Should I go back to Game Improver Irons?

[need_my_wedge]

The season before last, I was playing Ping regular shaft G15 irons, and playing pretty good golf. I went from 19 to 13 in the space of two weeks, and then continued to play to that for the rest of the season. At the beginning of last year, I thought I was a better played than I am, and treated my self to a club fitting and a new set of clubs (Callaway Apex CF16 in stiff). The clubs are lovely to look at, and fly fantastically far when I hit them well, the trouble is that I have been so inconsistent since getting them, I have slipped back to 15, and feel like I'm playing the worse golf ever.

I do have lessons, and feel OK there, but my swing seems so inconsistent - fats, thins, pull hooks, you name it, that I no longer feel comfortable addressing a golf ball. I have so much going on in my head it's ridiculous. At other times, when I do try not to focus on anything, the swing becomes very loose and destructive, it seems like I can't win.

I know I can hit these Callaways well, just not well often enough. I've started to wonder whether I should go back to game improver irons. I may lose a bit of distance, and maybe won't be able to shape the ball anymore, but that never bothered me when I was playing the old Pings. Unfortunately, I traded the Pings in against the Callaway purchase to save a few quid so I can't just pull them out of the garage and give them another go.

Part of me says persevere with more lessons, part of me wants my old clubs (or something similar) back as I spend too much time beating myself up over bad golf and not enjoying the game.

 

[Deleted member 18121]

I've recently done the same thing....got down to 13 and changed clubs, what a mistake. Bought some Cobra one length GI bats and play much better again.

Golf is hard enough, why make it harder.

 

[The Autumn Wind]

To the original poster - the full range of bad shots you mention you are currently hitting won't be down to the irons or the shafts. Fats, thins, and violent snap hooks or slices won't be down to the irons, they'll be down to the swing and current confidence/mental state.

All amateur golfers go through good and bad spells.

Getting the correct clubs and shafts is important, and will change your shape, ball flight and confidence. But if you are spraying it every way possible, that to me says it's a swing issue first and foremost.

I was the same on Sunday - I didn't know where the ball was going on any shot.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Maybe try a set that’s half and half.

Mid cavities in the short clubs, GI in the long ones.

 

[Beezerk]

I got down to 12 and thought I could hit better player irons, struggled like hell obviously. Went back to gi irons (Ping G) and I’m much happier now. I don’t care if they don’t look real purdy, they get the job done.

 

[pendodave]

Although fat pings are marvelous, they surely won't be any better with fats, thins or pull hooks...

But, golf being the bit between the ears torture that it is, once you're not confident, your swing probably gets worse.

I would have thought that you could easily trade in the callaways for a set of your favourite chunkiest.

Having said all that, I have upgraded this year from g5 irons to cobra fly z plus (which strikes me as a similar path) and I reckon the cobras are close to as forgiving but much nicer when flushed. But maybe the presence of the fatties in the shed is keeping them honest...

 

[Coffey]

Did something quite similar to you as well.

I had a set of Ping G irons which I played really well with, got down to 15 with them. Decided I wanted something a bit more slim line and try get rid of the mega high ball flight so I switched to a set of Ping iE1's. At the start everything was going really well. Played my best golf and got cut down to 12.

I then started playing really badly, exactly what you are describing. Fat one shot, thin the next, snap hook and then a big one to the right. Had no idea what I was doing so I went back to the Ping G's which I still have. Started playing really well again yet I kept getting massive fliers which I couldn't predict. Two weeks later and I started playing terribly again.

Switched back to the Ping iE1's and all is good again.

Turns out it is not the clubs and it is me focusing more on smooth swing and not overswinging.

The GI clubs may give you a confidence boost but if you put a bad swing on them they will still produce a poor shot. Stick with what you have and keep working on it. Go back to basics, grip, posture and setup. The swing is there, you just need to find it again.

 

[Beezerk]

Although fat pings are marvelous, they surely won't be any better with fats, thins or pull hooks

It was a distance thing for me, a semi creamed shot with my pings goes about the same distance as a creamed shot. With better player irons it doesn’t get anywhere near there.

 

[need_my_wedge]

Turns out it is not the clubs and it is me focusing more on smooth swing and not overswinging.

This I know is me. I need a magic cure for the overswing which has now started affecting my irons as well as woods....... pretty sure a set of old Pings is it

 

[duncan mackie]

I agree with the autumn wind.

The only other point is that confidence is, ultimately, everything; so do what ever you feel you have to do to regain, and retain, confidence.

I've all but 1 of my 7 sets of irons still and still chop and change between the last 3 from time to time whenever I get a crisis of confidence (or someone posts something on here that triggers it like the post regarding RAC irons that got me considering whether i should try the R9TPs again - so theynare currently back in the bag and doing great!)

 

[Coffey]

This I know is me. I need a magic cure for the overswing which has now started affecting my irons as well as woods....... pretty sure a set of old Pings is it

Channel your inner Jon Rahm. That's what I do

 

[pendodave]

It was a distance thing for me, a semi creamed shot with my pings goes about the same distance as a creamed shot. With better player irons it doesn’t get anywhere near there.

I just had a look at this (although a lot of people have doubts about its veracity)
http://ralphmaltby.com/golf-head-ratings/

It shows that my fly z pluses are more forgiving than most playa-style cbs. That might explain why I hadn't noticed a similar drop off in performance. And believe me, I'm no henrick when it comes to ball striking... I bought them on a bit of a whim, so guess I just got lucky.

Apex 2016 show quite a low number, so might indicate that it's not just in the op's head.

 

[need_my_wedge]

I just had a look at this (although a lot of people have doubts about its veracity)
http://ralphmaltby.com/golf-head-ratings/

It shows that my fly z pluses are more forgiving than most playa-style cbs. That might explain why I hadn't noticed a similar drop off in performance. And believe me, I'm no henrick when it comes to ball striking... I bought them on a bit of a whim, so guess I just got lucky.

Apex 2016 show quite a low number, so might indicate that it's not just in the op's head.

That's quite interesting, although I have no idea how good/ true it is as I haven't heard of it before now but reading what it is, it then lists the scores and categories. The Apex are listed thus

Callaway Apex #6 (2016) 2016 349

Which falls in to the classic category, a level I am clearly not at......


Classic
251 - 400 - Difficult To Play: Very good players only. 0-5 handicap is best and a solid ball striker. No game improvement features. Still used by some tounrament pros. Best to use 325 as minimum MPF.


So how does this impact a custom fit, since quite clearly on the day, the Callaways were by far and above the best bat I hit? Although even more interestingly, The TM P770 fall into the GI category, and these were the main competitor to the Apex on the day I was fit. The Apex seemed to be a little better on dispersion at the time.

 

[duncan mackie]

Yikes!

I've just looked through that am already panicking about the irons I've just put back in the bag....

At 212 🤔

The amazing bit it that side by side with the RBZ Tour heads (616l they (R9TP) look almost identical in size, shape, sole, loft, grooves or any other dimensional element.

Wish I hadn't looked now.

Must be a typo...

 

[Orikoru]

I sometimes wonder why anyone other than low single handicap players would not play the most forgiving clubs they could. As some other people have said, it's a hard game, seems silly to make it harder for the sake of.. what?

 

[Beezerk]

I just had a look at this (although a lot of people have doubts about its veracity)
http://ralphmaltby.com/golf-head-ratings/

It shows that my fly z pluses are more forgiving than most playa-style cbs. That might explain why I hadn't noticed a similar drop off in performance. And believe me, I'm no henrick when it comes to ball striking... I bought them on a bit of a whim, so guess I just got lucky.

Apex 2016 show quite a low number, so might indicate that it's not just in the op's head.

I’ll have a better look when I get home, 832 for mine though, proper knobber clubs 😂

 

[duncan mackie]

I sometimes wonder why anyone other than low single handicap players would not play the most forgiving clubs they could. As some other people have said, it's a hard game, seems silly to make it harder for the sake of.. what?

Trust me, I switched back because I find that particular iron easiest to hit consistently! I'm too old to care about which club I hit a particular distance, only how easy bit is to hit one of them that distance accurately and consistently.

So I agree your principle!

 

[Deleted member 21258]

I just had a look at this (although a lot of people have doubts about its veracity)
http://ralphmaltby.com/golf-head-ratings/

Interesting link, thank Shows my irons x14 at 980, very forgiving and with my strike not surprised.

 

[Orikoru]

I just had a look at this (although a lot of people have doubts about its veracity)
http://ralphmaltby.com/golf-head-ratings/

It shows that my fly z pluses are more forgiving than most playa-style cbs. That might explain why I hadn't noticed a similar drop off in performance. And believe me, I'm no henrick when it comes to ball striking... I bought them on a bit of a whim, so guess I just got lucky.

Apex 2016 show quite a low number, so might indicate that it's not just in the op's head.

lol, I just opened that link and lo and behold, my Callaway Steelhead XRs are the very most forgiving clubs in the world for 2017! Lucky me.

 

[chrisd]

I played with our esteemed leader Mr Harris a couple of years back and had a chat regarding why I wasn't a single figure golfer. I told him what I thought the reasons were and asked him, having played with him a couple of times what he thought- one reason he gave was that my Mizzy JPX's were not the easiest clubs to hit. I changed back to game improver clubs almost immediately and halted the run of .1's and the have stabilised to 12 h/c for the last couple of years.

Game improvers are so much easier to hit imo