Rant...please just stop

[bens197]

Blades do not “groove” your swing. What they will do is remind you that you hit a poor shot and the result will be less than spectacular.

 

Time and again I see people pick up a set off eBay and think that the best way to fix their irons is to play the least forgiving set they can find.

 

It doesn’t work. It won’t work. Save your money and buy some clubs that will help you make better contact and get better results!

 

That’s all...thanks for listening, you guys can take it from here

[fixyurdivot]

13 minutes ago, bens197 said:

 

Blades do not “groove” your swing. What they will do is remind you that you hit a poor shot and the result will be less than spectacular.

 

Time and again I see people pick up a set off eBay and think that the best way to fix their irons is to play the least forgiving set they can find.

 

It doesn’t work. It won’t work. Save your money and buy some clubs that will help you make better contact and get better results!

 

That’s all...thanks for listening, you guys can take it from here

 

Couldn't agree more.  I just recently switched from PE2 Muscle Backs to the G410's .

[DaveP043]

46 minutes ago, bens197 said:

Blades do not “groove” your swing. What they will do is remind you that you hit a poor shot and the result will be less than spectacular.

Time and again I see people pick up a set off eBay and think that the best way to fix their irons is to play the least forgiving set they can find.

It doesn’t work. It won’t work. Save your money and buy some clubs that will help you make better contact and get better results!

That’s all...thanks for listening, you guys can take it from here

 

I agree, blades won't somehow force you to hit the ball better, they'll just give you more drastic feedback when you don't hit it in the center.  But my advice would be a bit different....Save your money for lessons and purposeful practice, that's the real path to better contact and lower scores.

[pozzit]

So I get your point,  blades alone will not groove your swing but like mentioned above getting better feedback of toe vs heel or thin shots does help give an idea of what is happening at impact. Also the fact that a physically smaller head it causes you to focus more and hit where you need to. Like many training aides, Triangular putter, smaller holes, Putt-out etc, your training yourself to hit the ball on a smaller surface.

Being that I just posted about my recent blade purchase and may have inadvertently caused this rant. My main practice over the winter will be hitting balls into a net in my garage. I have very little idea of how the shot went besides the feel of at impact. I may be completely wrong and it may not help me but that was my logic for the blades.

Edited October 29, 2019 by pozzit

[Mr. 82]

Hey, I'm a 7 handicap and I have cavity backs, and always have played cavity backs.  I tried my brother's Mizuno blades once and was hitting hozel rockets like it was free.  Returned them to him and complimented him on his extraodinary golf game, considering I couldn't hit them, and he handled them like a fine red wine with a great steak.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

[bens197]

So I get your point,  blades alone will not groove your swing but like mentioned above getting better feedback of toe vs heel or thin shots does help give an idea of what is happening at impact. Also the fact that a physically smaller head it causes you to focus more and hit where you need to. Like many training aides, Triangular putter, smaller holes, Putt-out etc, your training yourself to hit the ball on a smaller surface.
Being that I just posted about my recent blade purchase and may have inadvertently caused this rant. My main practice over the winter will be hitting balls into a net in my garage. I have very little idea of how the shot went besides the feel of at impact. I may be completely wrong and it may not help me but that was my logic for the blades.

So I can tell you with 100% certainty that you did not provoke this post. This was two examples of local friends who just made me think c’mon man!

One of them was a 10 and he could shoot 70 as easily as 100. Great natural athlete but horrible mental game.

The other of recent is an old friend who I play most my golf with. He plays 3 days a week and always shoots 84. Every time, the guy is a machine. He thought this set of Titleist 690mb’s would be the answer to his problems...not even close.

Whatever your goals are, I wish you well. There was no correlation between your post and this but it doesn’t change my mind. Play well!!

[bens197]

Hey, I'm a 7 handicap and I have cavity backs, and always have played cavity backs.  I tried my brother's Mizuno blades once and was hitting hozel rockets like it was free.  Returned them to him and complimented him on his extraodinary golf game, considering I couldn't hit them, and he handled them like a fine red wine with a great steak.
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Haughty is truly one of the best and most under-appreciated words out there.

Fair play to you for realizing what’s good and what works. I for one can’t wait for next season to try experimenting with some Maltby TS-1’s.

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, pozzit said:

So I get your point,  blades alone will not groove your swing but like mentioned above getting better feedback of toe vs heel or thin shots does help give an idea of what is happening at impact. Also the fact that a physically smaller head it causes you to focus more and hit where you need to. Like many training aides, Triangular putter, smaller holes, Putt-out etc, your training yourself to hit the ball on a smaller surface.

Being that I just posted about my recent blade purchase and may have inadvertently caused this rant. My main practice over the winter will be hitting balls into a net in my garage. I have very little idea of how the shot went besides the feel of at impact. I may be completely wrong and it may not help me but that was my logic for the blades.

For a very small amount of money dr scholls foot spray is all one needs to get all the feedback needed for where on the face contact is made. The notion a small head makes one focus better may apply to something like a putter head or smaller holes the golf swing has a lot of moving parts and an out of sequence swing doesn’t get into a better sequence because one is focused more.

[pozzit]

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

For a very small amount of money dr scholls foot spray is all one needs to get all the feedback needed for where on the face contact is made. The notion a small head makes one focus better may apply to something like a putter head or smaller holes the golf swing has a lot of moving parts and an out of sequence swing doesn’t get into a better sequence because one is focused more.

Those are fair points. I do want to get some powder spray and acu-strike type mat so I do want to get some other info besides just feedback. I get the swing has many moving parts and focus wont fix a bad swing but feeling that I have fairly good swing mechanics and focusing on strike location through my practice and ingraining a constant swing, I'm sure your right blades may not help that process any more than other clubs. 

@bens197I wasn't sure if my post was related or not just seemed like a coincidence posting this morning about buying blades and using them to practice over the winter. 

 

[revkev]

Here’s another full circle one for me. There’s really no evidence that the old school thought that playing blades will help your iron play - if it were true every man, woman and child on tour would play blades and they don’t.

Having written that we all have different swing characteristics and eyes. My swing characteristics may be such that even though I’m a fairly accomplished player i do better with a thicker sole - someone who is not as good a player might have a swing that does better with a gamier iron.

Additionally there is the human factor that could cause me to perform better with the club that looks more appealing to my eye.

Use what you like and be happy with it and if your friend asks what he should use or wants to copy cat you, tell him to get fit first.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[chisag]

... Bens, this has always been a pet peeve of mine. Some like to call MB's a training aid, which they most assuredly are not. A training aid helps you do something different than you are currently doing. Whippy Tempo aids train you to change your tempo. Tour Striker trains you to change your shaft angle and hit the ball with a more forward shaft lean. Hitting a ball with a MB, using the same swing you use to hit your CB is changing nothing, other than your mental approach or focus. If you need the smaller MB head to focus more, then here might be some benefit for you but it is a placebo effect because you can use the same focus with your current iron. I think most use it as an excuse to hit or play MB's when no excuse is necessary. If you want play MB's then play MB's. I have said on WRX that it is mentally weak to rely on a smaller head to make better swings and better contact and it was not received well by the MB zealots.

... The best ball strikers on the planet that can kick our a$$e$ and play on the LPGA use anything from Players Irons to SGI's to Hybrids and they practice with what they play, because they want to know exactly how their irons perform under all circumstances. You wanna fine tune your swing? Try hitting fades and draws, high and low as well as 1/2 and 3/4 shots on the range. That will make you a much better ball striker and improve your scores more than practicing with a MB that you will never use when playing. 

[bens197]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

... Bens, this has always been a pet peeve of mine. Some like to call MB's a training aid, which they most assuredly are not. A training aid helps you do something different than you are currently doing. Whippy Tempo aids train you to change your tempo. Tour Striker trains you to change your shaft angle and hit the ball with a more forward shaft lean. Hitting a ball with a MB, using the same swing you use to hit your CB is changing nothing, other than your mental approach or focus. If you need the smaller MB head to focus more, then here might be some benefit for you but it is a placebo effect because you can use the same focus with your current iron. I think most use it as an excuse to hit or play MB's when no excuse is necessary. If you want play MB's then play MB's. I have said on WRX that it is mentally weak to rely on a smaller head to make better swings and better contact and it was not received well by the MB zealots.

... The best ball strikers on the planet that can kick our a$$e$ and play on the LPGA use anything from Players Irons to SGI's to Hybrids and they practice with what they play, because they want to know exactly how their irons perform under all circumstances. You wanna fine tune your swing? Try hitting fades and draws, high and low as well as 1/2 and 3/4 shots on the range. That will make you a much better ball striker and improve your scores more than practicing with a MB that you will never use when playing. 

Bingo.

They certainly look cool. The only thing that looks cooler is the reaction on my opponents face when I take $20 off him with i5’s in my bag every other Saturday.  

[Bunker Snot]

When my swing is in a funk i'll take my old Wilson staff tour model 5 iron to the range and swing until I'm getting good tempo and strike.  Blades can be beneficial because of the feedback they provide while grooving a swing and if I can hit that 5 iron I know I'll hit my Rogue Pro's better.

[HardcoreLooper]

I just picked up a set of MacGregor Muirfields at Goodwill today, not because I think they'll make me any better, but because it'll be something fun to fool around with once in a while and do something different.  I played a really fun par 3 course (The Schoolhouse Nine in Sperryville, VA) with a half-set recently and had a blast.  This is a similar idea, just doing something different to introduce a new challenge every once in a while if I'm playing a course I'm tired of.

Unless my handicap starts getting too low, all of my practice and my "real" rounds will be played with my usual gamers.  I'll let you know if my handicap is too low.