Mark Crossfield golf professional, reviews the Zforged irons and asks the question, are blades dead?
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Welcome to the Mark Crossfield Golf Channel! If you’re looking for world-class golf instruction and honest equipment reviews, you’ve come to the right place.
Mark is the original professional golfer content creator with a passion for helping others improve their game. On this channel, you’ll find various videos featuring golf tips, advice, and drills to help you play better golf and reduce your handicap. From fixing your slice and hook to driving the golf ball longer and straighter and improving your ball striking, Mark has over 25 years of coaching expertise to help you become a better golfer.
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44 Comments
That's one of the problems I see with the tour players now and why they have the issues with distance…
There all switching to hybrids and helpful easy to hit clubs…
Wouldn't need to "roll the ball back"
If they all had rickie fowler sized blades from 1 iron down and a driver that didn't have a sweet spot the size of the entire face like we need…😄
1:23 lol
For me the only thing blades will do "better" is being able to hit different launch angles without the added weight for high launch. But the fact most of us have terrible strike control is the bigger issue
Srixon player here and huge fan of the brand. Had a look at these yesterday and damn they are gorgeous. Building my first combo set ever this year coming off the 785's which I've loved and still do. Love the new line up but I wish some how Srixon could get the MKII ZX 7 closer to the topline of the Zforged(without sacrificing their playability of course). They are so clean and sexy looking. Combo set that's incoming from my fitting is the MKII ZX5 in the 5 & 6 iron, 7-PW in the MKII ZX7. One day when I have money to burn for a secondary set I plan on buying a set of blades just for fun and to have them with no delusions that I should actually be gaming them.
Mp20 mixed set is the titts. Mmc 7.6.5 pw.9.8
The counter point could be made about how Pros want to squeeze any advantage out. The weekend warrior doesnt have lively hood on the line so play whatever makes you happy on the course. i feel like its easier to flight blades though
Been waiting for weeks for mine …. totally amazing blades of today …. been using the previous model for 4 years…. won't back off Srixon Blades any day soon…. that brand is simple miles ahead of other brands….
Oh Mark, PLEASE drop the tacky thumbnails of shocked YouTuber face! EVERYONE does this, thought you were different and a step above! Do like your videos though 😊
The most important reason is dispersion front to back. It's +/- 2 yards on well struck shots. It goes the number.
I don't want to play blades, but I don't want to look down at game improvement clubs that look and sound like you're handling a crescent wrench. For me, the perfect irons are the thinnest possible top line with minimal offset, but as forgiving as possible otherwise.
Love the look of blades. I don't play them but love the look and feel. I went for what I feel is close to a blade in the T100 moving from more of a game improvement iron and since moving to the smaller head, I've shaved several shots off my handicap. I'm all for playing what you like and what gives you confidence. Sure, you lose a little bit of you can't consistently hit close to the middle, but a chunk is a chunk and a thin is a thin no matter what iron you're playing although you may not break your hands thinning a game improvement iron. Those z forged are gorgeous
I have the taylormade RAC old but refurbished new shafts grips ect, used cavity back clubs, but I found that I don't have to swing my blades to hard, as I had to with the cavity back clubs, yes blades aren't as forgiving but for me they were the progression from using blade wedges.
To be honest whatever irons you use and you enjoy them don't worry about it
My numbers with an MB are better than anything out there. With that being said, those perfect strikes that give me those numbers are around 7 out of 10 strikes. That bit of help drops a few strokes over a round. T100s are in the bag, but I ALWAYS have a set of MB’s ready to roll and I absolutely love playing an MB.
I hit my MP-18s off the toe all day long and the shots are amazing. I don’t know why people think blades aren’t forgiving.
I'm combo-ing a MB in the P to 8 and CB 7 to 4… Not sure there's that much difference in "forgiveness", but clearly launch tends to be lower in the MB, then CB, then hollow, then pure SGI… Which is why I do "need" blades in the short, scoring clubs… I hit a HIIIIGHHH draw with loads of spin, which in the wind is (at times) a bit harder to control. Plus, let's be honest, I love the feel and the look.
Just starting to get back into golf after a few year hiatus. Should I get back into playing a few rounds and take some lessons before getting fitted? Or, should I get fitted first. Basically, when is the proper time to get to get fitted for clubs?
If they came in lefty, I would have a set on the bag. I prefer the cleaner look of the older Z Forged. I didn't like the lack of face feel in a hollow body club. The blade requires me to put a proper swing on it.
I think instead of rolling back the golf ball, tour pros should have to play mb's if they are going to do anything
Those kinda look like the old Mizuno Zoid Pro's… only so much can change in terms of looks on bladed style clubs.
Jacked up faces & new balls had need to be brought back to conform with courses / My 1989 Muirfields give me the same performance
I only play old blades. I tried many times to play cavity backs and game improvements, but they all make my misses way bigger, especially the flyer going over the green. The great thing with old blades is my misses are kept under control. So yes, a blade is difficult to hit pure, but my scores are thanking me for playing them.
Mark I’ve enjoyed a lot of your content over the years but you seem really hellbent on disparaging the blades in this video, and it doesn’t make any sense considering the highly consistent numbers you’re getting from them. On top of that, you rave about the feel of them after almost every swing with the Z-Forged.
It’s hard to see how a professional like yourself could be dissatisfied with ( checks notes ) a THREE YARD DISPERSION!!! And you say it out loud in the video that your ZX4’s produce long misses in a way that the blades never do. We even see one at the end when your ZX4 sails over the 16th pin by nearly 20 yards and winds up deep on the 17th tee box.
I really don’t think you’ve given the blades a fair shake here. Plenty of golfers would benefit from using irons that give predictable results on reasonably good strikes. A bad swing is a bad swing with any club, but if the good swings with big game improvement models randomly produce mega-fliers that overshoot the target, what gives?
High handicappers .. if I see a blade sitting behind the ball I feel I can get the club under the ball & get it in the air. big chunky irons it looks like there is no way humanly possible I can get the ball in the air. I'm bad w/ both irons so should I atleast play w/ what looks good
If my paycheck depended on my golf performance I would get as much help as possible. But I get paid to fix aircraft engines, so I just use the clubs I like for golfing
2023 Z Star XV ball would be an interesting review
I play 3 sets of quality golf blades & I love them. I have no interest in playing those ugly perifial power bats.
Twenty plus years ago,
"Blades are dead"
"Forged is out"
There will always be a market for those kinds of irons. Personally I appreciate the variety nowadays, just not the steep price tags.
Please make a video comparison between your zx4 and the blades. What club will have the tighter dispersion??
What about consistency?? I moved back to blades because I was getting more jumpers and more spread in distances with game improvement irons. I know you mentioned it but a 10 yards spread vs a 3 yard spread is a pretty big difference.
When that vast majority of the best players in the world don't play blades, now have 7-woods, and are reaching for even chunkier long irons, you have to wonder why amateurs don't take notes and follow suit…
2 each they on but it only matters what score card says at end of day
I’d go with a more forgiving iron because your not going be 100% everyday
And the blade look is just nostalgia if hybrid and thick clubs was the look back in the day people would flock to that classy look
Go with what you really like and feel and what plays best for you and don’t let other determine what you like
still rocking some MS3’s nothing feels like a well struck blade!
Great review and really good points. The MKII look amazing. Your point at the end about them still being relevant in a combo world is bang on the money. As a 10hdcp im using a blended set ZX7 5-8, Zforged MKI 9-PW and love it. Not much diff ZX7 9-PW, but chose Zforged as theres just such a nice feeling using and seeing those shiny lovely irons sitting in the bag! Im an average golfer and the zforged in 9-PW is totally fine, nothing to be scared about – to me no real diff than hitting your bog standard wedge like a 50deg vokey. I wouldnt touch a 5i though lol
It's still shocking to me how much Mark's opinion on irons is completely different than 4-5 years ago. So many old videos debunking "forgiveness" and actually encouraging more people to play weaker lofted bladey type irons. I don't really understand the 180 to now always preferring the chunkiest GI stuff.
Didn’t you do the MP-5 project and found that modern blades didn’t hurt your game?
Wow… Just beautiful… I’d totally say yes to these if I were in the market… and I would definitely blend with a long iron or two. I like having that feel 165 yds in… and I would trade it if I could hit better shots the longer I go. Great stuff Mark!!! Lovely blades…
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." *Thomas A. Edison
They're not dead because there are still plenty of egoists who have zero idea how a golf club actually works who will play them.
The usual argument is "workability," but that's nonsense. They're no more workable than are cavity-backed clubs.
Because a blade will veer left or right on a mis-hit, players get to thinking they're more workable. But that's only on mis-hits. Cavity-backed clubs will do a better job of saving mis-hits, but either can be used to fade or draw a ball.
A properly struck ball fades or draws based on the difference between the face and the swing path. This is true regardless of the construct of the club.
Thus, there is no reason–besides misplaced ego–for playing blades. Not even feel, since you can get forged cavity-backs and clubs with multi-metal designs.
Since m2 tour irons I have only played blades since. I was absolutely sick of the low spin knuckle balls that randomly appear with game improvement irons. What course is it ever good to fly the green on? I would rather be short off a mishit than long off a low spin knuckleball. My cap has only gone down since blades.
I suck I play +18 my putting is horrible and have no consistently with driver. I have zx4 and Taylor made 7mb blades. I also used to have the ones before Zx5 (z585 or something) I brought the zx4 to replace the z5’s for help to lower my score, but they hurt my game, they didn’t improve it. I already had 7mb blades I brought cause they looked cool. But I never used them except in a simulator. Anyway I took them out with me a couple times and have never looked back. Yes I struggle sometimes with the 5 iron but i struggle at that distance no matter what. So my conclusion is although I’m not great I prefer the blades I feel more confident, comfortable and I love the feeling.
I parked my ego decades ago. I use a forged face in a cavity back … best of both worlds and why would I make the game harder than it needs to be? 🙂
Finesse shots around the green, knock down and little runners are easier with irons that are not so hot (ime). But I guess you could practice it, but the disparity between specialist wedges and low/mid game improvement irons is something I struggle with. A blended set would help, but they are extremely difficult to buy in most retailers.
Looks like an old mizuno.
I use Cobra MB Forged blades and absolutely love them! I trust them so much more than my old GI Irons. No offset, no forgiveness no compromise. Granted you do lose yards when they aren't struck out of the middle but I would rather know when I'm not hitting them properly.