6 Iron Ideal Launch Conditions

Fore Iron

Can anyone tell me what is considered to be ideal 6 iron launch conditions? My 6 iron swing speed is just pretty much bang on 90mph. Trying to rid myself of my high ballooning ball flight and have been playing with shafts on a launch monitor. Best I could manage for distance and control gave me:

Launch angle around 16 degrees. Spin around 5,800 or so. Since launch monitors can be terribly unrealistic in how they predict shot distance and so forth I would appreciate anyones opinions or info on those numbers or links either!!

Thank you!

Oh yeah, ball speed was around 120-123mph.

madds

This is just my opinion but if you're that much into launch angles, spin rates etc. of clubs you should get yourself off to a reputable club maker (e.g. Fore Golf in Naas) and pay them to advise which shafts suit your swing best.

Fore Iron

Thanks Madds,

Interesting story there really. I went to McGuirks in Leopardstown earlier in the week for what turned out to be the most unknowledgeable and useless custom fitting session you could imagine. The guy was very pleasant but could not recommend a shaft to me - only give me what he had to try and see what how I thought they felt - and only loosely suggested I might try a more forgiving head to make things easier on myself.

With the lie board, the marks on the sole were straight off the heel and he insisted that I therefore would need a 1 degree upright set. Perhaps I am confused, in fact the whole thing was rather confusing (!) but I'm quite confident that that he had got it backwards!

So, a few days later I discovered that Martins Golf in Athlone have the Mizuno Swing DNA system and a full custom fit setup, so I popped in there to see what they say. Really I was only interested in the swing DNA system, but I ended up in there for about an hour and a half! What a different process! The swing DNA suggested two shafts for me, the GS95 and the NS Pro 1150GH Tour. The latter has a mid kick piont which is what I thought I would need, since high ball flight has always been an issue for me. I spent the next hour comparing my original clubs to all the mizuno heads and perhaps 4 or 5 shafts that the guy suggested would be quite similar.

The NS shaft was giving me an extra 3mph clubhead speed or so, great solid feel and straighter shots. No brainer really!

In the process the Nippon shaft was giving me 1.5 degrees lower launch and maybe 200 RPM less spin to arrive at the figures in my first post. I am simply interested in how these compare to "target" launch conditions really. The guy suggested that they were about a degree lower than normal for my swing speed, but if I wanted a lower flight, that would certainly work for me.

From what I've found, the average pro 6 iron number are about 135 ball speed, 14-15 degrees launch angle and 6,000 rpm, so a little higher launch with a little less spin sounds perfect for me!

So, despite all my ravings on other threads, go to Foregolf and save yourself some money. I got lucky that the guy in Athlone was pretty much able to let me play around with whatever I wanted for however long I wanted. But if I just went to Foregolf or somewhere better than just a dodgy big chain like McGuirks I might have saved myself some time and money.

Please don't tell me you told me so!

Russman

Anyone know anywhere in Dublin that has that Mizuno system ? Would love to try it out...

rafared

Fore Iron wrote: »

Thanks Madds,

Interesting story there really. I went to McGuirks in Leopardstown earlier in the week for what turned out to be the most unknowledgeable and useless custom fitting session you could imagine. The guy was very pleasant but could not recommend a shaft to me - only give me what he had to try and see what how I thought they felt - and only loosely suggested I might try a more forgiving head to make things easier on myself.

With the lie board, the marks on the sole were straight off the heel and he insisted that I therefore would need a 1 degree upright set. Perhaps I am confused, in fact the whole thing was rather confusing (!) but I'm quite confident that that he had got it backwards!

So, a few days later I discovered that Martins Golf in Athlone have the Mizuno Swing DNA system and a full custom fit setup, so I popped in there to see what they say. Really I was only interested in the swing DNA system, but I ended up in there for about an hour and a half! What a different process! The swing DNA suggested two shafts for me, the GS95 and the NS Pro 1150GH Tour. The latter has a mid kick piont which is what I thought I would need, since high ball flight has always been an issue for me. I spent the next hour comparing my original clubs to all the mizuno heads and perhaps 4 or 5 shafts that the guy suggested would be quite similar.

The NS shaft was giving me an extra 3mph clubhead speed or so, great solid feel and straighter shots. No brainer really!

In the process the Nippon shaft was giving me 1.5 degrees lower launch and maybe 200 RPM less spin to arrive at the figures in my first post. I am simply interested in how these compare to "target" launch conditions really. The guy suggested that they were about a degree lower than normal for my swing speed, but if I wanted a lower flight, that would certainly work for me.

From what I've found, the average pro 6 iron number are about 135 ball speed, 14-15 degrees launch angle and 6,000 rpm, so a little higher launch with a little less spin sounds perfect for me!

So, despite all my ravings on other threads, go to Foregolf and save yourself some money. I got lucky that the guy in Athlone was pretty much able to let me play around with whatever I wanted for however long I wanted. But if I just went to Foregolf or somewhere better than just a dodgy big chain like McGuirks I might have saved myself some time and money.

Please don't tell me you told me so!

That doesnt make for pretty reading for Mcguirks. That mizuno fitting system is earning rave reviews in the states. Im in the market for new clubs, most likely MP58's so Im raring to have a go on it.

Jimdagym

rafared wrote: »

That doesnt make for pretty reading for Mcguirks.

Wouldn't of happened in Foregolf

Only messing with ya!

Fore Iron

Foregolf actually have the DNA system, but don't use it because they say it is only for fitters without the knowledge of hwo to fit shafts properly. Personally, I think fitters may have a problem with how the DNA system can do in 3 swings what would take 20 minutes or more by conventional means. Gets hard to justify the fee then I would think.

Dun Laoighre GC have it too I think.

From my experience, I think its a super system. I got my numbers wrong above in that it actually recommended the NS 950GH shaft along with the GS950 because my transition is very slow and it seems lighter shafts suit that better. I don't ever remember hearing a clubfitter take transition speed into account when it comes to fitting! I went with the 1150GH because the heavier feel was a little closer to what I was used to. But after playing with quite a few shafts, I ended up pretty much back to what the computer said was best.

Well worth a try I must say.

I should say my old shafts were fitted 3 years ago also by conventional means. So I was not really going to see a massive dramatic change. If you have never been fitted you might get quite a shock at how much better the shaft the system suggests might perform.

stumpypeeps

Does the DNA system allow for how much of a divot you generally take with your irons? Some people really compress the ball hard and subsequently need a stiff tip, I fail to see how that gadget can adjust for that.

rafared

Fore Iron wrote: »

Foregolf actually have the DNA system, but don't use it because they say it is only for fitters without the knowledge of hwo to fit shafts properly. Personally, I think fitters may have a problem with how the DNA system can do in 3 swings what would take 20 minutes or more by conventional means. Gets hard to justify the fee then I would think.

Dun Laoighre GC have it too I think.

From my experience, I think its a super system. I got my numbers wrong above in that it actually recommended the NS 950GH shaft along with the GS950 because my transition is very slow and it seems lighter shafts suit that better. I don't ever remember hearing a clubfitter take transition speed into account when it comes to fitting! I went with the 1150GH because the heavier feel was a little closer to what I was used to. But after playing with quite a few shafts, I ended up pretty much back to what the computer said was best.

Well worth a try I must say.

I should say my old shafts were fitted 3 years ago also by conventional means. So I was not really going to see a massive dramatic change. If you have never been fitted you might get quite a shock at how much better the shaft the system suggests might perform.

I intend to give it a go in the next week or two and am very keen to see how it works. I've had a few fitting sessions on a launch monitor for a driver and 3 wood and they were very informative and worked out well.
I was custom fit for my present Mizuno mx23's and they have served me well. Was at a demo say for Titleist at our club recently and the fittter said it was time for a change of shafts in my irons. He is correct because my swing speed is in the stiff range while my current shafts are regular.
When they were fit my swing was slower and my handicap higher. I have imporved a lot as a player and need to update my irons and in particular my shafts in the near future. I was going to have the shafts changed in my current clubs but now think im going for a new set.

brians947

Technology is great but they dont use any of these out there on tour when a player go's into a tour truck to get fitted or have something changed. Its all done by feel and feedback from the player. What a machine tells you doesn't mean you may feel comfortable swinging that club. You have to feel comfortable.

EnjoyandImprove

Fore Iron wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what is considered to be ideal 6 iron launch conditions? My 6 iron swing speed is just pretty much bang on 90mph. Trying to rid myself of my high ballooning ball flight and have been playing with shafts on a launch monitor. Best I could manage for distance and control gave me:

Launch angle around 16 degrees. Spin around 5,800 or so. Since launch monitors can be terribly unrealistic in how they predict shot distance and so forth I would appreciate anyones opinions or info on those numbers or links either!!

Thank you!

Oh yeah, ball speed was around 120-123mph.

about 200 yards and up in the sky with da angels would do me mate

Fore Iron

brians947 wrote: »

Technology is great but they dont use any of these out there on tour when a player go's into a tour truck to get fitted or have something changed. Its all done by feel and feedback from the player. What a machine tells you doesn't mean you may feel comfortable swinging that club. You have to feel comfortable.

In fairness, a pro who plays every day for the past 20 years or whatever already has a near perfect shaft and will probably be looking for a tiny change in feel or 100 rpm less spin or something like that. The DNA system was never intended for that level of detail and it would be pretty pointless trying to fit an amateur swing to that level too given the inconsistencies between one swing and the next.

I feel it does a great job of giving you a shaft that suits your tempo along with the basic structure of your swing in terms of release etc, etc. My previous fitting fior my old clubs was quite good but I ended up with a D5 swing weight set. Swingweight was never even mentioned and I certainly did not know about the concept. Over the past few years I began to feel that the heavy weight was not doing me any favours. The DNA system seems to agree and was advising me to go with a lightweight shaft. I went with a slightly heavier one for better feel.

It will certainly start you off on the right track, and might stop you being fitted with the shaft that fitter feels is the best one because he uses it or most people end up going with it or it has a great reputation or whatever despite their best intentions.

rafared

brians947 wrote: »

Technology is great but they dont use any of these out there on tour when a player go's into a tour truck to get fitted or have something changed. Its all done by feel and feedback from the player. What a machine tells you doesn't mean you may feel comfortable swinging that club. You have to feel comfortable.

That maybe true but we are not Tour players with endless hours of practice and practice facilities. Plus a tour players swing will be be much more consistent than ours and therefore make it much easier to make quipment adjustments. Anybody having a fitting would obviously make a judgement based on the feel of the shaft, swing weight, look of the clubhead as well as the ballflight. The last demo day I was at the Titleist guy had a radar based launch monitor which was measuring attack angles, smash factor, clubface at impact as well as a load of other figures that all contributed to the overall decision of what clubhead, shaft combo best suited the player.

derra

Anyone use the Trackman Pro in Kilcoole golf shop in Wicklow?
Thinking of heading down there to get some idea on what clubs be suitable before buying again.

uptheroyals

brians947 wrote: »

Technology is great but they dont use any of these out there on tour when a player go's into a tour truck to get fitted or have something changed. Its all done by feel and feedback from the player. What a machine tells you doesn't mean you may feel comfortable swinging that club. You have to feel comfortable.

no offence but think the trackman guys who are ran off their feet "on tour" might slightly disagree with your opininion they are totally fitted by feel!! feel is a factor in every custom fit, ur nt gna buy something that feels horrible are u!!