Ask a Club Builder: Optimizing Your Irons
Welcome to “Ask A Club Builder.” In this video series, I answer questions submitted from social media, as well as my YouTube channel, and from questions posed on GolfWRX. In this episode, I’m talking swing weight, grip size and getting the most out of your current set of irons to help reduce spin and launch.
If you have a question, please reach out on YouTube, Twitter or Instagram and I’ll do my best to answer.
This past Monday, I played in the U.S. Amateur local qualifier at Rock Creek Country Club in Portland, Oregon. A full tee sheet from 7:30 a.m. to 1:55 p.m., the top 11 scores would make it to the U.S. Amateur final qualifying.
I teed off at 10:48 a.m.. With the 7:30 am tee time, you can get a feel for the leaders’ pace, and they were off and running on the challenging setup at Rock Creek.
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Getting to the highlight of the round on the par five 17th, a drive up the left side and 212 yards left to the front hole location. I took out a 5-iron with plans of middle of the green. The ball ended up 8 feet left of the hole, pin high. A slight downhill putt dropped in for an eagle 3 on the 17th. With the cut line looking to be anywhere from -2 to even par. This was the boost I had been waiting for all day.
With making par from the trees on 18, it was time to wait for a potential playoff with a posted score of one under par 71.
Three hours later, it was playoff time. 8 players for 6 spots. I made par on the playoff hole, which was good enough to advance to the U.S. Amateur final qualifying in July. USGA qualifiers sure deliver on all of the emotions in golf!
Club Junkie
Building my 2026 gamer WITB: Ranking the contenders and new putter projects – Club Junkie Podcast
The annual What’s In The Bag build is underway, and on this episode of Club Junkie, Brian breaks down the clubs currently leading the race for a spot in his 2026 gamer setup. From drivers and fairway woods to irons, wedges, and shafts, he ranks the equipment that’s performing best and explains what’s separating the front runners from the rest of the field.
Brian also heads into the workshop to discuss several putter projects currently on the bench. From head options and shaft choices to build ideas and testing plans, he shares what he’s working on and which putters could become serious contenders for the bag this season.
If you’re a gear junkie who loves equipment testing, club building, and the never-ending pursuit of the perfect setup, this episode is for you.
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Tour Edge Exotics mini driver review + TaylorMade Spider ZT Max first look – Club Junkie
On this episode of Club Junkie, I put the new Tour Edge Exotics Mini Driver to the test and break down the performance, forgiveness, distance, and where it fits compared to a traditional driver or strong fairway wood. If you have been curious about adding a mini driver to the bag, this one is worth a look.
I also dive into the new TaylorMade Spider ZT Max putter that was recently spotted and discuss the growing zero torque putter trend. Plus, there is a closer look at the new Project X Titan Yellow shaft showing up on the PGA Tour and what makes it different from other profiles currently out there.
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ogo
Apr 29, 2018 at 7:36 pm
Soooo …. every set of golf clubs sold off the rack in the big box stores are deficient because they are not ‘fitted’ to the swing and stature of the hopeful golfer?
I remember many years ago I asked the golf store salesman about the fitting of clubs to customers and he said “these standard clubs fit 90% of all golfers”!! Can you trust the big box store salespeople to properly fit clubs to golfers? My clubs are +1″ and 2º upright… green dot.
The golf industry is now faced with an intractable problem … standard golf clubs that likely don’t fit the golfer’s swing style nor body type.
Ping originally sold their clubs through club pros who fitted and ordered the near-correct adjusted clubs. What now?
george
May 2, 2018 at 11:57 am
More than 90% of all golfers never break 100 and play less than 3 times a year.
Cheap big box store clubs, with variable SW and lie angles throughout the set, fit them fine.
IMO, wanna be golfers would be better off buying premium sets, cheap on ebay.
Wiger Toods
Apr 28, 2018 at 7:15 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqNhEzrWQpY
Upward Inflection…
ogo
Apr 28, 2018 at 2:31 pm
That ugly banana slice in my driver definitely needs optimizing… 🙁