Jacked Loft Police, Look Away Now 👀

[Voyager EMH]

When you guys are getting upset about lofts do you also do comparisons of shaft lengths through the generations?

I don't get upset - I merely point out the facts of lofts/numbers over the years.
Happy to oblige. Little point really though. If you order a set of G730 you can get them longer or shorter than standard to suit.
But here we go with what I believe are the "standard" lengths in inches.

 

[Crow]

UK castings aren't 'soft' it's a different alloy being cast which maybe softer than the alloy being used by Ping.

Forged heads will be far more consistent in loft and lie compared to cast heads due to the manufacturing process. Castings have to be cast oversized to allow for shrinkage during cooling and no 2 pieces will cool into the same exact shape.

Have you tried adjusting lifts and lies on some of the older UK clubs? They move pretty easily.

Are you saying that lofts and lies will change during cooling?

Castings are oversized and then finished to size during the grinding process, plenty of scope for variation there. In any event most modern "forged" irons just use a forged face in a cast head.

Here's what I'd call a soft cast head.

 

[wjemather]

I don't get upset - I merely point out the facts of lofts/numbers over the years.
Happy to oblige. Little point really though. If you order a set of G730 you can get them longer or shorter than standard to suit.
But here we go with what I believe are the "standard" lengths in inches.

View attachment 52445

Standard specs as published in The Golfer's Handbook in 1949 & 1963:

 

[RichA]

Standard specs as published in The Golfer's Handbook in 1949 & 1963:

View attachment 52528

The gap between 7 and 8 is weird.

 

[Voyager EMH]

By 1998, The Golf Handbook, Bradbeer and Morrison, Abbeydale Press, ISBN 1-86147-006-1, has the following



Its the last 25 years where things have gone crazy. Last 10 years have been ridiculous.

 

[wjemather]

The gap between 7 and 8 is weird.

1-7 were standard irons
8 = Niblick
9 = Blaster

 

[RichA]

1-7 were standard irons
8 = Niblick
9 = Blaster

My 51° gap wedge will be known henceforth as the blaster.

 

[Crow]

My 51° gap wedge will be known henceforth as the blaster.

Pretty sure I've got a Blaster and a Dynamiter somewhere, I found a picture on the phone of my Exploda.

 

[tigerwes]

They should scrap the numbers at the bottom of clubs and replace it with the loft.

 

[Singlefiguregokfer]

They should scrap the numbers at the bottom of clubs and replace it with the loft.

Or the distance you hit the club

 

[Burnsey]

I've recently swapped Paradym X irons to I230's and gone from a 170 yard 7 iron to 145 yards.

An uphill 150 yard par 3 is now a full 6 iron, or softer 5 iron, which, if you concentrate on the club number is a bit weird for me, so I just focus on distance from each club. Max I can hit the 5 iron is now 170, so added a 4 iron and then with a 5 wood/21 degree hybrid, my bag works well right up to about 190.

Has taken sone getting used to, but ball flight was the main reason for my change and although distances have been shortened, I'm scoring much better.

 

[Voyager EMH]

I've recently swapped Paradym X irons to I230's and gone from a 170 yard 7 iron to 145 yards.

An uphill 150 yard par 3 is now a full 6 iron, or softer 5 iron, which, if you concentrate on the club number is a bit weird for me, so I just focus on distance from each club. Max I can hit the 5 iron is now 170, so added a 4 iron and then with a 5 wood/21 degree hybrid, my bag works well right up to about 190.

Has taken sone getting used to, but ball flight was the main reason for my change and although distances have been shortened, I'm scoring much better.

I play with a few different sets of irons and I find similar lofts go very similar distances, despite 45 years difference between them.
I experience no significant loss of distance with irons.

 

[Crow]

I play with a few different sets of irons and I find similar lofts go very similar distances, despite 45 years difference between them.
I experience no significant loss of distance with irons.

Ditto.

I measure the loft of a new set of irons and am then confident when taking them to the course for the first time that I'll know the yardages.

Even if that means I'm using a 6 iron for 140 yards one day and an 8 iron for the same 140 yards the next day.

 

[Burnsey]

I play with a few different sets of irons and I find similar lofts go very similar distances, despite 45 years difference between them.
I experience no significant loss of distance with irons.

My point was my previous 7 iron at 27.5 degrees doesn't go as far as my current 7 iron at 33 degrees.

Same number, completely different distance.

Same loft, of course, same distance.

 

[RichA]

I've recently swapped Paradym X irons to I230's and gone from a 170 yard 7 iron to 145 yards.

An uphill 150 yard par 3 is now a full 6 iron, or softer 5 iron, which, if you concentrate on the club number is a bit weird for me, so I just focus on distance from each club. Max I can hit the 5 iron is now 170, so added a 4 iron and then with a 5 wood/21 degree hybrid, my bag works well right up to about 190.

Has taken sone getting used to, but ball flight was the main reason for my change and although distances have been shortened, I'm scoring much better.

Yeah. I went from Ping G425 irons to more traditional lofted Mizuno forged cavity backs.
I got bored of hitting 7-P miles but having no short game.
Now I have a short game but I'm struggling with 160-200 yards.
I have a weird blended set of relatively weak lofted GI Mizuno HL 5 and 6 and traditional 7-P, but miss the boring reliability of the G425 mid irons for the long shots.

 

[sjw]

Another one from the weekend - same guy actually that made the comment... I'll put this in irritations because it kind of got my back up but it also kind of made me smile.

Par 3, 150 yards but into probably a two club wind. I'm off 18, guy is off 11. He hits seven iron, strikes it poorly by his own admission, right out of the toe, and comes up short.

I flush my 7 iron, on the green, about 20 feet from the pin. He asks me what I hit, I said 7, and he replied, "yeah you've got those Stealth irons haven't you, they're like 10 yards longer every club!"

Eh? Why do you need another excuse when you already admitted that you hit yours poorly? Seemed to hit his ego a bit I think, but I'm really not sure why as he was comfortably ahead of me by this point. Bizarre.

So I actually played with this guy again at the weekend, and him and one of his mates both made similar "Stealth Irons = 10 yards further" comments I had to chuckle, as I was waiting for it. Interestingly, when I put my driver 10, 20 yards past theirs I was complemented on a good shot, rather than the club

It just doesn't seem to dawn on people that different clubs have different lofts and go different distances for the same "number" iron. When they hit a 6 iron and I say I hit a 7, people seem to take it as a personal attack or a brag which is odd. I sometimes ask someone on the tee what club they're thinking of hitting, and when they tell me, I realise that it was a waste of time because we have different sets and we all swing our own swings anyway! It's more likely that I start doubting myself, if I'm 140 out and planning to hit PW and they're hitting 8i, I then club up and stick it over the back

 

[Backache]

if I'm 140 out and planning to hit PW and they're hitting 8i, I then club up and stick it over the back

A well knifed lob wedge works at this distance, keeps it under the wind.

 

[Backsticks]

So I actually played with this guy again at the weekend, and him and one of his mates both made similar "Stealth Irons = 10 yards further" comments I had to chuckle, as I was waiting for it. Interestingly, when I put my driver 10, 20 yards past theirs I was complemented on a good shot, rather than the club

It just doesn't seem to dawn on people that different clubs have different lofts and go different distances for the same "number" iron. When they hit a 6 iron and I say I hit a 7, people seem to take it as a personal attack or a brag which is odd. I sometimes ask someone on the tee what club they're thinking of hitting, and when they tell me, I realise that it was a waste of time because we have different sets and we all swing our own swings anyway! It's more likely that I start doubting myself, if I'm 140 out and planning to hit PW and they're hitting 8i, I then club up and stick it over the back

Its the power of marketing. People are truly brainwashed into the : newer model = better/longer, message. It is consistent from the whole industry and cleverly done, exploiting their customers expertly.
Even at times yielding a little with some - well the gains are marginal, but every little helps - fake honesty. Which also helps assuage any doubters who cant see any difference in their new investment, but console themselves that it is there, but small. Its a huge fraud really, but so many vested interest beyond just the club manufacturers ; retailers, youtubers, tour professionals, club pros, magazines, TV.

The supreme example recently, and they deserve credit for it, is Taylormade, with their carbon face drivers. It will have presented serious technical challenges to engineer. There is truly advanced 'tech' in making it happen. But it yields NOTHING functionally for hitting a golf ball. But is brilliant in allowing a differentiation from the competition story to be told, peddle slogans like 'carbonwood age', tell a tech story to the untechnical that purports advancement, and last but not least, have different colour faces. And buyers lap it up.

Irons, have the loft race. But it is equally nonsense. But believed with stories of steel alloys, engineering acronyms, unique manufacturing processes, dimensional tolerances. And sprinkle the letters 'AI' if you cant think of anything better.

 

[Burnsey]

Yeah. I went from Ping G425 irons to more traditional lofted Mizuno forged cavity backs.
I got bored of hitting 7-P miles but having no short game.
Now I have a short game but I'm struggling with 160-200 yards.
I have a weird blended set of relatively weak lofted GI Mizuno HL 5 and 6 and traditional 7-P, but miss the boring reliability of the G425 mid irons for the long shots.

I'm the same to be honest. Cracking a 7 iron 165 yards was easy, but my 150 yard or less game is massively better.

I max out with 5 iron at 170 yards, but that's a good hit. I have a 4 iron, but not got on with it yet, but luckily my 5 wood is 185 and hybrid 200. Over that, I'm just not reaching at the minute.