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I've graduated from game improvements to players distance! I did it, Mom!

SuperStroke
Have patience. Grind with them and learn your distances. The mid and long irons in this set are absolute monsters. I struggle with distance control with the 9-UW but thats isolated for me. Your results may vary. Wait till the moment it clicks and confidence takes over. Its worth it
 
Welcome to the club.
 
hedley_lamarr08 said:
Have patience. Grind with them and learn your distances. The mid and long irons in this set are absolute monsters. I struggle with distance control with the 9-UW but thats isolated for me. Your results may vary. Wait till the moment it clicks and confidence takes over. Its worth it
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The one negative I heard about this set is the distance control with the short irons, so you’re not alone.
 
Revan said:
It may have taken me 9 years to graduate college, but it took only 15 months to graduate from game improvement irons to players distance.
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When I started playing in the 70's we had options, like what brand blade do you want? ;)
I played various forms of blades, mainly single piece forged CB's until I decided I needed launch help a few years back.
But I went too far in my GI switch over. Titleist T300s didnt last a year. I hated the cast sound/feel. They hit the ball too high. They were really hard to work.
So I went with Apex DCB 21's. Nice forged feel. but again, they knew one shot, high and straight, which just isnt my game. I thought I'd figure them out but turning a ball with finesse was nigh on impossible.
So now I have my first set of Players Distance irons. Srixon ZX 5's. They arent any longer than the Apex DCB's, but have considerably less offset and are easier to knock down with shaft lean. I have only had them a few weeks and the getting to know each other phase is still in place, but my fade can be called upon when needed again, which was the hardest shot for me to hit with the T300's or DCBs, and I can finesse movement, not all or nothing like a GI club. Yet they retain a good bit of forgiveness when I explore the club face as I am wont to do these days.
Heck, if they had clubs like this in the 80's and 90's when I was a + player with blades, I wonder just how good I could have been. It does appear as if I will never try GI again unless my speed gets so slow I should really be in hyirons.
 
Thats cool! I recently did the same switching back from graphite to steel. The key is getting fit. If the trackman numbers support the change, then you should have confidence. It does take some time on the range AND on the course to get back to a groove.
 
1860VS said:
When I started playing in the 70's we had options, like what brand blade do you want? ;)
I played various forms of blades, mainly single piece forged CB's until I decided I needed launch help a few years back.
But I went too far in my GI switch over. Titleist T300s didnt last a year. I hated the cast sound/feel. They hit the ball too high. They were really hard to work.
So I went with Apex DCB 21's. Nice forged feel. but again, they knew one shot, high and straight, which just isnt my game. I thought I'd figure them out but turning a ball with finesse was nigh on impossible.
So now I have my first set of Players Distance irons. Srixon ZX 5's. They arent any longer than the Apex DCB's, but have considerably less offset and are easier to knock down with shaft lean. I have only had them a few weeks and the getting to know each other phase is still in place, but my fade can be called upon when needed again, which was the hardest shot for me to hit with the T300's or DCBs, and I can finesse movement, not all or nothing like a GI club. Yet they retain a good bit of forgiveness when I explore the club face as I am wont to do these days.
Heck, if they had clubs like this in the 80's and 90's when I was a + player with blades, I wonder just how good I could have been. It does appear as if I will never try GI again unless my speed gets so slow I should really be in hyirons.
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Heard nothing but good stuff about the Srixon irons. I have the ZX7 driver and it’s awesome. None of the fitters I went to even had them as an option to try.
 
Congats on the new clubs!!
That is quite the change in shaft weight but if it works just commit to the new clubs and don't look back.
 
I went from 105 gr steel shaft GI to 75 gr graphite Players Distance. The overall weight of the club was a shock to the system, but after a few rounds I wondered why I waited so long. I think my newish PD are about as forgiving as 10 year old GI's.
 
@Revan

What irons were you playing before ?
 
I hit some clubs at GG today. I hit 6 different clubs. I am a 14 handicap. My goal is to find an iron that is easy to hit, feels great and looks good. As many have already mentioned, the lines are getting blurred between golf club categories. Many player's distance irons have as much forgiveness as game improvement irons. These are my top contenders strictly based on the criteria listed above. The only actual shot data that I paid attention to in the simulator were ball speed, carry, height and descent angle. I was simply trying to narrow down to 4-5 clubs that I could take to the next step in the demo process.

- Callaway AI300 (felt great, super soft)
- Ping i530- (east to hit, great distance)
- Ping G430 (seemed huge compared to the others but stupid easy to hit)
- Cobra Forged Tec X (great all around club)
- Mizuno JPX925 Hot Metal Pro (more forgiving than it looks)
- Callaway Apex DCB (2021) (stupid easy to hit, felt great).


* I hit the stock steel shafts in all these.
*I won't make a final decision until the new Ping G440 irons get released in Jan/Feb time frame. I want to see what those look like.
*Some of these are previous generation models (may get a good deal but am unable to choose custom shafts, grips, etc).

*****If you held a gun to my head and told me I had to choose one today I would take the Apex DCB's. Smaller profile but still forgiving, look great, feel great, can get a great deal on 6-PW, GW on Callaway Preowned.

The next 3-4 months are going to be fun experimenting. The goal is to have new irons by March 15.
 
Congrats! That is quite the jump in weight on the shaft! Play them well!
 
yellolab said:
What other clubs were in contention? Was it close?
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Mizuno 245 was close. I tried the Callaway AI300, A Titleist (maybe the 100s?) and a TaylorMade, I don't remember which.
 
yellolab said:
No hot metal’s?
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No, no Cobra either. And nobody seems to have the Srixon zx5. Honestly I hit the Ping i530 so well in both of my fittings. I tried to hit blind without looking at the clubs for the 2nd fitting and was shocked when the Ping came out the best again.
 
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