That's one thing that I've never quite gotten: everybody uses "blade" wedges - be it a gap wedge, sand wedge, whatever - and you never hear people talking about how hard it is to hit their 52.
The whole thing with blades is mental. A shank is a shank, a top is a top, a toe ball is a toe ball. MB's don't miraculously make you unable to hit a golf ball. I think it's mostly in people's heads.
There's some truth there, IMO. The mis-hits are a little bit closer, but they're still off, you'll usually miss the green regardless. I pulled out a couple of my forged clubs at the range last summer and the difference was negligible. They're pretty beat up.. they were used when my dad got them 40 years ago and the grips are a mess. I imagine for a beginner there may be a noticeable difference, but I was even hitting my old 2 & 3-iron decently towards the of the bucket. Maybe I'll get them re-gripped. lol
There's some truth there, IMO. The mis-hits are a little bit closer, but they're still off, you'll usually miss the green regardless. I pulled out a couple of my forged clubs at the range last summer and the difference was negligible. They're pretty beat up.. they were used when my dad got them 40 years ago and the grips are a mess. I imagine for a beginner there may be a noticeable difference, but I was even hitting my old 2 & 3-iron decently towards the of the bucket. Maybe I'll get them re-gripped. lol
As Yogi Berra would say, half this game is 90% mental!
I play i3 blades now, but started with mb blades. In between I played some DCI knockoffs, cavity back.
I've been working on swing changes for over a year, and felt like I really had improved my irons. Then I got to wondering if it was because I was playing
i3's, or because I made the swing changes. So my last round a couple days ago I played my 20 year old blades, Titleist 100's. Almost museum pieces.
My observations:
My swing changes are real. I hit the old clubs better than when I was playing them.
i3's have more feel than you think. The old mb's gave a little more feedback, but i3's do have a lot of feel.
I hit the i3's a little farther, maybe up to 10 yards. Which made me focus more on making as close to perfect contact as I could with the MB's.
The old mb's are still great clubs, worn grooves and old shafts notwithstanding.
From a philosphical point of view, compensation clubs can mask defects that you never bother to fix, because you don't have to. I know it sounds a bit wacked; if you score the same, what's the diff? The difference is that you might score the same, you probably won't score better. I'm old school. I used my old MB's to make me swing better. Swing better, eventually I'll score better.
If you want feedback, Hogan irons are like sticking your finger in a lightsocket. I never understood the attraction of his irons.
If you cannot hit the golfball, it doesnt matter what club you swing.
Blades were made for those who can actually hit the **** thing...LOL
Great quote old spoon, and thanks for clearing up my confusion.
I thought blades were made before the technology was around to manufacture cast, perimeter weighted, game-improvement irons.
I guess you could take the logic one more step and say that today's oversized, specially weighted, graphite-shafted metal woods were made for those who couldn't hit those old steel shafted persimmon woods!
Its all in fun, almost like talking politics. Wonderful topic.
Great quote old spoon, and thanks for clearing up my confusion.
I thought blades were made before the technology was around to manufacture cast, perimeter weighted, game-improvement irons.
I guess you could take the logic one more step and say that today's oversized, specially weighted, graphite-shafted metal woods were made for those who couldn't hit those old steel shafted persimmon woods!
Its all in fun, almost like talking politics. Wonderful topic.
Truth be told, I'm a hickory shaft/gutta percha guy myself. Anything else and you're not playing real golf.
Truth be told, I'm a hickory shaft/gutta percha guy myself. Anything else and you're not playing real golf.
Me too. I've got a few hickory shafted irons I chip around with in the basement. I also have an old wooden-shafted blade putter (probably from the 20's or 30's) that is simply beautiful. I tried it on the course about 10 years ago in an effort to rid myself of the yips. Just about everyone I played with wanted to buy it. It didn't cure my yips (that came later) but I did have a lot of fun with it.
But to get back to the original topic. I think consistent ball contact is the key to playing forged irons. If you can hit the sweet spot consistently, forged are for you (in fact any iron is for you).
I started golf 45 years ago with forged wilson staff's, and recently traded in my mx23's for Big Bertha's. I'm hitting the ball much more consistently now, and contact on the sweet spot feels just as good. And yes, I can feel it just as nicely as a pured shot with my mx23's.
...I'm hitting the ball much more consistently now, and contact on the sweet spot feels just as good. And yes, I can feel it just as nicely as a pured shot with my mx23's.
Yes. To me , it's just like hitting a baseball. When I really pure it, I can hardly feel it and that's how I know.
I play blades because they look better to me at address, plain and simple. I just hated my old set of clubs over the ball, dwarfing it really. With the compact head, I just feel as if I can shape the ball so much easier. Mental thing, but that's what this game is all about
I play blades because they look better to me at address, plain and simple. I just hated my old set of clubs over the ball, dwarfing it really. With the compact head, I just feel as if I can shape the ball so much easier. Mental thing, but that's what this game is all about
Yeah, I can't look at anything but a thin top line. My favorite term to describe cavity backs (no offense, fellas) is "shovels." I'd give up golf before playing Big Bertha's or Slingshots.
Yeah, I can't look at anything but a thin top line. My favorite term to describe cavity backs (no offense, fellas) is "shovels." I'd give up golf before playing Big Bertha's or Slingshots.
I felt the exact same way.. I thought the Callaway's always looked like an anvil on a stick at address. I played Maxifli Revolution irons (thin topline, really low offset) then I went to TA blades and Titleist musclebacks...then I bought a set of Wilson Fat Shaft cavity backs with graphite shafts. They had a thick top line, a cavity that looked like a cave and I thought I would have trouble ever feeling comfortable.
Well, I figured out pretty quickly that I hit them just as good as the so called players clubs I had been using. I can't tell a lot of difference when I am on my game. A solid strike feels just as good and a poor one feels just as bad. I lose distance and accuracy with both types if I mess it up....far as I can tell the "game improvement" irons only improve your game if you still hit the ball reasonably well. There is just no magic bullet.........( deep sigh ).
I play Black Pearl CG1's. The reason I play blades is because I love feeling of just flushing one. It feels like you've hit a marshmallow.
Todays blades a lot more forgiving than 20 even 10 years ago. i have an old set of Titliest Tour Models in the garage that I'm positive have no sweet spot.
Yeah, I can't look at anything but a thin top line. My favorite term to describe cavity backs (no offense, fellas) is "shovels." I'd give up golf before playing Big Bertha's or Slingshots.
No offense taken here. I think your statement is pretty funny.
January 17th, 2007, 06:20 PM
Anything else and you're not playing real golf. 
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