Cast V Forged Irons
Iron play is the bread and butter of golf and we cannot overemphasize its importance but many golfers may still be at a loss not only in what type of irons are suitable be they player's irons, game improvement or super game improvement. Add to it forged versus cast irons and we can get even more confusion. Super Game Improvement are like idiot proofed cameras, just point and shoot.
They help you in a maxiumum way. Game improvement offers a little help and mostly for intermediate players who aspire to be better lower handicappers while needing a bit of friendliness to get by while Player's type for for pros and single digit ones. During the old days when golf shafts are made from steel before graphite was introduced, they used to give us forged clubs which are often blades and difficult to play since they were being used by the pros.
Ping revolutionised the industry by creating an investment casting process so good that it sets the standard. Many professional golfers still prefer forged irons solely due to the "feel" factor. Forged irons have very soft feel. Very often, they make forged irons more blade like while the cast irons have more perimeter weighting which make them more forgiving. However, modern technology and market demand have also meant that we are going to see more forged irons in the game improvement segments in time to come. So, what is the difference between cast and forged irons?
They help you in a maxiumum way. Game improvement offers a little help and mostly for intermediate players who aspire to be better lower handicappers while needing a bit of friendliness to get by while Player's type for for pros and single digit ones. During the old days when golf shafts are made from steel before graphite was introduced, they used to give us forged clubs which are often blades and difficult to play since they were being used by the pros.
Ping revolutionised the industry by creating an investment casting process so good that it sets the standard. Many professional golfers still prefer forged irons solely due to the "feel" factor. Forged irons have very soft feel. Very often, they make forged irons more blade like while the cast irons have more perimeter weighting which make them more forgiving. However, modern technology and market demand have also meant that we are going to see more forged irons in the game improvement segments in time to come. So, what is the difference between cast and forged irons?
Forged Irons
Forging a golf club head is quite similar to what a blacksmith would do - just like the way they make a sword or what you see in old cowboy movies. Metal is sunk into a certain shape, put into a fire and then hammered until the desired design is completed. They are then presented with a raw forging iron, which is an approximation of the desired club head.
The carbon steel or chrome club head is then finished by milling, grinding and drilling, etc. The end result is a sharp looking, soft metal iron but they come with a reduced sweet spot. Forged irons are often aimed at very good players who place importance on the feel of the club and the feedback from each shot so as to be able work shots and control trajectory and distance.
The carbon steel or chrome club head is then finished by milling, grinding and drilling, etc. The end result is a sharp looking, soft metal iron but they come with a reduced sweet spot. Forged irons are often aimed at very good players who place importance on the feel of the club and the feedback from each shot so as to be able work shots and control trajectory and distance.
Forged irons usually comes with the word "forged" imprinted on it. Do not get disheartened by the price tag of $3600 you see on the picture. It is because you are looking at the S-Yard from Seiko Corporation of Japan. Other forged irons can be had for half that price.
Cast Irons
An alternative to forged irons is the cast iron. Cast iron involves pouring the liquid metal into a mould. Pouring molten metal through a mould means that the club makers can make more complex head designs. Therefore, cast irons are more suited to the modern day designs of today's irons that have more perimeter weighting and greater intricacies. It is easier to make and therefore, cheaper than forged irons.
Which Is Better?
Which Is Better?
Price-wise, it is obvious cast irons are less expensive and therefore better for most golfers. It is quite similar when comparing cast iron putters and CNC-milled putters. Today's technology means that there are no bad quality products so even cast iron putters or irons are of the highest standard. If it is purity and feel you are after, then nothing beats a forged iron or a milled putter. Simply put they are softer and you get instant feedback. However, there are some irons like Ping, Titleist or some TaylorMade models that are cast irons but come with soft feel too. Cast iron putters that feel soft use polymer or other inserts to create the feel.
It is like comparing $500 and $5000 or even $50,000 speakers, all can reproduce nice quality sound but which is better. Are you a purist? If we were tone-deaf then it doesn't matter but if you were tone-deaf with deep pockets, then some jokers may buy it for the look rather than the sound. However, cast irons will last longer than forged irons as they are more durable. Due to its softness, forged irons and even milled putters can get dink or get easily dented or cut and after some time can look uglier and aged with more glaring scratch marks.
What Is The Difference?
The process. Casting is exactly like how we make ice at home. You pour water into a mould and then solidify it. Usually from stainless steel, they get melted in a furnace and the liquid metal is poured into a ceramic or wax mould for it to take shape. After a cooling period, the moulds are broken and viola! you find the club heads there.
When forging, the club is created from a single piece of metal usually from bars of carbon steel. They heat it till red hot and then hammered and crafted into the desired shape. It's like mass production versus individual craftsmanship. While casting is more practical and economical (cost about half the price versus forged), the forging process produces higher quality and more consistency.
The negative aspect of casting is when liquid metal is poured into a mould, air bubbles get trapped in the liquid metal. Looking at a piece of ice from your freezer, you can't help but see bubbles in every cube. The presence of bubbles make it less pure. If its ice for drinking with your whisky or drinks it is alright but for a club head it may produce a different result with two shots from the same spot. Big bubbles trapped can actually cause a club to crack or even break in due time (but for most of us hitting ten shots with the best clubs could produce ten different result from the same spot.) If you hit both types side by side one after another you will feel the difference.
The negative aspect of casting is when liquid metal is poured into a mould, air bubbles get trapped in the liquid metal. Looking at a piece of ice from your freezer, you can't help but see bubbles in every cube. The presence of bubbles make it less pure. If its ice for drinking with your whisky or drinks it is alright but for a club head it may produce a different result with two shots from the same spot. Big bubbles trapped can actually cause a club to crack or even break in due time (but for most of us hitting ten shots with the best clubs could produce ten different result from the same spot.) If you hit both types side by side one after another you will feel the difference.
Bubbles is not the name of a chimpanzee owned by celebrities. Bubbles when trapped in a club head will also cause more vibration. A simple experiment is to fill a glass with water and another with fizzy drinks with lots of bubbles. Tap it with a pen or flick a finger at it and you can hear a different sound and tone. This is the same as filling water into say brandy or wine glasses of two different qualities - glass and crystal. Wet your finger and go around the rims of the glasses and hear the different sounds. This is what is meant by feedback.
Discerning golfers wants to know immediately when they hit the ball by means of feel and sound without having to turn up and look at the club face for markings. See the expert mahjong players who can feel with their hands. Imagine a piece of lean meat without fats and a marbled beef with fats all over. Even those with more consistent marbling costs more such as wagyu beef. The club face of casting cannot be made perfectly flat just like the top surface of your ice cubes.
When liquid turns to solid, a shrinkage will occur causing the surface to be somewhat like concave so likewise when metal cools there could be deformities or certain degree of warping. Further more, a club head's uneven thickness can cause the thinner top and thicker sole to cool at different rates with the sole slower to cool so that while the top may have hardened the bottom is still soft which may result in stress in the club being pulled in different directions which may cause warping. Liquid metal when poured into a mould does not fill up all recesses entirely and equally. When you put chrome on a cast iron, it looks like forged. Usually forged irons has the word "forged" on it.
Discerning golfers wants to know immediately when they hit the ball by means of feel and sound without having to turn up and look at the club face for markings. See the expert mahjong players who can feel with their hands. Imagine a piece of lean meat without fats and a marbled beef with fats all over. Even those with more consistent marbling costs more such as wagyu beef. The club face of casting cannot be made perfectly flat just like the top surface of your ice cubes.
When liquid turns to solid, a shrinkage will occur causing the surface to be somewhat like concave so likewise when metal cools there could be deformities or certain degree of warping. Further more, a club head's uneven thickness can cause the thinner top and thicker sole to cool at different rates with the sole slower to cool so that while the top may have hardened the bottom is still soft which may result in stress in the club being pulled in different directions which may cause warping. Liquid metal when poured into a mould does not fill up all recesses entirely and equally. When you put chrome on a cast iron, it looks like forged. Usually forged irons has the word "forged" on it.
Mizuno
Have you heard of Mizuno? They make sporting goods from swimming trunks to golf clubs and boy do they make some of the world's best forged clubs. Mizuno use 1025 carbon steel for their forged clubs. 1025 means there is 0.25% carbon in the steel where more than 1% makes it brittle and less than 0.1% makes it deformed. Mizuno also use a patented "Grain Flow" technology for even greater perfection, the only company to go to such extent to do that.
Tiger Woods used Mizuno when he was in colleage before turning pro and being sponsored by Titleist and later Nike. They make two series - MP for players and MX for game improvements. Their latest the MX300 is the first time they are making forgiving irons that plays like the MP in terms of feel and playability meant for aspiring golfers who are mid-handicappers hoping to go down to single digit.
Ping Anser
Ping makes the world first perimeter weighted putter and they called themselves Ping after the sound the putter made when it hits the ball. The Anser was named originally as the "Answer" but due to space limitation, it was shortened to "Anser" which still sounds alike. Today, it is one of the most copied design in a putter. Ping has also been a great manufacture of cast irons making them to such high standard, they continue to excel in it but they have never really been highly successful in the Japanese market where packaging and having what is thought to be the finest product is highly ranked. In the Japanese mindset, somehow, only forged irons are of the highest class therefore, making cast irons less popular.
This is where Ping is going into by releasing for the first time a forged iron set targetted for April release in Japan only and maybe also be released to other Ping fans in the USA and the rest of Asia later. It shall be the "Ping Anser" forged irons. It looks quite similar along the lines of the current i15 irons. This is an interesting market development as it involves making forged irons with perimeter weighting. Kind of like putting shark's fins in moon cakes or abalone in yu sheng. It is made from 8620 carbon steel with a partial tungsten sole that has a larger than average sole width and with offset. Ping fans will get really excited with this and can't wait to hit them I am sure.
This is where Ping is going into by releasing for the first time a forged iron set targetted for April release in Japan only and maybe also be released to other Ping fans in the USA and the rest of Asia later. It shall be the "Ping Anser" forged irons. It looks quite similar along the lines of the current i15 irons. This is an interesting market development as it involves making forged irons with perimeter weighting. Kind of like putting shark's fins in moon cakes or abalone in yu sheng. It is made from 8620 carbon steel with a partial tungsten sole that has a larger than average sole width and with offset. Ping fans will get really excited with this and can't wait to hit them I am sure.
Keep watching as technology unfolds.
Golf as in life, play as it lies.
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