How good do you have to be for blades ?

[0]

Have just posted a simliar question to the pros. How good do you have to be for blades ? Does using blades make you a better ball striker or are blades for single figure players ?

 

[brendy]

The way I understand it, you need to be very consistent hitting your irons and you now are looking for more workable clubs.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I don't think there is a definitive answer. I know a few mid-teen handicappers with blades and on their day they are great ball strikers. However they do struggle when the timing is off. I think you need to look at the increasing number of tour pros now opting away from blades and towards samll cavity backed clubs (Oosthuizen using the S56 for the Open win etc) to see that even the best are looking for as much help as they can get.

I don't think a blade will make you a better striker especially if there are other underlying swing faults in place

 

[SharkAttack]

Better than Lee "World #1" Westwood, because he uses Ping i10's

 

[RGDave]

I reckon if you middle it almost every time with a club, why not try blades. One of my work colleagues (off 4) uses Mizuno blades and his problem (when it goes wrong) is direction not quality of strike.
I tried some bladed clubs for a while when I was hitting the ball remarkably straight. I loved them, but the shots off centre were punished heavily.

If you put an inexperienced Piano player on a Steinway, they'll struggle to play it. If your technique is good, it's great. Putting a quite good player on one isn't going to make their technique get better faster, it'll just make them miserable.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

The games hard enough without making it harder. Huge numbers of pro's using cavity back irons these days, there must be a reason for that! Have used blades in the past but would not go near them now, only interested in shooting a good score. Its not about having a sexy set of muscle backs in the bag. The thought of catching one a little thin on a cold day, ouch!

 

[Region3]

Blades don't make you a better ball striker, but they force you to get better to improve.

If you hit 7 out of 10 iron shots ok, with a GI iron the other 3 will be very close to the green.
With blades you might be 30 yards left, right, or short.

 

[Tommo21]

As someone who started with blades, I never knew any different. Nowadays, everything is geared to make the clubs more forgivable, easier to hit, go straighter, longer…you name it.

Dont think I'll go back to them even if my ball striking got better.

 

[sgrubb]

To be honest i dont think you can determine this

depends on you as a person

 

[John_Findlay]

I would say you have to be pretty damned good. The sweet spot is small so you have to middle it every time to get a consistent strike. Slightly off and the ball goes nowhere. I used to have a blade 1 iron which was lovely when I struck it off the sweet spot (a sign I had put a very good swing on the ball) but went 40 yards shorter if I was even slightly off. I used some again recently (borrowed set) and wouldn't go back. Cavities or half cavities rock.

 

[Owen_Thomas_14]

If you want to be a better ball striker, go with the blades. They narrow your mind to focus a bit more on making a cleaner strike. If you chunk a cavity its still going to go 50 yards or whatever and the ball will still go left or right if you mis-swing the club. Do your self a favour and get the blades.... you know you want to

 

[USER1999]

You have to be beter than you are, or you wouldn't be asking the question.

 

[Imurg]

Do you mean pure blades like the MP68 or pseudo-blades like the MP62?
The former - forget it unless you're really good.
The latter - go for it. They have a small cavity that gives a little help but beware a bad swing. They really don't work if you're having a bad swing day.

 

[Losttheplot]

If your considering buying some then if your general ball striking is good then why not.
There's a difference in what I'm going to suggest though.

Get split cavity long irons and blades for your short irons.
I have done this and it works great as you get best of both worlds, forgiveness when you want it most and workability when you need it most.

My irons are Nike VR split cavity 4, 5 and 6
Nike VR blades 7, 8, 9, Pw.

Works really well.

 

[JustOne]

My main issue with blades now (having started with them many moons ago) is when I catch one a bit high on the face it literally goes nowhere. Can't see myself ever using pure blades again, ever.

 

[patricks148]

Why not give some a try, you might be suprised. I have a set of Mizuno MP32 blades and i love them and they have def improved my ball striking. The heads are at least 20% smaller than my MP57. When i am playing well there is nothing like hitting a chrisp strike with the 4 iron. I don't use the 2-3 irons much. I would have said before using them that i was too high a handicapper for blades.

 

[kid2]

Iv been reading in the side lines of this post for a bit wondering what to add to it or not.....
Im not sure if the question that the OP asked is quite accurate.....
I think that no matter what club is in your hands if your swing isnt right then the outcome is going to be wobbly.....I feel that anyone thats shooting over the 100-120 mark then i suppose you could argue that whether he would have a Blade,P C/B, GI or SGI that score would remain the same...I think the issue then gets a little complicated the lower your handicap starts to drop....

You could be a mid handicapper with a poor long game but a decent short game in which case blades from 7Iron through wedges may not be a problem for you to hit.

Most teen handicappers are probably moderate ball strikers at best and i know that from my own point of view i can hit the ball a long way regularly but i do have issues with my swing which i am addressing at the moment.....
If i can swing on a proper plane with more consistency then im sure that no matter what club is in my hand to a point i can hit it....I would say that if someone is wanting to play these then i would play with an iron first that gives a good level of help to my game so that i can get some confidence in my ball striking....Then i would dabble a bit with players clubs and see what transpires.

As for Blades i would probably shy a little from these but i would consider players/cavity backs easily....

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Huge numbers of pro's using cavity back irons these days, there must be a reason for that

I'd say the reason for it is because technology has meant cavity backs are now more workable than they were before. A pro no longer needs to use blades to shape a shot to their liking, they can do it with some of the more advanced cavity backs and get the added forgiveness benefit to boot. Contrary to popular belief, the pro's don't hit it perfectly all the time and so the forgiveness they get from a cavity helps them too (just not as often as it helps us )