Is This The Future Of Irons?

Golf Monthly

In this video, Joel Tadman tests out the Edel SMS iron, which is one of very few irons in existence that feature adjustable weights. Edel claims that positioning the weights in the correct position for your swing and strike, golfers should experience improved distance and accuracy but we wanted to put this theory to the test. So Joel takes the irons onto a par three at Burghley Park Golf Club with his Full Swing Kit launch monitor and moved the weights around to see what effect it really had.

Transcript

00:00now we're all familiar with adjustable drivers and how they can optimize your launch conditions

00:04for every swing but what about transferring that to other clubs in your bag so far we haven't

00:10really seen it a great deal pxg have dabbled a little bit with their precision weighting but

00:14there's a new kid on the block in the category of adjustable irons and it's from edel golf this is

00:19their new sms iron sms stands for swing match system we've seen it with their wedges and now

00:25they've transferred it into their irons and i'm really curious to see exactly what adjustable

00:29weighting in irons can do for my dispersion because i do struggle with my accuracy on my iron shots

00:34and edel say that this concept should enhance your club face control it should they say also give you

00:40a little bit more distance if you get the weight in the right place so i'm curious to find out

00:44exactly if that works or not we're at the beautiful ninth hole here at birdie park golf club i'm going

00:49to hit some shots on the launch monitor to give me some numbers and also obviously assess the ball

00:54flight that we get in those three positions so let's get onto the tee hit some shots and see how

00:58it performs so before i hit some shots my first impressions with this edel sms iron although it's

01:04actually a really nice looking club it's a little bit bulky kind of front to back it's relatively thick

01:08obviously got to house those three different weights so that's understandable but this is a

01:12player's distance iron it's actually hollow in construction so it's filled with foam inside the

01:16head dampen the vibrations give you a softer feel but it's a forged head it looks really nice and it

01:22has a seven iron loft of 32 degrees so relatively traditional in that player's distance iron category

01:28i'm going to hit some shots here got a flag 170 yards away into the wind so it's probably

01:33going to be a little bit too tough for us to get shots all the way back to the flag of a day like

01:37today but what we're really looking at is the distance we're getting on the full swing kit launch

01:41monitor which i've got set up down here and then also obviously observing the ball flight in those

01:46three different weight positions so i've got the weight in the middle first of all let's hit some shots got

01:49tight list prover on x golf balls hit three balls with each and we'll see how the performance

01:55compares in those three different weight positions

02:05it's not a bad one to start slight draw there in that with the weight in the middle

02:09first impressions down that dress actually is quite a nice looking club it's relatively compact

02:13but that kind of still manages to frame the ball really well there's a hint of offset there the

02:18top line's quite thick compared to most players distance lines not everyone will like that but

02:22actually it kind of strikes a good balance of being quite inviting to hit without looking too chunky

02:28overall so i'd say looks wise it ticks the boxes from a field perspective that first shot

02:34doesn't feel as springy off the face as a lot of players distance irons actually felt quite hard and

02:38harsh so maybe from a field perspective the foam isn't quite doing the job it's supposed to be doing

02:44doesn't feel overly soft we're going to hit a few more balls i said three with each in those weight

02:49positions and then we'll compare the performance

02:53okay so i finished my exhaustive testing of this edel sms iron and there's a few findings that i'd like

03:15to share with you in this verdict the first thing that actually as i went through the testing and

03:19started to hit more solid shots the feel of this club really improved so yes it does feel a little

03:24bit hard but actually it feels quite solid off the face and i actually really enjoyed the feel by the

03:28end of the testing session that said it didn't quite give me the ball speed or distance that i was maybe

03:34expecting from an iron of this size and of this loft so for comparison i did on another day test this

03:39iron up against the new mizuno pro 223 which has the same seven iron loft as this one at 32 degrees and

03:45that club was going around about five yards longer on average and it is slightly smaller so um that

03:51comes just goes to show that maybe you are sacrificing a little bit of distance with this club

03:55designed with the adjustable weighting versus a more traditional club of the same loft but that said

04:01it was interesting to for me to see the different performance characteristics through the weight

04:05settings so the first observation would be that actually even though edel say you might get a bit

04:09more distance in your optimal setting for me looking at the full swing kit launch monitor numbers which

04:14i'll flash up on the screen now the distances in each of the settings were pretty much exactly the

04:19same i was bang on about 160 yards in all three settings so i didn't really see an adjustment in

04:24the distance there so one key takeaway would be actually how much the spin changed in three of

04:28those different weight settings so starting with the heavier weight in the heel position the spin was

04:33quite high around six seven and then moving into the middle it came down to about six four i think and

04:38then it came down even further with the heavier weight in the toe and there's quite significant

04:42differences in spin there which i wasn't really expecting so that's something obviously to bear

04:46in mind if you're going through fitting process the spin profile does change with those different weight

04:50settings and then the big difference i would say would be the ball fight that's kind of the one

04:54thing we're looking at or expecting with this change in the weight positions is it altering the

04:58ball flight and i would say absolutely yes it is i'm starting with the weight in the middle it was

05:03kind of pretty neutral for me a soft draw is what i normally expect to see with a with a seven iron and

05:08that's what i was getting with this club and then when i moved into the toe that definitely changed

05:13to a straight shot or a slight fade which is definitely something i want to see as a player

05:17that tends to miss left quite a lot if i can start the ball at the pin slightly left of the pin and

05:22know that it's going to bleed back that's an ideal ball flight for me so i was really impressed to see

05:27that in that edel seven iron we're not talking massive difference but it was probably a good two to

05:31three yards more to the right versus with the weight of the middle and then finally when i moved the

05:35weight into the heel what was interesting is that the dispersion was a lot wider so it didn't necessarily

05:42draw more than the other it probably did draw a little bit but actually i was missing more shots

05:47to the right more shots to the left dispersion was a lot more erratic and i think that just goes down

05:52to the fact that my general strike pattern with an iron is is centered it's slightly towards the toe

05:57so you've got more of a difference there between where the weight is and where the strike is and

06:01therefore the gear effect is going to be greater so i think that definitely contributed to a wider

06:05dispersion pattern with the weight in the heel so for me obviously the optimum setting would probably

06:09be in the toe was expecting to get a little bit more distance out of the toe out of the toe weight

06:14setting because it felt a bit more solid out of there but obviously the launch monitor suggested that

06:19it was pretty consistent across those three different settings and what i like about that toe

06:23weight setting is that you can still draw it if you want to it's not like you're only limited to

06:27playing a fade if you do move that heavier weight into the toe so you've got the ability to draw it if you

06:31need to you can get custom weights through a fitting with edel so you can have four or ten

06:36grams depending on what you want if you go through that process you can really dial it in but

06:39i've been very surprised by the impact of this adjustable weight technology within an iron i think

06:45it's definitely going to help people control the direction their golf shots a little bit more

06:48easily this iron comes in at 250 dollars a club so it's quite a premium product but you're not

06:54going to get many irons that offer this kind of precision adjustability with your dispersion pattern

07:00so it's definitely worth trying if you struggle with your accuracy on your iron shots if you want

07:04to hit more greens if iron play is your weakness something like this concept could definitely have

07:09a positive impact on your iron play so there's undoubtedly some merit in the concept of moving

07:14a weight around in the head and obviously if you go through an iron fitting process you are able to

07:18change the dispersion and the shot pattern by adjusting lie angle and the shaft profile of the iron

07:23but i think moving the weight around inside the head like we've seen with this edel sms iron has a

07:28a bit more of an impact potentially on on the dispersion of your shots and kind of reducing or

07:33increasing the gear effect that you get on the strikes and depending on where you hit the face

07:36so a lot of merit to the concept and i've really enjoyed testing it out today so that concludes our

07:42look at the edel sms iron if you like the video make sure you click the like button do subscribe to

07:46the golf month the youtube channel so you don't miss any of our equipment review videos

07:50but from me from burley park golf club it's goodbye and i'll see you next time

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