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Could you do single length irons exclusively for one season?

SuperStroke
Well I’m doing it now. Injury delayed the start of my season, but so far I am pleased. The biggest hurdle for me in playing OL is NOT to change my stance with whatever club I’m using. For each club I set up in the center of my stance. This is also one less thing to think about when setting up. I’m playing Wishon Sterling irons.
 
Mine arrived from UPS today courtesy of a sweet deal from Hoosiermess. I’m now the proud owner of a set of one length F7s. I’m hoping to get to the range with them tomorrow, and I fully anticipate they’ll kick my trusty Speedblades out of my bag.
 
I made my first trip to the range today with my new one length F7 irons. I think I’m going to get along with these quite well. I had a bit of a pull with them, but I have that with everything right now and it wasn’t too bad. The balls flew straight, and there wasn’t a single slice out of the whole bucket (which has been an issue for me lately).

The coolest part was when I was hitting the 5 iron and saw a couple come up quite a bit short. I made good contact and wasn’t sure what had happened. When I went to put the club back in the bag I realized I was actually hitting the 8 iron.

Single length irons have always made sense to me intellectually. If today was any indication they may make sense performance wise as well.
 
Excited to get mine of course, 7 iron has always been my go to club if I want to hit a solid straight ball. Come to think of it , cannot remember the last one I have hit poorly.
Made sense to give these a go.
 
No. It’d bore me senseless to try to replicate the same swing on every shot.

And the thought of 7-Iron length wedges makes me want to laugh my head off.
 
I tried doing a half one length set.

I used a 3 iron, 4 iron, 5 iron, and 6 iron that were all the same length. The 3 iron I just couldn't put the same swing on as the 6 iron. Looking down at that little loft was challenging. The 4 iron was fairly reasonable and the 5 iron was no issue at all. Going the other direction, I could see the 7 iron and maybe the 8 iron being playable, but I think the 9 iron and below would be pushing it.

If I made the 7 iron the standard length I could possible see a set of 5-9, the 4 iron maybe substituted for a slightly longer club and the wedges standard length.
 
I recently used OL clubs on my trip to the US, Cobra F8 in 6i->GW.

6i->9i were fine (a little longer distance wise than anticipated, felt a bit low spin?), but the wedges just didn't work for me unless I gripped down, kind of undermining the One Length concept a little. Didn't help that the GW went to a much more blade profile, but on an 8i length shaft.
 
thommo.sx said:
I recently used OL clubs on my trip to the US, Cobra F8 in 6i->GW.

6i->9i were fine (a little longer distance wise than anticipated, felt a bit low spin?), but the wedges just didn't work for me unless I gripped down, kind of undermining the One Length concept a little. Didn't help that the GW went to a much more blade profile, but on an 8i length shaft.
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I’m in that boat so far as well. The little bit I’ve been able to mess around with my F7s has been enjoyable, but I can’t figure the gap wedge out. That’s not much different than any other “real” wedge, though. There’s a reason the only one I I usually carry is a Tour Edge One Out...because it’s the only wedge I can hit even remotely consistently.
 
I'm going to jump in, get fit, and give F9 One Lengths a shot! I'm thinking 4h, 5i-PW. Not sure if I'll go OL on my GW and SW. Will see how the fitting goes...
 
My season here in Ohio is winding down, and I figured I’d get some thoughts down on my experiment with OL irons for 2019.

Some background first, I transitioned to the OL set from my Grandaddy set, Callaway Rogues from 3i to P. At the time, I checked around with some of the various club fitters in town and none of them had the F9 heads in, so getting fit wasn’t an option at the time.

Anyways- my “cap” going into the season was right around 13 according to game golf and I struggled mightily in 2018 with my iron play. I was looking at 31% GIR during the 18 season and generally speaking had difficulties with anything 3-6i in my hand.

Looking at GG at the end of last season I wanted to figure out something on the irons as I knew I could do better than 31% so decided to give the OL a go. Ordered the set and when they arrived I took a look at a couple videos and read a few articles and headed to the range. Pulled each of the clubs from my bag so I couldn't see what club it was, and just started swinging. The first few swings were awkward as I tried to get used to the idea, but once I fully committed things went about as well as could be expected.

So here we are 8 months later and I have to say that I’ve been extremely happy that I took the plunge and gave it a whirl. My GG live device quit working 10 rounds ago, so I’ve not tracked data religiously like I did all last year. My GIR minus those 10 rounds is sitting right around 36%, or a 5% improvement year over year and my handicap is now sitting around 11.2.

Over the course of the year I managed to shoot 3 rounds in the 70’s including a new personal best round of 76 and generally speaking felt much more confident with an iron in my hand.

Will I continue playing OL moving forward? I recently won an iron fitting with Cool Clubs that just opened up near me, where I was fit into a set of Srixon Z585’s with a different shaft than what I have in my F9’s. (Pro Modus 3 120) With no head to head comparison between the two, I’m not fully committed to going either way and still in ponder mode on what to do. Besides with new club releases in the near future, I’m almost certain that Cobra will be releasing a new iteration of OL and maybe I’ll just use the new trade in option and move on to the next set.

I strongly encourage anyone (Looking at you @OITW and @ddec) on the fence to give it a go and see what they do for your game.
 
jlew2144 said:
My season here in Ohio is winding down, and I figured I’d get some thoughts down on my experiment with OL irons for 2019.

Some background first, I transitioned to the OL set from my Grandaddy set, Callaway Rogues from 3i to P. At the time, I checked around with some of the various club fitters in town and none of them had the F9 heads in, so getting fit wasn’t an option at the time.

Anyways- my “cap” going into the season was right around 13 according to game golf and I struggled mightily in 2018 with my iron play. I was looking at 31% GIR during the 18 season and generally speaking had difficulties with anything 3-6i in my hand.

Looking at GG at the end of last season I wanted to figure out something on the irons as I knew I could do better than 31% so decided to give the OL a go. Ordered the set and when they arrived I took a look at a couple videos and read a few articles and headed to the range. Pulled each of the clubs from my bag so I couldn't see what club it was, and just started swinging. The first few swings were awkward as I tried to get used to the idea, but once I fully committed things went about as well as could be expected.

So here we are 8 months later and I have to say that I’ve been extremely happy that I took the plunge and gave it a whirl. My GG live device quit working 10 rounds ago, so I’ve not tracked data religiously like I did all last year. My GIR minus those 10 rounds is sitting right around 36%, or a 5% improvement year over year and my handicap is now sitting around 11.2.

Over the course of the year I managed to shoot 3 rounds in the 70’s including a new personal best round of 76 and generally speaking felt much more confident with an iron in my hand.

Will I continue playing OL moving forward? I recently won an iron fitting with Cool Clubs that just opened up near me, where I was fit into a set of Srixon Z585’s with a different shaft than what I have in my F9’s. (Pro Modus 3 120) With no head to head comparison between the two, I’m not fully committed to going either way and still in ponder mode on what to do. Besides with new club releases in the near future, I’m almost certain that Cobra will be releasing a new iteration of OL and maybe I’ll just use the new trade in option and move on to the next set.

I strongly encourage anyone (Looking at you @OITW and @ddec) on the fence to give it a go and see what they do for your game.
Click to expand...

Did you track anything with Cobra Connect?
The reason I am asking is i am curious if there were certain clubs that didn't get used much.
 
jlew2144 said:
My season here in Ohio is winding down, and I figured I’d get some thoughts down on my experiment with OL irons for 2019.

Some background first, I transitioned to the OL set from my Grandaddy set, Callaway Rogues from 3i to P. At the time, I checked around with some of the various club fitters in town and none of them had the F9 heads in, so getting fit wasn’t an option at the time.

Anyways- my “cap” going into the season was right around 13 according to game golf and I struggled mightily in 2018 with my iron play. I was looking at 31% GIR during the 18 season and generally speaking had difficulties with anything 3-6i in my hand.

Looking at GG at the end of last season I wanted to figure out something on the irons as I knew I could do better than 31% so decided to give the OL a go. Ordered the set and when they arrived I took a look at a couple videos and read a few articles and headed to the range. Pulled each of the clubs from my bag so I couldn't see what club it was, and just started swinging. The first few swings were awkward as I tried to get used to the idea, but once I fully committed things went about as well as could be expected.

So here we are 8 months later and I have to say that I’ve been extremely happy that I took the plunge and gave it a whirl. My GG live device quit working 10 rounds ago, so I’ve not tracked data religiously like I did all last year. My GIR minus those 10 rounds is sitting right around 36%, or a 5% improvement year over year and my handicap is now sitting around 11.2.

Over the course of the year I managed to shoot 3 rounds in the 70’s including a new personal best round of 76 and generally speaking felt much more confident with an iron in my hand.

Will I continue playing OL moving forward? I recently won an iron fitting with Cool Clubs that just opened up near me, where I was fit into a set of Srixon Z585’s with a different shaft than what I have in my F9’s. (Pro Modus 3 120) With no head to head comparison between the two, I’m not fully committed to going either way and still in ponder mode on what to do. Besides with new club releases in the near future, I’m almost certain that Cobra will be releasing a new iteration of OL and maybe I’ll just use the new trade in option and move on to the next set.

I strongly encourage anyone (Looking at you @OITW and @ddec) on the fence to give it a go and see what they do for your game.
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Great write-up, glad to hear they worked well for you and you were golfing your ball.

JB said:
Did you track anything with Cobra Connect?
The reason I am asking is i am curious if there were certain clubs that didn't get used much.
Click to expand...

That's a great question, very curious about the answer
 
JB said:
Did you track anything with Cobra Connect?
The reason I am asking is i am curious if there were certain clubs that didn't get used much.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I made a pretty big mistake when I got my irons-- I turned down the offer for Cobra Connect for my full bag. My entire plan was to continue using the same system I had been in for the last 1.5 seasons and compare/contrast at the end of the year. Unfortunately GG didn't cooperate at all.

Based off what I can still see in GG from screenshots and recollection my 5i was the least used club out of the set. My PW turned out to be the most used club as I would use it from about 75-135 out.
 
I'd still be up for trying it, ESP now that I have a season with Arccos under my belt. It would be cool to compare the numbers. Would want to get fit for them to make sure they are a good option, but I still think it would be a fun season long experiment.
 
jlew2144 said:
Unfortunately I made a pretty big mistake when I got my irons-- I turned down the offer for Cobra Connect for my full bag. My entire plan was to continue using the same system I had been in for the last 1.5 seasons and compare/contrast at the end of the year. Unfortunately GG didn't cooperate at all.

Based off what I can still see in GG from screenshots and recollection my 5i was the least used club out of the set. My PW turned out to be the most used club as I would use it from about 75-135 out.
Click to expand...

Very cool. With your season ending, it wont help much, but if you are still with these come next season, let me know and we can do a test with Connect.
 
ddec said:
I'd still be up for trying it, ESP now that I have a season with Arccos under my belt. It would be cool to compare the numbers. Would want to get fit for them to make sure they are a good option, but I still think it would be a fun season long experiment.
Click to expand...

I think I'd like to give these a try - maybe in a more players style iron. I've added a bit of club head speed so I'm not concerned about launch, but 7i is where things start to look ugly whenever I move to a less forgiving profile.

Then again the idea of a GI-SGI iron that's consistent in length makes me wonder if I'd find them more consistent. It's something I've been curious about since they came out.
 
I’ve been very curious about these and wanted to try them for over a year. I haven’t had that chance yet so have been looking for a used set for next season... I really think the OL idea makes a lot of sense.
 
ddec said:
I'd still be up for trying it, ESP now that I have a season with Arccos under my belt. It would be cool to compare the numbers. Would want to get fit for them to make sure they are a good option, but I still think it would be a fun season long experiment.
Click to expand...
I thoroughly enjoyed it and think you would as well.
JB said:
Very cool. With your season ending, it wont help much, but if you are still with these come next season, let me know and we can do a test with Connect.
Click to expand...
Appreciate it! Depending on what Cobra does next year I may end up moving into the new set and ensuring I go with the Connect grips. Or maybe I get lucky and get to throw down at the MC in 2020 ....

 
mpeterson said:
I think I'd like to give these a try - maybe in a more players style iron. I've added a bit of club head speed so I'm not concerned about launch, but 7i is where things start to look ugly whenever I move to a less forgiving profile.

Then again the idea of a GI-SGI iron that's consistent in length makes me wonder if I'd find them more consistent. It's something I've been curious about since they came out.
Click to expand...

yeah it's just something I've thought about for some time. Forged tec in the SL would be fun. But then I run into that same dilemma you highlight.
 
I’m pretty happy with my current bag, but there are days when I miss the SL irons. I’m not sure they’d actually be better on those days, but the mind always wonders.
 
ddec said:
yeah it's just something I've thought about for some time. Forged tec in the SL would be fun. But then I run into that same dilemma you highlight.
Click to expand...

I hit the F8 one lengths at a demo day and it felt like I couldn't miss in the long irons. Went back to the shop and it was the same. It's something I've thought about since I've hit them.
 
About to be a guest on Golf Unfiltered podcast for a show that will drop monday where we discuss one length irons. We will also be giving a set away.
 
I would definitely like to try it and I know i could commit for a season. I would like mine an inch over standard though, that is what i am used to with my sets i have now. I just believe that grooving a one length swing could be in my future.
 
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