blade irons

[dan_670_12]

what handicap should you have approimatly before playing blade clubs

[Golfbum]

what handicap should you have approimatly before playing blade clubs

This has issue has been discussed to death over the years Dan. I have been golfing 24 years and here are my thoughts on playing blades. (Plus a CPGA Pro told me the same thing)
Why would you want to play blades with all the great cavity back clubs on the market today? You can purchase forged CB Irons if you want the soft feeling of forged. Blades have small sweet spots compared to CB's. Mind you the newer blades are better than ones from years ago when the sweet spot was about the size of a dime

With that said, I am going to try a set of older blade irons this summer. I finished last year with a 7 index after struggling with my driving more than anything else. However my 3-6 iron will not be blades, they will be Wishon 550C's, which is a CB forged iron, very much like the MP-30's. The 7-PW will be forged TNT Grinders, an iron that looks very much like the Titleist 690MB. That is the plan for now. If I do not like those Grinders they will be in the Staff bag in no time and the rest of the Wishon's will be back in the bag.

My thoughts are this. Sure playing blades will make you a better ball striker, because if you don't hit them properly you lose yardage and accuracy. If you have time to practice 3-4 times a week, hitting many balls each time then you can improve your ball striking. However if you are like the majority of us who have jobs and families to attend to then practice time might be limited.

I love the feel of my forged irons, and I also like the fact they have a lot less offset than most game improvement irons. That allows me to flight the ball lower, something I need as I play a course that is usually quite windy. But with the lack of offset when I miss hit em they are UGLY Even with the amount of rounds I play (165 last year) I still mi shots. I know with my old TaylorMade 200 irons those miss hits were not quite as bad.

I can not think of one really good player at my home course that uses blades. The current Club Champion, 2 years in a row plays with Golfsmith Tour Cavity Irons. A friend of mine who is has a + index plays with PING I3 Blades, a smaller CB iron.

Take a look at The Golf Channel Website, under What's In The Bag and check out this years winners from the Pro Tours and see what is in their bags. I bet you do not find many guys or ladies using blades. Hey Annika is by far the the best lady in women's golf for years and she plays X-18's. If you think you can beat Annika then load the blades in the bag
The best thing to do, if you have them try them. If you struggle to hit quality shots then get them out of your bag. The game of golf is hard enough as it is, no need to make it harder! To me, the most important thing about your irons, get fit for them. Make sure you have the correct lie for your swing and the correct shafts for your swing speed. That will help you hit a lot more quality golf shots. Nice thing about forged CB irons, you can buy a set off the rack as long as the shafts are the right ones. Then you can take them and have them bent tp to 4-5 degrees either way.

I have seen a set of Precept forged CB irons, new for $399 and they are sweet looking irons, nice thin topline, set up nice. You get the best of both worlds right there.

Good Luck
Rick

[BC MIST]

what handicap should you have approimatly before playing blade clubs

You can play blades whenever you want. They are only slighlty less (about 2%) forgiving than the current batch of semi cavity back irons, while the full cavity offers forgiveness in the area of 5%.

Regardless, if most of your shots are within .5" of the sweet spot, it matters very little, but if you tend to be 1" or so off centre, you are better off with the full cavities. Hitting a couple of dozen shots with impact tape on the head will give you a better idea of your true impact point.

Using heads that look good when you place the head behind the ball and feel/sound good at impact, are important features. Blades have very little if any offset, so are easier to line up, and may offer you a slightly better chance to manouever the ball, if you have the skills to do this.

I have tried clubs that project the ball a little longer and have a higher MOI, ie., more forgiving, but I dislike the look and the sound/feel enough to disregard them. Forged heads just sound/feel better. A 3 iron, if any one still plays a 3, hit on the sweet spot, is almost orgasmic.

[BC MIST]

However my 3-6 iron will not be blades, they will be Wishon 550C's, which is a CB forged iron, very much like the MP-30's.

The 550C are a semi-cavity back, the term I used above. According to Tom, the C's hit 1" off centre/toe will lose 10 yards from a sweet spot hit, 150 yard 7 iron, while the 550M's will lose 12 yards. This 2 yard difference would NOT be noticed. His 560"s may be a little better, when they come out next month. The amount of forgiveness that cavities have tends to be exaggerated, however, all other things being equal, the FULL cavity will be a little longer and a little more accurate, than a blade.

If the golfer is all over the club face, play a full cavity. A partial cavity is a marketing ploy, making the golfer believe that there will be a HUGE difference in distance/accuarcy, when in fact it will be almost imperceptible.

[Golfbum]

Semi CB's , correct BC Mist, I just could not think of the proper term for those Wishon 550C's
The issue I have with blades is that high handicap players really need all the help they can get. They are usually casual golfers, and IMO they sure don't need to struggle anymore than nessecary when it comes to hitting decent golf shots. To be honest, I really do not care what type of irons anyone plays, to each his own. I just hate watching guys struggle to hit decent shots. With all the technology available today why not take advantage of it? JMO

The big reason I like my Wishon 550C's is less offset. I hit the ball high to begin with, and those irons help me flight it down a bit more.
Friend of mine plays the RAC's and he is a wizard with those sticks! He just can not hit knock down shots as easily as I can, that is the only major difference in our iron play.

[BC MIST]

The issue I have with blades is that high handicap players really need all the help they can get. They are usually casual golfers, and IMO they sure don't need to struggle anymore than nessecary when it comes to hitting decent golf shots.I just hate watching guys struggle to hit decent shots. With all the technology available today why not take advantage of it? JMO

You are absolutely correct. Unless the golfer is hitting the club face close to the sweet spot more often than not, using a club that offers a little assistance makes sense. We all see what happens when our 460 cc heads contact the ball 1" or so off centre, and using a full cavity iron maximizes the available help.

In rethinking the blades, I see only one other advantage in using them, in addition to personal preference. It is said that it is easier to fade and draw the ball with a blade. Why? If I hit the ball on the sweet spot with both types of clubs, the manouvering ability should be identical. Trying to fade or draw from off the sweet spot would be easier with the blades as they have a lower MOI, but why would someone try to fade the ball by hitting it off the toe or heel end? Where they are advantageous, as you have discovered, is in hitting low, knockdown type shots. Because the center of gravity is generally higher in a blade than in a perimeter weighted cavity, low shots are easier. However, according to Tom Wishon, the 550M's and the 550C'c have the CG located in the same spot.

Like you, I don't like offset as I feel that I have to fiddle with the leading edge to set the face squarely behind the ball and I don't need a head that encourages a hooking action as I can do that inadvertently on my own. The Wishons set up beautifully, feel great, look good, perform as expected and cost less than half the price of a comparable off the rack set, if you do the assembly yourself. What more could we ask for?

[mpare]

BCMist has identified the reason why I particularly like blades. It's easier to knock the ball down. When I used to play in the Maritimes, this was an absolute necessity. I found that the more forgiving clubs tended to get the ball into the air too high. As well, it is easier to work the ball left and right with the blades. Keep in mind, though, that it is much harder to move the ball around today than it was years ago with the true balata balls. Not surprisingly, it was also a lot harder to control those balls if you didn't strike them properly. All of that said, I confess to having taken the 2, 3 and 4 irons out of my bag (at least for now) in favour of hybrids. Too much desk jockeying and too little exercise and practice have made that imperative. Golf is a game of comprise, just like life.

[BC MIST]

As well, it is easier to work the ball left and right with the blades. .

Why? I am looking for a logical, if not technical explanation for this.

If I hit both a blade and a cavity off the sweet spot, why is the blade easier to fade/hook? In my simple mind, and it is simple, both should be equally easy/hard to fade/hook.

[mpare]

I don't know, Lyle, why the blades are easier to turn the ball but they are. All I do know is that, for me at least, it's true. Not scientific and anecdotal I know, but there you have it. When you figure it out, please let me know. In the meantime, I'll just keep bending them.

[spackler]

Why? I am looking for a logical, if not technical explanation for this.

If I hit both a blade and a cavity off the sweet spot, why is the blade easier to fade/hook? In my simple mind, and it is simple, both should be equally easy/hard to fade/hook.

Maybe because cavity backs generally have a lower centre of gravity and impart more backspin, and therefore less sidespin, on the ball? At least this is the marketing pitch.

[BC MIST]

Maybe because cavity backs generally have a lower centre of gravity and impart more backspin, and therefore less sidespin, on the ball? At least this is the marketing pitch.

I posted this question on the Tom Wishon forum and he speculated that the centre of gravity of a blade is closer to the face of the club versus the cavity where it is farther back, and this aids in manoueverability. Secondly, the thickness of the face is a factor, too, in the the longer the ball stays in contact with the face(blades), the easier is it to fade/draw. How much? Mouse farts, maybe??

[1972Apex]

Guys, sometimes you can theorize about clubhead design all you want and never come to a conclusion. Really, you just have to hit them.
Mouse farts? Well, I draw or fade any blade much easier than any shovel. Could be the design of the club, could be my particular swing, could be the way they set up to my eye.

[spackler]

I certainly find my shovels with their oversized face, wider sole, and deep cb, to be very forgiving for my game (or lack thereof). I have a set of old blades that I learned on (didn't have cb way back then), that I take out to the range every once in a while, and I certainly don't hit those as straight as my shovels. Much easier to bend the ball, intentionally or not. Don't know if that's mental, but it is reality for me.

[byerxa]

I am a 13 index and play Maltby M-05s (semi CBs). They indeed are more forgiving, mainly on toe and thin hits. However, I have put together a "travel" bag and did so with M-04 muscle back blades. In fact, to keep the price down I made it a reduced set, i.e., 4, 6, 7, 9, PW with the 6 and 7 adjusted to evenly spread the lofts (PW is a true 49* PW). In addition to being a travel set that would not cause my world to end if (when) an airline looses/destroys them, they are a bit of an experiment to prove to myself once and for all that the clubs have little influence on the score (as long as they are in the ballpark). I am flying down to Vegas in May and that will most likely be the first time playing with this set. I will report on the results of my experiment at that point.