Should we do away with "numbered" irons?

[Airlie_Andy]

Just reading through a few threads got me thinking about what a 6 iron actually means these days. With such variation between the lofts of 6 irons from the same manufacturer let alone between different manufacturers is stamping "6" on an iron becoming meaningless? Should irons have the loft printed on them instead much the same way a wedge does? Just a thought for discussion.

 

[GB72]

Yes they should.

Cleveland did it with the CG16s and it was a great idea. Not sure if they have done it with any range since though.

 

[fundy]

Would much prefer lofts rather than iron numbers. However, there are obviously a few complications, firstly there are current weight criteria for each iron, these would go, the other issue comes that you could only stamp the loft when built, what if a club is then bent a few degrees either way to a different loft?

 

[ManinBlack]

It won't work, my mashie niblick has a lot less loft than my mate's.

 

[Airlie_Andy]

I dont think having your lofts changed afterwards is an issue really. Having a 6 stamped on it doesn't tell you the loft either but at least you would know what it was when you bought it if the loft is stamped on it? Similarly now you might buy a set of irons and have the lofts strengthened at the production stage so the loft doesn't actually match the specs for that 6 iron anyway but if they stamped the club with your strengthened loft at least it would match.

 

[fundy]

I dont think having your lofts changed afterwards is an issue really. Having a 6 stamped on it doesn't tell you the loft either but at least you would know what it was when you bought it if the loft is stamped on it? Similarly now you might buy a set of irons and have the lofts strengthened at the production stage so the loft doesn't actually match the specs for that 6 iron anyway but if they stamped the club with your strengthened loft at least it would match.

The difference surely being its stamped with a generic number, so is still a 6 iron after being bent (or can at least purport to be in some cases) whereas it is clearly not a 30 degree club if ity has been bent to 28 degree

 

[Canary_Yellow]

What's the point? Surely, all that matters is how far you hit each club relative to all of the others in your bag?

Clearly, some form of labelling system is required in order to identify each club, so what’s wrong with the one we already have? I think you’re saying that the numbering has become meaningless when comparing one set with another, but that would only be relevant in my opinion, if you had a set of irons made up of a combination of different brands / models.

My 6 iron is undoubtedly different to the 6 iron in my friend’s TaylorMade set, but why does that matter? I decide what club I want to use to hit the shot I want to hit, not based on what club someone else is using to play the shot they want to hit.

As GB72 says above, Cleveland stamped the loft onto the bottom of the CG16s, but they didn’t do away with the iron numbering. I think this is useful information.

Unless I’m mistaken though, there’s more to the numbering of an iron that simply loft. So without a number labelling the club, You’d end up having to stamp a whole load of info on the bottom, such as shaft length, weighting, etc.

Isn’t just having a simple label of one number sufficient? Or if more info is needed, adding loft labelling, but retaining the number?

 

[Airlie_Andy]

The difference surely being its stamped with a generic number, so is still a 6 iron after being bent (or can at least purport to be in some cases) whereas it is clearly not a 30 degree club if ity has been bent to 28 degree

That's exactly my point. What exactly is the benefit of calling it a 6 iron when 6 irons can vary so much?

 

[fundy]

That's exactly my point. What exactly is the benefit of calling it a 6 iron when 6 irons can vary so much?

I do tend to agree. One thing I always find interesting is that people often talk a lot about gaps at each end of the bag, mainly because the middle is fixed with 4 degree gaps. Im pretty sure my ideal set would have smaller loft gaps at the wedge end of the bag and bigger gaps at the long end of the bag (so I would have more options at the more critical distances), but obviously this is all but unavailable because of the "set of irons" concept

 

[virtuocity]

We should do away with people's obsession with lofts and lengths.

The number on the back of the club is for the golfer using it, not the jealous playing partner who wonders why his 7 iron isn't going as far as his partner's 8.

 

[Foxholer]

The only thing standard about a 6 iron is its weight - within a gram or so of 263gms - and I believe that's simply convention, with no agreement that requires that to be the case either.

 

[Khamelion]

Most of us who take the game reasonably seriously will know the lofts of their clubs and as has been written above that's all that matters when selecting a club for any given shot. I know my Mizuno's are a couple of degrees weaker than my CG16's are, so my Mizuno 6 is actually closer to my CG16 7.

Point is after playing the CG16 for 3 years I know how far I hit them, so knowing the loft of my Mizuno's I know which club in that set will make the ball go the same distance.

Knowing that my 6 is roughly like my old 7 is all I need to know and anyone who has had more than one set of irons will no doubt have checked the lofts on the manufacturer websites for comparison.

 

[Foxholer]

I do tend to agree. One thing I always find interesting is that people often talk a lot about gaps at each end of the bag, mainly because the middle is fixed with 4 degree gaps. Im pretty sure my ideal set would have smaller loft gaps at the wedge end of the bag and bigger gaps at the long end of the bag (so I would have more options at the more critical distances), but obviously this is all but unavailable because of the "set of irons" concept

Scratch made irons for one player (Ryan Moore from memory) with 5* gaps so he would have the 15yd gaps between clubs that he wanted. No numbers on the sole - only lofts. He may also have 'saved' a club or 2 as well - set going from 50* to 20*.

 

[Alex1975]

It would be nice but it wont happen as "Distance" is the only thing clubs are sold on so the manufactures wont let it go.

To add to the topic, what is the point on fitting shafts based on swing speed ( ye I know there is more to it ) when clearly your swing speed will be different with every club.

And to have a little rant, what is the point of distance with anything other than a driver anyway. We get 14 clubs, thats a huge amount so we have the choice of whatever distance we want.

 

[fundy]

Scratch made irons for one player (Ryan Moore from memory) with 5* gaps so he would have the 15yd gaps between clubs that he wanted. No numbers on the sole - only lofts. He may also have 'saved' a club or 2 as well - set going from 50* to 20*.

nice to know im not the only crazy one who thinks this would be a good idea

 

[bladeplayer]

We should do away with people's obsession with lofts and lengths.

The number on the back of the club is for the golfer using it, not the jealous playing partner who wonders why his 7 iron isn't going as far as his partner's 8.

LIKE !!!!!!!! ^^^

Its just a quick reference for yourself surely , 180 to go grab a 6 iron .. b the very same if you had lofts printed on it, 180 to go , grab what ever iron has the loft you need to go 180 stamped on it.. some body started a thread re making the game complicated , this is making it complicated IMO
learn how far you hit each club , then hit the required number ..

 

[cookelad]

We're slowly getting there as we're losing clubs out of the top end of the bag and carrying more wedges. The number on the bottom is only a reference point anyway so essentially irrelevant really whether they go 1-8, 2-9, A-J or a combination of stars, circles and triangles, as long as the person wielding it has a distance associated with whatever's printed there that's all that matters - its just that a certain type of person does enjoy willy waving!

 

[Canary_Yellow]

LIKE !!!!!!!! ^^^

Its just a quick reference for yourself surely , 180 to go grab a 6 iron .. b the very same if you had lofts printed on it, 180 to go , grab what ever iron has the loft you need to go 180 stamped on it.. some body started a thread re making the game complicated , this is making it complicated IMO
learn how far you hit each club , then hit the required number ..

Yep - this is exactly what I said above. Could label them A - G, or 101 - 109, the label is irrelevant, it's the performance of each club in your bag as compared to all the others - so why not stick with the current labels?

 

[Foxholer]

...

To add to the topic, what is the point on fitting shafts based on swing speed ( ye I know there is more to it ) when clearly your swing speed will be different with every club.
...

Because they will be equatable! There's normally about 2mph difference, for guys, for each club. So an iron set can be designed to 'fit' that model so that each iron feels the same - at least in terms of stiffness.

 

[Alex1975]

Because they will be equatable! There's normally about 2mph difference, for guys, for each club. So an iron set can be designed to 'fit' that model so that each iron feels the same - at least in terms of stiffness.

Ahh ok... can be or is?