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Date Posted: 17:07:54 07/16/09 Thu
Author: Vince
Subject: Vince's Mini Blog

Yet another data point. I took the plunge and ordered a set of irons yesterday. My plan is to post some background info and then experiences/results.

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[> Entry 1 - Background -- Vince, 17:16:30 07/16/09 Thu

I'm in my late forties, and have been playing golf for about 10 years. Currently about a 14 hcp, I've worked close to a single-digit handicap, with a couple of rounds in the 70's.

Having bladed one too many wedges, I was looking for a solution to that problem when I came upon the 1 iron site. The concept of single-length irons with the same clubhead weights made a lot of sense to me. Everything I've seen about customer service has been positive, so I'm heading into the 30-day trial period with an open mind, a willingness to work, and curiosity as to how it will all turn out.


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[> Entry 2 - Pre-purchase Plus/Minus Thoughts -- Vince, 17:51:32 07/16/09 Thu

Having looked through various forums, talked with fellow golfers, and thought about things, here are my plus/minus thoughts going in.

Plus #1: Same length, same weight, same shaft.
Learning one swing for all iron shots makes perfect sense to me. I understand there will be situations that require something out of the ordinary, but for the vast majority of typical iron play it only makes sense to reduce the number of variables as much as possible.

Plus #2: Company reputation
Along with the 30-day trial period, I've only seen positive things about customer service. Having this forum is yet another plus.

Minus #1: No customization of shaft flex or lie angle.
I can't see a 92-year-old and a burly 20-year-old who happen to have the same WTF measurement playing the same flex shaft. I've got to believe the typical/maximum swing speeds they generate -- and if nothing else personal preference -- could only be addressed with different shafts. Likewise with lie angle. Physical limitations, etc. seem to require adjusting the lie angle. When it comes down to it, the same argument against "one size fits all" made against typical off-the-shelf clubs applies here, too. But, I can also understand that from a business perspective it's just not possible to custom fit each individual. Even though I made to adapt my swing a bit to fit the clubs, I'm willing to give it a try and see how well the clubs work for me.

Minus #2: clubhead technology.
From the few images on the web, if I squint really hard it looks like the clubheads are cavity back, with extra weight in the low center. They remind me of the Natural Golf clubs I saw a few years ago. Again, they seem better than the level of my game, so I'm totally willing to give them a shot. But like the shaft, it's kind of a Model T approach (any color you like, as long as it's black). Since the Model T worked out great for quite a few people, the clubs might, too.

And one interesting/ironic observation: My current set of custom Pings was varied in all the categories (shaft flex, lie angle, grip size, clubhead weight and style) where the 1 irons offer no choice, but didn't have the option of same length and same clubhead weight that the 1 irons do offer. Almost exact opposites! The real test will be to see which grouping of parameters gives me the best results on the course. I'm beginning to see why some people take up club making to have it all! :-)


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[> Re: Vince's Mini Blog -- Carl, 20:17:01 07/16/09 Thu

Read through the website and you'll find the reason that there is only one lie angle. Same for the shaft flex. 1 Irons don't have anything in common with regular golf clubs and that's a big plus in my book. This company could do all the worthless customization that all the other custom clubmakers do and charge big bucks. Instead they fit you based on what has been proven over the 10+ years they've been in business to improve your ball striking. You need to read David's book that gives you the facts and debunks the marketing hype and myths about customization.


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[> Entry 3 - First Day -- Vince, 15:16:45 07/24/09 Fri

My clubs arrived late yesterday in great shape. I took the 3i, 6i, and 9i to the range to start to get a feel for them. Keeping to half-swings, so far so good. The Playability Tips indicate that hands should be even, but it seemed to me that at least the 9i encouraged a slight forward press. Definitely worth experimenting with more.


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[> [> Re: Entry 3 - First Day -- Pedro, 16:34:41 07/24/09 Fri

The wedges do not encourage a forward press they all have the same offset...


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[> [> [> Re: Entry 3 - First Day -- Sean Beck, 12:42:08 07/27/09 Mon

I've been wondering about forward press in general. Do you guys who have had success with the 1irons actually have your shafts 90* straight up? Because it seems that if the ball is in the middle of your stance, the clubhead must be behind the ball, so the shaft must have a few degrees (~5*) of forward leaning. I've tried to keep it as upright as possible, even tilting my shoulders back to retain loft but that seems sort of unnatural.


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[> Entry 4 - After 2 weeks -- Vince, 15:50:26 08/06/09 Thu

It's about half way through the 30-day evaluation period. I've been to the range several times with the 1 irons, but not out to the course with them yet. Here are my experiences so far. Your mileage may vary.

Distance: The biggest change is the distance between clubs. For my old set it was about 12 yards per club. With the 1 irons it's about 10 yards. So I'm hitting the shorter clubs farther, the 7-iron about the same (no big surprise, since that was the closest match to my old set based on WTF measurement), and the longer irons a little shorter.

Accuracy/Consistency: Definitely improved. Working on repeating 1 swing is really an advantage. I had taken the 3 and 4 irons out of play with my old set (though I would re-evaluate every year) and with the 1 irons these clubs are now serious contenders for going back in the bag. Not an automatic, though, because of wedges and woods.

Swing Feel: These clubs definitely feel heavier to swing. A couple of times I grabbed an iron from my old set just to hit a couple of balls -- like I would if I were considering using a new club -- and they felt much lighter. Of course, the feeling of needing to learn a swing unique to that one club was also more prominent. So it was really an easy decision to keep working with the 1 irons.

Woods Now Drawing More: Another interesting side effect of working with the 1 irons is that I'm tending to draw the woods I've stuck with much more than ever before. I'm not sure if it's due to the different-sized grips, swing changes, putting the ball in the center of the stance more, or what. But I was very surprised. No such change with the wedges I kept, but they have always gone straight anyway.

Next week I have a league night and am playing in at least one tournament, so it will be time to see how they perform on the course. I'll also continue hitting the range, and working on grooving that one swing.


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[> Entry 5 - First Course Results -- Vince, 04:48:26 08/12/09 Wed

Yesterday was the first time I took the 1 irons to the course. Our Tuesday league plays 9 holes, and I was 1 stroke away from my best score ever for those 9 holes (and that's over 5+ years). Other than a fluffed chip and a lipped short putt (and I can't really blame the 1 irons for either of those), I was on track to score the best I ever had. And this was the best I've scored on those 9 holes this season -- significantly better than average.

The ball was flying quite straight. I knew a real test would be the 190-yard par 3, where I usually hit a 5 wood but decided to go with the new 4 iron. Though I just missed the green, the distance and trajectory were great.

I didn't have a single wild shot with the 1 irons, and I was able to hit and stick a couple of greens that made all the difference in winning my match.

It's only one data point, but it's a big one in terms of boosting confidence and confirming making the switch.


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[> [> Re: Entry 5 - First Course Results -- David Lake, 08:11:27 08/12/09 Wed

Vince,

That is great. I am glad that your 1 Irons are performing well for you and bear in mind that it only gets better over time.

David Lake


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[> Entry 6 - 3 wood and 5 wood -- Vince, 05:40:41 08/23/09 Sun

A little more than a week ago I took the plunge and ordered the 3w and 5w, given how happy I have been with the irons.

As far as customer service goes, 5+ stars! Starting with placing my order. I thought I remembered my WTF well enough and entered that figure in the order form. Sure enough, David wrote back the same day asking if maybe I had made a mistake, since the irons I had ordered a month or so ago had a different measurement. Where else would that happen?? :-)

Anywhere else would have blindly taken the values, shipped things, and I either would have never figured out why things weren't working right, or else would have needed to deal with the hassle of returning, re-ordering, etc. THANKS DAVID!! You really saved me a bunch of time and money, and it's further proof why a small company with thinking people will be a conglomerate of drones any day of the week.

More great news in terms of delivery time. I believe I placed the order on Tuesday, and had the new woods in time to start taking to the range by the weekend. OUTSTANDING! I know that there was probably some luck involved, but it was a really nice surprise.

So far I've only had them out on the range. My initial experiences are:
- the woods hit very nicely off the tee. Mostly straight, with a slight tendency toward a fade.
- I'm having a bit more trouble hitting them through the green. Part of that is due to the fact that my current woods have a lower profile, so it's just easier to get the center of gravity lower.
- distances are consistent with what has been posted elsewhere. The 5w is comparable to the 3i, and the 3w gives about 15+ yards more.

I'm going to give them some more time, but right now I'm leaning towards trying the 5w in my bag and sticking with my current 3w, since it is easier to hit off the fairway and tends to draw rather than fade. That way I'm hoping to have a good mixture of distances, shot shapes, and clubs for different conditions.

This week I have 3 rounds scheduled plus 9 holes for league night, so as long as the weather holds out I'll get plenty of chances to try them out on the course.

Vince


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[> Entry 7 - Best League Night! Ever! -- Vince, 15:12:01 08/26/09 Wed

Last night was the final night of the Tuesday night league I've been in for a few years. We've always played the same 9 holes, and last night I posted my best score *ever* at 1 over par! That was 2 strokes better than I've ever scored on those holes, and way better than my average (especially this year before getting the 1 irons). I was able to hit 5 of 9 GIRs, with 2 misses from half wedges, 1 from a just plain bad swing, and the last one on a 185 yard par 3 that my 4 iron landed on the green and rolled off the back. I chipped in for birdie on that one, so no complaints! :-)

Being able to hit greens was a huge advantage. Having a chance at birdie putts without having the pressure to sink them really was nice, even though I ended up with a fair number of par tap-ins.

I've played these same 9 holes at least 50 times over the last few years. I've been 4 over a few times, 3 over once or twice, but never better. Until last night!

I'm liking these clubs more and more!


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[> [> Re: Entry 7 - Best League Night! Ever! -- David Lake, 08:56:27 08/27/09 Thu

Vince,

Congratulations! As I mentioned in an earlier post to this thread - it just keeps getting better with every round you play.

David Lake


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[> Entry 8 - Surviving a Bad Day -- Vince, 03:56:46 08/29/09 Sat

Golf is still a humbling sport. The other day I had the opportunity to play in a pro-am on a course I had never played before. Narrow fairways with plenty of trees on either side; undulations with some blind "surprises"; rain at times; and rough more penal than I'm used to. And for an extra kicker my driver deserted me that day. I hit a whopping total of 1 (yes, one) fairway.

As much as one may like to believe that purchasing any particular club, lesson, etc. will cause the sun to always shine, the birds to chirp, and the ball to magically find the hole, the reality is that bad days still happen.

In this case, I was able to end up in the mid 80's. Better than bogey golf, which meant relying on a lot of escapes, accurate irons, and sinking some putts. I didn't have a single birdie (that's right, zero) so grinding was the order of the day.

My point is that previously a bad day like this could have ballooned out of hand. Scoring over 100 would not have been out of the question. Yet my final score was a couple of strokes *better* than my handicap was just a year or so ago. Being able to take my lumps and then count on a single swing for the approach shots kept me in the fight.

So, it isn't all peaches a cream (what a shock). But so far my experience is that the bad days are not nearly as bad, and the good days are *great*! It will probably be close to another year before all 20 of my GHIN scores have been replaced with 1 iron scores, but my early read is they've made a difference of about 8 strokes per round. And I'm still learning to work the ball and get an even better feel for the clubs.

Vince


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[> Re: Vince's Mini Blog -- Pat, 11:41:55 08/29/09 Sat

Hah! No truer words ever spoken. A couple of years ago, I had a hole in one in the morning, closest to the pin at mens night later in the day, back to back 36's the next day on a tough back 9. Then I couldn't hit the GD ball off the tee for the next two days, if I did it either duck hooked into the left trees or took off towards anyone unfortunate enough to be on fairways to the right of the one I was on. Was tearing up the skin on my fingers from trying to choke the clubs to death as the sad ritual continued. Nice to see you take it in stride. Nothing you can do, grind through it and when it's done it's behind you.


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