Driver clubhead speed - what shaft for irons?

MyStubbleItches

Hi folks, was with my instructor for a lesson this evening. Brought a driver with me for the first time in 4/5 years Gave up using it years ago as I just couldn't hit it, started playing again this year and going for lessons. Driver was a piece of crap starter jobbie. I addressed the ball and hit a few for him, he gave me a stiff R9 and I hit it fairly ok, very pleasantly surprised.

I'm in the process of building a new set of clubs so I was wondering what I should be looking for in the irons? (forgot to ask the pro in my excitement!) He measured my driver club head speed at 92/93 mph and reckoned I should be able to get to 110 mph handily enough.

So should I be looking for stiff or regular irons or is this something only he can tell me by watching me?

Thanks.

fullstop

There is night and day between 92/93 mph and 110 mph in terms of swing speed. The former would probably expect to carry the ball about 210-220 with the driver whereas the latter would probably carry the ball 260-270. The difference could be even more. No way you're going to increase your clubhead speed by ~20 mph IMO, I think the pro is buttering you up a bit here.

MyStubbleItches

Thanks fullstop, I guess when you say it, it makes sense as I was swinging it fairly full on. Am I asking an impossible question looking for the advice asked? If my speed was 95mph would you have any idea what I should be looking for in irons?

big_drive

I'm 95 mph as well.

Was fitted at foregolf. Nippon Ns pro 950 stiff shafts. Working great for me

Russman

fullstop wrote: »

There is night and day between 92/93 mph and 110 mph in terms of swing speed. The former would probably expect to carry the ball about 210-220 with the driver whereas the latter would probably carry the ball 260-270. The difference could be even more. No way you're going to increase your clubhead speed by ~20 mph IMO, I think the pro is buttering you up a bit here.

Massive +1 to that.
No way will you get to 110mph from a base of 92/93. Possibly you could get it up to mid to the high 90s. 110mph is up around tour player clubhead speed.

At 92/93 driver speed, I'd suggest something "regular" for irons, but it really depends on how you swing tbh, its not just pure speed its also about how you load the shaft. The nippons mentioned below probably wouldn't be a bad choice but hard to say for sure. Maybe try something like a bog standard dynamic gold regular.

irish bloke

This one is pretty good

http://www.shaftfit.com/shaftfit/

MyStubbleItches

irish bloke wrote: »

This one is pretty good

http://www.shaftfit.com/shaftfit/

Jaysus they have everything these days!!

Thanks for that Irish, it says I should get rifle 6.0, stiff but not too stiff.

irish bloke

MyStubbleItches wrote: »

Jaysus they have everything these days!!

Thanks for that Irish, it says I should get rifle 6.0, stiff but not too stiff.

You must be carrying a 7 iron abt 160+ so. think it gives the rifle for a mid to lower trajectory. As opposed to the S300's for a higher trajectory.

Don't take the site as gospel, but it will def put you on the right track!

U.P.O.

Id take that ture temper shaft thing with a grain of salt as its only a static fitting. I recently got a set of irons and that shaft-fit on the site had me on X100s !

Got fit on the Mizuno shaft fit then which is much more accurate. 6 iron speed was 86mph and my driver speed is around 100-105mph (cant remember exactly now) and i was only recommended 5.5 in project X or normal stiff shafts, not the extra stiff that true-temper site was recommending for me.

Mizuno Man

Be careful with any online shaft fitting OP. My 6 iron clubhead speed is 93-94mph and I carry it 163ish and play the PX 6.0's. So I would be doubtful that would be the right shaft for you. You really need to go and try some shafts to see what works before you decide otherwise it is basically a lottery.

Carry distance comes down to a lot more than just pure clubhead speed as you may have irons with a different loft to someone else for example, so the online thing can't really be relied upon that much.

The PX is a mid to low flight. The Dynamic Golds S300 is low ball fight. Nippons mid flight and the Dynalite Gold is high as is the KBS Tour.

Ultimately, you really need to be fitted for irons to know for sure.

bustercherry

irish bloke wrote: »

You must be carrying a 7 iron abt 160+ so. think it gives the rifle for a mid to lower trajectory. As opposed to the S300's for a higher trajectory.

Don't take the site as gospel, but it will def put you on the right track!

Hmmm I doubt it. With a with a driver head speed of 92/93, I reckon you'd lose about 15-20 off that for a 7 iron. I honestly don't believe you can carry the ball 160+ with that. I reckon all other variables being optimum, the total distance would struggle to be 160+ and not averaging over 160.

Russman

If you're carrying a 7 iron 160yds or thereabouts, I'd say your driver ss is a lot higher than 92/93 mph

Rifle 6.0 I would imagine are way too stiff for you Op.

MyStubbleItches

Thanks lads, yeah I put my 7 iron in as 147 I think, definitely under 150 anyway. I'm after buying a set of Mizuno mx-23s in the last few hours, dynamic gold R300 shafts. Instructor told me to jump on them at the price and he'd work with me on them to see if it would be worth changing the shafts.

So I'm happy enough, I have what seems to be 90% of a good set of clubs for relatively small money. Will keep up the lessons over winter to tweak what needs to be tweaked in me and the clubs. I reckon if I show moderate improvement they'll do me for a few years. If I turn pro I won't have to worry as all the manufacturers will be vying to custom fit me!!

Thanks for all the input, definitely helped when deciding what kind of clubs I was looking for. As an aside, the amount of quality second hand clubs for sale at very reasonable prices is fantastic. The starter can now get a pretty decent set for the same as or less than the starter sets in the shops. Happy days!!

irish bloke

bustercherry wrote: »

Hmmm I doubt it. With a with a driver head speed of 92/93, I reckon you'd lose about 15-20 off that for a 7 iron. I honestly don't believe you can carry the ball 160+ with that. I reckon all other variables being optimum, the total distance would struggle to be 160+ and not averaging over 160.

Would agree with you regarding driver club head speed and 7 iron distance.
I was estimating his 7 iron yardage on the rifle 6.0 shafts the OP came back with.

Rifle 6.0's and a 7 iron carry of 147 just doesnt match!!!!

Mizuno Man

MyStubbleItches wrote: »

Thanks lads, yeah I put my 7 iron in as 147 I think, definitely under 150 anyway. I'm after buying a set of Mizuno mx-23s in the last few hours, dynamic gold R300 shafts. Instructor told me to jump on them at the price and he'd work with me on them to see if it would be worth changing the shafts.

So I'm happy enough, I have what seems to be 90% of a good set of clubs for relatively small money. Will keep up the lessons over winter to tweak what needs to be tweaked in me and the clubs. I reckon if I show moderate improvement they'll do me for a few years. If I turn pro I won't have to worry as all the manufacturers will be vying to custom fit me!!

Thanks for all the input, definitely helped when deciding what kind of clubs I was looking for. As an aside, the amount of quality second hand clubs for sale at very reasonable prices is fantastic. The starter can now get a pretty decent set for the same as or less than the starter sets in the shops. Happy days!!

Personally, I think they will be fine for you! The DG R300 is a great shaft and if it's Mizuno then you're halfway there already!

Congrats on the new purchase and I hope they work great for you!

MyStubbleItches

I hope you're right Mizuno Man!!

Guys thanks a million for all the input, there's some serious golfing knowledge in some of your heads.

Russman

Mizuno Man wrote: »

Personally, I think they will be fine for you! The DG R300 is a great shaft and if it's Mizuno then you're halfway there already!

Congrats on the new purchase and I hope they work great for you!

+1 Absolutely

acejeff

selection of shaft not all about clubhead speed. Also to be taken into consideration are launch angle and spin rate. I got custom fitted recently, previously played dynamic gold s300 which I felt always ballooned. Turns out my launch angle is actually quite low however I was generating a high spin rate hence the ball kept rising. Got fitted for KBS tour90 stiff shaft (slightly lighter version of the KBS tour) which is designed to launch mid/high but with a low spin rate. Perfect for me and I'm getting the more piercing ball flight i required. So my advice is to take those 3 factors into account rather than just swing speed.