Nike Irons worth getting a set?

[loki993]

If anyone remembers the Nike thread from a bit back a lot of people were taking about how much they liked their Nike clubs. I never had much of an opinion on them but the more I read the more people seem to really like them, so it gets me thinking.

 

As someone that likes interesting things and messing with older irons you can usually get on the cheap I started looking. Now I've seen Vapor Fly pros going for dumb money, or at least people asking dumb money for them. 7, 8 9 even a thousand dollars in some cases. 700 for a set seem average. Now as good as they are I don't see paying as much as a new set for a used set that came out in 2016 and likely have some mileage on them.  People seem to be willing to pay for them for whatever reason. Vapor Flys still bring some money bit are a little less than the pros it seems. Not sure how much the Speeds go for. An interesting set are the Machspeed forged irons, japan only release and they go for pretty cheap on the bay. Also as a plus it seems Japanese people either buy clubs and don't play them a lot or just take really good care of their stuff because there are a fair bit of them I see are in pretty darn good shape for their age. 

 

 

If I was looking for a set where would be good places to look where I wouldn't get gouged on price, if that's even possible. FB Marketplace is not one of those places let me tell you right off. 

 

What are some set that I should be on the lookout for that I can get for reasonable money and are still good. 

 

What do people think is a realistic reasonable price for something like Vapor Flys or Vapor Fly Pros and have I just missed to boat on these and need to move on?

[third-times-a-charm]

No

[Phabs]

I still play a set of Nike blades.  They’re great clubs but I bought them right and had them black nitrided.  
 

Nike pro combo’s are as good as combo set as anything out today.  
 

You can still get the vapors occasionally for decent sub 500 dollar prices.  The fly pros definitely pull a premium thanks to Keopka and Finau. 

[dmeeksDC]

There are a lot of good ones. For better players, the Vapor Pro Combo is a good all-rounder that was ahead of its time. I posted many nice rounds with those. 

[loki993]

2 hours ago, Phabs said:

I still play a set of Nike blades.  They’re great clubs but I bought them right and had them black nitrided.  
 

Nike pro combo’s are as good as combo set as anything out today.  
 

You can still get the vapors occasionally for decent sub 500 dollar prices.  The fly pros definitely pull a premium thanks to Keopka and Finau. 

 

Yeah as good as the fly pros look if I'm being honest with myself the regular vapor flys are probably a better fit for me. 

 

2 hours ago, dmeeksDC said:

There are a lot of good ones. For better players, the Vapor Pro Combo is a good all-rounder that was ahead of its time. I posted many nice rounds with those. 

 

Unfortunately I'm not a better player...yet. 

[gibbyfan]

not unless they are the original Miura forged irons. Otherwise pass. 

[dmeeksDC]

45 minutes ago, loki993 said:

 

Yeah as good as the fly pros look if I'm being honest with myself the regular vapor flys are probably a better fit for me. 

 

 

Unfortunately I'm not a better player...yet. 

In that case seek the Nike VR-S Covert 2.0 irons released in 2014. Straddle the line with plenty of help for aspiring players but still a nice look from address. 

[DixieD]

Nike irons were fantastic, vr pro combo's are still the purest cbs I have hit. For looks alone though the vapor pro/combo and vapor fly pros are damn cool even now imo.

Still play a vapor fly pro 4 iron as my driving iron, the thing is amazing. 

[loki993]

3 hours ago, DixieD said:

Nike irons were fantastic, vr pro combo's are still the purest cbs I have hit. For looks alone though the vapor pro/combo and vapor fly pros are damn cool even now imo.

Still play a vapor fly pro 4 iron as my driving iron, the thing is amazing. 

 

Yeah they look great but I just can't justify the cost people ask for vapor fly pros. 

 

Regular Vapor flys maybe, maybe vapor speeds, the covert vrs 2.0s that were suggested looks nice too, seem to be a good option. 

[Phabs]

Played them today and tied my year low round…still solid as ever.

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Phabs

[AdmiralPicard]

The G1 blades were fantastic but the pro combos were the real gem of the lineup. 
 

And I can still remember old partners buying slingshots and just never missing. 

[loki993]

27 minutes ago, AdmiralPicard said:

The G1 blades were fantastic but the pro combos were the real gem of the lineup. 
 

And I can still remember old partners buying slingshots and just never missing. 

 

Yeah but the slingshots are the true definition of shovels. I'm not normally too picky about the thickness or offset of an iron but man those sure are fat. 

[AdmiralPicard]

3 minutes ago, loki993 said:

 

Yeah but the slingshots are the true definition of shovels. I'm not normally too picky about the thickness or offset of an iron but man those sure are fat. 

Oh they’re disgusting. But I lost a lot of money to a couple guys playing those things. 🤣

[03trdblack]

22 hours ago, gibbyfan said:

not unless they are the original Miura forged irons. Otherwise pass. 

 

Not many people I know would pass on a set of Endo forged irons which is what a lot of the Nike forged irons were. 🤔

[gibbyfan]

51 minutes ago, 03trdblack said:

 

Not many people I know would pass on a set of Endo forged irons which is what a lot of the Nike forged irons were. 🤔

Agreed, I was partial to these. 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by gibbyfan

[loki993]

1 hour ago, gibbyfan said:

Agreed, I was partial to these. 

 

 

 

I was gonna say pricy but compared to a set of actual Miurias they're relatively inexpensive. Too much club for me but still. 

[jdotmill]

9 hours ago, DixieD said:

Nike irons were fantastic, vr pro combo's are still the purest cbs I have hit. For looks alone though the vapor pro/combo and vapor fly pros are damn cool even now imo.

Still play a vapor fly pro 4 iron as my driving iron, the thing is amazing. 

i 2nd this. I was able to get a Vapor Fly Pro 4 iron off a guy on eBay who was asleep at the wheel, got it for $185 2 weeks ago, played my first round with it today and it is a rocket launcher. Definitely staying in the bag
 

Nike Vapor Pros, the VR Pro 2s and Vapor Fly Pros are some of the best looking clubs to come out in the 20th century. 

[VladDrag]

I have a set of VR Pro Combos that are just phenomenal - I love them. They are beat up tho, and I'd like to get them re finished and chromed out at some point in the future.

[Yoshifan151]

Nike clubs shot up in price the past few years. Not worth it imo.

[sjsdogsrule]

On 9/23/2023 at 9:10 PM, dmeeksDC said:

In that case seek the Nike VR-S Covert 2.0 irons released in 2014. Straddle the line with plenty of help for aspiring players but still a nice look from address. 

 

The Nike VR-S Covert 2.0 are forgiving for us mid-handicappers.  You can find sets occasionally at 2nd Swing or Global Golf. Each year I drool over the new releases, and each your stick with the Nikes.  Though my will power is waning!

[mvhoffman]

On 9/23/2023 at 7:48 PM, loki993 said:

If anyone remembers the Nike thread from a bit back a lot of people were taking about how much they liked their Nike clubs. I never had much of an opinion on them but the more I read the more people seem to really like them, so it gets me thinking.

 

As someone that likes interesting things and messing with older irons you can usually get on the cheap I started looking. Now I've seen Vapor Fly pros going for dumb money, or at least people asking dumb money for them. 7, 8 9 even a thousand dollars in some cases. 700 for a set seem average. Now as good as they are I don't see paying as much as a new set for a used set that came out in 2016 and likely have some mileage on them.  People seem to be willing to pay for them for whatever reason. Vapor Flys still bring some money bit are a little less than the pros it seems. Not sure how much the Speeds go for. An interesting set are the Machspeed forged irons, japan only release and they go for pretty cheap on the bay. Also as a plus it seems Japanese people either buy clubs and don't play them a lot or just take really good care of their stuff because there are a fair bit of them I see are in pretty darn good shape for their age. 

 

 

If I was looking for a set where would be good places to look where I wouldn't get gouged on price, if that's even possible. FB Marketplace is not one of those places let me tell you right off. 

 

What are some set that I should be on the lookout for that I can get for reasonable money and are still good. 

 

What do people think is a realistic reasonable price for something like Vapor Flys or Vapor Fly Pros and have I just missed to boat on these and need to move on?

I just recently switched to a set of Nike Vapor Fly irons and I absolutely love them.  You lose nothing when compared to todays irons.  I think they look and feel great.  I found mine on Facebook Marketplace 4-PW for $250.  The finish was a bit scratched up on them so I took them to the buffing wheel with some polishing compound and essentially polished off the finish they had on them and ended up with what looks like a brand new set of Nike chrome Vapor Fly irons.  
 

not the best picture of the after polishing but you get the idea…

Edited September 26, 2023 by mvhoffman
Pic added

[loki993]

20 hours ago, Yoshifan151 said:

Nike clubs shot up in price the past few years. Not worth it imo.

 

Yeah they have but I feel like there could still be some deals to be had, just probably not on something like vapor Fly pros which seem to have taken the brunt of the price increases. 

[MK7Golf21]

On 9/24/2023 at 3:25 PM, DixieD said:

Nike irons were fantastic, vr pro combo's are still the purest cbs I have hit. For looks alone though the vapor pro/combo and vapor fly pros are damn cool even now imo.

Still play a vapor fly pro 4 iron as my driving iron, the thing is amazing. 

 

I bought the vr pro combo's back in the day but only had them in the bag for a very short time. The long irons with the slot felt horrible. I can still remember the feel.

[Kmagnuss]

I’ve NEVER been a fan of Nike anything… but I gotta say they nailed it with these.  They even see more bag time than my MP33’s. They’re every bit as forgiving as my 718 ap2’s until you get to the 6 iron. 
 

 

[ChipNRun]

Be aware that the Nike Vapor Fly irons had very long stock shafts. Circa 2015, most irons sets came with a 5i with a 37.75" or 38" shaft.

 

The VF 5i came in at 38.75". I was measured for a VF set with 5i at 38.25". The clubs arrived, but after a month of  problems of hitting anything longer than a 7i I realized my set had been trimmed at stock - a half-inch too long for me. My set arrived about the time Nike was exiting the club manufacturing, and Nike was not being cooperative on redress, so I just dumped the set on eBay.

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by ChipNRun

[loki993]

1 hour ago, ChipNRun said:

Be aware that the Nike Vapor Fly irons had very long stock shafts. Circa 2015, most irons sets came with a 5i with a 37.75" or 38" shaft.

 

The VF 5i came in at 38.75". I was measured for a VF set with 5i at 38.25". The clubs arrived, but after a month of  problems of hitting anything longer than a 7i I realized my set had been trimmed at stock - a half-inch too long for me. My set arrived about the time Nike was exiting the club manufacturing, and Nike was not being cooperative on redress, so I just dumped the set on eBay.

 

 

you know in doing some reading I did just see that mentioned. Ill have to keep that in mind. What does having too long of a club do and vise versa?

 

also looking around maybe a few other not Nike sets are becoming interesting. 

 

TM Speedbaldes for some reason have always have interested me. 

RS1s are apparently very good

Pings have really never steered me wrong, G25, G30s something like that. But Ping is honestly pretty much all Ive played to this point, which may be why something different is interesting. 

 

 

the one interesting thing I see in a lot of the old reviews of the Nikes is how easily they seem to get in the air and I need help with that sometimes. So there is that and that fact that it seems they really managed to make game improvement irons that don't really look like game improvement irons. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by loki993

[Yoshifan151]

4 hours ago, loki993 said:

 

Yeah they have but I feel like there could still be some deals to be had, just probably not on something like vapor Fly pros which seem to have taken the brunt of the price increases. 

Ya don't get me wrong Nike made good stuff but it just may be hard to find a decent deal on some.

[loki993]

4 minutes ago, Yoshifan151 said:

Ya don't get me wrong Nike made good stuff but it just may be hard to find a decent deal on some.

 

Yeah thats sort of why I was asking what should I be on the lookout for in case I run across something somewhere. Im not going to overpay for something just because they dont make it anymore. but if something pops up on marketplace or in a GG or play it again, etc Ill have an idea if its good or not. 

[MK7Golf21]

1 hour ago, loki993 said:

 

you know in doing some reading I did just see that mentioned. Ill have to keep that in mind. What does having too long of a club do and vise versa?

 

also looking around maybe a few other not Nike sets are becoming interesting. 

 

TM Speedbaldes for some reason have always have interested me. 

RS1s are apparently very good

Pings have really never steered me wrong, G25, G30s something like that. But Ping is honestly pretty much all Ive played to this point, which may be why something different is interesting. 

 

 

the one interesting thing I see in a lot of the old reviews of the Nikes is how easily they seem to get in the air and I need help with that sometimes. So there is that and that fact that it seems they really managed to make game improvement irons that don't really look like game improvement irons. 

 

shaft playing longer and the ball will go a bit farther I have noticed but longer shafts make accuracy worse. I think modifying shaft length is over done based on the used sets for sale I see in the bst. Many of the tall players on the pga tour play standard length irons, including DJ. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by MK7Golf21

[MelloYello]

TW's played more or less the same blades for 15 years now. 

 

The TaylorMade P7TW is just a copy of the VR TW Blade. I had several sets of the Nike TW's and I wouldn't go searching for them. The P7TW is cooler and much more readily available. 

 

Nike stuff was good for its time but there's no need to go back and buy the stuff that was available. If someone wants to collect something from The Oven or a 380 Dymo/VR tour-only driver like AK or TW had in the bag, I guess I get it. There's an allure there like a Circle-T Scotty Cameron. 

 

But your off-the-rack VR's and Vapors...they're not collectable. There are dozens of great models released over time. I still think the MP-64 is the best feeling iron I've ever owned. That doesn't mean I'm hunting eBay for a brand new set.