2 veteran blade

Published

on

By

Remember when the majority of PGA Tour players used a full set of blade irons?

Those were the days.

Unfortunately for fans of blade irons, those are days are quickly fading. Many of the top golfers in the world – even veterans who have played blade irons throughout their career – are switching into more forgiving options either through the set…or, at least, they’re using combo sets featuring blade short irons and cavityback long irons (such as Rory McIlroy).

More now than ever, golf equipment manufacturers are designing smaller, more compact cavityback iron heads that combine blade-style looks with cavity-back forgiveness.

Rickie Fowler, for example, used blade irons in college, and for more than a decade as a PGA Tour player. He even collaborated with Cobra on an ultra-custom set of shockingly small-and-thin Rev33 blade irons.

Now, in 2023, Fowler uses a full set of CB’s by way of the Cobra King Tour irons. And he’s arguably playing the best golf he has in the last five years.

This week at the 2023 Wyndham Championship, two longtime blade users have also switched into full sets of cavityback irons: Webb Simpson and Adam Scott.

Just recently, back in November 2022, Simpson switched into an ultra-custom set of Titleist 682.WS blade irons. And for years he relied on Titleist’s classic 680 models. This week, however, Simpson changed into Titleist’s new 2023 T100 irons, which are made with a dual-cavity construction.

Simpson spoke with GolfWRX.com briefly about the switch on Wednesday at the Wyndham Championship:

“I’ve been practicing with [the new T100’s] at home and I feel like, out of the rough, they’re a little better. Mishits are a little better. Just a little bit. I’m still getting used to them.”

We spotted Simpson on Wednesday with a full set of T100’s in the bag, but since he’s “still getting used to them,” the situation may remain fluid during the transition process. On Thursday during competition, though, Simpson was photographed using at least one T100 long iron.

Like Simpson, Scott used the Titleist 680 blade irons for years. He’s also recently used custom Titleist 681.MB irons, and, most recently, Miura’s custom AS-1 blades.

Ahead of the 2023 Wyndham Championship, however, Scott conducted extensive iron testing that included various head models from different brands. On Thursday, it was confirmed that Scott used a set of Titleist 620 CB irons to grab the first round lead.

Adam Scott has been a blade guy for most of his career, but you can’t really blame him trying @Titleist CB’s. Same irons Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman used to win majors this year. pic.twitter.com/DHKT9SGjgo

— Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) August 3, 2023

Even Adam Scott – who is known to use the bladiest of blade irons – switched into cavitybacks.

That leaves me with just one question for amateur golfers who still use a full set of blade irons: Why?

Adam Scott makes surprise mid-event iron switch, with FedExCup Playoff berth on the line

2023 Titleist T-Series irons (T100, T150, T200, T350 and U505): Everything you need to know

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

Eimert

Aug 24, 2023 at 4:09 pm

Because i play golf for fun. I grew up playing blades. Playing anything else feels like cheating.

Mike

Aug 25, 2023 at 10:17 am

Still playing persimmon woods? How about those (old) balata balls? If you’re gonna “not cheat”, you might as well go all the way.

Jc

Aug 6, 2023 at 8:12 pm

Because I can, and you can’t… and that’s cool.

BladesfortheEgo

Aug 21, 2023 at 3:57 pm

Doubtful, more like your ego writing checks your swing can’t cash.

Steve

Aug 6, 2023 at 10:41 am

New irons are a trivial purchase

R

Aug 5, 2023 at 9:37 pm

Getting paid to play, so they’re walking adverts

D

Aug 6, 2023 at 9:43 am

Adam Scotty is not on staff with any company right now.

Rich

Aug 5, 2023 at 3:01 pm

Webb and Adam both major disappointments this year. Just entirely unable to put 4 good rounds together.

Devlin

Aug 5, 2023 at 12:46 pm

Because I can still hit the sweet spot and new fancy clubs make my swing worse.

C

Aug 5, 2023 at 11:46 am

Must be nice to be walking advertisement billboard with a nice cheque

Ya

Aug 5, 2023 at 11:45 am

Getting paid to play. Must be nice to be a walking advertisement billboard lol

Paulo

Aug 5, 2023 at 1:20 am

It’s not my fault those hackers on the pga tour need cavities

PJ

Aug 5, 2023 at 7:36 pm

Haha good one

Rascal

Aug 4, 2023 at 9:08 pm

Cause

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Tursky: I tested Titleist’s new 2023 T-Series irons (including the new T150 and T350). Here’s what happened…

Inside the PGA Tour ropes with Lucas Glover

Adam Scott makes surprise mid-event iron switch, with FedExCup Playoff berth on the line

2023 Titleist T-Series irons (T100, T150, T200, T350 and U505): Everything you need to know

SPOTTED: Ping’s new Blueprint S irons at the 2023 Wyndham Championship

Collin Morikawa unveils new TaylorMade P790 iron at the 2023 Open Championship

Published

on

By

Driver: Ping G425 LST (9 degrees)Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 60 TX

3-wood: Cleveland Launcher DST (13 degrees)Shaft: Miyazaki Kusala

Hybrid: Adams Golf Idea Pro Gold Tour Prototype (18 degrees)Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD

Irons: Srixon ZX7 Mk II (3, 5-PW)Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Wedges: Cleveland RTX 6 ZipCore Tour Rack (50-10 MID, 56-12 FULL, 60-10 MID)Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Odyssey White Hot Stroke Lab Rossie

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align

Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV

See the rest of Andrew Putnam’s WITB in the forums.

Published

on

By

Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees @8.5)Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade SIM (15 degrees @14.25)Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei Orange 70 TX

5-wood: Cobra Aerojet LS (17.5 degrees @16)Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana TD 80 TX

Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees)Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana TD 80 TX

Irons: Srixon ZX (20 degrees), Srixon ZX7 (4-PW)Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 GOST X (20), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-PW)

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (50-10 MID, 54-12 FULL, 60-10 MID)Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

See what GolfWRX members are saying about Spaun’s equipment in our forums.

Published

on

By

My first interaction with Titleist’s new 2023 T-Series irons was at the 2023 Memorial Tournament, where PGA Tour players began testing out the new family of irons. The new irons included an updated T100 model, a brand new T150, a redesigned T200, and a brand new T350.

In the first week, 13 players switched into at least one of the new T-Series irons, and more names got added to that list as the weeks went on. And, as more players switched, my intrigue about the irons only grew.

Then, I wrote about the new irons, covering all of the design changes and technological improvements within the lineup.

That’s all great, but, am I ever gonna get to hit the irons for myself?!

Well, earlier this month, my number was finally called, and I traveled to Oceanside, California, to go through a full iron fitting at the Titleist Performance Institute with expert fitter Chris Baingo.

As one of the most knowledgeable club fitters in the industry, Baingo took me through each of the new T-Series iron models, making adjustments along the way. I was excited to finally hit everything, especially after the months-long hype and anticipation.

I also needed some of my questions answered…

Are the T100’s really any better? Or different? Prior T100’s have looked a little small to me, so are these any more forgiving? And, did they make any changes to the feel/sound of the T-200?

I was especially curious about the new T150 models.

How much more distance/forgiveness will the new T150’s provide, compared to the T100? Will these be my next irons?

In the video at the top of the page, as you’ll see, all of my questions were answered.

However, more than just testing the new iron designs out, I came away with an education about the importance of yardage gapping, general rules for iron fitting, and how to setup my bag with a mixed set.

I won’t spoil everything that Baingo preached in the video, but I do want to highlight one of the most impactful lessons I learned from him during the fitting: As irons progress throughout the set, there should be a 5 mph ball speed difference between irons, and peak heights should generally match through the set.

This means if your ball speed with a 7-iron is 130 mph and has a peak height of 110 feet, then your 6-iron should be 135 mph with the same peak height. If there’s a gap between irons that’s either less than or more than 5 mph with the irons, then an adjustment needs to be made.

Typically, the most noticeable and impactful gap, or “breaking point,” will be between the 5 and 6-irons, or the 4 and 5-irons. In these pockets, the ball speed difference may drop to less than 5 mph, and produce a lower ball flight. This indicates that it’s probably time to look at a 4 or 5-iron that offers more forgiving technology.

For example, in my case, I found the T150’s to have proper speed gapping through the set, until I got to the 3-iron. The ball speed difference between the T150 4-iron and T150 3-iron was dropping below the 5 mph ball speed guidance, thus indicating it was time for me to try out a T200, T350, or U505 iron option. Eventually, I landed on a T200 2-iron, equipped with a Fujikura Ventus HB Black 10 TX shaft (whereas the T150 irons 4-PW were shafted up with Project X 6.5 steel shafts).

To the point about long-iron fitting, Titleist offers long-iron fitting packages that allow consumers to do this exercise for themselves, under the supervision of a professional fitter. As I learned from Baingo, getting an iron fitting is about way more than just hitting a bunch of 7-irons against each other until you find the right one.

While you should absolutely test a bunch of 7-irons to find the right fit for your set, you should also be testing long irons in order to figure out proper gapping, and where the “breaking point” is so that you can get what you need where you need it.

A true full fitting allows the golfer to figure out the gaps in their set, especially at the top end of the bag.

OK, the fitting is lecture over. Enjoy the T-Series testing video above, and click here to see what GolfWRX forum members are saying about the full iron lineup.

Andrew Putnam what’s in the bag accurate as of the BMW Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Ping...

J.J. Spaun what’s in the bag accurate as of the FedEx St. Jude Championship. More photos from the event here....

Brian Harman what’s in the bag accurate as of the Tour Championship. More Tour Championship WITBs here. Driver: Titleist TSi2 (9...

Chris Kirk what’s in the bag accurate as of the BMW Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Callaway...

‘Ridiculous thing to say’ – Major champ left fuming with how publication described Lucas Glover

Data Golf site claims Bryson’s round of 58 is not in the top 300(!?) rounds of all time

Korn Ferry Tour pro disqualified while warming up on the practice range

Report: Zach Johnson makes huge Justin Thomas decision as Ryder Cup wildcard picks revealed

Adam Schenk WITB 2023 (August)

‘I’ll tell you what’s a joke…’ – Lee Westwood ripped by fellow pro after latest LIV performance

Brandel Chamblee launches blistering attack on Phil Mickelson and Patrick Cantlay

Rory McIlroy delivers absolute dagger following Phil Mickelson Ryder Cup gambling revelation