New iron choice

Putting aside issues such as cost , spending on lessons & playing instead etc, i'm half contemplating some new irons and am thinking of the following:

Mizuno JPX800, Ping G20, Ping i20 and Taylormade RBZ.

I've previously tried the Mizuno's and i20's in isolation and will be trying all again but I just wondered if anyone else has tried/compared this lot side by side and what were your thoughts.

I have also tried Callaway Razr X, Adams Redline and John Letters somethingorothers but didn't like any of these but will be trying some Clevelands at a demo next week.

I've tried them apart from the RBZ. The G20's were the easiest to hit, they were most forgiving and straightest and felt nice off the face. I didn't like the mizuno's, I quite liked the i20's but they felt as if the sweet spot was very small. 

I bought the G20 irons and my first round with them was a best ever 76. my handicap has dropped from 13 to 10 since I bought them last September.

Thanks Adrian.

I have to be honest and say i was a bit put off by the chunky appearance of the G20's but I know i have to choose which plays best and i've heard the same from several other players that once looks are put aside the G20's are much easier to hit consistently than the i20's.

I've got the G20's - they're better than me at the moment, but when I do strike the ball well, I get more distance than I would expect from someone of my level - regularly get by 7 iron to 150 yards - and sometimes int he direction I intended:-).

Also, my golf pro has just bought a set for himself  - his quote ' I hate blades - why make the game more difficult than it is'

So a recomendation from a beginner and a PGA Pro for the G20's.

Also, my golf pro has just bought a set for himself  - his quote ' I hate blades - why make the game more difficult than it is'

What a ridiculous thing to say, obvious that he cannot play very well, like most of them in Pro shops today.

G20 every time for me.  Had the g10's for a cbout three years now good solid club set.  Tried a few others, Ping G20 just blasted them away.  PLus they will fit them to your individual needs free!

I20 are for more experienced golfers who like to shape the ball.  But if like me you prefer straight down the middle Ping G20 just whip everything else. If you are that good it is still possible to put some shape to your shot, just look at Bubba!

I did find it easier to shape shots with the I20's but inconsistencies with my striking cost me seadrly. Inconsistencies with G20 hardly made any difference.  A top Drawer club set, in my opinion.

To add to Johns comment.  Blades are for pro's but I also know three different professionals all of which still play one in fact in the seniors tour.  They all use Ping Cavity backed clubs, stating they are just so easy to use, why risk losing your accuracy, just because you may be a having one of those days.

David

i play the G20's handicap has come down from 23 to 16 in 4 months.

John, amongst other things, he played all four days in the Welsh Open back in his day, so I'm quite happy to take his advice. I also see plenty of low - mid h'cappers doing well with them, some have replied on this thread, so it would appear his advice has some validity - but thanks for your forthright opinion.

I am in agreement with John here. Although I am still a high handicapper, and only been playing 6 months, our pro encouraged me to give blades a go. His simple approach was that cavity backs are shot improvement irons (i.e. a slight misshit will be unoticed) and blades are game improvement irons (i.e. you get feedback on your shot quality and can start to try new shots). So far after changing and a month long drop of 5-10 shots, not only am I shooting better scores than before I feel I can play better and more "touch" shots than was possible before.

I almost feel like there is a dual agenda in pro shops that firstly cavity backs are easier than blades to hit (I consider this untrue - its just easier to disguise mishits), and that blades can only be used by single figure handicappers (again untrue, if your ball striking is true and you want to improve it and your feel, why not give them a go and try and drop that handicap).

Just from my very limited experience, willing to be corrected

interesting comments, thanks as always.

Also interesting is that I understand Westwood plays with cavity-backs.

Even more interesting was my morning spent trying different irons including Taylormade RBZ [sorry, but i refuse to use the full branded name, it sounds silly!], Mizuno JPX800, Ping i20 & G20 and Titleist AP1.

I started off with a 7 iron of each, then tried a 5 and a 9. The slight downside was that all clubs were taped but this also helped show where on the head contact was being made.

With all clubs i achieved greater distance and narrower dispersal than with my current irons but the first to go was the Mizuno, which had really appealed on looks [ I'm slightly embarrassed to say that i am easily swayed by looks; its a problem being a designer sometimes] but was getting inconsistent contact.

Second, surprisingly, was the G20's - distance was good but didn't like the feel, felt slightly unwieldy.

The other 3 were pretty close though i would put the RBZ's third - great distance but felt slightly clunky.  Both the i20 and AP1  were superb despite the slightly smaller heads. Both looked great at address, contact was really clean and both gave a good straight flight.

With the 7 irons i was reaching around 170 and 180-190 with the 5 whereas i currently hit approx. 140-150 with a 7 and 160 with a 5.

All fascinating stuff if rather irrelevant as i want to spend on playing rather than kit at the mo; birthday's in August though!

Great post Matt, and correct.

It's interesting to see these comments, almost everywhere I look, including on this forum, you get the clear understanding that 'blades are for pro's' - maybe one day I can have a shiny set of my own after all.

With the 7 irons i was reaching around 170 and 180-190 with the 5 whereas i currently hit approx. 140-150 with a 7 and 160 with a 5.

Be Careful comparing 7 iron to 7 iron per se unless you know the loft. For example, my new set of clubs for have a 9 iron loft of 44 degrees, and my old set were 42 degrees, so by default I 'lost' some length with these clubs. Its all part of the continual sales pitch of hitting it further. Possibly all that is happening is that the loft on the new 7 iron is similar to loft on your old 6 iron.

NO matter what views you hold in respect of blades versus cavity back, just remember that everyone had to play with blades not so long ago, as cavity backs had not been thought of. Yes even 24 handicappers were quite able to strike blades correctly, isn't it amazing, how did they do it.

Modern design of courses has taken the need for shaping a shot out of the equation as they are open, loads of space off the tee and only bunkers and water to negotiate.

The skill has gone out of the game and I am sad that many on here just do not realise what they are missing because of it.

always interesting to read your views John.

Having only recently got into this fabulous sport and starting relatively late i certainly feel that i have been presented with a  particular view on how to get going and what is best for me. Shame i didn't know any golfers before starting off , i might have been aware of many other issues/approaches.

Not dissimilar to my career in architecture - i started off before computers came into use and all designs were produced by hand using pencils and  pens; you had to understand precisiely what each line you drew represented. Now probably more than half of my colleagues have only ever used CAD and have an entirely different approach to designing/drawing - sometimes quicker, not necessarily better.