Switching irons... for blades ?

[Gax]

So here it is folks, another topic on the eternal blades or no blades.
 

I've been fitted, and the irons I was hitting best, most consistent etc were the P7TW. I'm wondering if this change is a good or bad idea. More context below.

 

 

Long story short, I've been improving quite a bit this season and told myself I'd consider switching gear if I got below a 5 hcp, as I got to a 4.1 career low, I figured I'd treat myself to a full bag fitting.

I have an ok swing speed (112mph on gamer drives, I can crank it up to 118-120 with not so good dispersion).

 

Irons have been targeted by the pro & myself as the weak link in there : Cobra forged One Length, the major issue with it being distance control. They fly far, but sometimes too far. Of the rough they are impredictable due to lower spin off the long grass and the shaft being longer than usual. In the wind they are hard to control (lower flight with that much spin...). And to top it all off : shafts are not a good fit for me.

 

So going into the fitting, we checked everything and I start hitting various irons. Ball flight is too high and we end up figuring moving from KBS Stiff to DG X100 is going to help. Now onto the club head to select. (we stuck to taylormade)

- P790 were out of question as I have distance already and don't need more.

- 770 were nice, not the best not the worst. As a basis of comparison, I'd have these happily. Maybe a touch high.

- MC weren't as good as the 770.

- MB were ok, but I felt it was a tad hard to hit for my level (I didn't see the back of the club so it was purely feel and flight based assesment).

- 7TW : the pro brought back his personal clubs, which are 7TW Tiger spec. I started hitting these laughing and knowing I was nowhere close to be able to play that. Somehow, they were the best, by a mile. Consistent and surprisingly easy to hit ? Knowing that I didn't want to go for that, I asked if I could hit longer and shorter irons of the pro's set, to have the full picture... They were straighter, distance control was super consistent and not only on good hits, sure the misshits were shorter, but not something too crazy.

Now my issue is :

Do I think I can play these ? I'm not sure, time will tell, it was a bit of a small sample to judge it right now.

Should I go for a combo or a set of easier irons to hit ?

Should I get fitted for other brands to have a broader picture, and if the best one is still the 7TW ... then I'll roll with it ?

[btyh]

Its all about your confidence and your personal feel towards them. I got out of mbs because of miss hits and lack of consistency. Im thrown off on the tw and the mb in comparison. I dont have any personal experience or haven't seen in person. I would say cb but you didn't seem too thrilled. I would look into other irons in that category see if you see or feel anything better.

[toddmanley]

At this point you know the 7TW's work for you.  Given it sounds like you still have questions I'd do another fitting with someone who has access to other manufacturers and see if the results are any better than what you saw with the 7TW's.  Exploring all the options will lead you to a decision where you are fully confident in your equipment (I'm there, so my faults all come down to putting a crappy swing on the ball!).

[Gax]

Thanks for the input folks, really appreciate it 🙂

[boggyman]

Take the pros out for a round or two and see how they perform in the real world if he will let you. That will better shed some light I think. 

[Nard_S]

The P7TW's has tungsten weighting. The CG is dead center in the horizontal which is not very "blade like". I own the VR Pro II which is for all practical purposes the same club. Pretty easy clubs to get on with.

[clinkinfo]

26 minutes ago, toddmanley said:

At this point you know the 7TW's work for you.  Given it sounds like you still have questions I'd do another fitting with someone who has access to other manufacturers and see if the results are any better than what you saw with the 7TW's.  Exploring all the options will lead you to a decision where you are fully confident in your equipment (I'm there, so my faults all come down to putting a crappy swing on the ball!).

I'm more with boggieman, because I think this statement needs to be clarified.

 

You know that on THAT day, from a perfectly flat hitting station, you were hitting the blades well.  That's the challange I find with them (at least in the northeast), we have pretty uneven ground.  So some of the inconsistency comes from the nature of the game and not being able to find the sweet spot as easily when the situation is not a perfectly flat hitting bay, much less a day with a bad overall swing.

 

If you take the set on the course I think you'll get a better idea for why they have the reputation they do.  Maybe they will be good, but maybe they will be harder in real life senarios.  I think you need some on course time to really see.

[Fairway14]

27 minutes ago, boggyman said:

Take the pros out for a round or two and see how they perform in the real world if he will let you. That will better shed some light I think. 

 

Correct !

The true test of any club is on course performance.

[Nard_S]

I just want to add a caveat on this. Blades will expose just how stable your hands are. If you think you have "good hands", blades raise the bar and deliver a more telling verdict. The toe/thin shot matter but the real adjustment lies there.

[Flip4000]

11 minutes ago, clinkinfo said:

I'm more with boggieman, because I think this statement needs to be clarified.

 

You know that on THAT day, from a perfectly flat hitting station, you were hitting the blades well.  That's the challange I find with them (at least in the northeast), we have pretty uneven ground.  So some of the inconsistency comes from the nature of the game and not being able to find the sweet spot as easily when the situation is not a perfectly flat hitting bay, much less a day with a bad overall swing.

 

If you take the set on the course I think you'll get a better idea for why they have the reputation they do.  Maybe they will be good, but maybe they will be harder in real life senarios.  I think you need some on course time to really see.

100% I think the OP needs to try them on course or maybe test them a second time.

 

On a good swinging day in perfect condition it can be awesome to be hitting blades better than anything else, however I would want to know for the OP how bad are his bad swing days and what are his miss tendencies. It's great they out performed everything that day, but for me, I would need to test them out of some bad or tricky lies in the rough to see if I still felt confident about them

[clinkinfo]

1 minute ago, Flip4000 said:

100% I think the OP needs to try them on course or maybe test them a second time.

 

On a good swinging day in perfect condition it can be awesome to be hitting blades better than anything else, however I would want to know for the OP how bad are his bad swing days and what are his miss tendencies. It's great they out performed everything that day, but for me, I would need to test them out of some bad or tricky lies in the rough to see if I still felt confident about them

Absolutely agree 100%

 

Blades can be euphiria and super seductive in the a hitting bay or on that flat range.  But the rubber meets the road on course, and an ugly toe strike from uneven ground in heavy rough can have you re-evaluating your relationship pretty quickly.

[cgasucks]

For me, I was ready to move over to blades when you can hit their sweet spot 9 times out of 10 (including the long irons).  If you hit it all over the face you're not ready for them.

[ChipNRun]

At the caliber of play you are approaching, don't forget to analyze which shaft to put with the iron heads.

 

Also, you want irons that will help you score on days when you have your B-game instead of your A-game.

Edited October 13, 2020 by ChipNRun

[gambit]

Get fit outside off grass with decent balls if possible. Turf interaction and seeing a true ball flight makes a world of difference IMO.

[chippa13]

Make the selection based on your normal strike, not your best.

[jons1]

Here's my take... 

If you're a decent player, anyone can play blades from 7-LW.  It's not THAT hard.  It's what happens with 3-6 that determines what you should play, or consider a mixed set.

 

If you care about score over pleasure, play clubs for your misses.  Here's what to look for:

     1. Do you have any spin issues (too high)?  If your game could benefit from reduced spin, don't play blades.

     2. Do you have any plane issues (too steep)?  If you tend to get steep and/or take big/deep divots, don't play blades.

     3. Do you have contact issues (toe or heal)?  If you tend to miss the sweet spot often, don't play blades.

 

Blades don't have a handicap limit, but people with higher handicaps tend to have issues with all 3 of those.  Honest assessment of yourself is needed.

 

If you care about pleasure over score, there's no wrong answer.  Play what you like.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by jons1

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

27 minutes ago, ChipNRun said:

Also, you want irons that will help you score on days when you have your B-game instead of your A-game.

This x10. I play blades in the 7i-PW and pretty unforgiving CB‘s in 4i-6i. On bad days, golf is not much fun with them. But they’re so darn consistent when hit reasonably well that I have a tough time moving to easier sticks. And this comes before the whole feel debate for me. 

Be honest with yourself and your ballstriking ability, and remember that nobody gives a sh1t what irons you play but you yourself. Golf should be fun on bad swing days, too. 

[Pepperturbo]

Confidence is important, but it's NOT #1.  Number #1 is the strength of your commitment to your choice in irons and your WILL.  You will encounter frustrations and it will affect your frame of mind when playing.  Focus on Ball striking is #1, everything else will take care of it self. 

 

The decision behind your choice has to be strong enough to overshadow the obstacles, keep you positive and moving forward.  Whether you can handle those irons depends on YOU.  The goal has to be more powerful than the ease that comes from quitting or giving up. 

 

If you let what others say affect your thinking regarding your choice in clubs, you will more than likely quit on yourself.  Might as well save yourself some money and get some irons that are easier to hit.  Goals are accomplished by YOU and only YOU, NOT naysayers on social media.

 

When I hit a beautiful iron - I can not communicate the level of personal satisfaction that I feel.  I play those shots over and over in my head till the next time I play.   The other day I carded a stinky 78 from big kids tees on a difficult course.  But in that game I hit a number of great iron shots.  It's those shots that keep my energized, not the score.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Pepperturbo

[Gax]

Just to clarify, my objective is just to play better. 

 

The part that shocked me is : in my head, I'd never even try out the blades because I felt I wasn't a good enough ball striker. That is why I'm researching more insight on the topic. 
At the end of the day, I will make my decision based on what I think is best, but collecting more information is helping me to make that best decision.

 

Thanks again everyone, all the feedbacks are super appreciated !

[ZacR88]

I went from CB's to MB's this year as well. I am now playing a combo set. 4-6 Iron are my old Cleveland CG4 Tours and 7-PW are Titleist 710MB. 

 

Its not that I couldn't hit the 4-6 iron consistently. Its the tough lies in the rough that would cause me some trouble when I needed to use the 4-6 irons. Bad lie in the rough with anything 175 out using a blade was terrible. Its a bit easier now with the CB irons. 

 

Take that into consideration. If it means anything I am playing off scratch at the moment. 

[NRJyzr]

34 minutes ago, Gax said:

Just to clarify, my objective is just to play better. 

 

The part that shocked me is : in my head, I'd never even try out the blades because I felt I wasn't a good enough ball striker. That is why I'm researching more insight on the topic. 
At the end of the day, I will make my decision based on what I think is best, but collecting more information is helping me to make that best decision.

 

Thanks again everyone, all the feedbacks are super appreciated !

 

Having been down this road, my take is you'll never know unless you try.  And that said, there's no penalty is you choose not to give blades a shot.

 

FWIW, which may be little, I feel the fabled lack of forgiveness is somewhat overblown.  There's little difference between most blades and many CBs, it can be surprising what you see in the MOI measurements in MPF data. 

 

You could always try something a bit older and cheaper, to avoid the hit to the wallet, see how it works for you.

 

There's also always the idea of the mixed set.  7i or 8i to wedges, there's no real difference between CB and blade, sole/turf interaction aside.

 

A few random thoughts between meetings...

 

[Joe S]

For me it's not a question of "do I hit the sweet spot every time, or even 75% of the time".  It's "where on the face are your misses?"  If you're missing around the sweet spot then you are going to be fine.  If you're a chronic toe mis-hitter then blades will be very frustrating. 

 

About the 7TW's being the best for you, it's amazing to me how many youtube club reviews there are where the reviewer hits a manufacturers whole line of irons.  They save the blade for last, go on and on about how it's going to sting to mis-hit, then are amazed that they got the best numbers with it.  They conclude the review by deciding that they are going to ignore the results of the test and stick with their players game improvement iron because they "need the help".  

[toddmanley]

1 minute ago, Joe S said:

For me it's not a question of "do I hit the sweet spot every time, or even 75% of the time".  It's "where on the face are your misses?"  If you're missing around the sweet spot then you are going to be fine.  If you're a chronic toe mis-hitter then blades will be very frustrating.

 

Agree - one reason I switched back from the MP-20 HMB's to my old MP-18 blades (6i to P in the bag) was due to the face I couldn't feel where my misses were on the HMB's.  I love how blades can tell you whether your miss is high/low or left/right of the sweet spot.

[tgoodspe1991]

I could go on for hours about some of the stupid bro-science that gets peddled on these forums when it comes to these kind of topics... but, I'll try to resist.

 

Try not to overthink these things. Pick the iron that you think looks good, gives you confidence, and performs the best. Don't worry about whether you're "good enough" for a particular set of irons. Just focus on the fact that you're picking the club that performs the best for you, which, in your case, is the P7TW, and have confidence in that decision.

Just please, please, please do not buy into the myth that you will "outgrow" irons or that the only way to really lower your handicap is to play blades. It's absolutely not true.

Edited October 13, 2020 by tgoodspe1991

[Gax]

It's not so much about outgrowing the irons. If anything I'm kinda not that into the 7TW as people will look at the bag and think to themselves : he's a fanboy, where I couldn't care less. It was the best performing set for me.

 

If those were SGI I would've played without hesitation. The issue is more that i'm not sure how good i'll be on the long run, so actually more of the opposite of outgrowing, like I wouldn't be good enough and that decision would be quite costly as I'm not planning to get a new set right after 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Gax

[boggyman]

I play my best with a set of blades regularly that were last made in early ‘80s. Definitely not a horn tooter,  but I’ve tried, God only knows how many sets of irons, all sizes and categories, and still revolve back to my blades. Can’t explain it, other than they work, “FOR ME”! Try the pros as I said earlier , if he will allow, and see what happens in the real world! You probably won’t regret it! Best of luck to ya!!

Edited October 14, 2020 by boggyman

[Joe S]

If you're worried about the investment then buy a set of Nike VR Pro's for $350 or Hogan 98 Apex's for $150 and see how it goes for a while.  You can turn around and sell them for what you paid then buy the PT7TW's or something else.  As a 4.1 I don't think anyone will look at you sideways for having a set of blades in your bag.

[bombs]

Pretty sure I could hit the P7TW 7 iron well off perfectly flat range mat lies. 

 

On the course with a longer iron out of the rough? No thank you. 

 

Blend the MC's and 770's.  Or hit some Mizuno's. Love my 921 Tours. 

[bombs]

11 minutes ago, Joe S said:

If you're worried about the investment then buy a set of Nike VR Pro's for $350 or Hogan 98 Apex's for $150 and see how it goes for a while.  You can turn around and sell them for what you paid then buy the PT7TW's or something else.  As a 4.1 I don't think anyone will look at you sideways for having a set of blades in your bag.

 

This. 

 

It's not as if new blades have any more tech than old blades. Same technology for the past decade or more.

[setter02]

Just do it, you can never have enough clubs!  Hell, yesterday I bought a set of Scratch SB-1's and today picked up some Ping I210s, because, why not...