Should I go back to Game Improver Irons?

Re. The link, glad to be of service...

There's a lot of chatter on places like golfwrx about how the numbers are calculated. All the measured variables are put into an algorithm and out pops a number which is one club maker's idea of what constitutes forgiveness.

I think that some modern tech like the flexible iron faces might not be accurately reflected in the numbers.

It might be useful if you like irons with a particular trait (CG position or moi for instance) as you could see others which are similar.

Or you could do what I did, and hit a few you like the look of and just pick the ones that feel best...
 
I think this is a common thing, players change from their GI to a better player iron and start to struggle. A GI iron can really hide some swing flaws as you can pretty much hit them anywhere on the face and they still go, where as a better player iron will give you the ability to hit different trajectories and and shape it left to right. The trade off is that you loose a lot of forgiveness to get this, so when you start hitting them all over the face they start to come up short and you loose confidence.
 
Back to the CF16s.....
Maltby reckons the Pro Apex irons are easier to hit than the CF16s which are only marginally easier to use than the muscleback MB iron.....
Another easier to use club is the Titleist CB forged.......
Colour me unconvinced......
 
just checked what my MP4's come out as... 397, I'm surprised i find them as forgiving as the JPX825 pro i had before and these rate far higher
 
MadAdey said:
I think this is a common thing, players change from their GI to a better player iron and start to struggle. A GI iron can really hide some swing flaws as you can pretty much hit them anywhere on the face and they still go, where as a better player iron will give you the ability to hit different trajectories and and shape it left to right. The trade off is that you loose a lot of forgiveness to get this, so when you start hitting them all over the face they start to come up short and you loose confidence.
Click to expand...

Good explanation but I think it's even more basic than that!

'...a better player iron will give you the ability to hit different trajectoriesand shape it left to right, right to left etc' - whether you want to, or not!
 
duncan mackie said:
Good explanation but I think it's even more basic than that!

'...a better player iron will give you the ability to hit different trajectoriesand shape it left to right, right to left etc' - whether you want to, or not!
Click to expand...


Yes indeed... I play i25 irons...before I bought them, I tested a G series set on the basis that I'd take all the help going. (13 handicap) I found that if I drove in the trees, shaping a shot out was almost impossible. In cross winds it was aim one side and hope.

But, my irons are neither "butter knives" nor "shovels!" Therein lies the issue... shop around and test
 
Orikoru said:
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?
Click to expand...

It depends where you get your enjoyment from I guess.

I'm a hacker but get far more pleasure out of playing old blades than I would making a low score with full GI technology assistance.
Yes, I hit plenty of crap shots but the good shots I hit are bliss and I feel that they're all my own work rather than that of some boffin in an R&D lab. I've got it so bad that I change my iron set every week and don't even get a chance to fully familiarise myself with one set.

It appears that for most golfers low score is king, no matter what equipment is used to achieve it.
I asked in a other thread a while back; If a club came out that was guaranteed to find the target everytime and be 50% longer than your current club would you buy it? Nobody answered.


At the end of the day you pays your money and you takes your choice. :)
 
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I think it boils down to what be thing, get what gives you the best chance of getting round in a low score. What you use doesn’t matter, my buddy who plays off +2 uses AP3 irons, not exactly what I classify as the better players irons, that would be the AP2.

I have seen plenty of low handicappers using the likes of the PING G series, none of them seem to be bothered that they can’t manipulate their shots.
 
Ive played with a lot of cat 1 golfers in comps and you be surprised how many use game improvement /forgiving irons it works for them so they use it ,one 2 handicaper I played a singles summer knock out against a couple of years back was using some high forgiving cobra irons with graphite shafts and he could really crush a ball .I been toying with changing my Nike vapor pro combo irons I was fitted for few years back and do hit them well!but on a off day they’re hard work! off a 12 h/cap forgiveness will give me more confidence and in turn play better golf.i been fancying taking a gamble with the cobra one length irons .
 
Westwood for years used G15’s and at the time he was one of the best ball strikers in the game, I know at least one cat 1 who still uses them - Use whatever clubs produce the results
 
What I find interesting is that the Maltby charts are based upon 6 irons.

It is probably why the 6 iron for my set (Mizuno JPX 900 tour) is virtually unused. Switched for something a little more forgiving, Taylor Made TP CB Tour.

I still love the short irons in a MB.
 
Liverpoolphil said:
Westwood for years used G15’s and at the time he was one of the best ball strikers in the game, I know at least one cat 1 who still uses them - Use whatever clubs produce the results
Click to expand...

Wasn’t it the i irons he used & G Driver?

I know he used the G10 driver for quite sometime.
 
I think that a major driver for the belief that blades and better player irons are not for the mid/high handicapper is that the longer irons are harder to hit than their GI equivalents. However, I have hybrids up to 6 and so only use irons from 7 upwards ... and the differences in playability between the various types of iron are less in the shorter irons. I have an old set of blades and I can hit the short irons as well as my usual G20s. Just saying!
 
Some interesting responses, and a lot of food for thought. When I'm playing well, I hit these Callaways as good as anything, it's just that since I had them, that doesn't seem to be too often. I agree with one of the earlier posts, I've always said that I probably had some of the swing faults with the GI clubs, but they masked it to a degree. Agree with the post above re: using the shorter irons as better player clubs, but maybe use GI's for the longer irons. I must admit that I'm really happy, and confident hitting the 7 iron in this set, and generally hit that one well, alongside the 6, 8 and wedge, but for some reason, the 9 iron always pulls left, probably 98% of the time, and the 5 iron is now doing that a fair bit too.

I'm half leaning towards more lessons and grinding it out, and half towards trying some GI's, perhaps mixing the set. Both the wife and the boy questioned the decision to switch clubs when I was playing well. They're now questioning my thoughts on switching back :D. I'm not sure there's an easy solution, but certainly some things for me to look at.
 
need_my_wedge said:
Some interesting responses, and a lot of food for thought. When I'm playing well, I hit these Callaways as good as anything, it's just that since I had them, that doesn't seem to be too often. I agree with one of the earlier posts, I've always said that I probably had some of the swing faults with the GI clubs, but they masked it to a degree. Agree with the post above re: using the shorter irons as better player clubs, but maybe use GI's for the longer irons. I must admit that I'm really happy, and confident hitting the 7 iron in this set, and generally hit that one well, alongside the 6, 8 and wedge, but for some reason, the 9 iron always pulls left, probably 98% of the time, and the 5 iron is now doing that a fair bit too.

I'm half leaning towards more lessons and grinding it out, and half towards trying some GI's, perhaps mixing the set. Both the wife and the boy questioned the decision to switch clubs when I was playing well. They're now questioning my thoughts on switching back :D. I'm not sure there's an easy solution, but certainly some things for me to look at.
Click to expand...
I also think the best solution for you might just be to get GI's in the 5 and 6 (and 4 if you normally have a 4), and keep your better player ones for the shorter irons.
 
need_my_wedge said:
Some interesting responses, and a lot of food for thought. When I'm playing well, I hit these Callaways as good as anything, it's just that since I had them, that doesn't seem to be too often. I agree with one of the earlier posts, I've always said that I probably had some of the swing faults with the GI clubs, but they masked it to a degree. Agree with the post above re: using the shorter irons as better player clubs, but maybe use GI's for the longer irons. I must admit that I'm really happy, and confident hitting the 7 iron in this set, and generally hit that one well, alongside the 6, 8 and wedge, but for some reason, the 9 iron always pulls left, probably 98% of the time, and the 5 iron is now doing that a fair bit too.

I'm half leaning towards more lessons and grinding it out, and half towards trying some GI's, perhaps mixing the set. Both the wife and the boy questioned the decision to switch clubs when I was playing well. They're now questioning my thoughts on switching back :D. I'm not sure there's an easy solution, but certainly some things for me to look at.
Click to expand...

Might be worth getting the lie angles checked on this 2 clubs
 
To the OP....

Stop prevaricating.....do it.

I'm in exactly the same boat playing CF16's and am considering upsizing to something more forgiving.

I need a guinea pig to take the plunge and feedback the results and you sound like the very person I've been looking for.

:thup:
 
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