Question:

Or perhaps the model is a tadd off. Um… just exacly what is an 8I anyway? Before you can declare it is impossible to hit ont 175 yards… I’d like to know what an 8I is. I’ve got an 8I that has a 43 inch shaft, great bit oversized metal head and you are right it is nearly impossible to hit it 175 yards… usually it goes much farther. dsc

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – In rec.sport.golf 175 yard 8iron? 220 yard 6 iron? I can hit a good 8 iron 150 yards. I couldn’t think about hitting one 175. That’s 6 or 5 territory for me. After watching the pros play the last two tour events, it’s just incredible how they get such distance off thier clubs. What kind of club head speed is need to do this? Are thier clubs different than ours, Golf Ball different? Or are they just that much better? It is none of those things, though they do have a little better clubhead speed.  First and foremost, it is conditions.  Wind, elevation change, etc. Second, they tend to deloft the clubface at impact, turning the 8 into a 7 or 6. If you look at the trajectory model, you will see that there is no way to hit an 8 iron 175 without delofting.  Even with 250mph clubhead speed, which is impossible. Bruce

Response:

Mark said: Its worth remembering too that most pro’s have delofted irons.

I actually think that depends on the player. The lost of the pros are more o r less set to specific round yardages.  For example someone may have a 9 iron at 44* and a PW at 46* and the 9 iron goes 150 with a full swing and the PW goes 140 with a full swing.  They are more concerned with accurate carry yardage than strong or week lofts. RSG Role Call  http://u1.netgate.net/~kirby34/rsg/mclaughlins.htm

Response:

Not all irons have stronger lofts, for instance I play mp-14’s which lofts are as follows, pretty weak compared to other irons of today…      Loft     Length 1 – 17*    39.50" 2-  20*    39.00" 3-  23*    38.50" 4-  26*    38.00" 5-  29*    37.50" 6-  32*    37.00" 7-  36*    36.50" 8-  40*    36.00" 9-  45*    35.50" PW-  50*    35.25"

Even within manufacturer, the lofts can be quite different.  I guess it depends on a number of things – how the club design tends to hit the ball (high or low), how the players that the club will be marketed toward tend to hit the ball (high or low), how "traditional" the model is, how likely a person is going to pick a demo club based on how far they hit it, etc.  Here are some specs for Hogan’s Apex vs. Apex Plus. ApexT Irons 1  17