Time to Ditch Iron Numbers? Why Loft Should Be the Only Label on Your Clubs

[hadley435]

On 9/15/2024 at 7:04 AM, KJano05 said:

Time to Ditch Iron Numbers? Why Loft Should Be the Only Label on Your Clubs

Golf has a tradition of labeling irons with numbers, but is that system outdated? As manufacturers tweak lofts to squeeze out more distance, a 7-iron from one set can have the same loft as a 5-iron from another. So, why do we still rely on numbers that no longer mean the same thing across different brands?

The Case for Loft-Only Labels

Loft is what really matters when it comes to determining how far and high your ball flies. Two irons labeled with the same number can perform completely differently depending on their lofts. Imagine if you knew you were hitting a 34-degree club instead of just a “7-iron.” Wouldn’t that make it easier to compare clubs, track your performance, and make better decisions on the course?

Why Stick to an Outdated System?

Some argue that iron numbers are a tradition that provides simplicity. But does it really simplify the game when the same number can mean different things depending on the brand? Switching to loft-only labeling would give golfers a clearer, more consistent understanding of their clubs and remove the confusion created by varying lofts.

Let’s Debate: Tradition vs. Clarity

Is it time to ditch the iron numbers? Would loft-only labels make the game more transparent, or would it complicate things further? Let’s hear your thoughts—does tradition still have a place in modern golf, or is it time for a change?

With golf manufacturers continually adjusting lofts for added distance, causing discrepancies in the traditional numbering system of irons (e.g., a 7-iron with the same loft as a 5-iron from another set), is it time to move away from using numbers on irons? Should we adopt a more standardized system across brands that reflects true loft or distance capability, much like we seek uniformity in online systems like ultra panda 777 online?

Edited Wednesday at 05:57 PM by hadley435

[Rico_de_Gallo]

Totally on board with this idea ... somewhere in my golf stuff I have a note card of my club build up, length, lie, loft ,etc.

[Rico_de_Gallo]

On 9/15/2024 at 5:41 AM, Josh Parker said:

3i = 

4i = 

5i = 

6i = 

7i = 

8i = 

9i = 

PW = 

This would be amazing to have stamped on instead of any number/letter combo

[Josh Parker]

3 minutes ago, Rico_de_Gallo said:

This would be amazing to have stamped on instead of any number/letter combo

Order you a kit off Amazon.  $30 and your dreams could be true.  haha

[jaskanski]

Ok - so the animal ID's is a roaring sucess!

Problem is (and I have no data whatsoever to back this up) - most average golfers hit the top 3 longest irons within 15 yards of each other. So maybe there should be big daddy elephant, mommy elephant and baby elephant for these? Or flying pig...whatever.

[RetiredBoomer]

3 minutes ago, jaskanski said:

 

- most average golfers hit the top 3 longest irons within 15 yards of each other.

Too tight gapping...I caught heat for bringing this up.
I'm glad that somebody else recognizes this.

Edited Tuesday at 05:38 PM by RetiredBoomer

[cnosil]

49 minutes ago, RetiredBoomer said:

Too tight gapping...I caught heat for bringing this up.
I'm glad that somebody else recognizes this.

Which means adjust loft or drop a club.  But as they said has nothing to do with how the club is labeled. 

[Josh Parker]

1 hour ago, jaskanski said:

Ok - so the animal ID's is a roaring sucess!

Problem is (and I have no data whatsoever to back this up) - most average golfers hit the top 3 longest irons within 15 yards of each other. So maybe there should be big daddy elephant, mommy elephant and baby elephant for these? Or flying pig...whatever.

ohhhh, or...... three little pigs.  Each last/goes a little further than the last one.

 

In all seriousness though, this is where removal of a long iron and place a hybrid or wood can help with the gapping at the top end of the bag.  I stop at 5 iron personally.  move to hybrid and 5w 

Edited Tuesday at 06:46 PM by Josh Parker

[BIG STU]

8 hours ago, braincramp said:

Oh yea, I knew you were. I haven't been posting much at all lately. It's that time of the year when I try to play more golf before winter. The Grille is really slow since they chased off all the good guys. I'll come here and let you enjoy my company every so often.

Well you will be more than welcome here. @chisag who you know is here too. In fact he and I met here on MGS many moons ago. We also have a 19th hole section which I participate in. We have the Good Morning Thread which is a lot like the Grille USED to be. We also have the Good Evening Thread too. It is freewheeling and we post all hours of the day in both no one gives 2 rips

[BIG STU]

5 hours ago, RetiredBoomer said:

The old classic names like mid-iron, mashie, niblick, etc. would be perfectly ok by me,

Yep I play a Mashie and Mashie Niblick on my Hickory Par3 rounds since the longest hole is only 95 yards

[BIG STU]

4 hours ago, hadley435 said:

With golf manufacturers continually adjusting lofts for added distance, causing discrepancies in the traditional numbering system of irons (e.g., a 7-iron with the same loft as a 5-iron from another set), is it time to move away from using numbers on irons? Should we adopt a more standardized system across brands that reflects true loft or distance capability, much like we seek uniformity in online systems like Ultra Panda 777 online?

It will never happen---- The main thing I tell people is NOT to worry about the loft per say, gaps or the number on the bottom of the club. figure out what you can hit each club with regards to average distance not nutted distance and learn to hit different shots with the same club

[BIG STU]

1 hour ago, Josh Parker said:

ohhhh, or...... three little pigs.  Each last/goes a little further than the last one.

 

In all seriousness though, this is where removal of a long iron and place a hybrid or wood can help with the gapping at the top end of the bag.  I stop at 5 iron personally.  move to hybrid and 5w 

Can tell you a funny one on that. I do not know if you are old enough to remember Jim Thorpe the Pro golfer. I have played golf with him. He has an older Hogan CSS Hybrid not sure of the number or loft. It is a go to club for him. He does not call it a certain degree or number or even Hybrid he calls it Ben Hogan. He was in a Champions Event one time and was near the lead and it was on TV. He told his caddy to "hand me Ben Hogan" I started laughing and had to explain to my wife what was what on that deal. As far as I know it was the only Hogan club in his bag. 

[chisag]

3 minutes ago, BIG STU said:

The main thing I tell people is NOT to worry about the loft per say, gaps or the number on the bottom of the club. figure out what you can hit each club with regards to average distance not nutted distance and learn to hit different shots with the same club

 

... Amen, preach it! My playing partner about 5 years younger, plays Rogue ST Max irons and hits his 5 iron (22.5*) about as far as I hit my 7 iron (32*). He keeps track of every shot in his phone on an App and it tells him what iron he should be playing. Lofts are irrelevant other than proper gapping for each individual. 

[BIG STU]

24 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Amen, preach it! My playing partner about 5 years younger, plays Rogue ST Max irons and hits his 5 iron (22.5*) about as far as I hit my 7 iron (32*). He keeps track of every shot in his phone on an App and it tells him what iron he should be playing. Lofts are irrelevant other than proper gapping for each individual. 

Good example on my stuff my old antique blade 5 iron is 27* I have several different shots I hit with it besides bump and run chips. If I nut it and hit it full these days at sea level I hit it about 160 max. Now I have a little bleeder cut high shot I hit with it around like 140 or so. I can knuckle it down as I call it or hooded down and hit a little chest high draw with it that on a dry course will run like it stole something. Now with the run out on a dry course I have gotten like 170 out of it. 

[RetiredBoomer]

10 minutes ago, BIG STU said:

Good example on my stuff my old antique blade 5 iron is 27* I have several different shots I hit with it besides bump and run chips. If I nut it and hit it full these days at sea level I hit it about 160 max. Now I have a little bleeder cut high shot I hit with it around like 140 or so. I can knuckle it down as I call it or hooded down and hit a little chest high draw with it that on a dry course will run like it stole something. Now with the run out on a dry course I have gotten like 170 out of it. 

I remember the lofts on my brand new 1977 Spalding set as if it were yesterday.

2-iron....20°
3-iron....23°
4-iron....26°
5-iron....30°
6-iron....34°
7-iron....38°
8-iron....42°
9-iron....46°
PW........50°

They look weak today, but my old, hand me down Wilson Staffs were weaker!
They also started with a 20° 2-iron,
but then they went to 4° gaps right away,
down to the 52° PW!
 

 

[braincramp]

2 hours ago, BIG STU said:

Well you will be more than welcome here. @chisag who you know is here too. In fact he and I met here on MGS many moons ago. We also have a 19th hole section which I participate in. We have the Good Morning Thread which is a lot like the Grille USED to be. We also have the Good Evening Thread too. It is freewheeling and we post all hours of the day in both no one gives 2 rips

Sounds good stu!

[KC Golf]

Numbers are fine for me.  Lofts is just another way to get confused.  Sadly, I don’t really care what number another guy hits on a hole.

[zengineer]

....
Problem is (and I have no data whatsoever to back this up) - most average golfers hit the top 3 longest irons within 15 yards of each other.

Will that be fixed by widening the loft gaps and putting an even lower lofted long iron in their hands? If they don't have the swing speed to launch a 4 iron adequately to outdistance their 5 iron, leave it at-home and add a wedge they have a chance of scoring with.

[chisag]

2 hours ago, braincramp said:

Sounds good stu!

 

... Good to see you here! 

[braincramp]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

 

... Good to see you here! 

Go Bears!! 

[BIG STU]

8 hours ago, zengineer said:

 

 

Will that be fixed by widening the loft gaps and putting an even lower lofted long iron in their hands? If they don't have the swing speed to launch a 4 iron adequately to outdistance their 5 iron, leave it at-home and add a wedge they have a chance of scoring with.

 

Or entirely depending on a player's game maybe adding a hybrid or a lofted FW that they can elevate on that long shot. Lots of different combos and options here

[Josh Parker]

10 hours ago, zengineer said:

 

 

Will that be fixed by widening the loft gaps and putting an even lower lofted long iron in their hands? If they don't have the swing speed to launch a 4 iron adequately to outdistance their 5 iron, leave it at-home and add a wedge they have a chance of scoring with.

 

I would remove a 4i and replace with a hybrid or even a 7w. This can help with the gapping and allow a slower swing speed to get elevation. 

[MN Loon]

On 9/14/2024 at 10:39 PM, RetiredBoomer said:

Hogan tried this with their FW15 irons about nine years ago.

I thought it was a great idea.
Not enough others did.

 

 

Great point, I played those irons and adjusted quickly to the loft vs number dynamic.  Unfortunately, the Hogan switch never caught on and the resale ended up terrible.  
 

I agree with the idea, but doubt manufacturers will switch.

[RetiredBoomer]

1 minute ago, MN Loon said:

 

I agree with the idea, but doubt manufacturers will switch.

Me too.

[chisag]

10 hours ago, MN Loon said:

Great point, I played those irons and adjusted quickly to the loft vs number dynamic.  Unfortunately, the Hogan switch never caught on and the resale ended up terrible.  
 

I agree with the idea, but doubt manufacturers will switch.

 

... Just my opinion but I think it is a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. I just switched to P770 irons and the lofts are 2 - 2.5* weaker than what I was playing. But not only do I have to adjust to the potential shorter carry distance, I have to adjust to a different spin and trajectory. It takes a little time to dial all of that in so it would be exactly the same adjustment period if they were actual loft numbers instead of traditional iron numbers on my irons. 

... We could say the same thing about shafts and instead of just X, S, R, A, L flex you could label the exact cycles for butt, middle and tip sections which would be much more accurate because as most know a very stiff tip R flex can play stouter than a soft tipped X flex. 

Edited 23 hours ago by chisag

[mynerds]

17 hours ago, KC Golf said:

Numbers are fine for me.  Lofts is just another way to get confused.

Second this. Both are just proxies for distance to me, and I'm one step away from just writing a distance on some painters tape and sticking it to the club .

[Erin B]

From our beloved MGS articles: https://mygolfspy.com/news-opinion/jacked-lofts-dont-mean-jack-st/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0eGZyExAJn36FYRIC8N3DuZ0Sb1deBnAc4mFyLZ8OUbeWu34OZQPPduX8_aem_SvuGr0EmgCHbGgzbWw86dg

Enjoy!

[Shapotomous]

22 hours ago, mynerds said:

Second this. Both are just proxies for distance to me, and I'm one step away from just writing a distance on some painters tape and sticking it to the club .

Same here, I see the '7' on the bottom and translate that to 140 - 150 yards depending how I swing it.  I would do the same if it had a 33* on the bottom.  

The painters tape idea isn't far off since my memory is getting worse!  

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, Shapotomous said:

Same here, I see the '7' on the bottom and translate that to 140 - 150 yards depending how I swing it.  I would do the same if it had a 33* on the bottom.  

The painters tape idea isn't far off since my memory is getting worse!  

Even PGA pros do this.  Lee Westwood has the carry numbers written on his clubs. 
https://golf.com/gear/irons/lee-westwood-simple-equipment-trick-ping-irons/

[Indy_Oz]

23 hours ago, chisag said:

 

... Just my opinion but I think it is a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. I just switched to P770 irons and the lofts are 2 - 2.5* weaker than what I was playing. But not only do I have to adjust to the potential shorter carry distance, I have to adjust to a different spin and trajectory. It takes a little time to dial all of that in so it would be exactly the same adjustment period if they were actual loft numbers instead of traditional iron numbers on my irons. 

... We could say the same thing about shafts and instead of just X, S, R, A, L flex you could label the exact cycles for butt, middle and tip sections which would be much more accurate because as most know a very stiff tip R flex can play stouter than a soft tipped X flex. 

Completely agree. My recent fitting had me going into shaft specs more than I have really done before. I'd looked at kick points and profiles just in terms of low/med launch and spin, but I hadn't looked at comparative data and charts in such detail. So me moving from one 'x-stiff' shaft to a 'stiff' and it clearly being more rigid and less feeling the flex/lag in a swing was interesting.

When the new P770s arrive for me, I will spend time on the sim figuring out my carry and spin to compare against my old P790s and I'll likely write up a crib sheet to carry with me on course for a few rounds until I know the numbers without thinking too much about it. It took me a little while to get used to the stronger lofted P790s and figure out my distances, so it's just going back on that a little.

The only P770 loft that matches the P790 is the PW (45*). Everything else is weaker lofted and the P790 5-8i are almost at the mid-point between each of the P770 4-8i in loft numbers.lol

Spin, launch and descent angles will be very interesting to compare. In the absence of the irons, I'm looking forward to continuing to hear how they're working out for you!

 

On 9/17/2024 at 5:16 PM, RetiredBoomer said:

I remember the lofts on my brand new 1977 Spalding set as if it were yesterday.

2-iron....20°
3-iron....23°
4-iron....26°
5-iron....30°
6-iron....34°
7-iron....38°
8-iron....42°
9-iron....46°
PW........50°

They look weak today, but my old, hand me down Wilson Staffs were weaker!
They also started with a 20° 2-iron,
but then they went to 4° gaps right away,
down to the 52° PW!
 

 

My first set of clubs were early 70s/80s Wilson Staff blades. I had no idea what the lofts were, but it I do recall having 2-SW in the bag.

When I returned to golf a couple of years ago, I first used my old 90s CBs and couldn't believe how much shorter each iron was compared to my playing partners that hit the 'same' club. Then I found out how much lofts had changed in game improvement irons. Ha ha.