One of the best things about hosting the Plugged In Golf Podcast is getting information that I didn’t ask for.

Not long ago, I spoke with two people from Titleist –  Marni Ines, Director of Iron Development, and JJ VanWezenbeeck, Director of Player Promotions – about the new T Series irons [listen HERE].  During that interview, I asked what handicap levels should consider each model, and their response was (I’m paraphrasing), “Don’t think about it in terms of handicap, think about height.”  They went on to explain that their Tour players used to put different shafts in their long irons to achieve higher ball flights, but now they use different heads.

This view on iron fitting is at odds with the way most golfers think, so we decided it would make for an excellent Golf Myths Unplugged.  We weren’t wrong: we got so much data, we’re breaking this into two parts.  Enjoy.

THE MYTHS

Myth #1 – Game improvement irons always create the highest shot apex
Myth #2 – Lighter shafts always create the highest shot apex
Myth #3 – Heads change apex more reliably than shafts
Myth #4 – Blades always create more spin more than game improvement irons
Myth #5 – Lighter shafts always create more spin

HOW WE TESTED

For this test, we brought together seven golfers with handicaps ranging from 0 to 14.  Each player hit five shots with each of nine combinations – a matrix of three shafts and three iron heads.  Every player used the same matrix but hit the combinations in a different order.

The three shafts were all the same flex but had different weights and flex profiles.  For our purposes, we will refer to them as Heavy, Medium, and Light.  The three iron heads all came from the same OEM and were set to stock specifications.  They will be referred to as Blade, PD (Players Distance), and GI (Game Improvement).

All shots were recorded on Trackman.  All testing was done at and with the help of Club Champion.

To continue reading, click here.