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De-lofting iron set

JArmour

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Jan 2, 2008
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This is a story one of my regular playing partners told me today. He said a golf pro at a course around our house said that if he de-lofts his irons a few degrees it will lower his ball flight.

My questions are, is this change worth it and what else would it effect? Also I thought that different shafts are they way people usually change ball flight in irons?

Thanks
 

BigJim13

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Aug 13, 2006
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This is a story one of my regular playing partners told me today. He said a golf pro at a course around our house said that if he de-lofts his irons a few degrees it will lower his ball flight.

My questions are, is this change worth it and what else would it effect? Also I thought that different shafts are they way people usually change ball flight in irons?

Thanks

There was a thread about this awhile back. If you do a search about bending irons (adding loft maybe) you may be able to find it. I know that decreasing loft would change the bounce, can't remember how though. I imagine that the flight would lower depending on how much you deloft them-think 7i vs 6i and which flies higher.
 

Youngun5

Beware of the Phog!
Aug 26, 2004
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I'm pretty sure that delofting your irons will decrease the bounce on a 1:1 ratio. (deloft 1*, you loose 1* in bounce)

you also increase the offset by doing this.
 

indacup

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Jun 1, 2007
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This is a story one of my regular playing partners told me today. He said a golf pro at a course around our house said that if he de-lofts his irons a few degrees it will lower his ball flight.

My questions are, is this change worth it and what else would it effect? Also I thought that different shafts are they way people usually change ball flight in irons?

Thanks
Too many open issues here...But lets start with the most obvious:

Why does your buddy wanna lower the ball flight?
 

JEFF4i

She lives!
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Jul 3, 2006
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I've never really understood this when you are looking for a different ball flight. With the options of a swing change, or club change, available, why not just use those?
 
OP
JArmour

JArmour

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Jan 2, 2008
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I really have no idea. He is sure he is losing distance by hitting his irons too high. He said he was hitting balls at a course and the pro was talking to him and this came up. Now he has his mizzy's scheduled to be sent back to the factory to have them changed.

I told him to hold off and I'd ask some of you guys. I told him what I thought, maybe change shafts or something along those lines.
 

BigJim13

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Aug 13, 2006
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I really have no idea. He is sure he is losing distance by hitting his irons too high. He said he was hitting balls at a course and the pro was talking to him and this came up. Now he has his mizzy's scheduled to be sent back to the factory to have them changed.

I told him to hold off and I'd ask some of you guys. I told him what I thought, maybe change shafts or something along those lines.

Hitting the ball high doesn't necessarily mean he is losing distance. I love to be able to hit nice towering high fades with all my clubs, its so reliable for me its crazy. That being said if he is ballooning shots then he could be losing distance and that to me would mean either shaft issue or swing issue, not sure which coudl be both. I don't think he will get the results he is looking for by delofting-I mean clubs today are pretty delofted as it is. I mean my PW is 46*, that used to be a 9i or even an 8i in some sets.
 

Wi-Golfer

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I don't understand the need to desire to deloft irons. Did the pro's from years gone by go thru all this mess or did they just adapt & play with what they had?
 

David Hillman

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Apr 15, 2008
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What's the lowest iron in his bag now? A 3? A 4? Can he hit? If not, all he's going to do is take one club out of his bag. His 9 will become an 8, etc, and his 4 or 5 will become useless.

I don't see the point. Tell him to save his money and overclub.
 

SilverUberXeno

El Tigre Blanco
Jul 26, 2005
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I'll throw some things out there.

You know a 4 iron is a 5 iron that is slightly longer and delofted? And a 5 is a 6 that is longer and delofted?

Okay... so if you deloft your whole set, your 4 becomes a 3, and your 3 becomes a 2. Do you think your friend can hit a 2 iron successfully? Keep in mind, his 3 is probably ALREADY a 2 of earlier years.

Hitting the ball high DOES lose distance. That's why you don't hit your 9 as far as you hit your 4. But do you WANT to hit your 9 as far as you hit your 4? Nope.

It is MUCH easier to lower a ball-flight by changing loft, versus changing shafts. ESPECIALLY in the case of irons, which can be bent, as opposed to drivers, where a new head is needed.

Remind your friend that Par is a measure of how many strokes it takes you to get in the hole, not a picture drawn of how you did it. If you can only hit your 7 iron 90 yards, but you make par on every hole, you're a great golfer.

If he's genuinely BALLOONING shots, meaning they rise like an exponential curve, he certainly needs to adjust something, but that "something" is very likely his swing.

A SWING flaw can offset every compensatory alteration in your equipment in a fraction of a second.

But for knowledge's sake...

Every 1* you deloft an iron also lowers bounce by 1*. The bounce on those clubs is probably less than 3, so I would NOT recommend delofting them at all. Offset also increases marginally, encouraging the ball to the left.
 

Bignose

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Oct 23, 2006
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What's the lowest iron in his bag now? A 3? A 4? Can he hit? If not, all he's going to do is take one club out of his bag. His 9 will become an 8, etc, and his 4 or 5 will become useless.

I don't see the point. Tell him to save his money and overclub.

This is exactly what I was thinking. If he really wants to spend some money, have the 7 ground off the bottom of the club and have someone engrave an 8 into it. That way his "8 iron" goes 10 yards farther -- and it'll have a lower trajectory to boot!

Heck, why not go balls to the wall and have something like a 13 engraved on it? "Yeah, you wussies were hitting 6 and 7 irons onto that par 3, but I hit my 11 iron, because I am such a stud!"

Irons are for accuracy. Period. Besides stroking the ego, what does it matter if he's hitting a 4 iron, a 6 iron, an 8 iron, or a PW into a green from a given distance? All that matters is how accurately and consistently he hits them. If you hit your 6 iron 100 yards each and every time, so what if the other guys are hitting their PW from 100 out?

I always think that people who start going crazy with these things don't really get that golf is wholly and completely only a game of how many strokes. That there is no place on the score card to write what club you hit when, what your swing looks like, or how pretty your shot was -- there are no style points in golf. It is only about how many strokes to get the ball in the hole.
 

Youngun5

Beware of the Phog!
Aug 26, 2004
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i agree to a point....irons are all about accuracy, but...

if I had the capability to hit a PW 150 yards, instead of say, a 5i, i'm taking pw every time. if you and I are equally skilled golfers, physics tells me I'm going to be able to hit the shorter club with much more consistency/accuracy than you are the longer club.

plus there are times like front pin positions/tucked pins, its nice to have the ability to hit it higher/stop it closer to where it originally lands.
 

RickinMA

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Feb 3, 2007
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as others have said, decreasing loft also decreases the bounce angle of the sole. If your friend hits down on his irons and takes a divot, there's a good chance the bounce angle of his clubs are helping him. Clubs with 0 or negative bounce angles aren't very playable for the majority of golfers.
From XXX yards, I'd rather hit a cavity back PW at 48* with 6* sole angle, than a blade style 52* wedge that has been bent to 48* with 2* of bounce. I also wouldn't want to try to hit a 3 iron that is really a 2i.
 
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JArmour

JArmour

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Jan 2, 2008
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Right, I agree with everyone here. I just want the info to come from the masses and not just me. I don't have any extensive club building knowledge but, I told him I'd ask around for him. Im going to tell him to log on here tomorrow to check the threads and chime in. I don't think he hits the ball too high, I think he's getting older and doesn't have the club head speed to hit the ball as far as he used to. He's using the ball flight as an excuse.

Anyway thanks for all of the responses.
 

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