What's the Deal with Blades?
Who should play them and who should not?

What is a "blade"?

To begin with, the term "blades" no longer applies just to pure, traditional blade-like irons. The marketing people at many major manufacturers have usurped the term and applied it to any and all performance-oriented irons that are aimed towards low-handicappers.

Pure blades are rarely, if ever, manufactured today. Even those modern irons that are most like pure blades are actually musclebacks, or muscleback-blades. Prior to the 1950's, almost all irons were pure blades. That is, the backs of the heads were flat. Weight was uniformly distributed across the head. A muscleback, in contrast, has extra mass positioned in the bottom half of the head. That lowers the center of gravity and places more weight behind and under the ball at impact thus helping the ball to get airborne with added authority. A muscleback design is a rudimentary game-improvement iron.   

Why do many good players prefer blades?

Blades make it easier for some players to "work" their shots. At impact, a ball gravitates towards the strongest, nearby concentration of mass. That is why cavity back weighting patterns offer shot correction capabilities. Shot correction, however, is not what many good players want. Draws, fades and knockdowns are all mistakes that are made to intentionally alter the way a ball flies. Cavity weighting conspires to keep shots straight and strong. That's why most golfers prefer cavity backs of some sort. It's also the primary reason why blade players don't. 

The Hogan Apex shown to the right is a good example of muscleback design.

There are other reasons that good players often prefer blades: Most manufacturers design blades that have smaller than average head size. A compact head necessarily positions more mass closer to the spot directly behind the ball at impact. This gives more authority to the hit. A good hit with a small head will be sweeter and more productive than a good hit with a larger head of like design. A small head size also reduces drag through grass, rough and sand. The downside is that the primary impact area of choice will necessarily be smaller. The sweet spot may be sweeter, but it is also smaller.

Aside from reduced head size, most manufacturers also incorporate less hosel offset into blade design. The average golfer experiences benefits from having an offset hosel. It positions their hands slightly in front of the ball and allows the club to catch up to the golfer's swing. The face closes sooner and reduces weak shots to the right. This is particularly true of the longer shafted irons. Good players quite often not only do not need this aid, they actually experience reduced effectiveness when using offset hosels. Their shots tend to go too far left.

"Feel" is another oft quoted reason for using blades. A large cavity back mutes the feel of a golf ball at impact to some extent. Blades communicate through the shaft better. They give a higher degree of feedback to the player as to just what the head did through impact. As the ball leaves the face, an experience player knows just what has transpired. Higher handicapped players will notice more feedback being registered through their hands, but it will be essentially useless to them if they are without the experience and talent to utilize that input.

The Cleveland TA-1 is a very traditional blade with a thin sole, compact head and a semi-muscleback design.

Lastly, blades are generally designed with thinner toplines and soles. The topline thinness is mostly an aesthetic thing, as many have developed a strong dislike for the way a thick toplined iron looks at address. As to the sole, it is designed to augment the abilities generally found in the game of better players. The sole is generally thinner and is ground to compliment the typical movement through impact that most scratch players demonstrate. Higher handicap players will often find themselves digging too deeply with blades. An appropriate sole design also allows a golfer to better "slide" the club under the ball during shotmaking efforts.

Who Should Be Playing Blades?

Who should be playing blades� is not the same question as is Who can play blades� For countless decades, all irons were blades. Golfers of all levels of ability played the game with blades and they had a good time doing so. Anyone can play blades; that doesn't mean that they should. Using blades, as opposed to cavity back, game-improvement irons, will probably cost most folks a few strokes a round. It will probably cost them some enjoyment factors, as well.

Blade users do not have to be great golfers. They should be consistent ball-strikers, however. As a general rule of thumb, if your primary impact pattern on the face is larger than a fifty-cent piece, go with a cavity back of some sort. A good, consistent blade user will have an impact pattern that is a bit larger than a quarter. That does not mean that they don't occasionally hit off-center shots; it just means that they hit 90% of their shots are close to dead center. Bluntly speaking, most golfers do not have the hand-eye coordination to ever achieve this level of consistency - regardless of how many hours of play and practice they accrue.

Weak shots happen when a blade is hit too far from center. An inconsistent ball striker must weigh the positives and negatives of using blades. Are the inevitable weak hits counterbalanced by the improved ability to work and control the ball? Is the possible improvement in accuracy on good hits strong enough to offset the decreased accuracy of mishits? On average, how far away from the pin does your shot end up. These are questions that each golfer must answer for himself.

Some pros believe that young golfers are more apt to become good golfers if they learn to play using small-headed blades. The theory is that they will necessarily have to learn to play with a more controlled swing. For an athletic youth with good hand-eye coordination, this is not a bad idea provided that he is dedicated to learning the game. For those that may succumb to frustration, friendlier irons would be advisable.

There is another group of golfers - a growing group - that can benefit from blade playing. Many players now do not carry irons longer than a five or a six. Instead of long irons, they use lofted fairway woods or hybrid iron/woods. Such players should have little reluctance in trying blades. Almost all players with a handicap of 20 or below can hit shorter-shafted irons consistently enough to realize some benefits from blade-like designs. If their woods have no offset, the reduced offset of the blades may improve their game's overall consistency and accuracy.