[jimhoward]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

I've been between a 3 Index & 8 Index, for 20+ years. I can count on one hand, the number of times I've spun a ball back on a Green, not counting sand shots.





There is no "feel" difference between a "forged" golf club and a "cast" golf club. That's been proven over & over & over again. It's an old wive's tale. Almost all golf irons are made of carbon steel, 431 or 17-4ph stainless. Just use common sense. How could any of those steels, "feel" differently, when hitting a marshmallow (in comparison) golf ball? It defies logic. if you insist there's a different "feel", it's because you never hit the "sweet spot", which is tiny on an old set of forged irons. Naturally, it's going to feel better if you get lucky and hit the center of the club face. A modern forged or cast club, has an enhanced & larger sweet spot.

There has been only 1 set of irons produced by a major Club manufacturer, in both Forged & Investment Cast. The are the Hogan Edge GCD model, produced in 1994 & 1995. I happened to own a set of each. I witness (tested) at least 10 different Golf Professionals hit the 2 clubs, side by side. None of the 10 could consistently feel the difference. No average played would have any hope of "feeling" the difference.

There was a Golf Publication out in those days, called "Peterson's". It named the Hogan Edge GCD irons as the greatest irons ever produced ... which obviously caused a run on the irons. They're still a sought after collector's item. Peterson's tested both the Forged & Investment Cast versions, with the same result. No change in performance, no change in "feel". (The only difference in the 2 models, was the Forged irons had a touch less offset than the cast irons.)

The feel of a golf club is related to a number of design characteristics, none of which are related to whether a club is forged or cast. 80% of the Top 100 players on the PGA Tour use Cavity Back Irons. Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson & Adam Scott, all switched out of forged blades, last year.

I believe Ricky Fowler is still using forged clubs. He switched from blades to mini cavity backs but they are still forged. I think that is the case for most of the players.

I have never had the opportunity to compare clubs cast versus forged that were otherwise identical. The cast clubs I have owned have been game improvement irons with big fat soles and thick top lines and offsets on the longer irons. The forged clubs I have owned have not been blades but have small cavities and small soles and thin top lines and smaller hitting area. I can definitely feel a difference. It might be all in my head and maybe in a scientific blind test I couldn't tell. But psychological factors matter. There is a saying in golf "feel isn't real". But in my head it feels real.