combo irons

Hi guys,
currently playing off 5 ive always played cavity backs. iron play generally good but sometimes struggleon consistency with 3/4/5 iron.
so after the weekend playing in thick rough im leaning towards getting a combo set.
Ive never really tried blades before as im a left hander its a bit trickier to get a hold of a mates set etc.
what do people think of the Titleist irons 735 cm?
theres a good condition set available with this spec:

Titleist irons (left handed) 735 cm, 3-PW, cavity back from 3 to 7, blade from 8 to PW, perfect condition, cord grips, S300's

there is photos too and they look to be in decent nick for 150 euro. also the S300 shafts suit me.

any thoughts?
i dont really want to pay 900 quid for a new set and then realise that actually, they arent the ones for me! local stockists really have a bad range for the left hander.

For 150 euro it has to be worth a punt. I have no experience of the 735 cm's but they do look nice.

thats what im thinking! worst case scenario ill lose 150 quid.

€150 and in decent nick? Definitely worth a punt I would say...if it's from a reputable source. Meant to be a very good combo set of irons.

You can also pop them on ebay and recoup most of the 15 euro.

look nice enough. difficult to say if you can't try before you buy, but i've only ever bought 2nd hand irons myself due to cost. good stockist up in inverness so guess i've been quite lucky with mine.

hend085 - I played the 735cm for a number of years with s300 shafts. Have to say I loved them. I changed them at the back end of last year for a CB/MB mix. The only real reason i changed was because I had had them for a number of years, playing a lot of golf i felt the shafts had gone a bit dead - arguably could have had these fitted with new shafts but i just wanted to change fully anyway. Feedback though - they were an excellent set of clubs, great feel and feedback throughout the set, the progressive nature through the set works really well, the longer irons are quite forgiving but still workeable in terms of trajectory and shot shape. (in fact i find them a bit more forgiving than the 3-5 in my new CBs at the moment) the short ironed blades are pure class and you can really feel the shot when struck. IMHO this was one of the best sets titleist has ever maade - well worth giving them a try and if you want to, stick new shafts in them to suit you.

cheers for that JK think ill make the plunge. only thing that makes me a bit reluctant to use them is that they are about 6/7 years "out of date".

I wouldn’t worry about them being 6/7 years old, as far as I can tell iron technology has not moved on in this time. All that has happened is the manufactured have started sticking more naff plastic on the back of irons.

So all that has happened is that irons are now uglier.

very valid point! i was reading earlier about the r7 irons and why they travel quite far compared to their peers.
apparently its just because the 5 iron is actually a typical 4 iron loft and 6 iron is like a typical 5 iron etc.
what fantastic technology!

Hend,

That's exactly what has happened. I bought some new Taylormade Burner irons last year, and did some comparisons with set they replaced. I have no means of comparing the loft, so I just hit balls.

Using my old Callaway 7 iron, I could just clear a tree about 30 yards in front of me. With the TM 7 iron, the ball hit the tree more often than it cleared it. On the other hand, the TM 7 iron went (on average) 8 yards further when hitting down the practice ground.

With the respective 4 irons, the carry was pretty much the same - a well hit shot just carried a bunker about 180 yards away with both clubs. However the trajectory was noticeably different, the Callaway going much higher. Consequently, the TM went much further - maybe 15 yards more because of the extra run.

So, in the last 8 years or so, the extent of iron technology improvement seems to be to add one to the number that should be printed on the bottom of the club, and stick a piece of multi coloured plastic on the back. Oh, and the manufacturers have programmed some pros to tell you that customisation is all important.

Blame Ping. I think they started all this greasing of iron lofts some while back. No wonder hybrids are all the rage as no-one can hit a 3- or 4-iron.....because they're actually a 2- or 3-iron and shafts are often longer now as well. Allied to the the modern balls (i.e. little spin off the straight-faced clubs), it's no wonder hybrids are popular.

Navy

Are you suggesting the manufacturers have made it almost essential, at least in our minds, to buy another club or two from them? And more expensive ones at that,

McLaren is right -

I don't know if it was intentional - in fact it probably wasn't - but this delofting of irons does have the effect of leaving big gaps in our yardages. Years ago, I used to be able to hit a wedge anywhere from 60 to 110 yards. Now I can hit my wedge almost 125, but even when I throttle back and grip down, it still goes at least 80 yards. My sand wedge (60 degs) goes about 60 yards at most, so I have to have another wedge for 60 to 100 yard distances.

There was a bloke in the pro shop on Sunday saying he couldn't understand why the R&A don't change the rules to allow 16, 17 or 18 clubs.

"There was a bloke in the pro shop on Sunday saying he couldn't understand why the R&A don't change the rules to allow 16, 17 or 18 clubs."

I am not sure when the 14 club rule came in, but in old photos of TOC you see the caddies carrying about 20 odd clubs - with no bag - under their arms. Crazy.

McLaren wrote:Navy

Are you suggesting the manufacturers have made it almost essential, at least in our minds, to buy another club or two from them? And more expensive ones at that,

Indirectly yes, that's exactly what I'm implying. You also have the evolution of so-called gap wedges now to fill the gap created by the delofting of the other irons from the PW (~45 degrees?) up while maintaining a SW at ~56 degrees. So you buy a 'set' now (5-PW?) for about the same price as it used to cost for a 3-SW set but you still have to either buy an additional 3- and 4-iron (or hybrids) and a gap wedge.

I guess it is always possible to ask for the lofts on a set of irons to be increased at a custom fit or at your pro shop?

McLaren wrote:"There was a bloke in the pro shop on Sunday saying he couldn't understand why the R&A don't change the rules to allow 16, 17 or 18 clubs."

I am not sure when the 14 club rule came in, but in old photos of TOC you see the caddies carrying about 20 odd clubs - with no bag - under their arms. Crazy.

The reason that the 14 clubs rule was brought in was (at least in part) because Walter Hagen's caddie collapsed at an Open Championship - maybe 1925 - trying to carry the bag and 45 clubs.

George1507 wrote:There was a bloke in the pro shop on Sunday saying he couldn't understand why the R&A don't change the rules to allow 16, 17 or 18 clubs.

I think I'll have to get myself an electric trolley if this happens - bad enough for my back carrying the bag as it is!!

..Or just stick with 14 clubs - or be revolutionary, and go out there with just 10.

During the winter months try playing with just 6 clubs.
Improves your shot making and teaches you have to
play better with what you have got.

Plus...
No need for an electric trolley.
No need for a massive bag - just make sure you have room
for a decent set of waterproofs.

Simples

ronin47

George

I normally only use a putter, 9 irons and a driver, so not quite 10 but I dont like lugging 14 clubs around the course.