Are my irons right for me?

[sweaty sock]

I reckon 19 to 10 in one season is doable, its doable in a couple of months with WHS. A good rule of thumb is you can half your handicap in a year if youre putting in the effort. If your just turning up on a saturday morning expecting to be 10 shots better, well, no chance.

I wouldnt bother changing the irons though, particularly to pings that are quarter of a century old!?

Bear in mind you probably ony hit 20 iron shots in a round so to get from 90 to 80, there are better places to look for improvements...

 

[sweaty sock]

Also I should have started with the advice that not only are handicap ranges for irons absolutely baseless, but the iron striking proficiency of a 15 handicapper is unlikely to be any different than a 19 handicapper...

 

[Crow]

The pro and Ping rep set me up as I should to hit them. My existing 20yr old clubs were totally wrong for me - far too upright. My pro knows me well and he knew at the fitting what he would be getting me to change. He knew the clubs would be right for me - with a bit of work.

I had developed a very ’manipulated’ swing that only worked for me as I played masses through the 80s and early 90s and so absolutely grooved the swing. But it always had multiple faults - some of which I was aware of - that in the end really bit me badly (when I fell off the tightrope - I wasn’t in a groove I had become an excellent tightrope Walker).

And I will add. i have been battling the shanks for 30yrs. Over the last 15yrs I have been losing and recently (last 5 yrs) completely lost that battle. My pro identified the source of my shanking, and it was the fundamental nature of my manipulated swing. It worked well when I was playing loads and could walk that tightrope most expertly, but when I started playing less (family) I fell off the tightrope - that hurts and it is difficult to get back on that tightrope - very different to get back into the groove - and I haven’t succeeded. I have to change some basics or I will forever be playing with the S-word ever present every shot.

I'm surprised at the bit in bold, the trend in recent years has been for clubs to be more upright so an older set should have been flatter, unless they were originally fitted for someone with a flat swing.

Your whole experience seems to be the opposite of club fitting and more fitting the player to the clubs.

I'm not knocking it, I suspect that a lot of people get clubs fitted to their wonky swings when they'd be much better off getting their swings sorted out.
But hey, lessons don't deliver a set of shinies at the end.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I'm surprised at the bit in bold, the trend in recent years has been for clubs to be more upright so an older set should have been flatter, unless they were originally fitted for someone with a flat swing.

Your whole experience seems to be the opposite of club fitting and more fitting the player to the clubs.

I'm not knocking it, I suspect that a lot of people get clubs fitted to their wonky swings when they'd be much better off getting their swings sorted out.
But hey, lessons don't deliver a set of shinies at the end.

I think you are right. A hybrid approach. I had decided to buy new clubs but there was no point in custom fitting them to a swing with a couple of serious inherent faults. With support of my pro i have taken the approach that we can keep much of my existing stance and swing - but look at what we need to change...take the opportunity and fit clubs accordingly.