Wide sole irons

Printable View

  • 10-12-2008
    cpa5oh
    Wide sole irons
    I recently picked up a set of Golfsmith Snake Eyes Quick Strike III hybrids/irons...soles are wide on these. I'm looking for some consistency from irons...I have a sound swing but I do not practice enough to be a real consistently good ball striker. I don't swing way over the top or have a reverse pivot or anything like that...I just tend to catch the ball out on the toe, in on the heel, get a little chunky, and get a little thin - not major issues that cause shanks and duck hooks - just a push here, a pull there, and a little bit short. I'd say half the time I hit a well struck golf shot and half the time it is what I described. I want to minimize the effects of offcenter and chunky shots. I do not try to work the ball at all...and my shots pretty much all fly straight (though they may be pushed, pulled, or short half of the time.)

    Question I have is what the purpose of a wide sole is...even pros are using hybrids for long iron replacement, so I would guess that a wide sole iron is 'easier' to hit than a more narrow sole'd iron. I'm not sure why that is, though, and whether that's necessarily true with non-long irons (5-wedge.)

    Is it meant to keep you from digging and getting very fat? If that's the case, can that cause alot more thin shots? (club bouncing off the turf) Or is it purely meant to help get the ball airborne (which I do not have a problem with at all?)

    I was figuring that 'game improvement' meant that I'd be sacrificing the ability to work the ball (which I don't care about) for an ability to have offcenter hits give a satisfactory result.
  • 10-12-2008
    Home-slicer
    Wide soled irons, from what I've heard, is to prevent digging on fat shots. As a high handicapper and inconsistent ball striker, i've tried them and they did not help.
    Also the weight low on the club is to help the ball airborne. Also, not a problem for me.

    Alot of the new technology in irons is either a total myth or just geared towards seniors with 60 MPH swing speeds. Low profile "players" irons are just as easy to hit IMO.
  • 10-13-2008
    Pky6471
    I have the Callaway 2002 BB irons which IMO have wider sole than my Callaway X-16. I do not feel the difference (maybe sole not wide enough?). If I remember correctly , Callaway 2008 BB irons have much wider sole but I never try them. Colin M has used Callaway 2002 irons (I believe)
  • 10-13-2008
    david_dicks
    I play the Callaway Fusion Wide Soles... (I know, shovels... Step off!)
    However, my home course is a links style with waist deep natural grass if you get off the fairway. I love the widesoles for digging shots out of that crap.

    However, Even I can't really determine what the widesole really does on the five iron on up. Because although I believe it works for blasting out of the deep stuff, I don't know why you'd want to blast out of the deep stuff with anything with less loft than like a seven iron. Because believe me, it ain't going to work.

    Having said that. I wouldn't trade my Fusions for any other set out there. I really enjoy how stupid easy they are to hit.