We see and hear the advertising coming from our magazines, social media and watching tournaments but can we believe it? I say probably not. Most of the advertising we see and hear contains a nugget of truth or a grain of fact in it somewhere but most of it is misleading. I’ve been playing golf since the 1960s and if advertising was factual and I gained yardage every year because of new technology I would be hitting my tee shots 700 yards even though I’m 76 years old. Well, I’m not. As a matter of fact I’m barely hitting them 200+ yards with roll.
The truth is that the USGA and R&A have limited what technology can do to add distance. The reason you hit your pitching wedge farther than you used to is because the loft of a PW went from 52° when I was a kid to as little as 44° in some sets today. Your pitching wedge has 8 iron loft, that’s why you hit it as far as you once hit your 8 iron.
The Truth About Strong Lofted Irons
I’ve written about this before and Tom Wishon has been pointing this out for years too. This is a pretty good article by Simon Daddow, Equipment Editor for Today’s Golfer, that goes into it and is a good read.
