There‘s a lot of cool gear in the golf world that doesn’t always fit into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised.
What We Tried
Your Reviewer
Phillip Bishop – Most Wanted Testing overlord, video game addict and occasional butter-cut hitter.
We Tried It: ButterBlade
Everyone wants to hit the golf ball farther. That is an absolute truth. Speed arguably restricts just how far a golfer can hit the ball. Have you seen the speed some golfers are generating? It is absurdly impressive.
RYP Golf has made a name for itself with speed at the forefront. RYPSTICK is their prize creation, which has gained considerable traction and has become a tool golfers use to gain speed. However, RYP Golf is taking a new approach and offering an alternative to speed – precision.
RYP Golf is introducing the ButterBlade.
First off, the name itself is creative. After all, there is the connotation that blade irons feeling like butter. Hence, ButterBlade. This may or may not be true but that’s my hypothesis and I am sticking to it.
What Is ButterBlade?
ButterBlade is an iron but with a head roughly half the size of a 7-iron. You might be wondering, “Why would they make an iron half the size of a regular one?”
The very essence of the ButterBlade is to promote precision and accuracy. With a smaller head size, you have immediate contact feedback. You’ll know where your strike is – center, heel, toe. Theoretically, this feedback will allow you to dial in your swing path and, more importantly, your face angle control. I know I am limited with changing my natural swing path given my situation. My swing has alway been naturally in-to-out and having a prosthetic left leg makes it difficult to truly produce an out-to-in swing path, especially with irons. So matching up my face angle control to my path is critical to success. If the ButterBlade can assist, it has my interest.
Furthermore, the engineering design of the ButterBlade creates a natural lag to each swing. In turn, this can potentially generate more speed over time.
Using ButterBlade
The ButterBlade actually has an iron shaping and profile. The cherry on top is that it actually feels like butter … when there is solid contact. The weighting of the iron is balanced but you can tell it is a tick on the lighter side. But, again, that is part of the engineering design to assist with natural lag.
How about some data? I know you’re itching for some.
ButterBlade Data
For a product like this and most other training aids, a long-term study is best to see just how much improvement or lack of improvement is seen. RYP Golf suggests hitting 20 to 30 golf balls for an assessment. Therefore, I hit 25 shots with my 7-iron, 25 shots with the ButterBlade, and then 25 shots again with my 7-iron.
The image below is a screenshot of ball data. My initial 7-iron data is in RED. ButterBlade is in GREEN. My second 7-iron round is in BLUE.
You can see my carry distance standard deviation is smaller with the ButterBlade and then with my second 7-iron. You’ll also notice that those two ellipses are narrower from left to right. This indicates a tighter carry distance delta (again, the standard deviation is lower). Additionally, my second 7-iron round, post using the ButterBlade, has a lower standard deviation for ball speed – 1.9 vs 2.5.
These observations suggest that my strike pattern was indeed better after using the ButterBlade. Why? My ball speed was more consistent and my carry distance was more consistent. Minimal improvements but they are improvements nonetheless. The fractional differences here are exactly what we observe in Most Wanted Testing across thousands of shots.
Another observation that stands out to me is my face-to-path relationship. As I mentioned, it’s arguably the most important metric for me to be efficient with shot outcomes. My centeredness of contact is usually consistent. However, I get the clubhead too closed through impact.
After using the ButterBlade, I saw an improvement in my face-to-path relationship. Here is the difference:
- Pre-ButterBlade – 3.2° Closed
- Post-ButterBlade – 2.0° Closed
For me, this another example of improvement after using the ButterBlade. You can see in the screenshot above that the BLUE ellipses is more right of the target line. Additionally, my contact shifted from low-heel to more centered and slightly higher on the face.
All in all, I’m walking away from using the ButterBlade pleased with the results.
Is ButterBlade Worth Your Consideration?
Look, there is plenty of rinse, wash, repeat in the golf industry. Have we seen a golf training aid similar to ButterBlade before? Yes. Will ButterBlade work for you? Again, yes or, at least, I am confident enough to say give it a try. It isn’t gimmicky. It actually looks good and feels good but those are subjective opinions.
If you struggle with consistent contact, the ButterBlade will provide positive and negative feedback. Will you hit poor shots with it? Of course, especially if you aren’t confident in your ball striking. It is part of the journey of improvement. If you’re serious about improving your contact, your face angle control and possibly adding some speed to your game, ButterBlade might be right for you.
This article was written in partnership with RYP GOLF.
