The Pros And Cons Of Cavity Back Irons
Jack Moorehouse
Whenever I talk about irons in my golf lessons, students
invariably ask which style is best—cavity back or blade. The
cavity back has its advantages and its disadvantages. It also
has its fans.
Golfers, however, shouldn’t choose an iron style because it’s
popular in the clubhouse, since the style many not fit their
game. The key to iron styles, as I’ve said in my golf tips, is
finding what’s right for you.
Cavity backs are popular these days—and for good reason. A
cavity back has a small amount of metal removed from the back
of its clubface, producing a small hole. Removing the metal
re-distributes the clubhead’s weight around the edges of the
clubface, father away from the center of gravity (COG).
Re-positioning the COG creates a much more forgiving iron, with
a larger sweet spot along the blade. Thus, a mis-hit with a
cavity back is more likely to stay on target than a similar
shot with a blade. Why? Because the cavity back twists less in
a player’s hand when the ball is mis-hit. A mis-hit with a
cavity back is also more likely to travel farther than with a
blade.
Cavity backs are “game improvement’’ clubs, offering special
features that help golfers play better, like an oversize head.
I’ve talked about these clubs in my golf tips. Players with
high and mid golf handicaps prefer cavity backs, although some
low handicappers and touring pros use them.
Blade irons are not as popular as cavity backs. A blade iron
features a solid clubface back, distributing the weight more
evenly across the clubface, closer to the clubhead’s COG. Thus,
a blade has a much smaller sweet spot than a cavity back. A
blade is also much less forgiving than a cavity back because it
twists more in a player’s hands on mis-hits.
Distributing the weight evenly across the clubface, however,
creates an iron with better control and more feel. These irons
need to be hit nearly perfectly, though, to avoid a bad shot.
Thus, it takes a lot of practice and experience to hit these
irons well, something I work on in my golf lessons with low
handicappers.
The blade iron is known as a more traditional iron because it
lacks the cavity back’s special game improvement features.
Players with low golf handicaps and touring pros prefer the
blade style iron because the added control and feel enables
them to shape their shots better—a necessity when playing on
challenging courses.
Manufacturers make cavity backs and blades in cast and forged
versions. The terms “cast” and “forged” refer to the
manufacturing process used to form the iron head’s shape.
Casting turns the metal from which the iron head is made into a
molten liquid, which is then poured into a mold to form the iron
head. It’s then left to cool.
Forging involves pounding or compressing the metal, in it’s
solid form, from which the iron head is made into the desired
shape. Other machining and drilling steps complete production.
The manufacturing process has no impact on the iron’s
capabilities, as I’ve explained in previous golf tips. If you
have two irons, one forged and one cast, of exactly the same
shape, with the same center of gravity, same loft, same grip,
hitting the same ball, and so on, the shots will travel the
same distances 99 percent of the time. And the players won’t
know which iron head is cast and which forged.
You need to find the iron style that best fits your game, as I
point out in my golf instruction. If you’re a less experienced
golfer, the cavity back is probably a wiser choice, since
you’re more likely to mis-hit a ball. If you’re a more
experienced player, then a blade is probably your best choice,
since it provides more control and better feel for shaping
shots.
The best way of choosing a style that fits your needs is to
test it out. Hit a few balls with each style. If one style
feels better than another does, and you have confidence in it,
that’s the style that’s right for you.
About The Author: Jack Moorehouse is the author of the
best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros
http://www.howtobreak80.com .” He is
NOT a golf pro, rather a
working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven
continents lower their handicap immediately.
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