What should I expect from a blade?

[luke-donald-duck]

So I'm a high schooler who plays on a school team. I'm pretty decent (maybe... ok, maybe not) and play to (unofficially) about an 11 or 12 handicap. My main strength in coming this far was the fact that I was able to hit my irons pretty consistently - I have a horrible short game, although I've been getting up and down more often recently.

 

Cutting to the chase, recently, my iron ballstriking has become very inconsistent. I often hit it thin, or when I get good contact, I hit a pull draw about 10 yards left of my target. And with my short game, I'm usually gonna make bogie more often than an up-and-down par.

 

So I recently got a Mizuno MP-69 6-iron as a training aid of sorts so I could practice my iron shots with a more "unforgiving" iron and help become more consistent. Obviously, it's going to be a bit harder to hit than the AP2s I'm using right now. So what should I expect? Extreme pain when I hit it thin? A sh*nk every other shot? And really, how effective will this method be in helping my ballstriking?

[whiskey golf]

As a fellow high-schooler myself, here's my take on blades. I moved from a player's CB to a player's GI iron, if you will. I found that moving to more forgiving irons has helped me get better results from iron shots and has improved some confidence. In my opinion, I think blades won't necessarily help ball striking, they may have those more precise strikes every so often but you still have to hit it correctly to make the best out of it. Now everyone's different so people may say there's no difference but I personally think there is. I notice thin shots with player's clubs and blades are harsher than GI or "tweener" irons.

 

If you think that you can play well with blades then go for it but if you think that some confidence may go down then it may not be the best option. The irons you have, AP2's, are great clubs and are good ones for improving ball striking. My league is full of amazing golfers, some of the top ones in California that are going to D1 schools and that stuff, and a lot of them don't play blades. In fact, a fair amount play the AP2's. And even pros are starting to move toward more forgiving clubs, for the most part.

 

Anyways, if you feel comfortable with blades and think you are improving ball striking with them then you should test them more to make sure. If you can, get fitted and see for yourself or you may be introduced with something better that can help your game.

[Blade]

A shank is a shank. Doesn't matter what kind of club it is. And a blade won't cause a shank. Hit the hosel with the most forgiving iron you can find and it might even be worse than one with a blade because the GI iron likely has more offset.

 

Don't be afraid of blades. I like the feel of blades and use them as a way to improve my ball striking. If I was trying to win tournaments or make a living playing, I would play something more forgiving. But I will not play a big clunky iron regardless. I have more confidence standing over the ball with a small club head.

 

That doesn't mean I wouldn't pick up a few shots with something else. I may be getting that something else for the times I feel my swing is off. Practicing with a club that demands a more precise strike is a great idea and a good way to improve.

[sai-jin]

I agree with Blade.

 

I started playing golf with Mizuno MP68... toe hits are harsh and you lose plenty of distance, but it really makes you focus more imho.

I love blades... *not the user blade above, just... muscle backs* *blush* , because they look small on address and feel like I can cut through turf much easier and

there's only 1 sweetspot to focus on.

 

tried some TMAG cavity backs and I was really shocked how big they were to me. So yes, I think blades are good for focus learning.

[luke-donald-duck]

Thanks for the reply guys, I was kind of joking with the shank comment. The thin shot = pain comment... not so much.

 

I wasn't saying that I was going to switch to blades (oh man... that would be a sight to see) but was asking what differences should I expect from that MP 69 6-iron vs my AP2s.

 

Again, thanks for the comments. I guess constant practice will be the best way for me to improve!

[Hula Rock]

A lot of Finger bone tingling experiences .....

[ZenGolfer]

You can expect your mishits to be penalized much more but they will feel amazing when you hit it solid.

A well-struck shot with a blade is widely regarded as the best feeling in golf.

[The Artful Duffer]

Thanks for the reply guys, I was kind of joking with the shank comment.

 

You should never joke about the "s" word. Lol

[revkev]

You can expect your mishits to be penalized much more but they will feel amazing when you hit it solid.

A well-struck shot with a blade is widely regarded as the best feeling in golf.

 

And here I thought it was when the cart girl was flirting with you! Silly me.

 

Do what you wish in regards to blades - there are two schools of thought and they are both represented here - as for me and my house I'll take the easy route but we are at two different ends of the spectrum in regards to our games - you've got lots of time to go - I'm trying to hang in there with lower scores for as long as I can - I suspect that difference alone causes us to make differing equipment choices.

[luke-donald-duck]

So I've had a couple range sessions with the 6-iron. It definitely launches lower than my current 6-iron, although I'm not sure whether that's more so because of the clubhead or the shaft (the MP-69 has an S300, whereas my AP2 has a much lighter shaft). It's definitely harder to hit the pure sweet spot, and it doesn't feel very good when I mishit it. But well-struck shots feel great, I can see why it's sometimes called "the best feeling in golf".

 

When I went back to hitting my AP2s, I found it much easier to hit because of the slightly larger sweet spot. So I guess it was a good choice to use as a training aid. My ballstriking with my irons has gotten more consistent because of it, I hit a great 5-iron to about 30 feet on a short par 5, which gave me an eagle putt. I 3-putted from there, but that's a story for another day

[whiskey golf]

Speaking of hosel shots, before you know it the next big thing in the industry will be a more forgiving hosel design so those shanks get up a little higher and go straighter.

[luke-donald-duck]

Speaking of hosel shots, before you know it the next big thing in the industry will be a more forgiving hosel design so those shanks get up a little higher and go straighter.

 

I wonder if that'll be Taylormade's next marketing move for the RocketBladez Stage 2?

 

Oh, and btw, I wasn't saying that I was thinking of switching to blades (nope, not happening), sorry if it came across that way. What I meant was that I was using the MP-69 as a practice club of sorts so I could improve my iron ballstriking, and I was wondering what I should expect from it vs my current AP2s.

[TheHacker]

My take is a bad swing is a bad swing no matter it's a blade or a ultra forgiving game improvement club.

 

I have a bag of Cleveland HB3 hybrid irons thats so easy to use, if you can't play golf with these, you should consider picking up tennis. However it's not very satisfying to hit game improvement clubs. I switched to my current set of mix cavity and blades initially just to "train" myself to hit the ball better.

 

Initially I loss a lot of distance, I was so short (2 clubs shorter) that it was not funny. I hit my 8, 9 and PW exactly the same distance - all of 90m - with roll . But over time I build up a lot of confidence and appreciation of blades and players cavities. Now I hit my blades as long as what I did with my HB3 and enjoy the game much more.

 

With blades you know when you mishit the ball, and thankfully with a bit of practice such occurrence became rather infrequent. With blades there are no in between. Either you caught it well or you did not. But darned it sure feels good when you pure one.

[Richie3Jack]

We have to remember a few things:

 

1. The sweetspot is the size of a needle point. Doesn't matter how big the club is. Doesn't matter if you're hitting a driver or the smallest blade head out there.

 

2. The MOI of the *head* is typically lower on blades. This makes them less forgiving to an extent. However, from my experience you can miss the sweetspot by 2-3 dimples and still hit a reasonably good shot with a lot of blades.

 

3. Typically the blades are designed with a higher clubhead CoG. This means the ball will launch lower and hopefully provide a more 'penetrating ball flight.'

 

4. The CoG of the head is higher which alters the 'balance' of the club a bit. Meaning a switch to a blade *might* require a little lighter shaft weight for one to adjust to the heft and the CoG of the entire club.

 

I have too many different clubs to count, but generally I have preferred the blade. Although it's really more about the way it's engineered than anything else.

 

I feel a smaller head forces golfers to be more precise with their swing mechanics to make good contact. I view that as a positive. However, there are CB irons that are smaller in size than MB irons.

 

The lower trajectory is good. IMO, I believe that better golfers and Tour pros feel like it's harder to hit the ball really high and not lose too much distance than it is to lower the trajectory and not lose too much distance. So if they use a blade, it's because they feel they can hit the high trajectory windows when necessary on certain shots and then hit a more piercing trajectory on their 'stock swings.' If they don't feel they can hit it high on those certain shots (i.e. front pin locations, long irons into greens, etc)...they'll go to a CB model.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3JACK