Blade users thread (NO DEBATING CLUBHEADS! NO Buy Sell Trade!)

[Brokensticks]

On 6/28/2023 at 3:43 AM, Ger21 said:

Take a look at Srixon Z-945 or Z-965's. I moved from VR Pro's to Z-965's, and think the Srixon's are slightly better. They do have a little thicker topline, but are buttery soft, and very easy to hit.

Not doubting but for this club Im going for appearance first, feel and ”performance”/forgiveness. 
 

I really like the 681.AS and the longer blade length of P7TW which is why I chase it. 
 

Found a decent set of Nike VRs but the 8 iron is a little blackish on the face and R300 instead of S300 or a lighter shaft. Would want it abit lighter even if S300 performed great in the MP64s. 
 

Is it possible to make good restorations of gold heads without completly stripping and rebuilding?

[Bigmean]

7 hours ago, blades_are_life said:

💯

 

Accessory selection is always in service of that goal and should never be done without it in mind.

So back in the day, the whole cb/blade thing was Highly contested by each side.  In a nutshell, the above quote sounds good but some people would insist that because an mis hit on a cb let’s say goes 7 yards farther then the answer is always cb.  In practice, golf is weird.  Maybe a blade Miss keeps you out of a Nasty green trap, maybe it puts you in one.  Maybe a blade good shot is closer, maybe you miss the putt anyway….the variables and where par can come from are so vast that I believe (and others at time it started And now) that mental happy place trumps all tech (conforming) as that is your best Chance at putting your best swing on it.
 

Most people here own cbs and are not anti at all and we all use them when we feel like it or mentally feel we need a change to get it back on track.   So the real problem was other people telling blade golfers That their life experience with blades was wrong.  Don’t believe what you have seen type banter that would detract from productive Ho convos so the debating of this topic which is literally impossible to answer AND varies depending on individual and swing was banned.   We appreciate blades for what they are, and Understand what they aren’t,  and we are not out here trying shoot worse and playing things we deep down know will be a worse score….simply not happening, at least for me.  I’m always on that 80 cusp so 3 Shots matter a lot to me, if cbs wiped them it’s all I would play, duh….

 

 

 

[bryanwmilburn]

Just popping in to say that the Z Forged Mark 2 are my favorite irons I’ve ever owned. Highly, highly recommend 

[Nard_S]

2 hours ago, Bigmean said:

So the real problem was other people telling blade golfers That their life experience with blades was wrong.  Don’t believe what you have seen type banter that would detract from productive Ho convos

Yeah, guys who bag an MB 3X a year (that makes them an expert) and think their index equates to IQ. That type or the ones who in legit way were never even exposed to blades, because they just were not around them. So there's a horror story mythology surrounding use and that world view carries with them.

 

There's hard data on the differences and even if you love them it's warranted to understand those numbers and how it relates to yourself, because the reality is if you play them like you play CB's it doesn't work to full advantage. Took me years to get this.

 

 

[Bigmean]

Yeah nard, I also think age has to do with it.  I came up playing just as metalwoods came out.  At Some point seemingly around 2010 maybe (probably coinciding with marketing efforts promising big numbers and advantages as well as your guys switching that the golfers you mentioned came out of woodwork.

 

I have always thought of it like this.  If You can compress the ball consistently, If You generally have that ball first strike, then  you can play blades.  You don’t have to and maybe you shouldn’t or Wouldn’t want to,  but you could with no or negligible score difference provided you are not all over the face….which if you are compressing the ball consistently you probably are keeping between the grooves.  
 

 

 

[NRJyzr]

21 hours ago, Bigmean said:

Fun aside that is to this point.   My son saw the tour Taylor made “tour raylor” I have that I got from a tour player as a kid.  It’s that OG taylormade metal wood that is grey with “foam filled” on the toe and it is no joke. The size of a plum.   I should share a pic,  it is nuts.  So I am in flip flops watching him hit in garage as I am not hitting and showered,  he Gets a couple and I have to try.  First Two are rough.  3rd is the kind of rope I just can’t even hit with my 3 wood, like nutted 6 iron trajectory but Goes out 265.  To my sons request, I fail to get past 255 with about 10 from my 3 wood (913F circa 2013 for life!).  So here is like 20 years of tech, a freaking Tour Ad shaft vs some adila your X board of a shaft when graphite sucked,  and in sandals I took it 265.

 

If that's the club I think it is, the Aldila HM-40 shaft was one of the good ones.  I used to use one (shaft, not Raylor), back in the day...

 

[Bigmean]

30 minutes ago, NRJyzr said:

 

If that's the club I think it is, the Aldila HM-40 shaft was one of the good ones.  I used to use one (shaft, not Raylor), back in the day...

 

I will send photos.  I have saved the club forever cause it is so cool, I have gotten rid of a lot of the Clubs I got from him but this one is a Forever keeper.

[Nard_S]

23 minutes ago, Bigmean said:

Yeah nard, I also think age has to do with it.  I came up playing just as metalwoods came out.

Me too and learned on Wilson Staff's and always remembered how sweet they were. After a decade of Ping Eye's and DCI's went home to MB's.

 

Yeah agree if you have decent lean & compression, and yes, good speed is a plus , they are not all that much to handle.The ball makes it much easier too. Game is more tee ball and wedge/short iron than anything these days, hybrids own long side of bag, so the hang up about head type is a head scratch. Looking back wish I appreciated driver, wedge & putter more. 

[Bigmean]

Really good points especially on how the game is now.  I have evolved into a 5-pe cause I can hit my Hybrid high AF and 210-220 and much more consistently than a 3-4 iron so no brainer.  Again, big misnomer someone who plays blades isn’t very self aware and putting things in the bag that work better.

 

This group has heard All about my struggles and you also nailed golf now in your assessment.  I’m not anything more than decent with irons, my iron game is the most irrelevant part of my score.  So much so I was able to enjoy hoing sets at. No detriment!   If I hit 9/10 fairways I will probably break 80 with any 5-p.  If I hit 5 fairways I’m going to probably shoot an 83 that Looks like I tagged in a much better player from 50 yards and in and it will be such a stressful round that it isn’t Fun.  Drive For show is antiquated.  Drive For score is more accurate.  Putting always matters, and full shot wedges and pitching and Chipping is paramount.  If you are Good enough with those 3, your irons probably won’t become an issue until your cap gets in that sub 5 range.  

[picardyThird]

Ordered 221s a few weeks ago. Can't wait to join this thread when they arrive. Hopefully it doesn't take too long...

[braincramp52]

On 6/20/2023 at 9:15 PM, lefthack said:

So are these considered unicorns because they don't actually exist in nature? 🤣 

 

As far as I know, Miura never made the MB101 in lefty. These look incredible and I will be hitting them first thing tomorrow. 

As a fellow lefty, I hate you.😁

[Bigmean]

1 hour ago, braincramp52 said:

As a fellow lefty, I hate you.😁

I missed this, is it true there is a genuine lefty set and they didn’t officially produce a run in the mb001 in lefty?

 

I had Those for a minute in the heavy ho days, obviously solid.  As someone drawn to the miura feel even though I always think I want to play something softer, I always come back to muiras it seems.  It is actually weird to see it be a household name (not going to lie, I prefer people thinking my jdm and odd stuff is knockoff).  Miura also crush it in looks I think over Kyoei and Endo….subjective but to me it’s no contest.

[lefthack]

3 hours ago, Bigmean said:

I missed this, is it true there is a genuine lefty set and they didn’t officially produce a run in the mb001 in lefty?

 

I had Those for a minute in the heavy ho days, obviously solid.  As someone drawn to the miura feel even though I always think I want to play something softer, I always come back to muiras it seems.  It is actually weird to see it be a household name (not going to lie, I prefer people thinking my jdm and odd stuff is knockoff).  Miura also crush it in looks I think over Kyoei and Endo….subjective but to me it’s no contest.

 

I'm pretty sure these are cast as I can't imagine someone spending the money to forge lefty fake Miura's. I haven't hit them yet, but it was confirmed Miura never did a lefty MB-101.

 

I wish I could compare these to the real MB's to see if they match up. 

[blades_are_life]

11 hours ago, Bigmean said:

So back in the day, the whole cb/blade thing was Highly contested by each side.  In a nutshell, the above quote sounds good but some people would insist that because an mis hit on a cb let’s say goes 7 yards farther then the answer is always cb.  In practice, golf is weird.  Maybe a blade Miss keeps you out of a Nasty green trap, maybe it puts you in one.  Maybe a blade good shot is closer, maybe you miss the putt anyway….the variables and where par can come from are so vast that I believe (and others at time it started And now) that mental happy place trumps all tech (conforming) as that is your best Chance at putting your best swing on it.
 

Most people here own cbs and are not anti at all and we all use them when we feel like it or mentally feel we need a change to get it back on track.   So the real problem was other people telling blade golfers That their life experience with blades was wrong.  Don’t believe what you have seen type banter that would detract from productive Ho convos so the debating of this topic which is literally impossible to answer AND varies depending on individual and swing was banned.   We appreciate blades for what they are, and Understand what they aren’t,  and we are not out here trying shoot worse and playing things we deep down know will be a worse score….simply not happening, at least for me.  I’m always on that 80 cusp so 3 Shots matter a lot to me, if cbs wiped them it’s all I would play, duh….

So just like it is now, with the added inclusion of hollow body GI irons 😁

 

Yeah you do raise an interesting point about how the "shorter" miss is not necessarily the worse miss always, because of the randomness of the golf course. Even without this I have always agreed with the philosophy you state in the final sentence of that first paragraph ever since I came back to golf as an adult. If you do not like the club when you see it in your bag and pull it out of your bag and hold it in your hand and line it up behind the ball and make contact with the ball it simply should not be a club you are using. Happiness, contentment, satisfaction, love for the tools; these are the real bulwarks of performance.

[braincramp52]

7 hours ago, lefthack said:

 

I'm pretty sure these are cast as I can't imagine someone spending the money to forge lefty fake Miura's. I haven't hit them yet, but it was confirmed Miura never did a lefty MB-101.

 

I wish I could compare these to the real MB's to see if they match up. 

Oh, I feel better now knowing it's fake.😅

[Bigmean]

9 hours ago, lefthack said:

 

I'm pretty sure these are cast as I can't imagine someone spending the money to forge lefty fake Miura's. I haven't hit them yet, but it was confirmed Miura never did a lefty MB-101.

 

I wish I could compare these to the real MB's to see if they match up. 

Ok, I was going to say if they didn’t officially do a line but you had a set that came from there it would Probably have insane value in the lefty Community.   
 

That said I can’t wait to hear how the Ali baba ones feel as good and We are All taking sugar Pills hahahaha.

 

Edited June 30, 2023 by Bigmean

[Bigmean]

Once a Ho always a ho?

 

So in waiting for my recent purchases to come in for consolidated shipping I may as well get A putter right? Well all the putters up lately are meh to me, really all year save for a Yamada I liked that I let go at a fair price cause not a steal. So in searching for putters I found something else that is sorta hidden?  If it stays under the radar for 24 More hours I may be bringing in another set😬

 

spoiler alert, it Is CBs🤫

[SwingBlade]

I've been playing and loving my Miura CB 57's.  My back up travel set has been the MP 64's with that wonderful sole grind.  Recently, I've been working harder on my ball striking and the results have been good enough that I decided to take my pristine set of MP 33's out for a fun round.   To my total and complete surprise the MP 33's immediately became my new primary irons.  I absolutely can't believe how sweet they are and how consistently straight they allow the ball to fly with a slight draw or fade.   I was fully prepared to put them back in the box as treasured keepsakes of a bygone era that just weren't forgiving enough in this day of advanced tech irons.  Now I'm looking for another set of pristine MP 33's for the day I wear a hole in the vaunted Mizzy sweet spots.  A real plus is looking down at that beautiful surgical super thin top edge that I used to find so intimidating.  Now it just inspires confidence.  Who knew?

[lefthack]

42 minutes ago, SwingBlade said:

I've been playing and loving my Miura CB 57's.  My back up travel set has been the MP 64's with that wonderful sole grind.  Recently, I've been working harder on my ball striking and the results have been good enough that I decided to take my pristine set of MP 33's out for a fun round.   To my total and complete surprise the MP 33's immediately became my new primary irons.  I absolutely can't believe how sweet they are and how consistently straight they allow the ball to fly with a slight draw or fade.   I was fully prepared to put them back in the box as treasured keepsakes of a bygone era that just weren't forgiving enough in this day of advanced tech irons.  Now I'm looking for another set of pristine MP 33's for the day I wear a hole in the vaunted Mizzy sweet spots.  A real plus is looking down at that beautiful surgical super thin top edge that I used to find so intimidating.  Now it just inspires confidence.  Who knew?

 

I still kick myself for not snatching that MP32/33 combo set a while back. It was before I had hit one but they looked sweet. They went for less than $400, I still keep an eye out, even though I have no idea what I would do with a 3rd set of irons. 🤣

[Nard_S]

The latest bag: T Stamps w/ S400 #2-PW,  Mizuno MP650 metals & Faldo wedges, Kevin Burns putter. Dropped #5W because I stink with it. #3i is working well. Love the switch from 681's to T's. T's are deeper feeling, as good as any Miura, which  is nice surprise. Bought this set 4 years ago, paid what was then fair value and not cheap but glad I did. Swing stays on progression, new Titleist metals will come in and maybe even add a hybrid. 

[Bigmean]

I forgot you had the Ts…..FAWK they are pretty too……am I the only one whose clubs look like they fell off a truck?

[Nard_S]

1 hour ago, Bigmean said:

……am I the only one whose clubs look like they fell off a truck?

The Maruman's I played for years were ragged AF. The 681's (like those) always had a big towel wrapped on them. I put a lot miles on those, wore the patina off face but the chatter is minimal. Had T's wrapped when my buddy ran over bag last week on asphalt. It saved them, thought there was one scratch but that wiped off. Huge fat towel, those are my iron covers,lol.

[NRJyzr]

8 hours ago, Bigmean said:

I forgot you had the Ts…..FAWK they are pretty too……am I the only one whose clubs look like they fell off a truck?

 

I'll have to take a pic of some of my Rams, with all the lead tape everywhere...

 

[blades_are_life]

On 6/29/2023 at 8:32 AM, Bigmean said:

Yeah nard, I also think age has to do with it.  I came up playing just as metalwoods came out.  At Some point seemingly around 2010 maybe (probably coinciding with marketing efforts promising big numbers and advantages as well as your guys switching that the golfers you mentioned came out of woodwork.

 

I have always thought of it like this.  If You can compress the ball consistently, If You generally have that ball first strike, then  you can play blades.  You don’t have to and maybe you shouldn’t or Wouldn’t want to,  but you could with no or negligible score difference provided you are not all over the face….which if you are compressing the ball consistently you probably are keeping between the grooves.  
 

 

 

The thing also is that blades are more forgiving than people give them credit for. I am consistently surprised by the result I get out my FG-17 6I when I catch it a couple grooves low. It's essentially a skull and feels a bit like one but it does not hurt the hands (this may be different in cold weather) and loses maybe 15 yards if that, some of which tends to be made up by the reduced spin. Not optimal but in most situations still a completely usable result. I think generally people get a little too obsessed with playing the very rigid technical target golf they generally see in the professional game and forget that approaching with a creative and flexible mindset can still yield the scores.

[Double Dodger]

Thought I’d chime in. Have been playing irons horrible for over a month. Pull hooking and couldn’t figure out a swing. Trying to fix it made it worse. I’m a dig it out of the dirt low single HC and have loved my Srixon ZX7’s but over the last months have even resorted to reshafting. Didn’t help. So I’m looking through my stash for another set of shafts to try and see my 1990’s Hogan Apex’s. They were used by my son in the early 2000s. I truly believed learning with small blades would make him a better ball striker and it did. I had reshafted them with some KBS shafts a few years ago and had never even thrown on a grip. So I drug them out thinking WTH I’ll blow on some grips and hit them for S&Gs. Well dang! Wouldn’t you know it. Problems solved! 
Just working on distances now. A full club shorter but dang they are freakin consistent. Don’t know how long it last but I’m riding the wave as long as I can. 

[Bigmean]

Nice double dodger.  You just Described why my gamer set never gets kicked from the bag.  But more importantly, how exactly did you fix that tug hook?  Apex? Grips? Asking for a friend lol.

 

So today should be good.  As I said my buddy is getting into golf. A Couple of years now, baseball player, so his hood cracks are 260, but man his chipping sucks.  He shoots mid 90s to mid 100s. My son has latent ability to hit good shots but again 90s but with streaky play.  
 

Today they want to play Me vs them playing a best ball scramble against me, $2 a hole each for them, $4 for me.  First nine is no handicap then go from there if it is out of balance.   I have no clue how this will go.  In theory perfect as they should post if I had to guess low 80s because Their short game isn’t going to be good enough to go 70s but then again I have played in plenty a church tournament where I am best or second best on a team and we go 13/14 under so best ball can get interesting.    I am kinda pumped and last weekend. They both had hard rounds so I think this will bring some fun back for them to not feel behind the 8 ball all round.  We will see.  

[Nard_S]

This is No.5 hole at my course. 190 yard (back tee) par 3.

 

I've birdied this hole the most over the years because the green is generous in size & one of the flatter ones. About a 50  foot drop but it plays into prevailing wind so green center is 180-185. Hazard right, water in front and to left too. Back is death, front pin is for suckers. Always play to center with #5i, flushed puts me back 1/3, usually end up center 1/3. it's a great par 3. It's my favorite hole on front side. Playing tomorrow, looking forward to it. Happy 4rth.

[Bigmean]

Happy 4th!  I hope you play better than me today.  I wound up winning 2 holes but en route to an 85 with 6 doubles and 2 birdies….I really didn’t play bad, but I scored terrible. 

 

That lake looks more like a magnet for Titleists…..

[Nard_S]

28 minutes ago, Bigmean said:

 

That lake looks more like a magnet for Titleists…..

Ton of balls in there and some large carp & snapper turtles. I've donated my share with pull hooks. Another pond to right will eat severe pushes too. Camera lens a bit deceptive, it's a bigger target in real life. That bag is only 25 yards away. But it's an intimidating tee if start is shaky. I'll take 85 at this point, great time of year here in Yankee land. I live for these Sundays. Season is young & fun.

[cliffhanger]

After going through multiple sets of CB’s and such… I equaled my best round in the last three years twice (1st two rounds) with my MP20 mb’s. Go figure