Distance

Lately, i have been jealous of some of the guys distance when hitting on the range. Even when i am flushing my 3 iron it is only going approximately 180. My irons are not of very good quality but are very forgiving. I am about to upgrade to some Titleist Blades, how much extra distance do you think I should get? A substancial amount?

The quality of the club will not make much difference to your distance
What are your distance like for the rest of your clubs?
Is there a consistent 10yrd gap between then all?
I would guess that you think you are flushing them you are actually scouping them.
It wont feel like a bad hit but you are not getting all the distance you should.
Also, is this off the mat, a tee, or grass?

You might want to also get the lofts of your current irons checked, because there can be a 5° range for the loft of any iron (difference between modern and classical lofts). So a classical 5 iron will have the same loft as a modern 6 iron.

The Titleist blades (660 and 695MB) appear to be a couple of degrees stronger that the classical lofts.

Correction: 198 Yards (Flushed 3 iron), we use meters in new zealand.
That was off a mat, no tee. Currently using Palmer Irons which are well known for their forgivness. I'm guessing the increase in forgiveness is at the expense of distance. I am upgrading to a set of Titleist 804 cb's as my handicap has dropped below 8. I'm pretty sure I am not scooping.

ok well 200 yrds with a 3 iron sounds above average to me.
Thats about 180 with a 5 right?

Nate, you write that you are using forgiving clubs. The term forgiving is a misnomer. A belief is that as its name implies, it will forgive the bad stroke by still giving a decent result. In fact, it applies to the feeling one gets when striking the club badly. It will do nothing for your game but it will certainly do something for the feeling you get when you strike the ball badly. It will transmit much less vibration and twisting motion from the badly struck ball to your hands so that you will feel less pain. That's where the forgiveness comes from. A better term is dull or numb because that's exactly what the club feels like compared to a muscle back blade. Both a cavity back and a muscle back will produce the same results when struck just as badly but one will be much more sensitive to the hands than the other.

Which brings me to the clubs you intend to buy, the Titleist blades. The model you are looking at is not a blade, it's a cavity back design. That's what the CB stands for in the 804 CB following Titleist's own naming scheme. If you want a blade, look for clubs with MB in the name from Titleist. MB stands for muscle back.

The design of a blade usually consists of a thin top line, a small overall shape, no offset or very little offset, no cavity back instead a muscle back. It will also be built with a rather rigid shaft.

The design of a forgiving club usually consists of a fat top line, a large overall shape, an offset between the leading edge and the hosel, a cavity back. It will also be built with a rather supple shaft.

Now for the expected performance of the new clubs you intend to buy. There will be no significant difference in the performance between what you currently play and what you intend to buy. All things being equal such as loft, lie angle, head weight, shaft length, the results will be about the same between clubs.

Had you started playing with muscle back blades instead of what you currently play, you'd have come to the same point in your ability (HC 8) and asked the same question you are asking now: Are you going to see an improvement in performance if you buy a new set of clubs? The answer would have been exactly the same: No.

As you strike the ball, you feel through the grip how well you struck it. A dead center hit will produce very little feedback because all the of the momentum of the clubhead has been transmitted to the ball. An off center hit will feel much different. Dead center and off center in this case means center of gravity, not center of the clubface. It is possible that the center of gravity be elsewhere than the center of the clubface. An off center hit will twist the clubhead, that's how colliding bodies act. As it twists the clubhead, so it will twist the shaft and the grip. That's how you will feel it. It is painful. Add this to the feedback from striking the ground after having struck the ball.

This feeling you get when striking the ball, it allows one to learn from bad shots and from good shots so that one can increase his ability through practice. Without this feedback, one can't learn as quickly or can't learn at all. This feedback is a fundamental aspect of learning, everything we do we use this feedback to learn how to do something better or properly. Imagine if instead you didn't feel anything in your hands. How could you know if the fire burned? Well let me tell you, blisters on the hands burn just like an open flame.

Perhaps you'd prefer to be encouraged to buy new clubs, you'd prefer if you could hear the same things you believe in from somebody else, you'd be convinced to buy the new clubs. Do you need a reason to buy new clubs?

You write that when you strike the 3 iron flush, you send the ball about 180 meters (198 yards). You do not write how accurate you send the ball, how straight you send the ball, how close to your target you send the ball or even how often you send the ball so far. So, how close to your target do you send the ball with your 3 iron, 180 meters away? Count all your results, if you miss and send it only 50 yards away (still 130 yards to go to the target), that counts as well. Compare your results to professional players' statistics at pgatour.com

Read this thread, especially my posts: http://www.golf-tuition-online.com/g...hs-golf-4.html (myths in golf)

One myth is to purchase equipment based on your ability. If that were true, I'd buy new clubs every time my ability changed. The handicap system is often used to denote one's ability. I promise you there's a club for each number in the handicap system. No, I don't promise you, the vendor promises you that. Perhaps we should buy very forgiving bicycles until we become champion cyclists?

Another myth is that far is better than close. If that were true, the long driving champions would rule on the PGA tour, that's just not the case. Long driving champions rule on the long driving championship, that's about it. Players who can send the ball close to the target rule on the PGA tour.

These two myths above appear to apply to you, Nate, so I suggest you take a serious look at your purpose in this matter.

I don't know Nate how much extra distance you will get, but, do you really need to buy blades?