Moving from Players to GI Irons - Any improvement noticed?

rob2

rob2

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As the thread title suggests, I currently play "Blades" but know deep down that I am just not good enough to find the centre of the clubface most of the time and that in theory, it is costing me.

My question is, has anyone moved from players to game improvement irons and has it actually shown to be beneficial in terms of score/GIR etc?

Thanks.
 
rob2 said:
As the thread title suggests, I currently play "Blades" but know deep down that I am just not good enough to find the centre of the clubface most of the time and that in theory, it is costing me.

My question is, has anyone moved from players to game improvement irons and has it actually shown to be beneficial in terms of score/GIR etc?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

i switched from MP62 to JPX825 pro the year before last. my handicap did go down a couple of shots (4.5) in that time, but i found i struggled with half shots a bump an runs with them.

great clubs that went prob a club or more further than the muscle backs, very forgiving and straight... which meant i lost some of my draw with them.

in short i went back to a blade last year (MP4) much easier to shape and i can hit low punches and bump and runs with them, i couldnt with the GI.
 
rob2 said:
As the thread title suggests, I currently play "Blades" but know deep down that I am just not good enough to find the centre of the clubface most of the time and that in theory, it is costing me.

My question is, has anyone moved from players to game improvement irons and has it actually shown to be beneficial in terms of score/GIR etc?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

A bit more info rob, hc for example.

For what it's worth my PP is any awesome ball striker currently using mp4's (blades), he's off 5 and really should be more like 3. Anyway he had had a few swipes with my cf16's (non pro version) and is seriously considering a change.

If you look at how many pro tour players have combo sets with low irons being a mc/mb and the top end being CB/mc, it shows that even the best in the world want forgiveness
 
rob2 said:
As the thread title suggests, I currently play "Blades" but know deep down that I am just not good enough to find the centre of the clubface most of the time and that in theory, it is costing me.

My question is, has anyone moved from players to game improvement irons and has it actually shown to be beneficial in terms of score/GIR etc?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I will give you my take as I have swapped from 'players' clubs to GI (JPX mizuno range and Titleist AP1) now I have a combo set of MP-54 3-6 and MP-4 7-PW. This is just my experience so take what you will.

Will agree with a poster above, i play a links course and I all but lost the ability to play proper bump and runs with the GI clubs I trialed as all they wanted to do was fly high. Also the offset was very off putting felt everything was going to hook. Never really happened but that was just my feel of what I assumed was going to happen.

Now the biggest thing I found I lost with GI clubs was pure back spin and stopping power. As the way these clubs are aimed and built, for distance, strike across the face the center of gravity is in some different positions to a 'players' club and the loft is compensated for this. I have always been told that a good spin model for a decent strike should be about 1000 rpm of back spin per iron give or take. With my AP1 6 iron i was carrying the ball about 15-20 yrs further but was losing about 1700-2200 of spin and struggling to hold greens. I did test this during lessons on a GC2 monitor, so for my swing and strike it rings true but I am sure there are others who can contradict this, as i said just my experience.

What I have taken away from it is mentally i 'feel' like i have to play and strike my current irons better to go round in a respectable score so it keeps my on my toes as I am punished a lot more for a high toe strike with my current irons for example. Its the reason I have gone combo set as you can get away with a "lesser" strike with a more lofted club and I keep some decent looking longer irons with a slight cavity for that help.

I am sure technology is coming along and clubs like the new ping I iron, TM PSi forged is doing the best of both worlds keeping that nice compact look but offering a lot of forgiveness.
 
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rob2 said:
As the thread title suggests, I currently play "Blades" but know deep down that I am just not good enough to find the centre of the clubface most of the time and that in theory, it is costing me.

My question is, has anyone moved from players to game improvement irons and has it actually shown to be beneficial in terms of score/GIR etc?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I think most people go the other way! The advantage of GI irons is that they are more forgiving of off centre hits. The downsides are more turf drag, harder to get through rough and general clumsiness. :(
 
I went from Ping S56's to Mizhuno JPX EZ Forged about 2 years ago now.

Main reason was my swing had completely deteriorated and I was just loosing too much distance on off centre hits, especially with the longer irons. I had just lost confidence in my game.

I was playing off about about 13/14 at the time and it had gradually risen over the previous year from about 11 I think. In reality I was actually scoring much closer to a 20 hcp consistently.

So decided to make the game as easy as I could so swapped to the EZ forged.

My handicap is now back down to 11.5 and I'm starting to shoot in the 70's regularly again. Not all the clubs doing, a lot of swing work as well.

But the clubs helped stop the bleeding and get my confidence back.
 
I went from Mizuno MP68 to JPX825pro a couple of years ago, mostly because I wanted lighter shafts and it was more economical to get a new set fitted.

Still love the MP68's but I'm a club longer with the 825's and have a much better trajectory with them even though the flexes are both regular. Didn't see an immediate benefit in scoring ability, if anything I went backwards as it took me about 4 months to get used to how the 825's played in comparison. Tend to agree with Patrick that the faces feel zippy in the shorter clubs in comparison to my 68s.

I do occasionally give the MP68's an outing but they're a club shorter with a low trajectory. Good for windy days maybe, but otherwise I'm happy with the 825pro's even though there was a period where I thought I may have made the wrong decision.
 
I was just fitted for a set of irons locally and had the opportunity to sample about a half dozen of the better irons on the market (my 10 year old has recently been bitten by the golf bug so I figured Dad needed an upgrade to his 30 year old set of Pings). Anyway, after comparing the various clubs (Ping TaylorMade, Nike, Callaway, etc), the one that just felt right to me was the TaylorMade RS1. Upon impact, it just feels almost like hitting a super-ball. I kept telling the Pro that the RS1's just felt silky smooth through impact. I knew nothing about the design of the club until later in the evening when I researched them on the web. Thanks to Golf Gear Lab, after reading about the slot technology, and the thin face, the "springy" super-ball feeling now makes sense. Haven't yet had them on the course, so I can't attest to how they play, but I'm looking forward to the upgrade.
 
chadbrooks said:
I was just fitted for a set of irons locally and had the opportunity to sample about a half dozen of the better irons on the market (my 10 year old has recently been bitten by the golf bug so I figured Dad needed an upgrade to his 30 year old set of Pings). Anyway, after comparing the various clubs (Ping TaylorMade, Nike, Callaway, etc), the one that just felt right to me was the TaylorMade RS1. Upon impact, it just feels almost like hitting a super-ball. I kept telling the Pro that the RS1's just felt silky smooth through impact. I knew nothing about the design of the club until later in the evening when I researched them on the web. Thanks to Golf Gear Lab, after reading about the slot technology, and the thin face, the "springy" super-ball feeling now makes sense. Haven't yet had them on the course, so I can't attest to how they play, but I'm looking forward to the upgrade.
Click to expand...


Obvious shill is obvious. :-)
 
Thanks for the responses.

So a bit of a mixed bag about the pros/cons. I know that my single biggest issue is finding the centre of the face (i have a bit of excessive body movement through the swing which I am working on) so think that less punishing off centre strikes may help.

Off to the shops this weekend I think! :)
 
my experience was of going to better bats in the form of mp57 mizzies from buckets on a stick ,the soft feel of the forged mizzie was an absolute dreamy feel when they were flushed ,but the off centre hits were coming up well short of the buckets miss hits. my scores in general suffered a bit and i went up a shot but i bit the bullet and put the buckets back in the bag and my game began to take shape again ,my h/cap dropped by three and im hitting it better than i ever was ,[well before my injury i was ], so for me buckets work
 
seochris said:
I switched from Titleist 695 CBs with DG S300 to Ping i15s with KBS tour 90s R and immediately won my Clubs Match-play knock out competition and a week at the Els Club in Dubai in the World Matchplay Championship competition....
Click to expand...

Cant argue with that!! Where is my chequebook........
 
chadbrooks said:
I was just fitted for a set of irons locally and had the opportunity to sample about a half dozen of the better irons on the market (my 10 year old has recently been bitten by the golf bug so I figured Dad needed an upgrade to his 30 year old set of Pings). Anyway, after comparing the various clubs (Ping TaylorMade, Nike, Callaway, etc), the one that just felt right to me was the TaylorMade RS1. Upon impact, it just feels almost like hitting a super-ball. I kept telling the Pro that the RS1's just felt silky smooth through impact. I knew nothing about the design of the club until later in the evening when I researched them on the web. Thanks to Golf Gear Lab, after reading about the slot technology, and the thin face, the "springy" super-ball feeling now makes sense. Haven't yet had them on the course, so I can't attest to how they play, but I'm looking forward to the upgrade.
Click to expand...

I hit these, almost took them! Super easy to hit and majorly long!
 
chadbrooks said:
I was just fitted for a set of irons locally and had the opportunity to sample about a half dozen of the better irons on the market (my 10 year old has recently been bitten by the golf bug so I figured Dad needed an upgrade to his 30 year old set of Pings). Anyway, after comparing the various clubs (Ping TaylorMade, Nike, Callaway, etc), the one that just felt right to me was the TaylorMade RS1. Upon impact, it just feels almost like hitting a super-ball. I kept telling the Pro that the RS1's just felt silky smooth through impact. I knew nothing about the design of the club until later in the evening when I researched them on the web. Thanks to Golf Gear Lab, after reading about the slot technology, and the thin face, the "springy" super-ball feeling now makes sense. Haven't yet had them on the course, so I can't attest to how they play, but I'm looking forward to the upgrade.
Click to expand...

If they are anything like my TM Speedblades, the PW and the short irons will go miles, but the 4-iron won't go any further than the 5-iron. I'm seriously considering going back to my old Ping i15's just to get a better spread of distances! :mmm:
 
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Still think the OP could get a combo set and forgiveness in the longer clubs which will still give him help even when the swing flaw is fixed and more feel with say 8, 9, PR in a more bladed version where it should (in theory) be easier to hit them
 
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