Does 2 degrees of loft make that much of a difference?
I have been playing 1982 Ben Hogan Decades forged blades, which look very similar to the Apex blades, for the past few months. I bought them on ebay and I hit them sweet and straight. The problem is that I am 1 club short of what I'm used to hitting. I also play with 2001 Ben Hogan Apex Pros, which is a forged semi-blade similar to the Apex FTX. I looked on the website to see the lofts. They don't have the lofts for either club, but I am assuming that the Decades have the same lofts as the Apex (7 iron 36*) and the Apex Pros the same as the Apex FTX (7 iron 34*). I hit the Apex Pro 7 iron 165, but I can only hit the Decade 7 iron 155. Both have 4 (stiff) steel shafts. Does the 2* of loft make a difference of 10yds? Anyone know?
2* @ the same length, SHOULD only be about 5 yards.
Of course, 4* @ +.5" came out the same for me. I'm thinking the reason for it was the shafts. (TT Dynalite Gold R300 vs. TT Dynamic Gold S400) I always did kill those old Staff irons.
you may want to take them in and have the lofts checked, this way you know for sure, also , take the Decade and stand it up to the Apex Pro to check the length, the older clubs were 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch shorter than the newer clubs.
VJ; Yes it can, I went to a new set of irons, and the loft on them is 2-3 degrees higher for all the clubs. At first I taught I was losing distance due to poor ball contact, but then I checked the lofts of both sets, and that's the problem. I lost about 10 yards per club. So that would agree with what you are seeing.
It should only be about 5 yards difference. Clubs normally (not always mind you) have 4 degrees difference between them. So for example a PW might have 47 and a 9 iron will have 43. Generally speaking golfers have about 10-12 yards between clubs, so I would go with 5 yards. Everyone is different, so if you say you're losing 10 yards then I'll take your word for it. But I don't know how many tests you've done? If it's just one isntance I would say forget about it. Might have just not been catching the ball totally solid, wind, and temp all play rolls in how far the ball travels.
I lost 10 yards when I got new irons, that have 2 degrees more loft. I'm talking about carry distance, as is standard when talking about iron distances. I have 15 yards between all my irons, not 10-12, so that might factor in here. My ball flight is a good bit higher now, but I did lose distance. I'm sure it would vary from golfer to golfer, just like everything else.
I recently started playing a set of 1965 Wilson Staffs. I have noticed that I'm about 1 club length shorter than my Cleveland TA3 FF irons. But who cares whether you hit a 7 or 8 iron into the green from 153 yards. Heck I play with an older gentleman where that would be a 5 iron! If my ball is inside of you, the $5 I take off off of you doesn't care that you hit a 9 iron!
I But who cares whether you hit a 7 or 8 iron into the green from 153 yards.
Steve
Well, that's a good point, but it's not always true. You also have to take into account the ball flight. If the greens are hard, and I can hit my 8 iron higher than you can hit your 7 iron, I'm going to have a better chance of holding the green. The 7 iron is also a 1/2 inch longer than the 8 iron, so on average, most all golfers can hit an 8 iron a little better than they hit a 7 iron. What would be even better, would be if we could hit a 9 iron into that green from 153 yards, with the higher ball flight a 9 iron give, and really be able to hold the green. Would you agree with this?
October 11th, 2006, 08:28 PM
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