1 Iron?

[mat562]

I recently played with an old friend at his local club, which is a wooded layout with a lot of doglegs at the 225 mark. It's a short course (6650 or so) and I took out my 2 iron a replaced it with an old faithful 1 iron (a Ping Eye 2)

 

On the putting green I saw several old boys, with bags full of lofted woods, eyeing it up curiously. One even quoted to me the old Trevino line ...

 

I hit it fine, off atee and from a good lie anywhere on the course. I don't hit it like Tiger or Daly, but I get a useable flight and carry out of it, playing off 2.

 

Anyone else here still use one, regularly or occasionally? Any comments regarding the 1 iron and it's future?

 

All I read is that the age of the 1 iron is over, but, looking in the bags of many good players, the 2 iron is still alive and kicking, and modern lofts mean that the old 1 iron is nearer to a modern 2 than many realise..

[golfernut78]

i have a top flite xl-2000 tour 1-iron. i believe it is 16*. can not hit it off the deck, but off a tee it is great. i've only used it for a round once, because of high winds (20+ mph). i think overall, its probably a dead iron. only a few people can hit it, and with greens getting harder and faster, its hard to use it effectively except for off a tee.

[kkhere]

i can see certain insances when the 1 iron is a necessity: heavy winds but the general public wants to go with forgiveness. I love my 2 iron and want to try a 1 iron as well. I just prefer the looks of irons to hybrids

[gatorbrett]

I still carry my 1 iron all the time. I had a Titleist 503H 19 degree for a while, and I liked pretty well, but I did not hit it any better than my 1 iron. So I dumped the hybrid and put the 1 iron back in the bag. Off the tee, it is usually an automatic 225 or so right down the middle. As soon as I find another club that I can say that about, I will drop the 1 iron for it.

[indruf]

I have a 1 iron in the bag on many occasions. I am far from an accomplished golfer (6 handicap and 100 mph driver SS) but I would rather hit it off the deck from 230 than a 30 yd SW over a bunker. My course recently moved a bunch of tees back forcing longer carries which has taken the 1 iron out of my hands. I usually use a Zing 2 but still love my Eye 2 butter knife.

[nearfall152]

I just dusted off my Callaway ace this weekend at Coyote Creek here in San Jose...you local wrxers know the winds quite well I'm sure. There's nothing like a six foot high rope running down the fairway to cheat the wind.

[pargolfer]

I put one together with the discount clubheads from GolfSmith. I figured for the $5 for the head would make an interesting experiance. I shafted it up with a TX90 and away I went.

 

Once I figured out that the swingweight was only C6 (Doh! :) ), I loaded the puppy up with lead tape and when I'm swinging well, I can rip the snot out of it off the tee. :cheesy: On some of the firmer courses, I've gotten 260 with roll, but on lusher fairways, I can count on about 225-230 with it off the tee.

 

The big issue for me was getting the confidence to hit it off the deck. Basically, low fades all day, I have trouble trusting it off the deck and I'm still working on it.

 

It's a fun club to toy around with, but otherwise, I'm thinking it's fairly extinct.

[dan360]

I have one but don't use it much. I can hit the 2 iron just as far---probably echoing the comment earlier about the today's lofts & such.

 

It's fun to take to the range and hit shots that look like tracer rounds.....8 foot off the deck & 230 down. :cheesy:

 

Freaks people out sometimes. :)

[vthokie1157]

i think the 1 iron is dead. I carry a rescue hybrid and swear by it. Sure if you can hit it it's great but definitely for the amateur golfer like me, a 1 iron is outta the Q. TW is even looking to replace his 2 iron but if i could hit a 1 iron, id probably have one for the wind. I guess im just jealous

[DrawDaBall]

I think the 2 iron is dying as well

[papichulosteve]

the 1 iron is going the way of latin and the dodo. some people still might get a kick out of using one, but most people don't even carry a 3 or 4 iron around anymore let alone a 1 iron.

[ryrob]

I think the 2 iron is dying as well

 

I think you're right...unless very windy conditions, the hybrids are gonna be the way to go. go just as far or farther as their respective iron lofts and you can bring the ball in higher too :)

[Harpagolf]

My Mizuno T-zoid 1 iron with DG R300 shaft has been my 'bread and butter' tee club for a long time. I hit it high consistently and get 210 to 220yds with it. Fairly consistent off the deck as well. People tend to look at it in my bag and think I am a poser for carrying it. Like one of you said in this thread, as soon as I find something else that gets me 210 to 220 as consistently as the 1 iron, I'll take it out of my bag. It's weird, I have so much confidence with this club that I find it easier to hit than my 3 iron.

[curryj]

Still use my dci990 1iron, of course i do live in ireland and in windy conditions it's fun to use off the tee. I find the with an easy swing i will get the same distance as my 3wood. Mind you, you need to be playing directly into the wind (but it seems to work out that way some days?) .

[animalistic]

live in ireland aswell and find a 2rion great off the tee.might try a 1 iron

[Yellow Jacket]

I have a 1 iron that goes with my set (I have 1-PW Titleist 990) and I never carry it anymore. I used to carry driver, 3wd, 1, 3-PW, but I now carry driver, 3wd, hybrid, 2, 4-PW. No real reason for the 1iron.

[TourPro21]

i don't think that a single player on the PGA Tour uses a 1 iron... they've all replaced them with hybrids or fwy woods... just goes to show you that if a tour player who hits balls 24/7 doesn't use one, what are we thinking carrying one in our bag? is it an ego thing? maybe you wanna look cool around the club? i don't know, but dump the 1 irons unless you play golf for a living and pick up some hybrids!

[lancer1558]

The long and the short of it is that it depends depends on which clubs you hit well, what clubs are you comfortable with and how the clubs selected fit in and compliment your game.

I have a Ping Eye 2 1 iron that I have used for a number of years. It is great on tight driving holes and short par 4s.

At the moment, I am not a fan of hybrids. I have a Hogan hybrid retired to the garage, not as good as my 3 iron off the deck.

My 2 cents.

Gary

[bantam]

I use a Callaway Big Bertha 1 iron on windy days. It is real easy to tee off with and not too hard to hit with a good lie. Not in the bag alot though.

[animalistic]

i have a tmade rac mb 2 iron but to be honest i think the 1 irons are too unrelaible from anywhere but the tee, theyre almost dead

[lysaght68]

I've got a 2004 Big Bertha 2 iron (17 degrees) that I reularly swap with my Halo 19 degree depending on the course I'm going to play. The Bertha is easier to hit off the tee and the fairway (my handicap is in the 10-15 range), but it is shorter than my 19 degree Halo and much less useful out of the rough. I am much more directionally confidant off the tee or good fairway lie with an iron than any wood I've played. I demo'ed a Cleveland Launcher 1 iron recently and I would be comfortable using that club as well. All that being said, I think the Bertha's, Launchers, Ping G2HL, and Nike Slingshot OSS long irons are more closely related to Hybrids, I wouldn't argue in favor of a players blade or cavity back 2 or 3 iron over a hybrid. The advantage of those hybrid-like long irons is that they have shorter shafts than most hybrids, and, more importantly can be lie adjusted to fit your swing.

[tarik]

I think that the general consensus here is that the butter knife is dead among the vast world of hybrids. I briefly played a Cleveland TA3 1 iron and got fairly good results with it, but later retired it when the HALO 16* came out. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get the HALO under the wind when I wanted to, but realized that when I played the same knock down shot I played with my 1 iron, it performend the exact same but with about 20 yards more roll. I think that those who play the 1 iron do so because they trust it, but I feel that they will eventually become extinct when hybrids are demoed in place of this older technology because they make it easier to hit better quality shots. I read somewhere that you should hold a 1 iron straight in the air if your ever caught in a lightning storm because not even God himself can hit a 1 iron. :)

[Zach Heusser]

I also like to break old the eye 2 1 iron on tight course.