Why is it so hard to hit a three iron?
Former USGA technical director Frank Thomas is one of the leading experts on golf technology. He is passionate about educating golfers on golf technology and empowering them to make better decisions about equipment. PGA.info has teamed up with Thomas to provide a regular column in which he answers golfers' questions on a range of technology issues.
This week it's a simple question that applies to many amateur golfers which is why is it so hard to hit a three iron?
Frank says:
This question is to the point, doesn't take up much space is very short and not as difficult to answer as it is to hit a 3-iron. Try a 2-iron or even a 1-iron if you are really looking for a challenge and can find one!
The 1-iron lost its place in the bag about 35 years ago, soon after manufacturers started decreasing the unwritten standard lofts for irons. They did this surreptitiously in an effort to demonstrate how their irons hit the ball farther than the competitor's clubs.
This trend created a 2-iron with the same loft as a 1-iron of old and the 3-iron is now equivalent to the old 2-iron and closing in on a 1-iron. Clubs are now about 4 to 5 degrees stronger than the same numbered clubs of the 1960s
There are no loft standards for clubs as these are now somewhat dependent on the club head design. You will find that the trend of decreasing the loft is reversing a little because of the mass distribution in the club head of the more forgiving heads. These have a backward and low positioned centre of gravity which is getting the ball up into the air more easily and as a result, the lofts are less than expected to compensate for the higher trajectory.
Your 3-iron, which you find so hard to hit is probably one of the older blade like designs without the forgiveness now afforded the newer bulky but forgiving cavity back designs. This bulkiness means that the Moment of Inertia (MOI, which is the forgiveness factor) is greater but not as forgiving as an equivalent lofted Fairway wood or Hybrid. This makes the 3-iron more difficult to hit. If however you hit your 3-iron flush i.e. right on the sweet spot it is as sweet as a any shot can be.
My suggestion - because we are not that good -- is to leave your 3-iron and even your 4-iron in the box they were shipped in, even if these are of the latest design and use the space in your bag for a three and four hybrid. Hybrids will certainly do a very good job, which you expected your three and four irons to do.
Iron technology has not changed significantly in the last 10 years or so but it certainly has changed since Jack Nicklaus was at his peak in the early 1960s but he was able to hit a 2-iron very well.
PING introduced forgiving irons - cavity back clubs -- in the late 1960's and this concept is now used in almost every iron club on the market designed for most of us who are not on the tour or aspiring to get
To find out more about Frank Thomas visit franklygolf.com
22 September, 2009 | The PGA