is blade shaming real ?

[Pnwpingi210]

For the scratch guys who say they’re “not good enough” to play blades it just means it conflicts with their goals.  
 

their goal is likely to shoot the lowest score they can each and every round.  Blades likely aren’t the best option of them to do that.  

[Shilgy]

4 hours ago, J_Tizzle said:

In general I don't personally think they provide any advantage to 99.9% of golfers in terms of performance, however, looks and confidence are a part of it as well.  To me (personally) I think the players distance style irons are the best of both worlds, looks of a blade, performance of a GI iron.

 

I always loved the saying of "practice with the least forgiving club you can, and play with the most forgiving club you can stand to look down at".  

Might work for some….I’ve always believed the old adage that you dance with the one that brung ya.
 Meaning practice with the tools you’ll use on the course.

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

I think most of the snark happens on the web in forums like this where people say things they ordinarily wouldn't have the kahunas to say in person. 😄 I don't think anybody really means much by it, lol. It never comes across well because we're reading it and sometimes we read too much into it. Shaming? To an extent, ya..... but in person?

I haven't run into anybody that makes rude comments about my game regardless of what I have in the bag. If I do run into a person like that, I'll leave them and go ask the pro-shop for a rain check. I'm not going to play golf with folks that are going to make comments to get under my skin. Screw that.

But thankfully, like I said, I've never really run into folks like that in all of my years playing golf both today and many years past leading up to the break. Here on the forums, though, we're all golf junkies. Some junkies are so obsessed with their swing statistics that they forgot golf is a game of skill and improvement of said skills.

 

Discouraging other golfers should be sacrilege, but when our egos get in the way we'll say the darnedest things.

[Valtiel]

4 hours ago, Louis_Posture said:

Has a fitter, salesperson, other player etc... tried to make you feel ashamed for playing muscle back blade irons ? 

I believe that when Rickie Fowler had a bag full of Cobra muscle backs and was missing cut after cut he noticed some eyerolls and had to answer questions about whether cavity backs might help him.

Two things. One, any "fitter" whether a qualified one or a big box store "sales fitter" has little interest in "shaming" people. They work with the general public, so if anyone comes in that can't consistently hit the middle of the face then they are/should be guided away from anything blade related, because it's a ridiculous equipment choice otherwise. And a vast majority of the general public doesn't have this level of consistency, therefore pushing people away from blades is a practical call, not some moralistic one. Like someone insisting on a manual transmission that can't consistently manipulate the clutch and move the shifter at the same time. Wrong tool for the wrong job, doesn't matter what the person's feeling are on the matter, especially since indulging someone that insists they want blades without the mechanics/consistency for them is a HIGH risk for returns, something you don't want in any store. 

Two, speculation about Rickie's equipment was equally dumb as well. He hits the center of the face consistently and therefore could play anything, and his downturn during the whole Cobra Rev.33 debacle had nothing to do with the irons being too difficult to hit since changing out of them did nothing for said downturn. 

 

[dubbelbogey]

On the course? Just once, but it was more of an eye-roll, passive sort of take, not overt. That attitude ended quickly after the first few holes...

 

But it happens all the time right here on WRX and also with podcasts and YT content-makers who purport themselves to be experts who've bought into the club tech marketing hook, line and sinker.

 

It seems not nearly a single club equipment podcast can mention blades without the host making a snarky comment along the lines of "99.999% of players have no business touching these clubs." Not to mention those who will say somebody's messing up his pant legs if they think they can play just fine with blades.

 

 

 

[puttingmatt]

At the end of the day, blades are just clubs. There is no mystery surrounding the design, or why players use them.

I have never heard of club shaming, and I have made cash playing money games with blades, as well as players cavity backs, Again,  never heard nor seen any club shaming in over 50 years of playing.

Also, when I started, Blades were all that were available, cavity backs did not exist.

Edited August 20, 2023 by puttingmatt

[Louis_Posture]

12 minutes ago, puttingmatt said:

 

Also, when I started, Blades were all that were available, cavity backs did not exist.

 

It's true that decades ago all players from beginner to Tour pro played essentially the same irons. So in previous eras equipment choices were limited and there was not much discussion about it. My take is that criticism of other players equipment choices began about 25 years ago, when the OEM's started defining their product lines by player type-skill level.

[gibbyfan]

I think it happens at the retail/point-of-sale than any other place. I recently had a sales person at PGA superstore tell me that he doesn't recommend Titleist CBs or Blades because if the best players in the world don't use them, why should the regular customer. For my delivery blades spin more and the narrow sole helps get in an out of the turf better than most cavity backs, but he didn't ask why I wanted to see the blades/cbs. Just because I asked about them, he shut me down. It may not have been shaming, but passive aggressive, perhaps. 

 

 

[Louis_Posture]

2 hours ago, Pnwpingi210 said:

For the scratch guys who say they’re “not good enough” to play blades it just means it conflicts with their goals.  
 

their goal is likely to shoot the lowest score they can each and every round.  Blades likely aren’t the best option of them to do that.  

 

You've introduces "goals", which is  a good point . Mike Holder, the legendary Oklahoma State University golf coach, had a policy which allowed his team members to play muscle back blades only if that player had a scoring average of 69 or better. Holder was definitely goal oriented as evidenced by the 8 NCAA Championship titles that his teams won during his 30 years of coaching. I am certain Holder was not trying to shame anyone, he just had a belief that cavity back irons assisted with hitting more greens and more greens in regulation led to lower scoring.

My guess is that some of his well known players such as Lindy Miller, Bob Tway, Willie Wood, Scott Verplank, Charles Howell III, played blades as juniors, switched to cavity back at OSU, and then some went back to blades for their professional playing careers.

[Louis_Posture]

6 minutes ago, gibbyfan said:

 Just because I asked about them, he shut me down. It may not have been shaming, but passive aggressive, perhaps. 

 

 

 I believe your story is an example of blade shaming. Ten years ago my 11 year old son and I walked into a Golfsmith Superstore in Palm Desert, Ca.

to look at their vast displays of iron sets. When I showed my son the muscle back blade irons from Mizuno a sale rep came over and asked me "why are you guys looking at those clubs"?........I told him that I wanted to show my son the different types of iron designs and the guy said to me" you shouldn't be looking at those". True story.

[third-times-a-charm]

You’re free to play whatever you want.

 

…whether it’s empirically better for your golf game is not a matter of your personal opinion, though. The fitting data will most likely tell you it’s nowhere near the best option to use. 
 

 

[CasualLie]

2 hours ago, Valtiel said:

Two, speculation about Rickie's equipment was equally dumb as well. He hits the center of the face consistently and therefore could play anything, and his downturn during the whole Cobra Rev.33 debacle had nothing to do with the irons being too difficult to hit since changing out of them did nothing for said downturn. 

 

 

True, but those clubs in the hands of a 20 handicap were just screaming out shame me.  Call it the one possible exception to the rule of mind your own business, even though I did just exactly that a couple of months ago (said nothing).

 

A rare day at the range when it was, late in the day, super busy and I actually wanted to work on something.  I checked with an instructor I know and asked to use of their hitting bays and he says go for it, there's only one more lesson that day.  Here comes this guy with a $3K bag of clubs, sets up at the instructor bay next to me and waits for the instructor.  He's got the Rickies.

 

For whatever reason, my first impression was he looked like he could play.  But I should have known when he didn't warm up at all. Instructor comes up, I go grab a beer as I'm pretty much done, and then come back to see what hot shot was working on. Ugh... terrible.  Couldn't launch an 8 iron, all over the place, mostly near hosel.  But here's the instructor just going about the lesson, trying to get him to make some adjustments, but it didn't matter.  There was maybe one shot out of 20 that barely passed as decent.  I only stuck around because I know this instructor well, and it's common for him to demonstrate and use the student's club to hit a shot.  So I was very curious to see if he would do that.  But nope, wouldn't dare touch those irons.  Maybe that was coincidence.

 

But I did catch the attention of the instructor and gave him a look of WTF? and he gave me a look of just shrugging his shoulder like what can he do?

 

A few days later I ran into the instructor and I asked him, at what point do you tell the student maybe they should look into different irons when clearly no lesson in the world will get that guy hitting solid shots?  You just keep taking their money?  I can't remember his exact answer but it wasn't a good one.

Edited August 21, 2023 by CasualLie

[Nessism]

I was shammed by a dick head guy when I was playing Bridgestone DP irons, which look bladish.  I hit a bad 4 iron, on a 200 yard par 3, and then the negative comment came out.  It DOES happen.

[Phabs]

Real answer… who cares? 

[Roejye]

I'm sure it's out there, but as a guy who goes out as a single a lot, I haven't seen it. I think you're much more likely to see some "gentle guidance" at the retail level, then on the course. I don't think I've met anyone as big of a gearhead as I, and the closest one has been more focused on his bag.

[philly2kuk]

Is this maybe something more prevalent in the US? I’m asking any non US members because I’ve genuinely never come across this in the real world here in the UK even when I played blades when younger.

 

Even my coach at my last fitting said I could play blades but only if I was going to put in the practice time, otherwise he didn’t advise it if I couldn’t practice enough. I thought that was fair from my previous experience with blades and I was a 15 at the time. He games blades himself though.

Edited August 21, 2023 by philly2kuk

[mosesgolf]

Ebay's got boadloads of great blades from Titleist, Mizuno, and even Ping lol

Adam Scott, Ricky Fowler, and even Scott Simpson - all traditional blade players have recently switched out of blades.   Oems won't be devoting resources to blades in the future as there is no money in them anymore.   Whenever I see blades in anyone's bag regardless of skill level is awesome in my eyes.  

[drn92]

4 hours ago, third-times-a-charm said:

You’re free to play whatever you want.

 

…whether it’s empirically better for your golf game is not a matter of your personal opinion, though. The fitting data will most likely tell you it’s nowhere near the best option to use. 
 

 

This is interesting ... in the fittings I've had this year, the blades were the second choice for PXG, Cobra, and Mizuno.  Ultimately the Mizuno 223 and the PXG 0317CB performed much better (for me) than the more game improvement-oriented irons in both lines.  Both fitters said I could go either way (Mizuno 221 or PXG 0317 Blades) from the 7 iron down.

 

Still searching ... but not sure game improvement works for everyone.

 

drn92

Edited August 21, 2023 by drn92

[Swingingk]

Once again the blades conversation is black or white:  should one play blades or not play blades?  Is playing blades right or wrong?  In my opinion everyone should play blades.  The real question is where in the bag do you stop?  Even a beginner should play Pw through 8 with something more forgiving from there up.  Better players might want the 7 and 6 too and maybe even a 5, but very few golfers do well with the 4 on up.  

As for shaming I've heard little but it does happen.  Usually from guys who just spent big bucks on the latest "tech" and don't appreciate your smack'n em' down with your old Fg-17's.  😁

Edited August 21, 2023 by Swingingk

[TiScape]

13 hours ago, jomatty said:

Nope.  People only do stuff like that on the internet. In real life people don’t care at all what you or I am doing.  

Yup. And In person if they do care, they aren’t going to say it to someone they don’t know or barely know. That’s what being behind a device many miles away is for! 😜

[boggyman]

36 minutes ago, Swingingk said:

Once again the blades conversation is black or white:  should one play blades or not play blades?  Is playing blades right or wrong?  In my opinion everyone should play blades.  The real question is where in the bag do you stop?  Even a beginner should play Pw through 8 with something more forgiving from there up.  Better players might want the 7 and 6 too and maybe even a 5, but very few golfers do well with the 4 on up.  

As for shaming I've heard little but it does happen.  Usually from guys who just spent big bucks on the latest "tech" and don't appreciate your smack'n em' down with your old Fg-17's.  😁

Oh yeahhhhh, I love my 17s!!🤩

[Swingingk]

17 minutes ago, boggyman said:

Oh yeahhhhh, I love my 17s!!🤩

I love mine too.  They really are ridiculously good.  Excellent in original form and delightful with most any shaft.  Such good irons...

[jomatty]

2 hours ago, Swingingk said:

Once again the blades conversation is black or white:  should one play blades or not play blades?  Is playing blades right or wrong?  In my opinion everyone should play blades.  The real question is where in the bag do you stop?  Even a beginner should play Pw through 8 with something more forgiving from there up.  Better players might want the 7 and 6 too and maybe even a 5, but very few golfers do well with the 4 on up.  

As for shaming I've heard little but it does happen.  Usually from guys who just spent big bucks on the latest "tech" and don't appreciate your smack'n em' down with your old Fg-17's.  😁

It sounds like when someone posts asking if game improvement shaming is real, the answer is yes!

[BIG STU]

13 hours ago, NRJyzr said:

 

I've had someone come up to me, notice the blades in my bag, and say something about how I'm doing myself no favors with my choice of irons.  Wasn't the first time. <shrug>

 

I used to run into the same thing myself as you know. I did switch to those I guess they are players CBs because of the weight and the shafts and the effects on my back. 

[Kai Slater]

I've never seen any real example of blade shaming or any type of equipment shaming in real-life out on a real golf course. Way back when I started golf, pretty much everyone used blades; we had to because there really wasn't anything else out there yet; same with persimmon wooded clubs.

 

Two points that I take away from all this:

1.  Who cares; just play whatever looks and feels good to you; as long as you enjoy it, go for it, even if you don't play your best.  Not everyone cares enough to be out there trying to score as low as possible every time they play.  

 

2. The concept of equipment shaming is probably more limited to the relatively few equipment junkies who know more about all the options.

 

I actually know several casual golfers who have blades because they were simply looking for a set of cheap golf clubs and the Goodwill or Salvation Army store and found an old set for cheap; at least it gets them on the golf course and that's all they care about; they're not into "scoring" and "ball-striking" or whatever.

[bodhi555]

I've used them for about 20 years now and haven't noticed too many negative comments out on the course (perhaps a little needle from my golf buddies when I first got them which soon subsided when I showed I could hit them absolutely fine) and more than a few positive comments about how good they looked (especially my OG Nikes) and how well I was hitting them (more with the VR Pros).

 

Where I have seen a lot of it however is in golf shops - if I go to one I'm not a regular at and start looking at blades, I normally get some sort of comment about how they're too much club for me and how I should be looking at the latest Tungsten filled strong lofted shovel as I will hit the ball far better. I probably don't help myself in that if I'm not actually playing on a course I don't tend to wear golf wear, and normally turn up in a hoody and jeans - however as soon as the person behind the counter goes down that road I mentally decide not to spend any money in there unless it's an emergency glove/ball purchase.

 

Yet when I go to a shop I'm a regular at it's completely different - no shaming whatsoever, they know that's what I like and what I'm most likely to purchase. I'm having lessons at the moment with the pro associated with one of them, and he hasn't even suggested changing them - mostly as he used to have a set of VR Pros as well and seems incredibly keen to grab one of mine to demonstrate something 🙂 He isn't shy to suggest an equipment change (he's currently dropping loads of hints about going for a putter fitting as mine is too short), but the only comment he's made is I might get more distance out of a set of T100s, but not that I'd hit them any more consistently.

 

At the end of the day though, I really don't care. If someone decides to judge me for using blades, I judge them in return as not being a person I particularly want to converse with after the 19th hole of that round.

[NRJyzr]

13 hours ago, Pnwpingi210 said:

For the scratch guys who say they’re “not good enough” to play blades it just means it conflicts with their goals.  
 

their goal is likely to shoot the lowest score they can each and every round.  Blades likely aren’t the best option of them to do that.  

 

10 hours ago, third-times-a-charm said:

You’re free to play whatever you want.

 

…whether it’s empirically better for your golf game is not a matter of your personal opinion, though. The fitting data will most likely tell you it’s nowhere near the best option to use. 
 

 

 

 

This is an example of the marketing effect.  The idea of "play what you want" combined with "you can't possibly see the best results unless you play some form of CB."

 

I've lived this world.  For two-plus decades.  All those blades I've played were in the bag because they produced the best scores.  I've been fit, wanting to buy something (TP MC fwiw), only to be told I should stick with what I've got; they produced far better results.

 

Been down the CB road many times, long stretches with this or that non-blade.  Spent a year playing Pings.  At no point did the proposed score improvement show up.  

 

Scores improved when I put Ram Tour Grinds back in the bag, though.

 

Doesn't work for everyone.  It's worked for me.  Also know I'm not the only one.

 

As for pros...  Erie Els won a couple names using CBs.  He switched to blades, won an Open Championship or two.  Do y'all *really* think it matters at that level?

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by NRJyzr

[Pnwpingi210]

3 minutes ago, NRJyzr said:

 

 

 

This is an example of the marketing effect.  The idea of "play what you want" combined with "you can't possibly see the best results unless you play some form of CB."

 

I've lived this world.  For two-plus decades.  All those blades I've played were in the bag because they produced the best scores.  I've been fit, wanting to buy something (TP MC fwiw), only to be told I should stick with what I've got; they produced far better results.

 

Been down the CB road many times, long stretches with this or that non-blade.  Spent a year playing Pings.  At no point did the proposed score improvement show up.  

 

Scores improved when I put Ram Tour Grinds back in the bag, though.

 

Doesn't work for everyone.  It's worked for me.  Also know I'm not the only one.

 

As for pros...  Erie Els won a couple names using CBs.  He switched to blades, won an Open Championship or two.  Do y'all *really* think it matters at that level?

 

 

I’m not saying blades aren’t the best option for you to shoot your best scores, nor did I say you can’t shoot your best scores unless you play some sort of cb (I don’t believe that to be a blindly true philopshy).
 

I’m saying blades likely aren’t what the golfer in the example shared above by another member felt were his best option. 
 

There are always anecdotes to support a position.  Rickie Fowler was abysmal with his blades now has won again playing one of the larger, tech infused players cb.  We could do that all day.

[jwb10]

14 hours ago, Pnwpingi210 said:

For the scratch guys who say they’re “not good enough” to play blades it just means it conflicts with their goals.  
 

their goal is likely to shoot the lowest score they can each and every round.  Blades likely aren’t the best option of them to do that.  

Correct. I play Stealth because it gives me more forgiveness for every shot and more help from the rough. Blades feel better, can be tuned for each shot, but when I miss (which happens too often) they make it worse. So shame away, but pay me at the end

[MattC555]

Rarely does anyone comment on my irons.  If someone comments on my clubs it is typically my 7 wood.  The only person I've been heckled by is my + handicap buddy, who also plays blades. 😆

 

There is more to an iron than forgiveness.  I get fantastic ball flight, trackman numbers, feel, consistency, and turf interaction with my Mizuno's.  The bladed 4 iron has worked it's way back into my bag, replacing a hybrid of all things.  If they work, who cares?