Screw club manufacturers!

[palindromicbob]

Hmm, this is the second time someone has said this about Delc. Who is this Delc?

Someone you can have a nice long discussion about this topic with, and then have it again 2 weeks later and repeat ad infinitum.


Doesn't matter what the lofts are or the numbers on the bottom. Most important thing is knowing what ever clubs you have and which to pull that will allow you to try and make the shot you have to hit.

 

[delc]

I tried out a set of clubs yesterday, or rather a "7" iron from that set, along with my current 7 iron.

I found I was hitting the new club 10-15 yards further. Nice one!

Nice, except for the reason I used the quote marks around the '7' in my first sentence. The reason being the new "7" iron was not just longer, but had a stronger angle to it. In other words it was more like my 6 iron! How the heck am I meant to compare that!? What is the point of buying new clubs when I'm being tricked like this?

I have being trying to make people aware of this con trick for some time. If you have a club stamped as a 7-iron, but with the length, loft and lie angle of a 6 or even a 5 iron, of course it will go further! Note that you are normally given a 7-iron test club, so manufacturers try to make it as long hitting as possible and then try to fit the other clubs around this as best they can. This can lead to some big gaps between the short irons, but not much difference between the long irons. Hence the need for gap wedges and hybrids, so they can sell you even more clubs! In the old days you could just buy a set of irons 3-PW and this would cover the entire range of distances with no significant gaps. Progress? I think not! :angry:

 

[Bunkermagnet]

When did the penny finally drop?

It's the worst kept secret in golf as there is 1000s of articles and lofts are printed in every review.

Not every who plays golf wants to spend money on the glossy advertising material called magazines or even the internet.

 

[bluewolf]

Not every who plays golf wants to spend money on the glossy advertising material called magazines or even the internet.

Maybe the manufacturers should hire someone to go out knocking on doors and force feeding information to these people. We surely can't expect them to do some basic research can we?

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Maybe the manufacturers should hire someone to go out knocking on doors and force feeding information to these people. We surely can't expect them to do some basic research can we?

Now you're being stupid
I don't care if someone researches anything or not. However I know older gents who aren't aware of the manufacturers little ways, play golf very regularly and who buys clubs on how they feel and the results given.
If there are playing pro's who don't know the rules why is an assumption that Joe Public will know of the club manufacturers little ways?

 

[Tiger]

but what if its not? you will be thinking you have gained some distance, which is exactly what happened to the guy i know.

He doesn't read golf mags or pay any attention to golf gear as such, his woods are 15 years old at least, we have a lot of the older members like this some couldn't even tell you what make their clubs are

I'm confused. He tried a 7 iron which went further than his current 7 iron but not as far as his current 6 iron which was a similar loft? So he ended up with a set of clubs that iron for iron were longer but left a gap at the bottom of the bag?

I still don't understand the problem. Why did he get fitted? Did he look for distance ahead if dispersion or did he buy cast and miss the feel of forged?

 

[patricks148]

I'm confused. He tried a 7 iron which went further than his current 7 iron but not as far as his current 6 iron which was a similar loft? So he ended up with a set of clubs that iron for iron were longer but left a gap at the bottom of the bag?

I still don't understand the problem. Why did he get fitted? Did he look for distance ahead if dispersion or did he buy cast and miss the feel of forged?

but he could just hit his 6 iron and saved £500

 

[Tiger]

I think so but I couldn't be absolutely sure. I was given 40 balls, and I had my club plus two others to try, so roughly 13 balls per club. It seems quite a small sample to work with (had I only the one club to try it would have been 20 balls, I was given two 20-ball tickets because I had two clubs to try).

I'd go back then and maybe try a few more. You absolutely need to be comfortable with your purchase but rather than worries about lofts being cranked see how comfortable you are hitting the 7 iron and if you are getting more forgiveness and better dispersion. Then see if you can try the top iron you will buy so if you are buying 5-PW try and get a hit with the 5 iron. If you can nail the longest iron you are onto a winner.

Then think about distance gaps at both ends of your bag and what you currently have. Will the new irons give you any dilemmas? Loft is irrelevant just think about having a consistent set of distances through your bag and happy shopping. Buying new kit should always be an enjoyable experience

 

[Tiger]

but he could just hit his 6 iron and saved £500

Then he was buying new clubs for the wrong reason. Unless of course the set came with a 4 iron that he could hit as well as his current 4 iron but the new one went further. ..

 

[patricks148]

Then he was buying new clubs for the wrong reason. Unless of course the set came with a 4 iron that he could hit as well as his current 4 iron but the new one went further. ..

well he bought them because he was under the impression he hit them further, all he was doing was hitting one club more, the 4 iron was stronger than the 3 iron that came with the set, he had already dropped that for a 20 deg hybrid, so then had a 4 iron the same loft then had to buy a gap wedge to fill the distance gap at the top... well he didn't he just went back to his old clubs.

 

[pokerjoke]

I tried out a set of clubs yesterday, or rather a "7" iron from that set, along with my current 7 iron.

I found I was hitting the new club 10-15 yards further. Nice one!

Nice, except for the reason I used the quote marks around the '7' in my first sentence. The reason being the new "7" iron was not just longer, but had a stronger angle to it. In other words it was more like my 6 iron! How the heck am I meant to compare that!? What is the point of buying new clubs when I'm being tricked like this?

When did you actually find out the lofts were stronger?

 

[bluewolf]

Now you're being stupid
I don't care if someone researches anything or not. However I know older gents who aren't aware of the manufacturers little ways, play golf very regularly and who buys clubs on how they feel and the results given.
If there are playing pro's who don't know the rules why is an assumption that Joe Public will know of the club manufacturers little ways?

Apologies. I forgot the smilie on that post. However...........

No one is forcing anyone to spend any money. If you buy a set based on a couple of hits at a range then you get what you deserve. I don't see too many people complaining that they bought a car that got much better MPG but were then surprised that it was much smaller. Loft is just one aspect of any clubhead. Concentrating all your focus on this is ignoring every other factor. We appear to be asking manufacturers to legislate for ignorance.

 

[ManinBlack]

I have being trying to make people aware of this con trick for some time. If you have a club stamped as a 7-iron, but with the length, loft and lie angle of a 6 or even a 5 iron, of course it will go further! Note that you are normally given a 7-iron test club, so manufacturers try to make it as long hitting as possible and then try to fit the other clubs around this as best they can. This can lead to some big gaps between the short irons, but not much difference between the long irons. Hence the need for gap wedges and hybrids, so they can sell you even more clubs! In the old days you could just buy a set of irons 3-PW and this would cover the entire range of distances with no significant gaps. Progress? I think not! :angry:

Delc. Read post #67. People being the way they are they will buy the set with the 7 iron that goes furthest, just like they will buy the 20 megapixel camera when the 10 megapixel one takes better pictures. And there are good reasons why lofts can & need to be cranked. Perhaps the lofts of clubs could be standardised, but it would need to be based on current lofts, not those of 50 years ago.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Apologies. I forgot the smilie on that post. However...........

No one is forcing anyone to spend any money. If you buy a set based on a couple of hits at a range then you get what you deserve. I don't see too many people complaining that they bought a car that got much better MPG but were then surprised that it was much smaller. Loft is just one aspect of any clubhead. Concentrating all your focus on this is ignoring every other factor. We appear to be asking manufacturers to legislate for ignorance.

I see your point, but I would counter that with can we really expect your average public person who plays for fun to know the intricasies of the smoke and mirrors the eqipment manufacturers produce, when a tour level pro doesn't fully know the rules of his living?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I won't buy any club these days without trying on a monitor. Lofts don't bother me but it's how they perform. I'm aware lofts are cranked these days but it's about how well I use them. Simple as that for me

 

[Tiger]

well he bought them because he was under the impression he hit them further, all he was doing was hitting one club more, the 4 iron was stronger than the 3 iron that came with the set, he had already dropped that for a 20 deg hybrid, so then had a 4 iron the same loft then had to buy a gap wedge to fill the distance gap at the top... well he didn't he just went back to his old clubs.

I'm sorry but I'm still baffled. He bought a new set of clubs because he was hitting the 7 iron further. But was then surprised that the new 4 iron went as far as his old 3 iron which had already been replaced by a hybrid and was stunned to see that his PW went further creating the need for a gap wedge. Your mate doesn't do logic well by the sounds of it

 

[delc]

Delc. Read post #67. People being the way they are they will buy the set with the 7 iron that goes furthest, just like they will buy the 20 megapixel camera when the 10 megapixel one takes better pictures. And there are good reasons why lofts can & need to be cranked. Perhaps the lofts of clubs could be standardised, but it would need to be based on current lofts, not those of 50 years ago.

At least 50 years ago you had about 4 degrees of loft difference between numbered clubs, so you knew what you were buying and you didn't need to buy addition gap wedges etc. With my previous set of Ping i15's I could hit my 4-iron quite well, but was less successful with the 4-iron in my new TM Speedblades. I didn't understand this until I found out its loft was only 20 degrees, compared with 24 degrees for the Ping. The TM 4-iron actually had less loft than the 3 iron in a set of Titleist irons I owned in the 1980's, which was 21 degrees. I could just about hit reasonable shots with that! :angry:

Basically the TM 4-iron was a waste of money. If had realised that the lofts in the set were so cranked, I wouldn't have bought them.

 

[garyinderry]

At least 50 years ago you had about 4 degrees of loft difference between numbered clubs, so you knew what you were buying and you didn't need to buy addition gap wedges etc. With my previous set of Ping i15's I could hit my 4-iron quite well, but was less successful with the 4-iron in my new TM Speedblades. I didn't understand this until I found out its loft was only 20 degrees, compared with 24 degrees for the Ping. The TM 4-iron actually had less loft than the 3 iron in a set of Titleist irons I owned in the 1980's, which was 21 degrees. I could just about hit reasonable shots with that! :angry:

You were also 30 years younger and presumably swung faster.

 

[delc]

You were also 30 years younger and presumably swung faster.

Actually I still have those Titleist irons (they were a present from my dear late wife) and tried playing with them for a month last year. They don't really suit me any more because they have stiff shafts and hard perished grips, but I could still hit good shots with them, including the 3-iron.

 

[Sweep]

OK, so we have established that the OP has not done a degree course at Oxford on buying golf clubs. Like the rest of the population, he has probably got better things to do ( almost certainly, if he is only just getting round to spending his 2014 birthday money ). Well, now that the forum has hung him out to dry for not being a complete geek who spends all his time in his bedroom pouring over golf mags and salivating over shineys, let's think for a minute on why modern lofts are stronger in each club. Obviously because the manufacturers want you to believe their irons eg 7 iron, go further than their competitors iron of the same spec eg 7 iron. Except it's not the same spec is it? So at best it's an attempt at tricking the customer. That and the fact that this practice makes it harder to establish which clubs are the best for him is all he was complaining about.
Now, can I get back to my monthly mag?
Phwoah! Look at the grooves on that!