Back to "Blades" & Shaft Changes

[vanderputts]

After reading a ton of similar struggling posts here, thought I'd share. Not saying this is the answer for you but if you one day realize it feels like your fighting your irons, something similar might work. 

 

Long story short, I grew up playing hand-me-down clubs as a kid which was usually Spalding or MacGregor blades.

 

As a junior golfer, I ended up playing blades into my 20s and then when I couldn't play consistently, realized I wasn't a good enough ball striker - and ended up in the GI category with AP2s for the longest time until picking up a set of T200s last season.

 

When I got fitted for the T200s, I hadn't played consistently in years and fell back into the over the top/overswing which helps with distance but not so much for consistency. I can put a round together here and there but now that I'm playing more often I started to notice that I might not have the right clubs or shaft for my swing/tempo/etc.

 

Which brings me to today.

 

After a full season and countless hours of swing work this winter, I never fell in love with my T200s and think I should have done a more thorough fitting at the start. My driver SS is 115+ and 7 iron about 95. I was hot when I got fitted originally having already hit earlier in the day and during the fitting was put into the T200s with Project X 6.5s. Seemed wise at the time as my AP2s were fitted with Project X 6s, Project X 5.5s before that and the data mapped out. When I put enough on it I'll hit some great strikes, but having played a lot more in the past year it always felt like I was fighting the weight of the club, club head, and not able to fully release. My miss with my irons was high fades right of target and worse with the longer irons. Not saying it wasn't me but on the opposite end I can think of only a handful of great shots I've had with these over many rounds - they stick with ya but the average shots also weren't what I would normally expect even with the shorter irons. It always took a full bucket to start hitting decent shots so if I didn't get that before the round, it never ended well. Something I can't say about my younger years with thin heads and old DG shafts - but that was then, or so I thought.

 

Result

 

My local shop has been great and their inventory is really good. I went in this week to try out a few potential replacements including shafts and after researching every option I could find, had only recently heard about progressive steel shafts. This thread on the AMT White shafts was an eye opener and made me think it might be answer.

 

Cold - I grabbed a 7-iron T100 with the AMT Tour S300s off the rack and proceeded to flush 10 straight on top of each other. 4 iron? Same thing. Then again through the whole set. Each remarkably better than most of the shots I hit with my T200s. I was dumbfounded but ecstatic.

 

I don't blame the T200s, I think I was fitted into a stiffer shaft and my swing plane has become less steep and more consistent. The look of the T100s takes me back to my junior days and the AMT White shaft somehow fits my swing tempo right now. I've never hit an iron better. Now this all might have also been possible by refitting the T200s with the same or similar shafts but I'm insanely happy with the outcome. These T100s seem just about perfect.

 

Hope this helps and thank you all for posting both the good and the bad here - 

 

Edited May 2 by vndrsmth

[craz-e]

so are you going to game some blades or the t100's?

[vanderputts]

Im going to game the T100 “blades”, they’re insanely good.

 

but im also a gear addict and am putting together a set of blades soon

Edited May 2 by vndrsmth

[LinkLow]

I think the T100s are definitely a "players" club, with the thinner top line and the weaker lofts....but I wouldn't consider them "blades".

 

For whatever it's worth, I use the T100s for my long irons, and they are a good bit more forgiving than my 6-PW MBs....

 

They are definitely great irons either way though

[blades_are_life]

7 minutes ago, LinkLow said:

I think the T100s are definitely a "players" club, with the thinner top line and the weaker lofts....but I wouldn't consider them "blades".

 

For whatever it's worth, I use the T100s for my long irons, and they are a good bit more forgiving than my 6-PW MBs....

 

They are definitely great irons either way though

Why do you blend MBs with T100s rather than CBs?

[Chunkitgood]

Maltby rates the T100 at just about the same as the T200, both Game improvement, IIRC.

 

He is not perfect or infallible, but his data seems objective even if his formula is skewed to favor certain aspects of it.  In other words, he seems to be dealing with real measurable characteristics of clubs.

 

T100 seems to be a nice club, not blades though, and they do seem to have a cavity in the back.

 

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

 

 

[Pnwpingi210]

The t100 is a techy cavity back with traditional lofts, it is not a muscle back or blade style iron.  
 

you likely hit it better cause it has a smaller sole.  Other irons that might interest you are the 620 cb, cobra cb, Wilson staff cb, p7mc, p770, apex cb, ping blueprint s, jpx 923 tour.

[blades_are_life]

2 hours ago, Pnwpingi210 said:

620 cb, cobra cb, Wilson staff cb, p7mc, p770, apex cb, ping blueprint s, jpx 923 tour

aka real irons ❤️

 

[LinkLow]

4 hours ago, blades_are_life said:

Why do you blend MBs with T100s rather than CBs?

No reason at all, just found them cheaper and hit them well. I'm sure some CBs would work fine as an alternative

[Nard_S]

Found Project X and MB's are a spin too far. DG S400 is ideal for me, PX6.0 is stiffer tipped or so it seems. They would go better with CB configuration, imho.

[blades_are_life]

13 minutes ago, LinkLow said:

No reason at all, just found them cheaper and hit them well. I'm sure some CBs would work fine as an alternative

Yeah I just thought the look was more consistent. But whatever works imo.

[vanderputts]

I thought calling the T100 “blades” in quotations might be enough. I know they’re cavity backs lol, they’re great and the profile works. 

 

Going to game them until I finish testing and building these. Awaiting hosels

Edited May 3 by vndrsmth

[vanderputts]

Miura's are getting sent to The Iron Factory - Thanks Jim! - for a spa treatment. 

 

Gaming the T100s as I'm swinging them really well at the moment. 

 

Will report back