Heavy irons shafts effecting ballspeed?

[Frijj]

Be gentle with me but I need some advice please :-)

 

I'm a steady 5 handicapper with a driver SS at 85-90 mph happily hitting fairways at around the 230 yards mark

 

I'm in the market for a new set of irons to replace my trusty Ping i10's

 

I only have access to a Vector system at my local shop and although its not dead balls accurate everytime I do feel when its working well its close to the numbers

 

I have my eyes on either the Tmade Rocketbladez Tour or Callaway X-hot Pro's, yes I need help but I also need it to look good too.

 

Yesterday I was pottering around in the store with 4 clubs all 6 irons:

 

Tmade RB Tour with KBS Tour reg flex

Tmade RB Normal with stock 85g rocketfuel reg flex

Cally Xhot normal with stock 85g speed step in reg flex

Cally Xhot pro with project x 95 in 6.0 flex

 

So its not exactly a perfect test as thats all I had to try but I had very similar club head speed 76-78 mph with all 4 clubs but the ball speeds were very different on the Xhot pro which at 103-104 was 5 to 6 mph better than the other 3 which also translated. I even climbed on the Tmade tour iron and got 82 mph out of it but only got 100 mph ball speed and obviously not as far as the Cally

 

So before you say don't be daft lad and just get the Callys, for some reason I want the Taylor's to be best as I slightly prefer thelook of them at address.

 

So the bottom line is if I stuck a 95g shaft in the Tmade tours would the ballspeed increase? Or am I getting some Xhot's :-)

 

Cheers Si

[just win]

I think your results are coming down to the shaft. Your swing characteristics might fit the PX95 6.0 the best. It would be well worth a try to hit the RB with that shaft. I would not purchase them blindly but maybe a single six iron shafted accordingly if they do not have one to demo.

[gvogel]

From my test of the Rocketbladz (non-tour), I thought that the Fuel shaft was very cheap; it was certainly too light for me - too light to achieve consistency.

Remember that we are dealing with irons, so ball speed is not as important as straight - and overall control. Having said that, I would try to get a good shaft that would give me the best, most consistent results.

I am trying the PXi shaft at the moment, and the more I hit it, the more I am convinced that it really is a very good shaft - for me. As I tend to hit the ball off the tee at about the same distance that you do, I think that my experience may have some relevance. I have not tried the Project X 95 gram shaft that is in the new Callys, and I suspect that it would be a bit light for me. I might get more raw distance on best hits, but I have to play my misses as well.

My advice - look to get the best quality shaft that you can afford, but after trying a bunch of different ones. Also, outside experience, and especially "playing" experience is much more important than launch monitor experience.

[Stuart_G]

[quote]
Tmade RB Tour with KBS Tour reg flex
Tmade RB Normal with stock 85g rocketfuel reg flex
Cally Xhot normal with stock 85g speed step in reg flex
Cally Xhot pro with project x 95 in 6.0 flex

So its not exactly a perfect test as thats all I had to try but I had very similar club head speed 76-78 mph with all 4 clubs but the ball speeds were very different on the Xhot pro which at 103-104 was 5 to 6 mph better than the other 3 which also translated. I even climbed on the Tmade tour iron and got 82 mph out of it but only got 100 mph ball speed and obviously not as far as the Cally

So before you say don't be daft lad and just get the Callys, for some reason I want the Taylor's to be best as I slightly prefer thelook of them at address.[/quote]

First of all, 6.0 flex I believe is actually more equivalent to a stiff flex shaft, not a regular flex (which would generally be 5.0 or 5.5). So if you hit it better, maybe you should try the TM's in stiff for a better comparison. A good fit in flex is not just a matter of club head speed, but also how agressive or quick the transition and also to some extent feel.

Second, find out what type of launch monitor was being used. Make sure it's a model that measures both club head speed. Ssome will calculate one based on the other instead and those numbers should be ignored.

The increased ball speed (assuming it's accurate), could be a function of the shaft, could be a function of the weighting, or it could be from the different head (bigger sweet spot, little more 'bounce') or just something about the whole combination that results in better ball contact.

Yes, looks (and feel) are important, it's not just about the numbers. Golf is too much of a mental game to disregard it's influence so you definitely have to consider that but only you can determine how important it is compared with the other factors.

If you can find a professional club-fitter, they can do a lot more testing to isolate what factors are really influencing the results to get the best fit possible.

[DLiver]

Different iron heads can produce widely varying ball speeds. I did a fitting where I used exactly the same shaft (it was moved from head to head), yet saw a difference of 6-8 mph in ball speed from slowest to fastest head. The lofts, lies and weights of all the heads had been adjusted to be identical.

People here tend to think iron heads are all roughly the same when it comes to ball speed, but that is not the case.

[johnnythunders]

Xhot pro with 95 flighted shaft has been the longest iron with the most ball speed regardless of flex when I have put it up against any iron in the store. Since I work part-time, this is over about 5-7 comaprisons.

That is with a 6 iron. This has been with better players similar to your handicap. It usually comes down to Mizuno 825 pro versus the xhot pro. The xhot pro is usually 5-8 yards farther but the Mizuno is a little more accurate Mizuno is ususally with the TT XP shaft. The reason could be that the xhot pro is 2 degrees stronger in the 5,6,7, then 1.5 in 8, 1 in 9 and the same in PW.

Most guys like the Mizuno feel better and some like the xhotpro's yardage better.

Not one has liked the RBZ regular or Tour. The RBZ regular has been popular with the 15-25 handicapers though.

Just my 2 cents, your MMV.