Titleist Concept Irons

[GB13]

I only see the most expensive irons ever sold

but I would love to have them

After the break:

 

PXG VS TITLEIST

 

Who will come out on top? Find out next on

PRICING WARS.

[PokeForeLyfe]

I like the look myself. I'm a minimalist, clean, thin top line, minimal offset guy. Be interesting to see if these are an MB or a hollow body. I'm sure the CNCPT will go away if they become a production iron, even so I don't mind it. To each their own but always amazes me how people gripe about script or look of the back of a club when the only time they even see it is in a picture or in their bag.

 

 

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[Hoyoymac]

Looks a lot like my AP3s with a slightly different badge and some additional shaping on the hosel.

[gchester33]

Looks to me like an i500 competitor. Wonder if they're hollow or loaded with a new speed foam competitor. Could also see this being an extension of the TS moniker into irons.

[Guest Tom Duckworth]

I think it's a beautiful iron.

I doubt that's it's final name however.

[TinkerGolfMan]

Maybe I ask what you don't like about them Tinkerman?

I feel like there wasn't much thought in the design, look  very chunky in the back and they just slapped a CNCPT logo on it. NO cavity or separating elements. 

[chemclub]

I'm thinking the CNCPT might not stand for CONCEPT but might imply CNC PT.

 

As in CNC milled ProtoType.

[NiftyNiblick]

If those Cncpts offer custom stamping and I were looking for new irons, I'd be interested.

 

If they stamp "9" on a seven-iron like everybody else, forget it.

 

I'm sure that jlukes is right there with me.

[Gunga Galunga]

Just hit the CNCPT 01 and 02 along with every other possible club head and shaft combo. Ended up buying the CNCPT 01. More of a players distance iron. The ball exploded off the face. I loved them. Can't wait to have them in my bag in about a week.

[DiabloBlanco]

I have to say that I have been intrigued about the CNCPT irons since reading about one late night in bed. Also, I would admit that I'm a bit of a product maniac. I used to change irons every year until TMBs came out in a full set and then have been playing with TMBs since they first came out (3yrs).

I love my TMBs and after getting fit at Club Champion with the shaft that fit my game (KBS C Tater light, stiff) I have never hit my irons better (this includes having several lessons to hone these puppies in). That begin said, I love technology but at $4000 a set, I didn't think that I could justify spending that much money (though I was probably saying the same thing about the TMBs after spending $250 per iron). Anyway, I would admit that online photos of the CNCPT 01 irons did not appeal to me but the CNCPT 02s did. When my wife/kids told me that they'd pay for the irons for Father's Day, I was like -"What dream am I in?" and "Better take advantage of this as lightning doesn't strike twice. So I set up a fitting at my local club champion.

Still doubting whether or not I should spend this much money on irons, I went in with the mindset of comparing these irons to the TMBs. I wanted so badly to hit the CNCPT 02 irons well but the numbers were comparable to my TMBs. The fitter suggested that I must have been a little tired since I hit warm up balls, then swung a lot for data with my TMBs, followed by CNCPT 01s and then the 02s. In any case, I concluded that the 02s were not for me. OK, so back to the 01s. I actually appreciated them more in person. The sole of the club was larger than the TMBs but the view from the top seemed comparable to my TMB irons.

What the data showed (going from memory as I didn't have a printout of the comparison, unfortunately)....ok, I thought this was interesting. I insisted on hitting 20 shots or so, each (note, they only had the 6 iron head). With each club, we deleted the worst 5 shots but would say that for each iron, the bad shots weren't that bad. It seemed I was getting 10+ yards longer on the pure shots. Smash factor was certainly higher, coming in around 1.43 on the good/great shots. So I believe that Titleist's assertion of higher ball speeds is true. 1.43 smash factor is pretty good  and I can say that my SwingCaddie device has me in the mid to upper 1.30s (I work really hard on matching tour averages for smash factor even though my swing speed doesn't match the pros). However, with strong lofts, there is probably some combination of this and the higher ball speeds contributing to the distance.

OK, so does this really justify spending the cash (in my case, it's actually ~$3000 b/c I am only looking at 5 - PW vs 4 - GW, 2 fewer clubs).  To be honest, I pulled the trigger and it came down to exclusivity and feel (call it 75%/25%). TMBs had a wow factor and I believe these will have a better wow factor. Some may be critical, some may call it materialistic but the bottom line for me is my golf obsession and the smile on my face when I have a nice set of irons in my hand.

 

From a feel perspective, I felt that I could actually feel more of the head of the 01s vs TMBs. I felt that I didn't have to swing hard. Interesting data showed that for the shots that I was 3 MPH lower in swing speed, my ball speeds matched or exceeded that of the TMBs. I felt like I was coming through the ball much easier. To boot, my shot dispersion by much tighter as well. When you pulled up all 20 shots, I was within 10 yards or so and the pattern was identical throughout (push draw right of target). My 20 TMB shots showed wider dispersion left to right of the center target (though distance was consistent).

A note on lofts. You all can go to the Titleist site and view the lofts. For me, the 01s were about 2 degrees stronger in the lower irons and about 3 degrees stronger in the higher irons. This fixed one issue I was having in the long game but created another problem in my short game. Right now, I play my 5 iron about 180 total carry. I have a 5 hybrid (I use is as a 4 iron replacement) that goes about 200 - 210 yrds. I expect the 5 iron in the 01 to go 190-195, closing the gap on my hybrid. The issue now, is that I have a 7 degree difference from my GW (50 degrees, 110 yrd club) and the 01 PW (43 degrees). To close that gap, I'm having my PW and 9 irons bent to match my TMB lofts and my 8 and 6 weaker by 1 degree (which is still stronger than my TMBs).

Hope you found this helpful. I'm looking forward to playing some rounds with these soon. Won't be available for my member/guest this weekend but will have them for my next GCAT tournament in a couple of weeks. If you are interested in feedback after I've played, say, 10 rounds I'll check back to see if there are any comments on to this post.

[RickyBobby_PR]

2 hours ago, DiabloBlanco said:

What the data showed (going from memory as I didn't have a printout of the comparison, unfortunately)....ok, I thought this was interesting. I insisted on hitting 20 shots or so, each (note, they only had the 6 iron head). With each club, we deleted the worst 5 shots but would say that for each iron, the bad shots weren't that bad. It seemed I was getting 10+ yards longer on the pure shots. Smash factor was certainly higher, coming in around 1.43 on the good/great shots. So I believe that Titleist's assertion of higher ball speeds is true. 1.43 smash factor is pretty good  and I can say that my SwingCaddie device has me in the mid to upper 1.30s (I work really hard on matching tour averages for smash factor even though my swing speed doesn't match the pros). However, with strong lofts, there is probably some combination of this and the higher ball speeds contributing to the distance.

 

Iirc the swing caddie is programmed for 1.3. As for the 1.43 that better than good that’s elite. Pga tour avg is 1.38 and lpga 1.41

curious with a smash factor like that what’s your weakness that has your hdcp at 15?

[DiabloBlanco]

Admittedly, I played to a lower handicap in past years. 2 of my previous strengths (driver and putter) became weaknesses this past year driving my index up by 4 pts. Both parts are slowly coming around so I expect to be back, hopefully, around 10 or better in the coming months. 

Think of it this way. I have been hitting 4 to 5 shots consistently out of bounds or in s***** places. That's 4 or 5 shots (or more if I take penalties). Add a ton of 3 putts, say 3 to 4 in a round (my club's greens can be pretty ridiculously fast). My game is a tale of 2 halves....Tend to shoot 50 - 54 on one front 9 and the 40 - 44 on the other 9. 

I suppose that is why folks get mad when I play in scrambled as I tend to hit some great shots.

Edited June 4, 2019 by DiabloBlanco

[DiabloBlanco]

So far I have had two rounds with these irons. Here’s how I am playing them. 

5 iron: 190 to 200

6 iron: 180

7 iron: 170

8 iron: 160

9 iron: 145

Pw: 130

FYI on the shafts. KBS C-Taper lite (brushed steel) -1/4” and standard lie angle. 

They feel like butter. Very easy to hit and easily 10-15 yards longer? Is it worth the price? Depends on the person. I like the exclusivity and they are outperforming my TMBs. Not likely I will be buying new irons for a long time (unless they make something that connects to my arms and swings for me =)).  

Not sure why but they seem easier to hit. Could be the wider sole and better feel of the club head. 

I would like to get these under a track man again to see how they compare to my testing. My simple Swingcaddie has verified my distances (above) but my smash factor seems more normal. 

Love love love these irons. 

Edited July 16, 2019 by DiabloBlanco

[DiabloBlanco]

Ok last post on this. After 3 practice rounds to get used to the new distances, I won my first GCAT tournament. Irons performed beautifully.

To boot my lower scores help to move my index down by almost 3 point too!  

So happy I got them!

Edited August 8, 2019 by DiabloBlanco

[Hamachi Style]

I feel like the people bashing these irons (who haven't even hit them) are put off by the price but don't want to say that.

[Shankster]

I feel like the people bashing these irons (who haven't even hit them) are put off by the price but don't want to say that.

Indeed. They look nice, especially the 2’s. But dang... have to sell a kidney to get a set.

[RickyBobby_PR]

4 hours ago, Hamachi Style said:

I feel like the people bashing these irons (who haven't even hit them) are put off by the price but don't want to say that.

Yup. It was the same way with pxg.