Irons: Game improvement or game stagnation?

[againstthegrain]

Will GI irons eventually lead to no learning?

I play Callaway Fusion irons. I have no trouble telling l when I hit a good shot vs. bad shot by ball flight. I can tell when I pure one by ballflight and feel. Is there any value in going to say an X-tour which are going to be less forgiving but provide way more feedback? My handicap is slowly decreasing after remodeling my swing for the past 3 years, but I'm not satisfied where I'm at now (14 HI) so I'd be willing to suffer if I will be better off in the long run. Any thoughts?

[arkstorm]

I went through the same exact dilemma not so long ago. I went from playing X-16's to a mixed set of Cleveland TA-1 (PW-7) and TA-3 (6-3). The results on the short end were that I had to make better ball contact to get good results and this hurt for a while. But after the growing pains, I was playing pretty well and making better contact.

 

The problem is that on good days the players' clubs were okay for me, but on bad days I couldn't break 90 with them.

 

I can never foresee myself playing shovels again, but probably not blades either. With today's designs there are plenty of tweener sets that will allow you the shot flexibility of a players' club but with a little more forgiveness. They might be the way for you to go.

[GenErr]

I'm into my second week of Big Bertha 2006's, and I can definitely tell when I hit the ball

"pure" vs. heel/toe hits.

 

I began playing 40 years ago with Wilson Staff blades, and used them for almost 20 years.

 

Over the past 12 years or so, I've played Ping Eye 2's, X-12's, mx-23's, and now the BB's.

I could differentiate good contact from poor contact using any of them.

 

Personally, I'll take the forgiveness offered by G.I. irons anytime.

[slicer365]

I think once you get down to a 10-12 handicap, it's safe to leave the chunkys and go to a players club.

[rge]

Presently carry a 9.2 h'cap index and just went through the wringer trying to find the right clubs for me. I was using MX-23's w/ stiff graphite shafts for about a year having switched from TM Ti Bubble 2's. My h'cap went down from a 13.4 index to the present level in that period of 1 year. Partly due to the clubs and partly because I started to play more regularly and seriously.

 

Thinking that I was good enough for more "serious" clubs, I bought a set of MP-60's about 4 months ago. I didn't like the shafts they came with (TT S300 Dynamic lite) so I got Project x's for them. Thought they were fine in the beginning but started to struggle with them because I had to alter my tempo to get these shafts to load (and to think these were only 5.0's) I must say that I had been using graphite shafts for the past 12 years or so. My game with the new set just spiraled downward. Having listened to my golfing buddies, I gave it more time to get accustomed to the set. It just got progressively worse. Where I used to shoot in the low to mid 80's, I was now shooting high 80's and an occassional low 90 at times. Tried installing graphite shafts on the 60's and fared slightly better but they still didn't play right either. I even tried installing the PX's into my 2nd set of 23's and while I could hit them on days I was feeling good, I couldn't do it at the level of consistency I was used to seeing before this whole set change.

 

Last week, I went back to the old 23's with graphite and immediately got my old game back. Maybe i'm just not cut out for players clubs. I guess one needs to have enough objectivity to realize when something already works for them and when a supposedly "better" club actually doesn't suit you. While the 23's aren't exactly shovels, they certainly aren't blade like. I think i'll swallow my pride and accept the reality.

 

At least i've learned a valuable lesson here and hope I don't get sucked into the hype until, of course, the next great innovation comes along. Once a ho, always a ho! I guess. :help:

[dorfblee]

Where are the "14" in your hdcp coming from? Wild tee shots, poor chipping, missed greens from 150 yards and in?

 

If you are hitting your irons well, you can get whatever you want. Even if you're not hitting your irons well, you can get whatever you want.

 

One line of thought is that using more of a "player's" iron set will eventually tighten up your swing- thus leading to all clubs being more accurate. But you have to get over that initial frustration factor.

[Asleep]

I play Callaway Fusion irons. I have no trouble telling l when I hit a good shot vs. bad shot by ball flight. I can tell when I pure one by ballflight and feel. Is there any value in going to say an X-tour which are going to be less forgiving but provide way more feedback? My handicap is slowly decreasing after remodeling my swing for the past 3 years, but I'm not satisfied where I'm at now (14 HI) so I'd be willing to suffer if I will be better off in the long run. Any thoughts?

Keep your Fusions. When you get to a point where you feel a need to tighten up your shot dispersion (front-to-back distance), try a shaft with a stiffer profile. The stock steel shaft in the Fusion is quite soft---really launches the ball.

 

If you're like most of us, practice focused on the short game is what will lower your handicap faster. :help:

[againstthegrain]

The "shovels" really aren't that bad to look at. Callaway's designers are getting really good at disgusing the bulk. LOL

 

I have dropped from a 22.5 since this time last year. My short game and putting have taken some big strides in the past 2 years, but I would say that missed greens, 3 putting, and weak fairway woods are the reason I'm not an 8 right now. My missed iron shots are due to not being "in the shot" or playing with "utmost sincerity." Sometimes I'll play my shot far too quickly- not using my pre-shot routine.

 

One reason I am possibly considering changing is to reduce offset. Most of my greens missed are on the left side. I have thought about replacing the shafts with something other than Nippon uniflex that's in there now, possibly with flighted rifles. Slightly stiffer shafts would remove all doubt about the cause of my shot despersion.

 

Thanks for all the comments.