41 degree pitching wedge.. "Longest irons ever". Grandma just smoked a 9 iron 200 yards. (***MERGED***)

[MrCook]

On 1/12/2023 at 4:58 PM, Feelingofgreatness said:

I think you fail to understand the concept. 

Your 4i would simply be the 5i in the g430, you still have the same amount of clubs and the same gaps, the club names are just different. 

A 45* pw isn't a pw. A pitching club is 50 to 52* therefore your 45* is still just a short iron labeled as PW. 

 

You can have a set where the PW is 30* and 9i is 27* and 8i is 24*. Above PW you label the irons with lofts instead club numbers... It's just a labelling game! Lol

 

This is player dependent. It holds true for me, my 44° is really a short iron labeled as PW and I pitch with my GW. However, my dad plays Ping G30's with a 45° PW and uses that for his 90 yard pitch shot. And guess what, it produces a similar result to what my GW does for me, even though it achieves it a bit differently (lower spin, higher flight). He just doesn't have the speed to hit a spinny, flighted pitch shot that stops quickly with a non-GI club in the 50° range. He's exactly the type of player those clubs are aimed at and in those cases, a 45° PW works as advertised.

Edited January 14, 2023 by MrCook

[BURKMI19]

Yea the whole concept of stronger lofts I have never understood.  It's really funny how the companies market how much "friendlier" a 22 degree 5 iron is than a traditional 3 iron.  

[mat562]

I find the whole thing mildly amusing.

 

When someone belittles me because I hit an 8-iron into a par three where they hit a 41-degree 'pitching wedge' it feels remarkably like someone bragging that their car can do a standing quarter mile in 12 seconds only to find that the stopwatch they use starts at -4.

[tbowles411]

5 hours ago, chisag said:

... That was last spring and he has been very happy with them. Jacked lofts never entered into it. He just hit these irons longer and straighter than the irons he owned. These are the guys that buy new jacked clubs with a 41* pw. Not because they can brag about them but because he hit them farther and straighter than his old irons. Just the thought of folks talking about golf equipment on a forum would put him to sleep. Great guy and absolutely loves playing golf. But he couldn't care less about equipment. 

This.  Most of our customers literally do not give two craps about "jacked lofts."  They want to enjoy the game.  Period.  They don't care about the number on the bottom or what their friends think.  And engineers have figured out how to squeeze out distance by saving weight and replacing it with lighter materials that as most people say, make that 5 iron perform like a 3 iron. 

 

I railed on it too, until I got my first set of irons that did that.  It made the game somewhat easier.  It's actually comforting feeling knowing I'm holding a "7" iron from 165 yards than holding a 5 iron that there is a real possibility I may not make the best contact.

 

And if grandma smoked her 9 iron 200 yards, I would expect her to give it her best club twirl and take her bad self back to the cart preparing to sink a putt.  🙂

[iknowbagu]

6 hours ago, rd1959 said:

And now you have millions of golfers who can't find the sweet spot because they rely far too much on the club bailing them out instead of working on a good, repeatable swing.

 

There always has been and always will be those golfers. 

[JAMH03]

On 1/10/2023 at 5:41 PM, iknowbagu said:

T400 is 38° ...

 

I don't care, I'm over it, we're not going backwards at this point. If my next set of irons is 6-G³ then it is what it is. 

🤣

[rgk5]

After a casual count, this is only the 2,121 thread complaining about stronger lofts.  I eagerly wait for #2,122. 😝

[Bad9]

26 minutes ago, rgk5 said:

After a casual count, this is only the 2,121 thread complaining about stronger lofts.  I eagerly wait for #2,122. 😝

 

It's the second or third this week.

[me05501]

It's funny. No one complains about manufacturers designing cars that go "too fast." 

[joostin]

12 hours ago, DaveGoodrich said:

 

This very post illustrates exactly why they are confused.  Calling clubs that aren't wedges "wedges" is inherently confusing.  Loft jacking has resulted in non-sensical naming conventions for clubs that nobody used to need an explanation to understand.  

 

And frankly, the fact that these sets aren't for "us," pretty much guarantees that their intended customers will be among those that are confused, which is as intended, IMO.    

 

When the "need" for a gap wedge became a thing, they should have put that wedge between the 9 and the PW, and called it a Fairway Wedge.  Then the pitching wedge would still be useful for pitching, and they would have filled the gap they created with an appropriately named longer "wedge."  After all, fairway approaches are typically understood to be longer than pitches, right?  It would have been a new name for an old club, but at least it would almost make sense semantically.   

 

That's true, could've left the pitching wedge name and functionality alone, like the sand wedge.  Reminds me of Hogan having an E for Equalizer and F for Fairway Wedge.  But even then E was known to be a Hogan "pitching wedge" though F was a more traditional loft for that club.

 

Most people here are way more "in the know" vs the casual golfer, and unfortunately semantics has been out the window.  I think threads like these are preaching to the choir, but even the choir doesn't agree, thanks to OEM wars.

[iknowbagu]

32 minutes ago, me05501 said:

It's funny. No one complains about manufacturers designing cars that go "too fast." 

 

And now you've got millions of people who can't drive up to our standards because they rely too much on those damn automatic transmissions and traction control. 

[BagofToast]

7 minutes ago, iknowbagu said:

 

And now you've got millions of people who can't drive up to our standards because they rely too much on those damn automatic transmissions and traction control. 

Oh no things that make life easier, what ever shall we do. 

[Tree Levino]

12 hours ago, whileweareyoung said:

 

Not only the lofts..... the lengths......  PW, 45.5 and 50 are are 35.5...... so the PW acting like 9 in loft is only length of a gap wedge...... the 45.5 should be 35.75...

 

Just not sure about these....

 

PW	35 1/2"1/2	41.0°degrees
45.5	35 1/2"1/2	45.5°degrees
50	35 1/2"1/2	50.0°degrees

interesting point actually. I hadn’t considered this. I was going to write that the “hitting a shorter length club is easier” argument is kind of crap because TM for instance makes the stealth 5i at 21 degrees and 38.5” - it’s a strong 4i. Anybody that argues this isn’t for ego patting purposes is kidding themselves. What’s interesting is that with Titleist it’s almost like they went for a semi one length approach with the t400. The W2-9 (4 clubs ranging from 49-33 degrees) are within a half inch of each other and are all the same lie angle. Kind of weird. Anyways my foursome consists of myself and another ex college player who are both in the +2-1 range depending on time of year and busyness, a 5 who hits it a country mile but has no control and an 18 who I went to high school with. The 18 just bought a new set of power bats and since he insists on playing from 6700 yards minimum, often is trying to hit 4 and 5 irons on most of our par 3s (190 shortest to 230 longest). Guaranteed his 7 iron would go the same distance as his 4 or 5i 95% or the time at least. It’s smoke and mirrors. He’s  also a low ball hitter and I think something with more loft and spin would be highly beneficial coupled with lessons so he could actually compress a golf ball. Anywho, it doesn’t really matter. I used to whine about it more on here but at the end of the day we are the fringe minority of golf and it doesn’t matter. The OEMs know how much small D energy is involved in this sport - maybe the most of any - and that even if the guy knows the lofts are stronger, his ego is satiated knowing he’s hitting the 7 10 yards further on the big box sim than his old one. Everybody in here go do some drills today and make your own swing better.  

[tbowles411]

2 minutes ago, BagofToast said:

Oh no things that make life easier, what ever shall we do. 

Exactly.  Let's make this game as hard as possible where people quit or don't try because they're intimidated.

[iknowbagu]

21 minutes ago, BagofToast said:

Oh no things that make life easier, what ever shall we do. 

 

We should start with screaming on internet forums about how car makers should go back to Model-T specs. 

[scooterhd2]

16 hours ago, Barfolomew said:

In 2050 they still gonna be saying these are the longest irons on the market, way further then the 2049s or will it max out

 

We are pretty much at that point. Physics doesnt change. But you will never hear marketers saying, these clubs go the same distance as last years model but they look cooler, or uglier, you decide. 

[dekez]

12 hours ago, forrester_fire said:

 

Don't buy those irons...problem solved.

Sure. But wouldn't you prefer that the OEM's invest in R&D for true innovation?  Make irons more forgiving?  Improve dispersion?  Perhaps better ground action?  Stuff like that.

 

Being a GolfWrxer I'm naturally inclined to look at new "tools."  But there's nothing interesting out there for my demographic.

[Ripken08]

Wow what a novel thread topic....

[boggyman]

Jacked lofts are here to stay. If one doesn’t like them, get some blades from the early days where a PW is 50 and go play golf. I use the blades all the time. Simplicity at it finest! For goodness sakes, yes, the jacked lofts help some folks in various ways and if that’s not you, forget it, quit whining, and move on! 

[mosesgolf]

I can see it now giddy player "I just hit 150 yards with my 9 iron"

[dekez]

57 minutes ago, boggyman said:

Jacked lofts are here to stay. If one doesn’t like them, get some blades from the early days where a PW is 50 and go play golf. I use the blades all the time. Simplicity at it finest! For goodness sakes, yes, the jacked lofts help some folks in various ways and if that’s not you, forget it, quit whining, and move on! 

 

Agree.  I couldn't care less what people play.  But my quarrel is different.  We would have better irons to choose from if we didn't let the OEM's get away with this BS.

[Streetscape]

1 hour ago, dekez said:

Sure. But wouldn't you prefer that the OEM's invest in R&D for true innovation?  Make irons more forgiving?  Improve dispersion?  Perhaps better ground action?  Stuff like that.

 

Being a GolfWrxer I'm naturally inclined to look at new "tools."  But there's nothing interesting out there for my demographic.

Isn't the whole point of these new strong lofts is to make irons more forgiving? I would imagine OEMs have multiple incentives to make them besides selling more clubs. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but don't these GI and SGI clubs help improve launch conditions? And if so, even though "forgiveness" means something different for every player, I would assume that the R&D departments are making these clubs "forgiving" for whoever their target market is. Just like the standard specs (Length/Loft/Lie) of irons are there to cover as many players as possible, shouldn't it be assumed these sorts of irons are made to be as forgiving as possible for the majority of their target market? How much can you innovate a true players cavity back or blade?

[boggyman]

1 hour ago, dekez said:

 

Agree.  I couldn't care less what people play.  But my quarrel is different.  We would have better irons to choose from if we didn't let the OEM's get away with this BS.

I’m in totaI agreement! I played a short bit a set of Rogue X, 1st generation, but it didn’t last long. I look at it as to why there’s so much obesity these days. Pull up to the drive through and SUPERSIZE it! It’s just too easy and silly folks just fall for the gimmicks. First thing someone says,”wow, that was long”! Irons are for accuracy I always thought and if one hit his/her irons long, that was just an added bonus! My current SGI PW is 44, 21-55* for 4-SW and I’m good with that in my SGI irons. They done have all that gel, blah blah blah tech and their hybrid style irons. I prefer my old school lofts where the PW is 50*in my set of old school blades! It’s the only 2 sets I currently own. For me, that’s outstanding! 

Edited January 13, 2023 by boggyman

[mantan]

Which club is the niblick again?

[PNWGuy]

So when Grandma smokes her nine iron, how does she keep it lit?

[Klubster]

13 minutes ago, mantan said:

Which club is the niblick again?

Well, I hit my new spoon farther than your old brassie.

[ChipNRun]

Not just in the future! I once hit a sand wedge 160 yards!

 

Unfortunately, I was only 80 yards from the flagstick, and almost injured golfers standing on the next tee.

 

[Luke'sdad]

20 hours ago, Feelingofgreatness said:

The irons are $200+ a pop so I fail to see the difference? You are still buying the same amount of clubs. 

The bigger issue is anybody buying these distance irons that include a 41 degree PW, have the challenge of matching gaps/similar distances w/most likely other wedges, likely bladed or semi cavity, that wont fly as far as the distance irons, ie: Ping Those other wedges aren't designed to fly similar distances/yardage gaps than the 41 degree Ping PW. Two completely different animals.

[Lasorcier]

9 hours ago, mosesgolf said:

I can see it now giddy player "I just hit 150 yards with my 9 iron"

Pffft.  150 with a 9-iron is nothing.  I'll raise you to 215.  Gimme dry conditions on a downhill hole, a totally thin shot that doesn't get 20 feet off the ground, landing on a sprinkler, first bounce is over the green and eventually coming to a stop in a funness hardpan area.  I don't need a jacked club to do that.  That 9 was 42 degrees.

 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Lasorcier
Add image

[metal_on_a_stick]

On 1/10/2023 at 10:14 PM, Kingcat990 said:

Well, buy 30 years of 7 irons and make a set. 

You are onto something and don't realize it yet.  But I push it heavily on to all my customers and have built countless sets with great success using basically 7 iron tip sections throughout the irons maintaining standard length progression.