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What would be a better iron ballflight?

SuperStroke
Typhoon

Typhoon

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Just curious, which would be a better ballflight off an iron...7 iron for example.

A). High launch low spin ...like 19-20* and 5800 rpm
B). Lower launch higher spin... like 16-17* and 7000 rpm

Reason I'm asking is I have a fitting coming up at a Ping demo day and they usually don't bring a LM. The reps are good though. I'm looing at the new Ping I irons. I've already hit the 7 iron outside with both the cfs and modus 105. The modus had a much higher flight. I went inside and hit on the monitor and it launched higher, spun less but went the same distance as the cfs shaft.

I don't know if you go lower due to wind etc... I would need the X in the modus anyway which might bring it down to CFS levels though.
 
You can always learn to flight the ball down. It's not as easy as learning to flight the ball up.

For me, ALWAYS go with the extra height.
 
Depends on what you're looking for, but for me, I'd agree with blu. Higher flight with lower spin.
 
High flight without ballooning is always good. The nice thing about outdoors is you can see the ball flight and can see if you like it or not and you can compare flight between the shafts.
 
A good rule of thumb is you want your spin to be approximately 1000x the # on the clue, i.e. 7 irons ~7000 rpm. Looks like number 2 is better unless you are losing a lot of distance.
 
emart2173 said:
High flight without ballooning is always good. The nice thing about outdoors is you can see the ball flight and can see if you like it or not and you can compare flight between the shafts.
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I'll do it again nefore the demo but I'll bring along my current 6 and 7 iron ( Eye 2 lofts ) which launch high and spin waaay to much just to compare the heights. I think though it was only 34 yards high which is fine, especially when I saw James hitting the CFS that high.
 
h0ss66 said:
A good rule of thumb is you want your spin to be approximate 1000x the # on the clue, i.e. 7 irons ~7000 rpm. Looks like number 2 is better unless you are losing a lot of distance.
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yes...looks like you read the jason Dufner article a while back...funny that I looked for it last night because I forgot what is launch angle shortcut was.

He said, like you said on spin rate and for launch angle he does 2 X the iron number so a 7 iron would be 14*.
 
Fun question - and there will be a couple different schools of thought.

I'm going to take flipping out of the equation right off the bat, but if those high launch/low spin numbers were product of a flip, you'd likely be giving up ball speed. Seems you don't have speed issues though, so we'll toss that out.

Ball speed being equal in those two scenarios, the first option is going to fly higher and carry further. It's also going to roll out more, but based on height I'd say that wouldn't be a huge concern unless you are playing on very hard greens.

Traditional thought will say go with the lower launch and higher spin, as it will be more predictable as far as controlling the ball once it hits the green.
 
If your not loosing distance I would opt for the higher flight.
 
Let me caution you and say that hitting indoors off a mat will tend to launch a ball higher and produce less spin.
 
Hawk said:
Let me caution you and say that hitting indoors off a mat will tend to launch a ball higher and produce less spin.
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Wise Hawk is wise.
 
your sig says you're a +3. i have to think you know your game pretty d@mn well. what is your trajectory like now, and are you trying to achieve anything different with these new irons? if not, go with what you know and like. i walked 9 holes last week with jason gore, shaun micheel and troy matteson. each had VERY different trajectories, with matteson being the highest and micheel being the lowest, and yet each made it work very well for them. so keep playing your game!
 
Typhoon said:
I'll do it again nefore the demo but I'll bring along my current 6 and 7 iron ( Eye 2 lofts ) which launch high and spin waaay to much just to compare the heights. I think though it was only 34 yards high which is fine, especially when I saw James hitting the CFS that high.
Click to expand...

I believe tour avg is around 30 yds. From what I have been told by guys who are way smarter than me keeping it below 100' is where you want go be
 
Some great comments in here so far. Hawk & Emart put out what I woulda said and will add anything 90-105ft peak height is where most tour pros look for height. Blu also made a good point, just depends on what is easier for you to do with flight control.

For me now I look at more trajectory then look at the numbers. I want a flight that climbs steadily reaches its peak then comes down. I don't want a flight that jumps up and then rides at or near it height for a period of time.



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To expand a bit on Blu's comment, maybe think about the question with clubs at the ends of your bag instead of the 7i. Which shaft would give you better (likely higher) trajectory with the 3 and 4 irons? I suspect at your skill level it may not matter as much because you can flight it down, but similar question with wedges and 9i.
 
Typhoon said:
Just curious, which would be a better ballflight off an iron...7 iron for example.

A). High launch low spin ...like 19-20* and 5800 rpm
B). Lower launch higher spin... like 16-17* and 7000 rpm

Reason I'm asking is I have a fitting coming up at a Ping demo day and they usually don't bring a LM. The reps are good though. I'm looing at the new Ping I irons. I've already hit the 7 iron outside with both the cfs and modus 105. The modus had a much higher flight. I went inside and hit on the monitor and it launched higher, spun less but went the same distance as the cfs shaft.

I don't know if you go lower due to wind etc... I would need the X in the modus anyway which might bring it down to CFS levels though.
Click to expand...

From what I understand with drivers high launch/low spin helps with more roll out. Taking that same thought with irons, I'd say B for the sake of sticking greens on approach shots. But with higher launch, would the decent angle make up for the less spin? I'm not sure...
 
Between the 2 I was basically getting the same result. Higher was more drop and stop where lower was one hop and stop. Hawk, After hitting outside I went inside and and the numbers showed alot of height like outside so I know there wasn't a drastic difference between mat and grass for me. The matt too wasn't your typical hard range mat that sits outside braving the 4 seasons for 10 years...it was grass-like.

My iron flight, and the problem is I have Ping Eye 2 coppers so over the years as improvements have been made to the ball/club combos, I've been left behind with a combo that actually performs worse than it used to. My ball flight now is almost Nippon high but the spin rate is stupid high and ball speed is garbage. You just see it in the air spinning... not a flat flight, just goes straight up. So its hard for me to pick a ball flight.... I'll let the fitter do that.

I'd like to end up with the sexier sahft ( Nippon ) but I have a feeling the CFS will win out. Just a solid shaft.
 
My vote is for low launch/high spin, generally. I feel that it would help your consistency; however, most of this is dependent on the conditions you play in.
 
depending on swing speed but good rule of thumb is proper spin on irons is about 1000 x club #. So a 7 iron should have about 7000 rpm of backspin.
 
Depends on what your "normal" flight is. It's great to be able to flight the ball with irons; I'd go with whatever allows your "normal" shot to have a nice, medium-high trajectory, then learn how to flight it low and high.

I guess it also depends on where you play. In west TX or Europe, I can't hit the ball low enough. In Orlando and Houston, the high shots are the best.
 
I like the spin with my wedges around the green but less spin with the irons, as long as the height is there, is a "cleaner" ballflight. I got some swing issues sorted out tonight so I'll try to hit them inside again before the fitting and get a better reading on the heights.
 
blugold said:
You can always learn to flight the ball down. It's not as easy as learning to flight the ball up.

For me, ALWAYS go with the extra height.
Click to expand...

I agree.
 
FWIW, the rule of multiplying the iron by 1000 to get the optimal spin rate (ex. 7 iron should be 7000 rpm) tends to still work with the pros and other higher swing speed players, but I feel like the design of the newer irons that most companies have out now have hopped on the "high launch, low spin" bandwagon. In your scenario, assuming that the ball speeds are the same, I would take the higher launch with the slightly lower spin every time. If your spin with a 7 iron is like 4500 rpm or so, then it could be problematic with longer irons, but I think that 5800 is acceptable for a 7 iron. FWIW, here's a screenshot of a good shot from my iron fitting with a 6 iron last year to show the spin number with a 6 iron:

BtFlA2HCEAAFpqX.jpg
 
I like the high flight I have and prefer it to a lower launch. The gamer combo I have now has dropped my spin rate quite a bit and nothing else really changed. My distance increased by 1 club. 35 yards mentioned earlier would be low for me by comparison fyi. Even with this flight and the combo...the wind doesn't cause it much hardship. Unless it is quite breezy of course.
 
I've learned to embrace the high ball with lower spin, mainly because that's my natural ball flight. But also because I worked hard to learn to hit the ball lower, and did, only to find it wasn't going as far. The only time I get spin anywhere near 1000 x the number on the iron is when hitting off a mat. I don't have any problem holding greens due to the steep descent.
 
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