New irons - sharp and sweet

Ever wondered about blades? This little story might help....

I took the plunge over the summer and treated myself to a set of shiny new irons. With limited time I had to make a decision quite quickly and buy something off the peg as the options where I live are severely limited.

To date I've played with a set of Hogan Edge CFTs which are nice enough but I was looking for something with a bit more workability, particularly with the shorter irons.

Anyway, here's the list that I worked through:

1. Hogan Apex FTX - felt OK but not really much better than my existing set
2. Mizuno MP32 - I've always fancied a set of these but they didn't feel anywhere near as good as I expected, perhaps they are a little over-hyped
3. Taylor Made TP - lovely feel but I couldn't get good distance from them
4. Titleist 690CB - very similar to the Hogans, not as soft as I expected

At this point the guy in the shop brought out a Titleist 690MB 6-iron to try out. Now this is a serious looking blade, more like a butter knife than a golf club and I'm pretty sure that the size of the head was about the same as my Hogan 3-iron. But what the hell, I thought I'd give it a go; at least I wasn't getting the amused smiles and the "only single handicappers should use blades" attitude.

Well of course I ended up buying the blades with a R-flex shaft (after hitting a 4-iron too just to make sure). They are sweet, sweet clubs and I was truly amazed at how forgiving they are on less than perfect shots and how wonderful the feeling is when you hit one right off the sweet spot.

Having switched from cavity backs to blades I thought I'd share a few personal observations:

1. You have to make a smooth and easy swing with a blade but the fact that the sweet spot is so, so sweet means that I'm never thinking whether I have enough club to get the distance. So I can simply concentrate on a smooth tempo.
2. The fact that they generally hit the ball further means that I can take one less club than I used to, which makes it easier
3. Because I have to concentrate harder with these clubs all extraneous thoughts that can cause havoc during a swing seem to be eliminated so I'm making good contact pretty much all the time
4. I don't have to really work to move the ball around. Literally I seem to only need to think "fade" and I hit a fade, "draw" and I hit a draw.
5. Good shots make you feel like a golfing god and seriously boost your ego. Bad shots and just bad shots just like any club.

Personally I don't think I'll ever buy a set of cavity backs again and based on my experience I would recommend anyone that has a half-decent swing and is looking for a new set of irons to have a go with some blades.

Don't let handicaps or scores discourage you from trying them; after all the difference between someone who shoots 85 and someone who shoots 75 is largely determined by what happens within 100 yards of the flag.

This is a very good advice because I've often wondered whether to use blades or cavity-backed clubs. I'm on 16 handicap and I'm contemplating getting a new set of clubs. My present clubs are cavity-backed and they are quite heavy and thick-walled ie. club head metal thickness is quite high. I've never tried using blades so I'll be glad to hear from people with similar handicaps.

I'm actually a higher handicap using hybrids and a combo set of lower irons (6-LW).

My 6 & 7 irons are muscle-cavs, and the 8,9,PW are muscle back. My GW, SW and LW are proper blades.

I'm considering building some game improvement cavity backs (6-LW) to see if I can offset my directional problems.

But I'll back Kingston - when you find the sweetspot on a blade, there's no better feeling in a golf club.