[BerntR]

I don't think the blades are as hard to hit as their reputation. Off center hits feels worse but the result isn't much worse than with a forgiving iron. I even saw a scientific comparison a while ago where they compared thin, toe, heel hits etc. The difference was very moderate, and the blades even produced better results on a couple of the mishits (i think it was towards the heel)

I wouldn't advice aganist blades for a 12 hcp. If you like what you see at address they will not hurt your score. And the feedback you will get could make you a better player.

But lie angle and shaft must fit or else it's just a waist of money. And I think the two should fit with how you want to hit the ball and not necessarily to how you hit it today. Particularly if you have a misfit today your swing has adopted to it and those compensations will also be in operation when you try new irons.

I went for Mizunos because they were the flattest forged irons I could find. Then I had the factory make flatten them progressively towards the 3 iron. I did the fitting based on experience and wear marks on my old TA 845SS (which was also pretty flat) and it turned out pretty well. If anything I should have flattened a degree or two more in the short irons too. And perhaps I would have benefitted from something slightly softer than s300 but I don't think that affects either scoring or workability so it's a minor.