At what point is playing blades an advantage?

[Douglsss]

Thinking out loud here...

 

If I took 100 players - 50 who play blades and 50 who play CB's - and averaged out the standard deviations of the SG APP 100-200 yards(Which is a standard deviations better or worse than the tour average) and compared those numbers do we think that they would differ enough?

 

My hope would be that averaging them out would remove big outliers like Rory(blades) and say Willy Z ( CB's). Something like the top 50 players who play blades and top 50 who play CB's? Maybe it would show something like "on average players who use CB's are .2 standard deviations better that blades" and if that proves to like a stroke a tournament over others. 

 

Give me a few, I'll see if this can actually be a thing 😄

[Ca3l]

I learned how to swing with an old (circa 80s maybe?) set of Mizuno blades, countless range balls, and a whole lot of frustration. That’s def led to my preference for thinner soles and smaller profiles, and I think the argument could be made I do play better with that (even if not scratch), but I’ll still take the added forgiveness of a modern players iron if I’m trying to score. I’m not sure there’s really an argument to be made that any amateur (or even 99% of pros for that matter) truly plays better with a full set of blades. Even Scheffler only goes to 5 iron in blade and then switches to his Srixon utilities. I’m not saying it’s true of all players, but if you’re gaming from a 3 or 4 on in blade and your name isn’t Tiger or Rory, you’re _probably_ doing yourself a disservice.

[chisag]

... Shane Lowry won this weekend and somehow overcame the deficiencies of his irons. Playing Srixon ZX7's in his 6-pw he should have had bad distance control, poor turf interaction and a lack of accuracy as these imposter clubs have been exposed by some MB players on this very thread. And the real head scratcher is using his ZX5 hollow headed 4 and 5 irons he overcame constant fliers these irons produce as well as huge variances in distance. I did not see the tournament but he must have been chipping quite a bit from 20-30 yds over the back of the green. 

... Sarcasm out of the way I think it is obvious a good player can use anything. I have always said every golfer should play the most forgiving clubs they can effectively play. For someone like Tiger that controls every aspect of his ball flight, the most forgiving iron for his game is a MB. Some will find the most forgiving iron they can effectively play is a solid forged CB and most players will find a multi material modern players iron like a T100 will be the most forgiving they can effectively play and looks like a MB at address.

... As many of the greatest golfers to live have stated golf is how bad are your worst shots, not how good are your best. Only the individual knows how much forgiveness they need. Is their wear spot the size off a dime or a half dollar? In these threads I always love the players that say they play MB's because they just like playing them for any reason. Even that they look good in the bag, if the means something to them. Golf should be fun and many have reasons other than shooting their lowest score and grinding out that one extra stroke per round. I love using Big Stu as an example and have said before I have little doubt, I could get him fit in some MIM Tour irons and have him hitting shots higher, straighter and farther than the MB's he plays. And even shooting a lower score he would hate it. Old school golfer that loves hitting shots and working the ball high-low-left-right. I imagine while he enjoys low rounds, scoring is way down his list of why he plays this great game.  

... Anecdotally: I played golf with a 50 something Head Pro from Desert Mountain playing my muni on his day off and shot a 63 with Ping i210's. His partner was playing some MB's and I asked him why he didn't play them and his reply was simply "Why would I? I don't get to play as often as I would like and I'll take all the forgiveness I can get." I also played the same course with a late 20something Outlaw Tour winner that averaged around 350 off the tee and shot 7 under on the front 9. He played 690MBs and I did not see him mishit a single shot, although he would probably say he missed a few by just a hair. He hit a stinger 690MB 3 iron about 10yds past my 270yd drive. I didn't bother asking him about his iron choice as they had a wear spot like a dime and were clearly perfect for his game. Which begs the question is your game closer to a young Outlaw Tour winner, an older Club Pro or a WRX member that misses the center more than they hit it? 

[Wayside]

58 minutes ago, Douglsss said:

Thinking out loud here...

 

If I took 100 players - 50 who play blades and 50 who play CB's - and averaged out the standard deviations of the SG APP 100-200 yards(Which is a standard deviations better or worse than the tour average) and compared those numbers do we think that they would differ enough?

 

My hope would be that averaging them out would remove big outliers like Rory(blades) and say Willy Z ( CB's). Something like the top 50 players who play blades and top 50 who play CB's? Maybe it would show something like "on average players who use CB's are .2 standard deviations better that blades" and if that proves to like a stroke a tournament over others. 

 

Give me a few, I'll see if this can actually be a thing 😄

Interesting 😀 But I’d imagine the slight differences on tour would be multiplied many fold with people who aren’t on tour.

 

What I can say, with regard to amateurs and statistics, is that I can’t remember ever fitting anyone who ended up with blades where it was because the numbers were better. 
 

Numbers aren’t everything - maybe the blades had superior feel, or the flight suited the player’s eye, or something unquantifiable like that made the difference. 
 

But, normally, if someone walks out with blades it’s because they came in for blades. That’s all good though 👍🏻 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Wayside

[sandpounder]

25 minutes ago, chisag said:

...... is your game closer to a young Outlaw Tour winner, an older Club Pro or a WRX member that misses the center more than they hit it? 

I would bet EVERYONE who posts regularly on this forum has a game like your #3 choice.  

[Red4282]

22 minutes ago, chisag said:

... Shane Lowry won this weekend and somehow overcame the deficiencies of his irons. Playing Srixon ZX7's in his 6-pw he should have had bad distance control, poor turf interaction and a lack of accuracy as these imposter clubs have been exposed by some MB players on this very thread. And the real head scratcher is using his ZX5 hollow headed 4 and 5 irons he overcame constant fliers these irons produce as well as huge variances in distance. I did not see the tournament but he must have been chipping quite a bit from 20-30 yds over the back of the green. 

... Sarcasm out of the way I think it is obvious a good player can use anything. I have always said every golfer should play the most forgiving clubs they can effectively play. For someone like Tiger that controls every aspect of his ball flight, the most forgiving iron for his game is a MB. Some will find the most forgiving iron they can effectively play is a solid forged CB and most players will find a multi material modern players iron like a T100 will be the most forgiving they can effectively play and looks like a MB at address.

... As many of the greatest golfers to live have stated golf is how bad are your worst shots, not how good are your best. Only the individual knows how much forgiveness they need. Is their wear spot the size off a dime or a half dollar? In these threads I always love the players that say they play MB's because they just like playing them for any reason. Even that they look good in the bag, if the means something to them. Golf should be fun and many have reasons other than shooting their lowest score and grinding out that one extra stroke per round. I love using Big Stu as an example and have said before I have little doubt, I could get him fit in some MIM Tour irons and have him hitting shots higher, straighter and farther than the MB's he plays. And even shooting a lower score he would hate it. Old school golfer that loves hitting shots and working the ball high-low-left-right. I imagine while he enjoys low rounds, scoring is way down his list of why he plays this great game.  

... Anecdotally: I played golf with a 50 something Head Pro from Desert Mountain playing my muni on his day off and shot a 63 with Ping i210's. His partner was playing some MB's and I asked him why he didn't play them and his reply was simply "Why would I? I don't get to play as often as I would like and I'll take all the forgiveness I can get." I also played the same course with a late 20something Outlaw Tour winner that averaged around 350 off the tee and shot 7 under on the front 9. He played 690MBs and I did not see him mishit a single shot, although he would probably say he missed a few by just a hair. He hit a stinger 690MB 3 iron about 10yds past my 270yd drive. I didn't bother asking him about his iron choice as they had a wear spot like a dime and were clearly perfect for his game. Which begs the question is your game closer to a young Outlaw Tour winner, an older Club Pro or a WRX member that misses the center more than they hit it? 

Ah but How many more tournaments would lowry have won had he played blades!!!! Just because someone has success with something doesnt mean anything. Its also funny you assume people on here miss center more than they hit it. 

[sandpounder]

3 minutes ago, Red4282 said:

Its also funny you assume people on here miss center more than they hit it. 

The center of the face for a pro is vastly different than the center for a WXR'er.

Edited September 12, 2022 by sandpounder
correction

[Red4282]

19 minutes ago, sandpounder said:

The center of the face for a pro is vastly different than the center for a WXR'er.

Last round was 4 under 68 from tips on a 7000 yard course. Im by no means a tour pro but dont insult me with this nonsense. I play apex mbs for the record, tcb 5-6 irons.

[rd1959]

5 minutes ago, Red4282 said:

Last round was 4 under 68 from tips on a 7000 yard course. Im by no means a tour pro but dont insult me with this nonsense. I play apex mbs for the record, tcb 5-6 irons.

After reading his ridiculous remark, I have a question for him. Do they make clubs for pros with the sweet spot in a different place?

Edited September 12, 2022 by rd1959

[Douglsss]

Ok, so it took me a bit. Mostly was having to lookup who does and doesn't use blades. Ran this for the top 100 players off of datagolf rank of last 12 months.

 

Averages aren't everything but there it is. 

 

Blades Counter: 44.0
Blades Average Rank Overall: 55.43181818181818
Blades Average Rank APP: 61.45454545454545
Blades Average STDDEV APP: 1.5164318181818182

CB Counter: 56.0
CB Average Rank Overall: 46.625
CB Average Rank APP: 60.357142857142854
CB Average STDDEV APP: 1.5771607142857142

 

Of the top 100 - 44 use blades, 56 use CB's. I counted mixed sets as blades as well since some people use a CB 4/5 or whatever. 

 

Of the top 100 players in the world for the last 12 months, it seems players using a CB makes them .06 standard deviations better than tour average vs top 100 players who play blades. 

 

I'll attach the list and maybe its not perfect but good enough for an hour of messing about.

 

In answering my initial question - I guess if you are a top 100 player in the world, playing a CB makes you a little better than tour average than if not? I don't know if I have enough data to really dial down to figure out if these differences are large in different circumstances, age, course, etc. Fun though 😄

blades_vs_cb_top100.csv

[Red4282]

7 minutes ago, rd1959 said:

After reading his ridiculous remark, I have a question for him. Do they make clubs for pros with the sweet spot in a different place?

I dont know, but i sometimes wonder how much some people get exposure to good amatuer/scratch or better level players. 

[driveandputtmachine]

I played D1 golf in college, made a couple of US and Sate ams in my early 20's mainly while playing blades or small CB irons.

 

Fast forward a lot of years.  Back in 2018 I had a set of P790's and a split set with the 565's in the long irons.  I am a relatively high spin player.

 

I saw exactly TWO irons shots go quite a bit too far in 55 rounds(which has been the average amoount of rounds I have played since 2017) and it's not because I all of a sudden hit an iron solid.  After looking at figuring it out with a few guys from my club we discovered that it is from

1. The iron I was playing I was borderline too low of spin for my swing with completely clean grooves.

2. Both shots I hit I had grooves that were not completely clean and one was in the rough and the other was a dew sweeper round.

 

IN testing with a trackman it is NOT a hot spot.  It is the fact the ball came off without enough spin because the grooves were unable to move the grass or water enough out of the way to get enough spin.  The balls sailed 10-15 yards farther than I expected

 

I have played the last three years (roughly 40 rounds a year) with a slightly above average spin guy and NOT ONCE have I seen him fly a green like this with his foam filled flexible face irons.  WHY?  Because he is already high spin and these irons get his spin about where mine is so even if he loses a bit more spin from grass or water, he still has plenty to achieve the correct trajectory.  He also is obsessive about keeping his iron grooves clean.

 

If you are a low spin or borderline low spin iron player you absolutely will have some huge "fliers" (10-15 yards)where your one piece irons wouldn't have had the same problem. Those irons are not for everyone, but they do fit plenty of people just fine.  Sure the first few years of flexible irons (Rocketbladez) had actual hot spots, but the manufacturers figured that out YEARS ago.

[MelloYello]

Another thing to keep in mind is that in today's world, there's often almost no difference in club size between the MB and CB in various OEM lineups. Examples would be the Titleist MB and CB or the Srixon Zx7 and Z-forged. In both cases, it's fair to say that if you're consistent with one, you'll be consistent with the other.

 

If there's no difference in the size of the head, perimeter weighting isn't going to add much stability. It's only going to slightly dampen the feel of the strike. To that end, it's purely about having the look of a blade, which many prefer, versus a CB that slightly dampens that harshness of bad contact. 

 

FWIW, I find my current Z-forged "blades" to be as forgiving (if not more) than a Titleist CB or T100. Again, I think we're splitting hairs in 2022, and we've been doing that for the past 10 years. 

 

.

Edited September 12, 2022 by MelloYello

[Red4282]

9 minutes ago, driveandputtmachine said:

I played D1 golf in college, made a couple of US and Sate ams in my early 20's mainly while playing blades or small CB irons.

 

Fast forward a lot of years.  Back in 2018 I had a set of P790's and a split set with the 565's in the long irons.  I am a relatively high spin player.

 

I saw exactly TWO irons shots go quite a bit too far in 55 rounds(which has been the average amoount of rounds I have played since 2017) and it's not because I all of a sudden hit an iron solid.  After looking at figuring it out with a few guys from my club we discovered that it is from

1. The iron I was playing I was borderline too low of spin for my swing with completely clean grooves.

2. Both shots I hit I had grooves that were not completely clean and one was in the rough and the other was a dew sweeper round.

 

IN testing with a trackman it is NOT a hot spot.  It is the fact the ball came off without enough spin because the grooves were unable to move the grass or water enough out of the way to get enough spin.  The balls sailed 10-15 yards farther than I expected

 

I have played the last three years (roughly 40 rounds a year) with a slightly above average spin guy and NOT ONCE have I seen him fly a green like this with his foam filled flexible face irons.  WHY?  Because he is already high spin and these irons get his spin about where mine is so even if he loses a bit more spin from grass or water, he still has plenty to achieve the correct trajectory.  He also is obsessive about keeping his iron grooves clean.

 

If you are a low spin or borderline low spin iron player you absolutely will have some huge "fliers" (10-15 yards)where your one piece irons wouldn't have had the same problem. Those irons are not for everyone, but they do fit plenty of people just fine.  Sure the first few years of flexible irons (Rocketbladez) had actual hot spots, but the manufacturers figured that out YEARS ago.

Good solid post. Maybe some manufacturers have figured it out. Im guessing there may be some that havent or dont care… so let me ask you as a really good golfer, in your opinion why arent any of these types (hollow players distance) not very popular on any of the major mens tours?

[Red4282]

6 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

Another thing to keep in mind is that in today's world, there's often almost no different in club size between the MB and CB in various OEM lineups. Example would be the Titleist MB and CB or the Srixon Zx7 and Z-forged. 

 

If there's no difference in the size of the head, perimeter weighting isn't going to add much stability. It's only going to slightly dampen the feel of the strike. To that end, it's purely about having the look of a blade versus CB that increases the consistently of the feel by a marginal amount. 

 

FWIW, I find my current Z-forged "blades" to be as forgiving (if not more) than a Titleist CB or T100. Again, I think we're splitting hairs in 2022, and we've been doing that for the past 10 years. 

Yep and that is what ive been talking about with the many nuances of “cb” and blades. Its not black and white.

[Douglsss]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

... Shane Lowry won this weekend and somehow overcame the deficiencies of his irons. Playing Srixon ZX7's in his 6-pw he should have had bad distance control, poor turf interaction and a lack of accuracy as these imposter clubs have been exposed by some MB players on this very thread. And the real head scratcher is using his ZX5 hollow headed 4 and 5 irons he overcame constant fliers these irons produce as well as huge variances in distance. I did not see the tournament but he must have been chipping quite a bit from 20-30 yds over the back of the green. 

... Sarcasm out of the way I think it is obvious a good player can use anything. I have always said every golfer should play the most forgiving clubs they can effectively play. For someone like Tiger that controls every aspect of his ball flight, the most forgiving iron for his game is a MB. Some will find the most forgiving iron they can effectively play is a solid forged CB and most players will find a multi material modern players iron like a T100 will be the most forgiving they can effectively play and looks like a MB at address.

... As many of the greatest golfers to live have stated golf is how bad are your worst shots, not how good are your best. Only the individual knows how much forgiveness they need. Is their wear spot the size off a dime or a half dollar? In these threads I always love the players that say they play MB's because they just like playing them for any reason. Even that they look good in the bag, if the means something to them. Golf should be fun and many have reasons other than shooting their lowest score and grinding out that one extra stroke per round. I love using Big Stu as an example and have said before I have little doubt, I could get him fit in some MIM Tour irons and have him hitting shots higher, straighter and farther than the MB's he plays. And even shooting a lower score he would hate it. Old school golfer that loves hitting shots and working the ball high-low-left-right. I imagine while he enjoys low rounds, scoring is way down his list of why he plays this great game.  

... Anecdotally: I played golf with a 50 something Head Pro from Desert Mountain playing my muni on his day off and shot a 63 with Ping i210's. His partner was playing some MB's and I asked him why he didn't play them and his reply was simply "Why would I? I don't get to play as often as I would like and I'll take all the forgiveness I can get." I also played the same course with a late 20something Outlaw Tour winner that averaged around 350 off the tee and shot 7 under on the front 9. He played 690MBs and I did not see him mishit a single shot, although he would probably say he missed a few by just a hair. He hit a stinger 690MB 3 iron about 10yds past my 270yd drive. I didn't bother asking him about his iron choice as they had a wear spot like a dime and were clearly perfect for his game. Which begs the question is your game closer to a young Outlaw Tour winner, an older Club Pro or a WRX member that misses the center more than they hit it? 

I think that a post like this is what gets closer to proving the point of what are the advantages in playing blades if all things are equal with swing? Lowry obviously hits the ball just fine with any type of club, so why does he choose cbs and more so ZX5's with longer clubs? It's not that he needs forgiveness in hitting the center of the face, that's for sure. He's getting spin, flight, speed windows he wants for his game to fit his gaps the way he needs. If he has a blade 5 iron or even a ZX7 he doesn't hit the distance, spin. etc. So in the arguement, Lowry gets more consistent results using a club designed to work the way he wants it to at that position in the bag for yardage. Playing a blade, even though he can with out a doubt, doesn't help him hit the shots he needs to score. 

 

 

[me05501]

11 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

Another thing to keep in mind is that in today's world, there's often almost no difference in club size between the MB and CB in various OEM lineups. Examples would be the Titleist MB and CB or the Srixon Zx7 and Z-forged. In both cases, it's fair to say that if you're consistent with one, you'll be consistent with the other.

 

 

Yep. I think with the same shafts those clubs are roughly equally playable. 

[me05501]

37 minutes ago, Red4282 said:

Last round was 4 under 68 from tips on a 7000 yard course. Im by no means a tour pro but dont insult me with this nonsense. I play apex mbs for the record, tcb 5-6 irons.

 

I assume he is probably referring to the margin of error for tour players versus handicap players.

 

I am positive he didn't seek to insult you personally. Interesting that you took it that way. 

[MelloYello]

11 minutes ago, Douglsss said:

I think that a post like this is what gets closer to proving the point of what are the advantages in playing blades if all things are equal with swing? Lowry obviously hits the ball just fine with any type of club, so why does he choose cbs and more so ZX5's with longer clubs? It's not that he needs forgiveness in hitting the center of the face, that's for sure. He's getting spin, flight, speed windows he wants for his game to fit his gaps the way he needs. If he has a blade 5 iron or even a ZX7 he doesn't hit the distance, spin. etc. So in the arguement, Lowry gets more consistent results using a club designed to work the way he wants it to at that position in the bag for yardage. Playing a blade, even though he can with out a doubt, doesn't help him hit the shots he needs to score. 

 

 

 

That's a good point, and by extension it's all about how you use your clubs. For example, it's easy to love blade long irons when you only ever hit them off the tee. Or maybe someone likes a 2-iron, right up until they have to start firing at Par-5's and carrying water hazards at which point a hybrid or fairway metal might simply be the better option.  

 

Being able to find the center of the face is one aspect, but it's not everything. As you point out, it's about what shots you can create.

 

Look at the LPGA, Leona Maguire is making way more $$$ at golf than anyone here with her longest iron being a 7i. 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by MelloYello

[mudmarlin]

I’m really hoping the comment about Lowry winning more tournaments if he played blades was a joke.  Hard to tell on the internet.  Maybe someone prefers and plays better with them, but I’m going to say the tour pro knows what he plays best with.  Seriously questioning that is absurd.

[MtlJeff]

29 minutes ago, driveandputtmachine said:

I played D1 golf in college, made a couple of US and Sate ams in my early 20's mainly while playing blades or small CB irons.

 

Fast forward a lot of years.  Back in 2018 I had a set of P790's and a split set with the 565's in the long irons.  I am a relatively high spin player.

 

I saw exactly TWO irons shots go quite a bit too far in 55 rounds(which has been the average amoount of rounds I have played since 2017) and it's not because I all of a sudden hit an iron solid.  After looking at figuring it out with a few guys from my club we discovered that it is from

1. The iron I was playing I was borderline too low of spin for my swing with completely clean grooves.

2. Both shots I hit I had grooves that were not completely clean and one was in the rough and the other was a dew sweeper round.

 

IN testing with a trackman it is NOT a hot spot.  It is the fact the ball came off without enough spin because the grooves were unable to move the grass or water enough out of the way to get enough spin.  The balls sailed 10-15 yards farther than I expected

 

I have played the last three years (roughly 40 rounds a year) with a slightly above average spin guy and NOT ONCE have I seen him fly a green like this with his foam filled flexible face irons.  WHY?  Because he is already high spin and these irons get his spin about where mine is so even if he loses a bit more spin from grass or water, he still has plenty to achieve the correct trajectory.  He also is obsessive about keeping his iron grooves clean.

 

If you are a low spin or borderline low spin iron player you absolutely will have some huge "fliers" (10-15 yards)where your one piece irons wouldn't have had the same problem. Those irons are not for everyone, but they do fit plenty of people just fine.  Sure the first few years of flexible irons (Rocketbladez) had actual hot spots, but the manufacturers figured that out YEARS ago.

 

@Bye mentioned this a couple of pages ago also. I think after 48,000 threads on the subject we might be circling in on a Stephen Hawking style "theory of everything" related to fliers.

 

-Fliers are not hot spots.

-Fliers are launch conditions that arise and affect everyone occasionally, but may dis-proportionally affect people using clubs that don't spin enough for them in many situations, causing fluctuations in distance

-Often these clubs are lower spin designs in the SGI or player's distance style of head

-It still doesn't happen ALL THE TIME

-If it happens ALL THE TIME --It's you.

 

 

[sandpounder]

52 minutes ago, Red4282 said:

Last round was 4 under 68 from tips on a 7000 yard course. Im by no means a tour pro but dont insult me with this nonsense. I play apex mbs for the record, tcb 5-6 irons.

I hope you take this in the lightheartedness that it is meant.  Your golf accomplishments and $2 will get you a cup of coffee.

[chisag]

 

6 hours ago, me05501 said:

 

I assume he is probably referring to the margin of error for tour players versus handicap players.

 

I am positive he didn't seek to insult you personally. Interesting that you took it that way. 

 

...  Kevin Na said he doesn't hit the center enough to play MB's. Ben Hogan said he hit one shot a round dead center producing a perfect shot and the rest were misses.  I know I miss the center more than I hit it, and my miss is bigger than a tour pros miss although much smaller than a mid cap miss. When I taught I used face stickers for my best players and the pattern was always wider than they thought. The sweetspot is not the size of a quarter, but really good players will have a pattern that size, at least on some days and when really on maybe a nickel. Dead center is more like the size of an eraser on a pencil. But if someone wants to think they hit the center more than Na or Hogan, I applaud their power of positive thinking. 👍

Edited September 13, 2022 by chisag

[Wayside]

17 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

Another thing to keep in mind is that in today's world, there's often almost no difference in club size between the MB and CB in various OEM lineups. Examples would be the Titleist MB and CB or the Srixon Zx7 and Z-forged. In both cases, it's fair to say that if you're consistent with one, you'll be consistent with the other.

 

If there's no difference in the size of the head, perimeter weighting isn't going to add much stability. It's only going to slightly dampen the feel of the strike. To that end, it's purely about having the look of a blade, which many prefer, versus a CB that slightly dampens that harshness of bad contact. 

 

FWIW, I find my current Z-forged "blades" to be as forgiving (if not more) than a Titleist CB or T100. Again, I think we're splitting hairs in 2022, and we've been doing that for the past 10 years. 

I’d have to disagree there. It’s not just feel which changes with perimeter weighting, performance does too. You can clearly see this on launch monitor stats. 
 

There are irons with very similar performance between the CB and MB versions, but these are usually designed to be so. Even then, there is still usually a performance difference with the CB, especially it it’s a multi-metal construction. 
 

IIRC, Titleist made a big deal of this when marketing the 716 CB, which they claimed was almost the same MOI as the 714 AP2, which obviously had a larger head too. 

[Bye]

3 minutes ago, Wayside said:

I’d have to disagree there. It’s not just feel which changes with perimeter weighting, performance does too. You can clearly see this on launch monitor stats. 
 

There are irons with very similar performance between the CB and MB versions, but these are usually designed to be so. Even then, there is still usually a performance difference with the CB, especially it it’s a multi-metal construction. 
 

IIRC, Titleist made a big deal of this when marketing the 716 CB, which they claimed was almost the same MOI as the 714 AP2, which obviously had a larger head too. 

Agreed, I had a set of the 716CB’s and now have a set of MB’s. The heads look the same size, but they are very different clubs.

[BIG STU]

5 hours ago, me05501 said:

Players who benefit from blades seem to be the same ones who don't always try to hit their irons for maximum distance. 

 

Tons of players will stretch a nine iron to 150 just because they can. Another kind of player would rather hit a controlled seven iron because it's an easier and more controllable shot. 

 

It's a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. Committing to less-forgiving irons can help you play smarter. Playing smart makes less-forgiving irons less intimidating. 

 

One of my favorite clubs is my Srixon Z785 gap wedge which is a muscle-back design. I think the reason I hit so many good shots with it is because rarely try to hit it for maximum distance. 

 

The latter one is me except I hit either a 6 iron or 9 wood these days but like you said it is a easier swing. Which is a must for me these days to prevent injury

[BombinJim]

4 hours ago, BraxtonFullerton said:

 

We had 2 really wet summers in a row when I got into playing 3x a week as a teen, so I'm now very much a sweeper of the ball. I still hate fat soled clubs to this day.

 

 

This is my strategy. I am nowhere near the handicap to be playing player CB irons, but I do like some shot shaping and a predictable miss of being short.

Same here. But I’d rather know I’ll be short. I also don’t want a PW that goes >150 so weak lofts are my preference.

[Red4282]

2 hours ago, me05501 said:

 

I assume he is probably referring to the margin of error for tour players versus handicap players.

 

I am positive he didn't seek to insult you personally. Interesting that you took it that way. 

Idc what your positive or assume, it was a ridiculous thing to say

[me05501]

2 hours ago, Red4282 said:

Idc what your positive or assume, it was a ridiculous thing to say

Okay, Dad. 

[PoeBarrett]

I’ve played blades for awhile now and my handicap is the lowest it’s ever been. I enjoy golf the most when I can go out and hit/shape shots, blades offer me the ability to do that better than most irons out there. It also forced my short game to improve because, like others stated above, they are noticeably less forgiving on mishits and you have to get comfortable getting up and down. Blades are harder to hit without a doubt but they (at least for me) make it easier to be creative on the course