New Irons!

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Snelly

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I love the look of the s55's i25's aren't my bag from initial looks, !

Hit both back to back and make up your mind. They feel the same but one is marginally easier to hit and gets better results. THe other one looks nice and says forged on it.
 

the_coach

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wow thats some assumption about a guy playing off scratch without seeing him swing a club or hit a ball

Not really.

Usually two ways Cat 1 or elite golfers balloon an iron, that in itself is very very unusual, they might go through a spell of hitting it a little higher than they like, but balloon no - unless they have a really soft shaft in their irons, that for a Cat 1 golfer would be highly unusual also.

So there must be some extra loft being added through impact with a fractional technique problem the shaft only has to be vertical through impact to not add the dynamic loft needed for good impact conditions to deliver a good forward flight, but in fact offering up the static loft of the club which gives you a ways too much loft on the shot. The OP can still be striking the ball out of the middle with a real good swing speed, but this still won't stop a ballooned flight if extra loft is being presented through impact.

The iron club head designs themselves will have properties to hit a lower traj or a higher traj, but this is just really marginal, the head design can't, won't cause a balloon flight.

Being involved in coaching elite golfers, the extreme high flight I've seen a few times, but not often as it's not a usual problem for an elite player to have, that wasn't down to a 'soft' flex lay in a slight technique problem.

We 'elite' cat 1 players can sometimes get a bit lazy so we don't get at least the 80% weight left you need for a real good strike, this can also be coupled, with the hip clearance being a tad lazy too.

To get a true flat boring trajectory you need weight left on properly posted leg with good hip clearance, as it's the hip clearance that gives you the space for the arms, hands & club to deliver the forward leaning shaft necessary for a true strike, the forward lean on an iron strike optimum is between 6º & 10º.

These aren't assumptions but cold hard impact conditions fact.

The OP, good golfer that he is asked a question to get some help, I've answered that not as any criticism of the OP but with the intention of offering that help should he wish to look into it.

Any good Pro would be looking at the same area given the unusual problem for a Cat 1 player.

As it's unlikely the x100 shaft is to blame really for the 'balloon' flight the answer most likely lies in what I've outlined, maybes there might be a need for a different flex &/or kick point in the shaft, but that shaft wouldn't be responsible for 'ballooned flight', a tad higher than is wanted maybes but that's something entirely different.

On a different point the S55's have been designed to give extra hang time in the air with a tad more height, so they might not be the road to go down perhaps.
 
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ScratchSRL

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Coach, thankyou for the advice given, I am (from going to the range tonight) hitting slightly early on the ball, which with my swing speeds and already aggressive swing plane is something that needed working on, I did however hit a properly specced iron, 1 inch longer and 2 deg upright and had no such problems, the s55's were delightful to hit, and I will unless something superseeds them in the next week be purchasing them.!
 

the_coach

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Coach, thankyou for the advice given, I am (from going to the range tonight) hitting slightly early on the ball, which with my swing speeds and already aggressive swing plane is something that needed working on, I did however hit a properly specced iron, 1 inch longer and 2 deg upright and had no such problems, the s55's were delightful to hit, and I will unless something superseeds them in the next week be purchasing them.!

No worries, good luck with ironing it all out. Enjoy the new clubs, really make sure the S55's right for you, they do offer a high flight.
You might want to try the shafts I have in my own Apex Pro's. Possibly the lowest launching shafts out there. (as in my signature)
 

ScratchSRL

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Ah coach dont do this to me! I have just hit them with the SL shafts and they seemed really nice, and a set that will get me to where I want to be, I annoyingly have never had lessons and have just learnt the way the old man taught me, hit the ball really hard and deal with the next shot when you walk to it! based on this i think something forgiving enough to start myself back off with and then grow in confidence with for the first year -year and half will be the best way?
 

the_coach

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Ah coach dont do this to me! I have just hit them with the SL shafts and they seemed really nice, and a set that will get me to where I want to be, I annoyingly have never had lessons and have just learnt the way the old man taught me, hit the ball really hard and deal with the next shot when you walk to it! based on this i think something forgiving enough to start myself back off with and then grow in confidence with for the first year -year and half will be the best way?

If you've hit the SL's & they work for you, then all good, no reason to look at anything else.
S55's great clubs & if your happy with the flight then, all good. Just really double check the S55's head-wise are right for you, in the scheme of things not a hugely forgiving Club designed to give more 'air' to the longer end. But if you get on with them & like them, go for it, got to start back somewhere after all.

Nothing wrong with the way your Dad started you off at all.

At some point might well be worth checking in with a good Pro who teaches with Trackman (or Flightscope, GC2 & HMT) will help you understand better how you really want to deliver the shaft to get the launch/flight you'll need.

May sound technical but actually once you understand the 'numbers' you need to produce you'll better understand the 'feel' & swing sequence you need to produce to get the shot results you're looking for. The confirmation you get from being able to repeat those 'numbers' shot to shot actually frees you up to concentrate on the feel of the swing more not less.

Good luck.
 
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