90s irons vs 2020s irons

[hammergolf]

On 12/16/2022 at 1:31 PM, FormerBigDaddy said:

I gamed the taylormade 2005 tp cb's up until last year.  They were awesome and wish I would have kept a set bc they're every bit as good as today's forged cb's.  Only thing that hasn't been mentioned is the groove rule change several years ago with USGA making most irons prior to 2008 (i think) non-conforming.  But I'm really not sure how much that really matters.

Todd Demsey just sent in a persimmon driver to the usga and it failed the bow tie’s ct test… The “new” wedge grooves spin wayyyyy more than the old models did. They are clueless when it comes to equipment. I played 2005 CBS for a long time to. I could never settle the argument with myself if my 2005 cbs or 300 Forged set was better.

[ChipNRun]

6 hours ago, 84425 said:

Shouldn’t the playability factor somehow take lie angle into account...

 

You are correct that lie angle is very important. A Maltby GolfWorks instructor told the class that lie angle adjustment is possibly the biggest fitting improvement of recent years. Custom shops did it for years, but it took Ping and its color code to bring it mainstream.

 

That said, let's take a look at the C-dimension, both for original diagram and your suggested upright hosel manipulation.

 

Your adjustment would provide a negligible gain in C-dimension. Plus, most of it would be stretching the hosel, not increasing the width of the grooves/hitting area. One of the complaints from circa 2010 is that golf irons have too upright a lie already for most golfers. This leads to left misses for many. (Google upright lies for discussions from a few years back.)

[dekez]

On 12/16/2022 at 1:28 PM, 84425 said:

Blade design per se hasn’t changed much over the years. What might have ‘improved’ though is the sole (improved in the sense that modern soles probably suit a larger group of players). So you may gind that the sole grind of a specific modern blade suits you better than something older. On the other hand, maybe you like a straight and sharp leading edge, limited chamber and limited bounce and then you are better of with 30-40 year old blades than with something new. 

Definitely something to think about.  The turf we play on today is cut much tighter than in the early 90s.  So the optimal bounce then may not be the optimal bounce now.

[SlowMo2k4]

First, I realize this is a 2 year old thread. But, I recently picked up a set of old Wilson X-31 blades for cheap.  I’m a left handed 6 HC.  I’ve always had to order players irons from the manufacturer at high rates - they don’t have forged blades you can buy off the rack very often.  I’m not going to get into COG or MOI mumbo jumbo… The most salient point made in all of these comments was the one about handicaps.  I can 100% verify those old Wilson blades are every bit the club my Srixons made last year are.  Smash the ball into the ground with the middle of the club face and it won’t matter.  The distance gained in modern players irons is in the loft, that’s it.  The more cavity, offset, I undercut, etc an iron has the less workability it offers.  Players clubs are all workable so they can’t do any of those tricks.  Again, if the equipment is so much better now why isn’t it reflected in actual scores?  That’s really the bottom line, can’t argue with it point.