Equipment
Forum Thread of the Day: “Handicap to play blades?”
Today’s Forum Thread of the Day comes from golfinguru11 who asks WRXers what they feel is the necessary handicap to possess before making the move to blade irons. Our members dismiss the notion that only players with a specific handicap should play blades and give their thoughts on what is necessary to game the irons effectively.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- rt_charger: “I think the overwhelming answer is that there is absolutely no handicap threshold to play blades – if like said before, you can elevate them; and you have the swing repeatability to find center more than not; you can play blades. Any handicap can play blades, not every player can. It is just statistical likelihood that fewer higher handicaps play blades and above a certain one you find any with blades because they don’t have the swing to play them. I think the test is, if you can hit a blade 5 iron that goes high enough, you can play blades.”
- tets: “ANY handicap… try this, go over your last round. Take your score, subtract all the putts you hit, then subtract any wedges include chip shots, bunker shots etc., next take away 18 tee shots ( if there are 4 par 3’s you can choose not to subtract them if you want) .. your “ other” shots will be somewhere around 10, plus or minus a few. You may also choose to subtract hybrids and fairway woods if you want. My point is play what irons you want; you probably use them less than you think.”
- uglande: “None. But every golfer (even most pros) reach a point of diminishing returns in their set. Anyone can hit a 9 iron blade, but when you get to 5 or 6 iron your consistency will fall off, and your yardage gaps will narrow. If you like to work the ball or flight the ball, blades are great. If you are mostly just trying to hit straight shots, then blades probably don’t make sense unless you just love the look and feel. Maybe try a blended set with blades in the short irons and just try to identify the spot in your bag where the “cons” of blades start to outweigh the ‘pros.'”
- GSDriver: “There’s no handicap; it’s up to the individual. Clearly harder to hit than cavity backs but if you like them, play’em.”
Entire Thread: “Handicap to play blades?”
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- Adam Scott what’s in the bag accurate as of the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 TX
Driver: TaylorMade BRNR (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees), TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 9 X, Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 9 X
7-wood: TaylorMade Stealth (21 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI Black 9 X
Irons: Srixon ZX Mk II (3), Srixon ZX5 Mk II (4), Srixon ZX7 Mk II (5), Srixon Z-Forged II (6-9)
Shafts: Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid 105 X (3), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (50-12F, 54-08M), SM9 (LW), WedgeWorks (LW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-54), S400 (LW)
Putter: L.A.B. Golf Mezz.1 Proto
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
See the rest of Adam Scott’s WITB in the forums.
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Driver: TaylorMade Qi 10 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 70 TX
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi 10 Tour (15 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Black 80 TX
Irons: TaylorMade P790 (3), TaylorMade P7MC (4-6), and TaylorMade P730 (7-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (50-09SB, 54-11SB, 58-08LB)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: TaylorMade TP Reserve Juno
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
Check out more in-hand photos of Pierceson Coody’s WITB here.
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Ben Griffin might be a little too young to remember some of the iconic Maxfli golf balls that won on tour, but that isn’t stopping him from putting the newest Tour X ball from the brand in play. Today, Maxfli and Griffin announced an exclusive partnership that will see the PGA Tour player using the company’s four-piece golf ball.
While Griffin might be the first PGA Tour player to put a new Maxfli golf ball in play, he isn’t the first profesional golfer to do so. Lexi Thompson has been playing the Maxfli Tour golf ball on the LPGA Tour since the beginning of the 2024.
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We caught up with Ben at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas this week to ask him about the new ball switch.
“I was able to finally get my hands on some and try it and immediately I saw faster ball speed with the driver, which is always something every golfer wants to see.
“Then I had to test a lot around the greens and test irons, test spins, test everything like that. Basically, I came to the conclusion that I thought this was probably one of the best golf balls for my game.
“And so I decided to make it official and partner with them and very excited to help kind of launch this golf ball and see where it takes us.”
Griffin’s ball of choice is the Maxfli Tour X, a four-piece golf ball that is made for highly skilled players that want consistent distance off the driver and spin around the green. An updated core design helps add the ball speed that Griffin mentioned and two ionomer mantle layers separate low spin driver shots from higher spin iron and wedge shots. Maxfli uses Center Of center-of-gravity balancing to ensure each ball has consistent flight in the air and roll on the green. Like all golf balls on tour, the Tour X features a cast urethane cover for maximum performance, and it has a tetrahedron dimple pattern to enhance aerodynamics.
It is exciting to see a golf ball at a lower price point — $39.99 at Golf Galaxy — being used by a top 100 ranked player in the world like Ben Griffin, and equipment junkies will be keenly watching his performance with the new ball.
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Adam Scott WITB 2024 (May)
Adam Scott what’s in the bag accurate as of the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson. Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (10.5 degrees)...
Pierceson Coody WITB 2024 (April)
Driver: TaylorMade Qi 10 (9 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 70 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi 10 Tour (15 degrees)...
WITB Time Machine: Billy Horschel’s winning WITB, 2017 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
The tournament bearing the name of one of golf’s all-time greats is now known as the CJ Cup Byron Nelson....
Austin Cook WITB 2024 (April)
Austin Cook what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic. More photos from the event here. Driver: Ping...
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Pingback: TaylorMade P790 Review [2021] - Best TaylorMade Irons
s
Nov 10, 2019 at 5:31 am
Hey, how good a driver do you need to be, in order to be qualified to own your dream car? We should judge ill-mannered drivers, not what they own.
Rob
Nov 8, 2019 at 11:11 am
I’m a 14.4 handicap and have played blades my whole life. I have been as low as a 6. I rarely play and the bulk of my bad shots come from driver and short game issues. I don’t have time to practice so can’t complain too much.
Heck, at one time you had to play blades. I never have issues with not being able to hold greens 🙂
Michael
Nov 4, 2019 at 11:08 am
I have hcp 19,5, I am now playing fitted blades (just started 5 months ago) – the feeling is just great or better, the results are the same. It is a question of targets & money (you need very good fitting not just fitting with your Pro).
Alex
Oct 31, 2019 at 4:58 pm
Golf is hard enough, but if you want to make it even harder buy some blades.