I have a set of Maltby TE irons that I have been playing for going on 7 years. This past year I re-shafted them with TT XP95’s. Should I consider replacing the heads? Do they wear out?
Iron heads can wear out over time, but it really depends on how much you play and more importantly, how much you practice. I have seen forged carbon steel irons from players that hit a lot of balls develop concave areas in the faces, which also effect the grooves. That being said, it takes a lot of strikes over time, in the same spot on the face, to cause such conditions. I mainly saw it years ago with touring professionals that tended not to change clubs very often and were extremely consistent in hitting the ball in the center of face. Wedges, 8 irons and 7 irons mostly, because they hit more balls with those clubs. I have used the DBM irons for 5 years now and hit a lot of practice balls. I mean a lot. Benefits of having a practice facility at my office. They are still perfect. The TE’s are the same material and I played a set of those for 3 years prior and they showed no signs of the faces becoming compromised. You can usually tell by simply looking or taking a straight edge of some kind and running it over the face. You can tell if there are irregularities. If the faces show signs of not being flat, then it might be time.
Britt Lindsey