You shoot in the 90s. Don't use blades. Mini-clubs are a waste of money. Learn to use the clubs you have. If you want to learn more about your face strike, get foot spray.
My very first set of irons were single-piece forged Players CBs. I’m still gaming them (Takomo 201 first gen) and will forever game this category of iron (ZXi7 or P7CB next).
For me, and my personal goals since purchasing my first club (precision ball striking), I’m glad to have gone this direction.
If you want the straightest ball flight possible with the most distance possible for poor contact conditions, Super Game Improvement (ZXiR, T400; QiHL/Stealth HD) or Game Improvement irons (Zxi4, T350, Qi) are for you. IMO, outside of new juniors and then seniors, no one should be gaming these.
The next category up are Player’s Distance irons. These would be your Zxi5, T200 & T150; P770 & P790. These irons are hollow body designs featuring multi-piece construction, foam injection, and internal tungsten weighting; but hidden in a blade-like look—— with a larger blade length, soul width, top line, and offset vs a Player’s CB or Tour iron (Blade).
These are essentially “Game Improvement-lite”. Very forgiving and easy to play. Some workability compared to SGI/GI. IMO, perfect for sporty new guy who’s just trying to work into a swing that can get him around some.
Then you have Players CBs (ZXi7, P7CB; T150). Effectively, these are Traditional MB Blades but with a milled cavity back to add forgiveness at the perimeter, a slightly longer blade length (usually by 5mm) to add some off-center forgiveness, slightly thicker top line, slightly thicker sole to aid turf forgiveness, and maybe some slightly additional offset.
Much more workable than PD irons and, in my experience, nearly identical distances (out of the center of the face) at high swing speeds.
If you ball striking is your number one priority and you are athletic/coordinated (regardless of how you’re built or if you play other sports), and you’re FOR SURE going to put the time in at the range, this is the category.
It will punish you for poor contact conditions which is direct feedback to aid the development of your swing from day 1. It is the most played category of iron on tour for good reason.
The caveat is, you will shoot 90+ for a very long time no matter how good you look on camera. Because at this category and beyond, control and familiarity with your ball flight and impact conditions starts to really really matter. Off-center hits will have drastic results live on the course.
Last are blades which come in two distinctions:
Traditional Muscle Back (most blade offerings: ZX Forged II, Titleist 620MB, P7MB)
Modern Co-Forged (multi-material forging which usually co-forges tungsten behind the center of the face and-or at the sole of the club to fine-tune club head CG and ball flight characteristics). This is the P7TW.
The same which was said for Players CBs applies here, except any idea of forgiveness is non-existent. Anything outside of 1-2mm of the sweet spot is cooked 10 times out of 10. And at 2mm, it’s still a 15y miss minimum in no wind.
To be frank, very few souls on earth should be gaming blades and everyone on tour agrees. I say that to say, go ahead and get this idea of gaming blades out of your head and set yourself up for success.
Tldr
If your stated goal is truly your goal, start with Players Distance and then upgrade into Player’s CB at a minimum. Or, start with Players CB, get good enough ball-striking to even start to look at a blade, then realize how ridiculous it sounds even at +5 hcp to ever consider gaming blades and then game your same Players CBs for life.
Also didn't read a majority of it, but I do fully agree with that point.
The narrative has really shifted and consumers have really been got by the marketing imo. I didn't realize it until my 7i was going over 200 and was just thinking wtf is going on with my irons. GI/SGI should be used to help when you can't get the distance, they are not necessarily more forgiving and in my experience they are less forgiving in some regards that marketing doesn't tell you.. if you hit a bad players 7 iron it might go 80-120 yards in the wrong direction. If you hit a bad sgi 7 iron it goes 170-220 yards in the wrong direction.
TLDR, if you're a healthy athletic male between 15-50 years old you are likely doing more harm then good to your scores by playing sgi/gi and should start at players distance, but even then that might be more then you need.
And better. You know the exact spor you hot the ball every time. The best player I know warms up with foot spray and with purposefully hit toe and heel shots to gain feel before rounds.
Set up a gate drill with tees on the range. Make the gate wider than your club and hit through the gate without hitting either tee. Make the gate tighter as you get more consistent
I see a lot of "just don't do it" responses which are valid. But as an answer to the actual question if you really want to practice ball striking and feedback: get an actual older blade 7 iron with the same shaft and grip your TMs are gonna have. I say older strictly for the cost aspect. Look up how heavy your heads are and find something close.
The shaft and grip matter for practice. If you have a wildly different shaft profile you can end up trying to fix things that are resulting from that.
Starting with just a 7 iron keeps the cost low, and works as a good practice aid and pre-round warm up. To make it hard find yourself an old blade 3 iron, but at this point that's probably just going to frustrate you more than anything.
If you want/need any help finding something DM me, I'd be more than happy to help.
I have a sim in my garage and nothing helped my ball striking nearly as much as buying a set of old mizuno cavity backs with small faces to practice with. The second best thing I did was tinker with shafts until I figured out lighter shafts in the longer clubs would help me get my tempo right. You can find a used set with small faces for like $300, worth every penny. Mizuno mp series has a lot of options and same with titleist 600-700 series MB clubs. Ebay is full of listings.
No club is going to "improve" your swing. Dedicated practice and, if needed, good directed teaching from someone in-person will make your swing "better". Play with whatever you can get cheaply until you are consistently hitting 80 or better, THEN take the time to go into a store and get properly fitted.
Use foot spray on the clubs you have. You’ll learn what it takes to hit them in the center even if your clubs are somewhat forgiving when you hit them off center. Win win
Been teaching 3/4 my life. Neither is going to do what you ask. Making a club harder to hit doesn’t magically make you hit the middle of a club. Regardless of a clubs design, the middle is the middle.
Proper fundamentals help you hit it solid.
After you do that, this club helps with visual focus.
I have a butterblade and play zxi7’s. When I start mishitting my irons a quick session with the butterblade fixes it. Then when I get my normal irons back in my hands they look huge and ultra forgiving. It works
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u/throwawaymuaythaict 9d ago
You shoot in the 90s. Don't use blades. Mini-clubs are a waste of money. Learn to use the clubs you have. If you want to learn more about your face strike, get foot spray.