22 Comments

1. 

   Brad

   Apr 3, 2019 at 8:09 am

   “Forgiveness” in irons is only relevant to a point. The blades of today are nearly as “forgiving” as many cavity backs from decades past. Besides, this guy has a swing speed of 110mph. He is probably hitting a wedge into most par 4s and no more than an 8 iron into most par 5’s after bombing it off of the tee.

   The best sort of forgiveness comes from hitting clubs with more loft into greens from shorter distance. I’d say this guy has that covered. That’s why tour pros can kick your @r$e up and down the course, not because of their accuracy with mid or long irons, but their distance off the tee and wedge play for approach shots. They are simply hitting less club than you ALL of the time. That makes it much easier to have a much higher GIR than the average joe and putting it close to the pin makes putting easier too. Pretty simple.

   Yeah, if you can barely hit the ball 200 yards off of the tee, then blades are probably not for you. No doubt about that. If you are hitting it 330 yards over the back of the green off of the tee and are chipping when everyone else is hitting 7 iron into the green – then you can probably play with a LITERAL butterknife and still score well.

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2. 

   Dan

   Mar 29, 2019 at 12:54 am

   Ok folks here’s the skinny on all iron styles to clear up all the confusion. I’m a +2 and been fitting clubs since the mid 90’s. The sweet spot on every iron ever sold is the size of a dime(called the center of percussion) blade or GI iron. Forged clubs being of a softer metal spin the ball more due to the ball being griped by the grooves longer, so stopping spin and workability is high. Due to their high CG they rotate a lot on off center hits producing inaccuracies and distance loss. Pro’s play forged due to the amazing distance control of high spin reducing distance ( like a bag of wedges). Cast clubs are harder metal with spring like faces. The balls on the face a shorter time due to added velocity and so they spin less and go farther. The low CG rotates the club less when miss hit producing less inaccuracies and less distance loss. For forged the cb or blade option it’s purely a trajectory preference. Blade goes the lowest, cb a bit higher and so on towards hybrids. All irons are designed to fly properly as well so low trajectory blades have weak lofts and GI irons that go high have strong lofts. A 43 deg M6 pw still hits it higher than a forged mb 47 deg pw. Lofts aren’t strong for distance it’s for trajectory and distance is a welcomed secondary affect. Look at pro’s bags where it’s common to up the forgiveness of long irons due to tour green firmness. Go ahead and pick the weapon that fits your need and throw out your reservations. I play a rogue pro cast iron. Looks like an apex pro. Hits it like an M6 and reduces the high spin I have, their cheaper than forged and go easily a club + longer. That’s a win,win,win for me. If you don’t hit 7/10 balls solid don’t play forged, blade or not. Your welcome

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3. 

   sal

   Mar 28, 2019 at 9:50 am

   To each his own. But I will say that when I have played cast cavity back irons, my game goes south after a few weeks because I’m not as precise, especially in the short irons.

   FG-17 irons. Back in the 80s, wow! Caddy Shack and big hair golf. Thanks for the article.

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4. 

   Michael Alonso

   Mar 18, 2019 at 11:17 am

   I’m a 19hdcp and play Mizuno MP-59s. My iron play has never been my issue. I hit the ball high and long and straight. Clubhead speed with a driver is 110 and with a 6i is 98. What’s keeping me from lowering my handicap is my driver and my putter. My putter’s been hot lately, so hopefully that will stay. I got fitted for a driver and will be receiving it next month. Hopefully, staying in the fairway will allow me to score better. As far as playing better/nicer looking/ player’s irons, I can’t see where I would gain anything from playing a GI iron. I recently hit my dad’s new set of Callaway Rogues with Catalyst shafts. Yeah, I can hit his 6i 210, but do I really need that? No. My gapping is fine with my set. Play what you like looking at or you’re not gonna wanna play.

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5. 

   pelling

   Mar 15, 2019 at 5:22 pm

   Here’s the thing. If you took 4 clubs, say a 3 wood, a 6 iron, a wedge, and a putter out for 9 holes, your score would be about the same as if you had 14 clubs fitted with the the latest shafts and technology. So don’t sweat it.

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   • 

     Leftshot

     Mar 16, 2019 at 12:13 pm

     Just because you said it doesn’t make it true. You provided nothing to back up your opinion.

     Having played in dozens of 5-club and similar format tournaments and analyzed the results I think you are wrong. Here is what I conclude from this data.

     A mid to high handicapper’s scores does on average suffer more than a scratch or low single handicap. However, in a net score tournament, the winner is still most likely a mid to high handicap player. This IMO is due to the wild variations in scoring day to day of such players. The same thing happens in net score tournaments with 14-clubs.

     Scratch players generally have skills in this format that most mid to high handicappers do not. The ability to execute half and three quarter swings, knockdowns, vary ball height and sometimes shot shape, just to name a few.

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6. 

   Tim

   Mar 15, 2019 at 2:41 pm

   My issue with blades has always been the stock shafts that most blades come with. I’m not that strong and have always hated Dynamic Gold shafts, they’re totally wrong for me. Now that fitting is so widely available, I’d like to try a Mizuno blade with lightweight steel shafts. Currently I use a Nippon Zelos shaft in my Titleist AP1 irons, but based on my results. I know I could play fairly well with those shafts in a blade. It’s a very girly shaft, but who cares; it works for me.

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7. 

   Mike Cleland

   Mar 15, 2019 at 1:11 pm

   Whatever works. Both blades & game improvement clubs have positives & negatives. Most golfers, not scratch players, should be playing woods & hybrids down to a 7 iron anyway.

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8. 

   Mike Cleland

   Mar 15, 2019 at 1:07 pm

   Whatever works.

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9. 

   Under the roof

   Mar 15, 2019 at 7:19 am

   I really love the feeling of a well struck shot using a traditional blade, it is that “feeling” which is one of the reasons that I play the game. For me the issue with a full set of blades was at the long end of the irons; as the carry distances between clubs started to get compressed, thus leaving a large gap from my 4-I to hybrid.
   -My solution to this gaping problem has been playing 7-pw cb as a degree strong, then 6/5 ap2 and a 4- as an ap3 into a hybrid keeping a 4 degree loft gap between clubs and letting the “more forgiving” faces of the longer irons keep better gaping.
   I know it’s not the same as a pure set, but I’m not 32 anymore either.

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10. 

    Brandon

    Mar 14, 2019 at 9:22 pm

    I’ve played every style of irons over the last 10 or so years and my scores have remained fairly consistently in the low 80’s with the occasional round in the 70’s or 90’s. A chunk is a chunk and a skull is a skull regardless of that club is in your hand. Hitting drives OB and duffing chips is where doubles or worse come from.

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    • 

      Kelso

      Mar 15, 2019 at 3:55 pm

      You nailed it.

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    • 

      Michael Alonso

      Mar 18, 2019 at 11:19 am

      AMEN!

      Reply Report comment
11. 

    Swirley

    Mar 14, 2019 at 4:47 pm

    Guys, thank you for not making fun of Gianni. I can’t stand all the Gianni bashing. He is a good person.

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12. 

    drew

    Mar 14, 2019 at 1:54 pm

    i’d love real strokes gained proof either way. Prove to me GI work to actually improve my game. Prove to me that blades hurt my game. I really don’t know, especially if you are comparing a well fit set of players clubs vs. a well fit set of game improvers. Until there’s good data, I really don’t care what irons any cap picks up as long as they pay out their bets after the round.

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    • 

      Straight

      Mar 14, 2019 at 5:45 pm

      Have you ever been on TrackMan? What a moron…

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      • 

        Raj lp

        Mar 15, 2019 at 2:56 am

        Not a great comment “straight.” Makes you look more like what you’re calling someone who stated an opinion.

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      • 

        Tom Zanarini

        Mar 15, 2019 at 10:15 am

        Hey Straight, take a 7i AP1 and a 6i MB on Trackman. Check the lofts. Don’t go by the number stamped on the sole. Get back to us.

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      • 

        Brad

        Apr 3, 2019 at 8:19 am

        Ever heard of D-plane? Hitting a 7 iron with the loft of a 5 iron is NOT going to improve your scores. Yes, you will hit it further than the 7 iron with a more sensible loft, but that GI club with a 5 iron loft is also going to be as hard to hit consistently as a – 5 iron. Because fo D-plane.

        You’re only fooling yourself if you are playing Trackman golf aka “look how far I can hit this 7 iron, dudes!” If GI clubs improved scores so dramatically, then it would be expected that the guys depending on playing well for their livelihood (PGA Pros) would be playing the $h1t out of those GI irons all around the world. Funny though, because they don’t – at least not until you get down to low lofted long irons where even some of them can apparently use the help as well because of – D-plane.

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13. 

    Sean

    Mar 14, 2019 at 1:25 pm

    I play Srixon 785s and 13hcp I love them. Recently went for a shaft fitting an he gave me jpx919 hotmetal and ap2 I struck them very badly compared to my own. My theory is you won’t improve strike unless you get feed back and you can’t get feed back from GI irons.

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14. 

    TR1PTIK

    Mar 14, 2019 at 1:16 pm

    Play whatever you want to play/makes you happy. Enough said.

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15. 

    P

    Mar 14, 2019 at 11:22 am

    This dude had 110 mph swing speed. Duh.
    Most mid-high handicaps that the retail fronts sell those giant tech clubs are for the weekend hacks who swing at 90mph.

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