OK, I'm Ready to Experiment . . .

[SoonerBS]

As most know, I bought Mizuno 52s a year and a half ago which eventually led to me buying 67 and 33 blades and playing them. I still have all three sets and play them regularly (usually based on the ground moisture conditions). I have dropped my consistent scores from the mid 90s to the low 80s now. So, now, according to some of the posters on here and what they have posted and experienced, if I start playing GI clubs now, I should experience more GIRs and a lot more forgiveness. While there is NO WAY I am ever giving up my Mizunos, I am willing to be a guinea pig for this experiment. So, . . . . . . .

I am currently looking at purchasing one of two sets of irons:

1.) PING I3+ irons with CS Lite Stiff steel shafts (these are the kind with the reduced head and less offset). Or, . . .

2.) Nickent 3DX Pro Irons with Nippon 1180 Stiff shafts (I actually had a set of these 3 years ago, but didn't drop my score any with them. But, of all the hacker shovels I have ever had to play with, these were the best feeling set.)

Probably the choice will depend on the best deal I get.

My hypothesis is that I will NOT golf any better with these hacker shovels than I do my current sets. But, I'm willing to find out.

[lorenzoinoc]

I keep hearing alot of highly positive buzz about new Ping irons Hunter Mahan is playing that are coming out soon.

[Pky6471]

Play what works best for us... blades or POS CB, if they feel good then,,, just do it...

[Horseballs]

This may sound blasphemous, but I really like the look of those new Adams Black Series irons. Both the blade and CB. I probably should have used an alias to post this. If I had one that is...

[lorenzoinoc]

This may sound blasphemous, but I really like the look of those new Adams Black Series irons. Both the blade and CB. I probably should have used an alias to post this. If I had one that is...

Let me get this straight. You're bagging MP-32-s, playing scratch golf or thereabouts, taking down good college players and you want to change to some Adams irons? At least you got rid of that sucky Nike putter.

[famousdavis]

As most know, I bought Mizuno 52s a year and a half ago which eventually led to me buying 67 and 33 blades and playing them. I still have all three sets and play them regularly (usually based on the ground moisture conditions). I have dropped my consistent scores from the mid 90s to the low 80s now. So, now, according to some of the posters on here and what they have posted and experienced, if I start playing GI clubs now, I should experience more GIRs and a lot more forgiveness. While there is NO WAY I am ever giving up my Mizunos, I am willing to be a guinea pig for this experiment. So, . . . . . . .

I am currently looking at purchasing one of two sets of irons:

1.) PING I3+ irons with CS Lite Stiff steel shafts (these are the kind with the reduced head and less offset). Or, . . .

2.) Nickent 3DX Pro Irons with Nippon 1180 Stiff shafts (I actually had a set of these 3 years ago, but didn't drop my score any with them. But, of all the hacker shovels I have ever had to play with, these were the best feeling set.)

Probably the choice will depend on the best deal I get.

My hypothesis is that I will NOT golf any better with these hacker shovels than I do my current sets. But, I'm willing to find out.

The best deal you get will depend on how the irons perform so of course you should go with the Pings. Besides, who wants to play with a club called Nickent?

[emmanmin]

You could always call Daveperkins to find out what is in his bag. You could maybe drop about 12 strokes, but if you must have newness in the bag Ping is coming out with the anser forged which looks really tempting.

[SoonerBS]

The best deal you get will depend on how the irons perform so of course you should go with the Pings. Besides, who wants to play with a club called Nickent?

They put in the best shafts in golf. Having played them before, I know what I'd be getting with the Nickents. For a cavity back, they DO have exceptional good feel as I remember (of course that could have had something to do with the shaft).

If I get the PINGs, they come in 2iron--U wedge. They are also green dot which fits me. I would have to add an inch to each shaft though.

[Horseballs]

Let me get this straight. You're bagging MP-32-s, playing scratch golf or thereabouts, taking down good college players and you want to change to some Adams irons? At least you got rid of that sucky Nike putter.

No, I'm not personally looking to replace my irons. I'm very comfortable with those irons even though they are beat to absolute sh!t after 5.5 seasons.

[lorenzoinoc]

No, I'm not personally looking to replace my irons. I'm very comfortable with those irons even though they are beat to absolute sh!t after 5.5 seasons.

At some point grooves matter. The KZG ZO-s are the most similar to the 32-s of anything I've hit.

[Pottsy]

Why not try the Callaway X22 irons or the X22 tours! They look pretty good and come in uniflex shafts if you want game improvement!!

I would honestly say that although I love blades and forged irons you need to move away from them and start playing GI clubs!

[lorenzoinoc]

Hey Pottsy, welcome to the board! Callaway irons are considered to be chopper clubs around here!! Maybe that's unfair but that's the way it is!

Well, I've got to go, I've got some work to do!

[SoonerBS]

Why not try the Callaway X22 irons or the X22 tours! They look pretty good and come in uniflex shafts if you want game improvement!!

I would honestly say that although I love blades and forged irons you need to move away from them and start playing GI clubs!

I played a set of X-18 irons for a year and they never did anything for me.

Nothing has the feel like forged blades . . . . . . . nothing. But, I am willing to experiment.

[Pky6471]

I played a set of X-18 irons for a year and they never did anything for me.

Nothing has the feel like forged blades . . . . . . . nothing. But, I am willing to experiment.

Have you tried Tiger's wife? it must be much better than forged blades

[lorenzoinoc]

Have you tried Tiger's wife? it must be much better than forged blades

I suspect Elin was as mad about her not getting any as she was that Tiger's skanks were.

Classic wife/mother on a pedastal in ivory white and not for sex because the guy needs sex to be freaky syndrome (not being critical).

[Pky6471]

beautiful girl could be very poor in bed... not sure if it's the case here, I think she's a sweet girl... but only a guess... and too much temptation when Tiger is out on tours and hangs around with bad boys like Sir Charles and MJ... I hope all the best for Tiger and his wife... I just hate to see a breakup for stupid mistake like that... It would be more bearable for his wife if he just had sex with prostitutes than having multiple lovers... No women can forgive that

[Pottsy]

Hey Thanks for the welcome!!

I think it is probably a bit unfair to label ALL Callaway irons "chopper" clubs although I understand why you would think this way.

As you can see I play the X Forged 2009 irons and they have the look and feel of blades. In the past I have played Mizuno TP Original, TP-9 and MP33 as well as Callaway X Tours. All nice clubs and the X Forged are nicer than them all and easier to hit.

I play off 2 (1.9) in the UK and have played at a good level all of my life and at one point could not see me using Callaways but the forged irons they are bringin out now are simply top notch. The prototype blades are orgasmic!!

Anyway I look forward to adding to the forum and no doubt getting into a few heated debates with you guys!!

[Not a hacker]

As most know, I bought Mizuno 52s a year and a half ago which eventually led to me buying 67 and 33 blades and playing them. I still have all three sets and play them regularly (usually based on the ground moisture conditions). I have dropped my consistent scores from the mid 90s to the low 80s now. So, now, according to some of the posters on here and what they have posted and experienced, if I start playing GI clubs now, I should experience more GIRs and a lot more forgiveness. While there is NO WAY I am ever giving up my Mizunos, I am willing to be a guinea pig for this experiment. So, . . . . . . .

I am currently looking at purchasing one of two sets of irons:

1.) PING I3+ irons with CS Lite Stiff steel shafts (these are the kind with the reduced head and less offset). Or, . . .

2.) Nickent 3DX Pro Irons with Nippon 1180 Stiff shafts (I actually had a set of these 3 years ago, but didn't drop my score any with them. But, of all the hacker shovels I have ever had to play with, these were the best feeling set.)

Probably the choice will depend on the best deal I get.

My hypothesis is that I will NOT golf any better with these hacker shovels than I do my current sets. But, I'm willing to find out.

This one's a no brainer Sooner. One set is universally renowned as being over priced SGI POS CB hacker shovels, and which defy logic to still hold their value on fleabay, the other are from a defunct company which never attained any level of buzz and have been hard to give away on ebay for the last few years. So if price is an issue it's gonna be Nickent, unless you plan to go through the hassle of re selling the Pings when you realise they are what was described above. I haven't hit the Nickents but I've always liked the look of them and regret not buying a set about a year and a half ago when they were going brand new for $300 AUD. They are a players cavity with very nice shafts as well. The only thing that may sway you to Ping is that your experiment is to use a set of SGI shovels, and the Nickents are probably very similar to your 52s as far as GI goes. Anyway I'll be interested to see how you go either way. If your scores are better than previously it is scientific proof that using GFF improves your game, and confirms the long held GR hypothesis that GFF blades are actually the real game improvement irons.

[rooboy]

Hey sooner, played in a comp yesterday with a guy who had ping i3 blades. I took one out of the bag and had a few swings with it and there was 3 things i noticed......
1/ They look good in the bag but when you sit the head on the ground they still look like an ugly ping club
2/ Ping shouldn't call them blades cause theyre not!
3/ They felt very head heavy ( they had zz shafts i think).
Another guy in the group had tm burner 09's - they looked real good and weight wise felt great, and he hit them frikin miles. i'm always toying with getting irons - have you hit the mx 200's and if so how do they compare to the 52's?

[famousdavis]

Hey sooner, played in a comp yesterday with a guy who had ping i3 blades. I took one out of the bag and had a few swings with it and there was 3 things i noticed......
1/ They look good in the bag but when you sit the head on the ground they still look like an ugly ping club
2/ Ping shouldn't call them blades cause theyre not!
3/ They felt very head heavy ( they had zz shafts i think).
Another guy in the group had tm burner 09's - they looked real good and weight wise felt great, and he hit them frikin miles. i'm always toying with getting irons - have you hit the mx 200's and if so how do they compare to the 52's?

The Ping i3 blade is a lot closer to a blade than the Taylormade Burner. Of course he hit them a long way, the PW is 45 degrees and each shaft is a half inch over standard (atleast). The best club ever made is the Ping Eye 2. Sooner, that's the iron you should try.

I went to the range yesterday with a 3,5 & 7 iron of the Ping Eye 2, Callaway Big Bertha 2002 and the Titleist 990. The 7 iron was similar amongst all the brands but where the Ping Eye 2 really stands apart is with the 3 & 5 iron. The Callaway irons tend to float up a little and lose distance. The Titleist 990 long irons are obviously harder to hit but feel fantastic when hit well. However, nothing (and I do mean nothing) feels as good as a flushed Ping Eye 2 iron . Sooner, just try out the long irons and you'll see what I mean. It may take you a few rounds to get used to the lighter weight (since you've been playing Mizunos) but you will see what I mean with the longer irons. The Ping i3 doesn't feel as good as the Eye 2.

[SoonerBS]

I put a bid in on the Nickents. If I don't get them, I'm not going to worry about it because I am hitting my MP-52s very well (it's the freaking putting that is killing me right now).

Rooboy, you are exactly right on your impressions of the Ping I3s. I have hit them before and even played a few rounds with them and was not real impressed. However, that was back whenever I was searching for a golf game with GI irons and couldn't find one. Now, that I have developed a good swing, I was mostly wondering if GI irons would make an even bigger difference. I might find out, and I might not.

[oldplayer]

The Ping i3 blade is a lot closer to a blade than the Taylormade Burner. Of course he hit them a long way, the PW is 45 degrees and each shaft is a half inch over standard (atleast). The best club ever made is the Ping Eye 2. Sooner, that's the iron you should try.

I went to the range yesterday with a 3,5 & 7 iron of the Ping Eye 2, Callaway Big Bertha 2002 and the Titleist 990. The 7 iron was similar amongst all the brands but where the Ping Eye 2 really stands apart is with the 3 & 5 iron. The Callaway irons tend to float up a little and lose distance. The Titleist 990 long irons are obviously harder to hit but feel fantastic when hit well. However, nothing (and I do mean nothing) feels as good as a flushed Ping Eye 2 iron . Sooner, just try out the long irons and you'll see what I mean. It may take you a few rounds to get used to the lighter weight (since you've been playing Mizunos) but you will see what I mean with the longer irons. The Ping i3 doesn't feel as good as the Eye 2.

I can testify brother!!
The ping eye 2 long irons are the best performing and easiest to hit of ANY I have used. I particularly love the 2 iron also and the last round I played I hit it twice for long approach shots from 180+ meters out. I hit both greens.

[daveperkins]

As most know, I bought Mizuno 52s a year and a half ago which eventually led to me buying 67 and 33 blades and playing them. I still have all three sets and play them regularly (usually based on the ground moisture conditions). I have dropped my consistent scores from the mid 90s to the low 80s now. So, now, according to some of the posters on here and what they have posted and experienced, if I start playing GI clubs now, I should experience more GIRs and a lot more forgiveness. While there is NO WAY I am ever giving up my Mizunos, I am willing to be a guinea pig for this experiment. So, . . . . . . .

I am currently looking at purchasing one of two sets of irons:

1.) PING I3+ irons with CS Lite Stiff steel shafts (these are the kind with the reduced head and less offset). Or, . . .

2.) Nickent 3DX Pro Irons with Nippon 1180 Stiff shafts (I actually had a set of these 3 years ago, but didn't drop my score any with them. But, of all the hacker shovels I have ever had to play with, these were the best feeling set.)

Probably the choice will depend on the best deal I get.

My hypothesis is that I will NOT golf any better with these hacker shovels than I do my current sets. But, I'm willing to find out.

The Nickents are actually superb. I put them on an equal footing with my Adams Idea Pro Forged, with the caveat that I'd probably extend shafts 1/2" or so, as they are standard (read SHORT) lengths.. 37.75" five iron, etc. You and me are both six feet four, sooner, so you know what I"m talking about.

If I woke up tomorrow morning and had nickent 3dx pro heads on the ends of my current iron shafts I would not miss a beat. And I dont' care if they're not forged. They look good, feel good and are workable. They probably 'click' less than my new MMB forged heads, so its all about materials and design anyway. I'd compare the Nickent to an R7 TP, another nonforged iron head that feels good anyway. But the Nickent has the tungsten plug in the hitting area, surrounded by rubber, so it has a nice soft feel to it.

as to the i3, I've been considering a set already.. you probably stole that idea from me.. :-)

[daveperkins]

This may sound blasphemous, but I really like the look of those new Adams Black Series irons. Both the blade and CB. I probably should have used an alias to post this. If I had one that is...

if I grow stupid enough to pay something like retail, I'd jump on a set of the CB1 Adams in a heartbeat.. the profile at address is exactly the same as the one I've been looking at for three years, clean and perfect.. and once you go black.....................

[lm0159]

Sooner,

I have gone in the opposite direction, that is to say recently purchased MP52, having spent 4 years on Mizuno's semi GI MX 25 - I have only ever played Mizuno, so can't comment fairly on the benefits of some of the other clubs mentioned, what I can say is that the MX 25s are most excellent, I have gone from Mid High 80s to mid high 70s this season, which is why I changed to MP, but it was MX which got me there, and for that I will be forever grateful. I have kept my MX 25s because I know that if all else fails I can put them back in the bag and start hitting greens again.

I believe Mizuno have superceded them with MX-200, but am led to believe there is no real difference between the two; similarly I understand that the predecesor MX 23, was even better than the aforementioned - better largely because they looked prettier at address.

I reckon you can pick up a decent set of MX 25s for a few hundred dollars, or a couple of hundred GBP - a decent price, if it's only an experemint.

[The Purist]

I have both the MP67s and the Ping i3+s.

I have been playing the i3+s almost exclusively the last 6 months. My iron play has been incredibly consistent, but my driver kept getting worse. I pulled out the 67's last week at the range for the first time, and hit about 50 balls...I couldn't find my swing. I went the next day, and slowly started to remember some of the swing thoughts for striking these clubs. After finally getting my iron swing down, I switched to driver and started hitting it better than I have in months.

2 lessons here:

MP67's have incredible feedback. These clubs force you to make a good swing, and the benefits really transfer well to the driver and other long clubs.

Its amazing how forgiving the I3+s are. I have been playing with some serious swing flaws for the last couple months, and my iron game never suffered. I can't tell you how many times I have felt myself make a bad swing, cuss myself, an then find the ball still hits the green.

I would suggest practicing with your MP67's 75% of the time (25% with the Pings), and playing with your 67s 25% or the time (75% with the Pings). This way you will stay relatively tuned up, but not have to pay that severe of a penalty when the swing breaks down.

[SoonerBS]

I have both the MP67s and the Ping i3+s.

I have been playing the i3+s almost exclusively the last 6 months. My iron play has been incredibly consistent, but my driver kept getting worse. I pulled out the 67's last week at the range for the first time, and hit about 50 balls...I couldn't find my swing. I went the next day, and slowly started to remember some of the swing thoughts for striking these clubs. After finally getting my iron swing down, I switched to driver and started hitting it better than I have in months.

2 lessons here:

MP67's have incredible feedback. These clubs force you to make a good swing, and the benefits really transfer well to the driver and other long clubs.

Its amazing how forgiving the I3+s are. I have been playing with some serious swing flaws for the last couple months, and my iron game never suffered. I can't tell you how many times I have felt myself make a bad swing, cuss myself, an then find the ball still hits the green.

I would suggest practicing with your MP67's 75% of the time (25% with the Pings), and playing with your 67s 25% or the time (75% with the Pings). This way you will stay relatively tuned up, but not have to pay that severe of a penalty when the swing breaks down.

Here is my set playing strategy that I have been sticking to:

1.) I practice with the MP-33s because they are the most harsh of all the groups. They are super sweet whenever you hit the ball right, but they are a son of a biatch if you do not.

2.) I game my MP-67s whenever we are having drier conditions. We have red clay soil here in Oklahoma where I live. Whenever it is dry, it is hard. The thinner sole on the 67s plays better on harder ground.

3.) Whenever it is wet, like it has been here for the last two weeks, I play the MP-52s because of the wider soles.

I will NOT be giving up my Mizuno sets for anything. I just want to go back to the Nickents and see if I hit them any better now that I have developed a more sound swing. I loved the feel of the Nickents whenever I played them a couple of years back, but with the swing I had back then, I never knew where the ball was going.

[lorenzoinoc]

For a period of time, I used a cookie cutter to make gnocchii. Sure, every gnocchi noodle.was nearly perfect, but they lost that hand-crafted specialness. I could also sense my guests were a little disappointed and it started to affect the rest of my cooking. But ever since I went back to hand cutting the gnocchi, the joys of cooking seem to have returned, and so has my scoring.

[SoonerBS]

I didn't win either set. The experiment will have to be put on hold for a while.