BLADES

Ive been looking for a set of bladed irons just to try them out and won a set of 1970s slazenger blades for £30. I know JP is an officionado of blades. Do they hit longer on good hits? or are they only good at shaping the ball? Any advice.

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

An ex colleague of mine had a set of Wilson staff blades circa 1970-ish and they still flighted the ball lovely and were butter soft, but they were definitely NOT long. If you want to shape the ball, modern bladed irons will do at least as good a job probably and hit it further.

Yes, Dave, blades are my favourite because that was all that was available when I took up the game and continued for many years before the manufacturers came up with the idea of stimulating the sellers market. by introducing game improvement irons an d extortionate priced metal woods.

To claim the advances which can be made in distance with these new fangled clubs they were forced to strengthen the lofts on a regular basis, leading to the belief that old blades were shorter in distance when in actual fact there was no change other than the lofts.

Dave Ley plays with my blades now and I doubt that anyone could match him for distance with an iron yet the wedge in that set is 50deg.

If using blades for the first time you will quickly notice and feel that a ball not struck correctly will not travel like the modern iron, but the advantage is the feedback that this gives you, over time will make you a far better striker in the long run and with the added bonus that the amount of different shots you will be able to call on with the blades will make your game even more enjoyable.

Taking the easy way out will just leave you stagnating, how many of you honestly have made the progress that you felt you should have.

 

John you are 100% right but I was getting a bit too much feed back from bad shots so I have strayed back to cavity backs.  If I had the time to practice and play as much as I would like to a nice set of forged blades, well the 7 iron and up at least would be my first choice.

David so you are taking the short view of your game and playing for the now, when you should be pushing to get into the single figures your game deserves. Come on you know it makes sense.

John, right again, I'm afraid so. I'm sick of work getting in the way of golf improvement and I will probably have to accept that without putting the work in on the course and practice field that improvement will not come.  I can't expect to get more out if I cant put more in.  On the other hand, my putting as taken a real turn for the better!

Yes, & don't I know it!! If you don't putt tomorrow in our Alliance Medal like you have been I'll be having words

Blades????  Why make the game any more difficult than it needs to be be?  The majority of professionals no longer play with blades - at least not true bladed clubs.  Why on earth would someone off higher than a 2 or 3 handicap even consider it?

Richard

Richard have you used them? or are you one the new breed who has found relative success with the cavity backs and see no reason to change. The pro's are a diffferent caseto  us amateurs as they play the same type of courses all the time on tour, where all they need isa straight shots to the excact distanhce, only the majors require an extra level of skill.

Perhaps if you were to make the transition then your game would be elevated into single figures and better.

Blades for me and most that have tried mine have been reluctant to give them back. Like a lot of my generation I swing hard and flat. A heel weighted offset cavity is just about the worst thing I could play with. If you have a tendancy to hook the ball - get away from super game improvers.

John, I've been playing 30+ years and have used blades in the past.  I've been down as low as 4 previously and have used blades.  However, I'm not so vain as to try to kid myself that they are right club for me these days.

I find it hard to believe that blades could possibly be the correct clubs for you off an 18 handicap.  Did you take advice from a professional before your purchase or did your pro have an old set somehere that he couldn't get rid of to anyone else?  What shafts do you have in them?  I'm going to guess Dynamic Gold S300's?

I'm fortunate to spend most of the summer months following some of this country's top junior golfers in county golf (my own son was the U16 county captain last year and plays in the county boys' team) as well as at regional and national level competitions.  I've got to say, even at that level, you see very few 'true' blades in use.

Enjoy your winter golf and lets hope you don't thin too many shots with those blades of yours!

Richard

John, just read your 'Whats in the Bag' section - Irons: Callaway X14 Steelhead!!!

John, just read your 'Whats in the Bag' section - Irons: Callaway X14 Steelhead!!!

Richard, if you had read my earlier post thoroughly you would have taken note of the fact that I passed my blades on to our own Dave Ley, as he was far more able to get the benefit from them than me.

Sarcasm does not become you and if you are going to use it then I suggest you do more research on  whom you are directing it.

I most certainly have been a far better player than you were with quite an enviable record in the amateur ranks, so please do not attempt to patronise me.

I am pleased that your young lad is doing well in the County scheme of things, but it is obvious that for all your effort in trying to put me down that, you have given me your life story which does not even get anywhere near my experience or knowledge of this game.

Blades are NOT a backward progression, they are an important learning tool with benefits that will remain for the rest of ones life. I am sorry that you cannot recognise that.

 

 

I am intrigued now, what do my irons count as, am i trying hard enough on the JP scale

http://www.titleist.co.uk/historical_clubs/details.asp?id=36

 

Ian, I have no problem with anybody's choice of clubs, after all it is down to personal choice and the titleists you play with are a very good club  indeed, but inbuilt into them are some aids, like a blunted leading edge and a cavity back. Being forged is a plus and I have no doubt that a competent player would have no trouble playing with them.

My argument is that pure blades will help to improve a players striking abilities because they are unforgiving and require a sound reliable swing to really get the benefits that are available with this type of club. Just imagine a knocked down 3 iron into a strong cross wind with a late cut into a tight right hand pin on hard and fast greens. Thats where the pleasure is.

Just imagine a knocked down 3 iron into a strong cross wind with a late cut into a tight right hand pin on hard and fast greens. Thats where the pleasure is.

  John if Carlsberg did golf shots, that would be the shot. Mind you, hitting a 280 yard green in one and narrowly missing an eagle put as i did yesterday felt pretty good!

You are a strong lad, David, and I should imagine that is a regular occurrence.

Played that exact carlsberg shot on the 180y par 3 11th at royal Porthcawl last friday.just add in an icy shower !

John, mea culpa!  You are correct, I didn't read your post thoroughly and missed the fact that you had passed on your blades.  My apologies.  How are you finding the X14's?

I recognise that in the correct hands a set of blades can be a dangerous weapon.  As indeed they were for me when I was fortunate enough to lead the MacGregor Trophy (long before it became the English U16 Championship I hasten to add).  I'm also aware of your previous achievements in amateur golf and was in no way meaning to sound patronising.

Thanks for your comments regarding my son doing well in the 'county scheme of things'!!!  You might appreciate this short video clip of him teeing it up with Ian Woosnam and Paul McGinley earlier this year. 

Richard

Richard, I bought the X14's secondhand for £100 with graphite shafts and I must admit that I can use them pretty well, what I cannot do is shape a ball with them with the accuracy of the blades and the wedge was certainly not designed for those little check shots that I found so easy with my Maruman Conductor Pro blades as well as My Honma Persimmon woods. Both the irons and woods are now in the hands of my friend Dave Ley who can use them  exceptionally well.

Your son looks to have a pretty sound swing and I sincerely hope that he makes the progress that you wish for him. As you well know there is a dearth of young talent out there but very few manage to make an impact. Fingers crossed for you, as I am sure it would make you a proud father.

Ian Woosnam]won the Masters playing Maruman irons.

At this point I will welcome you to the forum and lets hope that we can have many proper discussions about this wonderful game.

Ive now got the blades and they look great. Didnt play last weekend so tomorrow ill have my 1st go. Its due to be at least 2 deg c so ideal for blades. Ill let you lot know my findings tommorow. Cheers.

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

What ones have you got Dave??

Slazenger johnny miller JM63, How do i put an image on ?

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Have been using srixon AAA quite well lately. Would anyone advise a softer prov1 when using blades or does it not matter?

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Just been swapping over my "new" blades in place of my wilson deep reds and noticed that the shaft of the blades are a good 2 inches shorter. The blade 4 iron is shorter than my wilson 7 iron. The lofts look about the same. Were the old blades from the 70's a bit shorter than todays club or are my new clubs made for a short bloke?  Does JP know?

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Dave, you have now realised that the clubs you have are shorter than those manufactured today, the reason being that year on year the emphasis has been on cranking the lofts and increasing the length of shafts just to say that the new clubs will hit further.

Dave Ley has not felt the need to alter anything on my old Marumans, they are as they were built almost 30 years ago and if you were to watch him strike them then you would quickly realise that they are in a completely differnt league to the rubbish that is now fawned over by the new golfing public, who want everyhing to work from the off without putting any work in.

Drivers now are a minimum of 55" whereas my persimmons were 43".

Persevere with them, Dave and you will benefit no end.

JP - I have just bought a set of Titleist AP2 710's, not full blades but a step in the right direction, I'll let you know how i get on with them!!!

Nice clubs David, you will have no trouble at all hitting them.

Here goes. It was freezing cold, 20 mph wind, raining from the off for about 7 holes. I really struggled with the new blades. My hands were freezing, wet and my glove was wet. I tried a 4 iron off the fairway. C L U N K. Along the ground for about 100yds and right up my left arm. I had about 10 good hits from about 30 shots. Although i did birdie SI1. All I have heard is true about blades. When you hit bad you really hit bad. I will probablly put these blades away until the spring comes and ill give them a real go. Any tips are welcome.

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Todays efforts just confirmed that you are not the ball striker you thought you were, David. Perseverence wiil soon get you swinging correctly and then you will not look back. You will be able to play shots that are only a dream with this modern crap.

David, as with any good iron shot you need to hit down and through the ball , this is highlighted more for blades.

David , try this. Mark a line on the ground with your club and put your ball on the line. Take your swing and your divot will tell you a story, It should be about 2- 3" in front of the line. Anything further back will result in a fat shot and blades won't bounce into the ball like thick souled club, and you will suffer big loss in distance. If your not taking a divot you'll most likely thin the ball and you will get some nasty shocks up your arms. There are very few players who can play blades and not take a divot and they won't be on here!

Let me know your results and I can give you some guidance from there, but dont put them away just yet,http://www.golfshake.com/scripts/ckeditor362/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.gif" title="yes" width="20" />

John

Drivers now are a minimum of 55" whereas my persimmons were 43".

I think you will find that the standard length of a driver for most manfacturers lies in the 45" - 46" range.

Richard

Dave (Patrick), I asked one of our members who caddies on the European Tour how many of the tour players still use blades.  His answer was less than 1/4 of them!  If I were you I wouldn't feel bad about putting them away in the garage to gather dust!

Richard

So, the majority of tour players are not using blades, only confirms what I have been saying for a long while now that the modern game only requires a straight shot at the correct distance as all the greens, especially on tour, are very receptive and tight pins present no real problem. Even the links courses are softened up for them.

when even Luke Donald , just about the nicest ball striker out there, plays what John P would call a cavity back http://golf.mizunoeurope.com/irons/mp-62/local/ there can be no hope for the rest of us!

 

when even Luke Donald , just about the nicest ball striker out there, plays what John P would call a cavity back http://golf.mizunoeurope.com/irons/mp-62/local/ there can be no hope for the rest of us!

 

Ian H, not much of a cavity in those irons, is there, as near to a blade as one is going to get in this day and age. Only suit ble for V Low to Low handicaps should tell you that they are not an ordinary cavity back iron.

 

 

I can see a pattern here , http://www.golfshake.com/scripts/ckeditor362/plugins/smiley/images/omg_smile.gif" title="surprise" width="20" />

 

Player # of Wins Sam Snead 82 Jack Nicklaus 73 Tiger Woods 71 Ben Hogan 64 Arnold Palmer 62 Byron Nelson 52 Billy Casper 51 Walter Hagen 44 Cary Middlecoff 40 Gene Sarazen 39 Tom Watson 39

 

Current top 10 in the world rankings

 

1) Donald                   
  Miz MP62  Musclebacks

2)Mcilrory                  &n
bsp;  Titty MB712 Musclebacks

3)Westwood                 Ping i10       Cavity

4)Kaymer                  &nbs
p;   TM TP Rac Muscle/cut

5)Scott                   
;       TM Mb         musclebacks

6)Stricker                  &n
bsp;   Titty AP2     muscle/cut

7)D Johnson                 TM Mb        musclebacks

8)Day                   &
nbsp;        TM MB       musclebacks

9)Simpson                  &nb
sp; Titty 680     Blades

10) Kucher                   
Bridgeston J38 MB   musclebacks

 

Can you tidy up Darren if you have 5 mins, cheers . not sure what happened

I think I'm right  in saying that the world No 1 spot has only been held by a cavity back club player once,and thats Lee Westwood. Not 100% , but struggling to think of anyone else using full cavity??

Unfortunately, Dave, shotmaking has gone out of the window because of these new fangled clubs and we are seeing players win tournaments who would not have made the Cut in the old days. Todays Pro golf is all about who can putt. Poor old Garcia, a wondeful striker but a terrible putter, just like Peter Alliss in the good old days.

2nd time out and a marked improvement. Still very windy but not too cold. As the clubs are a bit shorter than my old ones. I had a few 4 and 5 irons off tees and hit some decent shots although i had to use a blue castle off the tee. I had a few good solid fairway shots with 5 irons too. I seemed to have to concentrate a bit more and place the ball just right of center to get good divots. If the ball was below my feet I had a few duffs. The main problem was distance. I seem to be hitting about 25 yds less with same conditions. One hole was 110yds uphill and 2 club wind in face had to use a 6 iron! Much better than 1st time out.

Dave CAC handed Geordie

 Hi Dave Just got back from the range after using titleist mbs for the first time.

I was fitted for them and have x100 shafts that are 3/4 inch longer than standard.

Used  standard length cobra reg flex  full cavities before and the difference is vast.

Would love to report that i am instantly in love, but i am afraid it will take a while to get used to them.

I thought that i took the ball cleanly off the surface, i can now see that the huge soles on my cobras were part of the reason.

I struggled a bit off the mats with hitting the ground, mainly after the ball but still jarring. Hopefully this will be less of a problem on grass.

The width of the top line is the biggest difference visually for me, the mbs definately dont fill me with confidence like the oversize cavities did. Guess i just need to have confidence in my swing all the same.

Will let you know how i get on.

Tim.

Tim, youve been shooting single figures for a year or 2. Whats the thinking behind a move to blades in a big way ? Have you been on the course yet.

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

 

What you both have to take into account is that the lofts on the blades will be higher than the game improvement irons. Most PW's these days are 47 deg yet the loft on my blade PW was 50 deg.

Perseverance will bring the  benefits that you are seeking, trust me. Taking the soft option of continuing with the cavity backs tells me that you really do not want to improve.

@ Dave P,

If your having to use a blue castle to hit a 5 iron this suggests your trying to sweep your irons (like a wood) rather than hitting down on them, probably explains why your not taking too many divots as well?

I'm trying to see how much it will cost to get my NIke Pro Combo's fitted with a regular shaft. There was nothing better than looking down on my PW & it just looking like a knife & then catching it cleanly & seeing the amount of check it generated.

Nice to see that you are appreciating the difference and what can be done with them, John

JF - Too right, little ball then big ball!

@ Tim - I too have a set of Cobra cavity backs in the garage, they are like shovels and they will not play anything like an MB. Back in the day when I used to scoop my irons like most high hcpers the big oversize clubs worked a treat but there is nothing like hitting down on a ball with a blade and feeling the compression before the ball flies off!!  Well there is but not that I could post!!!!

I took my AP2's up the range and they feel great. Lovely feel even using range bricks, if Carlsberg did irons.....!

The wedge marked W in my AP2 set is 51 but there is a P that is 47 - just better make sure I pick the right one.

if Carlsberg did irons.....! They'd be marumans ! http://www.golfshake.com/scripts/ckeditor362/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.gif" title="wink" width="20" /> JF I'll see what we have have and let you know the damage bud.

JF I normally do take divots, and off the tee with an iron I would normally use an orange castle. These clubs were 2nd hand and made to measure for Jimmy Krankie. The 4 iron is shorter than my old 7 iron of my wilsons.  I will keep plugging away and adjust my stance acordingly. Fairly difficult with ball below feet.

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Hi Dave

Just had my first round with the Titleist Mbs.

The main reason for the switch to blades was to try and improve my shot making into greens.

I strike the ball well and dont  normally suffer for distance, so hopefully the x100 shafts will help with direction control, which is my biggest problem.

I took the 3 and 4 iron off a number of tees today to try them and was very happy but like all great relationships i feel there will be downs aswell as ups along the way.

First round report would probably read:  Sound start but room for improvement.

Tim