Has anyone weakened their iron lofts??

[ericm007]

Sending my S55s to Ping to have the lie adjusted and though I might have the lofts weakened at the same time. I like the gaps my S56s have and with the stronger lofts of the S55s I hit them maybe 3-4 yards longer, which has messed up my gapping.

 

GW between 110-120, PW at 128 plus or minus 6 yards with a little adjustment and I like my standard 140yd 9i, and can go 5 yards up or down with little adjustment. With the S55s I get a standard PW at 134 which messes up my gaps, I have a no man’s land of about 5 yards between the GW and PW now, may not seem like much, but these are the scoring clubs.

 

Has anyone had Ping weakened their lofts? I’m think of asking Ping to change my S55s to match the S56 specifications while they change the lie. Thoughts?

 

S55

7-Iron 33.00°

8-Iron 37.00°

9-Iron 41.00°

PW 46.00°

 

S56

7-Iron 34.25°

8-Iron 38.25°

9-Iron 42.50°

PW 47.00°

 

Thanks, Eric

[Socrates]

Tweaking lofts can have unintended results. I was looking to change the yardage of my A wedge (X2 Hot) as I wanted about 5 less yards out of it. It changed the ball flight but actually hit it further. It stayed in the air longer and therefore went further. Fortunately, I have all the tools and just bent it back to std. I may tweak it the other way to see if that might work, but I'm in no hurry to go there as I hate to reduce bounce if I can avoid it.

[MadGolfer76]

Yep, whenever I have played muscleback irons. I weaken the lofts back to something more traditional because it adds a little bounce and kills any hint of offset that some OEM allowed to creep into a...blade.

[Peanut191]

I was curious about this as well. Love my s56's and was looking to go to the s55's. But, the lofts are stronger on the s55's. I know weakening the lofts should cause less offset and possibly more bounce, but I was wondering if anyone had tried to get the s55's with the s56 lofts? Would Ping possibly grind the sole a little to correct for bounce? I don't know how they could adjust for change in offset?

[Nessism]

I've weakened loft on a number of sets. Adding more bounce rarely hurts and getting the lofts in line with what you are used to increases peace of mind on the course.

[trhode]

I still like traditional lofts when they work for the player. 30-32* on the 6i as standard. Really depends on what the player needs.

[Socrates]

[quote name='Peanut191' timestamp='1443478680' post='12380518']
I was curious about this as well. Love my s56's and was looking to go to the s55's. But, the lofts are stronger on the s55's. I know weakening the lofts should cause less offset and possibly more bounce, but I was wondering if anyone had tried to get the s55's with the s56 lofts? Would Ping possibly grind the sole a little to correct for bounce? I don't know how they could adjust for change in offset?
[/quote]
Ping will grind soles if asked ($$). From what I understand, they no longer press out offset.

[Dizz]

When I was fitting full time I weakened the lofts of quite a few sets for players-- and usually had to talk them into it. Most of the time people think less distance but it doesn't always work that way and launching the ball higher is huge for that specific player.

Honestly I would love to make my own set of irons and pick out lofts much further apart than what current irons are... especially in the long irons. Why does an amateur need 3 degrees gap between his 3 iron, 4 iron and 5 iron? Its ludicrous and really just a way to sell another iron or two.

[benno_r]

I work a fly away roster, so I have 2 sets of clubs - 1 at home and 1 at work.

My work set has RBZ tours which hit the ball a bit further than my home set, so I weakened the lofts on the RBZ's to keep my yardages relatively consistent.

[SmoothTempo]

I weakened my irons 2 degrees because I liked the feel of S300s, but the S3s lowered my ball flight too much. Distance loss was negligible. That way I got the great s3 feel and also a decent ball trajectory.

[rebby]

I weakened the lofts in my 1957s 1-3' across the set. Even with their somewhat more "traditional" lofts, I still felt that they needed to be a touch weaker to get my gaps where I wanted them.

[Peanut191]

[quote name='Socrates' timestamp='1443483945' post='12380984']
[quote name='Peanut191' timestamp='1443478680' post='12380518']
I was curious about this as well. Love my s56's and was looking to go to the s55's. But, the lofts are stronger on the s55's. I know weakening the lofts should cause less offset and possibly more bounce, but I was wondering if anyone had tried to get the s55's with the s56 lofts? Would Ping possibly grind the sole a little to correct for bounce? I don't know how they could adjust for change in offset?
[/quote]
Ping will grind soles if asked ($$). From what I understand, they no longer press out offset.
[/quote]

Thanks for the info Socrates. I was unaware that they used to press out offset.

[kylemd]

Ive got a set of mp 29's and been thjnking of weakening the lofts too. Anyone done that to this club head? Higher flight?

[ericm007]

[quote name='Socrates' timestamp='1443468666' post='12379654']
It changed the ball flight but actually hit it further. It stayed in the air longer and therefore went further.
[/quote]

Socrates I didn't consider that, but it makes sense, might just leave them alone. Thanks for the input. My thinking was that the design of S55 and S56 are so close, that changing the lofts wouldn't affect the ball flight too much, but you never know. I will talk with Ping when they call to verify the order, or at least they have in the past, and get their opinion.

Thanks to everyone for all the replies.

[Dan Drake]

I have a set of older Mizuno blades and I'm going to weaken the lofts on them a bit. I have two reasons for doing this. First, I want to get rid of a touch of offset, mainly in the short irons. Second, and most importantly, I want to force myself to get away from the distance-obsessed mindset. I genuinely want to hit my 7 iron from 150 again. I want to focus on solid contact instead of how far I can hit my clubs compared to the next guy. I realize that it is juvenile that I should have to bend my clubs to try and accomplish this goal, but it is what it is, lol!

[gioguy21]

my 3-7 are a degree weaker to help yardage gaps, that's about it tho. i know it's only a degree but, i had a large gap between my 7 and 8 from stock (couldn't tell you why, is what it is) lofts.

[ericm007]

[quote name='Dan Drake' timestamp='1443539168' post='12383892']
I have a set of older Mizuno blades and I'm going to weaken the lofts on them a bit. I have two reasons for doing this. First, I want to get rid of a touch of offset, mainly in the short irons. Second, and most importantly, I want to force myself to get away from the distance-obsessed mindset. I genuinely want to hit my 7 iron from 150 again. I want to focus on solid contact instead of how far I can hit my clubs compared to the next guy. I realize that it is juvenile that I should have to bend my clubs to try and accomplish this goal, but it is what it is, lol!
[/quote]

Same boat here. My stock faded 8i is around 150, I can step on it a little and go 155 or hit a draw which lowers it a bit to get 155, I don't need more than that.

That why I have a hard time understanding pros that hit a 150 yd PW, I know they are pros, light years better than most and can adjust to most anything, but if I hit a 150yd PW I would need six other wedges to fill my gaps down to 80yds.:-)