Stewart Cink's Irons

[teeman2116]

5 degrees upright

I was reading a golf magazine and read that Stewart Cink's irons are 5 degrees upright and his wedges are 5 1/2 degrees upright. He also says that his clubs are upright not mainly because he is tall, but because he is upright through impact.

I was shocked when I read this because I thought there were hardly any tour pros that had their irons bent past 2 degrees.

Thoughts?

[playmuch]

Surprised his wedges are that upright.

[teeman2116]

I wonder how upright his woods are?

[RobBrown4891]

sounds like b.s to me i am soo upright but onli a 2 degree up on measurement

[teeman2116]

sounds like b.s to me i am soo upright but onli a 2 degree up on measurement

 

 

Stewart's swing looks pretty upright at impact to me, although I've never seen it on swing vision or anything.

[RobBrown4891]

thats alot of uprightnesss think bout it thats double and a half times me

[MAK2525]

sounds like b.s to me i am soo upright but onli a 2 degree up on measurement

 

The actual piece is in the Aug '08 Golf Digest "What's in the Bag", and they are actually 4 degrees upright.

 

Quote from Sink: "To get a little more help, my 2-4 irons are Nike Pro Combo OS. All my irons are 4 degrees upright and a 1/4" over length because I have long arms. My 5-PW are Nike CCI forged. My upright lie angle isn't because of my height, but because I'm more upright at impact.

 

I use 54 & 60 degree Nike SV wedges. I get these adjusted even more upright than my irons (5 1/2 degrees) because they are the shortest clubs in my bag."

[TheCapedAvenger]

Stuart's clubs are definitely upright- I've actually seen them in person. If you watch him on vid, his shaft is kissing the top of the "hogan plane"- it's pointed almost exactly at the base of his neck.

 

The really funny thing is that when he addresses the ball, the toe of the club is WAY off the ground because he makes a small outward loop to impact, so his hands are actually normal or even a little low at address.

[claytonstoker21]

i am suprised those nike irons can take 5 degrees without breaking

[mat562]

Pretty upright, but not entirely beyond the realms of fantasy given that he's about 6'4".

 

Scott Hoch apparently plays irons that are about 4 degrees upright despite being a more modest 5'11" or so. So much depends on the impact position and how the player delivers the club to the ball.

[Wildwing55]

It would be interesting to see exactly what lies his irons are, rather than be awed by 5 or 4 degrees upright. I'm not sure what standard it's against, but given that there's really no industry standard these days, it's hard to tell what it means. I play Ping ISI white spot irons that are very upright, actually more than that compared to the very old standards listed in Maltby's old standard book. But how that compares to some standard today is anyone's guess.

[MAK2525]

It would be interesting to see exactly what lies his irons are, rather than be awed by 5 or 4 degrees upright. I'm not sure what standard it's against, but given that there's really no industry standard these days, it's hard to tell what it means. I play Ping ISI white spot irons that are very upright, actually more than that compared to the very old standards listed in Maltby's old standard book. But how that compares to some standard today is anyone's guess.

 

Technically, there is no standard, but most player's irons are within a degree of each other, so there is somewhat of an average of 62 degrees. A random sampling of 6 iron lie specs: Ping S57 (61.5), Titleist AP2 (62.5), Cobra Pro MB (62.0), Nike CCI (62.5), and the flatest lie I found TM MB-TP at 61.0!

 

So, that means Sink's 4 degree upright 6 iron is 66.5! Almost all wedges have a 63.5 - 64.0 lie angle, so that means his 54* wedge is at 69 degrees (63.5 + 5.5) and his 60* is at 69.5 degrees (64 + 5.5).

 

So, no matter what standard you use, they are pretty extreme upright lie angles - even for someone who is 6'4"!

[Wildwing55]

Technically, there is no standard, but most player's irons are within a degree of each other, so there is somewhat of an average of 62 degrees. A random sampling of 6 iron lie specs: Ping S57 (61.5), Titleist AP2 (62.5), Cobra Pro MB (62.0), Nike CCI (62.5), and the flatest lie I found TM MB-TP at 61.0!

 

So, that means Sink's 4 degree upright 6 iron is 66.5! Almost all wedges have a 63.5 - 64.0 lie angle, so that means his 54* wedge is at 69 degrees (63.5 + 5.5) and his 60* is at 69.5 degrees (64 + 5.5).

 

So, no matter what standard you use, they are pretty extreme upright lie angles - even for someone who is 6'4"!

 

Here's the problem - You mention a 6 iron, but no mention of the length of his 6 iron. There is no standard lie for a six iron, or any iron for that matter, but there used to be a standard for every length iron. Page 147 of Ralph Maltby's Book Golf Club Design, Fitting, Alteraration, and Repair lists a 6 iron as 61 degrees, as long as it starts from a 38.5 inch 2 iron. Did Cink actually report somewhere that his 6 iron is 66.5 degrees? I don't think so. He may have mentioned it as 4 degrees upright, but again, I'm not sure against what standard. As you can see, if the old standard was a 38.5 inch 2 iron, as in Maltby's book, almost all manufacturers have increased that length, whether steel or graphite shafted. You may be right, but I'd love to get the length and lie of each of his clubs and make judgement, rather than assume an actual lie from a varying standard. By the way, he also mentions his irons are longer than standard, because of his long arms. I don't know why that would result in longer, rather than shorter clubs, but that's the quote. Did he take into account the length of his irons in reporting the lie differences from standard? It depends on exactly what the specs are, not how they compare to some standard. He does swing fairly upright, so I suspect his lies are upright. How much I'm not sure.