Non-scratch player--bagging a driving iron?

[Ye Olde Boomer]

I have discovered that a driving iron
which I hit the very same distance as my 5-wood
is a much more useful club in the arsenal
than a 3-wood which I hit the same distance as my 5-wood.

Sure, unlike the driving iron, I can launch the three-wood shot from the deck as well as from the tee.

Being able to hit a three-wood from the fairway, however,
is NOT THE SAME THING as being able to hit an ACTUAL 3-WOOD SHOT from the fairway.
Like so many recreational players, I'm just a hitting a shot that carries a little less than does my 5-wood shot,
lands at a less steep angle and thus runs out more so as to equal 5-wood length.
It also has a wider dispersion pattern and is less useful from the rough.

In contrast, the diving iron gives me a wind fighting line drive that lands hot into a narrow landing area and runs hard.
Much more useful than the 3-wood shot, in my opinion, and much more different from the 5-wood shot, even if it's roughly the same length of shot.

The modern driving iron is not the really hard to hit, butter-knife 1-iron or 2-iron from days gone by.
It's hollow, tungsten-weighted for launch angle and MOI, and simply now easier to hit, at least from the tee,
You just push your tee almost all the way in as with any other iron from the tee and swing away.

I was convinced with the advent of the Mizuno Fli Hi II twenty years ago,
and they've gotten much better since then.

If, when hitting your 3-wood, you're actually getting an honest, GPS verified, 3-wood shot,
then the 3-wood is certainly a very powerful tool to have.
With the modern, 15° 3-wood, however,
I think fewer players are actually doing that than think that they're actually doing that.
That's why I think fewer players are bagging driving iron than the number who'd benefit from it.

Just my thoughts on the subject. What do you think?

 

[Imurg]

At the end of the day, when push comes to shove......
Use what works....
If it works - bag it
If it doesn't work - bin it
Doesn't matter what it is or what anyone else thinks....

 

[3 jabber]

All I care about is having even gapping throughout my bag

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

All I care about is having even gapping throughout my bag

Lots of players take that approach as it works best for them.

I configure my bag for shot types rather than prioritizing even gapping from driver to lob wedge.
That's what works best for me.

 

[Orikoru]

I don't think you need to be scratch to hit a driving iron, there are some more forgiving ones out there nowadays, but you'd still need to be a pretty good iron striker. Which I'm not. I don't think there's a driving iron in existence that I could hit as well as I hit 5 wood. I am a bit screwed when it's windy, but so be it. I couldn't even get anything out of a 5 iron let alone a 2 iron / DI.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Lots of players take that approach as it works best for them.

I configure my bag for shot types rather than prioritizing even gapping from driver to lob wedge.
That's what works best for me.

I do a bit of both - shot type and gapping.
I recently acquired a matching 23° hybrid to go with my 16° and 20° and took it out for 9 holes on my own yesterday. I had 20 clubs in my bag.
As a result of yesterday's experimenting, in the comp on Sunday I'm considering, Driver, 15° 3-wood, 20° and 23° hybrids, Irons 21° to 58° and putter
Not much difference in length with the 23° hybrid and the 21° iron, but the shot shape is very different.
Our shortest par-4 will be 21° iron from the tee, as usual. The higher flying hybrid could bounce about and finish up in the wrong place.
Second shot on long par-4s I will have an option as to which shot type I favour.

 

[patricks148]

you are forgetting Hybrids. far more forgiving than a driving iron. ive not used a driving iron or 2 iron for at least 10 years id say, though i occasionally use my MP bladed 2 iron around fortrose if i play a comp there, but thats short and wind and accuracy are key factors over distance.

at present i use (when i play that is a) 17deg hybrid since i switched to Gi irons.

but as has been said use what works.

 

[IanM]

Some folk just prefer hit an iron....

Personal call

 

[Crow]

All that matters is how good the club looks in the bag.

Flight, distance, gapping, who gives a if it looks great.

 

[sunshine]

Depends on your swing, speed and preference. I have a relatively steep swing and I strike my long irons much more crisply and consistently than hybrid or fairway wood.

 

[Voyager EMH]

1977 - 1992
1,3,4 woods and 2-SW irons

1992 - 2008
1 & 4 woods and 1-SW irons

Oh how simple it used to be.
Much better now isn't it?

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

I don't think you need to be scratch to hit a driving iron, there are some more forgiving ones out there nowadays, but you'd still need to be a pretty good iron striker. Which I'm not. I don't think there's a driving iron in existence that I could hit as well as I hit 5 wood. I am a bit screwed when it's windy, but so be it. I couldn't even get anything out of a 5 iron let alone a 2 iron / DI.

You're of course right to hit what you can hit best.

I can't hit a hybrid without turning it over.
I couldn't cut one to save my own life.

 

[SteveJay]

I have toyed with driving irons in the past. Always liked hitting irons despite being inconsistent with a 3 or 4 iron. After moving to a links course i tried again seeking that reliable lower trajectory. However, I have ditched it since just because of the inconsistency (and I struggled to use it off the deck).

I am now about to experiment with replacing my 3 wood with a 5 wood, as even on a windy links course, i find that a reliable consistent strike is preferable to a lower penetrating flight that you might get on every other shot or having the occasional mis hit with a 3 wood of the deck. I find I can allow for the wind even with a higher flight.

I do have a 19 hybrid but am expecting the 5w to replace that. I am one of those who prefers wood to hybrids. A 7w is my most reliable club.

 

[Voyager EMH]

A. Is my 21° Ping G10 a driving iron? I've always thought not, but I do use it from the tee on short par-4s.

B. Is there a loft limit to define a driving iron?
C. Is it a driving iron only if the manufacturer declares it to be so?
D. I have several 1 and 2 irons. Are they all driving irons because of the number on the sole?
E. Is it entirely up to the player to decide whether he want to call a club in his bag a driving iron?

 

[jim8flog]

having now played for 50 years what is in the bag has changed immensely over the years .

I am a firm believer in having in the bag what works for me a lot less monkeying around these days .

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

A. Is my 21° Ping G10 a driving iron? I've always thought not, but I do use it from the tee on short par-4s.

B. Is there a loft limit to define a driving iron?
C. Is it a driving iron only if the manufacturer declares it to be so?
D. I have several 1 and 2 irons. Are they all driving irons because of the number on the sole?
E. Is it entirely up to the player to decide whether he want to call a club in his bag a driving iron?

In general, a driving iron is the iron you use from the tee instead of your driver on scary driving holes.
The manufacturer gets to choose what it wants to call it.
The person who spent cash for it gets to decide what he/she wants to call it.

Generally, a modern driving iron is hollow with internal tungsten weighting for launch and MOI,
and much more forgiving than a traditional blade-style 1- or 2-iron.

Many modern game improvement style irons are also hollow bodied, at least down to the 7-iron.
Many of them have a very strong lofted 4-iron, perhaps 20°, that people don't buy
because with modern strong lofts,
they like to start at the 5-iron or even lower
after their high lofted fairway woods or their hybrids.

Even if you don't hit them from the fairway, however,
the modern, game improvement, forgiving 20° 4-iron--
in old-fashioned 2-iron loft--
makes a very user-friendly and effective driving iron
that cosmetically matches your other irons.

What many people do with driving irons, however,
is NOT choose the shaft that matches their other numbered irons.

They choose the .370" tip hybrid version of the .335" tip shaft that's on their woods.

 

[wull]

For me it boggles my mind as I most of the time absolutely cream my irons, I play Mizuno MP-32’s and have the 2 irons as well which I strike really well, then proceed to hit my woods rather poorly, which makes no sense when you go from blades to a much larger head.

So for me playing driving irons would be the way to go, I used a U500 2 iron recently which I loved, I got a shot of it from a mate and used it for 18, I now have a shot of his T200 3 iron (driving iron) which I’ll be using tomorrow morning for the first time, I’ll be intrigued to see how I get on and then decide which one I’ll purchase.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

then proceed to hit my woods rather poorly, which makes no sense when you go from blades to a much larger head.

Wood heads look blunt and awkward, so from the deck,
it's not abnormal to subconsciously try to lift the ball, ever so slightly,
and thus hit it a tiny bit on the upswing
almost but not quite as if it were a driver off a tee.

Let the bottom of your swing be a 225 yard putt.
The ball goes egg-shaped at the angle of the clubface
and then jumps in the air of its own accord as it makes itself round again.

We're experience players and have already know this for a long time,
but sometimes we need to remind ourselves when the fairway woods get a bit sketchy.

Also, as we get older, we may not hit the stronger-lofted fairway woods
to the intended pinnacle of their arc anymore.

The 16.5° 4-wood then becomes a better tool for us than the 15º 3-wood.

 

[Voyager EMH]

The 2-iron I have used in some handicap qualifying comps this year is one of these Powerbilt Oversize 1990s



The 1 and 2 irons I used from 1992 to 2008 were these. Had a hole-in-one with the 2-iron.



and I still have the 1-iron.

I never have called them "driving irons" however.

 

[brendy]

Callaway Big Bertha in my bag this past 9 years, it displaced the 5wd but did buy a hybrid for longer shot that didnt uite find the fairway. I have found that the misses with the 1iron are short sided but rarely much to the left or right. Compare that to my TM Stealth 3H and it can be long but the misses are huge at times. Sometimes it just comes down to good old Clint Eastwood, "a mans gotta know his limitations", and hit an iron for an easy approach rather than wide left or right.