Golf Club Lofts - I Think I'm A Cynic!!

[haplesshacker]

Been reading a book on golf published in 1988 by Bernard Gallacher and Mark Wilson. Covered in a chapter is golf club make up, illustrated with bound on persimmon heads and irons with lofts included.

The 14 club line up is as follows.

Driver - 11
No3 - 14
No4 - 19
No5 - 23
3 - 23
4 - 27
5 - 31
6 - 35
7 - 39
8 - 43
9 - 47
PW - 52
SW - 58
Putter

Now comparing that to my 'modern' set up.

Driver - 12.5
Rescue - 17
Rescue - 20
3 - 20 (don't use)
4 - 23
5 - 26
6 - 30
7 - 34
8 - 38
9 - 42
PW - 46
GW - 52
SW - 55
LW - 60
Putter

You've probably guessed where I'm going with this now!

So we still carry 14 clubs in the bag, but how do the manufactuers get us to buy more clubs, easy, close up the degree gaps in the irons, therefore meaning that we need more clubs to get to where the PW used to be, ie by buying a GW!

Also. Ever wondered why you hit a 7 iron further than you used to. Well there's your answer! It's in the loft angle!

For those of you that question the need for 3 or 4 wedges, again the answer is quite clear!

I thought it made an interesting comparison.

 

[GB72]

It si a good comparison. I started to notice it with my DI7s. They were sold on the basis that they gave extra yards and that was because the lofts were more aggressive.

I am not sure that the number on the club means much anymore and would be happier if they showed the loft instead like wedges do.

 

[USER1999]

It all depends what clubs you buy, some are worse than others.

For the 'players' clubs, this is not so apparent, but for GI, anything goes.

It seems the idea is to sell you 2 long irons (3 & 4) you can't hit, so you buy utilities, and then leave a big gap at the other end so you buy more wedges. It is great marketing.

I am happy with my set up, but can see that others may not be, once they realise they are playing the manufacturers game.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Very interesting to see the difference. I know that both Cally and TM (and Wilson I think) have had stronger lofts for a number of years. I'm not sure what they see as the reason for doing it is but effectively I'm hitting a 6 iron whenever I swing my 7 iron now.

To me my bag will probably always consist of 3 woods (whatever manufacturer) a 3 hybrid and 4-pw with a choice of wedges (52, and 56 probably) and putter. Here are the specs for my tour burners

Iron 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 PW AW SW

Loft 21° 24° 27° 31° 35° 39° 43° 47° 51° 55°

 

[haplesshacker]

Agreed GB72. I think it's been said before on here. The manufactuers should put the degree number on the irons. At least we can make comparisons down the range when trying new clubs.

 

[USER1999]

The manufacturers will probably try to justify it by saying golf course agronomy has changed, meaning that you now need a different set up through the bag.


How much is it our fault though. Do we buy those new irons because we demand more distance? If it just said you get better dispersion, would that be enough?

 

[HTL]

To be fair they don't hide the lofts, they do publish it in the brochures etc. But the lofts have defo come down, the Di7 were savage!

Agree with Murph all players irons are still close to "the good old days" but the more game improvement they get the more they jack the lofts, don't make sense really as the lower the loft the harder it is to hit.

 

[HTL]

Just had a thought, do you think it could be because golf clubs were originally made for links golf where you want the ball low most of the season, but as the game has grown people are playing more parkland and want the ball going high just like they see on TV??

 

[haplesshacker]

Just had a thought, do you think it could be because golf clubs were originally made for links golf where you want the ball low most of the season, but as the game has grown people are playing more parkland and want the ball going high just like they see on TV??

That could be one of the manufactuers claims. But as I said I think I'm too cynical and think it's just business!

 

[CarpeDiem]

I have 3 wedges and wouldn't know what to do without them, so I have to switch between a rescue and a 3wd as I can't have both unless I take out a wedge.

 

[pigmeister]

A few years ago some club makers offered you the choice of normal lofted irons or tour lofts irons which were 2 or 3 degrees stronger. I think perhaps this is where it comes from.

 

[viscount17]

To be fair they don't hide the lofts, they do publish it in the brochures etc.

not all of them, and often hard to find.

but now you know why pros hit 8-i 180+

 

[HTL]

[quotebut now you know why pros hit 8-i 180+

[/QUOTE]

Don't agree with that mate, if you read Golf World (great mag!) they publish a whats in the bag and say what lofts they use and all the pros lofts are much higher than what us mortals use, pros are an extremely odd breed of people and their massively Superior technique is behind their silly distances.

 

[USER1999]

That reminds me of Langers quote of how far do you hit a 7i, 152 to 156, how far can you hit a 7i, about 190. These guys can hit any club pretty much any distance. They have timing to dream about, power, technique, etc.

Jeez I hate them.

 

[Herbie]

I have 3 wedges and wouldn't know what to do without them, so I have to switch between a rescue and a 3wd as I can't have both unless I take out a wedge.

This is an interesting post and so are the responses as it suggests a pattern that perhaps manufacturers are well aware of.

Why do you feel you need 3 wedges and why do you feel you wouldnt know what to do without them?

The variations in club angles speaks for itself regarding the post but often the things people feel they NEED interests me as an observation.

 

[ricardodaintino]

As mentioned above I have Di7s and when I demo'd them I was amazed how much further I hit them than the old irons I had. The loft itself was the marketing tool! I thought either I had really bad irons that desperatly needed replacing or these were wonder clubs!

Good job I never tried the 4 iron on the range cause I can't hit that for toffee!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I'm not good enough (yet) to warrant an extra wedge in my bag in place of something else. Once I've had my series of short game lessons it is something I can review but to be honest I think I can get all the shots I need from changing the ball position and opening or delofting the wedges I already carry.

 

[TonyN]

Good subject this and one I have previously highlighted when I realized callaway pulled my pants down.

I bought x20s about 12 months ago and had 4-sw. I realized asfter a few months that there was a good 40 yard difference between my pw And sw. When I checked the lofts in the Callaway website it showed pw at 45* and sw at 55* guess what it also shown... Aw at 50* and lw at 60*. That's when I realized 2 things. 1 Callaway had strengthen lofts by a couple of degrees to make you beleive you hit there clubs further than others when as a matter of fact, you were hittin say a 6 instead of 7 or a 5 instead of 6. And 2 was that by having the lofts set like this they had room to sell you four wedges. I couldn't really do with out the gap wedge(aw) so had to stump up. But if I had known this from the off I would have gone for 5-sw Inc aw as the 8 irons set up.
Since getting rid of them and going mizzie I have now ditched a wedge and now only have pw gw and sw come lob wedge. Lofts are 47,53,58 more room other end of the bag. Happy chappy

 

[ademac]

I don't even know the lofts of my clubs! Does anyone know where I could find them out?

 

[Mike_j_golf]

#2 18°
#3 21°
#4 24°
#5 27°
#6 30°
#7 34°
#8 38°
#9 42°
PW 46°
these are the lofts for my callaway x20 tours was wondering why i was hitting the pw nearly 150