We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Same length golf clubs; Known as 1 Iron Club System...

SuperStroke
malemotives

malemotives

Active member
Joined
Sep 20, 2013
Messages
1,373
Reaction score
20
Location
Puyallup, WA., Spring Hill, FL
Handicap
GHIN 17.4
[h=3]Too cold to play this morning.... 10 degrees and icy. So a bunch sat around a fire in the Caddie Shack and discussed the 1 iron club system. I'm not so sure the justifications are valid.
Your views.... good, bad, indifferent? Why?[/h]
 
It was actually done by a few companies. For instance John Hoeflich had an iron set in the 80s (could have been early 90s) that was all the same length as the 6 iron.
 
I never even heard of it until this thread, I looked it up and it will probably be practical for some I'd rather stay conventional.
 
Are the lofts spread further apart to make up for the shafts being the same length?
 
I've never seen any of these in person, but I have read about them. The thought is 3 iron is as easy to hit as your 9 iron, which seems like a great idea. My 1st thought though was that your gaps would be too bunched together with all of your irons having the same length shaft.
 
I just looked it up. They have 4* gaps. With the same length shaft I'm wondering if you would have tighter yardage gaps.
I've never heard of this until now, but I did something similar I guess by progressively shortening my 5,6&7 irons. Instead of having 1/2" between them I have 3/8". I also strengthened the loft on the 5&6 irons, 1/2* for 6 iron, 1* strong for 5. It has helped me get more consistent with these longer clubs.
 
JB said:
It was actually done by a few companies. For instance John Hoeflich had an iron set in the 80s (could have been early 90s) that was all the same length as the 6 iron.
Click to expand...

I too remember a few companies offering this as a way to simplify golf for people who had trouble with stance, alignment, tempo etc. I never saw anyone with a set though.
 
I could see it working for longer irons, say 3-6 or so. But at some point doesn't a steeper swing plane courtesy of a shorter shaft generate more control/spin? And I guess my other question, how much distance are you losing with your 3-5 irons if they're all shorter?
 
Paladin said:
I could see it working for longer irons, say 3-6 or so. But at some point doesn't a steeper swing plane courtesy of a shorter shaft generate more control/spin? And I guess my other question, how much distance are you losing with your 3-5 irons if they're all shorter?
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I was thinking; 3-5 you're losing length. So I would think you'd want to spread your lofts apart on your shorter irons, and bring you lofts closer together on the longer irons.
 
drp3434 said:
Yeah that's what I was thinking; 3-5 you're losing length. So I would think you'd want to spread your lofts apart on your shorter irons, and bring you lofts closer together on the longer irons.
Click to expand...

I agree, but the range of workable lofts (19-47*, roughly) doesn't leave enough room to deloft a 3 iron to compensate for a shorter shaft (and consequently a slower swing) nor a pitching wedge lofted enough to compensate for a longer shaft and get proper trajectory and spin....at least that's my thinking on it. The length of the club impacts swing plane and speed, which influence all the other factors. I have difficulty wrapping my brain around how a player is supposed to get the range of distances and trajectories to hit all the shots one needs to make with their irons.
 
Paladin said:
I agree, but the range of workable lofts (19-47*, roughly) doesn't leave enough room to deloft a 3 iron to compensate for a shorter shaft (and consequently a slower swing) nor a pitching wedge lofted enough to compensate for a longer shaft and get proper trajectory and spin....at least that's my thinking on it. The length of the club impacts swing plane and speed, which influence all the other factors. I have difficulty wrapping my brain around how a player is supposed to get the range of distances and trajectories to hit all the shots one needs to make with their irons.
Click to expand...

Definitely tricky. Probably why it's very rare.
 
This just seems like such an odd way to go to me as I've never heard of it before but I guess I can't see why it wouldn't work. Also, there's no saying that a player needs to have perfect 10 or 15 yard gaps throughout the set; maybe the gaps are progressive somehow?
 
Seems like one of the big manufactures put out a set several years ago called the EQL. I want to say it was TaylorMade, but it may have beens someone else. Anyway, I tried them and liked them, but really wasn't in the place to buy clubs.
 
I could not see that working for me far all the above reasons
 
I honestly think it's a good concept if instead of one length you use two.

3-4-5-6

7-8-9-p


TTing
 
I experimented with this last year by making all my shafts from 9-LW the same length. I found that it hurt me on the wedges specifically as I tended to find that dreaded hossle area more and my short game suffered. I have a few friends that do it with their long irons ot have some consistency and get a little extra distance to fill gaps with the 5 and 6 irons
 
I golf with someone who has these, actually just noticed these were in his bag last week. He has all the irons set to his 8i length and says the longer irons are definitely easier to hit now, only issues he noticed is the shorter irons 9, PW, GW all fly farther now than his previous set of clubs. He is an older guy so not sure if it would affect a longer hitter more.
 
These wont work if you keep the same lofts. But for those whos wedges are being lengthened you will also need more bounce.
 
I love the idea, I think having the same setup could help alot.
 
Thainer21 said:
These wont work if you keep the same lofts. But for those whos wedges are being lengthened you will also need more bounce.
Click to expand...

Not sure I understand. There are heads made especially for this type of single length tech. The lofts would all be different naturally, but the lie angles & bounce the same.
 
I played these for about a year--generally speaking they were good up to the 5 iron with distance gaping--in fact my only hole in one was with that 5 iron. Obviously they are not miracle clubs or I would still be using them. Same issue as any clubs I personally like the feel of the i20s better when hitting the ball. So if Ping or other manufacturer made the clubs with both options Standard or Single Length) I would go with single length--was just not big on the feel and design of these clubs.

Disclaimer--I did have these early on in my learning when I was about an 18 Hcp then--I often wish I had not sold them to see if they would be better now that I have improved allot since then. I do check ebay every now and then to see if I can grab some cheap.
 
Sorry, I shouldve quoted the gentleman who posted directly above me.
StraightForward said:
Not sure I understand. There are heads made especially for this type of single length tech. The lofts would all be different naturally, but the lie angles & bounce the same.
Click to expand...
 
I been thinking about this lately and found this thread.
The would-be arguement? We are supose to swing the same with every club yet how are we supose to technically do that when they are different legnths and weights.?

Things I've read up on. why they are good and why they arent popular. I'm only rleaying what i've read

- Golf clubs use to be the same untill about 80 years ago.

- Reason they went different sizes was because it created a happy medium for different size people for purposes of mass production and sales and therefore the multi legnth and multi swing weighted club sets (or the "one size fits all") sets they now mass produce has become the accepted norm.

- Manufacturers would now have to spend millions in marketing and to try to get pros to use them before they would even gain the due respect and if tiger doesnt use them than why would the general public. We are too tied in to do what the pros do and the pros themselves are too tied in to what the pros before them did.
- stores would have to stock many different legnth sets of "same set" clubs and the manufacturers would have to create them. The whole "one size fits all" thing the way its currentyly done is not econimcal for them to do.

- same legnth , same swing weight, same feel, same evrything for every club as it once was and most importantly the same swing, same arc, same feel.


To be honest it all makes sense to me. We try so hard to take the same consistent swing and yet we are not holding the same club. Once the legnth anmd swing weight changes then the swing itself has been altered. It is no longer consistent. There is no denying that. We battle for consistency and yet we are not swinging consistent clubs. If you think about it you have to admit it works against itself.. So many amateurs have troubles with certain #clubs in thier bag, favor certain ones over others, etc.. We technuically shouldnt do that but we do because they are all a little different. If they were all exactly the same then just perhaps we would be more consistent with the swing.

Very few people will ever do this because its just not the norm and also if the pros dont do it than why should we? Quite frankly I feel the same way but i ask, are we being too nieve and ignorant? Even the pros themselves are human and going to stay with the "norm". And besides too many make too much money otherwise.

Someone mentioned they tried putting the same legnth shafts but what they didnt realize is that they still had different weight in the heads so this would not then be the same. The idea here is same legnth and also same weight and feel.

But anyway i though i'd bring this up again and if I had the money I wouldnt mind buying a set. Just maybe
 
There's been many things in the golf world that have come out and I've said "That makes sense".........

And it turns out later that it sounds good, but doesn't work in practical application. As we say at work: "It briefs well"
 
These have been done a few times with less than stellar results. I think MOI matching and counterbalancing are much better ideas that have yet to get into the mainstream.
Sadly, the best ideas aren't always the ones that get accepted by the population at large.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top