Traditionalists, prepare to be grumpy

BubbaP

BubbaP

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Bridgestone's new SGI iron set:

Comes with two PWs, a AW (gap wedge) and a 26° 7 iron. :D

PW1 is 38°

Enjoy.

Plus they are forged.
 
I really don't understand what the manufacturers are trying to do. Won't be long until a 'set' of irons goes 7i, 8i, 9i, W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6 with the 7i going 200+ yards and W2 going 175 :confused:
 
IainP said:
Bridgestone's new SGI iron set:

Comes with two PWs, a AW (gap wedge) and a 26° 7 iron. :D

PW1 is 38°

Enjoy.

Plus they are forged.
Click to expand...

Having looked at the tech in the irons, I'm not surprised the lofts are so strong.

As the CoG is so low and far back, if they had more traditional lofts the international space station would probably be in danger of catching a ball bouncing off it.

The lofts need to be strong to stop the ball balooning and going more up than forward.

Having said that, they are the worst looking set of Bridgestone irons I have ever seen!

Bridgestone irons nrmally look pretty good but these look a little too Fisher Price for my liking.
 
One Planer said:
Having looked at the tech in the irons, I'm not surprised the lofts are so strong.

As the CoG is so low and far back, if they had more traditional lofts the international space station would probably be in danger of catching a ball bouncing off it.

The lofts need to be strong to stop the ball balooning and going more up than forward.

Having said that, they are the worst looking set of Bridgestone irons I have ever seen!

Bridgestone irons nrmally look pretty good but these look a little too Fisher Price for my liking.
Click to expand...

I get the COG idea, but with this set up to offer maximum forgiveness, I'd argue that the length of shaft offsets any forgiveness over a GI set with more traditional lofts and shaft lengths.

For comparison, consider Ping G15 irons. They are just as fugly, but considered THE most forgiving irons of their time, and IMO, no recent iron beats them for launch and off-centre hits. These irons were lambasted at the time for having cranked lofts!!! However, the length and loft of a G15 5 iron is exactly the same as the Bridgestone 7 iron.

So, people can talk about COG and new tech all they want- it's 45% loft, 45% length and 10% tech IMO. At 10%, us hackers really don't get a noticeable difference.

Bridgestone et al (TM, Ping, Cleveland, Callaway.... them all, really) are trading on:

1. Punters comparing their existing five-year-old 7 iron against newer 7 irons at the range and being excited about a huge distance gain. Sale made

2. Punters feeling more confident pulling a jacked 7 iron our their bag, rather than a standard 5 iron.

3. Ego-driven golfers (most of us) exclaiming that they can hit their 7 iron 180 yards.

4. Ooooh new shiny clubs!

There is only so much that manufacturers can do to sell clubs. As everyone jumps on the crank-a-thon bandwagon, it will only be a matter of a couple of years before they have to come up with another ploy to flog their gear.

Alas, no matter what they do, we'll still buy them because we're suckers.
 
virtuocity said:
So, people can talk about COG and new tech all they want- it's 45% loft, 45% length and 10% tech IMO. At 10%, us hackers really don't get a noticeable difference.
Click to expand...

The length of a club is relatively insignificant in terms of how much it contributes to distance. Loft is probably 70%, modern technology 25%, club length 5%.

I once soft stepped a set of irons and at the end of the process was left with the shaft that was originally in the PW, and the 3iron head. So just as a bit of fun I shafted up the 3iron with the PW shaft. Not withstanding the huge amount of lead tape and tungsten powder needed to get a half reasonable swing weight, the "very short" 3 iron was still very playable and would still fly around 165 yes when at that time I could probably hit a 3 iron 180. I never played with it as a 3 iron but I took it out for a few rounds and it turned out to be a deadly chipper from good lies around the greens.

I hit a brand new set of Callaway CF16s at the range this evening.... easily a club longer than my current irons.... only 1 degree stronger lofts.... same length.... technology does deliver some benefits.

All that being said.... the set described in the OP with two PW's is ridiculous.
 
drive4show said:
I really don't understand what the manufacturers are trying to do. Won't be long until a 'set' of irons goes 7i, 8i, 9i, W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6 with the 7i going 200+ yards and W2 going 175 :confused:
Click to expand...
Most of the guys on here claim their 7 iron goes 200 + yards anyway so there is no news in this post
 
I don't get this. I mean, from the lofts mentioned (I am too lazy to look the full specs up at the moment), it sounds like a pretty normal iron set, just that instead of saying it ranges from 5i to pw, they say it is 7i to pw1, pw2 and aw. What's the point?
 
Is it that most people only seem to buy 5 to p/w ? By putting in more wedges it means that they get more club sales where that end of the bag would normally be supplied by Vokey or another specialist wedge maker?
 
Capella said:
I don't get this. I mean, from the lofts mentioned (I am too lazy to look the full specs up at the moment), it sounds like a pretty normal iron set, just that instead of saying it ranges from 5i to pw, they say it is 7i to pw1, pw2 and aw. What's the point?
Click to expand...
Because when you go to try clubs out, you are normally given a 7-iron demo club. If it goes miles (because it's really a 5-iron) you will be impressed and buy the full set of irons. Only problem is that they will be useless for actually playing golf unless you buy several additional wedges, and you probably won't be able to hit the longer irons because they are so delofted!

About 85% of the distance a club hits the ball comes from the loft of the club face and the other 15% from the length and flex of the shaft. That American Amateur guy is playing very successfully with irons of equal length, about that of a 6-iron! :mmm:
 
Last edited:
drive4show said:
I really don't understand what the manufacturers are trying to do. Won't be long until a 'set' of irons goes 7i, 8i, 9i, W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6 with the 7i going 200+ yards and W2 going 175 :confused:
Click to expand...

Because all golfers want to hit Pitching Wedges vast distances, just like the tour pros do, but without all the practice and conditioning in the gym. Hence golf club makers have given us what we want by turning a PW into an 8-iron! We are fools to ourselves if we believe that the extra length is due only to the latest technology! :rolleyes:
 
delc said:
Because all golfers want to hit Pitching Wedges vast distances, just like the tour pros do, but without all the practice and conditioning in the gym. Hence golf club makers have given us what we want by turning a PW into an 8-iron! We are fools to ourselves if we believe that the extra length is due only to the latest technology! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

We've been her many times with this issue.

Don't the majority of players just work out how far each club hits and use it for said distance ? The number on the bottom is pretty meaningless. If your 8 iron goes 160 and you have a shot that's 160 surely you just hit your 8 iron - if the club to 160 for you is a 6 iron you just use that?

My last set of clubs would go one to two clubs longer than my current set, I know this so I just use the club that gets the distance.
 
chrisd said:
We've been her many times with this issue.

Don't the majority of players just work out how far each club hits and use it for said distance ? The number on the bottom is pretty meaningless. If your 8 iron goes 160 and you have a shot that's 160 surely you just hit your 8 iron - if the club to 160 for you is a 6 iron you just use that?

My last set of clubs would go one to two clubs longer than my current set, I know this so I just use the club that gets the distance.
Click to expand...

The traditional 4 degree spacing between clubs gave you about 10 -12 yards difference in distance. With my current set of jacked down TM irons, I have some 20 yard gaps between the short irons, whereas the longer irons, 4-6 all go about the same distance for me. What is the point of that? :rolleyes:
 
It makes zero difference what is on the bottom of the club - all that matters is how far you hit each club

It's irrelevant if a PW has a 7i loft
 
delc said:
The traditional 4 degree spacing between clubs gave you about 10 -12 yards difference in distance. With my current set of jacked down TM irons, I have some 20 yard gaps between the short irons, whereas the longer irons, 4-6 all go about the same distance for me. What is the point of that? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I know Del, we've been there a number of times before, but it only matters that you have clubs you like and you know how far each one hits
 
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