Nervous About Strong Lofted Irons

[Invader Zim 315]

Obviously the industry trend has been towards strengthening the lofts on irons in recent years... I was wondering if there are other players out there like me that think buying a new set these days might be detrimental to their gapping.

 

Currently rocking a 10ish year old set with the old standard lofts (24 degree 4 iron to a 46 degree PW) and I find that even with wedge lofts at 46, 52, 56, and 60, I have great gapping at ~135, 120, 105, and 90 yards respectively.

 

The thought of getting a new set and getting rid of 4 iron and replacing it with a 48ish degree gap wedge makes me nervous that my 15 yard gaps will be gone.

 

Thoughts?

[russtopherb]

My thoughts - go hit some and decide what works for you. Plenty of different sets out there for you to try.

There's plenty of enough information about why lofts are the way they are with newer materials, construction, weight distribution, etc. There's nothing to be nervous about. Go hit some shiny new sets and have fun.

[Invader Zim 315]

6 minutes ago, russtopherb said:

My thoughts - go hit some and decide what works for you. Plenty of different sets out there for you to try.

There's plenty of enough information about why lofts are the way they are with newer materials, construction, weight distribution, etc. There's nothing to be nervous about. Go hit some shiny new sets and have fun.

Yeah and adjustments can always be made too I suppose.  Really it is that I am not just chasing more distance- I am more concerned with maintaining  control and confidence with yardages

[cnosil]

Yeah and adjustments can always be made too I suppose.  Really it is that I am not just chasing more distance- I am more concerned with maintaining  control and confidence with yardages

Even the clubs you play have reduced lifts from previous generations of clubs.

This is why you do gaping sessions and adjust the clubs to fit the gaping you need. You learn that a particular club goes a specific distance; the number on the bottom really doesn’t matter.

[AppGator]

I agree with the others that you should get fit. However, there are some brands that produce really good gapping, like Ping. And it's trending for companies to also provide a retro loft which might suit your needs.

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[DaveP043]

It might be informative to read the recent Member Reviews of the Titleist T100S and T200 irons.  Yes, the lofts are stronger than what was "standard".  But at least in my case, where I once carried 4-9+PW, now I carry 5--9+PW(43*)+ W(48*).  The 5 replaced the old 4, the 48* replaced the old PW.  Nothing has really changed except the "label" of the club.  I've chosen to use that set-up, rather than add the new 4-iron and re-work my specialty wedges (currently 52, 56, and 60) to use only 2 clubs.

[Scotland blue]

I've looked at the loft on some of the new offerings and wondered about the same thing as the OP.

Then......just remember the new sets of the 5-PW are really the same as the old sets of 4-9 irons....simple.  The number on the club is now immaterial and if we are thinking that I really nuked that 8 irons farther than I have ever hit one before the reality is that you really hit the equivalent of your old 7 iron.  I've played some "weak" lofted irons over the years (Mizuno blades) and have been asked by guys in my group after a shot what club I hit.  I'm sure they are thinking all 8 irons are mostly the same.  I've started answering this question by responding that I hit my 165 club or my 150 club or.....  There may come a time when the clubs only have the loft on them...no numbers???  Naw too much of a marketing ploy.

[ZenGolfer]

I know that struggled quite a bit with the Tommy Armour Atomics.  I found that I would quite often hit fliers with them.  As for gapping, its probably not that big of a deal, depending upon what the loft of the AW in the set is.

• The Atomics had a 46 degree AW, which is basically like a PW in an older set.  Some other sets have a 50 degree AW, which would pretty much require you to go with a 54 and 58 if you want to maintain appropriate gapping.