What is your "blade story"?

[williamo]

Good evening,

 

I am having a hard time deciding whether to keep my blades or not. I really love how they look and how they feel but is it worth it? Let's start by saying I've been playing golf for 3 years and I am OK at golf. I shoot in the mid 70's and love the game. My shortgame is the strongest part of my game and driving and irons are pretty equal. I've been playing the AP2 710's for 2 years and I really liked them but now I felt that I wanted anything new and funnier. So I got a great deal on a beautiful set of Titelist MB's and couldn't pass. I really like how it feels standing over a blade 3 iron. I get the feeling that I can do everything with them, pure awesomeness.

 

Yesterday when I was playing I hit my irons pretty good, on hole number 5 I hit a 5 iron so crisp that I could not believe it and it felt amazing. The ball stopped right next to the pin. On hole number 6, par 3 downhill, I hit an ok 6iron, just a bit off center and it came up 15 yards short and straight into the bunker. This is when it started... That one would have been just short of the pin with the AP2's...

 

On hole number 13, toughest hole on the course, 202 yards to the pin and the wind in our face. This green is surrounded with a big waterhazzard in the front of the green and a HUGE bunker that you DON'T want to hit into because the green is tight on that side. I hit a PERFECT 3 iron, must have been the best 3iron in my whole life. It just crushed the wind with a small draw and stopped 1,5 meter from the pin. Holed the putt, birdie. On the next hole I get into some trouble and that leaves me with 172 yards. I hit a PERFECT 6iron with a small draw and it stops about 2 meters from the pin, birdie.

 

I mean, I clearly have my moments but there are moments when it feels like "what the heck happened there??". Maybe I have stepped beyond me head now with this purchase...dunno. Now when I have played these clubs for a few rounds I ask myself, why make the game harder? I hit in avg maybe around 10 greens a round and I need to improve that... But what am I doing? Making it harder.. Maybe I should be looking at the opposite side, Ping G15/G20? Would this improve my GIR? Maybe.. Input here would have been useful.

 

What was your story when you started playing blades? Had a tough time? Please share and give your insight.

 

Thanks.

[Beastmode Broker]

everytime i have switched to blades, its when im playing great
i think, wow im awesome now, i should buy blades
play well w them, start playing worse then boom back to an easier to hit CB....then repeat.....3 times a yr

im over it.....

[Agent Jim]

My blades are more for decoration then hitting. They sit nice a pretty in a golf bag in the corner of my living room. I almost fooled myself into walking 9 holes with them a few weeks ago. I am nowhere near good enough to play them.

I am ready for some stiffer shafts withe lower flight for my GI irons. Lots of guys what play well use Ping G's or other GI irons, just make sure you have a good shaft of course.

[Llortamaisey]

I've been through this same scenario. I've been playing a split combo set of blades and player cavs for about 3 years now. It was all blades before that time.

I'm thinking about switching to all player cavs real soon. If the trend continues, I guess I will eventually regress to some American Fork and Hoe shovels.

[highergr0und]

I bought some Yamaha Hal Sutton grinds off of ebay for something like $50, no browning, couldn't pass them up........ I just wanted something I could mess around with at the range, and maybe, just maybe on the course. Man those things were hard to hit. I think I've mentioned it before on here, but I swear some of the irons did not have a sweet spot. I will admit it felt really nice when I caught one flush, but those didn't make up for the misses either in distance or the ringing in my nerves. I have no problem not being good enough for blades, and my shovels have got me down around a 7. Maybe I'll try again someday, start with a PW or something

[Jeep1423]

I've been playing my TM 2011 MB's for a couple weeks, I'm a 12-13 HC, coming from a set of R9 TP's with the same shafts (PX 6.5) That I played for 13 months...I couldn't hit the 3,4,5 irons in that set to save my life...I had 08 TP's and the 3 iron was the best club in my bag...maybe I'm the anomaly, but I'm hitting these MB's better than any set I've ever had...at a 12-13, it really makes no sense.......until you see my god awful shortgame! Plus, I'm pretty sure at some point this summer I pissed off the Golf gods. I've missed more putts that have been the right speed that have lipped or literally gone over the center of the cup only to seemingly jump out of the cup. I benefit a lot from thinner soles, which is why I struggled with the the R9 TP long irons...but my wedges are a different story, for some reason I dig hard with my 54 and 58 XFT's and it's killed me. I shot a 90 yesterday and probably left 12 shots on and around the green out there. LOL, if anything...I'm ready to SGI in my SW and LW...now that would be messed up, but it's getting to that point.

[PINGWRXforeme]

Not sure if you will give me the s56 being a "blade" but coming from AP1's I'm very happy so far. Yes there are shots that are not great that might have gotten away with using the AP1's, but overall I feel my swing and ball striking have improved. I see it like this, I can shoot an 82 with either set but which set gives me the best chance at a 72? Money is on the s56. I just need a putting lesson

[Thrillhouse]

my story started when i got a set of titleist 681's for christmas when i was 16, off and on i have played blades ever since. Im still a scratch and i hit the middle of the club face so why not play them? you just cant beat the look and the feel of blades. plus i live in canada where we can only hit balls in a dome 6 months out of the year and its more fun to beat balls with blades than shovels. I promise you guys I am having way more fun in the winter with my blades than MTLJeff is with his shovels!

[Jude]

Think of it as a learning experience. If you hit off center a blade will let you know instantly. A cb will give forgiveness and false hope that you hit center of the face. If you want to hit it more solid and have that pure feeling I say blades. Noone gets better by taking shortcuts and the easy way out. I hit 2008 cobra pro mb and love them when I hit well but when I don't I know I have to practice to find out what went wrong in my swing. Just a little psychoanalasis for ya.

[bogeypro]

I love blades, always have. I learned on blades and I love them. I got a scratch handicap playing blades. It wasn't until I started playing less that I decided to go to more of a progessive set. I finally went to Ping and dumped blades all together. I love blades, but I have found that I can shape shots just as well with cavity backs, even cast cavity backs, just as well with other clubs.

bottom line, I love blades, but I don't see myself going back to any. If i bought a set now it would be to look at mostly.

[bjackson]

The first clubs I ever had were blades. Note these were junior clubs passed down to me that I used from ages 8-12 or so. Now about 10 years since then, as much as I love blades for their looks, responsiveness, and workability, I know there are better, more realistic options for me. I've been using player's cavity backs ever since.

[Love2Slice]

Solid feel but players cav's are the best of both worlds.

[njmack]

I played Ping g2's for the longest time until I bought a set of mp-52s this summer. First few holes w/ them and I was shanking all over the place, but since then I've gotten used to them. They give such good feel while providing ample forgiveness too. Why not compromise with the mizuno's? The 52/53 line of irons are pretty forgiving and still look pretty nice.

[minhjn]

I had played cavity backs for my entire life, but hadn't really played too much golf. I started playing a lot of golf and improving during college. Began to shoot low 80s and high 70s consistently. Being 21 or whatever, I thought it was time to graduate from the cavities and be a badass and play blades. I picked up a set of x-protos due to this site and wow they were pretty. I played with them for a few months but iron play had become the weak part of my game. The light bulb finally went off and i thought to myself that when your 5 iron is literally a 50/50 club (50% good, 50% bad) you need to switch to something easier. i ended up buying a set of G15 irons and it has literally been the best thing for my game. i hit A LOT more greens, my scoring average is down well into the mid 70s and most important, i'm having more fun at age 24.

I occasionally will have those moments on the course where i'm thinking to myself why i punished myself with blades for so long. Usually it's when I flush a 5 iron out of the rough, with perfect trajectory that lands super soft on the greens, or when i catch one a bit off the toe and it ends up landing about 25 feet right of the hole and PIN HIGH.

as your were saying earlier, you will hit that one shot with a blade that was perfection, but think about the other shots that land 10 yards short due to a fractional mishit.

blades definitely work for some people and more power to them, but for me, I learned that golf is not about your own ego. This is one of the hardest games on earth, why make it harder on yourself?

[Snufles]

Came back to blades this year and shot some of my best rounds and best shots. I 'em. My fitter, Gord told me as I was leaving the shop that I would hit my lowest rounds with them and he was right.

[zm231]

Idk blades are really a personal choice. When I started playing golf 5 years ago I was playing blades (something from the 1950's era), and it wasn't until my 2nd year that I finally realized I loved the game enough to buy a decent set and went to a set of callaway x-14's. The year after I wanted to go back to a blade as my ball striking improved and I missed my old clubs so I found a set of Cleveland TA1's for a great price and bought em'. After a year with them and a move to NOVA I met some better players my age and started working with better swing coaches. Long story short I went and got fitted and found out I was playing shafts way to weak for me. So the fitter recommended a set of Cobra GI/Players irons which I tried for a while, I played far worse with them although the were forgiving I couldn't get used to the sole and overall look of them. After that I moved on to MP68's and have never looked back. I have to say they are one of the best blades I have ever tried and are surprisingly forgiving. I currently play to a scratch hdcp and I would say that my irons have a big impact on that. While blades can really screw you if your not hitting it well, when struck properly they will do whatever you want them too. Feel free to pm me is you have any other questions you want to ask me. Hope this helps.

[PINGWRXforeme]

[quote name='NewGeneration' timestamp='1318905063' post='3686323']
Solid feel but players cav's are the best of both worlds.
[/quote]
Change of heart???

I don't really know if they'll get the spot because the 68's are butter and work well for me, also get some looks at the range when the old dudes see a 15 year old hitting blades well enough to fly 'em as long as most other golfers hit their irons.

[BigJerm]

I love blades, I still want to think I can hit them, but I think after 20+ years, it's time for a divorce.

Played a set of Ram Tour Grind blades 2-pw for 7 years.

Went to forged cavity back, Maxfli I think, 1 year.

Back to the Rams for 7 more years.

Then to Mizuno MP-33's, 4 years

Then AP2 710, 1 year.

Now Mizuno MP-68 (for sale soon)

Looking to get a set of Nike VR Pro Combos (anyone want to trade for a set of MP-68s)


Once I get the Pro Combos, I will be down to 3 blades in the set + 2 blade wedges. I plan to update this thread in about a year to add the cavity back I am using for 8, 9 and PW.

[pdaero]

I had loved the feel of the MP32s since they came out, but still played GIs until I got a set for Christmas '07. At that time, I had shot in the low-mid 80s consistently and was a little unsure as to whether I could play them or not. I've loved the feel since, but IMHO they really need a strong downward strike to get the same distance as a GI. In the last few weeks, I've really focused on putting the ball a little farther forward in my stance and really turning down onto the ball with my front shoulder - my ballstriking and distance has really improved!

To cut it short, playing blades has forced me to swing more deliberately and think a little more, and I've been able to lower my handi to a 5.4.

[kg92lefty]

I used players cbs for almost 4 years, and bought blades and love them. do not see the lose in distance that people talk about but when you have an off day that few degrees you close or open the face is punished far worse with a blade. I go back to my players cbs every now and then to build confidence up after a bad round or two. then back to the blades.

[Williams1]

One day on the links, I was having a terrible round. I was so depressed. I sliced my drive into a grass bunker. I didn't know how I was going the hit out of it.
Just before I was going to pick up my ball and throw it in the fairway , I saw a shiny thing lying in the deep rough. I took a closer look, and found that
it was a club...Not just a club, the MP-33 5 iron. I took a cut with it and it was the purest, most piercing trajectory, best ball strike ever! The ball softly landed
on the green. The rest of the round It every green I used it with! I turned the club into the pro shop so sadly. I drove home, and went right onto Ebay. I found
A set for around $175. I received them soon after the purchase. I ran home from work, and hit the range...
I bought a bucket of balls, and chose the best mat I could. I warmed up with a few wedge shots and hit them well. I took out the 9 iron, set up to the
ball and took I nice swing. It was the ( aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

WORST, most painful, horrible,
[b][color=#000055][size=2][/size][/color][/b][color=#666666][/color]
[b]Synonyms: [/b][color=#000055]frightful[/color], [color=#000055]flagitious[/color], [color=#000055]unworthy[/color], [color=#000055]wretched[/color], [color=#000055]terrible[/color], [color=#000055]monstrous[/color], [color=#000055]fearful[/color], [color=#000055]horrible[/color], [color=#000055]worthless[/color], [color=#000055]tremendous[/color], [color=#000055]abominable[/color], [color=#000055]unspeakable[/color], [color=#000055]awful[/color], [color=#000055]grievous[/color], [color=#000055]atrocious[/color], [color=#000055]slimy[/color], [color=#000055]ugly[/color], [color=#000055]dreadful[/color], [color=#000055]horrifying[/color], [color=#000055]vile[/color], [color=#000055]despicable[/color], [color=#000055]painful[/color], [color=#000055]surly[/color][color=#000055][/color]

Golf shot I have ever hit!!!! (I couldn't bring myself to hit another shot, and tossed them into the dumpster (Exaggeration)). [size="7"]

I will never buy a blade again
[/size]

[JJK947]

Mine is short: I bought my Taylormade TP MB's in the summer of 2007. Haven't hit another iron with any intent on buying it since that day. Can't really imagine playing another set of clubs, it will be very strange feeling for me when that day inevitably comes.

The 3 wood is a different story....

[williamo]

Wow, that are a lot if mixed opinions. Cool to see that some of you have had the same impression as me. Blades are fun but maybe just dumb.

[bjackson]

[quote name='williamo' timestamp='1318916105' post='3686931']
Wow, that are a lot if mixed opinions. Cool to see that some of you have had the same impression as me. Blades are fun but maybe just dumb.
[/quote]

I think that's a good way to put it.

[golfdu]

Blades are awesome, keeps you focused on hitting the sweet spot all the time, leading to great shots. But you don't wanna mish-hit it on the toe or heel or catch it thin in extremely cold weather... your hands will STING

[williamo]

Then the next question is what to choose instead. My low round this year was -2 an I've shot -2 a few times and my highest round at 88. This was with the AP2's and I want to lower my score next year. I am going to work with my swing a lot this winter and it is going to get better but probably not enough to hit these irons well 9/10 times. If you want to shot under par you seriously can't afford to mis hit your irons more than a few times. I need to get the ball pin high to be able to make the birdies.

So what should I look at? A new set of AP2's or maybe even G20? I'm sure I'll get over the looks if I can start to shoot lower.

[A V Twiss]

I am getting a real sense of Deja Vue reading these posts. Here's my story. In 2009 just before I retired I decided to treat myself to a new set of clubs. After some research and an extensive fitting session with my pro I chose a set of Ping I15s from 6 iron to 9 iron with a G15 as a 5 iron and Tour W wedges (47,52 and 58). After a series of lessons I began to shoot in the low 80s and was on the threshold of breaking 80. Suddenly the ego steps in and I buy a set of S57s. Bear in mind these are not true blades. Suddenly my scores are around 5 shots worse. In addition to them being considerably harder to hit consistently my distances are now all over the place and my confidence levels suddenly drop. My mind is no longer in a "happy place". I have decided that for the foreseeable future GI and players clubs at the more forgiving end of the spectrum are for me.

[SJWDR]

played Titleist CB 695 before and I was an idiot to sell those irons (players cavity with strong lofts and sole suited for agressive steeper angle of attack)
MP 32 DG S-300 horrible high spin whippy and ballooning / due to too soft shaft but head was too spinny anyway
MP 67 PX 7.0 after Mizuno Trackman Fitting (great irons)
710MB DG X 100 after Titleist Fitting (perfect irons)
710MB PX 7.0 right now see sig. (perfect again and I prefer the PX shaft compared to DG for some reason)
.....

next may be 712 MB but I do not see how those can be better than 710MB

[Fundadores]

[quote name='A V Twiss' timestamp='1318920301' post='3687063']
my distances are now all over the place[/quote]


This sounds really strange, the only advantage of a blade vs a cavity back is the consistency in length. You can shape shots with a shovel if you are a good player.

I started of with blades and I play for fun, who cares. maybe I would score better with a SGI clubs. On the other hand, when I play bad, I play bad all around. I slice my hybrid, hit my wedges thin and miss two feet putts. No SGI iron in the world could have helped me those days. I usually feel most confident before a shot standing there with my short blade irons than any other club in the bag. I know it will deliver consistency in distance and trajectory. If I aim it wrong or hit it bad it´s hardly the clubs fault.

A progressive set is probably the best option for most players who want to play blades.

[Griffasorus]

I play blades ish (mp-32's) and like them, but if the grass was greener i would definately switch. Luke Donald plays 62's, he is a pure striker! So that makes me think with todays forged clubs what is the point in a blade, we go crazy for technology in a driver but not in an iron?

Griff