Today’s Forum Thread of the Day comes from golfinguru11 who asks WRXers what they feel is the necessary handicap to possess before making the move to blade irons. Our members dismiss the notion that only players with a specific handicap should play blades and give their thoughts on what is necessary to game the irons effectively.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

• rt_charger: “I think the overwhelming answer is that there is absolutely no handicap threshold to play blades – if like said before, you can elevate them; and you have the swing repeatability to find center more than not; you can play blades. Any handicap can play blades, not every player can. It is just statistical likelihood that fewer higher handicaps play blades and above a certain one you find any with blades because they don’t have the swing to play them. I think the test is, if you can hit a blade 5 iron that goes high enough, you can play blades.”
• tets: “ANY handicap… try this, go over your last round. Take your score, subtract all the putts you hit, then subtract any wedges include chip shots, bunker shots etc., next take away 18 tee shots ( if there are 4 par 3’s you can choose not to subtract them if you want) .. your “ other” shots will be somewhere around 10, plus or minus a few. You may also choose to subtract hybrids and fairway woods if you want. My point is play what irons you want; you probably use them less than you think.”
• uglande: “None. But every golfer (even most pros) reach a point of diminishing returns in their set. Anyone can hit a 9 iron blade, but when you get to 5 or 6 iron your consistency will fall off, and your yardage gaps will narrow. If you like to work the ball or flight the ball, blades are great. If you are mostly just trying to hit straight shots, then blades probably don’t make sense unless you just love the look and feel. Maybe try a blended set with blades in the short irons and just try to identify the spot in your bag where the “cons” of blades start to outweigh the ‘pros.'”
• GSDriver: “There’s no handicap; it’s up to the individual. Clearly harder to hit than cavity backs but if you like them, play’em.”

Entire Thread: “Handicap to play blades?”