Hook DeLoft

That's a really good looking club.

Popeye, have you had any slow swingers try the Rapid Tapers? And, any idea what the price of them will be? Thanks

I understand your pet peeve, but I've owned just about every type of iron imaginable: Wilson Staff FG17 (surprisingly forgiving in 6 - W), original Big Berthas, X-20's, 3 different generations of Ping G models, Ping i15's, Titleist 718 AP1's, Mizuno MP-18 SC, Mizuno HMB, Hogan Apex Plus (the shallow cavity one), etc. I've found I get a lot better turf interaction with thin soled irons but I could really use a higher trajectory and more forgiveness than is found in most thin soled irons. The most forgiving irons I've found for my swing are the X-20's but the soles in the short irons, in particular, are a little wide.

By thin sole, I mean in the neighborhood of the Ping i210's or thinner. I just read this interview with the president of Miura: https://golf.com/gear/irons/shinei-miura-tiger-woods-miura-irons/?utm_campaign=forecast&utm_source=golf.com&utm_medium=email&utm_content={date(&utm_term=Forecast Newsletter Reading between the lines, he seems to have been taught that wide soles are problematic (I may just be projecting...). I think the only way to do what I'm thinking would be to make the sole out of a very heavy metal, perhaps tungsten, that is then welded to the rest of the clubhead.

I'm thinking vcog below 0.7. The lower the better.

Does anyone make an iron with a very low center of gravity but a thin sole?

Some companies have kept 4 degree gaps in the short irons and wedges, for example, Callaway Mavriks. Unfortunately, many have not. I actually saw a set with 6 degree gaps in the short irons. I can't imagine a weekend golfer being able to feather or nuke a 9 iron in order to hit that in-between yardage. The main problem I have with strong lofts is the lower spin rates that go with them. As a low ball hitter, I have a hard enough time holding greens.

Thanks

Unfortunately, my swing doesn't get along with wide-soled irons. I say unfortunately, because I could really benefit from the higher launch and forgiveness of SGI's. The perfect iron for me would launch like a Ping G iron with a ton of offset and a narrow sole. I've yet to find one like that, other than the Ping Eye 2. In fact, if Ping re-introduced the Eye 2 with modern lofts, I would buy them in a heart beat. BTW, I have owned a lot of big framed irons in search of forgiveness: Ping G10, G15, G30, G. Titleist AP1. I always end up going back to irons with thinner soles.

If you bent irons 2 degrees strong, would that change the offset? Thanks

The Greatest Game Ever Played. Good movie and was an even better book.

There are so many reasons pros are hitting the ball so much farther: The ball: lower spin off the driver (which means a pro can swing a lot harder than they could in the 1960's without worrying about hitting it out of bounds every time); higher initial ball speed; higher trajectory. All that adds up to greater distance. The driver: longer, light weight shafts equal more clubhead speed; big clubheads and computer design mean a lot more forgiveness allowing players to swing harder. The course conditions: courses can mow the fairways very low to get a lot of roll that one week when the PGA is in town. The players: players grow up hitting it as hard as possible and worry about accuracy later; better athletes are playing golf as a result of the $$$ available; players typically spend a lot of time in the gym with personal trainers. All that adds up to more clubhead speed. We already have Cameron Champ swinging the driver at 130mph during competition. Even for pros, the average iron loft is about a club stronger than it was 40 or 50 years ago. And, even muscle backs are often more forgiving than they were in 1960. Then, too, you have so many pros now playing cavity backs. So, once again, a pro can swing harder and not be punished as much by a mis-hit. I'm sure there are other reasons I haven't thought of. Without significantly longer courses, pros will eventually be hitting wedge into every par 4 that they can't drive and 8 or 9 iron into every par 5. Not very interesting to watch (IMO only of course). My concern is the cost of land and upkeep. As my father always said, they aren't making anymore land and more people means less space for golf courses. And the cost of upkeep for an 8000 yard course would be enormous. Then we are back to it being a game only for the wealthy. I only see one solution and that is to somehow roll back distance. Baseball has bifurcation of rules (aluminum vs. wood bats) and we accept that. So, for pros, maybe limit the size of the driver head to around 230 cc and require a return to balls that spin like crazy with every club including the driver. And, no, that wouldn't be popular.

Why do I hit blades better than CBs? The answer is obvious: you're a zen golfer.

Last year I was playing with a couple of guys, one a good ball striker playing Titleist AP2's and another with a lower swing speed playing SGI irons with strong lofts. On a par 3, they both hit 8 iron and the guy with the SGI irons made a big deal about hitting the same club as the guy playing the AP2's. I said, "you know the loft on his 8 iron is nearly 2 clubs weaker than the loft on your 8 iron." The shorter guy said "I don't care, we hit the same club." LOL! I do believe stronger lofts are mostly about marketing. It used to be that the lowest lofted iron I could hit well was about 25 degrees. Now it's about 27 degrees and I expect in the next couple of years that will become around 29 degrees. It won't matter if the club is labeled as an 8 iron or a 5 iron, that's the limit of my old fart ability. It really doesn't matter what's stamped on the bottom of the club as long as my gaps are good.

True, but in my case, they really are old man shafts!