[ulnanVti]

I have a question about the proper order I should be doing things in...

I am (for the first time in many years) in a position to:
1. Play more golf
2. Buy new irons

I want to get better this summer- in the past, playing on my own, I managed to get my index down to ~12. I am not expecting to get back there but I would like to start playing bogey golf again (current index 20-22?).

I have never taken golf lessons before and plan on starting to do so leading me to this question:
Should I go through an iron fitting with my current swing and pick out a new set of irons BEFORE taking lessons, or should I hold off on the irons and take several lessons before I fit myself to a new set of clubs?

About myself:
25 yo, 6'3", 170 lbs
Driver SS ~105 mph (per golf galaxy)
Driver distance ~260 average
150 club- 6 iron

My golf life is broken down into 2 sections:
Pre-knee surgery (2005)- 230 yards off the tee, 5-7 yard draw off of all clubs. Miss was a hook. Very low ball flight. Index 12
Post-knee surgery- as above, 5 yard draw to 15 yard fade. Miss is a pure slice. HIGH (ballooning?) ball flight. My biggest swing flaw is coming over the top. In my attempts to correct this I have started to take too much of an inside take-away (I am working on that). Otherwise- I just tweak my swing using trial and error (change in the way I shift my weight, etc). It isn't very effective....

Current clubs- Off the rack taylormade RAC HT (circa 2003), Adams Insight A3 driver, 2007 burner fairway woods (which are by far the best/most consistent clubs in my bag).

The biggest reason I am looking to change irons is that I have a very high ball flight naturally and I feel like I loose a lot of distance to "ballooning"- but I can't really confirm this other than my Driver/Iron distances don't match up. I also top a lot of balls which I attribute to having clubs that are too short for me.

I am looking at the R9's, G15s (I15's?), Mx-200 (Mx-300?) irons.

Thoughts on the proper order of clubs and lessons? Swing issues? Distance issues? Club's that I am looking at? Your favorite flavor of ice-cream? Why my knee surgery would have such a drastic change in my game? Anything?

Thanks!
Gus