If you have read my Meet the Writer post you can see that I am playing primarily a Callaway set of clubs. This is 100% because I have done my research and hit most of the brands. Callaway has consistently won my respect for feel, look, and performance. Most people that know me know that come late winter, I am testing new clubs at my local Golf Galaxy or R.I.P. Golfsmith, just to see if there is something that might give me a new edge for the coming season. When it comes to irons, I have been playing Mizuno for the last 13 years; the Callaway Apex Pro’s have stolen the show.
Callaway’s Apex line of clubs consists of the Apex CF (cup face) 16 irons, Apex Pro 16 irons and the Apex Hybrid. The Apex CF is a game improvement iron with Callaway’s cup face technology to really get the ball to fly off the face. The cup face increases ball speeds and is said to have higher forgiveness across the face. If you aren’t able to play a muscle back blade, but also aren’t into playing that oversized game improvement iron, this might be the iron for you.
I played the Apex Pro 16 irons all last season and will play them again this season. Callaway did an amazing job when they created this iron. The iron has a tour inspired shape and is a quadruple net forged head without the cup face of the Apex CF. The main technology behind this set of irons lies in the progressive weighting, optimizing the center of gravity (CG) in each club. In the longer irons (3-5) the iron has a touch more offset and a tungsten insert to lower the CG and get a higher ball flight. In the shorter irons (6-A) the CG gets higher for a more controlled, penetrating ball flight. The 1025 mild carbon steel, along with Callaway’s forging process, gives this one of the softest and best feels I have ever felt when striking the ball.
Many people often look past how important picking a shaft is when buying any golf club. All of the technology in these irons will somewhat be wasted when not getting a shaft that matches your swing. Callaway offers many premium shafts by multiple different companies, and since we all have different swing types and speeds, all the more reason to take advantage of this when buying a new set.
I don’t carry a 3-iron because of the invention of the hybrid. For a long time now, I have not been overly happy with my consistency and flight with a hybrid. Most hybrids perform too much like a fairway woods and not like an iron, which doesn’t allow for much stopping power on the green. Callaway’s Apex hybrid changes that. If you are looking for that fairway wood feel and flight this isn’t the club for you. The face cup technology comes back in with this club to produce higher ball speeds from center and off-center hits. A neutral, more iron like CG allows for control and workability, making this club perform much more like an iron. I love the number of different shots I can hit with this club and for better players this is a great long iron replacement.
Both of these sets of irons (along with the hybrid) are on Golf Digest’s hot list, receiving gold status and 5 stars in performance and sound/look/feel. I think this is spot on and think you should give these a try if you haven’t already.
Accuracy is key, fairways and greens!