Iron Lofts differences between long and short clubs

[Hendy]

Why is it the gaps between PW and the 9 iron is like 4 degree then the gap between say the 4 and 5 iron only 3degree

Seems to be the case on every set of irons I look it!

Surely its better to have the smaller gap between the more lofted clubs (as in the clubs you hit into the greens) than between bigger irons.

Anyone know why this is? Must be some logic in it.

Edit:
Reason I ask I find a fair difference between distance of my PW and 50. On paper it's 5 degree. But I feel that if the difference of 5degree was say between my 4&5 iron it wouldn't effect me as much

 

[the_coach]

it's physics & math, which then gives the loft needed progressively through the irons (along with shaft length) to hit similar peak height each iron which will then give optimum workable club distance plus reasonably even gaping between them through the bag. (this assuming well struck shots)

as the loft increases you need a larger loft difference to keep the distance spacing even.

folks find gaping between the lower irons difficult because they require club head speed to get to optimum peak height to get the optimum carry distance so even & large enough distance spacing between them.
lot of folks don't have that center strike at optimum speed to achieve launch angle to get that peak height. which is why folks often find not much difference in carry distance between the 5,4 & 3 irons.

 

[delc]

Why is it the gaps between PW and the 9 iron is like 4 degree then the gap between say the 4 and 5 iron only 3degree

Seems to be the case on every set of irons I look it!

Surely its better to have the smaller gap between the more lofted clubs (as in the clubs you hit into the greens) than between bigger irons.

Anyone know why this is? Must be some logic in it.

Edit:
Reason I ask I find a fair difference between distance of my PW and 50. On paper it's 5 degree. But I feel that if the difference of 5degree was say between my 4&5 iron it wouldn't effect me as much

It's a con by the manufacturers to make you think you are hitting your short irons and PW further than you really are! Nowadays there is often a 10 degree gap between the Sand Iron and the Pitching Wedge, and 5 degrees between the short irons. Thus to compensate for this, they have to close the gaps between the long irons, otherwise you would end up with a zero degree 3 iron! This is why most players now need a gap wedge and why they struggle with anything longer than a 6 iron!

 

[Hendy]

Yeah sounds right tho I feel I flight the ball as it should be maybe the gaps fly a little to high but then 5 degree between 50 &pw you see more of difference in height and distance than you would between 3&4 iron with only a few degree of difference? ???

Reason i ask all this is i don't have a 120/125 club. My pw is about 130/135 and my 50 is about 115. Roughly speaking. That's what got me looking at the lofts of my irons and the likes of ping sm55/56, Ap2 and Cleveland 588's

All the same big gaps in smaller irons example the ping sm56 I think is like 5.25degree between the pw and 9 iron. Yet only 3 degree between 3&4&5 iron. I dont understand how this can give consistently the same distance difference between the irons. I feel maybe the club makers are trying to get the extra distance with the longer irons by making them stronger and the result/ the knock on effect of that is that we see bigger gaps in the shorter irons.

 

[ManinBlack]

It's a con by the manufacturers to make you think you are hitting your short irons and PW further than you really are! Nowadays there is often a 10 degree gap between the Sand Iron and the Pitching Wedge, and 5 degrees between the short irons. Thus to compensate for this, they have to close the gaps between the long irons, otherwise you would end up with a zero degree 3 iron! This is why most players now need a gap wedge and why they struggle with anything longer than a 6 iron!

No it isn't! Modern clubs are easier to hit so lofts can be made stronger & players can still hit them. The gap is less important in the shorter clubs because you hit less full shots with them, especially the wedges.

 

[Smiffy]

This is why most players now need a gap wedge and why they struggle with anything longer than a 6 iron!

I'll agree with you about the gap wedge, but I'm hitting my 4 iron better than any 4 iron I have owned before, and that includes 4 hybrids.
Don't believe all you read

 

[delc]

If you try a test club, you are always given a 7-iron. If Brand X's 7-iron hits the ball further than its competitors, then you will be impressed and buy the full set. So the objective for the club manufacturers is to make the 7-iron as strong and long as possible, and then fit the rest of the set around this as best they can. Problem is that a modern 7-iron is more like an old time 5-iron, and the gaps between clubs are distorted accordingly. As I said before, it's all a con which I have been caught by. Found I had a set where i couldn't use the 4-iron and needed to buy an additional gap wedge. 20 years ago you didn't need a Gap Wedge as the Pitching Wedge then had a similar shaft length and loft! :mmm:

 

[shortstuff]

Agree with Delc here. The 'traditional' lofts are/were much better. Now we have amateurs hitting the ball 150 yds with their PW and using another 6 clubs for the next 50 yds!!

 

[delc]

Agree with Delc here. The 'traditional' lofts are/were much better. Now we have amateurs hitting the ball 150 yds with their PW and using another 6 clubs for the next 50 yds!!

The most extreme gap is now between the Sand Iron, which needs to have at least 55 degrees of loft to do its job properly, and the Pitching Wedge which is typically 45 degrees, same as a old time 8-iron. OK for bump and runs, but useless for pitching! Hence the need for a gap wedge.

 

[chrisd]

Agree with Delc here. The 'traditional' lofts are/were much better. Now we have amateurs hitting the ball 150 yds with their PW and using another 6 clubs for the next 50 yds!!

I have the current Mizuno JPX 850 irons and the loft difference is 3* between the 4, 5 and 6 irons, 4* between 7, 8 and 9 and 5* between 9 and p/w I have done a gapping excersise and they all fly distances proportional to their loft for me. I can, however, reliably hit a 4 iron as the construction and modern technology makes it much easier to do so and they go further than maybe 20 years ago because of that and also because the balls are hugely better.

If all that means I can hit an iron 195 yards, if needed, and that I may want to supplement some sort of extra wedge at the other end I really don't see that as a problem. I now own a hybrid and a mini driver that I couldn't have bought or hit the distances I do now, some 20 years ago, everything moves on and although I'm a vet golfer I prefer to embrace it rather than moan about it!

 

[Ethan]

This came up on the State of the Game podcast with the guy from the Ben Hogan company raising the same issue (maybe where the OP got the idea?). That company doesn't offer traditionally numbered iron sets but offers clubs by loft and have a tool which suggests appropriate lofts for you. Check it out:

https://www.benhogangolf.com/HoganFit

 

[shortstuff]

This came up on the State of the Game podcast with the guy from the Ben Hogan company raising the same issue (maybe where the OP got the idea?). That company doesn't offer traditionally numbered iron sets but offers clubs by loft and have a tool which suggests appropriate lofts for you. Check it out:

https://www.benhogangolf.com/HoganFit

I know, they look beautiful. Must.....resist......

 

[One Planer]

It's a con by the manufacturers to make you think you are hitting your short irons and PW further than you really are! Nowadays there is often a 10 degree gap between the Sand Iron and the Pitching Wedge, and 5 degrees between the short irons. Thus to compensate for this, they have to close the gaps between the long irons, otherwise you would end up with a zero degree 3 iron! This is why most players now need a gap wedge and why they struggle with anything longer than a 6 iron!

And there was me thinking it was to do with launch conditions.

Newer tech' encourages the ball to launch higher. The jacked loft woks in conjunction with other tech to allow the ball to launch easier without ballooning.

FWIW I have set of Mizuno MP63 irons. I have no issue hitting my 3 or 4 iron off the tee or fairway. They are no harder to hit than my 6 iron mainly because I practice a lot with those clubs.

Hitting a PW 150 yards is immaterial.

Who cares if someone can hit their PW 150 yards? I certainly don't. If I'm playing the same shot but with an 8 iron then so be it. I don't feel disadvantaged by This. the number on the sole is irrelevant! If that's how far you hit a particular club consistently, what's the issue?

Fact of the matter is modern clubs make the game a hell of a lot easier for people to play. Easier to launch, more forgiving all the bells and whistles. Can someone explain to me why that is a bad thing?

 

[Foxholer]

it's physics & math,...

as the loft increases you need a larger loft difference to keep the distance spacing even.
...

This!

It's a con by the manufacturers to make you think you are hitting your short irons and PW further than you really are! Nowadays there is often a 10 degree gap between the Sand Iron and the Pitching Wedge, and 5 degrees between the short irons. Thus to compensate for this, they have to close the gaps between the long irons, otherwise you would end up with a zero degree 3 iron! This is why most players now need a gap wedge and why they struggle with anything longer than a 6 iron!

And while some of this may or may not be true (there's quite a bit that's tosh!), it has absolutely no relevance to the question in the OP!

 

[Hendy]

This came up on the State of the Game podcast with the guy from the Ben Hogan company raising the same issue (maybe where the OP got the idea?). That company doesn't offer traditionally numbered iron sets but offers clubs by loft and have a tool which suggests appropriate lofts for you. Check it out:

https://www.benhogangolf.com/HoganFit

This is a issue I have had with my game for a few years now. Didn't matter when I played off 25 back in 07. Now its got to the point it bugging me. I remember watching a vid on YouTube about daz Clarke and what was in the bag and he said something about the lofts are set for the correct gaping not my numbers (as in degrees)

Will try and find it here tho 45 degree for a pw really thinking about is just a joke. Who really wants that sort of lofting when they think logically about it. As someone made a good point. You go to get a fitting your hitting a 7 iron x yards further they your going to buy chances are if you had a weaker 7 with the loft a 7 iron should be you wouldn't take it. And reason will be what you see on screen. Its not taken into account the fact that between the two brands there might be some 5-7 degree of difference. But in saying that that what I posting first off the lofts now are all the same so the company's have jumped on this stronger lofted iron game. I guess they cant afford not to with more and more people getting fitted nlwadays

 

[duncan mackie]

Why is it the gaps between PW and the 9 iron is like 4 degree then the gap between say the 4 and 5 iron only 3degree

Seems to be the case on every set of irons I look it!

Surely its better to have the smaller gap between the more lofted clubs (as in the clubs you hit into the greens) than between bigger irons.

Anyone know why this is? Must be some logic in it.

Edit:
Reason I ask I find a fair difference between distance of my PW and 50. On paper it's 5 degree. But I feel that if the difference of 5degree was say between my 4&5 iron it wouldn't effect me as much

This is a issue I have had with my game for a few years now. Didn't matter when I played off 25 back in 07. Now its got to the point it bugging me. I remember watching a vid on YouTube about daz Clarke and what was in the bag and he said something about the lofts are set for the correct gaping not my numbers (as in degrees)

Will try and find it here tho 45 degree for a pw really thinking about is just a joke. Who really wants that sort of lofting when they think logically about it. As someone made a good point. You go to get a fitting your hitting a 7 iron x yards further they your going to buy chances are if you had a weaker 7 with the loft a 7 iron should be you wouldn't take it. And reason will be what you see on screen. Its not taken into account the fact that between the two brands there might be some 5-7 degree of difference. But in saying that that what I posting first off the lofts now are all the same so the company's have jumped on this stronger lofted iron game. I guess they cant afford not to with more and more people getting fitted nlwadays

I really don't see this as a problem - whether manufactures created the issue at the wedge end of the bag to increase sales or that players created the issue by deciding to keep their wedge sets and only want to order up to PW (apparently this is more of a European trend as in the US they sell the same iron sets with GW SW LW...) doesn't really matter - just get your 50 reset to 48.38 degrees (or whatever you feel you need for some magic number).

Personally if I was that accurate I would just make sure I left 112 yards to the pin instead of 120

 

[delc]

One of the issues I've found with my Taylor Made irons is that the gaps between the short irons are too great, particularly between the 7-iron which has a hot face and the 8-iron which doesn't. This is as much as 20 yards, and at one of our short holes is the difference between leaving it short or running off the back of the green! What was wrong with the traditional 4 degree gapping, which gave a 10-12 yard distance gapping between clubs? :mmm:

 

[garyinderry]

Why do you persist with those irons?

Sell them and get a set of irons that you can trust.

 

[duncan mackie]

One of the issues I've found with my Taylor Made irons is that the gaps between the short irons are too great, particularly between the 7-iron which has a hot face and the 8-iron which doesn't. This is as much as 20 yards, and at one of our short holes is the difference between leaving it short or running off the back of the green! What was wrong with the traditional 4 degree gapping, which gave a 10-12 yard distance gapping between clubs? :mmm:

Only a muppet would buy such flawed clubs surely?

Clearly they won't sell any...

 

[delc]

Only a muppet would buy such flawed clubs surely?

Clearly they won't sell any...

I was actually custom fitted for them and the 7-iron was the club I hit best in a comparative test with some other makes and my existing 7-iron. I wasn't aware of the gapping issue at the time.