I am 54 yo male with a 19 HCP. I currently play the 2021 Titleist T300 irons with UST Recoil ESX 65 regular flex graphite shafts. They are 2 degrees upright. I hit my 7 iron about 135-140. My 7 iron club head speed is mid 70’s and ball speed 98-100. Spin rate about 4600. When I get a good strike, I tend to have a slight draw. But sometimes my ball flight has a lower trajectory than I would like and sometimes find it hard to stick the greens.
My driver clubhead speed is about 90.
Anyway, I am looking at new irons and really, really like the smaller profile looks of the new Maltby heads TS1 IM, TS3, and TS4 but I have never played Maltbys. Have ht some other forged irons and love the feel, which is why I am looking at those in particular. I intend to buy one or two 7 irons to test but am debating about where to start. I have also thought about senior flex shafts but have never hit an iron with that flex so don’t know if it would be good or not. Not sure my current shafts are the right ones for me so considering a change there too.
Can you suggest which Maltby iron head and graphite shaft might be worth considering? I’m thinking TS-3 but still undecided on the shaft.
Thanks in advance.
Thank you for your comment. As for the ball, I have been using the Titleist Tour Speed for awhile now and like them. But I have heard good things about those Q-star Tours. Might have to check them out.
Back to the irons … I went to the range today and worked on something new in my swing (using the T300 7 iron) and definitely improved my launch and distance. I was getting very high flight and distance was about 145 with some going 150. This was on mats and using range balls. Trajectory was either straight or with a slight draw.
I will definitely be testing one or more Maltby irons soon. I am really enjoying what I’m reading on the Golfworks website.
Q-star tour should be a little softer at 70 compression compared to your current ball. You may like it for cold weather. The Maxfli Tour S should play pretty close to the Titleist Tour Speed, but it has a cast urethane cover like the higher end Titleist balls.
If you are having trouble with mid iron carry distance and/or holding greens, two things come to mind that have yet to be mentioned in this thread:
(1) In general you will want a longer shafted club for a given loft. Going to the (cast) T300, with its very strong lofts (per head weight/iron #), might not have been the right move, all else being equal. In switching to Maltby not only are the recent designs cosmetically stunning, but being forged you can bend them weaker. I also think these heads have a very good groove design, much better than what I’ve played previously. With age and loss of swing speed it may help to replace some irons with longer-shafted hybrids or fairway metals.
(2) Are you playing a 3 or 4-piece urethane ball? If you are playing a soft ionomer covered ball you will get less spin and less height. Here are two balls that are relatively inexpensive but well-suited for players with moderate to slow swing speeds: Srixon Q-star Tour and Maxfli Tour Soft. These are 70-80 compression 3-piece urethane covered balls.