Adjustable loft on Irons

[Slab]

So just for fun, in recent years the driver was first with fairway woods close behind and now we have adjustable loft on hybrids with a three degree spread... what chance will we see adjustable loft irons in the next few seasons and if so might it lead to an amendment of the rules that would allow loft/face adjustment during a round?
(assuming adjustment can be made quicker than currently using some variant of twist/click design i.e doesn't require tool etc)

Might we be carrying 7 clubs with something like:

1. Driver (covering 5 degree spread)
2. One Fairway (covering 3-5w lofts)
3. One hybrid (covers 2 hybrid lofts say 19 to 23)
4. Two irons (covering 6 current irons i.e 4-6I & 7-9I)
5. One wedge (covering the range of 3 current)
6. Putter

or combinations thereof

 

[HawkeyeMS]

How would you adjust the shaft length?

 

[Imurg]

How would you adjust the shaft length?

Same way Ping does with the TR putters..?

Couldn't be bothered with all the hassle in changing everything all the time..

 

[matt611]

I seem to remember Bertie Wooster having something quite similar...it didn't work to well for him
[video=youtube;OGrnNE1MawU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGrnNE1MawU[/video]

 

[stevie_r]

Something like this you mean?

http://divnickgolf.com/images/index_marks_full-head.jpg

 

[talksalot81]

Whilst the theory is cool, I don't think manufacturing tolerances are good enough. If you check you fixed set of irons, chances are there will be a few lofts and lies which are not just as you would expect. If you have a club which is variable then the chances of it being exactly what you dial in are even more remote. With drivers and woods you can get away with this more easily, first because it is a longer club so you don't expect it to be +/- 5 yards and secondly because you don't change it. Most people will dial it in and leave it alone. This is one of the reasons many suggest that you want to buy the actual club you hit - getting a new one off the rack and putting it to the same setting does not mean it will actually have the same specs.

 

[dufferman]

Would certainly make carrying a bit easier!

 

[Pin-seeker]

Long night shift Slab?

 

[garyinderry]

a load of rubbish. I don't notice any difference when I move my 910 up and down loft. I tell myself there is a difference but in reality it just looks slightly more closed. the ball flight is pretty much the same.

theres only so much you can do with a static head imo.

 

[One Planer]

To many variables to make an adjustable iron.

Loft, shaft length, lie, head weight, shaft weight.

It just wouldn't work IMO.

You could always try and sell the idea to TM or Callaway?

 

[Slab]

I think the boys and girls at Cally or TM would relish the challenge

Perhaps not a single iron with the full spread of lofts (as mentioned precision would be knocked out the more it has to do) but I think its not unreasonable to imagine an iron with a two club spread taking the 4-9 iron set down to three clubs with two wedges giving 4 lofts between them (say a P/G wedge and a S/L variant)

Feb 2018 issue of GM will run a feature... you heard it here first

Think of all the new threads we can have about banning adjustable clubs and how much they speed up/slow down pace of play!

 

[garyinderry]

the club manufacturers would love it as they could sell you 4 clubs and still charge £700 !

 

[drawboy]

Taylormade have already done this. For some reason my TP CB 7 iron sometimes only goes as far as an 8 iron and sometimes as far as a 6. Occasionally less than a sand iron. I Do not know how they do it, no adjustment required it just does it

 

[Foxholer]

To many variables to make an adjustable iron.

Loft, shaft length, lie, head weight, shaft weight.

It just wouldn't work IMO.

You could always try and sell the idea to TM or Callaway?

I don't think any of those variables would be a huge problem - constant head and shaft weight would mean balance doesn't change; there's already a 'one-length' style; lie only needs to change as shaft length changes; and changing loft is what it's all about.

But the Bounce angle would change in line with Loft, so that would be the killer imo. Low loftss would dig/fat and high lofts would thin!

 

[Wildrover]

There is a club very similar to the one linked to earlier in the thread in the British Golf Museum, an adjustable iron. It was outlawed as soon as it came out as you are altering the playing characteristics of the club mid round, so it ain't gonna happen.

 

[Slab]

There is a club very similar to the one linked to earlier in the thread in the British Golf Museum, an adjustable iron. It was outlawed as soon as it came out as you are altering the playing characteristics of the club mid round, so it ain't gonna happen.

I know what you're saying about it not happening and I agree ... but one quick rule change and hey presto we're suddenly allowed to change the characteristics of the club!

As I said it was just for a fun topic at the start of whats turning into a very long day in the office

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I know what you're saying about it not happening and I agree ... but one quick rule change and hey presto we're suddenly allowed to change the characteristics of the club!

As I said it was just for a fun topic at the start of whats turning into a very long day in the office

I am sure from an engineering and R&D perspective the manufacturers would have a field day but can't see it happening