I learned to play with blades as a kid. They got stolen. I got cavity backs as a replacements. But then as soon as I was making good ground contact I went back to blades. So shiny, such a thin top. Other people look at them and wonder how I can hit them. The smaller head doesn’t bother me.
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I went to the range the last 2 days & concentrated on using a one piece takeaway for every shot for the first time ever, & almost every shot went straight & to distance !
Thanks for the tip. Playing tomorrow morning, so let’s see how I get on !
Glad to help. It makes a huge difference.
Back when my father took us to the driving range, there was no other option but muscle back irons. Later on when I started working and my boss encourages us to golf, I started by a few clubs from the bargain bin. I remember it was some cast cavity back loosely stashed in a large 75 gallon bin. I picked out a OW, 8i,6i and a putter. First set of irons I bought brand new was Mizuno cast Cimarron. Many sets following that.
I an gaming my third set and and not planning on a new set anytime soon. Nailing a 3i blade feels so good knowing most others couldn’t do it. I know others hit much less club then me but at least my blades are consistent in distance. I am sure those other sets have stronger lofts.
I have too many sets of irons from the last 4 decades .
I don’t feel odd when a youngster carry his 5 irons over 200 yards. I used to do that with my 3 iron which is about the same spec.
Were the shafts the same? The feel difference there might be the issue.
Haven’t tried the G430 irons, but the G430 hybrid is a controllable rocket-ship. +1, highly recommended. Would hit again.
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Yes shafts were steel regular flex, with same midsize grips. Only difference was the new lie angle which is white dot, which is next up from green which I had for 25+ years previously - and of course the look of the clubheads themselves, which are very different & likely just need some getting used to.
As I note above, probably not the smartest to just go straight on the couse with them unpracticed ! 
All of that can be true, and they can still have different feel. E.g., KBS C-Taper 130X is going to feel different than DG X100 vs Rifle 6.5. Even though all are steel, and all weigh ‘about’ the same.
Ping, especially early Ping, is known for having their proprietary shafts in things, and while the JZ shafts weren’t “bad” per se, they were certainly different in feel.
Checked shafts, at your prompt.
My Ping Zing 2 shafts were JZ, black with red sticker.
Here it explains that my old shafts, unbeknownst to me all this time, have for 27 years been….stiff !
My new shafts are Ping AWT 2.0 steel, regular shafts.
Interesting!
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It is, isn’t it? I had no idea either, with my elderly set of Ping i3+'s. No shaft stickers. Could’ve sworn they were R’s, with how easy they were to turn over. Nope! Evidently Karsten was not a fan of R-flex for most. Shrug.
But those JZ whatever-they-are in my i3’s felt very different than either the S400 or X100 I tried at a Callaway demo day I wrote about here, a bit over a year ago. I regret not buying more from the guy besides the wedges. Turned out OK though.
It does take some time to adjust!
I will say, and I will promptly post my experience with the Mizuno shaft thingy, when I finally find the time and $ to try the damned thing. (Not having a Woody’s Golf to try, down the street like Jon here, where you’re paying Woody to make that judgment for you. See, Artisan.)
I’m very curious to see what it thinks I should in for irons and woods.
Because let’s face it: fitting can be expensive, and not thorough. And if you find a thorough fitter, then it’s really expensive. Accordingly, we’re all trying to find shortcuts to trying everything from six different shaft mfgrs, and now comes the heads! (Hope you packed a lunch…) I would hope that tool could provide a, “Huh, I would never have thought of that. Let’s try it!” or two.
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Those that read my posts know I’ve been playing the same iron heads for almost 40 years now. Time seems to move faster now, but I am on my 4th iteration of shaft. I changed all my irons (except the wedges) to DG X100’s. All my clubs except Driver are at D4 swing weight… last year I let one of my buddies use my clubs and he was like these really feel amazing… Now none of us are beginners, we all had lessons and all my guys are somewhere around 12-14 cappers. The X100’s I put in are NOT tour issue and that alone is a fairly significant difference. I had the original shafts, then S400’s, then R300 and now X100. Here’s what I will tell you and this is for me…maybe not for everyone else. My iron heads are a Cavity Back and 1* bent flatter lie (that’s all you can do with a CB or it will snap and you can only do the adjustment once) so pretty good weight distribution throughout, I still use a teeny bit of lead tape towards the toe in the 4 and 5 irons. According to Trackman, I now hit my irons off of clean lies with a lower trajectory and a bit less spin I have lost about 5 yards of distance on average, but is that age…who knows? When I got my swing speed back up a couple years ago… the R300 shaft was snapping shots left a bit or ballooning. It’s not worth adjusting swing…oft times it’s having the right equipment.
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Obviously, you enjoy an overall heavier weighted iron. The extra weight and stiffness should provide more stability at a cost of losing some distance.
It is amazing that you’ve only lost 5 yards or so on the average comparing using the X100 Vs. S400 shaft. A more upright swing path would minimize the difference but your set’s lie angle is 1 degree flat, which usually indicating a flatter swing plane.
I had several sets of irons adjusted to flatter lie when I was younger and imitating Ben Hogan’s golf swing, to some degree of success. Could not advance further because lack of dedicated practice time after forming a family.
I like a heavier feel for my iron sets, but having issue swinging the long irons after passing 59. Usually the shorter sticks will have no issue being heavier in static weight but the longer length in the long irons will have timing issue to catch up with the larger swing arc.
This is the same reason why the driver, being the longest in the bag, kept on going lighter.
While changing the static weight to heavier or lighter, be mindful of the balance of the golf club.
You’ve switched from R300 to S400 to X100 over the years, must have been a gradual process. And using the same set of iron heads for different weight would need small adjustment, as you’ve indicated using lead tape on the heads to compensate for the heavier shaft weight for fell and balance.
I’m just amazed that you have the transformation at an older age which is much tougher on your body and you must be in very good physical condition.
Many years ago, the TTDG X100 was not in demand at all. But very much so these days and getting expensive.
X100 is lighter than the 400 or 300 by 4-5grams. 130ish grams. I use pennies and lead tape in the butt end of the club to get me to my desired swingweight on the scale when I regrip em. My Driver swing speeds are finally making me happy, 96-100mph. I am getting them out there very consistently 255-260. Better strikes will yield more distance (duh) My Driver is D-0. I gotta get the ball speed up though. That’s just more consistency with the strike. I’d like to see that 142-146. I’m in the high 130s. Yesterday, humid, 80’s I had 202 middle perfect lie and hit a 6iron over the green…. It was a great strike, probably perfect. But for a 64yo not bad.
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What length do you play your current driver?
Most golfers will actually lose some club head speed swinging the modern driver length.
I believe the peak of this craze for length was 46" from the OEM, now back tracked to 45 1/2" to 45" now.
There be a happy medium for the golfer and his driver length. Experimenting is still the best way to determine the most beneficial driver length for your game.
L/M Testing does not include on course real time. Your portable L/M gizmo will aid you to collect data of your entire round when you get tired in the back coming in.
I can still game 45 1/2" driver, but probably will lose some zip going into the back nine. More leaning to 44"-45" right now.
Light weight or reduced weight from the TTDG 120-130 gram shaft days are over for me. Light weight steel in the 108-110 gram is my gamer now. Still resisting to go graphite at this point.
Any ways, try a slightly shorter length in the driver. It is easy and reversible these days with the hosel adaptors.
I have 5 shafts made up for this one type of driver ( two heads ). Seriously only use a couple of the shafts through the season.
Adams 9088 Ultra-Lite Draw, 9.5* Matrix4.1 Stiff Flex 46”. Been playing a 46” Driver for 20+years. I own several Adams Drivers including the LS9064 8.5* with a 46” Harrison SAGA 65g Stiff shaft. Used in long driver competitions back in the day. I’ve hit the newer stuff and I don’t see investing 500 samoleans to possibly gain 3-4 yards at my age. I’m basically out there distance wise with many golfers my age. My complaints are just personal. I picked up one new guy 43yo about 2 months ago into my group that just absolutely roasts his ball. He drove over the first green yesterday at 325yds, just smoked it over everything. I hit Driver wedge made par., he hit driver, LW, SWchip and 2putted. I made a oh well par missed a 16ft birdie putt. It’s just personal complaining. We picked up another new group member last week. Closer to my age he plays in the 90s but moves along. I 3 jacked a putt on our 14th hole, and he said point blank, I’ll trade you score cards right now! Bought my bitch back to planet earth. It’s all relative.
Done the same 20-30 years ago. Most of my drivers were 46" and a few at 47", customized XS 70 gram shafts. Got away from it since injury.
I know you are used to the 46" length, just try the shorter length and I can guarantee that you’ll be able to swing it faster. This is from someone who had been on that journey.
45" and 45 1/2" is my usual driver length now. Somedays, the 44 1/2" will play better.
See, this is another reason why I went to the Adams Speed Tech driver in the first place, the ease of changing the shaft, plus witnessing Bernhard Langer duel Freddie Couples with the new Adams driver.
Had bought many other drivers since with the hosel adaptor for the same reason of being able to change the shaft with ease. Seldom use the adjustment features.
And I know that you love the stiffer feel of X100, and yes it is slightly lighter than the S400 by the designation of 100 Vs. the 400 for weight sorting but it is still plenty hefty than other choices.
I went light weight in iron shafts not only for getting the distance back but mainly trying to prevent injury. Yes, I can still swing the set up I had many years ago but my body will not recover as fast as 30 years ago. It is not an ego thing, it is just me trying to prevent injury so I could enjoy this gem without too much aches and pain.
Adams 9088 is one of the classic drivers, however, maybe it’s time to look into something with adaptor. Generation of drivers after the 9088 could be had now for low price. Shop around and you’ll find some gem.
120g would seem like a really heavy shaft to me. Even coming from a 85g that is a 40% bump. How long did it take for you to adjust? Ball placement and wider stance seems to help me the most with balloning.
My iron shafts all weigh 130-134g. I guess they could feel heavy to someone, but feel quite normal to me. As long as I’m in the ballpark on distance. On a 400yd par 4, If I hit a Driver 240, that leaves me 160 center of the green…I can still get there with a 7 iron no problem. On the 210 yd par 3, I can hit a 7W on a perfect day and get there with ease, I can get there easily with my 18* hybrid. So distance wise I’m ok, I can play courses no problem in the 6400yd range, anything longer it’s a bit more of a challenge. If I find I start losing distance at a major clip; I’m 65 and you never know when that will happen, I will look at going to a lighter shaft in the irons that I can swing and keep the distances up. End of the day, the point for me is to walk and have fun and limit the self deprication after a 3 putt or a “chili chip”!
I’ve just upgraded my 15 year old Callway X20’s that i bought second hand off ebay for a set of PXG Gen5 Players irons and a 4 hybrid. Getting delivered later today and it literally is Xmas come early for me (i can live with the wife being pi$$ed at me for a few weeks)!
Hoping i can get out for at least 9 one day this week to give them a whirl and hoping that the fitting process i had pays dividends and that i hit them as well as i did on the simulator!