Wilson Di7's

derby7

A friend of mine recently purchased a set of new Wilson Staff Di7's. Now I was always hitting my iron shots the same or further than him. But now he has improved his handicap by 3 or 4 and he is hitting his 8 iron further than my 5 iron, now.....thats impressive !!
Have the new generation of irons improved that much ????? if so, i'm off to the shop/internet

stockdam

I've hit the Wilsons a couple of times and they were one club stronger than my Cleveland TA5s. I've since changed to Ping G10 which seem to be about the same as the Wilsons.

Don't get too carried away with how far anyone hits an iron - you need to compare lofts and shaft lengths. However the Wilsons are a good and well priced set of irons.

Sandwich

Beware Wilson irons and how far you think you hit them. As stated above, most are strong - longer shaft and straighter face. Giving the impression that a given iron is 'longer' than the same number from another brand. Its just an illusion. Mizunos on the other hand for example, tend to be the other way, mainly due to slightly shorter shafts.
For a well struck shot, one brand is the same as the next if you have one of the same length, loft, launch angle(general head design).
Over the last 20 years there has been a sort of arms race between the iron manufacturers to convince people that their irons hit longer, by altering these elements - but its no more than changing the numbers on the sole fo the club.
It may massage the ego of those who havent been aware of what is going on, but there have been side effects as well which can be detrimental to your game:
- the 3 iron has become an old 2: hence the reduction of people who can hit what is labelled a '3' today (also a spur to the grown of hybrids)
- a big gap being left between the wedge and the sand wedge. In the past these were almost a seamless progression with the wedge being a '10' and the sandwedge an '11'. But in the 'strengthening' of clubs the sandwedge could not be moved, hence a big hole being betweeen the distance most people hit any given wedge and it partner sandwedge. Hence the rise in 'gap wedges', 52 deg, 'triple wege systems' etc. Wilsons are terrible for this. Compare what you hit your friends wedge and sand wedge with the same pair from an old set of clubs - the sand wedge will be much the same, the wedge longer.

Smoke and mirrors!

stockdam

Good post Sandwich.......I've said exactly the same things on other forums.

I used to play with old blades and was very "annoyed" that nearly everyone was hitting their irons much further than mine. It was only later that I found out that my 8 iron was about the same length as their wedge and that the loft of my 8 iron was the same as their 9.


I think Callaway started this and it was a great marketing ploy. Their irons would outhit the older ones.

But the knock on effect was that the 3 iron was unuseable for lots of people and so sets started to drop them......some sets now have dropped the 4 iron. So we now need hybrids as you said to replace the long irons (the hybrids can be easier to use for some people though).

The big problem was with the wedges as you said. Now we need gap wedges to fill in the gap between the wedge (equivalent to the old 9 iron) and the sand wedge.

So if you want to hit your irons further then try grinding the numbers off them and replacing them.....turn a 7 iron into a 9 and amaze your friends.


At the end of the day an iron is only a piece of metal on the end of a shaft. It's more important to get one that sits correctly for you and has the correct shaft for your swing. Yes there have been imporvements but a lot of it is messing around with lofts and shaft lengths.

Swinging Looney

stockdam wrote: »

At the end of the day an iron is only a piece of metal on the end of a shaft. It's more important to get one that sits correctly for you and has the correct shaft for your swing. Yes there have been imporvements but a lot of it is messing around with lofts and shaft lengths.

Two great posts above. Ideally everyones irons would be labelled using letters, colours, alphanumerics or maybe even graphics. Everyones irons would be labelled differently and therefore you couldn't compare how you hit your BLUE iron to your friends G iron. If this was the case, we might all play better golf by using the club most likely to get us close to the flag, rather than trying to impress ourselves by using a 9 iron on a 165 yard Par 3.

stockdam

I think I hit my present 9 iron 130 yards (they're only new and I'm not fully sure yet about the yardages).


Anyway that's not my point......well it kinda is.


The most important thing is to hit your irons consistantly........a 9 iron should hit the green close to the flag. Since I'm still learning my new irons then I'm not 100% sure of my yardages. I also don't always take into account precisely how far I am from the flag etc so I can be a club out at times. There's nothing worse than hitting a super iron right over the flag to see it sail over the green or else fall short. I have played with very good players who are miticulous and who know exactly how far they hit their irons. That to me is one of the differences between the good and the very good......hitting your yardages and knowing which club to use every time. I've played with some players who are shorter than I am but who hit the green almost everytime with a 7 iron or less and are putting for birdies whereas I'll be chipping and putting for a par. They don't strike the ball any better than I do but they put it on the dancefloor much more often.

Sandwich

There's more to it than just knowing the distance and therefore what club to hit. The quality of the strike is very important - it can vary the distance the ball will travel by over a club : how hard you hit a given shot, timing, trajectory, spin etc.

Your technique (quite apart from just connecting with the ball and getting it into the air in the direction you want) will have a great bearing on how consistent you are with each of the above.
90% of golfers are only capable of trying to hit a clean shot straight. Single figure golfers generally, due to better control and technique, are both more consistent in the distance they will hit a given iron, and better ones can adjust for 'half' clubs reliably. The best pros in the world are in the realm of (at least trying to) varying for 'quarter' club distances.

Hit 30 or 40 shots with an 8 iron. Disregard any really bad shots. Then walk out to them (not at a public range!) and see the difference between the longest and shortest shots. You will probably find it is greater than the left to right dispersion. Yet you hit these shots (reasonably) well!
Knowing that the flag was plus or minus 10 yards probably wouldnt have changed much - until you improve your technique to hit a more consistent distance.

Your friends hitting th green more often than you probably have a more consistent/repeating technique which is more important than how far they hit it - as you have found.

stockdam

Ok I agree that my ball striking is not as good so that's why the odd 5 yards or so has little impact on me. I don't have the time or obviously the skill.

The most important thing is to be able to "cluster" your shots (eg hit a 9 iron within 5 yards) than to be able to hit it a long way. I'd give up 10 yards or more per iron if I could hit a 5 yard diameter target with my 9 iron every time.

derby7

I totally agree with what you are saying........I practice my PW & SW in my back garden (1/2 acre) and trying to hit the same target every time takes alot of practice.
BUT......if I can hit an 8 iron (higher trajectory) to a 178 yard green as opposed to hitting a 5 or 4 iron (greater chance of mis-hit/mis-direction) then I'm impressed.
My point is I think that the 'irons' have improved, and these Di7's seem to be pretty long.