Thoughts on handicap rating of clubs e.g low/mid/high?

I think it's pretty subjective what makes a club for "higher handicappers." I agree with Wilson Staff's idea of feel, control, or distance. What makes a player better or worse with irons might not be a lack of distance or accuracy. But at the same time, what makes a club, especially irons, an player's club has changed. There is so much more tech in today's clubs, even the player's clubs, and more players are reaching top drawer tours now who have come up using cavity-backed irons for much more of their lives. I think Apex irons are a great example of a club that looks much the same as a player's iron, is used in many bags on the tour...but has a ton of forgiveness under the hood. OEMs have gotten better about packaging technology and moving weight so that forgiveness need not come with giant toplines or big cavities.

Howzat said:

I think the companies need something to give the average consumer an idea of what may be a good fit. That does not mean you can't buy and play whatever feels best to you. Like anything just use it as a guideline to make an informed decision.

Click to expand...

I agree.

I say play what you like. However the OEMs gotta provide a "guide" for consumers to offer some assistance when selecting clubs. Obviously a fitting would be best but that's another discussion.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Well said Ezekiel.

It's not always a matter of high handicappers play blades. There are several low single digit 'cappers on here that switched to the Cleveland Altitude hyrons because it worked best for them.

I do think that the OEMs are right in giving guidelines but its why you should always at the least test out different options if you cant go for a full fitting.

#Cookie said:

I agree.

I personally would love to hear more about forgiveness, launch, etc rather than just "our longest iron ever".

Click to expand...

This X1000

I swear, every single time Taylormade comes out with a new Iron set or driver, its the "LONGEST ROCKETBALLZIEST FARTHEST CLUB YET!! ADDS ANOTHER 10 YARDS!!!!!111

At this point we should all be hitting 400 yard drives.

jrose04 said:

Thats all you seem to see in past couple years is "our longest irons ever" and all they do is bump up the degree and lengthen the shaft

Click to expand...

I disagree regarding loft angles. My new AP1s are 4* stronger than my J40s but launch even higher...its a good combination.

As far as shaft length goes I agree with you. The OEM's have all this data from fittings saying that most golfers play shafts that are too long for them but yet they seem to slowly get longer and longer. The only legit reason I can see is that it's easier to chop a shaft down than to lengthen it.