dmeeksDC

Not a thing wrong with Speeders. The Evolution series delivers great performance, better feel than Ventus IMO. Ventus are top-notch, no doubt, but it’s not like they’re superior to Speeder, they’re just a different profile, more “advanced” materials, etc. Have a Speeder Evolution TR 661 in a TM driver and an Evolution VI 757 in a Qi35 3 wood. They’re outstanding, much better than the stock shafts they replaced. Still a good market for them for those who like Fuji shafts with a more classic feel. I know a few dealers who carry them and they still sell.

I honestly cannot remember but if you had asked me I would have said the 480TC sole was ever so slightly thinner. I am sure they are close. The 702CB+ is quite thin-looking, though, maybe looks skinnier because the blade length is a touch longer. I have noticed it is thinner soled with a thinner top line than many OEM irons. It’s a really nice iron. Pretty surprisingly good on thin hits. To me it has dimensions and depth that work great, less bulky than what is usually seen in a mid-sized iron.

Many have probably seen this, but the Plugged in Golf review on the 702CB+ is on the money. Exactly my experience with these irons. And I agree with the reviewer that these are more of a forgiving players iron than a players distance club. The new X Forged heads released by Callaway are nice, but they’ve got nothing on the New Level 702s, which IMO are a little easier to play with a low CG and small tungsten plug in the toe of the sole. The 702CB+ is also considerably sleeker than the X Forged Max. https://pluggedingolf.com/new-level-702-irons-review/

To me it depends on the head. The deeper the CG, the more weight I need for it to feel right to me. I had the Tour head and at 34 inches that one comes with 6g stock weights. I ordered it with 10g weights and it was perfect. Might be different with the V or Z heads. I don’t know how heavy the weights come in but that is certainly a key to dialing these in. And it is very individual. Scheffler has his head playing at 340g!

I have the core qi35 3 wood and I cannot recall the last time I liked a 3 wood as much. Versatile and very playable. Definitely try the core 7 wood. Maybe try the Elyte Triple Diamond 7 wood. But for you on ball flight an adjustable 7 wood might make a key difference. Might also want to look at the Srixon Zxi 7 wood. Gets rave reviews. All titanium head, adjustable hosel.

There’s just a little tech in the King Tours, which is what I love about them. They’re also mid-sized, not too compact. Really a nice iron. Feel great, look great. The New Level 702CB+ is an iron that in size and feel reminds me of them. Not much “tech.” It has a milled slot to produce a lower CG and more perimeter weighting and a tungsten plug in the toe for CG and MOI. Head is single billet 1020 carbon steel. Rolled leading edge.

I’ll take a few photos next time I play. They stop almost dead in their tracks. On Sunday I was seeing ball marks less than a foot from the ball to just a few feet. Now, I did I order my set all bent 1 degree weak. Felt like I’d still get plenty of distance and I do. They’re still long. Swing a 7 iron at 84-85 mph.

If you’re used to a blade I would recommend trying the Spider heads with the more weight-forward design, the V and the Z. I think Shane Lowry uses on of those. They’re not all the same and the weight is adjustable. Can also get a firmer aluminum face. Personally I enjoy the stock face. Puts a great roll on the ball. Some blade users do not adapt well to back-weighted mallets or a deep CG feel. This lineup gives you options. This is from Today’s Golfer:

Spot on. If a player is looking for forged feel, as in 1020 carbon steel, I don’t think the ai150 feels like that. I also have the NL 702CB+ — tremendous irons which to me are like a more forgiving X Forged — and the ai150 does not have that “pure” feel. Having both I have hit them side by side a few times and they all work for me. I think the ai200 feels good too, maybe a touch softer than the ai150. The 702CB+ is about as forgiving a one-piece forged iron as you’ll find, but the ai150 is more forgiving. The New Level feel is as good as I have experienced. There always are tradeoffs. The ai150 does have a satisfying feel IMO. For the high-tech iron that it is, Callaway’s formula with the microspheres works well. And without a doubt it shines on mishit performance. Some poor swings I’ve had produced mishits with more of a thud sound, but the shot results are fine, better than I deserve. Really good on thin contact, a big difference there. The short irons feel closer to the TCB to me, but not quite the same.

Well, I got to see the X Forged Max irons and you sir are correct. Beautiful irons. They’re a lot more like a player’s iron than the DCB. The X Forged Max do have deep cavities but they also look pretty compact. Larger than the X Forged but not a lot larger, clearly smaller than the ai200. I bet the X Forged Max get some play on pro tours, they look much closer to the Srixon Zxi7 in proportions than I realized. I would say they are also like a Bridgestone J15CB or Tour B CB, and that is high praise IMO. It’s quite an interesting model for Callaway to come out with. Be sure to post updates on how they play.

There’s no doubt the X Forged will be more forgiving than the Cobra MB for the vast majority of players. A little more room to miss, a little more help with the sole design.

Played my first full round with the ai150s today and they are legit. Enjoyed them a lot. Very consistent shots. They perform like a player’s iron with additional and noticeable forgiveness, definitely more than a standard cavity back. Can report that toe side misses turned out like I didn’t really miss it. On a 169-yard par 3, missed a 7 iron about a half-ball toward the toe and it still flew well, made the green, about 15 feet from the hole. That shot impressed me. This course was short so I hit a lot of pitching and gap wedges and they are both easy to play and can be flighted down. Plenty of stopping power, Mine are bent 1 degree weak, PX Rifle 5.5 shafts. Really like the set gap wedge. They feel great. How to describe it will vary by the player but “soft solid” is how I’d describe it. They don’t feel exactly like my New Levels, which are 1020 carbon steel and set a high standard, but they feel very good on their own. You can tell there is a softness behind the face. I would call the feel sort of in between a PXG P iron and something like the Ping i210, but I’d place it closer to the PXG. To me there are two categories of feel — I like it or I don’t and I like the feel of these. Definitely softer than recent iterations of the Apex. I like the microspheres, on quality shots they feel quite satisfying to me. Best comparison I can make would be the ai150 is a sleeker Zxi5-type iron. Just as forgiving, a little more compact package. Nothing but positives about the on-course performance, the soles are smooth through the turf. There’s a real comfort zone with them, perform similar to Apex Pro but I think they are a notch more forgiving.

The TE+ is a nice choice. I have not played that one but I have played the TS3. Update us on what you think. I am into these kinds of clubs. Forgiveness is a term used broadly these days and has come to mean which iron provides a decent result no matter how horrible or erratic or non-repeatable the player’s swing is. A lot of golfers don’t need all that. OP is looking for forgiveness AND spin and shouldn’t underestimate forged irons, depending on the design. TS3 has a low CG, a generous blade length and solid MOi. For many, many golfers these will play as well as the multi-material heads and in fact for me these designs have been a little better in terms of preserving spin on middled shots hit a little thin. Get that nice hop and stop on that miss. A lot of the high-tech clubs will save ball speed on those, but not so good on saving spin. I have learned the hard way that over the green at most courses goes from bad to worse in a hurry. Another one I’d look at is the New Level 702CB+. A 1020 forged iron with a tungsten plug in the toe sole, a beveled leading edge and low CG. Same thing. Super easy to hit. Really feels great, produces nice shots on toe-side misses and thin shots. That’s all I need. I’m playing these. The 8-PW are trusted weapons. Dart throwers. The new Callaway X Forged Max could be a possibility. Haven’t hit that one yet. If a player is literally all over the face, maybe they need full tech help. But if you know your miss, there are options.

That’s a nice one. That was a good model year. GLWS.

Who knows if it would work but I like the thinking! Put the onus on the market to make it happen. Maybe even use crowd sourcing to determine which irons get made left-handed. I agree the entire lineup is not likely to happen.

Maybe you should review what they did. They had players test all the supposed “zero torque putters” but they did not test whether the putters themselves are “zero torque.” (The Revealer does not test that either, it is a sales device.) They also did nothing to prove they are better for making putts than other putters. They are all only compared to each other. That web site’s “testing” is more or less a joke. Look at their Most Wanted testing. Deeply subjective, sometimes ridiculous. What I am saying is that almost all of the “zero torque putters” are not zero torque. And it remains unclear that pursuing zero torque is even worthwhile. Scotty Scheffler simply switched to a traditional mallet and the claw grip and for him that was a gamechanger. I’m not convinced torque even matters. The Spider is a much more proven winning design, torque and all.

I play golf right handed but I am with the left handers on this issue. I think these companies could sell enough left-handed sets to make money. There is a way to make the numbers work even if they had to charge more for left-handed as a “custom” up charge. At least offer something. I would hope with the advent of 3D printing perhaps in the future costs will come down and options will go up. It would seem in this day and age that someone could find a solution to meet this market. Heck, even if they only produced them after making enough pre-order sales to justify it, that would probably be fine with lefties. The excuses seem too easy to trot out instead of coming up with a win-win, which does seem possible. It’s strange because with all their irons on offer and their annual revenue, Callaway is one I would expect to be more active in selling to lefties.

Thanks for this. I think I am about to go back to a Callaway driver — I think mainly because I am so comfortable with them. Will be either the TD or TD Max, but I am leaning toward the TD Max 9 degree. I do love the look of the 450cc TD, but it’s hard to beat the TD Max in terms of overall performance and forgiveness for my gamer relative to practice time.

Well, 90 percent or more of golfers don’t play in tournaments and the percentage who belong to a private club is estimated at about 1/3 of golfers in the US. I have yet to see a set of Srixon irons at any course except for when I am playing them. It’s weird. Great irons but I never see them. I’ve seen more Ben Hogan irons! I see far more Mizuno Hot Metals and HMPs than any other Mizuno head. I see i200/i210 quite a bit, but the Ping I have seen most over the past year is the i530 and the previous versions. I bet that iron is one of their best sellers. When I go down south, I see a ton of Ping, Callaway and TaylorMade irons. I play with guys who still game the 2016 Apexes. Played a few weeks ago with a guy who said he is “trying to get to scratch” as he showed off his new T100s. He hit at least 5 shots off the golf course with those irons, every one of a mighty swing producing a screaming line drive dead right and gone. I cannot imagine a fitter put him in those. That was the first set of T100s I have seen. i see more T200 and AP2s than any other Titleist. P790 far and away the TaylorMade winner.

Yeah, I wasn’t talking about the specs, and I sure wasn’t getting into any offset discussion, and I did say the X Forged Max is likely smaller than the DCB. I haven’t held one in my hands. It’s just a discussion. But I don’t agree they are nothing alike. X Forged is smaller, but it’s not a small iron, and it does have a deep cavity depth that I thought looks similar to the DCB. The deep cavity is one of the first things I noticed on the X Forged Max. I’d also like to see a sole comparison of those two. X Forged sole looks pretty wide to me.

You are correct. The shaft Callaway is offering right now for a $50 upcharge is the aftermarket Aretera EC1. I don’t know that a made for version exists. Anyone gone for the EC1 in the Elyte? It looks like quite an interesting shaft with how it is manufactured. Maybe Aretera’s early dispute with Fujikura is causing them to offer this shaft at a promotional price, but whatever, if it’s a great shaft that is not much of a price for a premium shaft. These retail for more than $300. I have liked the reviews I’ve seen on the EC1 Blue, it seems to have both excellent feel and stability.

I agree with this. For me the Elyte TD Max spins a little more and the standard Elyte TD offers a little more ball speed. There are always trade offs. The CG on the TD Max is a bit deeper than on the TD, hence the slightly higher MOI/forgiveness, but the tradeoff is standard TD may also offer a 1-2 mile uptick in ball speed. Cool Clubs found the standard TD launches lower than the TD Max or the TD TD. They make the point that the ball speed difference is small and likely is from the lower launch, but many players may take that in exchange for better control. You also can put a heavier weight in the front port of the TD Max to see if that brings any benefit. The bigger question for me has been whether to play the 9 degree or 10.5 head, swinging at 103. Could definitely play the 9 in the TD Max with its 1 degree higher launch. Standard TD is a closer call so I am pondering that head in 9 degrees lofted up 1 degree. In terms of looks I give a slight edge to the classic look of the standard TD but they both look nice. I played the standard Paradym TD a few years ago set at 9.5 degrees and I hit that one really well. Loved that head shape.

I would simply pick the one you like the look of and then dial in the head loft and weights. You may find a 9 degree works best in one model but a 10.5 is better in another, for example. These drivers are very close and a lot of players can do well with any of them. The standard Elyte is very nice. Many like matte heads, but I think the TD gloss heads look sleek and inviting. My favorite shape is the Elyte TD but I’d likely fit best into the TD Max.

Saw these today and I agree with you. They look super at address, definitely look a little easier to hit than BPS. The carbon strip is really no big deal. Not my favorite look but it would not put me off. These are attractive overall, look like a nice player’s iron.

The Ai150 is high-tech, like a smaller version of a Srixon Zxi5 or a slightly larger P770. But in the short irons 8-G the Ai150s are like a slightly more larger and forgiving TCB. These ai150s are all filled, multi-material heads, but the scoring irons have the same 17-4 face as the TCB. They feel really good. If you like the idea of a Zxi5 in a head less bulky, these are worth a look. The X Forged is going to be most like the 2013 and 2018 X Forged heads. New one has a different shape and sole. Pure forged iron with minimal cavity and a bit of perimeter weighting. For what it is, it offers some help but solid ball strikers will fare the best. The X Forged Max is a pure forged iron, simply larger, almost like they made a one-piece version of the Apex DCB. Probably a touch smaller than that. I have a set of New Level 702CB+ irons that are 1020 carbon steel heads and to me the X Forged Max will play very similarly. Because I already have the New Levels, I got a set of the Ai150s. Have hit them once and they are really nice. Look and feel great. Super consistent on distance.