Why not degree of loft on irons vs a number?

[NoTalentLefty]

What I’m hearing:

1) My ego can’t take the fact that player A thinks he hits his PW farther than mine but I’m playing a 45 to 50 degree and he’s playing a 41 degree. It ain’t fair. 

2) I’m hitting my PW farther than player B. But player A doesn’t realize that player B wedge is 4 to 9 degrees weaker. 
3) I don’t give a rat’s tail what anyone’s club has on it. 

1 and 2 may not be said but it’s perceived. More than likely 1 is the most butt hurt. 2 is anyone who doesn’t know the specs which nowadays is fewer and fewer. Number 3 has the right attitude about something so meaningless as a number on a golf club. It’s about gapping and scores . 

 

The most important things outside accuracy with irons is gapping. A players wedge should go at least 100+ yards from there have at least 10 yards difference in his irons. For me ? It’s at least a 5 degree gap in my 8 thru GW. A 4 to 4 1/2 from the 8 to the 6 iron. After that hybrids. 

Edited October 7, 2021 by NoTalentLefty

[Bad9]

1 hour ago, lefthack said:

 

Because Joe Public who doesn't fully grasp physics will buy club B thinking he's gaining 10 yards on his old set because "magic". So you need to make him aware that club B while stamped 8 is a 36* 8 and not a 39* 8.

 

Why does Player A need to make Player B aware of anything about their equipment? How does Player B's specs make any difference to Player A? Even if B boasts about hitting his 8 10yrds further why does A have to tell B its because of stronger lofts?

[lefthack]

30 minutes ago, Bad9 said:

 

Why does Player A need to make Player B aware of anything about their equipment? How does Player B's specs make any difference to Player A? Even if B boasts about hitting his 8 10yrds further why does A have to tell B its because of stronger lofts?

 

I'm talking about a pro at a pro shop helping Joe Public hit different irons. Not some scrub at the range 

Edited October 7, 2021 by lefthack

[mogc60]

18 hours ago, Nessism said:

 

Correct marketing.  To me a PW = 50 degrees.  

Agree, mostly. To me a 50* golf club goes 120 yards. Personally I could care less what number or stamp is on it.  Many modern irons are stronger lofted and to me it’s a whatever conversation. For 30 years I’ve basically hit my irons the exact same distance. I don’t want to hit 8 iron 175…or 190 for that matter. I’ve hit it 160-165 my whole life. Whatever loft gets me that yardage is all I care about. Currently that loft is 38* on my ZForged irons. Yes that’s bent 1 degree weak from their stock lofts.  I guess I’m not the type to talk about what I hit where and could care less what someone else hit. I don’t have a gap larger than 15 yards in my clubs from 90 yards to 270 and that’s what’s important. 

[Bad9]

2 hours ago, lefthack said:

 

I'm talking about a pro at a pro shop helping Joe Public hit different irons. Not some scrub at the range 

The stuff I mentioned gets stated on zWrx every time the topic comes up.

[lefthack]

5 minutes ago, Bad9 said:

The stuff I mentioned gets stated on zWrx every time the topic comes up.

 

I'm screwed because my new irons are a full club off, so I will have sharpie on mine to remind me the PW is my 9 iron. 🤣

[I'_rather_be_golfing]

I would honestly find it annoying if the loft was stamped instead of the iron number. I find it weird to have to say I used a 26 degree iron instead of saying a 5 iron. 

[Shushwap]

everyone is so caught up in the number on the iron.. I dont care if it says 583.. as long as it goes the distance I need it to... People will ask me when I hit a shot what club did you use... That was 150 or 160 or whatever... I dont de loft the club a lot... I tend to hit a high ball... So telling someone I hit my 7 iron... Doesnt really translate for someone else

[@_the_crook]

as mentioned earlier, the 845's had loft stamped on the toe, and as a long time TA player it must have rewired the way I looked at gear.

selecting fairways, hybrids, wedges - based on loft.

made my life simpler- telling me what I needed, X degrees to there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[EmperorPenguin]

38 minutes ago, Shushwap said:

everyone is so caught up in the number on the iron.. I dont care if it says 583.. as long as it goes the distance I need it to... People will ask me when I hit a shot what club did you use... That was 150 or 160 or whatever... I dont de loft the club a lot... I tend to hit a high ball... So telling someone I hit my 7 iron... Doesnt really translate for someone else

 

Yes, but the dude I was paired up with last week was so happy when he hit is pitching wedge 155 yards.  I had to take a picture of the actual club in his bag immediately after the superb shot.  Made him feel like a stud when I had to use my old 6 iron to get on the green.  He had no short game, so no wonder I beat him by 14 shots, but when I grow younger I want to hit my pitching wedge as long as him!

[Billfitz]

8 hours ago, NoTalentLefty said:

3) I don’t give a rat’s tail what anyone’s club has on it.

That. In forty plus years of playing I've never cared what anyone used for a club or what loft it might have been. The only game I pay attention to is my own, the only clubs I pay attention to are my own. Whether or not my 140 yard club is stamped 8 iron or 34 degrees doesn't much matter to me.

[NRJyzr]

18 hours ago, Bad9 said:

 

IIRC t.hey did it for one year, added the club number to the loft after one year and dropped the loft after that. Its been 4-5 years since they stamped loft on their clubs.

 

As in all the past discussions I will ask again, why stamp the loft? What purpose does it serve? To allow Player A to snicker at Player B for hitting less loft than they are and/or make fun of them for not knowing their clubs are strong lofted seems to be the biggest reasons that gets posted here all the time(although not actually stated that way it is the message). All I need to know is how far do I typically hit a given club during play, at a trajectory I want and are my distance gaps consistent. Doesn't really matter what the specs are or how the club is identified.

 

17 hours ago, NoTalentLefty said:

What I’m hearing:

1) My ego can’t take the fact that player A thinks he hits his PW farther than mine but I’m playing a 45 to 50 degree and he’s playing a 41 degree. It ain’t fair. 

2) I’m hitting my PW farther than player B. But player A doesn’t realize that player B wedge is 4 to 9 degrees weaker. 
3) I don’t give a rat’s tail what anyone’s club has on it. 

1 and 2 may not be said but it’s perceived. More than likely 1 is the most butt hurt. 2 is anyone who doesn’t know the specs which nowadays is fewer and fewer. Number 3 has the right attitude about something so meaningless as a number on a golf club. It’s about gapping and scores . 

 

The most important things outside accuracy with irons is gapping. A players wedge should go at least 100+ yards from there have at least 10 yards difference in his irons. For me ? It’s at least a 5 degree gap in my 8 thru GW. A 4 to 4 1/2 from the 8 to the 6 iron. After that hybrids. 

 

 

I find this line of thought puzzling...  it reminds me of what you'd see on the old Batman TV series, when Batman was dosed with some sort of chemical by the Joker or Penguin, and the screen would look like something from a fun house mirror.  LOL

 

[NoTalentLefty]

45 minutes ago, NRJyzr said:

 

 

 

I find this line of thought puzzling...  it reminds me of what you'd see on the old Batman TV series, when Batman was dosed with some sort of chemical by the Joker or Penguin, and the screen would look like something from a fun house mirror.  LOL

 

You must fall in the number 1 category. 

[NRJyzr]

7 minutes ago, NoTalentLefty said:

You must fall in the number 1 category. 

 

Go play with your Strawman somewhere else

 

[iknowbagu]

Gonna be a long winter if it's only October and a topic as utterly arbitrary as this is already up and running ... 

[RSinSG]

Hogan irons did this and it led to some funny results. I saw a couple sets for sale that someone had engraved the iron number next to the factory loft number. Apparently trying to remember if you hit a 37 or a 41 is hard.

[NoTalentLefty]

2 hours ago, NRJyzr said:

 

Go play with your Strawman somewhere else

 

Sorry I hit too close to home.

Edited October 8, 2021 by NoTalentLefty

[Billfitz]

So, as long as we're going down this road, how many of you carry a 10, 11, 12 or 13 iron? 😏

[Bad9]

17 minutes ago, Billfitz said:

So, as long as we're going down this road, how many of you carry a 10, 11, 12 or 13 iron? 😏

I'd carry a 10 and 11 in lieu of a PW and GW as that's how I view/use them anyway.

[Billfitz]

And thus my point. A 10 iron is a PW, an 11 iron is a GW. A rose by any other name...

[bnperrone]

16 hours ago, EmperorPenguin said:

 

Yes, but the dude I was paired up with last week was so happy when he hit is pitching wedge 155 yards.  I had to take a picture of the actual club in his bag immediately after the superb shot.  Made him feel like a stud when I had to use my old 6 iron to get on the green.  He had no short game, so no wonder I beat him by 14 shots, but when I grow younger I want to hit my pitching wedge as long as him!

Ironically, the 43* club doesn't actually appear to have a club marking other than the loft...Wonder what he has between that 43* and the 60* next to it. 17* is kind of a wide gap between GW and LW

[dvq9654]

I just ordered a set of clubs and am going to have the club maker put lofts on them instead of iron numbers. Mainly cause I like the way it looks. I'll know which club is essentially a 4 iron and which is a 9 iron. At the end of the day, none of it matters as long as you know how far you hit each club. It will be fun though when a friend says "What club did you hit?" and I say "26 degree".  

[Nels55]

A few thoughts:

If Bobby Jones had built the first numbered steel shafted set using lofts instead of numbers then todays 52 would actually be 46 or 42 or 38 or whatever degrees.  That to me is the main problem with stamping lofts, the manufactures would have loft jacked anyway and they would still be doing it.

 

Another thought is what if instead of a pitching wedge and a sand wedge the clubs had been labeled 10 and 11?  The set would then have been 1 through 11 and it would have been more difficult to loft jack as what number would be used for a gap wedge?  9 and half?  LOL

[A.Princey]

Low, natural number integers, in sequential order are much easier for the brain to categorize, especially as lofts change from make/model. This is especially true once a golfer matches said club number up with it’s specific yardage. The club numbering becomes a “number list” of yardages, essentially. 

Edited October 9, 2021 by A.Princey

[ARL67]

I now use coloured ferrules from BigFootGolf ( eBay ) so I now think " Ahh this shot calls for the Purple ( my GW ) "

[lefthack]

I would like to add an "ish" to all my irons as that seems way more appropriate.

[ClubBuildRookie]

Standardization within the golf industry sucks and will likely never really get much better because its big business and manufacturers fear it would lead to loss of competitive advantage.  However, regardless of how much loft jacking marketing BS is going on and what numbers are on the clubs, at the end of day the only thing that really matters is proximity to the pin and ability to hole the putt.  If I could do better with a rack, hoe and shovel like Roy they would be in my bag.  

[bekgolf]

On 10/7/2021 at 6:18 AM, Doaner84 said:

golf is already hard as it is with swing thoughts lol.  a simple number suites me better.

 

That was my thought when I posted, a degree number is much simpler than thinking my 5 iron is xx degrees and I hit it xxx yards.

 

My current setup has a 4 iron that's 20.5 degrees.  The previous set had  4 iron that was 23 degrees.  All the iron number does is misstate the loft I'm actually hitting.

 

The iron number doesn't mean anything except that I convert it to degrees and yards.  Why have to convert to degrees first?  Why not just know that my current 4 iron is 20.5 degrees and the next best gap for me is an 18 degree hybrid? 

 

If clubs were identified by loft vs an arbitrary number it would simplify things.  At least in my mind.  But, I don't always think the same as others.

[Bad9]

5 hours ago, bekgolf said:

 

That was my thought when I posted, a degree number is much simpler than thinking my 5 iron is xx degrees and I hit it xxx yards.

 

My current setup has a 4 iron that's 20.5 degrees.  The previous set had  4 iron that was 23 degrees.  All the iron number does is misstate the loft I'm actually hitting.

 

The iron number doesn't mean anything except that I convert it to degrees and yards.  Why have to convert to degrees first?  Why not just know that my current 4 iron is 20.5 degrees and the next best gap for me is an 18 degree hybrid? 

 

If clubs were identified by loft vs an arbitrary number it would simplify things.  At least in my mind.  But, I don't always think the same as others.

Why do you think about the degree of loft while playing? Why not just know what you hit that 4 iron?

[Titleist_PT23]

I've been thinking about getting one of the following:

 

a) PING G425 5-SW PowerSpec

 

b) PING G425 4-UW RetroSpec, ~1/2 inch short, ~0.5 degrees upright, hard-stepped 1x, with lead tape to bring the headweight up

 

Any suggestions?