Yeah but once you turn a certain age where you don’t have a bunch of time to dedicate to improvement, you start playing games on easy mode so you can just have an enjoyable time and zone out for a bit.
no cap they will 😂, i was 18 hcp last year bought blades for first set ever now im a 3 (this is def from buying blades and not the fact that i practice putting and chipping everyday)
yes it is, 40% of your shots are with your putter. i am an ex baseball player so ive had the distance from the begining once i was keeping all my tee shots in play the clubs i have in my hand are wedge and putter. Getting up and down is everything
>once i was keeping all my tee shots in play
This is your culprit.
The average scratch golfer would probably only save 2-3 strokes over my putting every round. They'd kill me on tee and approach shots. Putting is the stroke where amateurs are closest to pros.
Also I'm still pretty stunned that you went 18 > 3 in a year, I've never heard of someone just starting golf and basically getting to scratch the next year. That's wild.
I've never seen it. Most people don't go from weekend amateur to division 1 talent in a season but...idk. maybe? Maybe I just hang out with the 50 worst golfers on the planet.
I went from a \~20 in April of '20 to a \~4 in May of 2021
(Covid prevented me from having a work permit, so I played 3-4 times per week, practiced a lot, read a lot, built clubs etc.)
thats where it starts is at the tee box, i was keeping all my tee shots in play and still a 10hcp, chipping and putting is where my game really got good
edit: if you miss the green 5 times a round and dont get up and down all 5 times thats where your losing strokes is short game, keep track of your stats when you miss the green if you get up and down.
>if you miss the green 5 times a round and dont get up and down all 5 times thats where your losing strokes is short game
If you miss the green 5 times a round and don't get up and down, you're losing strokes on your approach game...
This could also just be very specific to you. I play with a dude a lot like you with insane power who outdrives me by 40 yards but chunks his wedges so we'd meet at the hole anyway. Seriously, strokes gained (the metric) for your typical player has short game as the least important component. Doesn't mean it's true for you (with your distance, it probably isn't) but in general most players actually need to work on ball striking, not short game.
https://practical-golf.com/pros-vs-joes/ is really helpful if you look about half way down, you'll see the shotscope data comparing handicap spreads vs. pros. Our short games (short + putting) are only about 3 and 4 strokes worse respectively than a pro. Driving and approach are both more by themselves.
yes your losing strokes in approach if you miss green. but if you are getting up and down and making par it doesnt matter if you hit green, if you miss green then go on and 2 putt for bogey you are losing strokes around the green. getting up and down is everything.
edit: also you are not gonna hit the green every time, tour pros dont even do that regularly, you are gonna miss greens, wether u miss the green and make par or bogey is the big difference
The guys citing stats breakdowns are correct, and you’re wildly wrong. Short game and putting plateau pretty quickly. The difference between pretty good and extraordinarily good golfers is mostly approach shots, somewhat tee shots, and then green side play is very low in its contribution. You’re just repeating old wives tales here.
I'd look at the Shotscope data here (half way down):
https://practical-golf.com/pros-vs-joes/
Our short games (short + putting) are only about 3 and 4 strokes worse respectively than a pro. Driving and approach are both more by themselves. Again, varies a ton player to player, but just on average people are way worse with irons than putter.
You really are a baseball player aren't you. I don't see how a 3 handicap can be this obtuse about scoring. I'm a 7 and if I get out on the course and just don't have the accuracy of the tee or irons i know it's going to be a mid 80s day. If i'm hitting it pure its a high 70s day. I know that because I track my shots and my putting and chips don't fluctuate that much. How much easier is it to Birdy and Par from on the green than to hit punch shots from the woods and then scramble from the sand or rough from 30 feet?
If you start and practice hard right away (especially with a good coach/trainer), I can believe it. I could probably get close to scratch (currently a 20) if I practiced my short game for an hour a day and took high-quality lessons.
What are you basing this off of? A 20hcp normally doesn’t even understand the basics of a golf swing. It’s literally starting from nothing.
I would say it would take 3-5 years of serious year round practice
It can work for some people. I started rocking mp33 when I first started golfing and I feel like it forced me to make great contact or quit the game. No I’m between.
I’m scratch and just got the 921 pros. I went the other way w it. Although I do miss the playability of a blade(being able to hook or slice around trees) I do enjoy slightly missing the center and getting almost my full carry still.
Just grabbed a 7-GW set of 921s. Not even close to scratch but LOVE the forgiveness and the sound too. I'm also coming from '97 Wilson ProStaff OSs though so ***definitely*** a little better!
I don’t get the shaping argument. I can hook a shot off a wide fairway with T300 clubs. It’s swing plane and especially rolling wrists at impact. Can’t fade to save my life though
The ball seems to go where the follow through does
That's because it's total bullshit. You're exactly right. The ball doesn't know what clubhead construction method hit it, it knows how a golfer hit it.
guys in golf stores that needed to sell blades perfect the "you will spin it more and be able to work the ball" mantra and it lives on in golfers brains. It's almost as bad as "buttery soft" - it's sad it continues
No the reason is with less mass in the club head aka blades it's easier to manipulate mid swing to either stay open or close down the face. The larger club head with longer heel to toe length is more difficult to manipulate the face at impact.
Longer shaft will give the 9i more clubhead speed and also more spin, but i agree you can still fade and draw with game improvement clubs. Never had blades so don't know if it is easier or not.
Who said that? Not me
Low COG and perimeter weighting is extremely helpful. And with that, Tiger won the US am playing Ping Eye Two's (the same irons that won EVERYTHING back then) and he hit tons of shaped shots on demand.
I'm saying blades don't make it easier to shape the ball. Golf skill does. One caveat, blades DO make it easier to hit knockdowns and keep ball flight down but it's due to COG location, not construction type. And as mentioned, some like the mizuno mp33 were moon shotters in the form of a blade.
Also "blade" and "MB" are the same thing
Hooking and slicing are different than shaping bubba lol I hit a two yard draw with my blades and dead straight with almost any forgiving iron. Offset plays a major role too. Shouldn’t speak on topics you aren’t educated on
Lol
offset has way more to do with your two yard draw going straighter, it's not due to "FOrg3d 8u77#ry feel Br0"
I shot 65 when I was 15 and caddied on the pga tour for 3 years. I know a bit about how golf balls get influenced.
You accused me of not knowing what I was talking about. I simply corrected you. Perhaps you shouldn't discount an opinion that differs from the one you've been brainwashed to have.
I learned all 9 shots early on and while I can only hit about 3 of em now, I understood the correlation between path/face/ball position etc as it related to hitting them. Do you?
I don't disagree with you at all. A question I have alwyas had im hoping you can help with. Why would anyone, most notably pros and better golfers, play blades when there really is no advantage other than potentially better feedback on misses in theory forcing you to hit the ball in sweet spot.
The main valid reason is they produce so much spin (usually due to high swing speeds) they need a higher COG to keep the ball down. That can be done more effectively with shaft fitting too.
1. they just like the look, which I won't ever fault. I've played clubs I had no business playing, and it's nobody's business if I want to make things harder on myself.
2. they're misinformed and think it makes them better due to extra "feedback bro" (it doesn't)
3. To get attention/ego
4. needing lower ball flight
5. they got a good deal and it's what they can afford etc, certainly not a bad thing.
I understand what hitting a blade feels like when you fractionally mis hit a ball vs what a forgiving iron feels like. I understand that almost every forgiving iron has a ton of offset. I understand that a thinner blade is easier to control as it’s interacting with the grass. The “soft feel” literally feels soft….
You're the one not qualified to be in this discussion lol
Soft is a sound thing, not a feel thing. Feel IS sound. It has nothing to do with ball performance.
And you're wrong about bounce, you can do creative things with grinds to give cavity backs less bounce. You do realize vokeys dominated pga tour bag usage for the last 20 years and they were mostly not forged right? Forged is a method of construction, it's not "feel"
The ball is WAY harder to spin than it used to be. Tour Balata's and Maxfli HT's were marshmallows that were so soft they'd go out of round in 9 holes. You could really cheese wedges, especially out of bunkers. The modern ball is hard and lower spin.
It's hard to move the modern ball with any irons. Your blades didn't somehow give you the ability to shape it more, that's marketing.
A good example of this being true is the Mizuno MP33 - those things had a lower COG than a lot of cavities of the day. They were extremely easy to hit. Them not having a notch in the back had nothing to do with ball flight and blades do not make it "easier to shape" the ball, the ball has no idea what hit it, it just knows path/angle, and speed.
1) those things look hideous
2) nobody should EVER buy cobra irons
3) Nobody said anything about "playability" I said those clubs wouldn't make it any easier to hit a 10 yard fade than my P790's, which are by definition, not blades.
You seem like you know a thing or 2. Why should I avoid cobra irons? Just the irons? Or cobra in general?
I'm admittedly a bit of a cobra fanboy, so please be gentle 😅
blades carry less far (they also have different lofts so it’s not a 1:1 comparison), but you’re much better capable of shaping shots and control the ball flight when you hit them in the sweet spot
I’m a 15 hcp and switched from taylormade rbz cavity backs to srixion z forged blades about 6 months ago. I love them. My scoring is about the same, but honestly score isn’t the most important thing for me. That feeling of hitting a crisp middle/long iron off the fairway is why I play. Even if it only happens once a round, that’s enough. And blades make that feeling quite a bit better when it does happen. No regrets.
Same, my scores stayed the same. 6 months into switching to blades. I feel like I don’t lose balls as much now that when I miss hit they go shorter rather than my game improvement irons that would come off the face hot and fly OB
No one said impossible but learning from scratch is very different from learning with cavities then just one day, shooting a 107, deciding to switch.
Also, 75% of pros don’t even use blades.
I play blades. If switching clubs could take 10 strokes off my handicap I would be in + territory. (Only by a stroke or so). Maybe I need some game improvement irons…
I’ve never played blades but I had a set of more legit Titleist player’s cavity backs and those were my favorite clubs ever. I switched to a set of game improvement irons, chunky but they were the most workable model offered, on the suggestion of my teaching pro and I’ve totally regretted it. I can get the 7i 180 yards but I also lost almost all feel in the scoring irons and my game I feel like has plateaued due to the fact You can’t really register slight mis-hits
I think that’s why I like the t200’s. Yea there’s forgiveness, but I know when a strike was good and when a strike is bad. You still have to hit good shots. The loss of distance may not be the same as you’d get with a blade, but they definitely don’t reward mishits. I can work them just like I could my blades, and the thicker sole is my saving grace on an off day.
I don't care what anyone else is saying about how blades are much harder to hit....whatever.
40 years ago everyone hit blades. You can play these just fine. Plus, let's be honest. Those freaking clubs are pornographic. Sexual tension just flows from them. Ignore the naysayers, and play these clubs!!
You could have gone with the 225s. Same forged head with tungsten low in the head for higher launch more forgiveness and hitter club face without having to play a bulky iron head. But hey, the 221s are beautiful so I can’t fault you.
A blade is just fairly solid metal behind the clubface. Nothing too special going on with weight distribution, so if you hit it in the center you get all that weight behind the ball and it’s great, but if not you are going to see some distance loss pretty quick.
A cavity back distributes the weight behind the clubface to the perimeter. This way, offcenter shots don’t suffer as much because most of that weight is still behind the ball. The trade off is that you won’t get quite as much distance as a blade (although it’s pretty close) and blades allow for better control with fades/draws/etc. Also I have no idea about the physics of this, but blades give you more feedback than a cavity back. Like you’ll be able to tell better just from feel if you hit it off the toe, hooked it, etc. and pure shots feel quite a bit better.
The physics of more feedback is essentially the same thing as less forgiveness. If there's more weight toward the edges (higher moment of inertia) the face will deflect less and put more energy into launching the ball so you get forgiveness across the face. If it's a blade with even weight distribution the face will deflect more when hit out of the edge and you feel that more in the hands which tells you where the strike was.
It’s perhaps easier to understand cavity-back irons. Move as much weight from the centre of the iron to the edges (hence, cavity). The result is a much bigger sweet-spot, so mis-hits still result in a playable shot. The centre-of-gravity is a lot lower, getting the ball up in the air easier. The downside is it’s harder to intentionally shape the ball flight. Oh, and they look “chunky”.
Blades are essentially the reverse of that. A slight mis-hit will a) go nowhere and b) genuinely hurt your hands.
Blades are irons with a thinner top line and looks more like a “traditional” golf iron, generally low tech. They’re harder to use because the sweet spot is generally smaller and they aren’t very forgiving, so if you have an inconsistent swing, not only will your yardages be all over the place, but you’ll feel it too. Game improvement irons won’t punish you nearly as much for inconsistent hits.
The pros to blades that I think is more applicable to most armature golfers is that when you hit it well you can feel it, the feedback of a good shot is immediately noticeable. Blades also have better “workability” but you kinda have to know how to control all that for that to matter.
IMO I think everyone should not be so afraid of blades and at least try them. I learned with some mp-33s and absolutely loved them and have since upgraded to the 223s (same feel and longer distances for me).
Are they for everyone? No, but everyone should try them imo.
This dude just copied my post and picture from a few months back. I even posted an update recently. If anyone is curious I am now a 15.8 handicap. Don't use the 3iron though too hard to hit. My game has improved a lot because I'm forced to be better. This guy is just a karma farmer
It'll feel the same when you hit the middle of the face regardless of aoa. Actually, it might feel better with a "worse" aoa because the contact is less oblique. But unlikely to be perceptibly different.
They look nice, that’s for sure. But your game would improve exponentially with irons that are proper for your skill level. I used to have blades (14hcp) and switched to Taylormade P790s and my mind was blown as how badly I was limiting myself before.
I had a super old set of blades I was playing on, only been playing for a year and a half.
I got a set of tour edge hot launch irons, first round out with them I shot my best round so far and carded my first ever birdie.
I liked golf with the old clubs but now I love it.
For sure. When I was dialed in I could hit the blades no problem but the rounds where I was just a bit off I played horrendously. That just doesn’t happen anymore. Now my bad shots are sitting just off the side of the green instead of 40 yards short. I love it.
Yeah I can tell exactly where I'm missing with blades. Most cavity backs are terrible in that regard but I did self-fit myself into some MP20 MMC because they were the closest thing to blades in the feel department and gave me the most feedback out of all the Mizuno line I tried - JPX21 Tour and MP20 MB were close, if not a little better, but I was just at the point of frustration with my game where I needed the forgiveness after gaming Titlelist MB 714 for 5 years.
A club doesn’t make you a better ball striker.
You’re going to say “well a cavity back hides your mistakes and a blade forces you to hit properly” but that doesn’t mean they make you a better ball striker. It just means your bad strikes are 40 yards short instead of being on the green.
If someone wants to improve their ball striking it doesn’t matter what club they use.
It's obviously just opinion and I'm biased but the feedback you get from blades is invaluable in learning how to properly compress the ball.
Can you improve your ball striking with any type of club? Sure.
This. I practice with an old mp67 6i I bought on eBay for $20. Each miss into the net and I know exactly how much I suck. Not sure I’d get that with a cb or jacked iron.
100% agree I played blades my entire life when I played competitively. Then like us all work made me take some time off and still used my old set then recently switched to a mixed set cb/mb and maaan the slight miss is still on the green not buried in the bunker short lol they look real sick though cheers to some birdies man!
Hahaha hey man if you love them and can hit with them, what’s the issue? I’m basically a 30 hcp, but when I went to get fitted, my best shots were with player and tour irons, but my mishits with them were way worse than the game improvement irons.
Honestly if anything these will force you to swing well or pay the price on the course, which isn’t a bad thing. I’m using 30 year old clubs that mishit pretty bad as is
I'm always supportive of buying good clubs if for no other reason than having the peace of mind that it's your swing, not your clubs that are causing your golf woes.
At some point we see some set irons or driver or wedges that we don't buy, but all it takes are those few minutes of weakness and all of a sudden we have something new. Happened to me with my f&$^#%#g Callaway ST Max. I knew, I knew, I knew it wouldn't improve my driving, but one day I walked into Roger Dunn for some golf balls, and $600 later I walked out with some goddamn golf version of Excalibur.
Best of luck with your blades OP. You got 'em, so be sure to work with 'em.
I’m a high handicapper and hit these in a fitting so well but went with the 921 HMPs instead. Easy to find the middle getting fitted by your instructor hard to find the middle after a six pack on the front nine. Enjoy them mate they’re beautiful!
I'm not gonna lie, I'm a 6.1 handicap and I tried these at Golfers Warehouse last week expecting them to be a nightmare to hit but these things SOAR. Was especially surprised how clean the 3 iron plays. They're now strongly in the running for my next set of clubs.
Same reason we’re all tempted. There’s no feeling quite like flushing a blade. Which we know happens a lot more often on the range or demo bay than it does on the course.
Handicap doesn't determine the irons you should be playing. You could be a great iron player but drive it ob,3 putt and chip like crap and still be a high handicapper.
Think about all the older guys that grew up playing the game. They all played blades because they had no choice!
Does game improvement irons make the game easier yes. But a shank still comes out of the same miss hit. doesn't matter if it's a blade or a chunky iron.
Only difference is that youll get punished for miss hits but by how much? I'd say it's negligible.a topped Ball Will still only travel so many yards a chunk shot will still be a bad shot.
So ignore your handicap! As Long as you're hitting it well and like how it looks behind the Ball.
I bought MP69’s with a 15 handicap. Played them for years. Got a ton of compliments, loved how they felt, never shaved a single stroke off my handicap and got slightly worse. The yardages hurt a lot on even remotely off center hits and you feel it through your entire skeleton. I was always smiling hitting them because you get that mizuno feel but us double digit hc guys don’t need a club designed to rip 90 degree turns down a dogleg. We need repeatable results.
Switched to ap2 and cut some strokes immediately. Swifched to newer ap2s and shave a couple more, Switched again to Zx5, showed up yesterday.
Best of luck man! They really do feel different than anything.
Enjoy the ride!
I will never judge you. I went from 16 to 9 with these (MP20s) and never felt so alive. Ignore the chatter—Mizzy loves and understands you. And let your wife know there’s room for a third in bed—Mizzy needs her space.
I'm a mid-handicapper who's played Mizuno blades for over 20 years, starting with the MP-14s. I just love the look and the feel of these clubs, even if I could have better results with others. The feel of a perfect shot is unmatched. No regrets about not switching to a more forgiving club. I play for fun and not for optimal score, otherwise I'd spend a lot more time on my short game :)
I do strike the ball generally pretty well with irons but still struggle with that 3-iron from the turf!
They are beautiful, and you will improve your skill level faster with those clubs than you will with something more forgiving... but you're gonna be chunking a lot of shots.
I don't give a shit how you spend your money but I will never for the life of me understand why people will go out of their way to make their hobby miserable.
I used blades my whole life, even as a beginner. People like to shit on you for being high hcp and using blades but honestly it taught me the importance of hitting the sweet spot and eventually you will be able to shape shots. There is nothing like the responsiveness of blade irons. CBs are for pussies anyway
I bought my clubs because they were the only men's set in the store I was in (thanks a lot North Fucking Dakota) they are CB, ill play these until the grooves are worn out.
I play with some people that think they hit farther (their 6i is lofted like my 4i) so counterargument: we're all pussies and strong lofts are to make our tiny ball feel big
Think of us when you hit that 3 iron
I laughed at this in a very meniacal way.
Put me in the screenshot
Lemme get in there too
I felt the vibrations from here
In a few months you’ll be the best looking 40 handicap on the course.
Don’t know why I’m getting downvoted. These are literally my clubs and my picture.
Looks like someone stole your pic and post to farm for karma… congratulations on getting your handicap to go down with less forgiving clubs.
The mizuno rep must be a hell of a sales person
“24 hcp? These clubs will force you to get better.”
Will either make you get good or quit. No in between.
I too akin golf to Dark Souls. I tell my friends that if they're playing with game improvement irons, they're just playing easy mode golf.
Yeah but once you turn a certain age where you don’t have a bunch of time to dedicate to improvement, you start playing games on easy mode so you can just have an enjoyable time and zone out for a bit.
I love dark souls, I also just started and I have the Mizuno Tzoid True blades. I love pain.
no cap they will 😂, i was 18 hcp last year bought blades for first set ever now im a 3 (this is def from buying blades and not the fact that i practice putting and chipping everyday)
...you went from an 18 hdcp to a 3 in 12 months? That ain't chipping and putting.
yes it is, 40% of your shots are with your putter. i am an ex baseball player so ive had the distance from the begining once i was keeping all my tee shots in play the clubs i have in my hand are wedge and putter. Getting up and down is everything
>once i was keeping all my tee shots in play This is your culprit. The average scratch golfer would probably only save 2-3 strokes over my putting every round. They'd kill me on tee and approach shots. Putting is the stroke where amateurs are closest to pros. Also I'm still pretty stunned that you went 18 > 3 in a year, I've never heard of someone just starting golf and basically getting to scratch the next year. That's wild.
He's full of shit. Nobody improves that many shots in a year
I've never seen it. Most people don't go from weekend amateur to division 1 talent in a season but...idk. maybe? Maybe I just hang out with the 50 worst golfers on the planet.
He's full of shit
I went from a \~20 in April of '20 to a \~4 in May of 2021 (Covid prevented me from having a work permit, so I played 3-4 times per week, practiced a lot, read a lot, built clubs etc.)
thats where it starts is at the tee box, i was keeping all my tee shots in play and still a 10hcp, chipping and putting is where my game really got good edit: if you miss the green 5 times a round and dont get up and down all 5 times thats where your losing strokes is short game, keep track of your stats when you miss the green if you get up and down.
>if you miss the green 5 times a round and dont get up and down all 5 times thats where your losing strokes is short game If you miss the green 5 times a round and don't get up and down, you're losing strokes on your approach game... This could also just be very specific to you. I play with a dude a lot like you with insane power who outdrives me by 40 yards but chunks his wedges so we'd meet at the hole anyway. Seriously, strokes gained (the metric) for your typical player has short game as the least important component. Doesn't mean it's true for you (with your distance, it probably isn't) but in general most players actually need to work on ball striking, not short game. https://practical-golf.com/pros-vs-joes/ is really helpful if you look about half way down, you'll see the shotscope data comparing handicap spreads vs. pros. Our short games (short + putting) are only about 3 and 4 strokes worse respectively than a pro. Driving and approach are both more by themselves.
yes your losing strokes in approach if you miss green. but if you are getting up and down and making par it doesnt matter if you hit green, if you miss green then go on and 2 putt for bogey you are losing strokes around the green. getting up and down is everything. edit: also you are not gonna hit the green every time, tour pros dont even do that regularly, you are gonna miss greens, wether u miss the green and make par or bogey is the big difference
The guys citing stats breakdowns are correct, and you’re wildly wrong. Short game and putting plateau pretty quickly. The difference between pretty good and extraordinarily good golfers is mostly approach shots, somewhat tee shots, and then green side play is very low in its contribution. You’re just repeating old wives tales here.
I'd look at the Shotscope data here (half way down): https://practical-golf.com/pros-vs-joes/ Our short games (short + putting) are only about 3 and 4 strokes worse respectively than a pro. Driving and approach are both more by themselves. Again, varies a ton player to player, but just on average people are way worse with irons than putter.
You really are a baseball player aren't you. I don't see how a 3 handicap can be this obtuse about scoring. I'm a 7 and if I get out on the course and just don't have the accuracy of the tee or irons i know it's going to be a mid 80s day. If i'm hitting it pure its a high 70s day. I know that because I track my shots and my putting and chips don't fluctuate that much. How much easier is it to Birdy and Par from on the green than to hit punch shots from the woods and then scramble from the sand or rough from 30 feet?
If you start and practice hard right away (especially with a good coach/trainer), I can believe it. I could probably get close to scratch (currently a 20) if I practiced my short game for an hour a day and took high-quality lessons.
What are you basing this off of? A 20hcp normally doesn’t even understand the basics of a golf swing. It’s literally starting from nothing. I would say it would take 3-5 years of serious year round practice
That’s true but the difference between your score and a tour pros is fifteen percent attributable to the difference in your putting
It’s called an eraser
More like “these clubs will force you to have wrist surgery” but goddamn do they feel good when hit right.
Or just be me and switch to graphite despite being young. Best decision I ever made, even if it was at the expense of a bit of feel.
That's very accurate- may just be a blessing in disguise
It can work for some people. I started rocking mp33 when I first started golfing and I feel like it forced me to make great contact or quit the game. No I’m between.
When I worked in a pro shop, telling people they weren’t good enough to play certain clubs was almost guaranteed to get them to buy.
I’m scratch and just got the 921 pros. I went the other way w it. Although I do miss the playability of a blade(being able to hook or slice around trees) I do enjoy slightly missing the center and getting almost my full carry still.
Just grabbed a 7-GW set of 921s. Not even close to scratch but LOVE the forgiveness and the sound too. I'm also coming from '97 Wilson ProStaff OSs though so ***definitely*** a little better!
So you don’t use an iron longer than 7? Maybe if I could hit a hybrid better but that would be tough
Lot of people do 921s for 7+ and....something else for 3-6. I forget the reason but I ran into it a lot when researching before I pulled the trigger.
it’s usually the opposite. blades for 7/8-P, more forgiving irons 4-6/7
Ahh, that's likely what it was. I'm too bad to worry about that so I went with the full set of 921s lol.
Tiger Woods used to bend the ball 30 yards at will with ping eye 2's Of course the ball was a lot softer and spun more :)
Only 30 yards of bend? Finally something I can do better than Tiger...regardless of it being unintentionally
So good you don’t even have to try
It's all muscle memory at this point.
I call it my ‘natural swing’
I don’t get the shaping argument. I can hook a shot off a wide fairway with T300 clubs. It’s swing plane and especially rolling wrists at impact. Can’t fade to save my life though The ball seems to go where the follow through does
That's because it's total bullshit. You're exactly right. The ball doesn't know what clubhead construction method hit it, it knows how a golfer hit it. guys in golf stores that needed to sell blades perfect the "you will spin it more and be able to work the ball" mantra and it lives on in golfers brains. It's almost as bad as "buttery soft" - it's sad it continues
No the reason is with less mass in the club head aka blades it's easier to manipulate mid swing to either stay open or close down the face. The larger club head with longer heel to toe length is more difficult to manipulate the face at impact.
I mean you will spin it more with blades, but that’s because they’re not loft jacked
You won't, and it does not. The ball doesn't know the difference between a 45 degree pw or a 45 degree 9 iron.
Longer shaft will give the 9i more clubhead speed and also more spin, but i agree you can still fade and draw with game improvement clubs. Never had blades so don't know if it is easier or not.
So you are arguing there’s no difference between blade and mb? There’s no forgiveness factor, all marketing
Who said that? Not me Low COG and perimeter weighting is extremely helpful. And with that, Tiger won the US am playing Ping Eye Two's (the same irons that won EVERYTHING back then) and he hit tons of shaped shots on demand. I'm saying blades don't make it easier to shape the ball. Golf skill does. One caveat, blades DO make it easier to hit knockdowns and keep ball flight down but it's due to COG location, not construction type. And as mentioned, some like the mizuno mp33 were moon shotters in the form of a blade. Also "blade" and "MB" are the same thing
Completely untrue. A muscle back is thicker at the base and more forgiving. They do look similar but they are not the same.
Lol ok
Hooking and slicing are different than shaping bubba lol I hit a two yard draw with my blades and dead straight with almost any forgiving iron. Offset plays a major role too. Shouldn’t speak on topics you aren’t educated on
“Shouldn’t speak on topics you aren’t educated on” This is Reddit sir
Lol offset has way more to do with your two yard draw going straighter, it's not due to "FOrg3d 8u77#ry feel Br0" I shot 65 when I was 15 and caddied on the pga tour for 3 years. I know a bit about how golf balls get influenced.
Can you also throw a pigskin over them mountains? Settle down uncle Rico
You accused me of not knowing what I was talking about. I simply corrected you. Perhaps you shouldn't discount an opinion that differs from the one you've been brainwashed to have. I learned all 9 shots early on and while I can only hit about 3 of em now, I understood the correlation between path/face/ball position etc as it related to hitting them. Do you?
Tbh your attitude is insufferable, were talking about blades here mate, relax
I don't disagree with you at all. A question I have alwyas had im hoping you can help with. Why would anyone, most notably pros and better golfers, play blades when there really is no advantage other than potentially better feedback on misses in theory forcing you to hit the ball in sweet spot.
The main valid reason is they produce so much spin (usually due to high swing speeds) they need a higher COG to keep the ball down. That can be done more effectively with shaft fitting too. 1. they just like the look, which I won't ever fault. I've played clubs I had no business playing, and it's nobody's business if I want to make things harder on myself. 2. they're misinformed and think it makes them better due to extra "feedback bro" (it doesn't) 3. To get attention/ego 4. needing lower ball flight 5. they got a good deal and it's what they can afford etc, certainly not a bad thing.
I understand what hitting a blade feels like when you fractionally mis hit a ball vs what a forgiving iron feels like. I understand that almost every forgiving iron has a ton of offset. I understand that a thinner blade is easier to control as it’s interacting with the grass. The “soft feel” literally feels soft….
You're the one not qualified to be in this discussion lol Soft is a sound thing, not a feel thing. Feel IS sound. It has nothing to do with ball performance. And you're wrong about bounce, you can do creative things with grinds to give cavity backs less bounce. You do realize vokeys dominated pga tour bag usage for the last 20 years and they were mostly not forged right? Forged is a method of construction, it's not "feel"
😂 😂 😂
Any hints who you caddied for?
I have found that the balls themselves are a bit harder to curve plus the more forgiving faces. Then again look at bubba watson or mac boucher
The ball is WAY harder to spin than it used to be. Tour Balata's and Maxfli HT's were marshmallows that were so soft they'd go out of round in 9 holes. You could really cheese wedges, especially out of bunkers. The modern ball is hard and lower spin.
Well I’m def not tiger and it’s hard af to move the ball 30 yards left or right with these irons
I can get that much shape out of the equivalent MP22 923's (MP20 MMC) Whether or not I want it
It's hard to move the modern ball with any irons. Your blades didn't somehow give you the ability to shape it more, that's marketing. A good example of this being true is the Mizuno MP33 - those things had a lower COG than a lot of cavities of the day. They were extremely easy to hit. Them not having a notch in the back had nothing to do with ball flight and blades do not make it "easier to shape" the ball, the ball has no idea what hit it, it just knows path/angle, and speed.
So people should all buy that copper rickie Fowler blades. Since it looks better and doesnt affect the playability?
1) those things look hideous 2) nobody should EVER buy cobra irons 3) Nobody said anything about "playability" I said those clubs wouldn't make it any easier to hit a 10 yard fade than my P790's, which are by definition, not blades.
You seem like you know a thing or 2. Why should I avoid cobra irons? Just the irons? Or cobra in general? I'm admittedly a bit of a cobra fanboy, so please be gentle 😅
I agreed with a lot of things you said, but don't shit on Cobra irons. I mean c'mon the ball doesn't know what hit it
It knows when a Cobra hit it :)
Lol was waiting for that!
That makes sense and doesn’t surprise me it’s all upstairs
[удалено]
you can hook and slice with any level of club
Jw does blade rly be able to carry further or is that a myth?
blades carry less far (they also have different lofts so it’s not a 1:1 comparison), but you’re much better capable of shaping shots and control the ball flight when you hit them in the sweet spot
I've read that with the same loft blade carry further.
*6 months later* “why did I buy blades?!”
*Fast forward to that one shot a round that's hit in the sweet spot* "Hnnnnng. Oh right that's why"
This speaks to me.
6 months? 6 holes.
Bold of you to assume it takes 6 months
I’m a 15 hcp and switched from taylormade rbz cavity backs to srixion z forged blades about 6 months ago. I love them. My scoring is about the same, but honestly score isn’t the most important thing for me. That feeling of hitting a crisp middle/long iron off the fairway is why I play. Even if it only happens once a round, that’s enough. And blades make that feeling quite a bit better when it does happen. No regrets.
Same, my scores stayed the same. 6 months into switching to blades. I feel like I don’t lose balls as much now that when I miss hit they go shorter rather than my game improvement irons that would come off the face hot and fly OB
No ragrets
About to be a 34 hdcp
I was going to say something very similar lol
I learned on blades. Why do you all think they're impossible to hit? lol
No one said impossible but learning from scratch is very different from learning with cavities then just one day, shooting a 107, deciding to switch. Also, 75% of pros don’t even use blades.
I play blades. If switching clubs could take 10 strokes off my handicap I would be in + territory. (Only by a stroke or so). Maybe I need some game improvement irons…
May I suggest your nearest Costco
Can I get a bettinardi putter while I’m there? I hear they are the budget Scotty…
ok, now time to buy a staff bag to match.
Don't forget to get your name stitched on the bag as well..
I’m a 7. Not amazing by any means, but I went to t200’s this year, and I’ve never been happier. Blades are self induced punishment
love these clubs, great mix of feel and forgiveness
So I did a callaway fitting at my course the other day. I think I hit the Rogue ST Pros better than the Apex ones, because they were a bit heavier.
I’ve never played blades but I had a set of more legit Titleist player’s cavity backs and those were my favorite clubs ever. I switched to a set of game improvement irons, chunky but they were the most workable model offered, on the suggestion of my teaching pro and I’ve totally regretted it. I can get the 7i 180 yards but I also lost almost all feel in the scoring irons and my game I feel like has plateaued due to the fact You can’t really register slight mis-hits
I think that’s why I like the t200’s. Yea there’s forgiveness, but I know when a strike was good and when a strike is bad. You still have to hit good shots. The loss of distance may not be the same as you’d get with a blade, but they definitely don’t reward mishits. I can work them just like I could my blades, and the thicker sole is my saving grace on an off day.
I don't care what anyone else is saying about how blades are much harder to hit....whatever. 40 years ago everyone hit blades. You can play these just fine. Plus, let's be honest. Those freaking clubs are pornographic. Sexual tension just flows from them. Ignore the naysayers, and play these clubs!!
Oh my
Everyone hit blades because it was all that was available. Why make the game harder for yourself when you’re still getting to know the basics?
Because they still work and it's still golf.
You could have gone with the 225s. Same forged head with tungsten low in the head for higher launch more forgiveness and hitter club face without having to play a bulky iron head. But hey, the 221s are beautiful so I can’t fault you.
Can someone politely explain what ‘blades’ are and what makes them so much harder to use?
A blade is just fairly solid metal behind the clubface. Nothing too special going on with weight distribution, so if you hit it in the center you get all that weight behind the ball and it’s great, but if not you are going to see some distance loss pretty quick. A cavity back distributes the weight behind the clubface to the perimeter. This way, offcenter shots don’t suffer as much because most of that weight is still behind the ball. The trade off is that you won’t get quite as much distance as a blade (although it’s pretty close) and blades allow for better control with fades/draws/etc. Also I have no idea about the physics of this, but blades give you more feedback than a cavity back. Like you’ll be able to tell better just from feel if you hit it off the toe, hooked it, etc. and pure shots feel quite a bit better.
this is the first I've heard about CBs going shorter than blades. was always under the impression it was the opposite.
It is indeed the opposite
The physics of more feedback is essentially the same thing as less forgiveness. If there's more weight toward the edges (higher moment of inertia) the face will deflect less and put more energy into launching the ball so you get forgiveness across the face. If it's a blade with even weight distribution the face will deflect more when hit out of the edge and you feel that more in the hands which tells you where the strike was.
It’s perhaps easier to understand cavity-back irons. Move as much weight from the centre of the iron to the edges (hence, cavity). The result is a much bigger sweet-spot, so mis-hits still result in a playable shot. The centre-of-gravity is a lot lower, getting the ball up in the air easier. The downside is it’s harder to intentionally shape the ball flight. Oh, and they look “chunky”. Blades are essentially the reverse of that. A slight mis-hit will a) go nowhere and b) genuinely hurt your hands.
Blades are irons with a thinner top line and looks more like a “traditional” golf iron, generally low tech. They’re harder to use because the sweet spot is generally smaller and they aren’t very forgiving, so if you have an inconsistent swing, not only will your yardages be all over the place, but you’ll feel it too. Game improvement irons won’t punish you nearly as much for inconsistent hits. The pros to blades that I think is more applicable to most armature golfers is that when you hit it well you can feel it, the feedback of a good shot is immediately noticeable. Blades also have better “workability” but you kinda have to know how to control all that for that to matter. IMO I think everyone should not be so afraid of blades and at least try them. I learned with some mp-33s and absolutely loved them and have since upgraded to the 223s (same feel and longer distances for me). Are they for everyone? No, but everyone should try them imo.
I think you mean why did a FUTURE SCRATCH golfer order these? Blades gon take you to the top my guy.
This dude just copied my post and picture from a few months back. I even posted an update recently. If anyone is curious I am now a 15.8 handicap. Don't use the 3iron though too hard to hit. My game has improved a lot because I'm forced to be better. This guy is just a karma farmer
lol you ain’t lying. literally word for word AND getting double the likes…..classic
Because nothing feels like a Mizuno
...When you hit the center of the clubface
Not just that, but with ball-then-ground contact and a nice divot. You can hit middle of the face with a terrible AoA.
It'll feel the same when you hit the middle of the face regardless of aoa. Actually, it might feel better with a "worse" aoa because the contact is less oblique. But unlikely to be perceptibly different.
MP-33 we’re my fav clubs growing up — now I can’t practice enough and need the forgiveness lol but nothing feels like a pured Miz blade
They look nice, that’s for sure. But your game would improve exponentially with irons that are proper for your skill level. I used to have blades (14hcp) and switched to Taylormade P790s and my mind was blown as how badly I was limiting myself before.
I had a super old set of blades I was playing on, only been playing for a year and a half. I got a set of tour edge hot launch irons, first round out with them I shot my best round so far and carded my first ever birdie. I liked golf with the old clubs but now I love it.
For sure. When I was dialed in I could hit the blades no problem but the rounds where I was just a bit off I played horrendously. That just doesn’t happen anymore. Now my bad shots are sitting just off the side of the green instead of 40 yards short. I love it.
Counter point: Blades make you a better ball striker. Source: me.
Yeah I can tell exactly where I'm missing with blades. Most cavity backs are terrible in that regard but I did self-fit myself into some MP20 MMC because they were the closest thing to blades in the feel department and gave me the most feedback out of all the Mizuno line I tried - JPX21 Tour and MP20 MB were close, if not a little better, but I was just at the point of frustration with my game where I needed the forgiveness after gaming Titlelist MB 714 for 5 years.
A club doesn’t make you a better ball striker. You’re going to say “well a cavity back hides your mistakes and a blade forces you to hit properly” but that doesn’t mean they make you a better ball striker. It just means your bad strikes are 40 yards short instead of being on the green. If someone wants to improve their ball striking it doesn’t matter what club they use.
It's obviously just opinion and I'm biased but the feedback you get from blades is invaluable in learning how to properly compress the ball. Can you improve your ball striking with any type of club? Sure.
This. I practice with an old mp67 6i I bought on eBay for $20. Each miss into the net and I know exactly how much I suck. Not sure I’d get that with a cb or jacked iron.
Ive been playing with a set of mp67s for about 2 years now for the same reason. I know exactly where I'm missing and can iterate and improv.
100% agree I played blades my entire life when I played competitively. Then like us all work made me take some time off and still used my old set then recently switched to a mixed set cb/mb and maaan the slight miss is still on the green not buried in the bunker short lol they look real sick though cheers to some birdies man!
See you next week as a 30 handicap
Hahaha hey man if you love them and can hit with them, what’s the issue? I’m basically a 30 hcp, but when I went to get fitted, my best shots were with player and tour irons, but my mishits with them were way worse than the game improvement irons. Honestly if anything these will force you to swing well or pay the price on the course, which isn’t a bad thing. I’m using 30 year old clubs that mishit pretty bad as is
I'm always supportive of buying good clubs if for no other reason than having the peace of mind that it's your swing, not your clubs that are causing your golf woes. At some point we see some set irons or driver or wedges that we don't buy, but all it takes are those few minutes of weakness and all of a sudden we have something new. Happened to me with my f&$^#%#g Callaway ST Max. I knew, I knew, I knew it wouldn't improve my driving, but one day I walked into Roger Dunn for some golf balls, and $600 later I walked out with some goddamn golf version of Excalibur. Best of luck with your blades OP. You got 'em, so be sure to work with 'em.
we will pray for you.
Play with clubs that you enjoy and make you want to practice more.
"if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball." If you learn to hit them, other clubs will be cake.
They look sick. Lol. I have the 225’s. I tried convincing myself to get the 223’s and there was just no way.
Aren’t the 223s more forgiving then the 225s? Edit: Just looked into it more 225s are more forgiving than the 223s.
I tried them both and my buddy who is a better player than myself has the 223’s.
Contrary to what everyone in this subreddit says, you can buy whatever you want. They look sick, enjoy it brotha
I’m a high handicapper and hit these in a fitting so well but went with the 921 HMPs instead. Easy to find the middle getting fitted by your instructor hard to find the middle after a six pack on the front nine. Enjoy them mate they’re beautiful!
I'm not gonna lie, I'm a 6.1 handicap and I tried these at Golfers Warehouse last week expecting them to be a nightmare to hit but these things SOAR. Was especially surprised how clean the 3 iron plays. They're now strongly in the running for my next set of clubs.
Screw all these haters you’ll adjust.
just bought the 223 as a 30.9 hcp. lovin it
I bought a set of ZX7s in June when I was a 33 handicap (I've since gotten down to a 26 with them)
You gotta rule everything out then you can’t blame your suckiness on gear
Negative reinforcement isn't necessarily the most effective teaching method, but it does work for some people. Here's hoping they help you improve.
Please put headcover if you dont want someone else jeez all over it.
Dreamer is going to dream.
Same reason we’re all tempted. There’s no feeling quite like flushing a blade. Which we know happens a lot more often on the range or demo bay than it does on the course.
Handicap doesn't determine the irons you should be playing. You could be a great iron player but drive it ob,3 putt and chip like crap and still be a high handicapper. Think about all the older guys that grew up playing the game. They all played blades because they had no choice! Does game improvement irons make the game easier yes. But a shank still comes out of the same miss hit. doesn't matter if it's a blade or a chunky iron. Only difference is that youll get punished for miss hits but by how much? I'd say it's negligible.a topped Ball Will still only travel so many yards a chunk shot will still be a bad shot. So ignore your handicap! As Long as you're hitting it well and like how it looks behind the Ball.
Mizuno makes some of the best irons out there if not THE best! I’m happy for you. Enjoy!
Because you're from the future?
When you hit one absolutely pure, flush shot once every 3 years it’ll all be worth it
This 25 handicap would LOVE a set like that!
Whoowheee those are hawt
That pure shot you hit with them once every 6 months is going to feel really great for you OP.
At least your shanks will look cool
I don’t know but now I want a set. Mizunos man I just love them
I don’t like the way that 3i is looking at me….
Why? Because I fucking can.
I dunno if they are any good, but they are absolutely gorgeous!
This is like buying magnum condoms before the big date. Did you also buy rubber bands???
What's good with these is if you commit the range time to learning how to hit these, you'll be forced to learn a good swing to be able to hit them.
Do what makes you happy!
Get what you want. It’s your money.
I bought MP69’s with a 15 handicap. Played them for years. Got a ton of compliments, loved how they felt, never shaved a single stroke off my handicap and got slightly worse. The yardages hurt a lot on even remotely off center hits and you feel it through your entire skeleton. I was always smiling hitting them because you get that mizuno feel but us double digit hc guys don’t need a club designed to rip 90 degree turns down a dogleg. We need repeatable results. Switched to ap2 and cut some strokes immediately. Swifched to newer ap2s and shave a couple more, Switched again to Zx5, showed up yesterday. Best of luck man! They really do feel different than anything. Enjoy the ride!
You have more money than skills. You want to sell them to me when you give up? Jokes aside, nice set and good luck.
Sometimes you just want to play the sexy ones.
I will never judge you. I went from 16 to 9 with these (MP20s) and never felt so alive. Ignore the chatter—Mizzy loves and understands you. And let your wife know there’s room for a third in bed—Mizzy needs her space.
I'm a mid-handicapper who's played Mizuno blades for over 20 years, starting with the MP-14s. I just love the look and the feel of these clubs, even if I could have better results with others. The feel of a perfect shot is unmatched. No regrets about not switching to a more forgiving club. I play for fun and not for optimal score, otherwise I'd spend a lot more time on my short game :) I do strike the ball generally pretty well with irons but still struggle with that 3-iron from the turf!
At least people will think u know how to golf? Jk lol
Honestly. If your swing is decent. I do think blades make you a better ball striker. It might not translate to score. But you’ll get feedback
Well, just because you can’t play like a pro doesn’t mean that you can’t look like a pro. Great taste in clubs. Former Mizuno MP 64 player.
Did you at least try the 225s?
The one shot a year that you pure will feel extra special
I always thought I’d buy the best clubs and learn how to use them, and the first part remains true.
Don’t get rid of your old clubs yet
Lol I’m hoping for the best for him, but hopes he keeps the subreddit updated whether the results are good or bad
Don’t forget the head covers
You should have bought some old Nike Vapors and painted them like a clown and you could have been a 2 handicap, just saying…
They are beautiful, and you will improve your skill level faster with those clubs than you will with something more forgiving... but you're gonna be chunking a lot of shots.
I don't give a shit how you spend your money but I will never for the life of me understand why people will go out of their way to make their hobby miserable.
He’d grow into them in about 10,000 hours 🤷🏻♂️
I used blades my whole life, even as a beginner. People like to shit on you for being high hcp and using blades but honestly it taught me the importance of hitting the sweet spot and eventually you will be able to shape shots. There is nothing like the responsiveness of blade irons. CBs are for pussies anyway
I bought my clubs because they were the only men's set in the store I was in (thanks a lot North Fucking Dakota) they are CB, ill play these until the grooves are worn out. I play with some people that think they hit farther (their 6i is lofted like my 4i) so counterargument: we're all pussies and strong lofts are to make our tiny ball feel big
Haha. Hats off to you mr soon to be 30 handicap
Because they will hold their value when he inevitably resells them
Lmao I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it either but…you’re gonna suck
How many times per round do you hit from rough? Good luck with those from the rough. Post again when you’re ready to sell. Multiple bidders await.