Equipment
Forum Thread of the Day: “Hitting blades better than game improvement irons?”
Today’s Forum Thread of the Day comes from BobaDefett who has found that he is hitting his friend’s blade irons better than he is his own game improvement irons. Perplexed by the situation, BobaDefett asks WRXers for some answers, who as always, shine some light on the issue.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- Z1ggy16: “IMO forgiveness is overrated. Learn how to play golf instead. I’m not saying total hacks should play blades but if you’ve got a pretty decent swing, but maybe your short game suffers, or you can tend to stall the hips and hit hooks sometimes… it’s no reason to force yourself into playing big old shovels.”
- Sean2: “I have a friend who went from the M2’s to the MP-20s. He hits the MP-20s much better. Handicap dropped quite a bit too.”
- BB28403: “I think learning to play with blades with cure more faults that are covered up by cavity back super game improvers. An iron that causes the ball to go straight even on a mishit is a false sense of security. Like learning how to bowl with the bumpers on.”
- Captain_Black: “I think a lot of it is to do with the clubhead offset. A GI iron will typically have twice as much (or more) offset than a players iron, couple this with a strong grip (like I have) produces all manner of weird shots with a GI iron (usually a hook).”
- GWfool: “For me, mentally looking at a larger head makes me feel like I have too much real estate. I had this problem with a set of Epon 703s. Thin top-line and everything but the blade length was long and made the face seem huge. I also don’t like a large sole. Whether any of that is scientific, I have no idea, but confidence goes a long way in this game.”
Entire Thread: “Hitting blades better than game improvement irons?”
Cameron Young’s WITB from his win at the 2025 Wyndham Championship. Cameron is a Titleist staff player but his bag is definitely filled with some unique clubs. Here are the clubs he used to secure his first PGA Tour win!
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Black VeloCore+ 10 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5), Titleist 631.CY Prototype (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F @57), WedgeWorks (60-K* @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Prototype
- Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (10 degrees, C2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
7-wood: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (4, 5), Titleist T100 (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper AMT Tour White X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F, 56-08M @57, 60-04T @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Fastback 1.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Yellow
We’re proud to once again partner with 2nd Swing Golf to bring you GolfWRX Members Choice 2025! 2nd Swing has more than 150,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
What is the best driver in 2025? At GolfWRX, we take great pride in our online community and the cumulative knowledge and experience of our members. When it comes to the best driver of 2025, we want to know what our forum faithful think.
Since our founding in 2005, the bedrock of GolfWRX.com has been the community of passionate and knowledgeable golfers in our forums, and we put endless trust in the opinions of our GolfWRX members — the most knowledgeable community of golfers on the internet. No other group of golfers in the world tests golf clubs as frequently or as extensively, nor is armed with such in-depth information about the latest technology.
Below are the results of GolfWRX member voting for the 2025 best driver, along with the vote percentage for each club.
Best driver of 2025: The top 5
5. Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond: 6.02%
Callaway’s pitch: “For golfers looking for a fast, forgiving, yet workable driver, the Elyte Triple Diamond features a tour-inspired shape and is the preferred model by most Callaway tour players.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond here.
4. Ping G440 Max: 6.86%
Ping’s pitch: “The most forgiving G440 model, MAX has a hotter face to generate speed and distance, and a lighter overall system weight with a longer shaft (46″) for faster clubhead speed, higher launch and longer carries. The Free Hosel and Carbonfly Wrap crown save weight to create our lowest CG ever and increase forgiveness while contributing to a more muted, pleasing sound.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 Max here.
3. Ping G440 LST: 9.53%
Ping’s pitch: “LST is an especially good fit for faster swings, offering less spin and more control with a penetrating trajectory. A hotter face, lighter overall system weight and longer shaft (46″) deliver more speed and distance while maintaining tight dispersion.”
@phizzy30: “Not a fan of Ping drivers in general, but 440 LST takes the cake. It’s super forgiving across the face for a low spin head, looks and sounds good and the ability to make it play neutral or slightly fade biased through the hosel settings is very appealing.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 LST here.
2. Titleist GT3: 16.55%
Titleist’s pitch: “The GT3 Driver offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization through adjustable performance. Dial in the CG Track to your frequent contact location to make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping.”
@mrmikeac: “I’ve been Anti-Titleist for years and years and years (outside of Vokey, of course). With that being said, HOLY BEGEEZUS the GT3 driver is an absolute NUCLEAR MONSTER! This thing blew my G430 10K Max out of the water in every single category. Forgiveness is the biggest thing that stands out of me, the 3 model has always been one of the less forgiving models in the past but this GT3 can take bad shot after bad shot and still end up in the fairway, I think a ton of that has to do with the adjustability, it’s actually effective. Feel and sound is perfect, that solid crack is so addicting to hear and when you hit it out the screws this thing can absolutely bomb it. Titleist, I’m sorry for doubting you. You have converted me.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT3 here.
1. Titleist GT2: 22.91%
Titleist’s pitch: “Delivering impressive distance from any impact point, the Titleist GT2 Driver extracts maximum performance through a forgiving design. Get the stability and added confidence of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed.”
@DTorres: “The Titleist GT2 has proven to be the best driver of the year. Packaged in a classic profile, GT2 perfectly balances performance and forgiveness while consistently being a high performer across all categories.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT2 here.
Other drivers receiving >2% of the vote
| Driver | Vote percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Cobra DS Adapt Max K | 4.85% |
| Ping G430 Max 10K | 3.85% |
| Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond | 3.68% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 | 3.51% |
| Callaway Elyte | 3.18% |
| Cobra DS Adapt X | 2.34% |
| Cobra DS Adapt LS | 2.17% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 LS | 2.17% |
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Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)
Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Titleist...
Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2025 Wyndham Championship
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX 3-wood: Titleist...
Camilo Villegas WITB 2025 (July)
Camilo Villegas WITB accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. Villegas was undecided on a 3-wood when we shot his bag. ...
WITB Time Machine: Brandt Snedeker’s winning WITB, 2018 Wyndham Championship
Brandt Snedeker fired a final-round 65 at the 2018 Wyndham Championship to outlast Webb Simpson and C.T. Pan. His 5-under...
joro
Jan 29, 2020 at 4:47 pm
No way a Blade is better than a cavity back. Take the CB with the weight around the perimeter and you have a more playable Iron, no matter who you are, from Tour Pro to hacker the CB will be more consistent. Sure blades can be beautiful and they inflate the ego but they are used only by a small number of Players compared to CBs. Some say you cannot work the CBs,, that is not right and Ping proved it when a lot of Stars played with and loved the Eye series which are offset and a thick toppling. They could work it very well and the same with the early Callaway BBs. Fact is most of the ego satisfying people can”t work the ball with anything. But, that is life, just don’t tell me CBs ae only for hacks. So there!!!!
Rich Douglas
Jan 13, 2020 at 5:51 pm
Blades aren’t over-rated; working the ball is.
With clubs that hit it higher, but with less spin, it’s easier to attack pins more directly and harder to shape the shot.
You don’t learn to hit the sweet spot with a smaller sweet spot. That’s like putting a kid on a bike for the first time, but without training wheels or a parent running along side. Oh, and the bike is a performance model with ultra-thin tires and touchy brakes. You’ll be digging that kid out of the pavement every 20 feet or so.
You learn from your successes. You can only learn from your failures if you know why you failed. But pounding shots with blades–or any other time–alone doesn’t do that. In fact, it could cause you to be ultra-careful and not learn to hit with power.
I don’t care what anyone plays. But to suggest that performance irons are better for high-handicap players than game-improvement irons is just ridiculous. In fact, they’re really not better for anyone–unless you want to bring back wound balls with balata covers.
Rascal
Jan 13, 2020 at 3:25 pm
Instead of taco Tuesdays, can we have another blade thread wednesdays?
Rich Douglas
Dec 29, 2019 at 10:56 am
First, I really don’t care what someone else plays.
Second, I see a lot of people playing clubs that have, clearly, not been fitted for them. So it really doesn’t matter what those people play.
Third, playing a blade doesn’t make you a better ball-striker. It can make your misses worse, but it won’t make you put it on the sweet spot more often. That’s not how people learn.
Fourth, the only advantage of blades is the purposeful miss, the desire to curve the ball left or right. The vast majority of players have no business doing this, and they do not need the unintended consequences that come with it.
Fifth, if you think you play better with blades, fine. But that’s in your head. And if you can’t get that out of your head, you’ve probably got a lot of other nonsense locked up in there, too.
Finally, did I mention that I don’t really care what others play? Go have fun already.
ActualFacts
Dec 28, 2019 at 10:27 am
Buy what you want. Play what you want. Enjoy…
A. Commoner
Jan 14, 2020 at 9:03 am
AcFac……Great post! Says it all. My life is not effected by what clubs my neighbor plays. Let dreamers and pretenders freely choose. Let the equipment curious and experimenters have their fun.
Jim A
Dec 28, 2019 at 9:18 am
My MP68s were finally on my last Grove, so I replaced them with 0311Ts (looking to regain some distance lost over the past 30 years). Watched my handicap balloon from 4 to 7. Switched to P790s, but my handicap continued to climb (to a 9). I then dug out an old set of MP33s, played them for two months and my handicap dropped to a 6.
I have a few theories for this. But the biggest reason is that with blades, I always know where the center of the face is. And every time I hit the center of the face, they carry the exact same distance. Blades never surprise me, so I can feel confident being aggressive or taking calculated risks when I need to.
My new set for next season is the 620MB/CB blended.
Joshua Martin
Dec 28, 2019 at 5:42 am
When i golfed 4 times a week I could hit any shot with any club and played blades. Now 15 years of marriage and 3 kids later I have Cobra One Length irons… Its always the Indian not the Arrows but an old Indian, out of his prime as a hunter, with a 30/30, has a better chance at getting dinner.
Daniel Whitehurst
Dec 28, 2019 at 4:46 am
Ok, I’ll settle this for you all. If you can’t break 80 every time, playing blades is totally pointless. About 1/2 the tour plays them. They also don’t make a bad player better by forcing them to hit it solid. Most average players have no idea what to do to get better no matter what club you give them to hit. Trust me, I’m a fitter, instructor and a +2 index. High MOI clubs only improve accuracy slightly. What they do do is make miss hits not go as short as blades by having a larger max speed area, large sole for height and reduced effect of hitting it fat. Forged clubs have huge distance control due to slower ball speeds and high spin, like a wedge. Look at that you can hit a bad shot solid with any club and can hit a straight miss hit with anything. Most players don’t practice and just want to have fun, with immediate preformance returns with more forgiveness. If this theory of playing blades when not ideal teaches you how to be better then why are these proponents of this playing a high MOI , 460cc driver? You always will need to work shorts, change trajectory, distance and spin as an advanced player. But the AP2 is the most used iron on tour for a reason and it’s not a blade.
Richo
Dec 28, 2019 at 6:52 pm
This sort of response from someone who says they’re a fitter is irritating. People who go to you for advice are going to hear rubbish like “pros don’t use blades so you shouldn’t”. It’s such a narrow minded OEM driven load of rubbish. Everyone is different and deserve to be treated as such. I’ve tried GI irons on so many occasions and I do NOT score better with them over blades and I am not a regular sub 80’s golfer. I hit blades MUCH better than GI or SGI irons and they are far more reliable and confidence building because I know how far they are going to go and I can allow for miss hits if needed. Pro’s use GI or non bladed irons because they need to hit exact numbers too. They want to hit it 164 but I don’t need to. I need to hit it 164 +/- 5m and I hit that window with blades MUCH more often than with GI irons. GI also don’t help if you have bad face to path control so if that’s your problem, GI irons will offer you nothing over blades. Bad advice in the industry is everywhere and unless you think about the detail, you’re just on the train with everyone else that’s just average.
gwelfgulfer
Dec 28, 2019 at 8:36 pm
Pro’s can play anything under the sun and still hit the numbers needed, because they are that good, have a consistent, REPEATABLE swing. The vast, VAST majority of golfers do not have this, and honestly can’t even dream about it. WRX is a community of golfers who are above average in their interest and ‘wokeness’ about the industry and equipment. The total members on this site is like 4% of the golfers in NA alone. So as much as each is an ‘individual’, blanket statements can and will be made because there is strong merit behind them. Bad advice is in the industry, just like telling a 20+ capper to play blades because he/she likes the looks, but in 5 swings will hit the ball on 6 different places on the club face…
Kourt
Dec 28, 2019 at 10:33 pm
If you are inferring that blades somehow hit a ball more consistently than a GI iron then you are mistaken. Either club when hit perfect every time will fly the exact same distance. Mis hits will fly further with GI than with a blade, but in my studies with trackman and gc quad and a swing robot, once you get above 42 degrees in loft perimeter weighting doesn’t hardly give you any better performance than a blade does on mis hits because it’s such a glancing blow at that loft you don’t lose much distance. But the lower the loft the more important forgiveness becomes. I’ve seen as much as a 20 yard difference in 5 iron carry distance between a miss hit with a blade vs an identical lofted blade.
Shallowbutdeadly
Jan 16, 2020 at 2:49 am
Tell that to my CBX2 wedges!
BuntFiletsAllDay
Jan 5, 2020 at 11:46 am
????????????????
robert
Dec 27, 2019 at 6:29 pm
You might focus more with such a small sweet spot. You’ll spin the ball more that could add stopping power on the green. Chip and runs would probably be easier and they’ll look better in your hands and in your bag. You should also be able to work the ball more too. The flip side is slight misses will be penalized with greater distance loss and more spin means less distance overall. If you don’t need the extra distance and you consistently hit the center of the face than it’s a winner. IMHO you should be able to break 80 more often than not if you’re considering playing blades. The majority of tour pros aren’t playing blades. That should tell you something…
Matt
Dec 27, 2019 at 4:08 pm
This is my situation to a tee! Switched to MP-20’s and dropped so many strokes that i went from mid/upper 90’s to consistent 80’s since their release!
Jeremy
Dec 27, 2019 at 3:05 pm
It’s usually because the blades have heavier shafts in them which helps low-point control.
geohogan
Dec 30, 2019 at 9:36 pm
@jeremy, agree that the shaft is much more important than the head.
Bigger or smaller, this shape or that, iron heads are a mass of metal.
IMO, it is the shaft that will make the difference in consistency, shot shaping,
ball control and ability to groove a swing.
Max R.
Dec 27, 2019 at 12:45 pm
Ten years ago when I got fitted for my Titlist irons and after back-and-forth switching of shafts and heads, the Titlist fitter told me that my making much better solid and consistent contact with the AP2s than the AP1s. He agreed that the differing offset and head size may have contributed to my eventual choice to AP2. Love them.
Richo
Dec 28, 2019 at 6:06 pm
AP2’s are not blades