One Length Fitting Tips from Jose Miraflor with Cobra Golf

[oumagic]

Rather than burying this in my own Morgan Cup thread, I thought this deserved its own place. Feel free to discuss your personal experiences with One Length or ask questions. I am still personally undecided, but am so appreciative of the guidance offered by Mr. Miraflor and various THP member who have switched to OL. For those not sure, OL is the abbreviation commonly used for One Length and VL is commonly used to reference Variable (standard) length clubs. These tips were copied from a text chat and reposted with Jose’s permission. Please ignore any typos and know that it was just a text he sent in response to my questions. I am going to post his tips in the next post so that this isn’t too long.

 

[oumagic]

Sean- let me try to help.

Is your favorite iron to hit your 7 iron? If yes continue to consider ONE Length. If no don’t do it.

Do you struggle with long or short iron consistency? Meaning centeredness of strike. If yes consider ONE.

Here is how you test for ONE Length.

First find a place that has ONE and Variable Length demos in 5i, 7i, & 9i. And has a launch monitor of some sort.

After warming up:

Step 1- Hit a Variable length 7 iron- 3 shots and take note of distances. Then hit 3 shots with face tape on the 7 iron to capture impact locations. Don’t measure distance with face tape on because tape causes lower spin and the ball will fly farther.

Next Repeat Step 1 with a Variable length 5 iron then Variable length 7 iron (I am sure Jose meant 9 iron here-edit by Oumagic)

You now will have hit 18 shots total.

Now repeat Step 1 with a ONE Length 7 iron. Remember from here out you will be swinging a 7 iron swing and 7 iron position, no matter the number of the iron.

Repeat Step 1 with the ONE 5 iron then ONE 9 iron.

You should have hit 36 shots for this test.

Evaluation:
Look at distances between Variable Irons vs ONE Length irons.

Are they better or worse? Are there 20 yard gaps between each ONE length like on Variable?

Next compare impact locations. If ONE length impacts are more centered than Variable Length AND you have good gaps, then you are a candidate for ONE length irons.

We have many orders come in where golfers go ONE length from 4-8- and then Variable Length down through wedges. We also have people improve with ONE length on the short irons but the need variable length irons for the added launch and distance.

I hope this helped.


-from Jose

 

[mancest]

I was lucky enough to have this discussion with Jose in person several years ago at the Morgan cup. Well thought out and I love that he and Cobra golf as a whole don't try and say that One Length is the end all be all.

 

[gkeller813]

Sean- let me try to help.

Is your favorite iron to hit your 7 iron? If yes continue to consider ONE Length. If no don’t do it.

Do you struggle with long or short iron consistency? Meaning centeredness of strike. If yes consider ONE.

Here is how you test for ONE Length.

First find a place that has ONE and Variable Length demos in 5i, 7i, & 9i. And has a launch monitor of some sort.

After warming up:

Step 1- Hit a Variable length 7 iron- 3 shots and take note of distances. Then hit 3 shots with face tape on the 7 iron to capture impact locations. Don’t measure distance with face tape on because tape causes lower spin and the ball will fly farther.

Next Repeat Step 1 with a Variable length 5 iron then Variable length 7 iron.

You now will have hit 18 shots total.

Now repeat Step 1 with a ONE Length 7 iron. Remember from here out you will be swinging a 7 iron swing and 7 iron position, no matter the number of the iron.

Repeat Step 1 with the ONE 5 iron then ONE 9 iron.

You should have hit 36 shots for this test.

Evaluation:
Look at distances between Variable Irons vs ONE Length irons.

Are they better or worse? Are there 20 yard gaps between each ONE length like on Variable?

Next compare impact locations. If ONE length impacts are more centered than Variable Length AND you have good gaps, then you are a candidate for ONE length irons.

We have many orders come in where golfers go ONE length from 4-8- and then Variable Length down through wedges. We also have people improve with ONE length on the short irons but the need variable length irons for the added launch and distance.

I hope this helped.


-from Jose

Wow, thanks a lot, this is great information! What is your favorite iron to hit is your 8i? Haha

 

[vdubtx]

Sean- let me try to help.

Is your favorite iron to hit your 7 iron? If yes continue to consider ONE Length. If no don’t do it.

Do you struggle with long or short iron consistency? Meaning centeredness of strike. If yes consider ONE.

Here is how you test for ONE Length.

First find a place that has ONE and Variable Length demos in 5i, 7i, & 9i. And has a launch monitor of some sort.

After warming up:

Step 1- Hit a Variable length 7 iron- 3 shots and take note of distances. Then hit 3 shots with face tape on the 7 iron to capture impact locations. Don’t measure distance with face tape on because tape causes lower spin and the ball will fly farther.

Next Repeat Step 1 with a Variable length 5 iron then Variable length 7 iron.

You now will have hit 18 shots total.

Now repeat Step 1 with a ONE Length 7 iron. Remember from here out you will be swinging a 7 iron swing and 7 iron position, no matter the number of the iron.

Repeat Step 1 with the ONE 5 iron then ONE 9 iron.

You should have hit 36 shots for this test.

Evaluation:
Look at distances between Variable Irons vs ONE Length irons.

Are they better or worse? Are there 20 yard gaps between each ONE length like on Variable?

Next compare impact locations. If ONE length impacts are more centered than Variable Length AND you have good gaps, then you are a candidate for ONE length irons.

We have many orders come in where golfers go ONE length from 4-8- and then Variable Length down through wedges. We also have people improve with ONE length on the short irons but the need variable length irons for the added launch and distance.

I hope this helped.


-from Jose

Was fun listening to Jose explaining this process in our call yesterday. ?

 

[NullNomad]

I am SO curious about one length, so thank you for that snippet of dialog. That first question about the 7i is the one that has me hung up and on the fence. I hit it well, but if you ask me which iron is my "favorite" it would be the 6i or 8i...

 

[oumagic]

Wow, thanks a lot, this is great information! What is your favorite iron to hit is your 8i? Haha

I asked that question at demo days and was told that there are people that get sets built based on that length. I asked the person at demo days what it did to launch and distance, and he wasn’t quite certain. If I get a definitive answer, I will post.

 

[WICHITAREJECT]

I still have to put aloe on the burn marks from Jose at the MC dinner last year....

 

[McLovin]

it does make sense. I tested them very briefly, and I liked the short irons a lot, but did not like the long irons.

 

[OITW]

it does make sense. I tested them very briefly, and I liked the short irons a lot, but did not like the long irons.

Interesting as I know most people I've spoken with struggle with the shorter irons.

 

[redneckwop]

I was only able to test 5i here (that is all they had) and I was hitting it the same distance as my current 7 iron. With this info I may give them another try when I'm in a bigger city that has more options.

 

[oumagic]

I was only able to test 5i here (that is all they had) and I was hitting it the same distance as my current 7 iron. With this info I may give them another try when I'm in a bigger city that has more options.

That was exactly my problem with OL F9, but I have not seen it with the current lineup. Last year when I tried it, my gap between 7/9 was roughly 15 yards and between 5/7 it was only 10 yards (not exact numbers, but close).

when I tried them the other day, I was much farther apart on gaps. 5/7 gap was about 25 yards and the 7/9 was 30 yards.

 

[MarMill]

It was great info from Jose. He also said that with wedges people may have a problem chipping with a 7 iron length. So it is best to try them and maybe do variable length in wedges.

 

[InTheRough]

I asked that question at demo days and was told that there are people that get sets built based on that length. I asked the person at demo days what it did to launch and distance, and he wasn’t quite certain.

Think if the golfer was shorter. Probably insignificant. Just order 1/2" shorter. The SW would be lighter. It would affect the lie angle by 1/2 degree across the set and Cobra only does full degree lie angles for custom orders, although they probably could bend the lie angles a bit.

The lofts on these clubs are quite strong. 27.5 degrees for the Speedzone and 29.5 for the Forged Tec 7 irons. So with the SZ irons you're really hitting a 5 iron and with the Forged Tec is more like a 6 iron. The SZ 6 iron has nearly the same loft as my F9 5H. I would imagine it would be a very difficult set to gap with the hybrids.

I have the F9s OL and the lofts are tame compared to the SZ OL. I'd go Forged Tec if I were going for OL this year. I think the lofts on irons are going insane across all manufacturers.

My current OL setup is F9 6-GW. I have a std length 5H and 4H. I have a Callaway MD4 54/10 and 58/8. I couldn't hit the 5i off the deck much further than the 6i so it went in the garage bag. I didn't like the OL 5H because of the same reason.

 

[gkeller813]

I asked that question at demo days and was told that there are people that get sets built based on that length. I asked the person at demo days what it did to launch and distance, and he wasn’t quite certain. If I get a definitive answer, I will post.

That's always been my biggest question, so if you are able to get an answer that'd be great! Thanks!

 

[Nerdy]

Appreciate the share. I continue to be very intrigued by the OL offering. My 6i is by far my best club so I would likely order them slightly longer, but my big concern has always been 9i and PW. I need to find time to test out a set on a sim but have been a failure at doing that. I will do it this year though. I really want to see if it provides more consistency.

 

[ddec]

pretty good share!

 

[McLovin]

Interesting as I know most people I've spoken with struggle with the shorter irons.

it was pretty much the opposite of what I expected!

 

[greg19]

it does make sense. I tested them very briefly, and I liked the short irons a lot, but did not like the long irons.

I had the same experience. I had no problem with the "longer" short irons but had trouble getting height out of the "shorter" long irons.

 

[Bethpage Hack]

I asked that question at demo days and was told that there are people that get sets built based on that length. I asked the person at demo days what it did to launch and distance, and he wasn’t quite certain. If I get a definitive answer, I will post.

I built my one length set built on the 8i premise. I love my 8i, what worked to my advantage is I play my VL 1/2” longer than standard, so I got my OL at standard 37.25, and it was almost identical to my VL 8i.

 

[Bethpage Hack]

Interesting as I know most people I've spoken with struggle with the shorter irons.

5 rounds in and in the first 2 rounds I wasn’t sure I liked the 9i and PW that long, but by rounds 4-5 and practice sessions in between, I really began liking them. I play my all wedges an inch shorter , and I am going to test a VL 9i and PW at 36 (effectively play a 2 length set), But I think I will end up 4i-PW at OL, I want to try a one length hybrid, but keep reminding myself I need time to get my eye used to they length in the longer irons and don’t rush the process. It has been a fun experiment. I still have swing issues to improve, but I already am hitting a about 2 more greens a round (averaged 13 greens in last 5 rounds, up from 11 with VL).

 

[93civiccpe]

Sean- let me try to help.

Is your favorite iron to hit your 7 iron? If yes continue to consider ONE Length. If no don’t do it.

Do you struggle with long or short iron consistency? Meaning centeredness of strike. If yes consider ONE.

Here is how you test for ONE Length.

First find a place that has ONE and Variable Length demos in 5i, 7i, & 9i. And has a launch monitor of some sort.

After warming up:

Step 1- Hit a Variable length 7 iron- 3 shots and take note of distances. Then hit 3 shots with face tape on the 7 iron to capture impact locations. Don’t measure distance with face tape on because tape causes lower spin and the ball will fly farther.

Next Repeat Step 1 with a Variable length 5 iron then Variable length 7 iron.

You now will have hit 18 shots total.

Now repeat Step 1 with a ONE Length 7 iron. Remember from here out you will be swinging a 7 iron swing and 7 iron position, no matter the number of the iron.

Repeat Step 1 with the ONE 5 iron then ONE 9 iron.

You should have hit 36 shots for this test.

Evaluation:
Look at distances between Variable Irons vs ONE Length irons.

Are they better or worse? Are there 20 yard gaps between each ONE length like on Variable?

Next compare impact locations. If ONE length impacts are more centered than Variable Length AND you have good gaps, then you are a candidate for ONE length irons.

We have many orders come in where golfers go ONE length from 4-8- and then Variable Length down through wedges. We also have people improve with ONE length on the short irons but the need variable length irons for the added launch and distance.

I hope this helped.


-from Jose

Jose is the man and that is a great approach (and one that I may be following myself at some point)

 

[Just_Brad]

@oumagic thanks so much for sharing that exchange with Jose.

It will 100% be in my mind the next time I go out to tty out OL. Would never have thought to go about it in that sequencing.

 

[Karl]

I would like to see a G-7i set at 9i length. Considering how far irons fly nowadays and I'm more interested in consistency and accuracy.

 

[Wkndhookr]

Wow, thanks a lot, this is great information! What is your favorite iron to hit is your 8i? Haha

I got fit down at Cobra in Carlsbad. We went through all the shots and then I told him that I was much more comfortable and consistent with my 8i. No problem, we ordered my irons 1/2" short. Coming from VL with off the rack clubs my trajectory with my long irons is about the same but my short irons definitely launch higher but I believe this is common with OL and there is no effect from the 1/2" shorter shaft. As for distance I'd guess I'd get a little more out of the longer shaft but do have good gapping right now. I struggled with the OL SW and LW so we went VL on those.

 

[ritojr]

Put me in the camp Jose mentioned of those ordering OL long irons and Variable short irons. My last set was a makeshift set of my F7 OL 5 and 6 irons from when I tried a full OL set for a season, and VL Forged Tec Blacks. New set I just order is the new Forged Tec's, 5-7 OL, 8-GW VL, and I have a OL F8 4 hybrid in the bag as well. Much more consistent in the long irons now, and that's where I really needed the help.