sdandrea1 Did you give the 5 hybrid a shot in place of the iron? It should give you a much better launch angle if you're having trouble getting a 5 iron up in the air. Depending on your clubhead speed, there is definitely a point in an SL set where you will just not be generating enough speed (and therefore not enough ball compression or spin) to get the proper launch angle and distance with anything lower than that number. For some people it's even something as high as a 7-iron, where they can go with SL irons for the 7-SW but they need to go with hybrids or sometimes even traditional length clubs on the 4-6. And one nice thing about the Pinhawk set is they offer hybrids all the way up into the higher numbered clubs, and they hit BEAUTIFULLY and launch the ball nice and high even with a slower swing. I just set a guy yesterday up with a set of 4 & 6 hybrids + 8, PW, SW (very slow swinger) and he ended up with a perfect ball flight and 10-12 yard distance gaps between each club. So there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution with the SL irons, it takes a little bit of trial and error to find the best set configuration. Just like with a traditional set.
I've personally found that the biggest adjustment with a SL set was mental. I've been golfing for around 20 years, so my brain and my body are programmed to swing certain clubs a certain way. And even though I would tell myself "JUST SWING IT LIKE AN 8-IRON YOU IDIOT!", my subconscious and muscle memory would take over and I'd swing a 5-iron like a 5-iron or a SW like a SW - and the results were abysmal. It would be just like if you were to swing your LW like a 5-iron putting it further up in your stance and taking a flatter swing with it, it's just not going to work. I did have trouble with my 5 iron at first as well, and I think that's because even though I was putting in slightly back of center just like my 8-iron and standing with the same posture, I was still swinging it with a flatter plane and trying to pick the ball like I would with a traditional 5 iron rather than hitting down on it just like I would my 8 iron. I had the same trouble with the SW & LW, I was instinctively swinging them a bit steeper and hitting down on them more and I'd always hit fat shots.
The key to hitting a SL set well, at least for me, was to get out of the mindset of hitting a 5 iron, 7 iron, SW, etc - and instead get in the mindset of hitting my "180 yard 8-iron", and my "150-yard 8-iron" and even my "80-yard 8-iron". Once I did that, and I talked myself into the mental mindset that I'm literally just hitting an 8-iron every time - they just go different distances - then everything fell into place and I started striking the ball much better. After about 2-3 range sessions where I got gradually more comfortable, I threw my old 560MC's in the garage cabinet and haven't pulled them out since (nearly 2 years ago!).