Posted: 8/17/2025 6:39:35 PM EDT
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Iron lofts have reached preposterous strengths. It sounds stupid when I say it, but I have 5 "wedges" in my bag. 20 years ago I'd have 4...maybe even 3. Set PW @ 43.5° - 140yd Set GW @ 48° - 126yd RTX 52° - 112yd RTX 56° - 98yd Rotex 60° - 80ish yds (I almost never full swing this club.) I'm not comfortable with big gaps, and settled in with 14ish yard gaps under calm conditions with my stock iron swing. I can get more yardage, but my mechanics tend to fall apart and the juice isn't worth squeezing. These lofts are identical to those of most players irons, but just get labeled weak to promote the idea of greater distance. Most people give me strange looks when they see two rows of wedges in my bag. Anyone else find themselves in this situation? |
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Originally Posted By Smith-16: Iron lofts have reached preposterous strengths. It sounds stupid when I say it, but I have 5 "wedges" in my bag. 20 years ago I'd have 4...maybe even 3. Set PW @ 43.5° - 140yd Set GW @ 48° - 126yd RTX 52° - 112yd RTX 56° - 98yd Rotex 60° - 80ish yds (I almost never full swing this club.) I'm not comfortable with big gaps, and settled in with 14ish yard gaps under calm conditions with my stock iron swing. I can get more yardage, but my mechanics tend to fall apart and the juice isn't worth squeezing. These lofts are identical to those of most players irons, but just get labeled weak to promote the idea of greater distance. Most people give me strange looks when they see two rows of wedges in my bag. Anyone else find themselves in this situation? 140 yards would take a 8 or maybe 7 iron for me. But I've been rebuilt several times over and can't swing a club like I used to. ETA I'm 53 but had some hard miles put on by the Marine Corps |
NRA Life Member since 1994
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USMC Distinguished Pistol Shot 1997
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"HAVING GUNS AND AMMO IS A BIT LIKE HAVING TANGIBLE STOCKS" Me
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That's a fairly strong PW you have there OP. I carry 4 wedges. 60 - LW 56 - SW 52 AW 48- PW I also bent the rest of my irons two degrees weak (loft increased). Makes them just a bit easier to hit in my mind. Over time many manufacturers have lowered the loft on the irons to make you think you're getting more yardage out of them. Some 7 irons of today have the loft of a 5 iron from 50 years ago. |
My Dad: with respect to your chosen profession son, do what you want to do, who you want to do it for and where you want to do it.
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Originally Posted By Mike_48: That's a fairly strong PW you have there OP. I carry 4 wedges. 60 - LW 56 - SW 52 AW 48- PW I also bent the rest of my irons two degrees weak (loft increased). Makes them just a bit easier to hit in my mind. Over time many manufacturers have lowered the loft on the irons to make you think you're getting more yardage out of them. Some 7 irons of today have the loft of a 5 iron from 50 years ago. This is more normal but not to today’s lofts. Today’s lofts are jacked up to make the player think they can hit it further with a new set. Thus the reason you have to search for the actual loft on new irons. |
Guns make my eyes sparkle and wallet burn
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I have 4 wedges. My PW is currently 46° and stock carry is 140 yards Attached File |
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Originally Posted By kentucky_smith: Ping Eye 2: S, W, L. The L only gets me in worse trouble. Daughter is high school golfer and sticks with PW/SW and most of the time chips with her 8 iron.  Yep, my PW is 1 degree weaker than your 8 Crazy how the lofts have crept. ETA, sorry looked at wrong model, my PW is 44 degrees not 41. But the loft increases still appy |
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
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I have no idea what my Mizuno 241 Pro irons loft is, but here is mine: PW: 145 GW: 130 56: 110 60: 100 I did learn a solid 3/4 swing with my 56 last year to hit 85 yards, and a 3/4 swing with my 60 degree wedge to hit 70 yards. That helped out a lot. Scott Fawcett from Decade golf crunched a lot of the math, and if you get good 3/4 swing distances dialed in, your average shot from 70 yards is as good as your best shots from 100 with a lot less dispersion. So he says get as close to the hole as possible on par 5's and short par 4's. No laying up. According to all of the data from Arcos, the average approach into the green distance for male golfers across the US is 130 yards. So this would include all par 3's, 2nd shots on Par 4's, 3rd shots on Par 5's. So if you are going to dial in your distances it would help you with scoring to be able to hit yardages between 145 to 115 yards on command. Everyone wants to talk about how far they hit their 4 iron or 3 wood or whatever, but you simply don't have that many 235 yard iron shots in a normal 18 hole round. If you find yourself 85 yards away all the time, then you better have a shot for 85 yards. Doesn't matter what letter or number is stamped on the bottom of the club, you just need it to go 85 yards. |
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Originally Posted By Pforty: I have no idea what my Mizuno 241 Pro irons loft is, but here is mine: PW: 145 GW: 130 56: 110 60: 100 I did learn a solid 3/4 swing with my 56 last year to hit 85 yards, and a 3/4 swing with my 60 degree wedge to hit 70 yards. That helped out a lot. Scott Fawcett from Decade golf crunched a lot of the math, and if you get good 3/4 swing distances dialed in, your average shot from 70 yards is as good as your best shots from 100 with a lot less dispersion. So he says get as close to the hole as possible on par 5's and short par 4's. No laying up. According to all of the data from Arcos, the average approach into the green distance for male golfers across the US is 130 yards. So this would include all par 3's, 2nd shots on Par 4's, 3rd shots on Par 5's. So if you are going to dial in your distances it would help you with scoring to be able to hit yardages between 145 to 115 yards on command. Everyone wants to talk about how far they hit their 4 iron or 3 wood or whatever, but you simply don't have that many 235 yard iron shots in a normal 18 hole round. If you find yourself 85 yards away all the time, then you better have a shot for 85 yards. Doesn't matter what letter or number is stamped on the bottom of the club, you just need it to go 85 yards. This pretty much the reason I've stayed with 4° gaps. I take full shots with everything, and control distance by gripping down and clocking my swing with the same tempo. I used to go 45, 50, 56, 60. The 20ish yard gap between 50 and 56 definitely cost me shots. I couldn't get used to a 54° wedge around the green. 58° would have needed more bounce to fill in for the 56°, but I just like my 60°/6° bounce for tight lies, and short sided shots. |
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Originally Posted By Sean124: I have 4 wedges. My PW is currently 46° and stock carry is 140 yards https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/341181/IMG_0551_jpeg-3609378.JPG That is my 9 iron loft I want to try out some i240s but I am afraid I will have to completely change everything to get correct gaps if I play them |
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Originally Posted By Sean124: I have 4 wedges. My PW is currently 46° and stock carry is 140 yards https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/341181/IMG_0551_jpeg-3609378.JPG This is why I know my driver delivery is all kinds of #?÷(÷ up. My PW is like maybe a degree of yours, goes about as far, and I'm not trying to kill wedges (per our mutual instructor. Well, I only buy his videos, but look forward to doing a clinic). Yet I hit the ball nowhere near as hard as you do. 3-wood can go 110/164, and driver has still to hit 170. Sigh. Lessons. Congrats on your hard work beating the knee surgery into submission. You're playing really, really well. |
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Originally Posted By Pforty: I have no idea what my Mizuno 241 Pro irons loft is, but here is mine: PW: 145 GW: 130 56: 110 60: 100 I did learn a solid 3/4 swing with my 56 last year to hit 85 yards, and a 3/4 swing with my 60 degree wedge to hit 70 yards. That helped out a lot. Scott Fawcett from Decade golf crunched a lot of the math, and if you get good 3/4 swing distances dialed in, your average shot from 70 yards is as good as your best shots from 100 with a lot less dispersion. So he says get as close to the hole as possible on par 5's and short par 4's. No laying up. According to all of the data from Arcos, the average approach into the green distance for male golfers across the US is 130 yards. So this would include all par 3's, 2nd shots on Par 4's, 3rd shots on Par 5's. So if you are going to dial in your distances it would help you with scoring to be able to hit yardages between 145 to 115 yards on command. Everyone wants to talk about how far they hit their 4 iron or 3 wood or whatever, but you simply don't have that many 235 yard iron shots in a normal 18 hole round. If you find yourself 85 yards away all the time, then you better have a shot for 85 yards. Doesn't matter what letter or number is stamped on the bottom of the club, you just need it to go 85 yards. It's just like shooting. Getting closer makes life a lot easier. If you're long enough that most approaches are wedges, well then build a wedge matrix. Learn some Dan Grieve stuff. Learn that Mayo 10-14 down, high spin chip. (I caught it for a few shots, this last session, and damn, are they satisfying.) Shots going 50 yards, going maybe 15-20' high, and hopping and stopping. Anyway, you have choices. |
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Originally Posted By BigPolska: That is my 9 iron loft I want to try out some i240s but I am afraid I will have to completely change everything to get correct gaps if I play them Can always retro spec them. There's a used set of Blueprint S that I'm honestly afraid to try. (I really don't need to buy another set right now.) What is with that stupid carbon fiber? |
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Originally Posted By Wineraner: Can always retro spec them. There's a used set of Blueprint S that I'm honestly afraid to try. (I really don't need to buy another set right now.) What is with that stupid carbon fiber? I ended up with a demo i240 iron. The club head was nice, (despite the weird carbon fiber badge) felt soft and very forgiving, I just couldn't get past the modus shaft. I asked about the retro lofts, so I wouldn't have to regap my entire bag. The pro told me the newer irons will launch higher and fly further due to the moi and design, and retro loft would still be longer and even higher than my current vintage (isi ping) irons. I get that, but comparing my vintage isi to the i240 with a bucket of balls there was not much difference in ball flight or dustance when flushed between the two. Sigh.... |
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Originally Posted By Wineraner: This is why I know my driver delivery is all kinds of #?÷(÷ up. My PW is like maybe a degree of yours, goes about as far, and I'm not trying to kill wedges (per our mutual instructor. Well, I only buy his videos, but look forward to doing a clinic). Yet I hit the ball nowhere near as hard as you do. 3-wood can go 110/164, and driver has still to hit 170. Sigh. Lessons. Congrats on your hard work beating the knee surgery into submission. You're playing really, really well. Originally Posted By Wineraner: Originally Posted By Sean124: I have 4 wedges. My PW is currently 46° and stock carry is 140 yards https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/341181/IMG_0551_jpeg-3609378.JPG This is why I know my driver delivery is all kinds of #?÷(÷ up. My PW is like maybe a degree of yours, goes about as far, and I'm not trying to kill wedges (per our mutual instructor. Well, I only buy his videos, but look forward to doing a clinic). Yet I hit the ball nowhere near as hard as you do. 3-wood can go 110/164, and driver has still to hit 170. Sigh. Lessons. Congrats on your hard work beating the knee surgery into submission. You're playing really, really well. Thanks. Yeah, I can pretty easily hit PW 150 if I need to but dispersion suffers and I start spinning it too much when I go at it that hard. |
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I am very likely throwing the 52 degree back in the back since I have a pretty huge gap between the 50 and 56 that leaves me hitting half-shots when I really don't want to do that. I'm possibly ditching the 3-wood for a 2-iron and getting rid of the hybrid for the other wedge. I haven't hit either the 3-wood or the hybrid worth a flip since I got them. The sad part is I had never hit clubs so well when I was being fitted for them. I was really excited for the hybrid since it gave me a fairly low trajectory shot that would run out around 250 yards or so. I've since put idiot marks on the top of the club and maybe hit it straight twice. It's too much of an X-factor for me to keep it in the bag. |
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Originally Posted By baxt3r: I am very likely throwing the 52 degree back in the back since I have a pretty huge gap between the 50 and 56 that leaves me hitting half-shots when I really don't want to do that. I'm possibly ditching the 3-wood for a 2-iron and getting rid of the hybrid for the other wedge. I haven't hit either the 3-wood or the hybrid worth a flip since I got them. The sad part is I had never hit clubs so well when I was being fitted for them. I was really excited for the hybrid since it gave me a fairly low trajectory shot that would run out around 250 yards or so. I've since put idiot marks on the top of the club and maybe hit it straight twice. It's too much of an X-factor for me to keep it in the bag. What are your carry yardages from 9 iron to your most lofted wedge? |
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I've noticed that the most important skill is being able to land a ball in line with where you are trying to aim, the second and nearly equal skill is distance control which means having your gaps dialed. I always refer to "old man golf" when anybody starts talking about hitting it far off the tee. It's all fairways and greens with no 3-putts because they left ego at the door years ago and use the clubs they need to get where they're going. It's fun to watch. I watched one old fella that had only a driver, hybrids, a SW, and putter in his bag. He was phenomenal and rarely needed that wedge. He was dialed in with low stingers that ran for 50+ yards. |
Everything posted above is factual. Maybe.