You Should Be Playing More Forgiving Irons... Science Proves It

You should be playing a Game-Improvement Iron.  I don't care how good you are, or how much you want to "work the ball", you should be playing a more forgiving iron.

That's a bold statement, but here's why I stand by it:

Recently, a student of mine (Henry) asked me for help with a science fair experiment.  He was curious about what new irons to get, and thought about testing different clubs on TrackMan to see which ones went the farthest.  To make this a formal science fair project instead of a typical club-fitting we employed the Scientific Method.

Purpose: Discover which Titleist 6 iron will make a golf ball fly the farthest on good shots and bad shots.

Research: Test between Titleist AP1, AP2 and MB Irons.

Hypothesis: The AP1 Iron will hit the ball the farthest on solid hits, it will also hit the ball farther on off-center hits.

Experiment:  We chose to hit 15 shots with each club.  The first 5 shots were struck in the center of the clubface, the next 5 were struck 3/4" on the toe and the last 5 were hit 3/4" on the heel.  Impact locations were verified using dry erase marker on the face of the club.  Any shots that were not struck in the intended location were thrown out.  

Additionally, any shots that were struck with a clubhead speed more than 1 MPH away from 84.5 were thrown out.

Analysis: The results were very clear.  The AP1 was the best performing club, followed by the AP2.  The MB performed the worst of the three clubs.

Solid Strikes:

AP1 - Solid Strike

AP2 - Solid Strike

 MB - Solid Strike

As you can see from the data above, despite a slightly faster clubhead speed, the MB produced a significantly slower ball speed.  The difference between the AP1 and AP2 on solid strikes is small, whereas the MB hit the ball noticeably shorter.

Toe Strikes:

AP1 - Toe Strike

 AP2 - Toe Strike

 MB - Toe Strike

Heel Strikes:

AP1 - Heel Strike

 AP2 - Heel Strike

MB - Heel Strike

Conclusions: Henry's hypothesis was correct! Regardless of a golfer's skill level (and consequently, their ability to hit the center of the clubface consistently), gains in consistency and distance can be expected from game improvement irons like the Titleist AP1.  

A closer look at the numbers might help show how important the difference between the AP1 and the MB really is.  

Picture your average green... about 30 yards deep right? What about the 17th at TPC Sawgrass? That green is only 26 yards deep! This means that from 135 yards, the front edge of the green is 122 yards away.

If you are playing for the middle of the green (which, let's face it, most of you should be) and you mishit a shot about 3/4" off the toe with an AP1, where will the ball land?  

According the the data, the ball will come up about 5% short of it's expected distance.  In this case, that ball will fly 128.5 yards, and should land safely on the green.  

Now, switch clubs and mishit the MB by the same amount off the toe.  The data suggests that about 10% of the shot's expected distance will be lost.  The quick math shows that the ball will only fly 121.5 yards.  Sadly in this case, that's a half yard short of the green.

Obviously this is an extreme situation, but think about what a 5% increase in distance control on mishits could do for you. If you ask me, it's definitely worth the switch.