Iron fitting and iron shafts Qs

[Deuce78]

I recently went in for an iron fitting and have some questions. My goals were to find a good shaft of choice in an mb head.

 

Testing was done with demo 6 and 7 irons. Some things to note. My 7 iron swing speed was about 93-94 mph. I was told my landing angle was too steep in the 50s, maybe 53 degree average. What should this be for a 7 iron at my speed? And what are the ways to fix it? He wanted to put me in players cavities only to fix the landing angle. Shafts that performed the best for me were kbs tour v 120x, c taper 120 (they did not have the 130x) he said I could order a 125 but said a 120 hard stepped would be better than 130 softstepped because softstepping increases landing angle.) I also am interested in DG120 x100, but only hit the s300, it was straight but launch and spin and landing angle were too high. I am looking at blueprint, mp18, mp20, or 620mb. I preferred the look of the blueprint, but the blueprint demo club had the s300 glued in. So would be ordering clubs that I did not actually hit. Any advice for my speed and landing angle? Shaft recommendations?

Thanks.

[JJK947]

Launch angle, spin, and ball speed are the contributors to peak height and landing angle. 53 degrees with a 7 iron at that speed isn't bad. And the optimum depends on peak height and spin. If you spin the ball less you need a higher apex and steeper landing angle to get the necessary stopping power.

[Stuart_G]

> @Deuce78 said:

> My 7 iron swing speed was about 93-94 mph. I was told my landing angle was too steep in the 50s, maybe 53 degree average. What should this be for a 7 iron at my speed? And what are the ways to fix it?

 

There is no one single ideal number, and it really can't be judged by itself. You need to see all the numbers - ball speed, launch angle, spin, peak ball flight height, etc... BUT If you don't have any issues with distance, ballooning, or ball spinning back too much on the green, I'm not sure I'd worry about it that much. The details of your swing and how you deliver the club into impact is really what dominates the numbers. Looking at different heads is fine - and more importantly different lofts (tweaking them stronger) is going to be the most effective way to manipulate launch, spin, and decent angle.

 

> @Deuce78 said:

> Shafts that performed the best for me were kbs tour v 120x, c taper 120 (they did not have the 130x) he said I could order a 125 but said a 120 hard stepped would be better than 130 softstepped because softstepping increases landing angle.)

 

Pick the shaft based on feel and accuracy and consistency of the results (dispersion). Trying to control launch numbers with the shaft is not very effective or reliable. And if you're landing angle is already too steep you do NOT want to increase it. You want to lower it. In addition, anything that changes how the shaft feels can also potentially impact the numbers in unpredictable ways as well as the accuracy and consistency. So unless he gives you the chance to actually demo the shaft soft stepped and you can see actual improvements, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

 

 

[Oett11]

You wont have any problems playing the 120 x100, i started out with kbs 120 tours and moved to s300s after that until settling on the normal x100. Tested out the 120 x100 and liked the flight and numbers was just a bit too light for my own preference.

[Howard_Jones]

> @Deuce78 said:

> I recently went in for an iron fitting and have some questions. My goals were to find a good shaft of choice in an mb head.

>

> Testing was done with demo 6 and 7 irons. Some things to note. My 7 iron swing speed was about 93-94 mph. I was told my landing angle was too steep in the 50s, maybe 53 degree average. What should this be for a 7 iron at my speed? And what are the ways to fix it? He wanted to put me in players cavities only to fix the landing angle. Shafts that performed the best for me were kbs tour v 120x, c taper 120 (they did not have the 130x) he said I could order a 125 but said a 120 hard stepped would be better than 130 softstepped because softstepping increases landing angle.) I also am interested in DG120 x100, but only hit the s300, it was straight but launch and spin and landing angle were too high. I am looking at blueprint, mp18, mp20, or 620mb. I preferred the look of the blueprint, but the blueprint demo club had the s300 glued in. So would be ordering clubs that I did not actually hit. Any advice for my speed and landing angle? Shaft recommendations?

> Thanks.

 

This one made me laugh, OMG....ive done my very best to get players ABOVE 50 as descent for irons, its where we should be in that club speed range, so its nothing wrong with yours, just look at PGA average numbers, they are NOT ideal, but average for PGA, and they DONT have your club speed, so your apex will be higher = steeper descent by nature.

 

For PGA using a #7 iron, the average descent is 50 from a club speed of 90, and LPGA who only has a average of 76 mph has a descent of 47* so its nothing wrong with 53* form 93 mph....its where we expect it to be, just make sure you DONT get below 50* ....thats the "magic number" above 90 as club speed....

 

If target was 50* and its now 53* it takes about 2* less dynamic loft (or static), to get down to 50*, and bending lofts is more efficient since its limited what a shaft can do for you, but I can see you mention C-tapers, but the classic Project X was not mentioned, maybe a 6.0 at 120 grams should be on the list of candidates?

[Deuce78]

Thanks for the suggestions, I am going to personally try several of these shafts I have several of the same 6 iron heads to build them up. Once i narrow down my top two for feel and eyeballed trajectory, then I will get on trackman with my favorites. I generally just dont like PX iron shafts, I just think they feel stiff and harsh. The LZ spins. In my recent attempt at an iron fitting, I did hit the regular dg x100 and it launched high and spun. Hit 2 or 3 balls and he yanked it from me. He said I would get lower launch and spin from a hardstepped S400. I seemed to hit the 120 tour V, and the hardstepped c taper 120 the best. So those were his top 3 recommendations, although he said I could go heavier, but manufactures or hitting cart did not have shafts.

[Deuce78]

I have built up 6 irons with: tour V 125 hardstepped, c taper 125 hardstepped, DG120 x100 HS, and dgx100 straight in. I had not hit the original dgx100 yet, but I preferred the tour V for the best feel, and c taper seemed very tight, but could really tell when you hit off center, the tour v felt more forgiving off center (same iron heads)....why is there not a lot of love for c taper?

[Howard_Jones]

> @Deuce78 said:

> I have built up 6 irons with: tour V 125 hardstepped, c taper 125 hardstepped, DG120 x100 HS, and dgx100 straight in. I had not hit the original dgx100 yet, but I preferred the tour V for the best feel, and c taper seemed very tight, but could really tell when you hit off center, the tour v felt more forgiving off center (same iron heads)....why is there not a lot of love for c taper?

 

Most likely for the same reason as PX, their flex labels is underestimated, so the most common mistake is going to strong and then they want feel good. Both PX and C-taper is designed by Kim Braley and is the strongest shafts on the marked judged by Grams pr. inch, so they are lighter compared to others at the same flex strength, and shaft weight does make a influence for how strong they feel.

 

Example, we have those who looks at PX 6.0 vs PX 6.5 SS1

If PX 6.0 feels a little harsh, go 6.5 SS1. a 6.5 SS1 loose about 1.7 grams, so we can say its 123.3 grams compared to PX 6.0 who is 120 uncut. PX 6.5 SS1 becomes "PX 6.1", but that 0.5" longer tip section we add to 6.5 and those 3 grams plus gives 6.5 SS1 "improved feel" vs 6.0 strait in.

[Deuce78]

So I built up some 6 irons with the different shafts.

Modus 120TX HS

Modus 130x

Dg120x HS

C taper 125 HS

Kbs tour V 125 HS

DG s400 tour issue

Nippon 1150gh X

 

I basically went and played holes and hit all the tee shots and approaches with all the clubs with numbered balls. I wanted to see if one shaft gave me the longest and most consistent flight

 

I did not put the 1150 or c taper in this test. But have hit them at the range. Although I did hit a few balls out on the course with them.

 

I gave a points order to the clubs hit. In the end the top 2 were the 120TX HS and the s400. I felt like these gave me very consistent strikes.

 

I liked the feel of the 130x best. I was really surprised by the s400. It felt a little too flexible, but I was not seeing too much spin, as evidenced by it being one of the longer balls on average with the 120tx.

 

The dg120x has poor feel, never felt great when hit but was always in the top tier for distance.

 

1150 has great feel and is a good shaft, top tier distance.

 

After all that I like the 120tx and the s400. I may try the s400 hardstepped. Are there people that like the s400 that dont like x100? One thin I noticed with the s400 is it did not go left as much as other shafts, seemed straighter, and also worked the ball well when called for. 120tx was a little longer but went slightly left some times. My miss is a pull, and it seemed the s400 minimized that best. The funny thing is I have never liked s300 and I just tried x100 and did not like the feel on mis hits at all...

 

 

[Deuce78]

Just posting some follow up after playing with the S400 some. I am surprised at how consistent the shaft is. Everyone makes bad swings, but from my observation, my misses have still been on the green, so I have been pleased with the results and performance. I also hit the same head in an x100, which is what I should be playing on paper, and I still did not get along with x100, or i did not get any additional benefit out of it in terms of more distance, lesser spin, or tighter dispersion. Not sure why it would be this way but I am glad I tested for myself and found a keeper, S400 tour issue for me!...