Golf Iron Sets, What Should I Look For When Selecting A New Set Of Irons (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Iron Sets, What Should I Look For When Selecting A New Set Of Irons (Video) - by Pete Styles

There comes a time in every golfer’s life where they decide that the clubs that they’re using probably aren’t up to scratch. Now, some people will unfairly blame their golf clubs for every bad shot that they hit. But even if you’re not that guy and you feel like the clubs you’ve been using have treated you well to a point, but now you feel that maybe you’re ready to step it up, you want to treat yourself to a new set of golf clubs; what are the things you should be looking for when you try out new clubs?

Now, the first thing to consider is; not all golf clubs are the same, and the price of the golf club isn’t directly reflective of how suitable that club is to you. So you could spend an awful lot of money and buy a set of clubs that’s completely unsuited to you and your game and the way you play. So you got to understand where your game is at the moment, where your level is, what your handicap standard is; and then buy a set of golf clubs that’s more appropriate to that category, and then look within that category of buying a set of clubs at the right budget as well. The last thing to put into that is make sure that you get custom-fitted; some degree of custom-fit be in person or a virtual online custom-fit, because the makeup of the set of the golf clubs; the length, the lay angle, the shaft flex, the grip thickness is all important to make sure that set of golf clubs is going to be suitable for you. And very roughly if we break down the type of golf clubs into sort of three different categories, I’ve got three club heads here. Now the first club head - if you can see this on the camera - this is what we class as a bladed golf club. Now, bladed golf club generally used for better handicap better players. So you’ll probably be looking at single digits and down to scratch; and some would even say that only good ball strikers even at the pro level, only good ball strikers really benefit from blades. The bladed golf club has very little cavity in the back, or no cavity in the back. It’s a very thin top line when we look down at the top end of the golf club, it’s a very thin top line. It’s a better looking golf club for most people, and it feels great when you hit the middle; but any off-center hits are really going to cause you problems in terms of loss of accuracy, loss of distance, and poor feel. Moving on from a bladed golf club more to sort of the middle end of the market, we start to see a golf club that has a small cavity in the back. So here we’ve got a small cavity - some will call it a muscleback - we have a little bit more weight low and deep, a little cavity in the back, perimeter weighting, the weight is distributed around the outside of the club head. That provides a little bit more forgiveness, so some of your off-center hits are going to fly better, fly more consistently and further. Maybe it doesn’t look quite such a nice golf club to look at, the top head is a bit thicker; I say it doesn’t look so nice, that’s to a good player’s eye. Some higher handicap golfers actually prefer the top edge; it sort of inspires more confidence. And then moving on from that one up to this one, this is a proper cavity back golf club, so it’s got a big cavity in the back end here; lots of weight around the perimeter of the golf club, a thicker top line, maybe even a little bit of off-set. And this is really pitched more of the game improvement under the market designed for golfers that need a little bit more help to get the ball up in the air and away. So, how does that breakdown handicap-wise? Very roughly because I don’t want to sort of push people into a club they’re not suitable for; we would probably suggest 18-handicap and above, you need to be looking at some game improvement technology to help you out. 18 down to 12 or down to single figures probably looking at that muscleback, that middle of the road golf club; and then single digits down to scratch potentially looking for a bladed golf club. And each manufacturer will normally have one or two sets in each of those categories in camps. So, try out those different clubs, hit them on the driving range, get a feel for how they work for you on the good shots but also on the off-center hits. Once you’ve made your selection of that’s the type of club that I want, then go and get that type of club custom-fit. Like I say an online custom-fit will do for most people just take in your standard measurements and your standard shot shapes. If you get a chance to hit the clubs and you get the chance to hit them for real on the driving range more of the better. But pick the right set of golf clubs for you that you think it’s going to be able to progress your game. Get them custom-fit and then hopefully that new set of irons will be just what you needed to improve your golf. 2014-11-06

There comes a time in every golfer’s life where they decide that the clubs that they’re using probably aren’t up to scratch. Now, some people will unfairly blame their golf clubs for every bad shot that they hit. But even if you’re not that guy and you feel like the clubs you’ve been using have treated you well to a point, but now you feel that maybe you’re ready to step it up, you want to treat yourself to a new set of golf clubs; what are the things you should be looking for when you try out new clubs?

Now, the first thing to consider is; not all golf clubs are the same, and the price of the golf club isn’t directly reflective of how suitable that club is to you. So you could spend an awful lot of money and buy a set of clubs that’s completely unsuited to you and your game and the way you play. So you got to understand where your game is at the moment, where your level is, what your handicap standard is; and then buy a set of golf clubs that’s more appropriate to that category, and then look within that category of buying a set of clubs at the right budget as well. The last thing to put into that is make sure that you get custom-fitted; some degree of custom-fit be in person or a virtual online custom-fit, because the makeup of the set of the golf clubs; the length, the lay angle, the shaft flex, the grip thickness is all important to make sure that set of golf clubs is going to be suitable for you. And very roughly if we break down the type of golf clubs into sort of three different categories, I’ve got three club heads here. Now the first club head – if you can see this on the camera – this is what we class as a bladed golf club. Now, bladed golf club generally used for better handicap better players. So you’ll probably be looking at single digits and down to scratch; and some would even say that only good ball strikers even at the pro level, only good ball strikers really benefit from blades. The bladed golf club has very little cavity in the back, or no cavity in the back. It’s a very thin top line when we look down at the top end of the golf club, it’s a very thin top line. It’s a better looking golf club for most people, and it feels great when you hit the middle; but any off-center hits are really going to cause you problems in terms of loss of accuracy, loss of distance, and poor feel.

Moving on from a bladed golf club more to sort of the middle end of the market, we start to see a golf club that has a small cavity in the back. So here we’ve got a small cavity – some will call it a muscleback – we have a little bit more weight low and deep, a little cavity in the back, perimeter weighting, the weight is distributed around the outside of the club head. That provides a little bit more forgiveness, so some of your off-center hits are going to fly better, fly more consistently and further. Maybe it doesn’t look quite such a nice golf club to look at, the top head is a bit thicker; I say it doesn’t look so nice, that’s to a good player’s eye. Some higher handicap golfers actually prefer the top edge; it sort of inspires more confidence. And then moving on from that one up to this one, this is a proper cavity back golf club, so it’s got a big cavity in the back end here; lots of weight around the perimeter of the golf club, a thicker top line, maybe even a little bit of off-set. And this is really pitched more of the game improvement under the market designed for golfers that need a little bit more help to get the ball up in the air and away.

So, how does that breakdown handicap-wise? Very roughly because I don’t want to sort of push people into a club they’re not suitable for; we would probably suggest 18-handicap and above, you need to be looking at some game improvement technology to help you out. 18 down to 12 or down to single figures probably looking at that muscleback, that middle of the road golf club; and then single digits down to scratch potentially looking for a bladed golf club. And each manufacturer will normally have one or two sets in each of those categories in camps. So, try out those different clubs, hit them on the driving range, get a feel for how they work for you on the good shots but also on the off-center hits. Once you’ve made your selection of that’s the type of club that I want, then go and get that type of club custom-fit. Like I say an online custom-fit will do for most people just take in your standard measurements and your standard shot shapes. If you get a chance to hit the clubs and you get the chance to hit them for real on the driving range more of the better. But pick the right set of golf clubs for you that you think it’s going to be able to progress your game. Get them custom-fit and then hopefully that new set of irons will be just what you needed to improve your golf.