So this is what Ive done Iron Wise

medwayjon

medwayjon

Tour Winner
Joined
Aug 22, 2007
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Location
Chatham, Kent.
www.snodhurstcarsales.co.uk
As you know been looking at some better-player irons but after loads of advice have decided against diving into a potential £600 mistake.

What Ive done is buy a set of these titleist 690MB blades
http://www.titleist.com/golfclubs/irons/690mb.asp?bhcp=1

Basically I paid £50 to someone for a set of these 3-PW in 8/10 condition wise which is a bargain so I will dick about with them for a few weeks to see how I get on. If they work for me I will get new shiny better-player irons, if not I will go for a more forgiving iron.

Cant lose anyhow as I have been told these ones I have bought are worth 3-4 times what I paid for them to the right buyer.
 
How did you get them for £50? Nice looking irons them mate.

Hope you get on well with them
 
They where my old set of irons and very good they where.

I was utter rubbish with the 3 and 4 iron though good deal for £50 i sold mine for £90 and they where battered
 
Nice looking clubs Jon. Don't take this the wrong way, but, don't do it !

You need to get to the position where you are playing well below your handicap on a regular basis, ie. you are getting seriously better, before taking on these babies. If you are on an off day and not striking it well then you are really going to struggle.

Set yourself a target this season to get down to 15 before you take on this as a way forward.

I'm worried that your game will suffer and you will go backwards if you get stuck with loss of confidence etc.

Take it from someone who has been there and done it, that trying to play with a blade is not the easiest thing on earth. Easy on the practice ground, but almost impossible if chasing a score under pressure.

I got down to 8 on the verge of 7 using cavity backs, changed to a very shallow cavity back almost bladed club and suffered, lost confidence and ended up in the wilderness. Back to Cavity backs again and trying to get back to single figures.

Take care Jon, you play the game well, but this is a serious decision.

Dave
 
I think I agree with DCB on this, but having said that, at £50 you cant go wrong from a value and resale point of view.These are an excellent tool but only if precise, personally I wouldnt advise bladed clubs to anyone other than single figure players,even then it may not be the right club, still you may take to them like a duck to water, who knows? Good luck..
 
You could play the AP2 now mate, I could hit them! Have a whack of the AP1 but I reckon you will find them too game improvement looking. Also try TonyN`s irons and my sticks as im sure you will love the feel.

Good luck with your new sticks, they are going to be like trying to control a Ford Capri on an ice rink. If you get on with them I am going to be very jealous!
 
At £50 its an experiment worth taking, especially during winter with n/q scores.

If I dont get on with them I will probably grab Cobra CB's, Titleist AP2's or something similar.
Click to expand...
Jon, dont believe for a second that AP2s are an easy option, they are harder to hit perfectly than most of the irons Ive ever had, AP1's would suit you better.
Saying that, my iron striking really has come on to the point im perfectly happy to own them, as mentioned above you do need to be playing of a low teen handicap otherwise they will just be another set of clubs. The AP2s shotmaking potential is massive, I can hook, fade, slice, cut, draw and hit them straight pretty much at will. I just need to sort my very short game and Ill be a happy chappy. The strange thing is, my iron play 3 years ago was poor yet I was of 6, im now a couple of shots higher but my iron striking is far far better, I used to ignore the 4 and 3 irons, now they are my best buddies.
Moral of the story, ignore names and play with what suits you best.
 
I think 7i and down you will be fine, the longer irons, maybe trouble. As a 50 nifty gamble, worth a punt to settle your mind. I think a blended set is a great compromise, but see how you get on with all blades. For me, it was too much, but then I have never been a great ball striker.

Good luck.
 
I think we can get too preoccupied with the blade/cavity debate.
Take me for example, I wanted mizuno tp9s so as an 18yr old with 18 hcp I bought em, no practice no nothing, and for anyone who has seen them, the blade is that thin you could use em to spread butter! I played with them until they worked, and I still use them to this day.
Moral of the story-if you want them, get em!
 
Playing off about 18 myself and someone told me I wouldn't be able to use any of the MP range before I went and got them fitted.

Sugessted getting rid of my 20's and getting big bertha's instead. :D

Moral of the storey here is... Shut the hell up old man you aint got a clue!

Seriously, I strike the ball pretty well for my handicap, I am just new to the game still.

For £50 I wouldn't mind paying that for those, and if they didnt work, I would just sell them on.
 
I think for £50 there is no harm done as your get your money back when you sell anyway. However I do think along with the others that you are better suited getting a repeatable action first before going into the blade market. For what its worth, in my opinion you would probably be better suited to a compromise like an TM tour burner (maybe even the tour preferred) or and X22 tour where you get the smaller head and playability to shape shots with the forgiveness of a cavity.

I know that even as a low single figure player I thought the world started and finished with blades and it wasn't until I got back into the game in my twenties that I realised how much easier it was to hit a cavity and that you didn't need to be 100% on your game to get away with a mis-hit like you do with a blade.

I hope the experiment works for you but I do fear it may do your game and confidence some damage and that it isn't necessarily the right move but good luck and keep us posted on how they go.
 
Medway - for £50 it's worth the experiment.....but I agree with murph....7i down they are great for you but you will struggle with the higher irons and getting consistent good hits.....we'll find you the right set yet though...
 
Medway - for £50 it's worth the experiment.....but I agree with murph....7i down they are great for you but you will struggle with the higher irons and getting consistent good hits.....we'll find you the right set yet though...
Click to expand...

FWIW I think that you are spot-on but obviously wont know until I try.

Think that I will end up with a blended set like the ZB's in the end.

Cant wait to try these out when they arrive though, also got a pair of new vokeys and a Titleist 3W to try out also.

Cheers to all for the comments.
 
Go for it.
I was looking at some taylormade mb tp's a couple of months ago and did the same thing, asked about on a couple of forums and got the same mixed reply, but the general feeling was that you had to be a single figure handicap to play with these clubs. I have only played for 12 months and had a handicap of 18, but went ahead and bought them anyway.
Two months later and I have a best score of 79 and post regular scores of 85-81, down from 94-89. It's not all down to the irons but my striking has improved because I'm concentrating just that little bit more over the ball, and this seems to breed confidence when you hit it crisp! The top and bottom of it is your handicap doesn't neccisarilly reflect your ball striking/iron play - if you three putt every hole you will never have a low handicap, regardless of how well you hit your irons!
Hope this helps,

Dane
 
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