Blades vs Cavity Backs

Hello all,

Just thought i would get your views on this topic. What do you refer blades or cavity back irons. Being new to golf and like to learn as much info as i can so any feeedback would be fantasic. At the moment im using ben sayers m21 cavity back irons and them seem nice to me, but i have tryed blades in the past.

TJ

Cavity Backs: The back of the iron has been 'scooped out'. Like the 770.

Muscle-Cavity: The back of the iron has been 'scooped out', but some material has been left near the center of gravity. Like the 550C.

Muscle Back: Not only is the back of the iron filled in, it's got extra on it. Like the 550M.

Blade: The back is filled in - a solid chunk of metal. Like the PCF.

Attached Images

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	550C.jpg (15.0 KB, 4 views)
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Thanx for the info mate

And now for the follow up.

Cavity backs offer the least distance lost on off-center hits. This is also known as maximum forgiveness. Everybody should play them. And I do mean everybody.

Muscle-cavity clubs are 2nd in the realm of forgiveness. The reason to play them is if you strike the ball better than average. You'll get a little more distance, as there is more weight behind the sweet spot. The tradeoff is when you do mis-hit, you'll lose more distance than with a cavity back. Still, more forgiving than either blades or musclebacks.

Blades have been known as 'players' clubs for the longest time. I'm not sure why, but I'll assume it has something to do with the stigma of 'game improvement clubs' when cavity back and muscle-cav irons first came out. The guys on Tour wouldn't be caught dead with them. Only marginally more forgiving than muscle backs.

Musclebacks are the ultimate thing to hit when you nut them. Sweet feeling, long, any positive adjective will do. But if you mishit them, you know it, RIGHT AWAY. IMO, Muscleback clubs are an ego thing. If they were really the bees knees, everyone on Tour would play them (having been around for a while). Instead, we've got guys on Tour playing cavity back irons, and hybrid clubs.

__________________
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
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A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Hi mate.

Thanx again for the info. Becasue i am a new golfer i was unsure which ones to get when i got my clubs. I had a go of different ones but i went with the ones that left right for me which happened to be cavity backs. So im glad i went for them now.

The reason tour player don't use cavity backs is because it is much more difficult to shape shots with a cavity back than a blade. This is the exact reason why most players (99%) SHOULD use cavity backs - to produce straighter shots.

There is also the forged vs cast debate, a whole other subject, al though very strong relation.

Thanx for you input on this topic. With gto people are always happy to tell you the points of views. Nice work GTO

I thought they figured out that it all comes down to the sound the club makes at impact. I could swear somebody ran a test where they took some pros, gave them earplugs, and blindly handed them clubs (not telling them whether they were cast or forged). Oddly enough, the success rate was 50% - right in line with the odds.

In other words, 'feel' has a ton to do with sound at impact. I like forged for two reasons, and soft cast is ok for the second:

1) I like the sound forged clubs have at impact. The most buttery club I've ever hit was a MaxFli Revolution Red Dot. All beat up (as forged clubs get), but such a sweet feeling.

2) Forged clubs (and soft cast) are soooooooooo easy to bend (and you can bend 'em far).

It took hitting forged clubs and cast clubs side by side before I could tell the difference.

__________________
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

I find that forged have a "hot knife through butter' feel when hit on the sweet spot and more feedback as to what you did wrong when not hit on the sweetspot.

I too really liked the Maxfli Rev irons I have hit. I picked two sets off eBay a few years ago for around $100 each. The best deal I have ever seen. I sold one set to my roommate at the time and the other set I reshafted for my mother. They both say that they are wonderful clubs as well.

Quick clarification guys, musclebacks are actually blades with extra material added on? They are not considered cavity irons then, right?

Correct on both counts.

I use a forge blade, and with zero offsets, as do most low handycappers or scratch players I know. This is starting to change, more and more are going muscle back. My reason is because when I used cavity backs I got lazy and began to hit of center, and got difficult to tell when I did. Went back to blades because any off center hit is immediately transmitted back to my hands. Now having said that I do feel most player should use cavity backs, until you get to a low single digits, then switch to a muscle, because cavities are very difficult to work the ball. I do feel my solid hits are longer and sound better, with cavity and the offset, it just looks bad to me at address, can't stand it.

Of course I have broken down and went to the advanced stuff with my driver, ti metal, max cor, big headed jobber 380cc...lol...hey I'm getting there..anything bigger just looks like a football to me..but got tired of being 40 yds behind everyone off the tee. I am thinking of switching to one of the new hybrids to replace my 3 iron, just pulled my 2 iron out last year and went to a 4 wood.

Side note, pulled out an old, old driver I had from 10 years ago, this 7 degree jobber, man ...lol...I can believe I hit balls with that thing, the head looks like it was the same size as the ball, and it was a driver, but I use to be pretty deadly with that thing, I also used to knock it into the next county occassionally...lol, but the face had a quarter size wear mark right in the center of the face, lmao...didn't have room to be much anyplace else

The Ping A-Blade putter I had for the last 25 years finally got replaced with an Odessey two ball this year. So I guess I am a little slow to change, if it ain't broke......lol

My next change of clubs would be from my current cavities to muscle cavities!

GoNavy,

I just don't understand this difficulty with working the ball argument in the blades vs cavities arguement. If it was really that difficult to work the ball, then people playing with cavs wouldn't fade or draw, and the pros who play them would be at the bottom of the money list exclusively.

Yes, you may have to make more explicit setup changes to work the ball, but it's not more difficult, IMO.

The OP ask for our views, that is my VIEW. If you see no difference then by all means, use cavity backs, with big offsets. Saying that this or that pro would do better or worst, is a nice tag line, but is a meaningless statement, at that level there are a few other things going on, not to mention the amount of customization that goes on with any pros equipment, far, far from anything the average person is going get off the rac. So rather then attacking other people views, why not just say what yours is and move on....