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Modern iron loft rant

Nippon Shafts
CrashTestDummy said:
Here is article about the top 100 PGA players wedge setup. There is a chart if you scroll down that breaks down the numbers of degree wedges and how many pros are using them. 52-56-60 are most popular used wedges. 80% of the top 10 players use 52-56-60. However, among amateurs I'd be the numbers are even more overwhelming 52-56-60 over any other configuration.

golfingfocus.com

What Wedges Do the Pros Use? Top 100 PGA Tour Player Analysis (2023 update) - Golfing Focus

The march of golf technology has led to ever increasing numbers of specialist and highly customized clubs and when it comes to golf wedges especially that
golfingfocus.com golfingfocus.com
Click to expand...
Yes I knew tour players were higher lofted focused, as we get that in the Darrell although most are not in that exact setup.

The post I quoted spoke about a wish for OEMs to stay at higher lofts since the overwhelming favorites were 52,56 and 60. I’m trying to find that info, because genuinely curious.

One of the larger OEMs said just as many are purchasing 50,54 and 58 in three wedge setups and a National retailer said 52 degrees are not moving anywhere near as much as 54, 56 and 58 as a whole. They are working on a breakdown for me though.
 
all of you with gapping issues need to do what i did: get older, eat more, drink more, exercise less. you’ll never hit the ball too far again. you’re welcome
 
If you're a lefty, about the only thing you'll ever see in brick and mortar stores like Golf Galaxy are 52, 56 and 60 degree wedges. My favorite 54 and 58 degree lofts are always special order, although there's one local mom-n-pop golf store that occasionally has something other than the Big Three lofts.
 
McLovin said:
all of you with gapping issues need to do what i did: get older, eat more, drink more, exercise less. you’ll never hit the ball too far again. you’re welcome
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You're a true visionary.
 
I always enjoy these loft threads. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want this advantage. If I was a great golfer I can understand why I wouldn't need a 7 iron to go 190. But at the same time it is an advantage for a really good golfer to hit an easier club that can land soft from farther out. And for me having an extra 10 yards is great as it fixes gaps in my bag. If I was still playing my ping eye 2s I would have a hole from 175 to 200 as I cannot hit a 4 iron from that set. It seems simple to me.
 
Always cringe when i see the arguments on this. Do we expect technology not to change? I dgaf what number is on the clubs or the lofts. If my set gives me the distances i need to get around the course, i am happy. I say, embrace that science makes it easier for us to hit the ball and enjoy playing this wonderful game we are lucky enough to play....shrug. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, i just don't get why this is complained about as much as it is.
 
Lengthening your shots makes the game easier. That's why Bryson has spent so much effort doing it.

As long as you're getting the correct height and descent angles it doesn't matter how far irons go. The longer the better IMO.

Ok you might need an extra wedge or two, but I'd take that if I could hit a 7 iron 200 yards!
 
Had a fun coversation with a guy today about this because he said all his irons go the same distance, and I told him he needed to get jacked. He replied that he was NOT going to the gym. lol Isn't that kind of the basis of the whole thing though. Lower cg, increase launch, etc, so each club is easier to get up and reach it's distance potential for each club instead of being bunched up?

So in this described realm of loft jack as a way to counter speed, cg, and launch jack, how high is too high? At what height does a club run into the need for jackage of the loft variety to keep everything where they want it to be?
 
Who careas about what club you hit? As long as you know how far you hit each club then why does it matter what number is on the bottom of it?

And where is the definitive guide to what loft each iron must be?

CrashTestDummy said:
Here is article about the top 100 PGA players wedge setup. There is a chart if you scroll down that breaks down the numbers of degree wedges and how many pros are using them. 52-56-60 are most popular used wedges. 80% of the top 10 players use 52-56-60. However, among amateurs I'd be the numbers are even more overwhelming 52-56-60 over any other configuration.

golfingfocus.com

What Wedges Do the Pros Use? Top 100 PGA Tour Player Analysis (2023 update) - Golfing Focus

The march of golf technology has led to ever increasing numbers of specialist and highly customized clubs and when it comes to golf wedges especially that
golfingfocus.com golfingfocus.com
Click to expand...
Not in my bag - 50/54/58 is my wedge setup and it works better than the supposedly more popular option would
 
TheDoctor said:
Who careas about what club you hit? As long as you know how far you hit each club then why does it matter what number is on the bottom of it?

And where is the definitive guide to what loft each iron must be?


Not in my bag - 50/54/58 is my wedge setup and it works better than the supposedly more popular option would
Click to expand...


If you read my comments further above and you will understand my reasoning more. It is not necessarily the number on the bottom (while that is annoying), it is the difficulty gapping the transition with your wedges. Changing wedges to different lofts to gap properly with iron set is not easy to do because you have to recalibrate all the incremental yardages, trajectories, and spin that you want as well as using different wedges for short game. It takes a long time to dial because different lofts have extremely different launch characteristics with yardages inside 100. I am so dialed on my 52-56-60 for years and years and don't want to change. I'd assume just keep my old irons if I had to switch my lofts of my wedges to something like 50-54-58. The top transition with hybrids/woods is not as big a deal because with those clubs you are only swinging them full and not really swinging them with partial swings much if at all, so you can gap them easily. There are many iron sets I eliminated from my list because I'd have to change out my wedges to different configurations. I still firmly believe that 52-56-60 is the most common configuration among the masses. I just think it would be better for companies to take the transition to the wedges more into account when designing iron sets.
 
CrashTestDummy said:
If you read my comments further above and you will understand my reasoning more. It is not necessarily the number on the bottom (while that is annoying), it is the difficulty gapping the transition with your wedges. Changing wedges to different lofts to gap properly with iron set is not easy to do because you have to recalibrate all the incremental yardages, trajectories, and spin that you want as well as using different wedges for short game. It takes a long time to dial because different lofts have extremely different launch characteristics with yardages inside 100. I am so dialed on my 52-56-60 for years and years and don't want to change. I'd assume just keep my old irons if I had to switch my lofts of my wedges to something like 50-54-58. The top transition with hybrids/woods is not as big a deal because with those clubs you are only swinging them full and not really swinging them with partial swings much if at all, so you can gap them easily. There are many iron sets I eliminated from my list because I'd have to change out my wedges to different configurations. I still firmly believe that 52-56-60 is the most common configuration among the masses. I just think it would be better for companies to take the transition to the wedges more into account when designing iron sets.
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If you are so adamant that you don't want to change the wedges, then don't - if a set you are looking at has a 44° PW, add another wedge at 48° or something like that and then keep the other wedges the same

If the lofts are 'jacked', then you likely won't need as many clubs further up towards the top end of the bag anyway with the added distance, so you have the space for another wedge to fill any gap you could end up with
 
TheDoctor said:
If you are so adamant that you don't want to change the wedges, then don't - if a set you are looking at has a 44° PW, add another wedge at 48° or something like that and then keep the other wedges the same

If the lofts are 'jacked', then you likely won't need as many clubs further up towards the top end of the bag anyway with the added distance, so you have the space for another wedge to fill any gap you could end up with
Click to expand...


I did exactly that, but my choices were very limited on which iron set were gapped well and the clubs I wanted. Yeah, sometimes you can have perhaps one less iron with jacked loft sets because the lofts are generally gapped further apart, but that is also the disadvantage because you have to make up bigger yardage gaps between clubs.
 
I think a lot of people use 52, 56, 60 because they saw pros use those lofts, not because it was right for them, and I doubt if they were fit for them. I remember when a PW was 50 or so, then 48, then 46, now 44-45. Designs changes the way you choose clubs. I've settled on 50, 55, 59, and was fit for those Artisan custom heads. I also have another set that is 50, 54, 58 by Mizuno. I have a gap between 9i and PW that I would like to resolve.
 
CrashTestDummy said:
I just think it would be better for companies to take the transition to the wedges more into account when designing iron sets.
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Most of them do. Most offer an extra wedge option above the pitching wedge, to works as a transition. Many of them are stamped "AW", for "Awesome Wedge."
 
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blugold said:
Most of them do. Most off an extra wedge option above the pitching wedge, to works as a transition. Many of them are stamped "AW", for "Awesome Wedge."
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Mine is stamped GW for "Goddamn Wedge"!
 
Turtlerancher said:
As in 50/50 it will go where you want? 🤣
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:ROFLMAO:

Thankfully, it's better news. Don't expect too much distance; it's a 50 and I'm not exactly Speedy Gonzalez with the swing.
 
I even loft jack my wedges, I carry 48/52/56. Oh well!
 
blugold said:
Most of them do. Most off an extra wedge option above the pitching wedge, to works as a transition. Many of them are stamped "AW", for "Awesome Wedge."
Click to expand...

They maybe have extra wedges beyond PW that transition well to that specific iron set, but their lofts do not transition well to most popular wedge lofts of other wedge companies like Vokey. Also, those wedges that are the same iron type with their iron set do not have multiple bounce options for the type of short game you have. To me, wedges are the most individual specific clubs in the bag because of how players use the bounce differently in their short games to play a variety of shots with different trajectories and spin and their AOA.
 
CrashTestDummy said:
They maybe have extra wedges beyond PW that transition well to that specific iron set, but their lofts do not transition well to most popular wedge lofts of other wedge companies like Vokey. Also, those wedges that are the same iron type with their iron set do not have multiple bounce options for the type of short game you have. To me, wedges are the most individual specific clubs in the bag because of how players use the bounce differently in their short games to play a variety of shots with different trajectories and spin and their AOA.
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The "most popular wedge lofts" meme doesn't really have anything to do with anything. Especially if you're into Vokey wedges. They make a bunch of different grinds and bounces in two degree increments from 46 to 62 degrees.

You seem to be suggesting that iron manufacturers have done something horrible by choosing PW or GW lofts that are anything other than exactly 48 degrees. Any problem that can be solved by simply a 50 degree Vokey instead of a 52 degree one is not a problem at all.

When I had my 990's the 49-degree PW didn't match up well with either 50 or 52 degree Vokeys so my set started with a 54. The fact I couldn't (or didn't want to) use a 52-degree wedge with them didn't make them bad irons.

It's like you've got a whole laundry list of things about your current irons that you expect every set made after that to match exactly. Like Johnny Depp told Brando in Don Juan de Marco, I think you have "...a rather limited and uncreative way of looking at the situation".
 
Et Tu Brute? said:
The "most popular wedge lofts" meme doesn't really have anything to do with anything. Especially if you're into Vokey wedges. They make a bunch of different grinds and bounces in two degree increments from 46 to 62 degrees.

You seem to be suggesting that iron manufacturers have done something horrible by choosing PW or GW lofts that are anything other than exactly 48 degrees. Any problem that can be solved by simply a 50 degree Vokey instead of a 52 degree one is not a problem at all.

When I had my 990's the 49-degree PW didn't match up well with either 50 or 52 degree Vokeys so my set started with a 54. The fact I couldn't (or didn't want to) use a 52-degree wedge with them didn't make them bad irons.

It's like you've got a whole laundry list of things about your current irons that you expect every set made after that to match exactly. Like Johnny Depp told Brando in Don Juan de Marco, I think you have "...a rather limited and uncreative way of looking at the situation".
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Most popular wedge lofts is relevant because the majority of golfers will have more difficulty transition their wedges to iron sets. Companies are better to design their lofts around what most people have, not the small minority that has non-standard wedge lofts.

Personally, if I had the Titleist DCIs I would have bent the 9-iron .5 degrees to 44 and the PW 1 degree to 48 and then bought a 52 (along with 56 and 60) which would then have 4 degree gaps from wedges all the way up to the 5 iron. That is the setup I would prefer which pretty much the same argument you make.

I have played golf since I was 5 years old and played competitive junior golf and used those standard wedge lofts for decades. The yardages they produce are engrained in my body with little doubt or indecision on how to produce the yardage. That is big. The lofts I use are the standard. People argue that they are not, but I would bet money that they are the most popular wedge lofts. The 56 for sure is most popular loft. Why would I want to change just to get new irons? I just won't buy those irons.
 
CrashTestDummy said:
Most popular wedge lofts is relevant because the majority of golfers will have more difficulty transition their wedges to iron sets. Companies are better to design their lofts around what most people have, not the small minority that has non-standard wedge lofts.
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What is a non standard wedge loft? Asking genuinely.

And with that said, what companies do not have wedge lofts that match a myriad of different sets?

I will add that with most companies building theirs around their iron designs, it seems apparent that is exactly what they are doing, especially now with the dynamic shift in purchases in wedge lofts. As was noted earlier, when it was posted that the overwhelmingly most popular wedges were 52, 56, 60 and finding out that really isn't the case anymore.
 
CrashTestDummy said:
Most popular wedge lofts is relevant because the majority of golfers will have more difficulty transition their wedges to iron sets. Companies are better to design their lofts around what most people have, not the small minority that has non-standard wedge lofts.

Personally, if I had the Titleist DCIs I would have bent the 9-iron .5 degrees to 44 and the PW 1 degree to 48 and then bought a 52 (along with 56 and 60) which would then have 4 degree gaps from wedges all the way up to the 5 iron. That is the setup I would prefer which pretty much the same argument you make.

I have played golf since I was 5 years old and played competitive junior golf and used those standard wedge lofts for decades. The yardages they produce are engrained in my body with little doubt or indecision on how to produce the yardage. That is big. The lofts I use are the standard. People argue that they are not, but I would bet money that they are the most popular wedge lofts. The 56 for sure is most popular loft. Why would I want to change just to get new irons? I just won't buy those irons.
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Is this really a problem? I had no issues gapping with a 48° wedge on my last 2 wedge sets, one of which was made by Top Flite.
 
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