Learn the differences between Conventional Irons and Single-Length Irons

I am constantly amazed when golfers boast about their conventional sets of irons being “custom fitted” and, therefore, producing enhanced and consistent performance. The concept of being “custom fitted” for a set of conventional golf clubs is ridiculous in that you still end up with 13 clubs (excluding the putter) of different lengths, weights, shaft flexes, lie angles, bounce angles, offsets, etc. when, in fact, your body gravitates to only one efficient movement for any physical endeavor (that is the reason why all golfers have a “favorite” iron). Therefore, after being “custom fitted” for a set of conventional clubs you still end up having only one iron in your bag that even comes close to fitting you correctly and that somewhat allows for the swing posture and swing movement that your body wants to make when hitting a ball with a golf club. As far as consistent performance goes I have to bite my tongue. The following table shows the typical specifications for a conventional set of irons (varies between brands as there are no specification standards in the golf industry).

Golf club specifications

How this equates to consistency I do not know. I would like to point out something from the above table that most golfers do not realize and that has to do with the varying shaft flexes within a set of conventional irons. Regardless of what the shaft bands state, every one of the irons in a conventional set has a different shaft flex that gets progressively stiffer from the #3 iron to the wedges. To prove this to yourself simply hold the clubhead of a conventional #3 iron in one hand with the grip in the other hand and bend it – then do the same thing with the PW from the same set and you will see what I mean.

Another thing that most golfers do not realize is that in a conventional set of irons the clubhead weight progressively increases from the #3 iron through the wedges. This results in a greater amount of mass impacting the golf ball with the wedges than the low lofted irons. Wouldn’t you want the higher impact mass associated with the iron that is designed to produce the most distance?  Enhanced and consistent performance? – Go figure.

The specifications for a set of 1 Iron single length irons are shown below. With the exception of the bounce angle on our SW the only difference between irons is the exact 4º loft angle progression from the #3 iron through the wedges. The reason for the additional 3º of bounce angle on the SW is to enhance play from a soft bunker. You may note that the bounce angle of a typical conventional SW varies from 10º to 14º. Bounce angles this high produce a clunky shot out of the sand and make playing shots from a close cut fairway virtually impossible. What is sad is that most golfers will continually blade shots out of the fairway with a conventional SW without ever even understanding why. Our 1 Iron single length SW was designed for highly effective sand play as well as fairway play, and an interesting point is that part of my design testing for our SW involved hitting balls off of a cement driveway (no skulled shots with our SW).

1 Iron Golf specifications

At the end of the day you just have to leave all of the marketing hype about custom fitting and conventional golf club design behind and simply rely on plain old common sense.

 


70 comments


  • Michael Keegan

    Have you discontinued the Regal Irons?
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    1 Iron Golf replied:
    Hi! The Regal Irons were a limited edition line and unfortunately, they are completely sold out. The Blackstones are very similar and in stock! Let me know if you have any other questions!

    One Iron Golf <https://1irongolf.com>


  • Anonymous

    How much for iron set like this—5 6 7 8 9 PW GW SW and LW Reg iron shafts mid size grips shipped to Cumming GA. 30040
    ———
    1 Iron Golf replied:
    Hi! The price will depend on which iron line you are purchasing. You can see all the prices in our shop page. We do not offer shaft and grip choices. We only install our proprietary steel shafts in our irons and fairway woods. The design of our golf shafts in combination with our proprietary Shaft Optimization Process produces a perfectly balanced golf club (other brands use stock shafts with no balance criteria). Once this perfect balance is achieved the concept of shaft flex disappears and the golf club will perform at its peak performance level regardless of swing speed or strength.

    Our golf clubs are played by professional golfers and long-drive champions with extremely high swing speeds and played by senior women golfers with very low swing speeds. This balance also greatly reduces any potential vibration of the shaft, and that, coupled with our 1/8” oversized grips, virtually eliminates any vibration you would normally experience with steel shafts. It is of note that many of our customers are former graphite shaft players.

    Here is a great video explaining shaft flex. https://youtu.be/mBnVD-4OI4M?si=e3i6m4qjOEvZk5BV

    One Iron Golf <https://1irongolf.com>


  • Richard Brousseau

    What is club length////,,I would like 7,6,5,4, but the lenth of my 7th wood
    ———
    1 Iron Golf replied:
    Hi Richard, We build the clubs based on your wrist-to-floor measurement. Our fitting process is very easy to do at home, follow this link for instructions: https://1irongolf.com/pages/fitting

    Also, do not order based upon your preferred club length which completely ignores club-head lie angle (as equally important to proper club fitting as club length). Place your order based solely upon your W-T-F measurement. Our golf clubs are designed (club-head lie angle/club length) to force you into the ideal swing posture and swing plane through a precise fitting model. If you ignore this and place your order based upon a preferred club length without regard to your actual W-T-F measurement your irons will not fit you properly.

    One Iron Golf <https://1irongolf.com>


  • Rick

    So how much for a set of clubs $$$$$$
    ———
    1 Iron Golf replied:
    Hi! Thanks for reaching out. We have many options for you; the price will vary based on what you would like in your bag. Head to our Shop page and check out what you are interested in. https://1irongolf.com/collections/all-products Let us know if you have any more questions!

    One Iron Golf <https://1irongolf.com>


  • Richard Brousseau

    So interested, I’m in conn. 9 too a 3
    ———
    1 Iron Golf replied:
    Hi Richard! We have 4 lines of irons to choose from. Here is a link: https://1irongolf.com/collections/all-products. Let me know if you need any help!

    One Iron Golf <https://1irongolf.com>


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