|
g(16241090)a(1251315))
Golf Clubs -
How Loft has changed on irons.
Golf Club Loft - Until around the late 1990’s the loft angle on golf
club irons had stayed pretty much the same, regardless of model brand, for about
50 years. Then it seems that most manufacturers realised that power or extra
length was the key to selling new golf clubs, so they began to alter the face
loft angle.
Regardless of claims, the design of a golf club head will not produce more length on its own. By moving weight around the head one can certainly affect the ball flight. Wide sole clubs with a low centre of gravity will help to get the ball airborne. A golf club head with a slim blade that has weight placed above the centre of the club will tend to produce a more penetrating ball flight.
Shafts in irons, and there are so many different types available, on their own will not produce more length. Normal steel weighs around 125 grams dead weight per shaft, light steel around 95 grams. Graphite can vary from 45 grams up to 90 grams, although, the lightest graphite tend only to be use in metal woods because of problems of attaining proper swing weight with them fitted to iron heads, Picture hitting a ball with a wedge, no matter what shaft you put in, whilst the feel of the club will be different, extra length will not happen because with this shortest of golf club only so much swing speed can be generated.
But if one alters the loft on a golf club it can have a dramatic  effect on distance achieved. 1° of loft change is equal to 3 yards of carry. If you change the loft of a wedge from an old standard of 50° to a new angle of 46° then you will hit the ball about 12 yards further. Nearly all manufacturers have done this in modern sets of irons.
Perhaps you have recently bought a new set of irons and without knowing, a set with stronger lofts. Suddenly you are hitting the ball much further with your new set. Your friends are impressed because no one wants to play with short hitting clubs, and so they go and buy a new set of irons as well. Whilst there is no problem with stimulating new business you must realise that you are probably only hitting the ball the same distance as with the old set. It’s just that the numbers on your clubs will hold different lofts. By making make each club with a lesser loft, i.e. give a wedge the loft of your old no9 iron, you will hit it an old 9 iron length. Give the new no 9 iron the loft of your old no 8 iron, you will only hit it the same length as your old 8 iron, and so on. See the table below to see a typical change in iron loft from old to new.
But de lofting short irons presents a new problem. They are now so powerful, and notice that the loft on a sand iron has not been altered because you need generous loft to get out of a bunker; that a gap of around 25 to 30 yards has been left between the new wedge and sand iron, whereas previously with the old set, the gap was only around 15 yards. You will soon realise that a new club will be needed to cover this extra gap in distance.
So enter the birth of a new club, the gap wedge. The gap wedge has a standard loft of, as you might have guessed, 50°, which was the loft of your old wedge. Now you have bought ten irons instead of the usual nine to cover the same range of distance. Great for business!
So when you are about to purchase a new set of golf irons, it is a good idea to know the strength of loft they contain, to understand your distance control, as not all golf companies make sets of irons with the same angle of face loft.
|
Old Lofts |
|
New Lofts |
No 3 |
22° |
= |
20° |
No 4 |
26° |
= |
23° |
No 5 |
30° |
= |
27° |
No 6 |
34° |
= |
30° |
No 7 |
38° |
= |
34° |
No 8 |
42° |
= |
38° |
No 9 |
46° |
= |
42° |
P W |
50° |
= |
46° |
S I |
55° |
= |
55° |
Article - Think before you buy new irons.
|
Home
Webmaster