Question:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – OK, how about this. Let’s say you really like Cleveland 588 wedges, in fact you much prefer a 48-50 degree Cleveland to a club with that same loft that’s like your iron set. Then, you’d want your high-lofted iron to have somewhere around 44 degrees. Maybe 58, 54 and 50 for the Cleveland lofts and the irons go down from there. In that scenario, it wouldn’t matter whether there was a "P" or  a "9" on the 44-degree iron, right? You might easily end up with 58, 54, 50, PW, 9I, 8I, 7I, 6I, 5I, 4I, something like a 2I or a strong-lofted 3I and then 3W and Driver plus a putter. Perfectly valid set makeup for a strong player. To me, the only important thing is the loft. I don’t hit any shots with the number that is stamped on the bottom. In your scenario above, mine are 56, PW, 9I, 8I, 7I, 6I, 5I, 4I, 3I, 2I, 4W, 3W, D.

One thing I like about my DCI 990 irons is that the "P" has 49 degrees of loft. Since I like Cleveland 588 wedges and the lowest-lofted one available for lefties is 53 degrees, it couldn’t work out better for me at that end. The "P" iron hits the ball a good bit farther than the 53-degree Cleveland (more difference than you’d think the 4 degrees would make) so if it were 46-47 degrees that would be a huge gap. Also, there are 4-1/2 degrees between the "P" and "9" irons and between the "9" and "8", which is nice. I prefer to use less than full swings with those shorter clubs so spreading out the lofts a bit in that range works out well. The bottom line is that what I consider a full swing with those clubs gives me 120, 105, 95, 80 and 65 yards (for 8-iron, 9-iron, P-iron, 53-degree and 56-degree Clevelands), although in theory I could hit the shorter clubs 5 extra yards with a 5-iron type of full swing. My favorite layup distance is 80 yards and I practice all the time with a 9-iron knockdown for that distance, which same swing works perfectly from 100 yards with an 8-iron. Brent Hutto

Response:

OK, how about this. Let’s say you really like Cleveland 588 wedges, in fact you much prefer a 48-50 degree Cleveland to a club with that same loft that’s like your iron set. Then, you’d want your high-lofted iron to have somewhere around 44 degrees. Maybe 58, 54 and 50 for the Cleveland lofts and the irons go down from there. In that scenario, it wouldn’t matter whether there was a "P" or  a "9" on the 44-degree iron, right? You might easily end up with 58, 54, 50, PW, 9I, 8I, 7I, 6I, 5I, 4I, something like a 2I or a strong-lofted 3I and then 3W and Driver plus a putter. Perfectly valid set makeup for a strong player.

To me, the only important thing is the loft. I don’t hit any shots with the number that is stamped on the bottom. In your scenario above, mine are 56, PW, 9I, 8I, 7I, 6I, 5I, 4I, 3I, 2I, 4W, 3W, D. Bruce                   Bruce E. Newman  *  Fredericton, NB, Canada                                 http://rec-sport-golf.com/members/?rollcall=newmanb      info at benewman dot bizland dot com   *   http://go.to/bruce_newman

Response:

I just heard Lanny Wadkins, in talking about Phil Mickelson’s equipment, say that Phil uses a 44