New Irons Choice - Help Please

Dazinkster said:

How do you feel about your gap from 9 iron to 52* wedge? The Taylor Made site lists the 9 iron as having 41* loft, now an 11* gap to me sounds crazy, must be a good 20-30 yards.

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Keep in mind that most people have a PW as well and that eliminates that gap.

JB said:

Keep in mind that most people have a PW as well and that eliminates that gap.

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I was just going off his signature

weezy109 said:

Well think about it, why on earth would you need any more feedback than you would get from a cast club? Like I said most people can't diagnose what they "feel" accurately anyways. A midcapper playing those type of clubs to me is like buying a 1500 dollar mountain bike to learn to ride on, it makes no sense. Notice now most pros are moving away from blades. Only about 10 percent of the tour still plays em.

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I have thought about it, and I value the feedback I get from my irons. I like the feeling when I hit a pure strike, I like to know where the ball has come off the face, especially if I'm trying to work a shot.
I may not be like 'most people', and I agree that high handicappers may not be able to use this feedback, but to say I'm the victim of a marketing trick just isn't right at all. That's the bit of your post I'm disagreeing with.

The day manufacturers stop producing a varied range of clubs will be a sad day for the game altogether.

i have always carried a PW i have a xft custom bent and sole grind thanks to the local TM and Pro shop guys, and a R9 PW that i interchange in the bag depending what side of the bed i wake up on. yes there is a huge gap but my PW fills it

Going back to the original topic, the Yonex VMX won the Best on Test award in Golf World magazine along with the Titleist AP1.

And I think the Mizuno MX-950's were forged and they were Super Game Improvement irons.

hkphooey00 said:

Going back to the original topic, the Yonex VMX won the Best on Test award in Golf World magazine along with the Titleist AP1.

And I think the Mizuno MX-950's were forged and they were Super Game Improvement irons.

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Good call on the 950s. But keep in mind that they were replaced by the MX-1000s that are cast.

Check out JB's review of Calloway's new X-24s. These irons look 'Hot' so to speak. I have an earlier model and can't say enough good things about them.

Thanks for all your help so far guys! I spoke to my club pro today who rekons he can get great deals on any clubs that are NOT Taylor Made or Callaway. I guess his contacts with those companies aren't too good. lol. But he thinks a set of the Nike Split Cavs, Titleist AP2's or Mizuno's would be good for me.

Also, I shot a 76 (+6) today which included 3 putting 4 times (gutted!). Basically my ball striking was awesome so I don't think I'll have a probem hitting "players" irons or "GI irons".

Dazinkster said:

I was just going off his signature

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He has the R9 PW listed under wedges in his signature.

Degoins said:

He has the R9 PW listed under wedges in his signature.

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Ah feck! I mis-read that clearly, I only saw the XFT's. I'll go and cry in shame in the corner now :crying:

I've also only been playing 10-12 weeks so am improving all the time.

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Dazinkster said:

Thanks for all your help so far guys! I spoke to my club pro today who rekons he can get great deals on any clubs that are NOT Taylor Made or Callaway. I guess his contacts with those companies aren't too good. lol. But he thinks a set of the Nike Split Cavs, Titleist AP2's or Mizuno's would be good for me.

Also, I shot a 76 (+6) today which included 3 putting 4 times (gutted!). Basically my ball striking was awesome so I don't think I'll have a probem hitting "players" irons or "GI irons".

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dude, that's incredible!! only golfing for 3 months and you're already shooting scores like that! i'd have to vote for the split cav's over the ap2's. i didn't care for the ap2's personally, and the split cav's are really nice.

Dazinkster said:

Thanks for all your help so far guys! I spoke to my club pro today who rekons he can get great deals on any clubs that are NOT Taylor Made or Callaway. I guess his contacts with those companies aren't too good. lol. But he thinks a set of the Nike Split Cavs, Titleist AP2's or Mizuno's would be good for me.

Also, I shot a 76 (+6) today which included 3 putting 4 times (gutted!). Basically my ball striking was awesome so I don't think I'll have a probem hitting "players" irons or "GI irons".

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You are going to be a plus handicap in no time if that is the case. Try them all out and get fitted. I mean 76 with 4 three putts is right there with a scratch golfer.

Cheers for the kind words guys. I'll keep at it and see how I go. Today was definitely a special round, I'll see if I can continue it tomorrow

My latest research has flagged up these baby's too: http://golf.mizunoeurope.com/irons/mp-52/local/ Gotta admit I like the sound and look of the MP52's and there's a specilist Mizuno fitter only 15 mins drive from me so I'd be able to use their swing DNA thingy. I wasn't aware but apparantly Mizuno make damn fine irons and are well known for it?

it's worth your 15 minute drive to get on the shaft optimizer if you can. it will pair you with the ideal shaft for your swing, and yes, mizuno makes some nice stuff. based off your shortlist of clubs you may want to look at the mx300's, they are going to be more in line with the split cav's and ap2's.

I'd vote for the Mizuno custom fit too. You'll get to hit all their current range of irons and you'll find out what type of iron you like really quickly.

Definitely worth doing the custom fit, even if you don't purchase the irons. It'll give you a lot of good info on what you need for your game.

Try mizuno mx200 , cobra s2, Taylor made burners.

Once again, thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'll most likely be down the range on Monday evening so I'll try a good 3/4 clubs out when there. I'll then post my thoughts up about them and what I'm thinking (as JB said he was interested, sorry to bore the rest of you. lol)

Those 52's are so, so pwetty! (from what I gather they are surprisingly forgiving, but reportedly also a bit short)

.. and then you might as well give the 58's and 68's a whirl too while you're at it. If I had the game I'd be looking at the 68's. Awesome looks, optimized for feel right down to the way they sound, yet reportedly the most forgiving blades around. Maybe mixed set of 58/68.


Sadly I don't, so I think I'm going Ping i15 next.

Right, I'm off to the range tonight where I'll be trying out some of the irons listed above. I'll report back with my thoughts/findings. Obviously they'll only be demo models so won't be in the best condition.

All good, today I hit the Titleist AP2's, Nike Splt Cav's and a range of Mizuno's (MX300's, MP52's, MP58's, MP62's), but only the 6 iron demos. All regular lie, length, grip etc...

Things in common: shaping shots is really easy with all the clubs, slightly harder with the MX300's (to be expected) but even those I could get to move a good 20-30 yards sideways over the course of a 165/170 yd 6 iron.

Thoughts:
- Nike Split Cav's - looked great at address, but I must say compared to the others they didn't inspire a whole lot of confidence due to the thin-ness and when I swang them I didn't feel like my hands were completly in sync with the club. The biggest issue was the irregular distance though, it was almost like they had 2 sweet spots. I regularly hit it 160, however, every now and then it would jump off the face an extra 10-15 yards. Not exactly what you need from your irons.

- Titelist AP2's - beautiful clubs, my first thought when I picked them up though was...heavy!? They were just felt a bit clunky for me, now I'm sure there's plenty of Titleist lovers out there that would disagree but they're just not for me. I will say that they were very consistant accross the whole face, distance and flight were both good and easy to predict.

- Mizuno's - I'll group these together as they were all very similar. I was very impressed, I tried the MX300's first (thanks to tcalloway for making me try them), they were a little large at address but for some reason didn't look too G.I. ish, loved hitting them. Very straight with excellent distance (checked later and they are 2* strong which would explain it). Then the MP62's next, they're too good for me and tbh couldn't see any real advantage at my current standard over the other model's I hit. The thing I was most impressed by was the feedback from ALL the Mizuno irons, I was able to predict the exact flight and distance before looking up to check the ball flight. On the MP52's and 58's the ball would still be great even on mis-hits, which I was surprised with for a players/blade style club. I remember hitting one shot and immediately said to my mate "ooh, I thinned that one massively"...then I looked up to see the ball fly straight 140-150 yards, not bad for a complete mis-hit. The shape I was getting was really nice too, a little 5-10 yard draw, as I mentioned earlier though, I could get a controlled fade if required too. These too were extremely consistant accross the face.

In conclusion, I really like all the Mizuno irons so will be going to get custom fit with a very much open mind and see what the professionals think would be the best model for me, and for the first time ever I know what people mean when they talk about clubs having "feel".

PS. appologies if the grammar/spelling isn't great in this post, I'm pretty tired atm. lol

Great stuff Daz. Sounds like you've now got a good idea about what you want, and you can be sure of your decision after testing out several different brands/models.

I love the Mizunos too, although I'm surprised to hear you didn't feel too much difference between the MX300 and the MP irons. Be interesting to see the result of your custom fitting session.
For the record, I felt exactly the same about the Titleists too, so you're not alone. I played 9 holes with my father-in-laws Titlests and had to give them back, they felt 'dead' in my hands compared to my Mizunos.

If I'd had taken more time and specifically focused on which model of the Mizuno's I liked best I'm sure I'd have found the differences. But tbh I just thought "I hit them all good, they all feel nice...right, time to get them custom fitted". lol.

I'll report back after the custom fitting (and see if I can figure out how to copy in the Swing DNA results too)

Dazinkster said:

If I'd had taken more time and specifically focused on which model of the Mizuno's I liked best I'm sure I'd have found the differences. But tbh I just thought "I hit them all good, they all feel nice...right, time to get them custom fitted". lol.

I'll report back after the custom fitting (and see if I can figure out how to copy in the Swing DNA results too)

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If they all feel good in your hands and results were similar, I would assume you would go with the one that adds the most forgiveness, no?

JB said:

If they all feel good in your hands and results were similar, I would assume you would go with the one that adds the most forgiveness, no?

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That would be the sensible course. Although you might get a surprise at the results once you're looking at the numbers, with the correct shaft fitted. I hit the mp58s and mp68s, and they both felt around the same. Looking at the numbers, I was hitting the 6I 171yds with the 58s, and 176 with the 68s, with a little better dispersion.

Recently bought the R9's. They are the very forgiving and the top line is thinner than most other game improving irons. Could be the finish on them but to me they look thinner and I can actually work a ball a little. And they are very long for me.
Hope that helps. But you know as well as I do it is personal preference and feel. Good Luck Pal