Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: Maybe it’s time to rethink your short irons

Published

6 years ago

Jul 22, 2020

In today’s post, I’m going to put on my “respectful irreverence” hat and challenge the notion of “matched” sets of irons that have been promoted to us since Bobby Jones and Spalding created the concept in the early 1920s. My question is simple: Should iron sets really be “matched”?

I’m going out on a limb and say “NO.”

Here’s why.

When cavity-back, perimeter-weighted irons became popular in the 1970s, long and middle irons immediately became easier to hit. But manufacturers followed industry tradition and continued to make all the irons look alike–3 through PW. Because the short irons had the same cavity as the long and middle irons, the result was excessively high ball flight and reduced spin. That’s when the absurd notion of strengthening lofts began.

Over my many years in the equipment industry, I’ve seen Iron Byron prove time and again that perimeter weighting is increasingly less influential as the loft of an iron increases. In fact, while a low center of gravity and thin face is certainly helpful with a middle or long iron in your hands, most golfers seem to have the exact opposite problem as irons approach the high 30s and 40s in loft – they hit them too high and cannot control their distances.

Most golfers will be surprised by the shotmaking performance of blade short irons, even if you play to a double-digit handicap. The reason is that the more even distribution of mass across the back of the clubhead on a blade short iron of 40 degrees or more greatly equalizes the smash factor – or efficiency of impact – vertically up and down the face. And the simple fact is that most golfers miss their short irons vertically, while long-club misses tend to run heel to toe.

What’s really always baffled me is that the design of almost all wedges exacerbates this issue for golfers, because all the mass is so low in the clubhead. Iron Byron repeatedly proves that misses even a half-inch up the face can reduce smash factor by as much as 20-22 percent on any top-brand wedges. That’s why your high-face misses come up short.

But back to the short iron—here’s what might become an eye-opening experiment for you. Talk to your club fitter or pro about trying out a set of blade demos–just the short irons–for a round or two. Choose some that have a shaft that is reasonably matched to your current irons. Hit some shots side-by-side with your short irons and the blade short irons and see if you don’t notice a measurable trajectory improvement.

Yes, you’ll notice some feel difference when you miss out toward the toe, but my bet is that you will find much more consistent distance control and accuracy.

But remember, the numbers on the bottom of irons have become essentially meaningless. That blade 9-iron might have the same loft as your “tech” pitching wedge. So keep that in mind as you do this evaluation.

Let me know how your experiments play out.

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Terry Koehler

Terry Koehler is a fourth generation Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M University. Over his 40-year career in the golf industry, he has created over 100 putter designs and dozens of wedges. In 2014, he put together the team that reintroduced the Ben Hogan brand to the golf equipment industry with his TK 15 wedges and Ft. Worth 15 iron designs. Since receiving a U.S. Patent for his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” in the wedge category. In addition to inspiring multiple companies to emulate this sole technology, the performance of his wedge designs have stimulated all other companies to reposition some mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges. Terry is retired from his role as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf, and remains active in the industry as an independent designer and consultant. But his most compelling work is in the wedge category. Since he first patented his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” reflected in ‘tour design’ wedges. The performance of his wedge designs have stimulated other companies to move slightly more mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges, but none approach the dramatic design of his Edison Forged wedges, which have been robotically proven to significantly raise the bar for wedge performance. Terry serves as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf – check it out at www.EdisonWedges.com.

24 Comments

matt

Feb 5, 2021 at 8:21 am

good read, just found it. there’s another factor making these clubs even harder to control. Since the advent of the ProV1 the cover of a premium ball has been getting harder and harder. They manage to keep spin reasonable with other tech but launch wants to go higher and higher (driver distance is obviously the force here). The wedge makers are on to this, they’re all driving CG higher and higher because these balls want to launch so dang high. But if your pitching wedge/ 9 iron doesn’t have an adequately high CG you’re almost surely going to see some control issues with it IMO.

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Osnola Kinnard

Sep 8, 2020 at 8:58 am

What you espouse is what Edel Golf does with their SLS01 irons amd they also tske it a step further with different shaft profiles in the long, mid, short iron/wedges.

Reply Report comment
Speedy

Aug 11, 2020 at 12:20 pm

Thought Dave Pelz was The Wedge Guy. Retired (80)?

Reply Report comment
geohogan

Aug 2, 2020 at 3:14 pm

IMO increased offset in cavity backed irons creates inconsistency as much as perimeter weighting.

Bend your cavity back irons to have much less offset; consistency and accuracy will increase.

Note: bending less offset will increase effective loft. ie closer to loft of comparable muscle back irons.

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Bladehunter.

Jul 25, 2020 at 3:17 pm

And some of us have been telling you this forever. For all handicaps. Blades in the short irons. Hybrids up top. Done.

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Par

Jul 25, 2020 at 6:53 am

I am a mid handicapper, about 12 and in my late 60’s. I fiddle around with hitting various irons. Do see better accuracy and distance with forged or pro series cast iron. Yet over much better consistency and comfort with matched clubs and cast set.

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Tokyo Bob

Jul 24, 2020 at 12:54 pm

I happened onto this just by chance/trial and error, The end result was I carry two 9 irons and two 8 irons, with 8-PW being Miura blades and the other 6-9 being PRGR GI irons , which are essentially 4-7 lofts. Numbers on the bottom just are meaningful in a general sense or reference in a single set. I like the Hogan clubs just printing the loft, not the number on the club. Useful.

People may hate on this. But it works for me. MiHLM, mid handicap lives matter, too.

Liked the article and learned some things on the vertical miss on wedges, etc.

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Shallowface

Jul 23, 2020 at 7:55 pm

Terry, your comment about how toe hits might feel with a blade is interesting. For a long time I’ve been of the opinion that what people interpret as “forgiveness” is actually just a reduction in vibration due to how it is distributed when a cavity back iron is mis-hit. In my experience, the actual performance differences on mis-hits between blades and cavity backs is not nearly as signifcant as has been sold to the buying public. We just feel them more with a blade. Of course, that vibration reduction may well result in a more enjoyable experience for players, even if it means very little in actual results.

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- geohogan
  
  Aug 10, 2020 at 12:37 pm
  
  Most golfers have probably not experienced the sweet feel of pure contact on the sweet spot of a soft carbon muscle back iron.
  If a golfer never knows that sweet feel, he or she will never have the opportunity to learn to repeat that proper clubface to ball contact.
  
  ie It may be that the lack of reward(sweet feeling) in order to learn, conditioned response restricts learning?
  
  Reply Report comment
Mike

Jul 23, 2020 at 12:47 pm

I’ve learned to ignore the number on the bottom of the club and just build my set based on loft. What’s the point difference in carrying 6i to gap wedge as I do or carrying a 7i to the second gap wedge. It’s still the same number of irons I’m carrying. The markings on the clothes have gotten idiotic. Always remember the TM commercial with Nick Faldo 10 years ago where he said “Wow, I’m hitting this 7i as far as my old 6i”. Duh, Nick, the loft on that 7 iron you tested was definitely stronger than your old one and it was 1/2″ longer.

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Osnola Kinnard

Jul 22, 2020 at 9:30 pm

I was fitted for a set of Edel SLS01 irons 2 years ago and have not looked back. Not only is the weighting of their irons progressive for the long middle and short irons, the Paderson shafts really do help optimize ball flight, spin, and trajectory.

Granted I am taller and the longer short irons feel way more comfortable to me, the Edels seem to take your advice to heart in the short irons and wedges.

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JD Masur

Jul 22, 2020 at 5:20 pm

For that matter, I have a gripe with grips being identical. For the LW, GW and SW, I use reverse taper grips, for the PW-6 iron, I use 2 layers of tennis racquet white hand wrapped grips, for 4-iron hybrid and “Ginty” no taper rubber grips, and for the metal 7, 3 and driver, a tacky white tour wrap.
The reverse taper gives me versatile options for distance control, and the white tennis wraps/no taper grips make it easier to hold the clubs in my fingers. All white grips give a visual signal on when to change them.

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James

Jul 22, 2020 at 5:08 pm

My son is a scratch junior player and just got fitted into new irons. Iron fitting by a top fitter took almost 3 hours. Ended up in cavity backs 3-6 and blades 7-PW. Accuracy and distance control is far better. This is good advice Wedge Guy.

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Brandon

Jul 22, 2020 at 4:09 pm

Wait, haven’t we been told that we can’t even look at blades if we aren’t scratch?

Reply Report comment
- Shallowface
  
  Jul 23, 2020 at 7:46 pm
  
  The lesson here is, don’t believe everything you are told. About anything.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - D
    
    Jul 24, 2020 at 12:44 am
    
    True dat
    
    Reply Report comment
Douglas Spensley

Jul 22, 2020 at 2:54 pm

I agree. I recently got new cavity back irons, and love the 4 to 6, but can’t control distance and spin under 150 yards or so. I’ve put my old blades wedge and 9 back in the bag, still experimenting with 7 and 8.

Reply Report comment
Acemandrake

Jul 22, 2020 at 12:16 pm

The turf interaction of a blade may shock some non-blade players.

Is there such a thing as a wide-soled blade? Is there a need/demand for this?

Reply Report comment
Stan The Man

Jul 22, 2020 at 10:56 am

Couldn’t agree more with this notion. In fact, I was fitted at a top club fitter a few years ago and to get the consistency, dispersion we needed, we ended up fitting me into a mixed set of Srixon blades to cavity back to game improvement irons throughout the set. Love them and most importantly, I trust them.

Reply Report comment
juststeve

Jul 22, 2020 at 10:25 am

Seems that most of the OEMs are already producing sets with long irons designed to be easier to hit, whether by moving the center of gravity, by use of progressive off-set, etc., whether the design is cavity back or blade. A number have designed their clubs to be compatible as parts of split sets. Good ideas all but sort of yesterdy.

Reply Report comment
drkviol801

Jul 22, 2020 at 10:13 am

Care to explain why a significant number of PGA tour players play with a pw that matches irons? Easily 35-40% do.

Reply Report comment
- Roy
  
  Jul 22, 2020 at 11:39 am
  
  Doesnt that mean 60-65% don’t??? Remember, not everyone switched from persimmon to metal at the same time as well.
  
  But to answer your question, I would say they are far less prone to “vertical misses” as a 5 handicap is
  
  Reply Report comment
- MakoShark
  
  Jul 24, 2020 at 10:07 am
  
  That means 65-70% do not.
  
  Reply Report comment
- Terry Koehler
  
  Jul 24, 2020 at 10:51 am
  
  That’s a pretty easy question, drkviol801. That’s because most tour players are not playing a severe game improvement iron, and their 9-iron and PW are actually more accurate and more forgiving than ‘tour design’ wedges. That is another whole topic I might have to dive into in a future article.
  
  Reply Report comment

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