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How long does it generally take to get used to new irons?


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Curious to get everyone's opinion. Moving from old game improvement Cobra Amp-D irons to brand new player's distance Mizuno JPX921 Forged irons. Hit the range twice now so far I haven't been hitting them nearly as consistent as my previous irons. The new Mizuno's are actually fitted whereas the old Cobra's were stock. When I hit them well, they feel great, but I'm not consistently hitting them well. This is my first time moving from one set of irons to another, so curious to hear from others.

Driver: Ping G430 Max 10K 9º | Ping Tour 2.0 Black 75S

Fairway Wood: Ping G430 Max 3W 15º | Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 75S

Hybrids: Ping G425 Max 3H 19º | Tensei Orange 80S & Ping 4i iCrossover 22.5° | Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 85S

Irons: Mizuno JPX921 Forged (5-GW) | Dynamic Gold 120 S300

Wedges: Ping s159 54º & 58º | PING Z-Z115

Putter: Ping Anser (2023)

Ball: ProV1x

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A range session to get familiar with the feel again after a fitting. A round on the course helps me understand how the ball is reacting on the greens. 
 

Depending on what “inconsistencies” I’m seeing i see if it’s ball flight then maybe have the loft and lie checked.

If it’s contact on the face then that’s more than likely my swing and not the clubs

Driver: PXG 0811 X+ Proto w/UST Helium 5F4

Wood: TaylorMade M5 5W w/Accra TZ5 +1/2”, TaylorMade Sim 3W w/Aldila rogue white

Hybrid: PXG Gen2 22* w/AD hybrid

Irons: PXG Gen3 0311T w/Nippon modus 120

Wedges: TaylorMade MG2 50*, Tiger grind 56/60

Putter: Scotty Caemeron Super Rat1

Ball: Titleist Prov1

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36 minutes ago, brogies said:

Curious to get everyone's opinion. Moving from old game improvement Cobra Amp-D irons to brand new player's distance Mizuno JPX921 Forged irons. Hit the range twice now so far I haven't been hitting them nearly as consistent as my previous irons. The new Mizuno's are actually fitted whereas the old Cobra's were stock. When I hit them well, they feel great, but I'm not consistently hitting them well. This is my first time moving from one set of irons to another, so curious to hear from others.

In 2019 I bought a new set, Callaway Mavrik Pro's from TM Burner 2.0.  It took me 2-3 rounds playing to get used to them.  Looking down at them they just looked different,and it took me a little to get the club set on the ground, and squared up, and an address position that results in good contact.

Driver: Cobra King Speedzone

Irons:  :callaway-small: Mavrik 4-GW

Wedges:  :cleveland-small: CG-14 56 & RTX 52

Putter:  :ping-small: Scottsdale Wolverine

Woods:  Gigagolf  3W, 2H, 3H

Ball:  Srixon Z-Star XV 

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1 hour ago, brogies said:

Curious to get everyone's opinion. Moving from old game improvement Cobra Amp-D irons to brand new player's distance Mizuno JPX921 Forged irons. Hit the range twice now so far I haven't been hitting them nearly as consistent as my previous irons. The new Mizuno's are actually fitted whereas the old Cobra's were stock. When I hit them well, they feel great, but I'm not consistently hitting them well. This is my first time moving from one set of irons to another, so curious to hear from others.

My thoughts:

1. Fitted clubs does not guarantee better ball striking.  Each day my swing is slightly different so one day may be more toe and the next more heel.  We also don’t know how different the clubs are with regards to swing weight, total weight, length, lie angle, etc.  

2.  Some clubs are just way different and it probably takes a range session to figure out the idiosyncrasies.

3. I don’t always hit the center of the club nor do I expect to based on my skill level.  How are you defining hitting them well?  As a 9 you probably have decent ball striking skills and hit some bad or really bad shots.   What are you seeing that is raising the concern?  Too much pressure on yourself to hit them well and justify the cost? 

Driver:  :ping-small: G400 Max 9* w/ KBS Tour Driven
Fairway: :titelist-small: TS3 15*  w/Project X Hzardous Smoke
Hybrids:  :titelist-small: 915H 21* w/KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype
                :titelist-small: 915H  24*  w/KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype        
Irons:      :honma:TR20V 6-11 w/Vizard TR20-85 Graphite
Wedge:  :titleist-small: 54/12D, 60/8M w/:Accra iWedge 90 Graphite
Putter:   :taylormade-small:TM-180

Testing:   SPGC_logo.jpg

Backups:  :odyssey-small: Milled Collection RSX 2, :seemore-small: mFGP2, :cameron-small: Futura 5W

Member:  MGS Hitsquad since 2017697979773_DSCN2368(Custom).JPG.a1a25f5e430d9eebae93c5d652cbd4b9.JPG

 

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My thoughts,

I have had close to 10 sets of irons over the years. Usually it only take a round or two to get the feel for them and to dial in the distance if you are staying in the same category of irons (super game improvement, game improvement, players distance, players). Once you change category's there can be a bigger learning curve. You have the AMP's which is a game improvement iron. The AMP stands for advanced material placement, which means that weight is strategically placed in the head of each club to help improve performance. There is also a larger off-set from the shaft to the face than a players distance iron typically. You now have a smaller margin for error in squaring the club face and less mass on the sole. The mass on the sole helps get the ball air born easier. Now that you made the category switch it might take a little bit longer to get your swing dialed in to the new clubs. The old clubs masked some imperfections in your swing due to all the game improvement features and now you have to fine tune the swing a little bit more. It will come quickly so don't get discouraged. Believe it or not I played game improvement clubs all the way down to a 4 handicap and only switched to players distance a little over two years ago. So I went through the same adjustment you are going through. Another few rounds and you will be fine.     

:titleist-small: Driver, TSi 1 S Flex

:cobra-small: 3 wood, Aerojet Max UST Helium Nanocore R Flex

:cobra-small: 5 wood, Aerojet Max UST Helium Nanocore R Flex 

:cobra-small: 7 Wood, Aerojet Max UST Helium Nanocore R Flex 

:cobra-small: 5 Hybrid King Tec MMT R Flex

:cobra-small: Irons, Tour UST Recoil 95 R Flex (6 - Gap)

:cobra-small: Wedges, Snakebite KBS Hi- Rev2.0 54* & 60*

:cobra-small: Agera 35"

image.png Ultralight 14-way Cart Bag

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Can't really add much more to what's been said. Different size/type head, different weight shaft, different look at address, and so much more can all have an impact. A few more range sessions and rounds should help you adjust.

In my  :wilson_staff_small:  carry bag:
:mizuno-small: ST-X 10.5* Kai'li Blue R Flex
:mizuno-small: ST-Z 15* Kai/li Blue R Flex
:mizuno-small: ST-Z 4h Linq Blue R Flex
:cleveland-small: Launcher 5h
:cleveland-small: Launcher CBX 6i-PW
:cleveland-small: CBX 54* & 58*
:cleveland-small: Huntington Beach #10
:bridgestone-small: e12 Contact
CURRENTLY TESTING - Mizuno Long Game

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22 minutes ago, cnosil said:

My thoughts:

1. Fitted clubs does not guarantee better ball striking.  Each day my swing is slightly different so one day may be more toe and the next more heel.  We also don’t know how different the clubs are with regards to swing weight, total weight, length, lie angle, etc.  

2.  Some clubs are just way different and it probably takes a range session to figure out the idiosyncrasies.

3. I don’t always hit the center of the club nor do I expect to based on my skill level.  How are you defining hitting them well?  As a 9 you probably have decent ball striking skills and hit some bad or really bad shots.   What are you seeing that is raising the concern?  Too much pressure on yourself to hit them well and justify the cost? 

Very good thoughts. So far, I've been pulling the ball more than I would expect with the irons. Part of that is definitely my swing needing to tighten up (I haven't played much over the last two weeks) and part is probably not squaring up the club face properly yet. Definitely a different look and feel to the club, so will take some getting used to. I probably am putting too much pressure on myself!

15 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

My thoughts,

I have had close to 10 sets of irons over the years. Usually it only take a round or two to get the feel for them and to dial in the distance if you are staying in the same category of irons (super game improvement, game improvement, players distance, players). Once you change category's there can be a bigger learning curve. You have the AMP's which is a game improvement iron. The AMP stands for advanced material placement, which means that weight is strategically placed in the head of each club to help improve performance. There is also a larger off-set from the shaft to the face than a players distance iron typically. You now have a smaller margin for error in squaring the club face and less mass on the sole. The mass on the sole helps get the ball air born easier. Now that you made the category switch it might take a little bit longer to get your swing dialed in to the new clubs. The old clubs masked some imperfections in you swing due to all the game improvement features and now you have to fine tune the swing a little bit more. It will come quickly so don't get discouraged. Believe it or not I played game improvement clubs all the way down to a 4 handicap and only switched to players distance a little over two years ago. So I went through the same adjustment you are going through. Another few rounds and you will be fine.     

Really awesome information. Thanks! This definitely makes me feel better.

Driver: Ping G430 Max 10K 9º | Ping Tour 2.0 Black 75S

Fairway Wood: Ping G430 Max 3W 15º | Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 75S

Hybrids: Ping G425 Max 3H 19º | Tensei Orange 80S & Ping 4i iCrossover 22.5° | Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 85S

Irons: Mizuno JPX921 Forged (5-GW) | Dynamic Gold 120 S300

Wedges: Ping s159 54º & 58º | PING Z-Z115

Putter: Ping Anser (2023)

Ball: ProV1x

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23 minutes ago, cnosil said:

1. Fitted clubs does not guarantee better ball striking.  Each day my swing is slightly different so one day may be more toe and the next more heel.  We also don’t know how different the clubs are with regards to swing weight, total weight, length, lie angle, etc.

I will just second this notion.  My Mavrik's were not fitted.  I bought them based on loft to fill in a gap in my old set.  I've tried indoor and outdoor fittings, and it would appear to anyone watching that I had NEVER held a golf club before at my attempted fittings.

Driver: Cobra King Speedzone

Irons:  :callaway-small: Mavrik 4-GW

Wedges:  :cleveland-small: CG-14 56 & RTX 52

Putter:  :ping-small: Scottsdale Wolverine

Woods:  Gigagolf  3W, 2H, 3H

Ball:  Srixon Z-Star XV 

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This is a pretty common occurrence with players who get "properly" fit the first time. A lot of times, golfers playing off the shelf game-improvement irons will be using club with a relatively light shaft that may or may not technically be a good fit for them. Then they play those irons for years and get used to them. Then they go get fitted and put into a more "industry standard" weighted club and suddenly everything feels different. I know many are also getting fitted into SteelFiber shafts and that is causing people some grief regarding lack of feel because as good as those shafts are from a numbers perspective, they aren't a direct replacement for steel in the feel department.

I don't know if the shaft and weighting feels dramatically different to you but between the large change of getting fitted, you're also going from a GI iron head to something less forgiving. You're going from a relatively wide soled GI iron with a low and more rearward center of gravity (COG) to a narrower soled players-esque club with a significantly higher COG. So you have two or three notable changes in clubhead design that makes the JPX less forgiving but that isn't necessarily bad, just different. The JPX921 Forged aren't the narrowest of clubs so you will have a little sole to work with but it's not going to be quite like your Cobra shovels. The higher COG is probably what is making the clubs not feel as good or consistent. Golfworks measured the JPX Forged 6-iron to have a 0.844" COG. The ball has a COG 0.84" which means that in order to have a solid feeling strike with the Mizunos, you must either strike slightly down on the ball or find another way to get the club's COG slightly below the ball's COG. You may have guessed, but the COG of the club has to be at or below that of the ball for a "solid" feeling strike.

So if you take into account the change in shafts and club head characteristics, it's not a surprise you aren't striking the ball as well. However, unless they did something weird and put you in graphite when you're used to steel, you're new irons will probably be good for you. It will just take some time and maybe some lessons. These irons might be showing some of your swing deficiencies that the old Cobras were maybe helping you compensate for. Good luck with the new sticks!

Edit: I just saw you got fitted into the DG120 S300 shaft. That is likely a dramatic change from whatever stock shaft was on the Cobra's. The original Amp irons had the Dynalite 90s, so you're new shafts may be 20+ grams heavier with a significantly different bend profile. This will definitely take some time to get used to if this is the case.

Edited by Kansas King
Update
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39 minutes ago, Kansas King said:

This is a pretty common occurrence with players who get "properly" fit the first time. A lot of times, golfers playing off the shelf game-improvement irons will be using club with a relatively light shaft that may or may not technically be a good fit for them. Then they play those irons for years and get used to them. Then they go get fitted and put into a more "industry standard" weighted club and suddenly everything feels different. I know many are also getting fitted into SteelFiber shafts and that is causing people some grief regarding lack of feel because as good as those shafts are from a numbers perspective, they aren't a direct replacement for steel in the feel department.

I don't know if the shaft and weighting feels dramatically different to you but between the large change of getting fitted, you're also going from a GI iron head to something less forgiving. You're going from a relatively wide soled GI iron with a low and more rearward center of gravity (COG) to a narrower soled players-esque club with a significantly higher COG. So you have two or three notable changes in clubhead design that makes the JPX less forgiving but that isn't necessarily bad, just different. The JPX921 Forged aren't the narrowest of clubs so you will have a little sole to work with but it's not going to be quite like your Cobra shovels. The higher COG is probably what is making the clubs not feel as good or consistent. Golfworks measured the JPX Forged 6-iron to have a 0.844" COG. The ball has a COG 0.84" which means that in order to have a solid feeling strike with the Mizunos, you must either strike slightly down on the ball or find another way to get the club's COG slightly below the ball's COG. You may have guessed, but the COG of the club has to be at or below that of the ball for a "solid" feeling strike.

So if you take into account the change in shafts and club head characteristics, it's not a surprise you aren't striking the ball as well. However, unless they did something weird and put you in graphite when you're used to steel, you're new irons will probably be good for you. It will just take some time and maybe some lessons. These irons might be showing some of your swing deficiencies that the old Cobras were maybe helping you compensate for. Good luck with the new sticks!

Edit: I just saw you got fitted into the DG120 S300 shaft. That is likely a dramatic change from whatever stock shaft was on the Cobra's. The original Amp irons had the Dynalite 90s, so you're new shafts may be 20+ grams heavier with a significantly different bend profile. This will definitely take some time to get used to if this is the case.

This was an awesome response. It all makes total sense. Thank you so much!

Driver: Ping G430 Max 10K 9º | Ping Tour 2.0 Black 75S

Fairway Wood: Ping G430 Max 3W 15º | Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 75S

Hybrids: Ping G425 Max 3H 19º | Tensei Orange 80S & Ping 4i iCrossover 22.5° | Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 85S

Irons: Mizuno JPX921 Forged (5-GW) | Dynamic Gold 120 S300

Wedges: Ping s159 54º & 58º | PING Z-Z115

Putter: Ping Anser (2023)

Ball: ProV1x

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3 hours ago, Kansas King said:

I just saw you got fitted into the DG120 S300 shaft. That is likely a dramatic change from whatever stock shaft was on the Cobra's. The original Amp irons had the Dynalite 90s, so you're new shafts may be 20+ grams heavier with a significantly different bend profile. This will definitely take some time to get used to if this is the case.

That's the first item on my sensory list when changing gear, the shaft, and what it brings to the dinner table.

Good hand action comes from good body action.     

:macgregor-small:  :benhogan-small: :cobra-small:

 

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Thanks for all the responses! Just a quick update. Went to the range at lunchtime and hit the irons pretty well. Got my swing dialed in a little tighter and I'm getting more used to the smaller head and offset. Will continue working on it!

Driver: Ping G430 Max 10K 9º | Ping Tour 2.0 Black 75S

Fairway Wood: Ping G430 Max 3W 15º | Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 75S

Hybrids: Ping G425 Max 3H 19º | Tensei Orange 80S & Ping 4i iCrossover 22.5° | Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 85S

Irons: Mizuno JPX921 Forged (5-GW) | Dynamic Gold 120 S300

Wedges: Ping s159 54º & 58º | PING Z-Z115

Putter: Ping Anser (2023)

Ball: ProV1x

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Try and not get too amped up or too quick with the new irons. When I get a new club (s), I tend to just want to jump on them with everything instead of just making a smooth swing.

Driver: :titelist-small: TSI3 - 10*, Hzrdus Smoke 6.0 Stiff

Driver: :taylormade-small: Stealth Plus - 10.5*, Oban Kiyoshi Purple O4Flex-65 Grams Purred
3 Wood: :taylormade-small: SIM - 15*, Graphite Design Tour AD DJ5 Stiff
Hybrid: :titelist-small: TS3 - 19*, Hzrdus Smoke 6.0 Stiff
Irons: :titelist-small:  5 - PW T150, with Nippon Zelos 7 Reg, 4 iron - U505 with Project X HZRDUS Black Stiff

Wedges: :titelist-small: Vokey SM 8 - 50*, 60* Standard Wedge Shafts

Wedge: :taylormade-small: Milled Grind 3 MG3 56* S200 shaft

Putter:  :scotty-cameron-1: Studio Select Newport 1.5        
Putter:  :scotty-cameron-1: Phantom X 5.5
Ball: :titelist-small: Pro V1x

 

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15 minutes ago, GaDawg said:

Try and not get too amped up or too quick with the new irons. When I get a new club (s), I tend to just want to jump on them with everything instead of just making a smooth swing.

Yea, definitely something I've noticed as well. Heavier, stiffer shafts than my previous irons so I definitely find myself over-swinging sometimes. Good advice.

Driver: Ping G430 Max 10K 9º | Ping Tour 2.0 Black 75S

Fairway Wood: Ping G430 Max 3W 15º | Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 75S

Hybrids: Ping G425 Max 3H 19º | Tensei Orange 80S & Ping 4i iCrossover 22.5° | Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 85S

Irons: Mizuno JPX921 Forged (5-GW) | Dynamic Gold 120 S300

Wedges: Ping s159 54º & 58º | PING Z-Z115

Putter: Ping Anser (2023)

Ball: ProV1x

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