Iron lofts - am I going to notice a difference?

[TigerTime]

Hi all,

My current set of irons are Titleist AP2 712s. I am considering getting a newer set (possibly brand new if price is okay). I know what shaft flex,weight etc I need and I know what grips I like so would be getting them added.

So the lofts of my current irons are;
4 - 24
5 - 27
6 - 31
7 - 35
8 - 39
9 - 43
PW - 47

One of the sets I was considering was the Callaway Apex DCB, and I can see from Callaways website that these are stronger lofted, as are infact most modern irons by the looks of things. Would there be a noticeable difference in any distances etc?

 

[Imurg]

Yes
Lofts are almost 1 club stronger in the DCB so you will hit them, in all likelihood, 1 club longer.
The flight may be similar but expect 10 to 12 yards more and less spin.

 

[Ethan]

Some clubs come with stronger lofts because they flight the ball higher, so there can be a trade off. In this case the AP2 are a few years old when lofts were a bit higher and never had jacked lofts anyway. The DCBs are certainly jacked - you'll probably need another wedge in the 47 or 48 range, and I suspect you will hit them longer but not much lower than the 712s.

 

[fat80b]

You will definitely see the distance improve.

I’ve recently switched from a set of Titleist DTRs to a set of cobra rad speeds that are definitely jacked.
I was against them for this reason but to be honest it’s just a number on the club and I now have an additional gap wedge in the bag.

I do feel that the jacked lofts are a bit weird though as it means that I carry 3 vokeys and 2 cobra wedges before I get to a club with a number on the back !

 

[Backsticks]

Club manufacturers are boxed in this one though. There are still plenty of suckers out there to play the jacked irons trick on, but it if goes much further, they would hardly have a set to sell - a set of two clubs. And let the buyer fill his bag with 7 'gap' wedges from 27deg up. Still, he will be hitting that wedge 190yrds, and the 9 iron 175, so he will be happy to have finally cracked being able to hit the ball tour distances.

 

[KenL]

How do you know what shafts etc you need, had a recent fitting?

My g425 are a bit longer than my old i25 irons.
Much less difference at the shorter end. 4, 5 & 6 iron are more different than before.

 

[Maninblack4612]

Club manufacturers are boxed in this one though. There are still plenty of suckers out there to play the jacked irons trick on, but it if goes much further, they would hardly have a set to sell - a set of two clubs. And let the buyer fill his bag with 7 'gap' wedges from 27deg up. Still, he will be hitting that wedge 190yrds, and the 9 iron 175, so he will be happy to have finally cracked being able to hit the ball tour distances.

I completely disagree with you on this. I'm one of the "suckers" you refer to. The fact is that manufacturers have succeeded in making clubs so easy to launch that, if they didn't strengthen the lofts, the ball would go far too high. My view is that the longest iron in your bag should be the one you can still hit reasonably well. For me, that's the 4 iron, which has the length & loft of a traditional 3 iron. However, it flies as high as a traditional 4 iron, probably higher. Why don't the manufacturers call it a 3 iron? Not to "sucker" people, it just that, psychologically, people feel more confident hitting what they see as a 4 iron.

The only down side of this is that, with the pitching wedge at 44°, it's necessary to carry more than the traditional three wedges. What I would prefer is to have five irons instead of six covering the same length & lofts as the modern 4 to 9 iron set. This would involve increasing the gaps between clubs by 1° but, for me, would allow me to carry both the 4 iron & 5 wood. The extra 1° gap wouldn't be a problem, I've done it on other clubs I've owned in the past. As far as I know, no manufacturer does this.

To answer the OP's question, yes, you'll notice a difference. Being able to hit the green with a shorter, higher flying iron, cannot be bad.

 

[Voyager EMH]

It is fairly pointless, in my view, to compare the numbers and lofts of different clubs from different manufacturers from different years.
If you like the look and feel of the new clubs - get 'em.

Learn the distances you hit with them. Forget about comparing the distances with other clubs.

My next game is on Tuesday and I will be playing with a set numbered 2 to 10 with lofts thus,

2 - 21
3 - 24
4 - 27
5 - 31
6 - 35
7 - 39
8 - 44
9 - 49
10 - 54

Ultra modern numbering and lofts don't you think? No need for numerous names of wedges.
I have learned how far I can expect to hit each club and I like them.

 

[Backache]

If you have a spread of distances I'm not sure why anyone is to bothered what loft corresponds with what number on the bottom.
With my ability and swing speed, I don't get an increase in distance after a five iron with my clubs and then go to hybrid, in all honesty the difference between 5&6 is pretty marginal.

 

[Deleted member 30522]

How do you know what shafts etc you need, had a recent fitting?

My g425 are a bit longer than my old i25 irons.
Much less difference at the shorter end. 4, 5 & 6 iron are more different than before.

Would like to hear your thoughts on the differences/comparison

I'm playing a set of near 10 year old i20's, and am getting a fitting in a couple of weeks, I'm open minded, but G425 is defo my top target, I love my Pings and the CFS shafts, haven't tried the AWT.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

It is fairly pointless, in my view, to compare the numbers and lofts of different clubs from different manufacturers from different years.
If you like the look and feel of the new clubs - get 'em.

Learn the distances you hit with them. Forget about comparing the distances with other clubs.

My next game is on Tuesday and I will be playing with a set numbered 2 to 10 with lofts thus,

2 - 21
3 - 24
4 - 27
5 - 31
6 - 35
7 - 39
8 - 44
9 - 49
10 - 54

Ultra modern numbering and lofts don't you think? No need for numerous names of wedges.
I have learned how far I can expect to hit each club and I like them.

Not ultra-modern club number / loft correlations but rather ultra-antique, and I like them too.

I took up the game with a hand-me-down set of Wilson Staff irons that had a 20° 2-iron, a 32° 5-iron, and a 48° 9-iron.
Some of the modern game improvement models are a good 2½ club stronger than that now, particularly in the middle and shorter irons,

They say it has to do with "launch windows," whatever they may be, but I have serious doubts.
The modern "pure blade model" irons, without any massive weight redistribution and multi-piece head construction, are still at least 1½ clubs stronger.
They may not be identical to the classic blades of old in technology, but it still makes one wonder.

 

[Neeko1988]

It is fairly pointless, in my view, to compare the numbers and lofts of different clubs from different manufacturers from different years.
If you like the look and feel of the new clubs - get 'em.

Learn the distances you hit with them. Forget about comparing the distances with other clubs.

My next game is on Tuesday and I will be playing with a set numbered 2 to 10 with lofts thus,

2 - 21
3 - 24
4 - 27
5 - 31
6 - 35
7 - 39
8 - 44
9 - 49
10 - 54

Ultra modern numbering and lofts don't you think? No need for numerous names of wedges.
I have learned how far I can expect to hit each club and I like them.

I totally agree with this… I play a combo of p770’s and p790’s. The p770 lofts have been strengthened to match the p790’s so strong.

For me I just play the club that goes the required difference. Why does it matter if I’m hitting a 7 over 5 year old 6 iron ?

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

Why does it matter if I’m hitting a 7 over 5 year old 6 iron ?

Whether it should or not,, it might matter if you're a hard core baby-boomer traditionalist like I am.
Nothing to be gained by it, admittedly. The manufacturers do what their marketing research tells them to do, and the target demographic is not geriatrics like myself.

 

[Deleted member 23270]

There is nothing worse than playing a traditionally lofted set of clubs and hitting a 5 iron on a par 3 after your mate has just stiffed an 8 iron from his jacked loft set

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

There is nothing worse than playing a traditionally lofted set of clubs and hitting a 5 iron on a par 3 after your mate has just stiffed an 8 iron from his jacked loft set

Discovering a malignant tumor might be just a tad worse than that. Depends, I guess.

 

[Neeko1988]

Discovering a malignant tumor might be just a tad worse than that. Depends, I guess.

Bloody bell. Bit morbid. ?‍?

 

[Crow]

There is nothing worse than playing a traditionally lofted set of clubs and hitting a 5 iron on a par 3 after your mate has just stiffed an 8 iron from his jacked loft set

I love it when that happens, they give you some funny looks.