Golf clubs for high speed beginners

[Cam73]

I'm a beginner who powerlifts, but I'm sure there are other beginners coming from sports like baseball that could use advice as well. Virtually all beginner irons are hollow body distance-focused clubs. They're marketed as the most forgiving etc. For people like me who don't need distance, but still need forgiveness on mis-hits, where should I be looking? With my swing speed if I draw the ball too much or get a flyer lie, I could go 30-40y long with those distance irons. I've also been told "just swing slower" before but usually those people can't comprehend how difficult it would be to dial 15-20mph off club speed. My current solution has been to use a set of these distance irons 4-pw and then just pretend it's a 3-9iron set and stick an extra wedge in as my "pw" For reference, my 80% "fairway finder" driver swing sits between 115-120mph and I've gotten up to 128-130 mph when trying to swing fast. Thanks

[GolfSpy SAM]

49 minutes ago, Cam73 said:

I'm a beginner who powerlifts, but I'm sure there are other beginners coming from sports like baseball that could use advice as well. Virtually all beginner irons are hollow body distance-focused clubs. They're marketed as the most forgiving etc. For people like me who don't need distance, but still need forgiveness on mis-hits, where should I be looking? With my swing speed if I draw the ball too much or get a flyer lie, I could go 30-40y long with those distance irons. I've also been told "just swing slower" before but usually those people can't comprehend how difficult it would be to dial 15-20mph off club speed. My current solution has been to use a set of these distance irons 4-pw and then just pretend it's a 3-9iron set and stick an extra wedge in as my "pw" For reference, my 80% "fairway finder" driver swing sits between 115-120mph and I've gotten up to 128-130 mph when trying to swing fast. Thanks

I'd recommend taking a look at Maltby clubs (they sell them through www.golfworks.com), in particular the TS-3 line.  They're a forged cavity-back body that isn't super jacked in loft (32* 7-iron), but they're incredibly forgiving and beautiful to look at.  They go 4-GW (Gap Wedge being 48), with 4* increments.  If you go through the Custom Shop section of the website, you can build them with whatever shafts work well for you (presumably x-stiff 120? Just a guess), and a full set will run you right around $800.  There are ways to save money, for sure - you could order the heads only and build them yourself, if you're into that, and have access to the shafts you prefer - the heads themselves are only $55 each.  

They are shockingly forgiving, but very, very player friendly - they're considered a "Super Game Improvement" iron (so, comparable to the TaylorMade Stealth, or Cobra Aeroject) without the crazy lofts.

While you're at the site, take a look at their "playability factor" charts, where you can see all the top head models ranked on their Playability Factor (effectively, how easy they are to hit).   (https://www.golfworks.com/head-mpf-ratings/)

Good luck, and let us know what you end up in!

Also, welcome to the forum! Glad you've joined us!

[RickyBobby_PR]

Well let’s look at the pros. Ping i20,210 and 230 have been in the bags of many of the Ping pga tour and euro tour now dp world tour staff and they are GI clubs. Titleist AP2 and now t100 are the most popular. Several titleist staff use t200 in their long irons.

There are lots of high speed golfers on the internet using hollow body irons like i500 and p790.

the best thing you can do is go see a qualified fitter and find what shaft and clubhead work best for you. 
 

Swing speed is an input and isn’t used as much as people think to choose clubs including drivers or shafts. It’s the output that the speed and swing price that determine shaft and clubhead

[Tarheelvolvo]

Agree with @RickyBobby_PR, see a fitter. Most places will even fit for free if you order clubs through them. 
 

Im not a power lifter, but go to the gym fairly regularly and have a driver SS of ~117mph (measured a couple weeks ago) and originally had some Game Improvement irons that I was over-swinging (eg: my SS was working against the clubs forgiveness tech). Right now I play the T200 w/ DG X100 shafts. 
 

The heads are only a portion of the club and could be you need a heavier shaft to intentionally slow you down some - something maybe even like a DG S400 @ 134g weight. 
 

a qualified fitter can really dial you in to find the best combo of head and shaft. Let us know what you end up with!

[RickyBobby_PR]

7 hours ago, Tarheelvolvo said:

Agree with @RickyBobby_PR, see a fitter. Most places will even fit for free if you order clubs through them. 
 

Im not a power lifter, but go to the gym fairly regularly and have a driver SS of ~117mph (measured a couple weeks ago) and originally had some Game Improvement irons that I was over-swinging (eg: my SS was working against the clubs forgiveness tech). Right now I play the T200 w/ DG X100 shafts. 
 

The heads are only a portion of the club and could be you need a heavier shaft to intentionally slow you down some - something maybe even like a DG S400 @ 134g weight. 
 

a qualified fitter can really dial you in to find the best combo of head and shaft. Let us know what you end up with!

I have a friend that is similar swing speed to you an has been in the original t200s since the release date. He did a titleist fitting. For driver he was fit to tsi2 and tensei av white shaft.

He is in no upcharge shafts in all his clubs. He’s also overs around a 3 handicap. 

[Tarheelvolvo]

16 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

I have a friend that is similar swing speed to you an has been in the original t200s since the release date. He did a titleist fitting. For driver he was fit to tsi2 and tensei av white shaft.

He is in no upcharge shafts in all his clubs. He’s also overs around a 3 handicap. 

Well, let this be a lesson to all - a high SS does not a good golfer make

I have enjoyed my T200’s and am slowly, but surely catching up to their performance with my game. 
 

@Cam73 - if I were to go to a fitter now I would look at Mizuno JPX 923 or 921 (if you can still find a decent set), Srixon ZX4 or 5, Titleist T200’s, or maybe New Level (if you can find a fitter that has any). I don’t believe Ping or Callaway would serve you all that well given your need of forgiveness mixed with your speed. Cobra and TM might have something, though…

[RickyBobby_PR]

9 hours ago, Tarheelvolvo said:

Well, let this be a lesson to all - a high SS does not a good golfer make

I have enjoyed my T200’s and am slowly, but surely catching up to their performance with my game. 
 

@Cam73 - if I were to go to a fitter now I would look at Mizuno JPX 923 or 921 (if you can still find a decent set), Srixon ZX4 or 5, Titleist T200’s, or maybe New Level (if you can find a fitter that has any). I don’t believe Ping or Callaway would serve you all that well given your need of forgiveness mixed with your speed. Cobra and TM might have something, though…

Callaway has several option. The apex 21 and apex DCB. Depending on where strikes are the rogue st, but also the paradym irons as well. Ping has i230 which is borderline GI club and the i525 a nice forgiving hollow body that’s just like the tm p790.

Every brand has a mix of options that include an option similar to the models you mentioned from the other brands.

Not to mention pxg sub70

[jbsap]

By no means a power lifter, but a college baseball background. I’ve struggled with this same dilemma since I started playing 10 years ago. For reference I’ve seen as high as 123 ss on trackman, but my smooth swing is more so 118. My favorite set of irons I ever had was p760’s. I’m currently in the most recent set of p770’s and find them to be a good mix of forgiveness, profile, and haven’t seen too much of a flyer in the 4 months I’ve had them. I also enjoyed the mizuno pro 223’s I just didn’t get along with the shaft I had in them. 

[Donn lost in San Diego]

Ah the luxury of speed.  try some muscle back blades.  Mizuno, Srixon, Callaway, Titleist, Wilson, new models or old ones.  There is a lot of fun inside old top notch blades.  MacGregor was Nicklaus favorite, and Wilson ruled the world for years with their blades.  Ping makes blades too even tho the founder, Karsten Solheim, was the inventor of making a molten alloy of harder stainless steel and pouring it into a hollow body mold.  He tried making cavity back / perimeter weighted clubs, and ended up inventing a whole new way of clubmaking.  Blades have smaller sweet spots.  They transmit more feel back to your hands.  As you get skilled, you can spin the ball left and right more with blades than with cavity/cast metal clubs.  Blades are forged into shape from a small single block of a softer, more carbon, steel, than the stainless steel poured into a mold.