In keeping with the video above (Apex Tour test) on Jon and Xander talking about the new players irons in the Apex Pro Series, I thought it was appropriate to chat about players irons. Specifically, WHY should you play them (or not)?

If you’re like me, you frequently get people who say “I wish I was good enough to play those”, or “Why would anyone play those?”. Who knows, maybe that 10 handicapper IS good enough. It’s all about the consistency of the ball striking. 

If you’re my age or older, you probably grew up playing blades. We didn’t have a lot of choices back then. Had to take the horse and buggy to the golf course, they cut the “grass” with sheep, we used mounds of dirt for tees… Haha. I’m not quite that old, but some days it feels like it. Back when I was younger, cavity back irons were just becoming a thing. Lob wedges and gap wedges were not around yet. Golf balls used rubber bands for cores. Woods were wood. I had a pass to play county golf courses for $1 a day. (All true). But we played blades style irons. Because… that’s the way clubs were made then.

What’s a blade? A blade is a club that doesn’t have any perimeter weighting – no weight taken from the middle area of the club head and strategically placed around the outside. Some clubs can look like a blade (like Rogue Pro, or the new Apex Pro 24), but because it’s a hollow body design, it still has perimeter weighting. Perimeter weighting is what makes a club a “Cavity back”. The absence of that is called a “muscle back” or a “blade”. Perimeter weighting takes mass from the center of the club and moves it to the exterior. Doing this makes the sweet spot larger, which makes the club head more forgiving. This sounds like an easy one. Why wouldn’t everyone want to play a club that is more forgiving??

The answer is simple and complex. First, the simple answer. Most people would (and should) be better off playing a club with a cavity back. Todays players are brought up playing clubs that are forgiving, and there is minimal (or no) distance penalty for not hitting the center of the club face, so they learn to strike the ball in a manner that is not as precise as it was years ago. I know, I know, before you go ballistic on me for saying that… I’m not saying that older players were better than the players of today. What I am saying is that ball striking is a skill that has gone away, and many players today never learn it because they don’t have to. Some do, and they become elite players. 

With blades, you learn to be a better ball striker. You had to – You either hit the center of the club face or you don’t. If you don’t the ball goes nowhere. If you do, your hands experience heavenly bliss. Back in the day, missing the center of the face by 1/2″ on a blade will cost you about 15% of your distance. Think about that – your 150 yard 7 iron that you missed by 1/2″ will go 127 yards. No one can play golf with that miss. In the old days, we learned to hit it more centered because we had to. The elite players are still great ball strikers no matter their age, and when we talk about “blades”, this is who we are talking about.

So, why play a blade, or a smaller cavity back iron, and not a massive oversized cavity back iron? 

The smaller the club head, the more concentrated the sweet spot. The more concentrated the sweet spot, you will find two things – the feel when you hit the center of the face is amazing (and terrible when you don’t), AND, the distance consistency on center strikes is more consistent. Much more consistent. The larger, oversized cavity back will sacrifice those two things for forgiveness, and often distance. This, you can take to the bank… The trade off in club head design is feel and consistency vs. forgiveness and distance. Period. Boom. 

If you say “why wouldn’t everyone want more distance and forgiveness?” or “who cares about feel?” The answer is most people NEED forgiveness and distance and can’t feel the difference anyway. The makes the oversized cavity back club more consistent for them too. That is not the consistency I’m talking about, though. I can see the old timers nodding their heads…

Consider this. Pretend you are a tour player. Feels good, doesn’t it? Haha. Wake up now. Imagine that you have a 165 yard shot. You put your 165 swing with your 165 yard club and the ball goes 165 yards. Life is good, right. With a cavity back, that might go to +/- 2 yards (but… it will correct for a little bit of a directional miss (right or left)). An oversized cavity back? Maybe +/- 5 yards. To most of us, +/- 2 yards is no big deal. We’re still putting, right?? To a tour player?? 165 is 165. 167 is not good enough. The difference between hitting it on top of a plateau or into the face of it, or having 6 feet for birdie instead of 12 feet – over the course of a PGA Tour season is a very, VERY big deal. Do you think Jon or Xander step up to a shot and think “I hope I don’t bottom groove this one.”  Laughable, but of course not. They KNOW they are going to hit it on the center of the face. Every time. WHY would a player of this caliber settle for anything less precise?

You don’t fit tour players. I get that. But you do fit some pretty good players. If you fit someone with great distance control and solid center strikes, give them the option of a blade or a players cavity back. See what happens. You BOTH might be surprised. They might thank you for it. You can HELP a good player with a less forgiving club.

I’ll leave you with a story. I took the new Apex Pro out on Saturday afternoon. I dropped 4 balls and hit all with the same iron. Somehow, I hit all for good. When I got to the green, all 4 were in a straight line, the same distance. Next tee was a par 3. I hit one ball from each of the 4 tee markers. All four shots were in a straight line. I know my yardage, I played the shot to the yardage, hit a good shot, and got the distance I expected. THIS is why you play a good players golf club if you are a good ball striker. I miss hit shots all the time, BUT, when I hit them good, I want to know how far – exactly – are they going to fly. If I know how far they fly, I can put an easy swing on it and it won’t go past that. I know that – I’m not trying to hit a 7 iron as far as I can… I’ll hit it more in the center of the face because I’m not trying to over do it. I want that 165 yard club to go 165. If I know the distance, all I have to worry about is keeping the face square. 

Irons are about distance control and distance consistency. Perhaps a player needs a LITTLE directional help (like me), so a players cavity back (like the new Apex Pro 24) makes sense. Maybe they don’t need any and the MB makes sense. Or, maybe they need a LOT and Rogue Max OS makes sense. Choose the right wrench for a player to achieve this for them. It’s up to you to find the right balance. 

I hope this helps!! Happy fitting, happy retaining, and happy selling.