The Driver gets the most publicity of all the golf clubs in your bag. Working on the theory that “distance sells”, all we hear about now is CoR ratings and hot faces intended to help you get the extra 10 or 15 yards.
But what about your Irons? Don’t they have ‘hot faces’ that can be measured? Can they be engineered so that your 7-iron flies 10 yards further? If a Driver has a limit of .830 Coefficient of Restitution then what’s the limit with Irons?
Actually the limit is the same but no manufacturers have attempted to get anywhere near it. Some manufacturers have however invested in the technology to deliver incredibly thin faces that will help provide a ‘spring like effect’ or ‘hot face’. Nike should get some credit for pushing the limits of thinner faces with their Slingshot Irons. The TaylorMade r7 CGB Max and r7 XD are examples where these innovations have been applied and taken a step further
However, what’s most interesting is not the extra distance that these innovations might allow, but what is done with the weight that is saved from the face. This year’s releases of irons are saving in the order of 10 – 20 grams in the face that can now be repositioned elsewhere. That means still lower and deeper Centre of Gravity and more weight around the perimeter. And that’s good news for us. Easier to hit golf clubs.
Nike were one of the first manufacturers to set out to create a ‘Centre of Gravity’ that was technically in the ‘air’ behind the club face. To do this they created a club face that is ‘thinner’, lighter and incredibly consistent in construction, resulting in 20 grams that could be replaced elsewhere in the club head.
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