Ping Iblades have changed my life!

[ADPhillips13]

I was on vacation and a guy let me hit his Ping Iblades---- I have never had a ball hit the green and back spin ( it spun away from the hole, but the spin hooked me). Now mind you i'm not a great Golfer. My best score is an 85. I'm usually around 90-95 area. I stike the ball pretty well, but my issue is the inconsistent distances you get with Game Improvement Irons. I currently play the Tailor-made RSI and my 7 iron can be 150 or 174 depending on the day. Iblades were pretty consistent distance wise. However if you do not hit it in the center there is little to no forgiveness. I had planned on buying the Ping Iblades and just working on my game with my Skytrak all fall and winter so that I can start competing with friends in April May. Does anyone have any blade advice? I know i'm giving up forgiveness for consistent distances and workability but is there anything else I should know about bladed clubs? The Iblades are not cheap i'm considering trading in or selling my RSI clubs but may hold on to them incase the Iblades are a crash and burn and I have to sell them via Ebay! Any advice will be appreciated!

[Shardak]

>>but my issue is the inconsistent distances you get with Game Improvement Iron

I dont believe this is a true statement. Its the operator that causes inconsistent distances, not the club. I think you will find a very small amount of difference in forgiveness between game improvement and bladed irons.

One good comparison, of many that can be found:

Mizuno Mp5 vs the JPX-EZ irons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1oArb2lJVs

[andygg1986]

That's an interesting video. I played titleist 681 blades for the last 15 years or so and just recently got some Bridgestone J40 dual pocket cavity ones. The Bridgestone goes about a club farther but that is because the loft is about a club stronger. This seems to be a trend a lot of manufacturers are embracing. Everyone likes to think they can hit a 7 iron farther with new clubs even if it would have been called a 6 iron 10 years ago. I think ping is one of the few companies that isn't changing their lofts as much which might be why the hits were shorter. I agree with the video in that there isn't that much drop off in distance on mishits. I think the blades just feel more punishing because your hands will hurt if you hit a bad shot. My guess is that the OP sees a big difference in yardage with the TM because the shots that feel equally bad are actually worse than the bad shots with blades. I hope that makes sense. Blades also tend to make you swing in a more controlled manner which increases your consistency.

[Dan McWhirter]

That video lends credence to the old saying, "a pro can beat you using a shovel, rake and hoe." Every shot went right to the same spot on the screen, even the toe shots! That guy is entertaining and I do like to watch his videos. If I recall correctly, one of his old videos showed the longest ball ever is the Pinnacle Gold...which, when given to me at charity scrambles, always got thrown into the closet collection.

[ADPhillips13]

That was my point Andygg1986 perfect example are the Taylormade M2 I hit the 7-Iron 185, 182, 181 on 3 shots. Then I learned Taylor Made M2 7 iron was lofted at 28.5' compared to the Ping Iblades at the traditional 34' . So you think you are playing with a 7 iron but you are really using like a 5. Ball striking and Handicap don't always correlate. You can strike the ball very well and still be a high handicapper because you can't chip, putt or line up your shots correctly. Iblades are 1100 U.S. dollars but if you wait until the 2017 clubs come out they often drop nearly 60%

[TorchRedRob]

Not exactly what the OP is asking, but since the discussion has turned that way:

I think there is a lot of misconception about lofts on modern irons. I think most people will actually find that GI irons launch the ball higher than blades when comparing the same iron (7-iron blade vs 7-iron GI, for example).

Here are some points:

1) The ball speed is higher with GI clubs and that is the main contributor to increased distance.
2) The ball speed is higher for two reasons: One- the decrease in loft imparts less of a glancing blow. Two- most GI irons these days have springy faces.
3) Due to the both the springy face, a lower CG, and the decreased loft, there is less spin... which contributes to increased distance. (reasons: more slide, less roll from a springy face; lower vertical CG equals less spin; and of course, less loft equals less spin)
4) The launch angle is higher given the same loft, GI vs. blade. This is partly due to a lower CG, and partly to the deflection of the face.

When you put all of this together, the manufacturers are not simply lowering lofts to turn a 7-iron into a 6-iron in a one-dimensional fashion. Instead, they are designing a club to perform in a certain way by considering all attributes and design goals.

If they incorporated a spring face and lowered the CG, but kept a 7-iron at 34 degrees, that 7-iron would launch higher than most desire, with what becomes too much spin for that trajectory.

Instead, they decrease the loft to bring the trajectory back to some semblance of "normal." With the decreased loft of course the spin decreases, so it's a balancing act of launch and spin to achieve a trajectory that keeps the ball from rolling off greens.

All of that said, here's my first hand experience:
I have two sets of irons right now: 1) Callaway X-Prototype Blades, and 2) Callaway XR Pro irons with springy "360 face cups"

Let's compare the 7 irons:
1) The blade has 35 deg of loft, while the XR has 31 deg of loft
2) The blade has KBS 130g Tour shafts, while the XR has KBS 120g Tour-V shafts, and both clubs play at the same length

Here's the data:
Ball speed is 3-5 mph faster with the XR
Launch angle is about 2 degrees higher with the XR
Spin is lower by about 700-1200 rpm with the XR
Carry distance is 10-12 yards longer with the XR
Rollout is the same, at 5-8 yards with both irons (according to SkyTrak's roll model, anyway)

So my personal experience shows that the lower lofted club (by 4 degrees!) actually launches HIGHER than the traditionally lofted blade, carries farther, but still rolls out the same. Your mileage may vary.

[andygg1986]

That is a good point about how newer clubs are able to launch the ball higher for their loft due to the design of the clubhead. It is interesting that you see such a large distance disparity between the different Callaway irons when Mark Crossfield in the video does not. The two Mizuno sets have a 2 degree difference between the MP-5 and JPX-EZ irons instead of 4 degrees like your Callaways which might be a contributing factor.

A different way of looking at would be if you compared your blade 6 iron to the XR 7 iron, which should both have 31 degrees of loft. I bet that the ball speed, spin, and carry distance are pretty close between the two, but the launch angle with the XR is about 4 degrees higher.

[TorchRedRob]

Interesting looking at Mark's video. Check the link I posted below for a different look at it. I'll have to try the 6-iron vs 7-iron comparison (while trying to normalize the approx 2 mph clubhead speed increase from the longer shaft) Maybe I can choke down 0.5" and make it work. Will be interesting to see, for sure.

[Ironstrokes]

Not exactly what the OP is asking, but since the discussion has turned that way:

I think there is a lot of misconception about lofts on modern irons. I think most people will actually find that GI irons launch the ball higher than blades when comparing the same iron (7-iron blade vs 7-iron GI, for example).

Here are some points:

1) The ball speed is higher with GI clubs and that is the main contributor to increased distance.
2) The ball speed is higher for two reasons: One- the decrease in loft imparts less of a glancing blow. Two- most GI irons these days have springy faces.
3) Due to the both the springy face, a lower CG, and the decreased loft, there is less spin... which contributes to increased distance. (reasons: more slide, less roll from a springy face; lower vertical CG equals less spin; and of course, less loft equals less spin)
4) The launch angle is higher given the same loft, GI vs. blade. This is partly due to a lower CG, and partly to the deflection of the face.

When you put all of this together, the manufacturers are not simply lowering lofts to turn a 7-iron into a 6-iron in a one-dimensional fashion. Instead, they are designing a club to perform in a certain way by considering all attributes and design goals.

If they incorporated a spring face and lowered the CG, but kept a 7-iron at 34 degrees, that 7-iron would launch higher than most desire, with what becomes too much spin for that trajectory.

Instead, they decrease the loft to bring the trajectory back to some semblance of "normal." With the decreased loft of course the spin decreases, so it's a balancing act of launch and spin to achieve a trajectory that keeps the ball from rolling off greens.

All of that said, here's my first hand experience:
I have two sets of irons right now: 1) Callaway X-Prototype Blades, and 2) Callaway XR Pro irons with springy "360 face cups"

Let's compare the 7 irons:
1) The blade has 35 deg of loft, while the XR has 31 deg of loft
2) The blade has KBS 130g Tour shafts, while the XR has KBS 120g Tour-V shafts, and both clubs play at the same length

Here's the data:
Ball speed is 3-5 mph faster with the XR
Launch angle is about 2 degrees higher with the XR
Spin is lower by about 700-1200 rpm with the XR
Carry distance is 10-12 yards longer with the XR
Rollout is the same, at 5-8 yards with both irons (according to SkyTrak's roll model, anyway)

So my personal experience shows that the lower lofted club (by 4 degrees!) actually launches HIGHER than the traditionally lofted blade, carries farther, but still rolls out the same. Your mileage may vary.

Nice post, very interesting info. I was also one that just took it as they decreased the loft just to make people think they were hitting it further as well, but this was a good read and some stuff I didnt realize before.

[TorchRedRob]

Here's another look at it. I think this might tell us that it depends on the clubs, the player, etc.

http://www.golfwrx.com/378150/head-t...pex-pro-irons/

This mirrors what I have seen in ballspeed increase given similar clubhead speeds, but the launch angle and spin trends didn't exactly follow mine. But, the gapping they talk about is definitely the same as what I have seen. I hit PW about the same, but the springy 4 iron goes significantly farther. Basically, the gaps are increased between clubs, starting with a similar baseline at the PW.

Edit: also failed to mention that the shafts may contribute to the launch and spin differences in my personal comparison. The Tour-V is allegedly supposed to have less spin than the Tour, but similar launch.