Thoughts on Blades :)

Hi guys  
Just thought of sharing some of my thoughts on blades (and for all you equipment junkies out there, this includes a mini-review between my experience hitting the 714 AP2s and the mizuno MP4).

I had been using my 714 AP2s previously, and I had gotten fitted for them at Sentosa with Gene. At that point in time, I was attracted by the forgiveness the AP2 seemed to offer while still maintaining a relatively thin topline, and eventually settled on a set shafted in the NS Pro 950 Regular Flex. 

It was a great set, don't get me wrong. But something just wasn't satisfying. The forgiveness Titleist claims the AP2 offer was there definitely, and I'm impressed by how I can be slightly off on my ballstriking and the ball was still getting to the green. But the feel just wasn't that of a blade. It was muted and soft, and just wasn't getting through the turf with the kind of "stickiness" blades offer (which I prefer). It was a great set which served me well when I played at the Sime Darby Pro-Am last year, but it just wasn't as satisfying as hitting a blade. 

I then went for a fitting at WizGolf after a few people mentioned that my shots were ballooning upwards, and this could be due to the shaft. And indeed, my first few shots on Trackman showed that my 6 iron was flighting 7200+ spin rpm. Changing to the Project X lowered the spin SIGNIFICANTLY, and by significantly I mean in the ballpark of almost a thousand RPMs on averages of 10 shots. I was spinning my 6 iron around 6000, and the peak height of my shots came down too. I picked up a good 7-10m in carry and also better dispersion. 

When the opportunity came, I made the switch to Mizuno MP4s shafted in Project X 5.0 (not 5.5 because I liked the feel of the slightly softer flex) and brought it out to Kranji rightaway for 9 holes without any range time whatsoever. I was faced with about 145m for my third shot onto the green, and my first shot with the 8 iron showed a flatter lower ball flight with a soft draw about 10 feet away from the pin. And the feel was just amazing. 

Forgiveness wise, it is indeed less forgiving. But I don't think that should stop anyone from thinking about playing blades, because when you hit a good shot it's going to be the same as a good shot hit with a game improvement iron. And to cut the long story short, I think everyone should play the irons that they want to play instead of thinking about whether it has forgiveness or not  

Just a little sharing here. Hope it doesn't bore anyone heh.

Regards,
HitSoft

Thanks for the post! I think I do have an issue with ballooning iron shots too. Do you know which shafts are considered lower spinning shaft like the project x? Perhaps I should go check out my spin numbers too. Thanks

Hi chuangyee.
Project X and the KBS C-Tapers Steel should rank amongst the lowest launching and lowest spinning shafts, and maybe the Dynamic Gold S and X flexes.
Next up are the Project X PXIs, Dynamic Gold XP 105, KBS Tour V, KBS Tours. 
Highest launching would without a doubt be the NS Pro 950 and the Aerotech Steelfiber 95. 

There's a whole bunch of other shafts like the UST Mamiya Recoils, KBS C-Taper Lites, etc, but what I've written above are the less exotic and easier to find shafts in the market. Though I'm sure BFG and WizGolf are able to order any that fits you.

The problem with blades, if you don't hit it in the center, you lose a lot of distance.  My usual 7 iron is about 145 yards.  With toe shots with a blade gives 130 yards.

Also if you are a high launch player, don't play with blades because their lofts are a bit weaker.

I'm using the MP4s now which are of the same lofts as the AP2s. Distance on toe shots haven't been all that bad for me compared to the AP2s. I would say the greatest loss of distance comes from thin shots. Case in point if I thin my AP2s it would take off like a bullet. I remember hitting a 175m 6 iron on a thin shot.

With the MP4s I thinned a 7 iron and it flew about 10m shorter without as much air time as the AP2s. Toe shots and heel shots haven't been remarkably different though

Thin shots will go shorter and lower no matter what irons you use, cavity back, blades, super game improvement.  A thicker sole will help golfers not too dig too much.  But thin shots? shit happens all the time! 
 
The problem is not from the shaft. Probably your Swing weight is too light if you thin your irons most of the time.  I fixed this before and it worked!

superputt wrote:

The problem with blades, if you don't hit it in the center, you lose a lot of distance.  My usual 7 iron is about 145 yards.  With toe shots with a blade gives 130 yards.

Also if you are a high launch player, don't play with blades because their lofts are a bit weaker.

Potential Blade players must learn how to do a dynamic delofting of club on impact to get penetrating ball flight ... If you can do that, you prolly would not thin the shot ... But you may face the problem on fat shot (too deep a divot) ...

Nothing feels like a Mizuno!! I just put a set of MP-54's from 4-PW in the bag with an MP-H5 3 iron. Another member of our team has the MP-59's in the bag. 

I feel like playing these harder to hit clubs will definitely help golfers improve - a lot less room for error and to build better habits in the golf swing.

i have no problems fitting a high handicapper a blade and a low handicap player a deep cavity. its difficult to ascertain but there are loads of players who has issue with MOI. don't get me wrong, its not as easy as text book to try and get even a 24 handicapper to use a cavity. its all preference for shape, top-line and sole width and its something that a player have to explore to get a better sense of confidence.

so if you get fitted, try different heads and find out what works for you in terms of confidence. there is no guarantee that a better player should be using blade and a average player should use cavity. in my opinion, it's got to do with what the eyes see and what the player feels he or she likes. 

i have numerous stories like a lady pro who should be using an 80g shaft (based on TM figures) but she got a DG S300 instead. And a prominent senior tour player who still use a 975J driver. After a long discussion, we pulled out a tour issue 8 degree 380 cc yonex driver and that was it. 

if you have a love of fine arts and food, loves classical music, basically the fine things in life, you are more likely to be a candidate for the blades than the cavity. its not scientifically proven but everyone sees things differently and after years of success and failures, i think we have a bit more insights than most.

of course the blades would be less friendly than the cavity but if the players stand over the cavity and have no confidence, its obvious which is a better choice.

Personality i think the biggest improvement in golf has been the manufacturing processes, the golf ball, the understanding of biomechanics and the quality of copywriting. 

Hope it helps.

DGman