Not surprised by this. I've spent way too much time, and money chasing the perfect bag. I've gone from classic MBs to Hybrid irons, and most everything in between, and I find that clubs are by far the smallest piece of the puzzle. I've been suckered in by the usual 'honeymoon period' a few times, but by and large I shoot around the same range of scores, regardless.
Yeah doesn't matter what clubs you've got in your hand if you make a crap swing 😂😂 but also having clubs that do give you the very best ball flight performance when you hit them well (height, descent, gapping etc) and look good, feel good, nice weight, that will at least give you the best chance possible, then it's all down to you to put a good swing on it 💪
@jaym5087 I have a set of Hogan ft worth 15 irons, and a couple sets of one length irons that I swap out from time to time. Mostly I've been using the cobra aerojet OL irons lately.
I've gone from R9 from 2009 to JPX 919 Tour. The feel is very different on less than perfect shots. The 919s give me immediate feedback when I hit on off centre. Forgiveness is quite different as well. I'd lose 10-15 yards with 919s whereas I'd lose less than 10 yards with R9s. I know, they are 10 years apart in terms of age/tech.
Great video and I completely agree that it’s mostly marketing. I’ve seen loads of all kind of club reviews and the smash factor variance is always about the same whether it’s a GI or blade.
Thanks Ross. Super helpful as my 7-iron swing speed is 80-82. About to get fit and trying to ignore the marketing. Currently gaming Apex 19s and excited to return to a players iron with control/consistency being my priority vs pure distance. P770 and P-7CB on my list for sure. Not expecting massive performance gains but golf is all about incremental improvement (and loving what you’re looking down at!). Can’t wait to hit ‘em all and choose a winner before I get into the bay with my fitter to fine tune specs.
I am someone who tried and tested the p790 but never got on with them. However love the p770 (2023) and gives me consistent distances. Equally key though was adjusting the length, lie and after testing several shafts found one that works well for me. In addition really going for a very different grip (jmx ultralites) made a meaningful difference.
Thanks Sam. Well I have done the game improvement vs blade video. Which I used the Cobra Darkspeed GI iron vs the Cobra MB and even got a mid handicapper to do the hitting. Worth a watch 👍
Great video. I've always thought "game improvement" irons were a bit counterintuitive. At least it is in the modern day launch monitor era. The problem is that most manufacturers are using driver like stategies to lower the cg, which inherently raises launch while lowering spin. Then, they lower the loft to get the launch back down to a similar window while lowering spin even more. Sure it sells golf clubs because distance sells, but it's not going to lower scores for most people. The whole purpose of an iron is to hit a particular distance as consistently as you can. Launch and spin are your biggest friends when it comes to that. Not to mention, most people get fitted inside on a mat. That's the most spin you will ever get. Put that ball in the rough or wet conditions, and spin is only dropping from there. The vast majority of golfers should be looking for more loft and more spin with their irons.
Definitely agree. Strong lofts are not the most conducive for consistent iron shots, not to mention stopping power and gapping. Conditions play a big part of spin (contact moreso) but a ball spins a lot more off grass than it does on my mat as I've done loads of tests with GC Quad outside on the fairways vs inside. It surprised me how much more spin I got off the fairway
I got fitted for new irons a few months ago after returning to golf after a 15 year break while getting married and kids. I got fitted into p790s, which I do like very much, but didn’t like how strong the lifts were. I had mine weakened 2 degrees in the 5-8 irons. I’ve personally never had issues getting launch, but I was just used to playing a 33-34 degree 7 iron. In hindsight I should have asked to hit the 770s but I was out of touch and just hit whatever the fitter gave me. Unfortunately he was a young kid that I’ve never seen again since being fit! knowing what I now, he basically tried fitting me into something off the rack to get an immediate sale. Didn’t consider that I was just restarting, but was carrying 170-175 with the 790 and 923 forged, and that maybe I should be put into something I’d have room to grow, versus something I was already hitting extremely well. Now I wanna move into 770 or maybe a split set 770/p7cb, but I just got my set in May, so a bit aggravating. Not sure why I’m ranting all this, but I think some fitters look to closely t handicap to see where to push you, versus how you actually hit your irons. Some people have higher handicaps from long clubs and short game, but hit irons well.
Yeah you're absolutely correct. Loads of fitted just use the 'handicap scale' to fit people rather than looking at the more important factors such as delivery characteristics. Well I mean it doesn't sound like you're having too many issues with the 790s. They are very good irons as long as they don't hinder stopping power and as long as you are still getting good gapping through the set. It's all about how they fit your delivery rather than and kind of handicap. Plenty of scratch guys will have 790s because they fit them, and vice versa, mid handicaps will have the CBs because they fit them. Nothing to do with handicap or level 👍
@@epgolfstudios That's interesting about the mat spin. I do spin it less off the "fluffier" mats, but spin it more on the tighter firmer mats. Grass length and ground firmness would definitely have an impact on spin. I'd imagine grass type would as well. I'd guess you can spin it more on bent than on Bermuda or Zoysia.
Yes 100%, it's crazy how much impacts spin and how little it takes to have quite a big impact. My mat is very tight, it's quite soft but the pile height is nothing. If you hit off any kind of tee turf or anything with a high pile you can get such variance of spin it's crazy. And yeah same with grass
P7CBs had a pretty significant difference in face angle and dynamic lie on the good strikes compared to the others, this tells you how much different the CG is on that head. Also, Cool Clubs did a robot test and found the 770 to be way more forgiving on slight mishits compared to the P7CB. Forgiveness isn't about disasterous strikes, not much is going to help you it's about the slight mishits which matter. If you're not a robot it's incredibly hard to test that.
The P770 results from Cool Clubs were a major wow, especially as a guy with a thin miss. Still, the most important thing is knowing what your clubs will do.
Yeah this is cool stuff and gets you thinking a lot more than before. Cool Clubs tested on their robot and found the P7CB’s were decent on off centre strikes as you found. Nice job, super interesting 👍🏼
TM is killing it this year. In years past their irons were suspect in qc and specs. I think most players will appreciate more loft and std lenghts in their cuurent performance line.
Great content again mate! I've always found a bigger difference on thin and high strikes with certain iron categories. Would be interested in seeing a video testing that 😁 my T100's seem phenomenal on low strikes and awful on high
Really interesting video. I wonder how much forgiveness might have to do with weight distribution? What if you tried a CB that didn’t have the fancy weighting of these TMs? The thinner flexing face tech might only add a wee bit of distance. And the AI face designs that were being sold seems to have only marginal gains at best.
Thanks bud. I mean the end result would still be the same. Just amplified distance. CB and 770 would be virtually the same numbers. The 790 might separate out a little bit more but the pattern would be pretty much the same
Interesting video, I’ve just swapped from 0211 irons to hot metal HL to gain extra height on weaker lofts. Definitely prefer the ball flight and seem to be more consistent on front to back dispersion. I was always under impression that CBs would be less forgiving… clearly the marketing machine has been in over drive and more people would benefit trying a wider range at a fitting session.
Yeah those 0211s are like rocket ships. Too strong for most. The HM HL is a great option to help get a bit of height 👌 technically yes they will be slightly less forgiving. But as you can see on this test it's really hard to say how much more forgiving they actually are.
I think there would be more different between the T100 and T200 than there was in this test between the CB and 790 (in terms of performance numbers) but yeah in terms of forgiveness the T100 is great tbh so I don't think there would be loads between the 2
Hollow back irons are the thing now but I don't think they have any real advantage over a perimeter weighted cavity back other than their lovely blade like looks. To gain significantly more forgiveness they'd have to move the CG much further back, in other words be hybrid-like.
Think 3 is tops in this kinda vid or it just gets very long. It would have been about half a club longer than the 790 and forgiveness still hard to say
Seems you took off à little more club speed on the misses on the toe side. Lot of shots Around 77mph vs 81-ish for the good hits? But really loving this test though! Great vid
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Yeah possibly, I was trying to keep it consistent ish but trying to swing at an exact speed while mis hitting it in a specific location is pretty damn tough 😂
I feel like in 24, golf manufacturers stretch all possible imagination on MOI. Remember, golf companies were developing forgiving irons even in the 80s.
this video shows “forgiving” in an iron is marketing BS. Shaft is most important followed by what you like to look at and will give you most consistency
So basically what this video showed is that for someone who swings 7 iron at 80mph there is literally no difference between any of these clubs. Buy whichever one is the cheapest because the results are practically identical.
@@epgolfstudios btw, I have a video idea: Wedge shaft test. PW, ideally 46 degree vokey, comparing S400 with X7. Or similar comparisons. Could include S400 vs X100 as well. Or the PX range with for example 6.5 in the irons, then either 6.0 or 7.0 in the wedges. Full swing, half swing, and quarter swing. As you know the S400 is by far the most popular wedge shaft on tour, and even PX players will go down usually say from 6.5 in the irons to the 6.0 in wedges (rory). However, I've seen people and fitters claim that the better thing to do is to go stiffer in wedges than irons, as the dynamics change at around a pitching wedge loft.
@@freddym6643They usually go slightly lighter for a more head-heavy feel. PX 6.0 is 5g lighter than PX 6.5. Personally I go lighter and stiffer on my wedges but you have to pick a different shaft altogether. I put Steelfiber i95 in my wedges while I have Modus 105 in my irons. Works pretty well for me.
@@epgolfstudios To be honest I expected the p790 to show less drop off and remain straighter on off centre hits neither seemed true. My memory of better players irons admittedly blades was a horrible stinging in the fingers and the ball going nowhere on a big miss hit. Have played the TM RSI1 for a good few years now and as a pensioner I am not getting any longer. Maybe treat myself to a fitting soon. I do love your content keep it up.
