Do You Need New Golf Irons?
Irons are the most expensive part of your equipment and a new set of irons is difficult to justify. Getting new irons isn’t as exciting as buying a new driver. However, if your golf irons are five or six years old, they do not have some of the latest features that are being offered.
The most popular advancement in golf clubs is that manufacturing processes have improved in use of materials. Manufacturers can now make irons of multiple materials rather than just steel. Titanium has a 42-percent lighter density than steel, and tungsten is more than twice as heavy as steel. Using these materials assists in optimizing the center of gravity. The lower and deeper the CG, the higher the ball launches. Therefore, companies can offer stronger lofts without sacrificing trajectory. Think of a ball coming off at a 7-iron launch angle but with 6-iron ball speed.
The ability to cast faces of less than two millimeters thick is another recent technological leap . The thin faces promote faster ball speeds across a larger area of the face. It also spares weight that can be moved to the perimeter to increase forgiveness by as much as 20 percent. Probably most important, the ability to cast this type of design improves mass production, which lowers the cost so the technology becomes more affordable to more golfers .
Manufacturers have also improved the way they study club-turf interaction. Using advanced computer simulations, designers can more accurately measure the drag forces of a design as it rotates on an arc through turf at a given speed. As a result, an iron’s recessed areas can be shaped to make it play like a wide-sole iron but not feel like one.
Feel is another area that designers have been able to improve. Companies now have the equipment to study the different sound waves emitted by an iron as it impacts a ball at various points on the face. Engineers can then design dampening inserts and stiffening ribs to make it sound better.
Another improvement is in set makeup. Set design has progressed with hybrids replacing long irons and even full-hybrid sets.
To translate all these advancements golf equipment into added yards or improved scores would be impossible. But the improvements that have come along in the last five years are very significant.
