[okie]

The Dreaded Vanishing Loft Disease

Club 60s-70s 80s Early 90s 1997-P
1 iron 17 17 16 16-17
2 iron 20 20 19 18-20
3 iron 24 23 22 20-21
4 iron 28 26 25 23-24
5 iron 32 30 28 26-27
6 iron 36 34 32 30-31
7 iron 40 38 36 34-35
8 iron 44 42 40 38-40
9 iron 48 46 44 42-44
PW 52 50 48 46-48
GW 52 52
SW 56 56 56 55-56
LW 60 60
Driver 11 11 10 9-10.5
3 wood 16 15 15 13-14
5 wood 22 21 19 17-18
7 wood 28 27 23 20-21


This is from Tom Wishon's book "In Search for the Perfect club" I am embarrassed to say that I learned a great deal from this book! Given the fact that I have been immersed in the game for a couple of decades some of the information should have been familiar to me!

I would also like to add that 1 degree of loft will impact a driver more than an iron, given the length of shaft and resulting higher club head speed.

The best driver I have ever had was a Mizuno persimmon with a 42 inch DG S-300 shaft! Not particularly long, but Funky straight! I destroyed it while taking a practice swing in the parking lot of Chenal CC in Little Rock AR...too much down!