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Please look at the 7I

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Tue, May 19 2009 11:53 AM

  I don't know what it is and maybe some other players can speak to their results, but I feel pretty safe saying that something is wrong with the Tour Starter and Ping 7-irons in regards to consistent distance.

  I understand there are variants in length to a degree, but the 7I often tends to supercede the maximum allowed and hands down wins the most inconsistent iron award.

  The Tour Starter 7I is rated for 142 yards and the PING 7I is rated for 145 and yet, on probably 90% of approaches, both versions typically only carry 128-132 yards.  That is the same carry as the Starter 7I.  Roll will typically add only 2 or 3 yards depending on where you landed, so the club almost never reaches it's full potential.  I can think of only a handful of shots where the 7I played a normal distance without aid of wind or severe downhill and I can't think of any incidents where it went farther than it was supposed to.

  Case in point is today.  I had 140 yards left with a 10mph wind blowing towards 1 o'clock (tailwind from the players left).  Knowing about the 7I's issues I ripped it for the full 142 (TS).  Of course once again, 130yd carry with a 2 yard roll.  It came up 8 yards short of the flag and 10 yards short of what I hit it for with the aid of a 10 mph tailwind.  That just doesn't add up.

  All other clubs will vary between slightly short and slightly long from shot to shot.  The 7I however will only vary between way short and barely short.  It's as if the distance variables were not changed when the new clubs were introduced.

  Thoughts from other players?

• seniorbruno 719 Posts

  Tue, May 19 2009 12:03 PM

  I second that. Thought it was just my 7I.

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Tue, May 19 2009 12:17 PM

  My TS 8I is rated for 130 and I typically get 125-128 yards of carry and very little roll.  That's consistent with how an 8I should perform.  Note how it nearly carries as far as the 7I does.  I can't remember my numbers for the 6I, but it also performs as expected in terms of distance.

  Irons taper their loft angles slowly and consistently as they progress down to the 3I.  Unless you are custom fitted, most irons will all be about 4 degrees apart in loft from one to the next.

  The TS/PING 7I's are playing more like  7 and three-quarter irons. That leaves a sizable gap from about 137 to 145 yards where you don't have the right club to stick it.  The only options are a knockdown 6-iron that rolls too much or a punch 5I/6I.  Neither is terribly desirable or even possible in all situations.

• AvatarLee 1,644 Posts

  Fri, May 29 2009 11:20 AM

  Hey guys at WGT... my 7 Iron is still broken too, had a shot to a green about 15 feet below me with a 12mph wind to 11 o'clock, hit full backspin about 1/2 cm off full power, perfect hit and it went 131 yards onto the fringe at the front of the green!  The hole was 152 away, by all physics logic this shot should have at least carried 140 yards, no?

  Lee

• iconian 599 Posts

  Fri, May 29 2009 11:44 AM

  agreed. but, it's also very hard to test it.

  having driving range would help immensly, (to be able to control wind)

   

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Fri, May 29 2009 11:54 AM

  Glad you guys are noticing this too.  From what I can tell, no other club sees such a large landing window from the spin applied.  Changing backspin makes the distance fluctuate on that particular club more than anything else.  

  If you hit a 7I full backspin you can expect it to max out at 133 or so.  7I with normal spin will usually max out around 136-137.  You need forward spin to be able to stretch it out to it's full rating of 142 (or 145) and that doesn't always work.

  For the Tour Starters, I've been much more accurate lately playing to those numbers instead.

   

• WaterTrap 95 Posts

  Fri, May 29 2009 12:18 PM

  It was Lee who pointed the 7I issue out to me in a round the other day.  I came up 8 yards short and he said "Water was that a full 7i?".  Needless to say it is a consistent problem.,  If I have a shot of anywhere more then 128 yards, I have to use a 6i with back spin and adjust the power.  Not ideal.

   

  So in short, yes I see the issue as well (thanks Lee), and would like to have this addressed, fixed etc.

   

  Just add it to the to do list :)

• iconian 599 Posts

  Fri, May 29 2009 5:17 PM

  u know guys, i mostly use now as my approach on 18th on multi bp. and it has been working

  from the lenth POV. i use full bs, etc.... however, whn you use that on old course back holes like 14 and 16 into the wind, u are screwed.

  In past it was plain: like this: 7i = 142 yards: no 130 carry 12 run, full bs, 135 carry 7 run, full ts 125 carry 17 run. Now t's some wierd stuff

  IT WOULD BE NICE, to see actual data from WGT :)

• tibbets 1,043 Posts

  Fri, May 29 2009 5:38 PM

  You guys are only partially correct about the 7 iron malfunctioning.  The errors in ball flight are hole-specific,  Kiawah #6 for example, where it consistently carries shorter than it should.  If you play the same 7 iron on Kiawah #13 however, it suddenly flies more consistently.  Then on Kiawah#15 it's back to the same as it was on #6 (is it coincidence that where it malfunctions is the 6th hole of both front and back 9?).  There are a few more holes where it doesn't fly properly, and I have left error report after error report for the last 6 months on each of these holes.  I have yet to get any acknowledgement. 

  I do however suspect that the errors have to do with physics errors on specific holes.  Make a note of which holes in particular you are having trouble with and we'll list them here and see if they match up.

• WGTadmin2 1,152 Posts

  Fri, May 29 2009 5:46 PM

  I am not sure which 7i you are each referring to.  Please clarify.    The differences you might be seeing are due to wind, lie, surface after flight and hit quality. In a test environment the 7i's for all the club sets are performing per spec.