When to move on from game improvement irons ?

[Paulb95]

Hi, I currently have Wilson D9 irons that I was fitted to when I took golf up just under two years ago. Since then I’ve became addicted to the game and play a lot. I’m only a 18.6 handicap but looking to get better this year through monthly lessons and a lot of practice. My irons would be the best part of my game for distance but I also understand the D9’s are strongly lofted. My question would be when should I move on from game improvement irons ? I find some of these irons are now launching very high and I lose distance ? My swing has also progressed (I hope) should this be a factor ? 
 

Thanks

 

[Fongle]

I typed your question into Googles AI Chat, and it genuinely had some good advice to your question, which is as follows;

 

"Deciding when to upgrade from game-improvement irons is a personal choice with no one-size-fits-all answer. However, some key factors can guide your decision:

Skill level and handicap:

Lowering handicap: Generally, as your handicap drops and your swing becomes more consistent, you might reach a point where game-improvement irons no longer feel like they optimize your performance. Players in the single digits or approaching them may benefit from more control and workability offered by players irons.

Swing consistency: Even at higher handicaps, if you have a consistent swing and struggle with distance control or shot shaping, switching to irons offering more feedback and workability could be beneficial.

 

Desire for control and feedback:

Shot shaping: If you want to shape your shots, draw or fade on command, game-improvement irons with their wider soles and larger sweet spots might limit your options. Players irons typically offer thinner soles and smaller sweet spots, allowing for more control over ball flight.

Feel: Some golfers simply prefer the feel of forged irons or smaller clubheads, even if they sacrifice some forgiveness. The direct connection and feedback these irons provide can be rewarding for skilled players.

 

Other factors:

Age of your current irons: While not a decisive factor, if your irons are several years old, technological advancements in newer models might offer significant performance gains.

Budget: Players irons tend to be more expensive than game-improvement models. Consider your budget before making the switch.

 

Instead of focusing solely on handicap, pay attention to your individual needs and desires. Here are some tips:

Get fitted: A professional fitting can identify which irons, regardless of category, best suit your swing and performance goals.

Demo clubs: Many retailers offer demo clubs. Try out different models to see if you feel a difference in control, distance, or feedback.

Listen to your swing: If you're hitting consistent, solid shots with your current irons and aren't yearning for more control, there's no need to rush into a change.

 

Ultimately, the decision to upgrade should be based on your personal goals and what will help you improve your game. Remember, the best irons are the ones that make you feel confident and perform your best."

[revkev]

Great question - see the no one size fits all answer above. Not all handicaps, skill levels are created equal. So even handicaps are deceptive as a gauge. 
 

Also eye sight can be deceptive. Normally what “looks too high” for us isn’t really that high a launch at all. You need to get on a track man like device to determine launch and spin rates. 
 

A good rule of thumb that gets mentioned here is to play the most help that your eye can tolerate unless you are truly an elite or are aspiring to be an elite player. Players irons are sweet when hit well and give you the ability to hit more shots. Those irons and shots normally require more practice time. Do you have that time? Would it be better spent on other parts of your game to lower your handicap or is improved workability and control the missing piece for your game?

 

Finally you mentioned taking lessons this season. This would be a great discussion to have with your coach.

Good luck and let us know what you decide and how it turns out. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

The previous two answers are really helpful. To add to them, I don't think there is a set time. It all depends on confidence and performance. For you it seems like you could be due given you are not getting the performance requirements or if your irons. 

Demo days are here or around the corner so time to get demoing clubs!!

[skraeling]

im under a 16hcp now (started at over 25) and its still going lower.  I play SUPER game improvement irons (Sim2 OS).

Honestly?  Unless they break, I never plan to replace them.  Ive shot almost par twice now with them and have played some really really good golf.  I know how they will behave even on the occasional flier.

I dont need to shape the ball, im not getting scouted for the pga tour, and frankly if it goes straight more often than not?  I can work with that.

Also its partly budget too.  New clubs are expensive and not getting any less so.  Took me a bit of reacclimating to them.  I got fitted at the end of a golf league season and got them before the next season started during the middle of winter.  So no practice at all.  Took me a few weeks to get back to feeling like I hadnt made a mistake.  

many rounds later I cant see myself giving them up ever.

Edited January 30 by skraeling

[bbanksp1]

What’s the point of moving on. I finally woke up and moved INTO game improvement irons. One of the best decisions ever. No recreational golfer can consistently or needs to shape the ball. We need to be able to hit the ball where we are looking. It’s about the quality of the miss and getting the ball to land and stop on the green. I’m not talking about shovels or extreme GI irons. Personally I don’t like the strong lofted hollow body irons. Not enough spin. I’m talking strong lofted cavity backs. I moved into Titleist T300s and I’ve never been happier. IMO golfers who need a certain look aren’t really trying to shoot the lowest scores. At my best I was playing Mizuno MP-32. Beautiful blades. Nice mid trajectory short iron shots but with slightly above average swing speed in my early 40s the mid and long irons were undependable in my hands. Do the T300s feel like Mizuno blades?  Heck no. Do they make a god awful noise on mishits?  Oh yes. But  they go long straight and high. I’d rather see that shot than fancier clubs sitting in my bag all day. 
 

as I’ve said on this forum—those Cleveland. Zipcore XL irons are looking so sweet btw. I’ll be having those for sure. 

Edited January 30 by bbanksp1
Spelling

[Paulb95]

Thanks for the replies, think I’m going to get a fitting done to see if it would benefit my game to change then decide if it would be worth it. Will post the results once I have them.

 

@skraeling that was one of my thoughts that would they eventually damage my game but great to hear you’ve not experienced that. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

There’s no reason to move onto something different if the club is working for you.

Now if the performance of the club is not working for you ie too much or not enough spin, launch, apex or descent angle aren’t optimal anymore.

Or you just want something different.

Some of the most popular clubs on tour over the years have been AP2, i20,i210,i230, T100. Pros are playing forgiving irons

[skraeling]

2 minutes ago, Paulb95 said:

Thanks for the replies, think I’m going to get a fitting done to see if it would benefit my game to change then decide if it would be worth it. Will post the results once I have them.

 

@skraeling that was one of my thoughts that would they eventually damage my game but great to hear you’ve not experienced that. 

This is the screen grab I got from my fitting (this was my stock 7i, some model year of Strata).

This was maybe.... 3ish years ago?

 

This is the last round I played before the weather turned.  Not much pain here (other than making a few poor choices on the course haha).

[cnosil]

I like to point people to an article I found when they ask this question. it makes some great points.  

https://pluggedingolf.com/the-golf-equipment-idea-that-must-die/

One of the parts I like is where he comments that this is an irons only question as we don’t generally want to switch to a less forgiving driver or putter.   

[Rob Person]

3 minutes ago, Paulb95 said:

Thanks for the replies, think I’m going to get a fitting done to see if it would benefit my game to change then decide if it would be worth it. Will post the results once I have them.

 

@skraeling that was one of my thoughts that would they eventually damage my game but great to hear you’ve not experienced that. 

Welcome to the site!!!  

As a high handicap golfer, I can say that I began 2 years ago with hand me down clubs that I'm not fitted for. Eventually I will be though. 

If you are unsure about moving on to different clubs, and as you stated are progressing into better playability, have you considered changing the shafts out to see if that helps?

[Paulb95]

10 minutes ago, bbanksp1 said:

What’s the point of moving on. I finally woke and moved INTO game improvement irons. One of the best decisions ever. No recreational golfer can consistently or needs to shape the ball. We need to be able to hit the ball where we are looking. It’s about the quality of the miss and getting the ball to land and stop on the green. I’m not talking about shovels or extreme GI irons. Personally I don’t like the strong lofted hollow body irons. Not enough spin. I’m talking strong lofted cavity backs. I moved into Titleist T300s and I’ve never been happier. IMO golfers who need a certain look aren’t really trying to shoot the lowest scores. At my best I was playing Mizuno MP-32. Beautiful blades. Nice mid trajectory short iron shots but with slightly above average swing speed in my early 40s the mid and long irons were undependable in my hands. Do the T300s feel like Mizuno blades?  Heck no. Do they make a god awful noise on mishits?  Oh yes. But  they go long straight and high. I’d rather see that shot that fancier clubs sitting in my bag all day. 
 

as I’ve said on this forum—those Cleveland. Zipcore XL irons are looking so sweet btw. I’ll be having those for sure. 

Thanks for the reply, definitely wouldn’t be looking at moving into blades, as you said I have no massive need for shot shaping nor do I have the consistency to play with them. The looks of a club plays a small part with my confidence over a shot ie. I hate the look of my hybrid behind a ball compared to an iron but again at my level I have no need for a 3 iron. I suppose this may be a reason a lot of manufacturers now have sets that can be combined. 

[Shapotomous]

2 hours ago, Fongle said:

I typed your question into Googles AI Chat, and it genuinely had some good advice to your question, which is as follows;
 

Thats funny...one of my side gigs is to review, rate and offer suggestions for AI generated responses. Sometimes the exercise is to create the question and sometimes the questions are provided.  A question i created over the weekend asked when to start playing game improvement irons and how to choose between the available models.  The answers were pretty good and i only made a couple small suggestions.  MGS was even mentioned by AI as a good source for equipment reviews too!

Edited January 30 by Shapotomous

[Paulb95]

7 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I like to point people to an article I found when they ask this question. it makes some great points.  

https://pluggedingolf.com/the-golf-equipment-idea-that-must-die/

One of the parts I like is where he comments that this is an irons only question as we don’t generally want to switch to a less forgiving driver or putter.   

Thanks for the reply, very good article. I recently switched from a blade putter to a spider GTX due to being unable to keep the club under control, didnt like the weight of the blade and my putting has drastically improved.

Although I got fitted for a new driver last year which in hindsight I was very naive with. Got the srixon Zx7 which I hit 30 yards further but also meant it went 30 yards further left or right ( mostly right ) and to this day regret not trying the Ping drivers.

[JAGolfore]

One of the biggest myths in golf is you need player irons to score well and have a low handicap.  Play what you want and what fits your swing.  You will find guys playing GI irons on every major tour.  It is "ADVERTISED" that way no, but that's the golf industry.  They are in the business of selling clubs.  Main point is have fun, and play what you are comfortable playing.  

[bbanksp1]

38 minutes ago, Paulb95 said:

Thanks for the reply, definitely wouldn’t be looking at moving into blades, as you said I have no massive need for shot shaping nor do I have the consistency to play with them. The looks of a club plays a small part with my confidence over a shot ie. I hate the look of my hybrid behind a ball compared to an iron but again at my level I have no need for a 3 iron. I suppose this may be a reason a lot of manufacturers now have sets that can be combined. 

More opinion: most shouldn’t have more than a 5-6 iron in the bag. For me I start at 7 iron. I sometimes put 6 iron in the bag in high wind. 

for context I’m a 4 index with 95 ish driver swing speed on the course. Not max speed. 
 

iron replacements for me:

 

3/4 iron-7wood. The positive move that started it all. can actually hit a green and have the ball stop  

5 iron- 9 wood Hits the ball HIGH. In high winds can be tricky  but 90 % of the time this is another magic club. I also have a hybrid I can put in the bag that flights it down more  

6iron- 5 hybrid with loft adjusted toward 6 iron.  Adds a lot of versatility to the bag  

 

then 7-P plus 3 more wedges  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bbanksp1]

47 minutes ago, Paulb95 said:

Thanks for the reply, very good article. I recently switched from a blade putter to a spider GTX due to being unable to keep the club under control, didnt like the weight of the blade and my putting has drastically improved.

Although I got fitted for a new driver last year which in hindsight I was very naive with. Got the srixon Zx7 which I hit 30 yards further but also meant it went 30 yards further left or right ( mostly right ) and to this day regret not trying the Ping drivers.

New Ping G430 10k is soooooo straight. 

[skraeling]

10 minutes ago, bbanksp1 said:

More opinion: most shouldn’t have more than a 5-6 iron in the bag. For me I start at 7 iron. I sometimes put 6 iron in the bag in high wind. 

for context I’m a 4 index with 95 ish driver swing speed on the course. Not max speed. 
 

iron replacements for me:

 

3/4 iron-7wood. The positive move that started it all. can actually hit a green and have the ball stop  

5 iron- 9 wood Hits the ball HIGH. In high winds can be tricky  but 90 % of the time this is another magic club. I also have a hybrid I can put in the bag that flights it down more  

6iron- 5 hybrid with loft adjusted toward 6 iron.  Adds a lot of versatility to the bag  

 

then 7-P plus 3 more wedges  

 

 

 

 

 

 

That said I do like having my 5i (all 19* of it) to punch out from under trees.  My hybrid just will launch it too high.  Needed?  Probably not, but it has come in handy a few times.

 

Edited January 30 by skraeling

[Kenny B]

6 minutes ago, skraeling said:

That said I do like having my 5i (all 19* of it) to punch out from under trees.  My hybrid just will launch it too high.  Needed?  Probably not, but it has come in handy a few times.

 

My 4i is 25º and I use it for similar shots, but it is also useful on our longest par 3 when the wind is in my face.  I have a Bridgestone SGI set with a 5i that 22º but it's not as useful in that regard for some reason.

[Kenny B]

23 minutes ago, bbanksp1 said:

5 iron- 9 wood Hits the ball HIGH. In high winds can be tricky  but 90 % of the time this is another magic club. I also have a hybrid I can put in the bag that flights it down more  

 

I also added a 9 wood last year; hated it at first but now I enjoy it.  Just took some getting use to hitting it.  I gave up on hybrids.

[bbanksp1]

6 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

I also added a 9 wood last year; hated it at first but now I enjoy it.  Just took some getting use to hitting it.  I gave up on hybrids.

Definitely goes high and can certainly go left. But on the other hand it almost never goes right. 

[skraeling]

Quite enjoy my high launch 3w (a disguised 4w really at 16.5*).

can use it off the tee for a very easy 200yd, or really crank it and occasionally hit 240 with it. Fairway it’ll do about the same on an ideal lie for me.

[bbanksp1]

7 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

I also added a 9 wood last year; hated it at first but now I enjoy it.  Just took some getting use to hitting it.  I gave up on hybrids.

I used it at Sea Island this weekend in a tournament. There were 25 to 30 mile an hour winds. Typically it’ll carry about 175 or 180 yards so into a 25-30mph  wind I hit it on 150 yard par Three. Landed 20 yards short of the pin. Literally went straight up in the air. Haha

[Kenny B]

2 minutes ago, bbanksp1 said:

I used it at Sea Island this weekend in a tournament. There were 25 to 30 mile an hour winds. Typically it’ll carry about 175 or 180 yards so into a 25-30mph  wind I hit it on 150 yard par Three. Landed 20 yards short of the pin. Literally went straight up in the air. Haha

That's when I use my 4i.  

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 hours ago, Paulb95 said:

Thanks for the reply, very good article. I recently switched from a blade putter to a spider GTX due to being unable to keep the club under control, didnt like the weight of the blade and my putting has drastically improved.

Although I got fitted for a new driver last year which in hindsight I was very naive with. Got the srixon Zx7 which I hit 30 yards further but also meant it went 30 yards further left or right ( mostly right ) and to this day regret not trying the Ping drivers.

So you got fit and the driver was performing worse in dispersion and you still bought it?

If that was the case with the driver you didn’t get an actual fitting. A good fitter would have got you a combo that was optimal for distance and dispersion.

[Paulb95]

18 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

So you got fit and the driver was performing worse in dispersion and you still bought it?

If that was the case with the driver you didn’t get an actual fitting. A good fitter would have got you a combo that was optimal for distance and dispersion.

During the fitting I got carried away with the 30 yard increase in distance especially hitting in an indoor studio into a screen where there is no hazards or trees on the software. Hence why I felt I was a bit naive. Looking back on it I’d never of got the driver and should’ve went elsewhere. Didn’t realise there was the ability to delete shots and such on the software either, definitely went in unprepared and regret the experience. All that said the driver does work well for me when I hit it well but I have no doubt there would be better options for me and my swing consistency.
 

 

[funkyjudge]

I don’t think that there is a specific time to make the move to, or away from, game improvement irons. I have seen some mid-teens handicap golfers do very well with “players” irons, even with blades if they really strike the irons very well. I’ve also seen low-handicappers who are much more comfortable playing game-improvement irons.

[Fred Mitchell]

7 hours ago, skraeling said:

This is the screen grab I got from my fitting (this was my stock 7i, some model year of Strata).

This was maybe.... 3ish years ago?

 

This is the last round I played before the weather turned.  Not much pain here (other than making a few poor choices on the course haha).

IMO wouldnt hurt to get on a launch monitor again , pick one of the places you rent it for an hour and you can make it a winter practice session and see how the numbers compare to when you got them.

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, funkyjudge said:

I don’t think that there is a specific time to make the move to, or away from, game improvement irons. I have seen some mid-teens handicap golfers do very well with “players” irons, even with blades if they really strike the irons very well. I’ve also seen low-handicappers who are much more comfortable playing game-improvement irons.

I have a friend who hovers between a 1-3 cap with 115-177 driver chs. He plays t200s with not problem. he’s on his second set of them

shows that skill level didn’t require one to play less or more forgiving clubs, but rather what works best for one’s game

Edited January 30 by RickyBobby_PR

[skraeling]

36 minutes ago, Fred Mitchell said:

IMO wouldnt hurt to get on a launch monitor again , pick one of the places you rent it for an hour and you can make it a winter practice session and see how the numbers compare to when you got them.

Going off strictly my arccos data im striking the ball better and farther.  For sure want to get on a proper lm before the season starts.

Based on just my home radar my swing speed is already up 5-6mph over what it used to be.

Also that SS of the numbers was my stock 7i, my new one I remember being something like 110mph ball speed?  No idea on swing speed though, Do remember the rpms being about 5500 though.

Edited January 30 by skraeling