Thoughts n blades...

[BigJim13]

Besides the actual clubhead aspect, there's something else; I don't know off hand the specs of other GI clubs but I have a set of Hogan Apex Plus and a set of Wilson Staff Di7s.

The Wilson shafts are 3/4" longer than standard and the lofts are also designed to allow players to club down at least one club.

The standard set for them is 4 thru Gap.
4-23*
5-25.5*
6-28.5*
7-31.5*
8-35*
9-39*
P-43*
G-49*

I don't have the specs for the Hogans in front of me but I do know that the E (pitching wedge) is 46*, right in between the pitch and gap of the Wilsons.

Wow, the loft of that PW at 43* is a degree stronger than my 9i is now.

 

[subsonic]

""Play what you want. Do you really think game improvement clubs would improve your score drastically? Maybe a stroke or two"

Right, so two shots is 50% from a 4 handicapper, or about a 1000 hrs on the range and a long hard season

2 shots is huge

dave- you misunderstand what I was trying to communicate. He was not referring to the 4 handicapper. He was referring to the average golfer. You know the guy who on every golf forum who makes the post" I'm an 17 handicap, can I play blades?" Sure if you like them play them. It really doesn't make that much of a difference.

As I said, I believe the GI benefits better players more.

 

[buykrux]

i also have a set of hogan apex plus' but i wouldnt by any means call them blades
they sure have a thin head thats pretty compact but they are so well designed that i find it hard to have a miss hit with them
they look like they would fall into the blade category but they are amazingly perimeter weighted and feel soooooooo good, even better than my cobras

 

[xman1112]

They do feel really good and they look great!

 

[buykrux]

They do feel really good and they look great!

thats for damn sure
pleasantly surprised at how easy they are to hit
they MAY kick the pro cbs out of the bag :killersmiley:

 

[xman1112]

I found the Hogan specs on my work computer:

Hogan Wilson
4 - 23 4 - 23
5 - 26 5 - 25.5
6 - 30 6 - 28.5
7 - 34 7 - 31.5
8 - 38 8 - 35
9 - 42 9 - 39
E - 46 P - 43

And the Wilson shafts are 3/4" longer.

 

[fisher]

I believe that playing with blades will improve your game!!!!! Strange as it may sound that is my experience.

The thing with GI clubs is:
A: You never really know where on the clubface you hit the ball
B: Even on an off center hit you get reasonable distance

These two things lead the struggling golfer to not really know why his shots go where they go and they make it more difficult to find a groove of hitting the sweet spot and building a repeatable swing which is key to hitting greens in regulation.

When I switched to blades my ball striking improved dramatically. If I miss the sweet spot in any direction I get instant feedback that tells me what I did wrong, be it out on the toe or on the heel or if the shot was a groove or two thin.

The material the clubheads are made of also affect this feel. My normal set is made of 1020 carbon steel and these have unbelievable feel...the best I have ever hit. My backup set of Titleist 755s is made out of 410 stainless which is a much harder metal and has very little feel. I find that I can play very well with the 755s for a couple of days and then if my swing gets off track I can't find a groove again with them due to the lack of feel.

 

[dave.]

any blade an be as easy to hit as a GI if the player is fit properly to the shaft

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

any blade an be as easy to hit as a GI if the player is fit properly to the shaft

I'm confused Dave. (Mortified might be a better term) This seems to go against the mentality of everything you have said in regards to comparing people playing blades vs. GI irons in the past, or even your prior post in this thread for that matter.

So much so that my mind couldn't comprehend you saying such and automatically read it to mean "any GI an be as easy to hit as a blade if the player is fit properly to the shaft" and triggering this response:

... if you don't mind offset. Very few GI irons have little offset. Most have more offset on their PW than mine do on my 5i. It was the offset that rendered mine useless and made them almost unhittable. For 3 years I tried to get used to it and make adjustments, and it just never got better, but likely worse.

It was not until re-reading your response just prior to hitting "Post" that I saw what it really said. What changed your mind? Or did you get really drunk, fall off the bar stool, and utter that phrase as opposed to "I've fallen and I can't get up" Fools!!

 

[dave.]

LOl

I haven't really changed my mind. You hit what you are copmfortable with, and a million internet opinions doesn't change some facts, which are

GI irons are easier to get in the air because of the offset
Perimeter weighting offers off centre foregiveness compared to a blade
blades cannot be shaped any easier

Thats it, after that is preference, but...................I've hit GI irons with offset and soft shafts and they are a trillion times easier to hit than say a blade with S300s, you can waft your arns at them, its why me mate Lyle and myself now have whipy shafted hybrids/long irons.


Now, lets something straight, I love blades. I can hit them, but you need your Sunday best swing all the time and I don't play much , just practice, so I use a cavity backed zero offset head (J33), so I get best of both worlds.

Now, another thing, its a fallacy to think that todays blades are true blades, they stick the weight down low and because there isn't a cavity back its called a blade. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but I was brought up on blades being tiny heads and a cog smack in the middle, Macgregor Muirfield, that I used for a log time spring to mind (go hit one, and marvel at how Nicklaus won the 86 Masters with those)

fact is, I would hit blades all the time if I hit every iron from the middle, but I don't

Hope that helps

 

[MCDavis]

LOl

I haven't really changed my mind. You hit what you are copmfortable with, and a million internet opinions doesn't change some facts, which are

GI irons are easier to get in the air because of the offset
Perimeter weighting offers off centre foregiveness compared to a blade
blades cannot be shaped any easier

Thats it, after that is preference, but...................I've hit GI irons with offset and soft shafts and they are a trillion times easier to hit than say a blade with S300s, you can waft your arns at them, its why me mate Lyle and myself now have whipy shafted hybrids/long irons.


Now, lets something straight, I love blades. I can hit them, but you need your Sunday best swing all the time and I don't play much , just practice, so I use a cavity backed zero offset head (J33), so I get best of both worlds.

Now, another thing, its a fallacy to think that todays blades are true blades, they stick the weight down low and because there isn't a cavity back its called a blade. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but I was brought up on blades being tiny heads and a cog smack in the middle, Macgregor Muirfield, that I used for a log time spring to mind (go hit one, and marvel at how Nicklaus won the 86 Masters with those)

fact is, I would hit blades all the time if I hit every iron from the middle, but I don't

Hope that helps

Wilson Staff Tour Blade FG-17's...real blades, like your Muirfield's. :thumbs up:

Dave's right here. Hurts to say it, but he is.

 

[mddubya]

LOl

I haven't really changed my mind. You hit what you are copmfortable with, and a million internet opinions doesn't change some facts, which are

GI irons are easier to get in the air because of the offset
Perimeter weighting offers off centre foregiveness compared to a blade
blades cannot be shaped any easier

Thats it, after that is preference, but...................I've hit GI irons with offset and soft shafts and they are a trillion times easier to hit than say a blade with S300s, you can waft your arns at them, its why me mate Lyle and myself now have whipy shafted hybrids/long irons.


Now, lets something straight, I love blades. I can hit them, but you need your Sunday best swing all the time and I don't play much , just practice, so I use a cavity backed zero offset head (J33), so I get best of both worlds.

Now, another thing, its a fallacy to think that todays blades are true blades, they stick the weight down low and because there isn't a cavity back its called a blade. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but I was brought up on blades being tiny heads and a cog smack in the middle, Macgregor Muirfield, that I used for a log time spring to mind (go hit one, and marvel at how Nicklaus won the 86 Masters with those)

fact is, I would hit blades all the time if I hit every iron from the middle, but I don't

Hope that helps

Agreed, like I said earlier in this thread, todays "blades", are not anything like the blades I learned to play with. Anything even slightly off center would not only sting your hands, but would rattle your ancestors and loosen your fillings. My TM RAC Mb's, while they may look like a blade, do have some forgiveness built into them. Granted, its not as much as a CB, and maybe todays shafts and grips help take some of the sting out? But the old Ram blades I learned to play with were punishing on anything but a perfectly pured shot.

But, having said that, I firmly believe that knowing that there is not as much forgiveness built into the RAC's has caused me to at least attempt to groove my swing. Yes, I'm going to play my Srixon CB's again soon, and I hope I'll hit them better than ever due to my blade experiment.

But I do not think for one minute that a player has to be a semi pro to play todays blades. If you think you are that good, find a old set of blades from the 70's, early 80's and see how good you really are.

 

[dave.]

Thats the big question for me " at least blades make me grove my swing2

why bother, if you have to practice for hours and hours to find a mythical nirvana of sweet spot striking, when all you have to do is change the clubs instead, and you can then spend more time practising the short game, or even playing!

 

[ManchesterGolfer]

Thats the big question for me " at least blades make me grove my swing2

why bother, if you have to practice for hours and hours to find a mythical nirvana of sweet spot striking, when all you have to do is change the clubs instead, and you can then spend more time practising the short game, or even playing!

WOW, Your good enough to hit the Muirfield blades, which isn't easy having had a few shots with one myself....but then you use a Rife Barbados putter! Get yourself a Bladed putter like a Bullseye, Circa #1, Studio Design 1 0r 2 and FFS get your putting stroke grooved, your back stroke reminds me of Zoro!

 

[Stanters]

WOW, Your good enough to hit the Muirfield blades, which isn't easy having had a few shots with one myself....but then you use a Rife Barbados putter! Get yourself a Bladed putter like a Bullseye, Circa #1, Studio Design 1 0r 2 and FFS get your putting stroke grooved, your back stroke reminds me of Zoro!

Dave can putt - he's just pretending to be Hogan reborn. I can't see him using a SC Obi-Wan, going to happen it is not.

As for grooving your swing - I use my blades (1988 Hogans) to practice with and find it very informative in terms of feedback. I think most people who take golf quite seriously want a consisitent and technically sound swing so I'm not sure buying 8 breeze blocks and just tearing away at the ball is going to appeal to them.

FWIW - I hit my blades fine most of the time (not the 3 iron though to be fair) but the FTXs work better for me without giving up any feel.