilson Staff FG Tour V6 Irons since he was an older 11 year old. He tried Callaway, Taylormade, Titleist, Cobra, and liked Wilson Staff the best. Wilson Staff is more of a traditional loft angle. All of those loft angles are all over the board. Wilson is a 35 degree loft on the 7 iron, Titleist is 34 degress and the rest are even stronger than those two. I think the Wilson Staff FG's are the weakest lofts there are.

 

When playing tournament golf I think most consider un-kosher to ask someone else what club they hit. If asked before someone plays a shot it is a two stroke penalty for seeking advice. If response is given by a player it is a two stroke penalty for both. I think because of the rules most people avoid the question and the answer.

 

My son and his buddy have gotten into this same argument when they play friendly competitions. When they practice and play they will talk about what clubs they are hitting. My sons buddy plays Callaway XSeries Irons which are a 30 degree loft on the 7i compared to my sons 7i at 35 degrees. My son understands loft angles because we discuss them. My friends buddy did not until I explained them to him. My son was a half club off from his buddy. His buddy would use an 8 iron at 34.5 degrees while my son was using a 7i. The 8i in the Xseries is a half degree stronger than my kids 7i. They tee off and my kid always out drives his pal anywhere from 10-20 yards.

 

Personally, I think it is better to transition into a players club than game improvement irons. If they want to learn to hit in the center of the club face a majority of the time they need to feel what it feels like to mishit the ball.

[yellowlover519]

Yea - wasn’t implying they are asking which clubs during a round, but kids know, especially on par 3s.

 

I guess a better question is whether at a young age traditional lofts are more beneficial for proper launch angles given lack of swing speed as a junior.

[Golfingdawg19]

I

Yea - wasn't implying they are asking which clubs during a round, but kids know, especially on par 3s.

 

I guess a better question is whether at a young age traditional lofts are more beneficial for proper launch angles given lack of swing speed as a junior.

 

I think it all depends on the child and how well the swing the club. Until you get to a certain swing speed, you are going to have a hard time getting the ball way up in the air. This is why so many coaches tell parents to get their kid a 5 wood instead of a 3 wood. The child isn't swinging it fast enough to get the ball airborne with a 3 wood. My brother just got my nephew new clubs and he went with the Cobra Forged Tec Black irons with the recoil shafts. He just got them this week so I haven't heard the results just yet. What little I saw him on the range yesterday, he wasn't hitting them any lower than his US Kids clubs. With the lofts being a little stronger, you should expect them to go further but also a little lower. My nephew is 12 and my brother wanted to go the OEM route this time. We used the US Kids specs for the legths. The weight of the clubs isn't anything crazy but they are heavier than the US Kids clubs and that was to be expected. He went with Cobra because I was able to get him a deal since he played on our middle school team and Cobra has a highschool/middle school program where they offer discounts. The clubs that many of the juniors play are Ping. They have a few sets that the clubheads tend to be a little lighter and that is a big selling point. It may be worth you taking your son and getting him fit for clubs.

[heavy_hitter]

Yea - wasn't implying they are asking which clubs during a round, but kids know, especially on par 3s.

 

I guess a better question is whether at a young age traditional lofts are more beneficial for proper launch angles given lack of swing speed as a junior.

 

What age and swing speed are you referring to? It does make a difference?

[Belmont148]

Unless your kid has longer or shorter arms in relation to their height, standard lie really works. Very few people really need lie adjusted, typically it is a swing flaw that is causing the sole impact to be heel or toe. Granted, some folks do have long arms for their height. Seen a lot of Jr girls that probably need lie angles adjusted, but most boys seem to fall in standard. Besides, most Jr. aren't good enough yet to deliver the same lie angle at impact with every swing anyway, not to mention uneven lies on the course. So lie I wouldn't worry about.

 

For loft, I feel the weaker the better. And the quicker they can get into a solid forged CB the better so they see what a bad hit feels/sounds like. My kid hit shot after shot with USK and thought every shot was great. Until he hit his Forged clubs. He now instantly tells me, I came a little over the top and hit toe, or that was a little thin. Which leads us to then begin discussing why that happened. The quicker they can start thinking in that realm, the better they will be. Eventually they can tell by the ball flight where they struck it and maybe then they can go into a GI iron if they want. But a lot can be learned from hitting those hand stinging irons.