Are 20 Year old Irons as Good as Todays? After an interesting conversation with one of my clients about his thoughts on whether or not he will look to upgrade his ageing irons, he thinks that his old clubs are as good as today’s versions. So I have my old set of Cobra SSi irons still and they were bought (by me) in 2003. I’m going to put them up against an unfair matchup, a Blade which should be massively less forgiving……. Lets see what the results are for forgiveness.
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39 Comments
Always like old vs. new comparisons!
That sole design on the old iron looks awesome
Love it, what a comparison. Another bang on production. The question for your client might be do I change to new game improvement irons or give blades (maybe forged players cavity) a place in the bag. Many golfers have never even tried forged irons let alone blades so don't know what they are missing. They just listen to people saying you can't hit that type of iron you aren't skilled enough and believe them forgetting everyone played blades at one time. If it was true no one would have taken the game up.
I compared my old Adams Ideatech 7 iron from my 2013 set or so against the new Mizuno 923 Hot Metal HL 7 iron and got great results! Senior with slow swing speed, 72.2 on 7 iron, the launch up almost 2 degrees and 16 yards more carry average on 5 shots! Was my first test since setting up my Simulator. Video on the Channel! Some old dude testing!
Jay this video makes no sense to me. As you say the blade is just a lump of metal – no technology just pure forged beauty. So how can it be as or more forgiving than the cavity, regardless of the age. It has less MOI, no VFT or other mechanism to protect off center strikes. In the absence of tech, are we supposed to conclude that it’s magic, or that it’s more forgiving purely as a result of being made 20 years later?! I really like your videos but there is something not quite right here IMO.
Test would have been more beneficial if you would have tested 20 year old game improvement irons to new game improvement irons. Blades vs cavity makes no sense. Please try making a new video comparing apples to apples.
Good stuff sir. I have the Mizuno JPX-900 Hot Metals and they are like cheating. Give me the old stuff that I grew up admiring. I love playing my old '78 Wilson Staff Tour Blades, '99 Mizuno T-Zoid Pros, and I'm not sure what their actual name is but I really enjoy playing my '82ish Dunlop/Maxfli wide soles radial design. Keep'em coming!
In the beginning, I didn’t get why you would compare blades to GI irons, but it ended up both surprising me and making a LOT of sense!! If it hadn’t been you, and me knowing how you approach things, I would probably never have spent the time – now I’m glad I did. Thanks for another great video, and for making us all learn along the way. 😊
My first reaction was…new blade vs old blade, same GI irons. But I was shocked how forgiving the bade was. My 225’s are very forgiving compared to the blade with fine feel. Happy camper, nice test..
Just curious. Why didn't you compare two game improvement clubs? It's kinda like apples and oranges isn't it? Not sure what the point of your experiment was.
Great video and I appreciate the amount of work it took to produce it. I will say this though from a personal perspective. When I'm struggling with my Mizuno 921 Tour irons, I break out my 35 year old Ping Eye 2 set and I find I almost can't miss no matter how bad my swing is. Due to loft differences the Ping irons are one club shorter but I do find them far easier to hit if the swing is off. That Ping set is my baby and I'll never get rid of them. They just feel so darn good.
Wish it were 221 comparision 😂
I sort of did the opposite of this test. I own Ping S55, and seen a really cheap mint set of MP-37 going and rushed to buy them as they are super rare. S300 shafts (130g) on them so utter pants, but the shaft is too heavy. Anyway, I pulled the KBS Tour 120 shaft from my S55 7 iron and plunked it into the MP-37 7 iron and swing weighted it to D2 as from factory. Hopefully this weekend it'll work the way I expect. The S55 is a great iron, but you could toe or heel them all day and not feel a single difference. They make your swing lazy.
Great comparison! I'm still using the Mizuno MX100's but my coach recommends I go into the Ping i230's… could you do a comparison between those please so I know if it's worth it?! would be great to see the difference between the two when someone who can actually hit the ball consistently swings them 😀
Great authoritative video. What I get out of this is that if one has old and rather ugly game improvement clubs, you can buy modern, gorgeous looking, blades and not suffer any drop in performance. Or you can buy slightly less ugly modern game improvement clubs and play better. Or you could buy something like Mizuno 225 Pros and have gorgeous looking clubs, and play better! Your statement that with the old clubs you have no idea where you are hitting the ball, is a bit of a downer if you don't have regular access to trackman type stuff.
Would the result have been the same with a modern GI club? Probably close. I love that you are not just spouting conventional wisdom but actually testing things. I love my Mizuno Pro 221s. Never felt they were any harder to hit than my previous JPX921 Forged irons.
Regardless of the GI v Blade discussion, to me, there seemed not a huge amount of difference compared to the fact that clubs that have hit probably 10,000 shots (minimum) can never perform the same as they did when they were new.. club performance deteriorates over time especially with serious golfers who use them on the range a lot. Surely this is an irrelevant test.
Still using my 20 yr old Maxfli A 10 Tour Ltd's wouldn't swap them for anything.
If my swing speed is 89 mph which it is for my irons. I hit my 0311p 7 iron 175 yards. I then take the same swing with an older cavity back 7 iron and my distance is 145 yards. Is that because of the advancements in technology or is it purely down to strike?
I am getting Cleveland Yas vibes from Cobra
Going from cast to blades is night and day. Once I got used to blades, the cast clubs felt heavy, clicky etc.
Good comparison.
You speak really well. Well done!!
Would love to see this with an actual mid to high handicapper who doesn’t have a repeatable swing like you. I get the mishits you were showing but would love to see someone like that try them.
I use hogan PTX irons today which are forged but with tech. I still have every set of clubs I’ve ever owned and have used them in my home sim. Even my 845’s from the 80’s give me lower dispersion rates than my Hogans. Mishits is where they perform better. I use my Hogans because I love the feel and they are slightly stronger lofted giving me the extra distance I need as I get older.
How bout a 20 yr old mid handicap iron v a current mid handicap iron??
Damn, this video is going to cost me big money, I am still gaming Mizuno T-Zoid Comp EZ. Maybe after seeing this video I can go get blades and not notice too much difference? What is the modern day equivalent to the irons I have now, they are so soft feeling? My irons now: all the forgiveness of a blade with the workability of a cavity back lol. 157 ball speed on driver 12 handicap
Sorry to be “ that guy” but….. I don’t think the comparison was a good one, although I totally understand you were working with what you had available. The Cobra was intended for mid/ high handicap golfers ,and let’s be honest they were not a good club even 20 years ago,the MP20 is a tour level blade. In the 90’s there was a big switch on tour away from blades to cavity backs , so there are plenty of older cast clubs that were used by the top players to choose from from. Comparing a ,loft for loft, Ping Eye 2 from forty years ago with the Mizuno might give some surprising results. Irrespective, I still enjoyed the test, thanks
New forged vs 20 year old cast. Not sure of the point
Not an apples to apples comparison.
Too bad you can’t test the heads with the same shaft. Not sure if the cobra had more shaft droop or a flatter lie but a less upright club can lead to a weaker shot. Although I would say with new grips and possibly refit the old clubs would be fine. Maybe put that money into lessons. A 20 year old wood is a problem tho. Go get a new driver/3 wood. I’m glad you actually breakdown club data
The shaft and grip technologies might be even better, especially graphite iron shafts. I think Recoil with Smacwrap are tops. Not much downside at all except for really strong swings. Just need to get them properly fit and swing weighted.
On, and great test with a shocking conclusion. Just think of all the seniors with vintage clubs we play with who are effectively playing blades. 😐
I play blades for feedback, not because I’m a great ball striker. I usually know where my ball will end up based on the feel of the shot. With cast cavity backs, I am not sure where the ball ended up without seeing it.
Interesting video.
Your comparing apples with oranges. Pointless video.
Remember people,it's not the club,it's the man swinging the club. If you haven't figured that out yet, you should take up gardening.
Apples and oranges, why not test 20 year old cavity back against modern cavity back? Waste of time
So are you telling me I am good enough to play blades??? 😂 Thank you always!
I see guys at my club playing excellent golf using 15 old irons every week
This is literally the question I was trying to figure out how to answer. Thank you so much.
Worthless video