Opinion & Analysis

Wedge Guy: Do irons really need to go longer?

Published

4 years ago

Oct 26, 2022

I’m going to admit right up front that today’s post is an update of one I wrote almost 10 years ago, but the subject is just as relevant to all golfers today, if not even more so, in my opinion. Back then, it was interesting to me that the two most “aggressive” marketers of irons that year began touting how long they are, because up until then, the “distance war” had been mostly limited to drivers.

Until then, we had been through almost 40 years of drivers being sold by touting that they are longer, and that kind of makes sense. Then this “longer, faster, meaner” claim worked its way into the fairway woods category, and even the hybrids. Even that makes a little sense.

But what advantage does it give you if your irons’ specifications are “jacked up” so that the new ones go further than the old ones?

While I will admit that golf club technologies have certainly advanced, the main pathway to making new irons longer – on a number-by-number basis – is to lower the center of mass, decrease the loft and maybe make the shaft longer. Essentially, what is today’s “8-iron” for example, has almost the same loft and length as an historic 6-iron. Of course, it goes further.

As a comparison, I was revisiting an old set of Reid Lockhart RL Blades that I designed in the mid-1990s. The pitching wedge had 48 degrees of loft and the 7-iron was 36 degrees in loft. In looking at specs for many of the modern iron sets, many 9-irons have almost that same loft.

So, for fun I got out the launch monitor and hit balls with both the RL Blade 7-iron and a modern 9-iron that was just 2 degrees weaker. What I found was that carry distance was really not all that different at my strength profile, about 140 yards. But the RL Blade launched considerably lower, delivered significantly more spin and was much easier to flight up and down to adapt to varying conditions, particularly wind.

What I also found was that the once-piece design of the RL Blades made “dialing in” those shorter distances much more reliable.

But back to what a jacked up set of irons does for your game . . . what happens if all your irons go further than your last set? Does that really help you hit more greens?

There was an old adage of golf club design called “the 24/38 rule”. What that meant is that only skilled players could proficiently handle an iron with 24 degrees of loft or less, and 38 inches in length or more. I’ll admit that modern iron designs have made the loft limitation a bit outdated, but the longer a club is, the more accurate you are likely to be, both in delivery of the clubhead to the ball and keeping the face angle and path tighter.

But here is what I find really interesting. In many of the major brands’ iron line-ups, they have their “tour” or “pro” model . . . which are typically up to two degrees weaker in loft and ¼ to 3/8 inch shorter in length than the ones they are trying to sell you. How much sense does that make? The tour player, who’s bigger and stronger than you, plays a club that is shorter and easier to control than the one they are selling you. Hmmmmm. Gotcha.

But let’s tie this back to drivers. On Iron Byron, the 46” driver always goes further than the 45, because Iron Byron doesn’t have any swing flaws. So, that’s what the stores are full of. But tour bags are full of drivers at 45”. So, if the tour player only hits 55-60% of his fairways with a 45” driver, how many are you going to hit with a 46?

Same goes with longer irons.

I’m just sayin’…

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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.

16 Comments

Dennis Kovit

Mar 1, 2025 at 4:45 pm

I have a full set of Reid Lockhart irons and still use them often as nothing feels as good as hitting a forged blade pure. I’m looking for a Reid Lockhart 56 degree QB Sole wedge if anyone has one for sale.

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Golfer

Jan 20, 2023 at 9:27 am

I’m curious about Wishon’s 24/38 rule. Does that still apply given today’s more forgiving, hotter iron heads? I’m curious as to the timing of when this rule came out and then also what he/we define as “average” golfer. What handicap is that? Anything above 10?

Curious as to thoughts here….

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Steve

Oct 30, 2022 at 9:11 pm

This is such a silly look at this issue. One of the biggest differences between better players and average players, the average players do NOT know how to deloft irons at impact. In fact, many amateur players are actually adding loft at impact. As a result, to get ball launch conditions into an ideal window without changing a swing, the iron lofts get stronger. And that really does HELP that player who can’t deloft at impact. And, it increases launch ball speed and efficiency. For the first time, that amateur is seeing a launch window closer to an ideal for each iron number. That’s not a bad thing. Yes, Maybe they should take hours and hours to rebuild and learn a new swing, but many just don’t have that much time and don’t care, it’s a leisure activity not a profession for most! If stronger lofts don’t work for you, great, select one of the more standard lofted iron choices. But it doesn’t mean there isn’t a true market for stronger lofted irons, because they work for many amateur players!

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Blaiser

Oct 29, 2022 at 5:28 pm

Distance (and ego) is a thing in golf. Has been, and will be forever.

I get how having jacked lofts can make a golfer happier, and I see nothing wrong with that. If it makes them enjoy the game more, then I’m all for it.

But yes, it’s doing them a disservice if their gapping is messed up. But it looks like OEMs do a good job of providing gap wedges to combat this.

All in all, it’s just a number on the button of the club and it really doesn’t matter “what is a 7 iron ‘supposed’ to be”

My take is it would be easier to just have the loft stamped on the club. But that would probably be a bit too confusing for the new or casual golfer.

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Ned

Oct 29, 2022 at 5:55 am

Easy to say but wait to you get to be my age “79”. You will be looking to get all the distance you can get so you can play a reasonable round of golf. I don’t really care how much they jack the lofts if it gets that added distance. The new tech makes the launch angle almost the same as the older lofted clubs. The number in the bottom is meaningless it is all about gaping.

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Jay

Oct 28, 2022 at 1:33 pm

Have never understood the distance obsession with irons. The point of an iron is to hit a ball a particular distance, not to hit it as far as humanly possible.

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Fred

Oct 28, 2022 at 10:55 am

You mention lower COG’s. Clubs seem designed now to get in the air by the force applied to them rather than spin, which plays into the unfortunate tendency of most golfers to hit up on the ball.

That is to say, many modern clubs seem designed to groove a bad swing.

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Rich Douglas

Oct 27, 2022 at 4:24 pm

I’ve played single-length irons for 6+ years. Wishon–first Sterling now EQ1-NX. I’m way more accurate throughout the set. You’d expect to be more accurate with the 4-7–they’re set at an 8-iron length. But the 9-SW are more accurate, too. That’s because I’m putting the exact same swing on every ball throughout the set, and every club in the set feels exactly the same. Same length, weight, swing weight, shaft, offset, lie angle, and MOI. The only difference you can see or feel is loft. (CG is a big player, too.)

I carry an 8-iron 157 with 87mph swing speed. I don’t need it to go farther. If I do, I can reach for a 7-iron (ore more) that will feel exactly the same. What I really need is accuracy, and the single-length set certainly provides it.

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Jeff B

Oct 27, 2022 at 8:35 am

You are right this is still very relevant. The issue for most amateurs is the long iron lofts all getting crammed together and then having 5-6 degree gaps in their scoring irons and wedges. They often can’t hit a long iron consistent distances anyway. It would be much better for their game to have smaller gaps in the short irons and wedges.

But that doesn’t “sell” apparently when you’re hitting 7-irons on the monitor and just want the longest one. You often see tour pros testing new clubs and saying the opposite, i.e. “This one goes too far, not enough spin, don’t like it.”

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Bob

Oct 27, 2022 at 12:43 am

No. Irons need to be spaced, non-redundant, predictable, reduce distance and direction volatility, perform on mishits, and fill all the gaps between woods and wedges. Take care of these and it’s amazing how much better they look.

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Paul Runyan

Oct 26, 2022 at 10:15 pm

Or my old set of Haigs with the PW loft of 50 degrees!

I’m looking at a new set of irons for next year. Standard old lofts of 27 degrees for a 5 iron, 46 degrees on the PW. Works well on my 919Tours. And a Ping TiTec 7 wood from with an A flex shaft for height and distance I’ve had for 20 years or so. Tiny head too! What’s wrong with that!?

Considering a new set from TXG with Mizuno MP 20’s or MMC’s.

Some 6 irons are now 4 irons with a length of a 5 wood.

Why don’t we just have a 6 iron contest and forget about playing golf?!

Just take another club, I say.

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Rory

Oct 26, 2022 at 10:06 pm

You have a 3 wood and a lob wedge and typically 10 clubs to fill that gap. Does not really matter what they are called as long as the gapping is good

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MICHAEL

Oct 26, 2022 at 8:15 pm

With iron lofts getting stronger every year, I’m already planning for my new iron set in 2030. The eight irons I will carry w/b a 7 iron @ 24 deg, an 8 @ 27 deg, a 9 @ 31 deg, a PW @ 35 deg & 4 Gap wedges to make up the rest of my bag up to my sand wedge.

Why doesn’t the usga require that ‘lofts #’s’ & not just useless club #’s are stamped on every iron? Then comparisons can be meaningful.

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Martien

Oct 26, 2022 at 4:14 pm

The road leads to single length irons .

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Steve

Oct 26, 2022 at 11:53 am

Terry, what is your take on the newer iron design with respect to handling the in between distances on iron shots? I find that a choked down 9 iron or wedge goes almost the exact same distance as a regular shot. How does the current iron design affect the ability to adjust the distance you can hit an iron?

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Bobby G

Oct 26, 2022 at 11:24 am

It’s fun to hit the ball a mile. But scoring is best when you know your distances inside 150. If you have four clubs that you take a full swing and know it will go 150, 135, 120 or 105, that’s more valuable for amateurs than hitting your shortest wedge 150. If your irons are longer then you have to make up for the short yards with less than full swings. Takes a lot of practice to develop that touch.

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