Modern iron lofts

Equipment
#1

I want to hear opinions on the modern iron lofts.

My favorite set of irons I’ve ever played were the Nike Forged Blades that had rather traditional lofts. The PW was a 49 degree loft and the 6 iron had a 33 degree loft. I still have these clubs because of the way they felt.

Compare that to a modern set where a 33 degree club is more like an 8 iron.

I used to be against the stronger lofted irons (it is a marketing ploy) but now I’ve been thinking about regapping all my clubs after seeing what the pros carry. And here’s why: you only get 14 clubs and if you aren’t insane one should be a putter. So that leaves you 13 sticks to play the game. If I carry my driver 280, the rest of the 12 clubs should fall in line so I’m not left with a gaping hole in my lineup. This is not an ego driven reason as I don’t really care who hits the furthest 7 iron, engrave whatever number you want on my club as long as I can tell them apart :slight_smile:.

My current bag setup leaves me with larger gaps from 3 wood to utility iron to 4 and 5 iron. That might not seem super relevant but I play a decent amount of par 3 holes that range from 210-260 and it just feels better to have a club that will go the correct distance (even though I’ll likely miss the green laterally or hit enough fat or thin to drastically change the ball flight).

Anyone have a strong opinion on this? Does anyone have a full bag consistent gapping?

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#2

I will say that to some extent the lower loft of modern irons is offset by the higher launch, so you don’t necessarily get the same distance increase.

My current irons are basically a club strong in loft compared to my prior set. I’m only really gaining on the long irons. My PW-7I are roughly the same distance (maybe a little pick up but not significant) as the old set.

#3

When you say higher launch, is that likely caused by more weight in the bottom of the club? Traditionally, 33 degrees of loft goes further than 38 degrees.

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#4

I’m not an expert by any means (and could be wrong), need someone with more insight to fact check me/provide comments. I’m just going off of experience with having stronger lofts in my new irons and not seeing a full club difference for most of my bag (granted some could be that I don’t hit it as far as I used to so it evens out, but don’t think that’s the entirely the case)

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#5

I’m not opposed to stronger lofts assuming the clubs fit you, but I agree that if you have stronger lofted irons then you may need to adjust your wedges and other clubs accordingly. I had stronger lofted irons and awhile back and got a different gap wedge and hybrid and dropped my 4i to get better yardage gapping. My current set that I’ve been using 5 years is more traditional so the 4i went back in and the GW and hybrid were different lofts to account for that. My current 4i hits about the same distance as my stronger lofted older 5i. I just seem to do better with irons so I went away from multiple hybrids and I like hitting the ball high so I have weaker lofts again.

#6

My current set of Sub70 639CB’s is a couple degrees stronger than my old Mizuno’s. Until I get new wedges of maybe 54 and 58 to take place of my 52, 56, and 60, I’m leaving my 4 iron out of the bag and carrying 5 wedges including PW.
Current setup:
Driver
3+ wood (13.5 deg)
3U iron
5-PW (PW is 44)
48 Sub 70 wedge
52 GW
56 SW
60 LW
Putter

On a longer course, I’ll take either the 48 or 52 out and add the 4 iron back in.

#7

As my lofts have gotten stronger the years, I’ve effectively lost my 3-iron which has been replaced by a gap wedge. So… pretty much the same set, except that the numbers stamped on top have changed.

#vanitylofts :joy:

I am debating right now whether to go with a more lofted 3-wood since it is currently too close to my driver and too far from my hybrid. I’ve had the benefit of having a LM at home, and I like most of my gaps, except for that spot.

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#8

I think there are two separate issues here. Iron lofts are generally decreasing, but the shafts and tech seem to be keeping launch angles consistent. At least that’s my experience going into Titleist T200 irons this year, each club has a lower loft than my AP2 714, but launches just as high, and flies a little further.
But the issue of gapping is separate from that, and would exist with both traditional lofts or more modern strong lofts. Its largely player dependent, and maybe just as much course dependent. You can certainly choose to have tighter gaps in the 200-250 range if that fits your game and your course, but you’ll sacrifice with larger gaps in some other distance range. My personal choice, as a shorter hitter playing a shorter course, is to have pretty consistent gaps from about 90 yards to 180, and live with larger gaps in the longer ranges.

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#9

With the lofts of current gen irons and the tech that allows them to hit the same windows of traditional lofts but fly longer, gaping is definitely an issue. My experience has been that you will have a gap at the top longer than what was previously considered normal or a larger gap at the bottom. It just depends on what you are comfortable with. For example my 8 iron is 5* stronger than 9 so it leaves me a larger gap there and my 4 iron is only 3* different from 5 so it is closer together. It has worked well for me as it has eliminated the top and bottom gaps and place the gaps in areas that I can manipulate.
All that rambling just means find what works for you.

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#10

I don’t worry much about what loft a club is… I worry about the result it gives me… I do think if you update to modern irons, you need to make sure your wedges and hybrids fit into the set…

#11

Recently switched to a set of TaylorMade M Gloire irons (made for the Asian premium market, can get them for a steal right now) and here are the lofts:
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |PW|AW|
|24°|27°|31.5°|36°|41° |47°|

That’s about as strong as I’ve ever seen, but my solution was just to more or less ignore the number. They more or less play a club stronger than my old set consistently down the line, so the adjustment wasn’t bad at all.

#12

That’s the experience I’ve had with the T200, as compared to my old AP2 714, the T200s are about one full club longer. How does the launch angle compare between the two sets?

#13

Just by the eye test, I would say the launch at a similar angle to their counterpart number in my old set (7 iron still launches at my 7 iron angle), just a longer flight. That probably has a lot to do with the shaft and clubhead makeup , tungsten putting more weight lower.

#14

Exactly the same for me. The way I put it to friends who complain about loft-jacking is that my 150-yard club flies higher than my old one. Who cares that its an 8 instead of a 7, its the combination of distance and trajectory that really matter.

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#15

They annoy me - not because they’re strong but because the loft gapping sucks. Quoting from the Ben Hogan website:

“Very simply, modern sets of irons give you too many long clubs with too-small distance gaps, and fewer clubs and larger distance gaps for those crucial shots played in prime scoring range.”

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#16

This is a perfect description of the problem with my Srixon’s right now. 5 degrees between the PW and 9, 3 degrees between the 4 and the 5. I know we should all turn around and get our new sets bent, but not all of us have a club fitter nearby and I certainly can’t go a week or so without my sticks.

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#17

Loft-jacking has effectively made irons of a given loft heavier and shorter. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as club length appears to be critically correlated to consistency. It’s also provided, some of the time, higher launch angles, which is often a good thing.

The problem arises that most modern sets have unusable gapping for average players. We could fight back if all the review sites/magazines published average player gapping sessions with complete off-the-shelf loft sets. The golf media needs to make it clearly understood that manufacturers are selling you unusable/unneeded clubs in their current sets. Maybe that will force them into sane gapping or usable set makeups.

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