GolfSpy_BEN

With a picture of John Daly in the background

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Really enjoyed the story of your Callaway MB 7i as a vicarious opportunity to be in the moment, my way of saying I look forward to reading more of your posts because my love of golf is the doing and being out there more than the clubs essential to the sport.  I found myself interested in the club in your story and that is a remarkable happenstance, and so I have.
Would suggest instead of a kidney, as those are OEM custom designed themselves, offer your first born as perhaps a better trade?

Not the same jump at all but I tried a set of game improvement irons recently (New Level Gi22) and they didn't really help me all that much. In fact, I found dispersion to be worse on good shots. So now I am stuck with a 5, 6 and 7 iron in the New Levels. But the good news is I have settled on my preferred club head size and shape. I have an old set of Blue Ridge (1960s) blades that I can hit fairly well so I see your point on the Callaway's. That said, looking at the MPF data, those are in the 200s so they should be fairly difficult to hit (if you put any stock in the Maltby Playability Factor ratings). VCOG is like 0.916 which is really high (my understanding is that means the cog of the club is higher than the center of the golf ball so you would need a good descending strike to hit the sweet spot). Also the trajectory would be flatter (I think). That could all setup well for you and sounds like it does. For me, the VCOG gives me the heebie jeebies. 
 
Thanks for sharing your findings!

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Enjoyed that read!
As someone who has played MB in the Cobra Pro series they do feel great and they certainly can add another element to the game. Where I find the big difference in playability is on the course when a lie isn't perfect or there is some grass between the ball and club etc. That is where I find them loose that yardage and the more forgiving irons have significantly added value. However I would love to hear your thoughts if say you did a 7 iron only 3 hole stretch or something and compare the results between the two!

Pretty course. The eagle in mid flight is a nice touch.

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Pretty course. The eagle in mid flight is a nice touch.

Let me clarify this question, not who should play an MB iron or who can play a MB iron, but who looks at a well-crafted muscle back iron and says, “Nah.”
 
Golfer thy name is Hubris…
 
The conventional wisdom suggests the answer would be anyone who has tried to hit one and failed but leave that defeatist talk for the pessimists and the practical. In this golfing kingdom, we trade in the fantastical and visions of glorious, crisply hit irons that soar through air with a subtle draw and land as softly as a mother’s touch.
 
Now for a bit of back story, as to what prompted this question to begin with: I was perusing Callaway Pre-owned and noticed they were running a sale on Apex irons. I am always on the lookout for bargains on equipment, as most of us are. Through shear serendipity, I stumbled across the Apex MB 18 single irons for sale and noticed a 7 iron with a Project X 6.0 shaft could be had for what it might cost to feed the family at McDonalds. Throughout my golfing life, I have played cavity backs, game improvement, and players distance irons, but never a muscle back. To this point, price rather than fear or experience has been the determinant, so armed with delusions of grandeur, I clicked Add to Cart.

 
Yesterday afternoon I arrived home to the sight that every golfer has come to know and love, an oblong rectangular cardboard box waiting for me on the front porch. That moment (really, anytime golf clubs arrive in the mail) for me, is as close as I’ll ever get to recapturing the joy I felt as a child on Christmas morning. I’ve added photos below of the unboxing. Once I had club in hand, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) This must be how King Arthur felt holding Excalibur for the first time and 2) I’m going to need to swap this standard grip for a jumbo for comparison purposes
Armed with my current 7i and the new MB 7i, my Rapsodo MLM, and after further examination and consideration of the lofts of these clubs, my current 8i which is lofted one degree less than the MB 7i at 33 degrees, I set off for the driving range. Confidence, at this point, was running high and dreams of glory and the love & admiration of my peers danced through my head.  On my way there and all the way up to the first swing with this mighty stick, I developed and repeated the mantra: Do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club, do not fall in love with a golf club… And then I took my first swing.

IMG_0539.MOV    
Too late…
 
For those of you that have come this far, let’s dig a little deeper into the range session. I hit 12 ball with my current 7i, a Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro with a KBS tour 120 stiff shaft. Here are the dispersion and averages
And now the 12 balls I hit with the Callaway Apex MB 18 7i with a Project X 6.0 stiff shaft

Overall, with the Callaway I  gained 4 yards of carry and a significantly tighter dispersion. Beyond the intrinsic value, the muscle back iron just felt better. Try as I might, there is no better way to explain it. 
 
My first foray into player’s irons have left me a little giddy and debating if I should replace the 7 iron in my bag for my next round. To avoid the pitfalls of confirmation bias, I need to hit this club in actual playing conditions. Obviously hitting off the mat is a controlled environment, but the initial results are encouraging. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to decide which kidney I’m going to sell to finance a set of mb irons…

Great tracks in the Dayton area. Our Ohio trip bounces around but are going back to Dayton this year. Yankee Trace, Heatherwood and Beavercreek!!

The Taylor Made BRNR mini driver. Can’t say for certain that it is anything more than nostalgia for Burner driver with the ti bubble shaft I played as a teenager. Something about it is definitely intriguing though

Love these balls. Can’t beat the price

Hey, hoping the rain holds off for ya'll.
Chiming in here because I'm getting assigned to Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton this summer.  I report in late July, and junior will inevitably have football and fall baseball so I'm not sure how likely I am to get out much, but I'll certainly loiter on this thread (and go introduce myself in the regional thread).
If anyone is in Dayton specifically DM me if you want to meet up at some point.  I have previously been assigned there, but that was 18 years ago and I wasn't a golfer then.

First official night of league is in the books and it was a good night - Driver was (mostly) very good. Predictable baby fade was (mostly) back. Irons were also pretty sharp. 6 pars, 2 bogies (one of them a 3-putt 🤦‍♂️), and a triple(!!!) for a +5 41.
The last couple weeks, I have been occasionally suffering from an over-the-top, pull hook. Not sure how or why I am closing the face, but it is happening. On our 15th hole, this is NOT something you want to happen - slight dogleg right, woods are definitely within reach on the left line. I did it last week and, since the score didn't count, I tried to clear a tree in my way with a hybrid with (predictably) disastrous results. Since the score counted this week, I decided to play it smart and hit a wedge over the tree to the middle of the fairway, leaving about 120 to the pin for my 4th. Hit a very crisp 9 iron towards the middle of the green. While it was in the air, I was thinking, "Great, reasonable bogey putt, double at worst." Then the ball lands and zips back, catches the false front and runs off the green into thick rough. A chip and 2 putts later and I walk off with a triple.
Even with the blow-up hole, I am very pleased with the round and hope it is a good sign for the MGS outing we are having this weekend, weather permitting, of course.
In other news, I witnessed a rare occurrence - all 4 balls in the fairway on the hardest hole on this 9. Normally, I am one of the causes for this to NOT be the case as I can count the number of times I have hit this fairway on a couple fingers. Photographic evidence:

Part of what makes this hole difficult is the guy on the left had no shot - the pin was behind the far tree on the left and he is too far back for the type of loft needed to safely get over the trees.

Turns out the course was much harder on people than I thought.  My 90 was good enough for third in the top flight gross. (12-0 indexes in a smaller group) Pipped by two guys who shot 87.  
In other good news I won net.  So I 'made' money.  🤪.... At least enough to pay the entry fee for the next tournament.