I built out a set of Arias CR-16 irons with DG X100 shafts. I was really drawn in by the zero offset. These clubs look great in person. Nice compact cavity back. Here is my review of them:
As mentioned, they look great. Compact cavity back, a true players shape. Absolutely zero offset.
They are cast not forged. And despite the special heat treating the company talks about, you won't be fooled, they are cast. They may be a very small amount softer with the heat treatment but they are still hard. I had to adjust the lofts slightly and they feel like any other cast club I've ever bent. They have video of them bending the lies 10 degrees, and I believe it. They bent mine 7 degrees upright. But they can't just put the bending bar at the bottom of the hosel and bend it 10 degrees like butter, like you can with a soft forged iron. They have to really work it carefully. Looks like they work the bar up and down the hosel and the end result is the hosel looking like a banana. It gets the job done. I had to drill out the hosels to get the shafts to seat fully.
They feel like a cast club, as you would expect. I was optimistic that maybe they would fool me a little bit with the heat treatment that is talked about, but no... Having said that, they don't feel horrible, definitely playable.
I really want to love these, but they just don't have the feedback you get with a forged. It's pretty hard to tell if you have nutted it or slightly miss it because they feel the same, cast. Sure if you really miss it you will know, but I had many shots that felt the same but resulted in a 10 yard spread in distance because slight misses felt the same as nutted shots. With forged you know right away if you nutted it and if it's going to go the distance or not. You don't get that with these, and it's a real show stopper for me unfortunately. And with these being players irons I would think others may have a similar opinion.
If these were forged they would probably be incredible. Better yet, if Arias sees this, please make a zero offset forged muscle back, with the same blade length, sole width, top line etc as the CR-16. That would be a winning ticket. I would be a buyer.
