sleuth
Active member
So this all started late last season. I thought it was time to put my irons to pasture and find something more forgiving. I love everything about the club - thin sole, top line, and small head. Mishits are somewhat detrimental, however. Irons/wedges are the strongest part of my game, so it's not too often that I mishit my irons. Though, I've always wondered, would getting something a little more forgiving enhance my game? The consensus seems to be yes as we see Pro's playing AP2, J40 DPC, i20, etc. Why make the game harder then it already is?
My journey started at a Mizuno fitting with a Mizuno rep. We used the shaft optimizer to see what iron shafts I would be fit for. Went a few swings and he said Dynalite XP Gold. I was like... no way. I was pretty resistant to playing those shafts. He said they would give me optimal launch and spin numbers. He was fitting me for JPX825 Pro's and was hoping to get my 6i around 6500rpm. I didn't really argue with him, I just wanted to see what he thought. I don't have any raw data to provide from this fitting, and wish I did. But I left there thinking, there's no way I can play those iron shafts. They're too light, soft and launch far too high. And 6500 backspin? That just sounds like too much.
I continued demoing irons all winter. This is the first time I've actually invested time into launch data. I was brought up with swing coaches in the late 80's, early 90's who were pretty old school. Everything was fitted by eye, and that's just something I continued to do for myself. I've been using Foresight monitors to obtain all my launch data. The below are rough estimates.
Callaway Razr X Tour w/ DG S300
Ballspeed - 117mph
Launch angle - 20*
Backspin - 5800rpm
Peak Height - 39yds
Total Yards - 180yds
Adams CMB w/ C-Taper Stiff
Ballspeed - 117mph
Launch Angle 19*
Backspin - 6000rpm
Peak height - 38yds
Total Yards - 175yds
I also went on to test i20, 588CB, and Rocketbladez Tour. These all provided similar launch, with the exception of the 588CB with DG S300. I was launching this around 20-21*. A bit too high for my tastes. I like a mid penetrating flight. Playing golf in the Great Plaines means hella windy golf.
Here are my current launch numbers for my Adams Pro Golds w/ KBS Tour
I didn't think I was going to find a new set of irons at all based on the new releases. And then I demoed the XHot Pros with KBS Tour and just fell in love. These are it, I said. I placed an order which arrived just yesterday. Through all this I've been talking with fourwiggles and bellairemi. I've always considered counter weighting my clubs. Ever since seeing Sergio do this years ago and reading up on the matter. It always was an interest of mine to experiment. I just never went out and did it. Fourwiggle's pleas of counter wighting his putter resparked my interest. bellairemi has been in my corner being the voice in my head, as our local pro fitter, giving me ideas and entertaining my thoughts on how I approach my bag. Whether the Mizuno shaft optimizer told me I should be playing one shaft doesn't mean it's right. I think he said it best, if it feels good, have a consistent and playable ballflight don't tinker. So the reinforcement to stick with my decision and play the KBS Tour.
We continued to talk mechanics and I brought up the idea of counter balancing. I have a slight OTT downswing. It's not extreme by any means. If you were looking at the slot (which has a recent thread on it), I would be right at the top line, at times maybe just above it. This movement gives me a nice steep swing to hit down into the ball. I've been looking at ways to curb that steep movement, as it's detrimental for a driver. Voila! Counter balancing.
Instead of purchasing heavy weights, putting them under the grip to test, or buying other expensive weights I stopped by the hardware store and purchased 2 threaded bolts and 14 washers. I would thread the bolt and washers into the top end of the grip where it's tight enough that it won't move around.
15g was a little too light, and 25g was a tad heavy. 20g is where I settled and the results were astounding. This allowed me to slightly drop my hands in the downswing and gave me control of the club that I felt like I didn't have before. It helped keep my wrist hinge in the downswing longer, and I believe this is the reason I'm producing faster ball speeds. From the camera recording my swing it looked like my hinge was holding a lot longer, and I was loading the shaft much better.
I hit 30 balls, only probably 2 of which were mishits. I miss fat, and not a single one was fat. That is the true story behind this - the resulting consistency. Everything was off the middle of the clubface. I know I mentioned earlier I was a good iron striker, but now I feel like an amazing iron striker.
Here is a small sample of the results of my XHot Pro 6i, KBS Tour and 20g Counter weight
Those were the last 6 swings of my practice session. I mishit the last one slightly and scooped it, so 5/6 solid strikes is a number I'll always take. My clubhead speed, ball speed increased quite noticeably. According to the monitor I gained 10 yards of carry. The surprising number on the monitor is the backspin. I really don't know how to make heads or tails of it. It's just a calculated number, so I'll have to see on the course results first before I freak out or panic, but 5,000rpm is a little low. Funny thing? This generated less spin and only rolled 12 yards, while my Pro Gold launch numbers generated 5500rpm backspin and rolled 16 yards. You can see the Foresight data is setup differently and the latter is updated software. So I have to wager something changed in the calculation logic. However, I'd have to call Foresight and get more info to figure that out. My personal take is that I just can't trust the 12 yard or 16 yard roll the launch monitor is spitting out. Don't get me wrong, it's a good base but I will have to wait and see on the course results when I'm hitting into a green. From my own personal experience my 6i would roll out roughly 5 yards, 10 yards as an extreme.
Where do I go from here? Well, the testing will have to continue and see if counter weighting will be beneficial on my wedges, hybrids, woods and driver. In the time being, I'm likely going to look into Tour Lock Pros and get a set of 20g weights for my irons.
Just wanted to share my short/long thoughtful tinkering process and give personal thanks to Fourwiggles and bellairemi. It's always fun to do, but even more rewarding when it actually works.
My journey started at a Mizuno fitting with a Mizuno rep. We used the shaft optimizer to see what iron shafts I would be fit for. Went a few swings and he said Dynalite XP Gold. I was like... no way. I was pretty resistant to playing those shafts. He said they would give me optimal launch and spin numbers. He was fitting me for JPX825 Pro's and was hoping to get my 6i around 6500rpm. I didn't really argue with him, I just wanted to see what he thought. I don't have any raw data to provide from this fitting, and wish I did. But I left there thinking, there's no way I can play those iron shafts. They're too light, soft and launch far too high. And 6500 backspin? That just sounds like too much.
I continued demoing irons all winter. This is the first time I've actually invested time into launch data. I was brought up with swing coaches in the late 80's, early 90's who were pretty old school. Everything was fitted by eye, and that's just something I continued to do for myself. I've been using Foresight monitors to obtain all my launch data. The below are rough estimates.
Callaway Razr X Tour w/ DG S300
Ballspeed - 117mph
Launch angle - 20*
Backspin - 5800rpm
Peak Height - 39yds
Total Yards - 180yds
Adams CMB w/ C-Taper Stiff
Ballspeed - 117mph
Launch Angle 19*
Backspin - 6000rpm
Peak height - 38yds
Total Yards - 175yds
I also went on to test i20, 588CB, and Rocketbladez Tour. These all provided similar launch, with the exception of the 588CB with DG S300. I was launching this around 20-21*. A bit too high for my tastes. I like a mid penetrating flight. Playing golf in the Great Plaines means hella windy golf.
Here are my current launch numbers for my Adams Pro Golds w/ KBS Tour
I didn't think I was going to find a new set of irons at all based on the new releases. And then I demoed the XHot Pros with KBS Tour and just fell in love. These are it, I said. I placed an order which arrived just yesterday. Through all this I've been talking with fourwiggles and bellairemi. I've always considered counter weighting my clubs. Ever since seeing Sergio do this years ago and reading up on the matter. It always was an interest of mine to experiment. I just never went out and did it. Fourwiggle's pleas of counter wighting his putter resparked my interest. bellairemi has been in my corner being the voice in my head, as our local pro fitter, giving me ideas and entertaining my thoughts on how I approach my bag. Whether the Mizuno shaft optimizer told me I should be playing one shaft doesn't mean it's right. I think he said it best, if it feels good, have a consistent and playable ballflight don't tinker. So the reinforcement to stick with my decision and play the KBS Tour.
We continued to talk mechanics and I brought up the idea of counter balancing. I have a slight OTT downswing. It's not extreme by any means. If you were looking at the slot (which has a recent thread on it), I would be right at the top line, at times maybe just above it. This movement gives me a nice steep swing to hit down into the ball. I've been looking at ways to curb that steep movement, as it's detrimental for a driver. Voila! Counter balancing.
Instead of purchasing heavy weights, putting them under the grip to test, or buying other expensive weights I stopped by the hardware store and purchased 2 threaded bolts and 14 washers. I would thread the bolt and washers into the top end of the grip where it's tight enough that it won't move around.
15g was a little too light, and 25g was a tad heavy. 20g is where I settled and the results were astounding. This allowed me to slightly drop my hands in the downswing and gave me control of the club that I felt like I didn't have before. It helped keep my wrist hinge in the downswing longer, and I believe this is the reason I'm producing faster ball speeds. From the camera recording my swing it looked like my hinge was holding a lot longer, and I was loading the shaft much better.
I hit 30 balls, only probably 2 of which were mishits. I miss fat, and not a single one was fat. That is the true story behind this - the resulting consistency. Everything was off the middle of the clubface. I know I mentioned earlier I was a good iron striker, but now I feel like an amazing iron striker.
Here is a small sample of the results of my XHot Pro 6i, KBS Tour and 20g Counter weight
Those were the last 6 swings of my practice session. I mishit the last one slightly and scooped it, so 5/6 solid strikes is a number I'll always take. My clubhead speed, ball speed increased quite noticeably. According to the monitor I gained 10 yards of carry. The surprising number on the monitor is the backspin. I really don't know how to make heads or tails of it. It's just a calculated number, so I'll have to see on the course results first before I freak out or panic, but 5,000rpm is a little low. Funny thing? This generated less spin and only rolled 12 yards, while my Pro Gold launch numbers generated 5500rpm backspin and rolled 16 yards. You can see the Foresight data is setup differently and the latter is updated software. So I have to wager something changed in the calculation logic. However, I'd have to call Foresight and get more info to figure that out. My personal take is that I just can't trust the 12 yard or 16 yard roll the launch monitor is spitting out. Don't get me wrong, it's a good base but I will have to wait and see on the course results when I'm hitting into a green. From my own personal experience my 6i would roll out roughly 5 yards, 10 yards as an extreme.
Where do I go from here? Well, the testing will have to continue and see if counter weighting will be beneficial on my wedges, hybrids, woods and driver. In the time being, I'm likely going to look into Tour Lock Pros and get a set of 20g weights for my irons.
Just wanted to share my short/long thoughtful tinkering process and give personal thanks to Fourwiggles and bellairemi. It's always fun to do, but even more rewarding when it actually works.
