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Toooo demanding clubs ....

SuperStroke
G

Ger@ld

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9.7 EGA
I have been playing (semi) blades for at least 30 yrs - I actually still have my Wilson Staff Fluid Feel irons that I bought new about 28 yrs ago and still use them in the practice area to keep my iron play focussed. But on the course I must admit I very much prefer to use a GI set, for me it is a difference between breaking 80 and play some wonderful blade shots and coming home in the mid 80's or even worse .......

Most people carry the nicest equipment in their signatures, but whenever I see midcappers playing musscle blades, I fully understand why, but wonder how much better they would be off playing a "players" GI set .....

Not hoping to step on too many toes .....
 
It's all about preferences. Handicap isn't solely based on what type irons you play. I've seen my fair share of scratch golfers who are not very strong iron players, but yet they can still get around the course at par or better. Vice versa, I've seen some players who you would think are scratch golfers based on how they hit their irons, but they can't even sniff par because they can't chip and putt.
 
I know my handicap puts me right in-between GI and semi-players irons, but I really am leaning towards a more GI set for this reason. I work the ball sometimes, but I need the forgiveness more. However, I completely agree with Mulligan in the sense that handicap doesn't determine your equipment.
 
I don't understand what this post is about :confused2:
 
I play muscle cavities, about 11-12 years old at this point. I have seriously pondered going from these to a GI club, particularly in the last 2 years as I've realized that I don't have time to play as much as I used to. But every time I swing some GI clubs, the only benefit I get is extra height, 10 extra yards (likely due to decreased loft in GI irons), and that's about it. But, I'm not playing blades either, so maybe my clubs are just the happy medium for me. Mostly, I just don't want to spend $600+ on new irons, GI or otherwise, when there isn't going to be any significant benefit to my game in doing so.

I sort of got off topic. Hope it made some sort of sense. I guess the point is, GI wouldn't improve my game enough to justify the cost of new irons.

~Rock
 
I'm of the school that says the best "game improvement" irons are blades or a "players" cavity back. Learning solid ball striking will improve your game more than whatever "help" you get from a GI or SGI iron. This is why, despite huge advances in technology over the past 20 years or so, that the average golfer's handicap hasn't improved at all. The GI and SGI clubs let you slop it around the course without learning how to propel the ball to a target with any consistency. Also I think it has lead to the conception that working the ball is difficult to do as most modern SGI and GI clubs are designed to produce a straight or anti-slice biased flight.

The only reason I can see for using a GI or SGI club is if you a player (junior, lady or senior) that has a low swing speed that doesn't allow for you to flight the ball high enough.
 
JMS546 said:
I'm of the school that says the best "game improvement" irons are blades or a "players" cavity back. Learning solid ball striking will improve your game more than whatever "help" you get from a GI or SGI iron. This is why, despite huge advances in technology over the past 20 years or so, that the average golfer's handicap hasn't improved at all. The GI and SGI clubs let you slop it around the course without learning how to propel the ball to a target with any consistency. Also I think it has lead to the conception that working the ball is difficult to do as most modern SGI and GI clubs are designed to produce a straight or anti-slice biased flight.

The only reason I can see for using a GI or SGI club is if you a player (junior, lady or senior) that has a low swing speed that doesn't allow for you to flight the ball high enough.
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Sign me up for ladies league then, because they make me a better player by a huge margin and I have many types of sets. I can think of a few players at the highest level, that could join me in that same league too. :D
 
We should just create a subforum for these threads.
 
I would be lying if I didn't waver often on switching to a set of G25 irons or Altitudes. I love my MP-64's and went I am swinging well they are awesome. But I inevitable have 1 or 2 holes where a little more help would be appreciated.
 
I'm a higher-handicapper and went through this decision recently and I'll tell you what multiple pros told me.

At the time, I was an 18-handicap, with the vast majority of my rounds being in the 90's. For that reason, I felt for sure, the right Callaway clubs for me were going to be the standard Callaway X-Hots.

However, as I went through fittings and lessons, I found I was just not able to hit the standard X-Hot's as well as expected. In fact, I got much better result with the more "player's" X-Hot Pros. That did not bother any of the pros one little bit. In fact, they remarked that GI clubs are intended for players that struggle to hit the center of the face. In my case, I typically do not struggle to hit near the center of the face and make solid contact. My struggle is with path. GI irons aren't going to improve my path. Therefore, none of the pros had any problem with me playing the more "players" X-Hot Pro, and in fact, felt they gave me additional room to grow as my game continues to improve.

With that said, I believe firmly that you should play what feels good to you. Had I really hit the standard X-Hots well, I would have had no problems playing them (in fact, my fairways and hybrid are the standard model).
 
JB said:
Sign me up for ladies league then, because they make me a better player by a huge margin and I have many types of sets. I can think of a few players at the highest level, that could join me in that same league too. :D
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Out of interest, how do you feel it improves your play by a "huge margin"? Not saying that you are wrong and I am right or anything, just want to know your point of view.
 
I use game improvement irons. I can work shots both ways with them too. I just find that I like the shot feel much better off of the face then with blades or forged. It has been a few years since I hit the others but I remember the slightest mis hit giving horrible vibration and losing tons of distance. I am a fan of results and I hit more quality shots with GI's. I remember when KJ Choi lost his sponsors a few years back, he rediscovered his game by playing GI's for a few seasons and he even won a tourney with them. Obviously the exception and not the rule but you have to go with what feels better not what you "should be playing". In golf we often try and convince ourselves we can do things that we can't like fly a wedge 150 or carry a bunker at 285. It is a constant struggle with our ego, but realizing this and playing accordingly can only help your scoring.
 
JMS546 said:
Out of interest, how do you feel it improves your play by a "huge margin"? Not saying that you are wrong and I am right or anything, just want to know your point of view.
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You said in your first post the true measure is handicap. My handicap has gone down almost 3 points since switching to a larger club head from a players iron. If the measure of GI irons not working is that the index has not improved on average (your example), than in my experience it has worked since mine has. 3 points is a larger margin at where mine was and where it is.
 
Fact is, no one will know how elite I am if I'm not thinning the heck out of these Mizzy irons.
 
ATLGolfer said:
Fact is, no one will know how elite I am if I'm not thinning the heck out of these Mizzy irons.
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They also won't ever know what buttery smooth feels like until they hit a forged blade either!
 
The Cleveland Altitude thread is full of good players playing those beasts and seem to keep improving. Unreal reading those posts of low cappers going lower with Hyrons. ie-JB
 
I think as your swing improves and gets consistent players and blades are on the table as options. Its all down to what you like, your feel, fit, and what works for scoring.

Just like a guy who plays from the forward tees, a guy with 4 hybrids in his bag is not a bad golfer. He's just a guy who knows his game and what works for him to enjoy the game.

Me, I have players irons. I wanted to improve my game to a level where they are helpful to my game. I felt that I got better feedback from them and that's what I wanted.
 
RPBGator said:
The Cleveland Altitude thread is full of good players playing those beasts and seem to keep improving. Unreal reading those posts of low cappers going lower with Hyrons. ie-JB
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Not to mention tour players carrying the MT irons from Cleveland. I think by now it's so wide open in terms of what you can and cannot do and what you want each club in your bag to do. The tour is an example where the cost of mistakes is so very high that more players are opting for clubs with more forgiveness. Blades and musclebacks will never go away, but as more players come up through the game playing SGI and then GI irons they may opt to stick with what is comfortable for them, which might be less traditional player's clubs. I think a player is going to improve his handicap by playing clubs that make him confident in getting the ball where he wants it. Attaching that specifically to a particular kind of club is correlation, not causation.
 
I'm sure someone else has said this, but there is a HUGE difference between someone who shoots in the high-90's because they can't putt worth a damn, have a crappy short game and always slice.........but strikes the ball consistently, and someone who shoots in the high-90's who putts well, has a decent short-game, and who's ball-striking consists of chili-dips, duffs, hosel-rockets, fat-flopper etc.....and loses 5-10 balls a round.
 
goalie said:
I'm sure someone else has said this, but there is a HUGE difference between someone who shoots in the high-90's because they can't putt worth a damn, have a crappy short game and always slice.........but strikes the ball consistently, and someone who shoots in the high-90's who putts well, has a decent short-game, and who's ball-striking consists of chili-dips, duffs, hosel-rockets, fat-flopper etc.....and loses 5-10 balls a round.
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This is a good point. The path to 100 is wide and welcoming to all manner of potholes in a player's game.
 
This also ties in with fittings. When I bought my R11's, I only hit them and the RBZ's. Off the mats I hit the R11's better, so I bought them. If I could have had a more extensive fitting with different brands on real grass, I probably would have ended up with something completely different that suits my game a lot better. I love the R11's, but that may only be because I don't have any experience with anything else. Just because you hit something better than your current gamer doesn't mean it's the best for you.
 
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