Iron shaft length / weight (cavity backed vs bladed)

[ScoopUK]

Hi all,

First post here so I hope I'm in the right place. I have done a quick search but nothing obvious caught my attention. Hope you can offer some advice:

I've started playing golf for the first time since I was a kid being dragged around the local pitch & putt. I'm now 32 and come from other sports like swimming so I like to think I have reasonable body awareness and coordination yet put my golf clubs in my hand and I can feel rather stupid.

I did what I imagine a lot of people do, researched online and bought some supposedly forgiving clubs for a beginner. I have a set of Nike Vapor Fly irons but they feel really unwieldy to me. They seem very long and weighty in the head whereas I have a couple of old blade style clubs from 15-20 years ago that I feel I have much more control over. Part of that seems to be they feel more balanced to me but also I notice the shafts are shorter. For example the shaft of my Nike 8 iron is 37" from floor to top of the grip and the old 8 iron still knocking around the house is 34.5" using same method of measuring. That thing I can throw around fairly consistently and feel like I'm in control of it rather than the tail wagging the dog with the Nike's.

I was half contemplating buying some bladed type irons but then I noticed the shaft length difference and now I'm more confused than ever. I'm 6'2" and have my wrist-to-floor measurement as 36".

I'm going to take the old clubs with me next time I go to the driving range and see how I get on with them but instinctively they feel better in my hands and doing a few practice swings (which I know doesn't mean much). I read clubs have got longer over the years in the quest for distance. Power isn't really my problem though, it's control.

I'm aware it would be ideal to have some sort of fitting but to be honest I'm wary of people that have done courses based around sales then try to regurgitate to me what a textbook once told them. I've seen that in cycling and swimming. I prefer real world observations.

I'm working my way through Ben Hogan's book and figuring out a decent grip has helped to an extent but they still feel unwieldy.

Anyone got any advice or even had similar experiences / observations?

Thank you!

 

[User101]

Great first post.

I'm in a not to unsimilar position to you coming back to the game and a lot has changed with equipment, irons seem longer in shaft length and some hugely longer on course length where the lofts are much stronger. I've just had a fitting done not two days ago, check the review section as I did a post on it, so my advice would be do research in your area of who does proper fittings and not a retail shop, it might cost you but hopefully work out right in the end for you.

 

[the_coach]

welcome along

generalization 6' 2" & 36" wrist to floor as a static fit guide - irons would likely be either standard length to 0.25" longer than standard
but with a rough static fit that's all it can be a starting point guide - seeing what happens when the club is in motion in a dynamic fit by far the best ways to go

vaporfly 8i at 37" looks if measured right to be 0.25 less than the standard spec for those irons - & given they are as a design built spec designed for distance & heads for some forgiveness - they are at 37" only more or less either !" or 0.50" longer than a bunch of current irons - e.g. callaway epic irons the 8i is 36.50"

the blade 8i at 34.5" then is a bunch shorter than even most regular length specs for an 8i - & at 6' 2" & 36" tbh that's a tad short
goin to mean there's likely to be a bunch more bend at the hips or bend in the knees or combo of both with possibly hands that are a bunch too low than likely to be an optimum set-up posture
which then is goin to play into the swing motion to likely create some issues

the vaporfly therefore the 'better' fit to the stature & no reason not to choke down just a quarter inch but wouldn't go lower as that would then likely cause some set-up issues

real world observations from folks who are all different sizes different playing levels tend not to be that helpful

somewheres to have a good fitting the best solution - best ways by far to do that is with a pga pro who fits clubs using a launch monitor as they also have the knowledge to watch for the stuff that's also real important like the grip hold - posture - set-up etc - which is super important

on five lessons a good book if the reader has a reasonable basic grasp of a whole bunch of stuff
Hogan didn't actually write the book - it was ghost written with input from Hogan on what he thought he did - amongst hundreds of other tour pro swings I've studied Hogan never really did in play with his swing or set-up some of the stuff in the book - he didn't have the handle in his lead hand as the illustrations on page 21 where it shows the handle is more diagonal in the palm - look to the cover illustration of the closed hand & you see the finger are more to 90º to the handle which is what would better be the ways to hold the handle - place the grip diagonal as on page 21 then those fingers won't be at 90º when closed at all

so gotta to be careful - a lot of the stuff is good in the book a lot not so much & stuff he never actually did when he swung a club - like the famous elbows close together pics on page 49 he did not do that & neither is it a good idea

far better if poss as you starting back to get some lessons tbh - most folks have picked up many games off their own bat so think golf will be the same - for the fortunate few the maybes the case - for the majority it ain't so lots of bad habits get picked up that then are harder to change further down the line

 

[ScienceBoy]

MP-57s!

A classic case just like myself.

These mizzies are 10 years old and can be found cheap to experiment with but sit nicely between your two sets. A good compromise.

 

[chrisd]

I would suggest that buying 10 year old clubs might be a poor move. For sure, current clubs have the most up to date technology in both heads and shaft and, if you find a set you like the look of, a fitting using a decent launch monitor (Trackman, GC2 etc) will show exactly how well the clubs are performing for you.

 

[patricks148]

good advice from the coach, but why not buy a cheap set of blades if you fancy it. you could get a set for around £100 in good condition if you look around.

Mizuno are quite common, but there are plenty of others. you could get a 10 year old set of blades and depending on the shaft, won't perform any different from the current model.

 

[bobmac]

Are the shafts on the Nike's steel or graphite?

 

[ScoopUK]

Thanks for the input so far everyone. I have been looking at something like Mizuno mp33 irons funnily enough. Not just because of what I mentioned before but also because I like the idea of a greater range of clubs with consistency through the range whereas mine only go as low as 5 then it's hybrid territory and beyond. Feels like every time I pull a club out the bag it's a different feeling. Can always resell them if I don't like them.

 

[ScoopUK]

They are steel. Off the top of my head True Temper Z85. I think that's correct, or very similar. Still learning gear

 

[patricks148]

Thanks for the input so far everyone. I have been looking at something like Mizuno mp33 irons funnily enough. Not just because of what I mentioned before but also because I like the idea of a greater range of clubs with consistency through the range whereas mine only go as low as 5 then it's hybrid territory and beyond. Feels like every time I pull a club out the bag it's a different feeling. Can always resell them if I don't like them.

MP 33 are from 2004, i have the Mizuno brochure from that year given to me by a friend.

these have week lofts according to the book were 1-pw
3 iron is 22 deg
4, 25
5,28
6,32
7, 36
8, 40
9,44
PW, 48

with the shaft length starting at 38.75 in the 3 and 35.25 the PW

i had a set of mp32 myself and those were pretty forgiving for a blade.

 

[ScoopUK]

There is a local PGA coach who offers one free lesson to my workplace. Maybe I will get in touch with them and see 1) what they say and 2) if I feel I want to work them in future. Nothing to lose. I do like my Vapor Flys but it's a bit frustrating they seem to be universally considered easy to use yet I'm struggling.

 

[jim8flog]

When it come to the weight of a club head they are all virtually the same, make to make same number head verses same number head as unfitted heads.

What makes the difference in feel is how the manufacturer weights the club the produce a given swingweight (normally by adding lead in the hosel). Most manufacturers opt for roughly the same swing weight in off the shelf clubs so if you are comparing second hand against second hand they may have been custom swing weighted for the player who bought them.