2018 Official Forum Member Review - Ben Hogan Ft. Worth Black Irons

[hckymeyer 6,679]

Official Forum Member Review - Ben Hogan Ft. Worth Black Irons

 

 

 

[PMookie 17,323]

Are they “Worth” it? Well, that's what I hope to find out.

 

In the past year I've changed irons from Edel to Mizuno MP-18 SC because I noticed that my “greens in regulation” (GIR) had decreased to a point where I wasn't very happy, and I knew that in order for that to change, I needed a new set of sticks. I've been through fittings for each of the last 3 sets of irons I've played, so I've always felt like THIS next set of irons was going to be the one that I'd have for a long time. The Mizunos were not the irons recommended by the fitter at Club Champion, but I chose them based on feel, looks, performance, and for being more traditional. I wasn't really interested in getting irons that hit the ball further, with less spin, because I already hit the ball far enough, and because I have a shallow angle of attack, I don't get much spin off my irons anyway.

 

I've had the Mizunos in the bag for a number of months now and have been happy. I love the feel, my GIR has increased a bit (I'd love it to be higher), and they look great! Then the Ft. Worth Black entry comes-up on here and I read more about what the “claim-to-fame” is supposed to be about this set of irons. Two things stick-out:

• “Plus, by optimizing the geometry of the Depression Cavities, we've made the Ft. Worth BLACK irons even more forgiving.”
• “Extensive consumer testing has proven the Ben Hogan PreciseLoft System to be preferred by serious golfers and, ultimately, lead to lower scores.”

More forgiveness, and by creating a consistent loft system of 4* between each club, one should see lower scores. Hmm, ok, I'm in on seeing if this can possibly be!

 

When I was notified I was selected for these irons, it would be the first time in years that I was going to “build” a set without the exact specs given to me from a fitting for those very irons, so I needed to go with what was currently working, by using the specs for my Mizunos. I've addressed what I'm about to go through numerous times on golf forums. When one goes through a fitting and they are told that the set they should order should be, “Plus 1/2 inch, 2* upright, standard lofts,” that's for that SPECIFIC set of irons, NOT for all irons. Each set of irons has different lengths, lofts, lies, weighting, etc, even within the SAME manufacturer, so the first thing I had to check was all of the specs of the Ft. Worth Black irons vs what I knew my specs were with my Mizunos. I was fitted for the Mizunos as +3/4”, 1* upright, and 1* strong. My Mizuno 4 iron is 23* of loft, 39” in length, and 61* lie angle… Ft. Worth Black 4 iron is 22* loft, 39” length, and 60* lie angle. My Mizuno 5 iron is at 26* loft, 38.5”, and 61.5* lie angle…. Ft. Worth Black 5 iron is 26* loft, 38.25”, and 61* lie angle. And so on… You all get my drift. I was going to have to issue exact lengths, lies, and lofts of EACH iron to the Ben Hogan company in order to get these new irons built to MY specs. I couldn't just say, “Plus one inch, standard lie, -1* on lofts,” as they wouldn't fit me, and therefore, performance would be affected, and I wouldn't be giving these irons the review they deserved. One note here: since Ben Hogan Golf believes in their loft-gapping of 4* between each club, and I was going to be testing their claim that this leads to lower scores, I did not ask for any changes in iron loft, so there are, almost, 1* of difference in loft for each iron between my MP-18 SCs and the Ft. Worth Black irons.

 

You know what Ben Hogan Golf delivered??? Irons that were built to the EXACT SPECS I REQUESTED! Even right down to KBS Tour V 120 X SOFT-STEPPED ONCE!!!! They did it!!!! WOW. Lofts, lies, lengths, grips built-up in the lower hand, etc. They met every single spec I gave them. That is exceptional service right there.

 

As of typing this Stage 1, I'm a 6.4 GHIN, trending to 6.0. My last 8 scores are 82, 81, 78, 80, 87, 85, 91, 76. What would make my handicap lower would be some extensive work on my short game, for sure! When I miss greens, I'm not chipping the ball close enough to the hole for a guaranteed one-putt, and then, since I'm outside 10 feet, I miss the putt, and card a bogey. The Ft. Worth irons could help reduce the number of times I have to chip by helping me increase my GIR, and by increasing my time in the short game area of my course, I could get down to sub-5, my ultimate goal, right now.

 

I play most of the time by myself, and usually on the road. My scores I post are not from one course I go to multiple times a month, they are scores from all over the South. My rounds per month are down vs two years ago, but with taking my sticks with me when I travel, I've been able to pick it up a bit.

 

I've already had the Ft. Worth irons out for two rounds, and 4-to-5 times at the range. I'm beginning to get a “feel” for them and their performance. I'm getting to see a little bit of if their two claims I've noted are going to come true for me. They are beautiful irons, I'll say that! For more…… You're gonna have to wait for my Stage 2!!!

 

Thank you MGS, and Ben Hogan Golf for this opportunity!

[PMookie 17,323]

As we pick-up where I left-off my Stage 1, the two most notable things I was “testing” were the claims made by Hogan Golf:

**Plus, by optimizing the geometry of the Depression Cavities, we've made the Ft. Worth BLACK irons even more forgiving.

**Extensive consumer testing has proven the Ben Hogan PreciseLoft System to be preferred by serious golfers and, ultimately, lead to lower scores.

To put these to the test, I went to the range numerous times and hit from grass and mats, and even had my portable Voice Caddie SC200 with me. I played a bunch of rounds, some even using the Ft. Worths from the tee to give me the maximum number of hits with them I could get. I also played normal rounds using them only when needed, some where I’d drop balls at specific distances to test their length and accuracy, then rounds where I’d do all chipping and pitching with these, and rounds where I’d hit one ball with the Mizuno MP-18 SC/Ping i210 then hit the Ft. Worth for direct comparison on-course. I took these indoors as well and hit them on TrackMan vs the Ping i210 so I could get gapping information. To the point, these were put through the wringer!

 

Looks: (8/10) 

There’s no doubt that these are visually stunning irons! Just the fact that they are black gives them an advantage over other irons! Looks-wise, when I pulled them out of the box the first time, there’s no doubt that the 4 iron intimidated me! The head is tiny, the sole is extremely thin looking, and I called it a “butter knife”! At address, they look a lot smaller than my MP-18 SCs and the i210s; a LOT smaller. After posting my pics of them side-by-side to my Mizunos, I noticed the difference wasn’t as great as it appeared, so maybe the black finish has something to do with them appearing sleeker. A couple buddies of mine grabbed them to take a look, and that was the first thing they said: “Wow! These are TINY!” If a club look small to me, they can give me sense of pause. These did do that, especially the 4 and 5 iron. 6-PW were better looking to my eye for sure. Going back-and-forth at the range and on the course made this even more of an “issue” for me too, as I was used to a chrome finish, and a “stronger” looking head that wasn’t so thin. 

2 points deducted for the overall size appearance. As far as the black finish, folks, one picture I have will PROVE Hogan Golf’s statement about these being more durable than other finishes. The black finish on these is exceptional!!!

 

Sound and Feel: (7/10) 

Most of the questions in the forum asked us how they felt, how they sounded, and how the color held-up. As I answered, the sound and feel of these are GREAT! They’re forged! When you flush one, they give the feel feedback that a forged club is supposed to provide, same with the sound. They have THAT nice, soft, smushy feel, and the resulting sound from that feel. I’ve taken some video to try to help convey this.

Now, why did I take off 3 point for feel and sound if they felt so great? Well, I said they felt and sounded great when they were flushed… My problem was flushing them consistently…. So, how do they feel and sound when thinned, or hit fat? Exactly how you’d think a “muscle-back” forged club would feel: harsh. If these were JUST off-centered on a strike, it was immediately noticeable that the shot wasn’t hit well. I knew immediately! These are SO much more demanding than my MPs. Compared to the MPs, on flushed shots, I’d still give a SLIGHT edge to the MPs for feel and sound; heck, that’s why I bought them in the first place, but the Ft. Worth aren’t worse, as I said in the thread, they’re just different. Just a little bit firmer in feel. Mishit-to-mishit, again, the MPs definitely weren’t as harsh. 

Heel was very bad, and being a player that has a tough time with excessive in-to-out path, I caught the heel a bunch. Feel was dead, and it reverberated right up the shaft. Toe hits weren’t as bad as far as feel and sound. Slightly “thinner” in sound, same with feel, but nowhere near as rough. Each club has an area on the back that has a small cavity. At the corresponding place on the face, as one got further out from the center of the club, or center of the cavity behind, the feel and sound were worse. I hit a ton off of the “bottom groove” and it was a straight “thud”. Ouch! YouTube “sound” videos at the end.

 

Range Performance: (13/20)

The first place these were tried was at the range, and my first session was a tough one. I didn’t hit a solid ball until ball 33… Everything was super thin. Immediately, the thinness of the head at address really put me in a “defensive” position. They told me, right out of the box, “Don’t come here not ready to take us seriously!” 

The very next day, I was ready. I was in Austin, TX, and went to a range that had numerous poles at specific distances, and at the base of each pole was a large cement circle about 6’ in diameter. I lasered a pole at 155 and proceeded to hit my 8 and 9 irons at it, taking shots with the MP-18s and then a few with the Ft. Worths. Wind was mostly into me, quartering from the right. I took the first few with the MPs to gauge the distance, and I hit my normal 5-6 yard draw, all within 10-15 feet of the pole. Next came the FWB (Ft Worth Black)… It was right here that I noticed that these flew STRAIGHT, no draw, and went HIGHER than my MPs! I did not expect that, but I eventually chalked-up the straighter flight to the X-Stiff (soft-stepped) KBS shafts. The shots went out high, straight on-line, and consistent. Over the course of this range session, I was really hitting the FWB VERY well! I actually hit the concrete base twice with the FWBs and not once with the MPs! Pretty cool. But something started to reveal itself in this very session that stayed with me the whole time I was testing these clubs: significant distance loss from off-center hits…

With the FWB, I noticed a much bigger dispersion difference from front-to-back, not left-to-right like I had with the MPs. That’s a bigger problem for me. If I mishit a club, I want it to still GET there, just be off left or right. I don’t want to be way short, or way long, because on forced carries over water, traps, etc. this could cost some strokes, where being just off the green, pin-high, wouldn’t. I have an image from my Club Champion visit to show the dispersion. FWB are in PURPLE.

 

The other thing I noticed was that the claim about 4* providing more consistent gapping really didn’t present itself so clearly, In-fact, I didn’t see much difference in distance between my 4 and 5 iron with the FWB. I went to a buddy’s place and hit on his TrackMan. I hit 3 shots with each club: i210 vs FWB. The distance gaps just didn’t prove to be as perfect as advertised. Now, that’s probably more Indian than arrow, but I just didn’t see these being that much more consistent distance-wise between clubs, and within hits of the same club, I definitely had greater dispersion front-to-back. I confirmed this again at the range hitting the i210 and FWB measuring distances with my SC200. I’d hit the i210 155, 155, 157, 162, then hit the FWB 164, 148, 154, 148. Probably my biggest fault with these clubs… Front-to-back dispersion. 

 

Where these clubs really impressed me was on the chipping greens at the ranges I visited. Man! In Austin the first time, in Lewisville after I hit at Club Champion, to our local course here, the 9 iron and the PW were just fantastic for chipping and pitching. The feel and distance control were fantastic, and very consistent! I hit chips how Butch Harmon teaches: off my right big-toe (right handed), shaft very upright, toe-down. I don’t know if it was the weighting, the steel used to make these, the shape, the DBM finish, or all of that together but I’ve not chipped and pitched as well with other irons as I have with these FWB. These are excellent for short game!

On-Course Performance: (22/40)

Yep. You read the score correctly… Here’s why.

As I mentioned in the range section, my inconsistent delivery of the club head to the ball, making contact all over the face, caused me to miss most greens short. Add some to the right and short, and I was hitting greens at a lesser percentage than my MPs or the i210s. Again, more dispersion front to back than left to right. Here’s an image from my phone of notes I took of shots taken with the FWB over the course of 18 holes:

 

Again, just like my indoor session showed, the gaps just weren’t there as advertised. The 4 iron might just not be the club for me in the FWB for starting out a set as I tended to hit my 5 iron on-course just like I did on the range, or just as far. Crazy. Smallest head, smaller cavity on the back? Man, I don’t know. Off the tee with the 4 I was fine, but out of the fairway, especially if the lie was thin, it was not a club I could hit consistently enough. It ended-up being used only off the tee and I went with the 5 instead. Very rarely on other than par 5s did I need it, though, so it didn’t really hurt me. 

Trajectory and flight were exactly like I saw on the range: straight and high. Straight is great, but being high, and already facing distance dispersion challenges, this was not a good combo as it was even more difficult to get my distances zoned-in on-course. I’d hit a 7 iron 171, then 158, then into the wind I’d move to a 6 and still hit 158… Just so much inconsistency. My overall GIR fell from 38% down to 22% with the FWB. The promise of lower scores by Hogan Golf just didn’t seem to present themselves for me. 

Play it, or Trade it?: (13/20)

Overall, these just didn’t perform for me. I don’t blame the OEM, or their design at all as I’ve read numerous reviews where folks love these. It’s more my swing, my inconsistencies, that don’t work with these. These are TRUE blade-like clubs. I do MUCH better with clubs that have more perimeter weighting and have a little bit larger profile. I’m not giving-up on these just yet. They’re still in the bag and are getting a chance to stay there, but it’s not seeming likely. “Blade-to-blade” the MPs are a better fit for me. Feel, dispersion, and confidence are all better with the Mizzies. Don’t write these off because of one review on here… I’ll just say if you don’t have a consistent stroke, you may want to also test other clubs out there. But, boy! Do these irons LOOK GREAT!!!!

Overall Score: (63/100)

 

 

[/url] 

 

 

 

 

[DPattGolf 1,733]

Ben Hogan Ft. Worth Black - Stage 1

I would like to first thank MGS for the opportunity to be apart of a great group of testers and I'm very excited to provide everyone throughout the MyGolfSpy community with my thoughts and opinions on the Ben Hogan Ft. Worth Black Irons. Hopefully this review will provide everyone, including the lurkers, with some useful information on whether or not to give these direct to consumer irons a try for yourself.

 

A Little About Me

My name is David and Oregon's Willamette Valley has been home for me since going off to college in 2011. I would consider my background in golf to be fairly unique but not unheard of. Long story short, I was high school baseball player set to play at a small college but ended up walking-on the golf team for medical reasons. 2 years later I decided to really dedicate myself to becoming a better player and I have been totally obsessed with the game ever since. After graduating in 2015 I walked away having dropped my stroke average 10 shots my final 2 years and holding the somewhat embarrassing title of being the only person in school history to have tournament rounds in the 100's, 90's, 80's, 70's and 60's. Nowadays I still play competitively with a handicap consistently around +1 while working as an accountant and holding an assistant golf coach position at my alma mater on the side. After shooting some new 9 & 18 hole career lows this year, I am planning on joining the PNW section of the PGA in October and competing in my first event as a Professional.

 

WITB

If you would want to see my full WITB, check out my Snell MTB Black Review here or if you just want to see more pictures of my current bag, check out my WITB thread here

Iron wise, I am currently playing a 3-way blended iron set from Cobra that I have played pretty well with this season.

 

 

My iron set specs goes as follows:

 

4 & 5 irons: Cobra Forged Tec Black w/KBS C-Taper 130 (5 iron 2* weak)

6 & 7 irons: Cobra King Pro Black CB w/ KBS C-Taper 130 (1* Strong)

8-PW: Cobra King Pro Black MB w/ KBS C-Taper 130 (1* Strong)

 

Some quick notes. I designed this set so that I would have progressive forgiveness and power as swing speed increases. To this point it has worked out nicely. And yes, I'm aware that the different designs in the 5 & 6 should produce a larger yardage gap than the 7 & 8 but I would rather have that little extra distance since I'm plenty comfortable choking down on a 5 iron. You also probably noticed that all my irons, outside of the 5 iron (more on that in a little), are strong lofted with heavy extra stiff shafts. Simply put that is because I have a fast swing and have a naturally high ball flight. My Ft. Worth Blacks for this review follow that trend by being built with Dynamic Gold X100's that have been Hard-Stepped. Now the reason my 5 iron is the only club that isn't bent strong and instead has been made weaker is because I like having consistent 4* loft gaps through the entire set and I needed that to be lofted at 25* instead of the Forged Tec Black's stock 23*. About a year ago I was seeing more yardage compression in the long irons than I wanted and decided to give the Ben Hogan Golf philosophy a go and I have really enjoyed the results I have seen.

 

My Iron Game

• As my instructor has said, my swing has speed to burn. Trackman shows my 7 iron around 96mph and it has topping out at around 102mph.

• Tempo - I would say my tempo sits on the slightly quicker side of smooth but feel free to judge for yourself and let me know. The swing above is a 9 iron that consistently flies about 160 yards in the summer.

• Trajectory - I hit the ball pretty high, but I do have some ability to lower it a little when wind becomes an issue.

• Shape - I have a fairly straight shot, but I go through periods where it can grow into a draw and the pull miss tends show up more as well.

• Distance is my biggest strength, but at times I tend to try and smash a shorter club or forget things like wind and end up either missing the green or having poor proximity to the hole.

 

First Impressions

 

These are serious lookers. Thin topline, minimal offset, DMB finish and micro face milling give them a classic player's shape with a touch of premium and modern looks. Throw in the good (yet limited) shaft options, Lamkin Z5 grips and you have a nice quality product.

 

Oh, did I mention that these are forged nearly identically to Mizuno's legendary grain flow forging process? So my feel expectations are through the roof

(Picture of Forging Process Used via BenHoganGolf.com)

 

Now if you have never experienced a DMB finished club, the black will look awesome…. until it is up against something like a Jet-Black finish Vokey. Nothing wrong with that (especially since the durability is better) but it is just not the deep black that most will expect to see if they have a competing black finish in the bag. My last big takeaway is about the progressive sole width through the set. It just seems backwards to me. Unlike most player's irons, theses soles get smaller as the lofts get stronger. Doesn't exactly seem like a way to achieve “higher launch angles in the long irons” or more forgiveness in a blade like Ben Hogan claim these irons have, but I'm not a club designer.

With everything said, it is time to begin testing. Range sessions, practice rounds, tournament play (and hopefully time on Trackman) are all in the plans for Stage 2. If my game is in shape, I will be entering my Club Championship on September 30th and with them in the bag as I look to defend my title as Club Champion. If they can match my Cobra set's feel, trajectory control, long iron distance and forgiveness throughout testing, they will be difficult to keep out of the bag. I hope everyone enjoys following my review to see if these truly are gamers with stunning looks or just another set of wall hangers.

 

[DPattGolf 1,733]

 

Ben Hogan Ft. Worth Black  - Stage 2

Man. This review has been long overdue and been delayed multiple times for a variety of personal reasons. But after weeks of range times, numerous practice and competitive rounds, a club championship and an instagram post with a few thousand views here are! So let's get in to it.

Looks (8 out of 10 points)

These aren’t my absolute favorite iron visually out there but they definitely are a very good looking set of irons that will catch the eye of others on the range on in your foursome. The classic and simple design pairs really well with the DBM finish to create an eye catching head. Finish it off with the old school ferrule and you have a modern classic. Size-wise the heads are definitely more compact and thinner than others you will find but I didn’t really find it offputting until you moved into the long irons. Speaking of long irons, they are the only clubs that ever gave me any pause when looking down at them. This was especially evident with 22* butter knife with sent with a 4 stamped on the bottom.

 

Sound & Feel (10 out of 10 points)

Exactly what you would expect from a bladed iron but pure strikes were incredibly buttery soft. Flat out these are some of the best feeling irons out there. Credit to Ben Hogan Golf for using a high quality forging process that creates a feel that would make you think your hitting a Mizuno. And that statement is far closer to fact than being fiction. I outlined in Stage 1 just how similar the 2 forging processes are but also during testing I was able to put these up against a set of MP-8’s for a day where myself, another coach (happens to be a long time Mizuno owner) and a few NAIA college golfers hit both sets on the range. The overwhelming consensus was that the feel of the Ft. Worth’s was identical to that produced by the Mizuno MP-8’s. The similarity even extended to mishits where the feel was near indistinguishable if not completely.  

 

Range Performance (10 out of 20 points)

I really wish I could have gotten on a trackman but it just didn’t workout. So when I was testing these on the range I would hit 5-10 balls in row at the same target while judging the clubs for accuracy, distance, trajectory and forgiveness.

Compared to my Cobra Gamers (Winner will be Bold):

• Accuracy – Probably the best part of these categories but not without its faults. The overall dispersion is was just wider than I would like. Now things got better when I choked down and made the shot about a ½ club shorter but I can’t always choke down so the win goes to the Cobras. Cobra/Ben Hogan

• Distance – I expected a drop in distance but this was a bigger one than I expected. Low irons were about 5 yards short, mid irons were ½ to ⅔ a club short and long irons were a minimum of a full club short and at times more even though the strike was good. Win for the Cobras. Cobra/Ben Hogan

• Trajectory – This was a potential issue I brought up in my Stage 1 and it rang true in testing long irons were low to the point where it looked like I was trying to hit flighted shots into the wind rather than just a regular shot. I just couldn’t get a shot to come through the window I needed to see and it got to a point where I was having to alter my swing/setup to try and create more height. Short irons were better but they seems to go a bit higher than normal and I struggled a bit to flight them down to the same degree and my gamers. Cobra/Ben Hogan

• Forgiveness – While I didn't really struggle with ball striking a lot, they aren’t forgiving. Even for a blade. I have seen a number of people, some inside and outside of the MGS Forum claiming they are a forgiving blade because of the depression on the back. They just aren’t. don’t buy the marketing or hype. That depression just isn’t deep enough to push any meaningful weight to the perimeter. Plan and simple. Cobra/Ben Hogan (only in the long irons)

 

On-Course Performance (22 out of 40 points)

This was not fun. There is no way around. I so badly wanted these to play as good as they looked but they just didn’t. I will also not be shy and say that these legitimately cost me my Club Championship. In a season where I was underpar just about every round I couldn’t even get a reasonable look at birdie all day from great spots into the green.

 

• Accuracy – Similarly to the range the dispersion was just wider than normal. A shot that would produce a chance at birdie from 15 feet starting becoming a birdie look from 30+ feet.

• Trajectory – Long iron trajectory was a little better on the course because of the softer ball but I still struggled to get enough height on normal swings. Short irons gained a bit more height and it started to become more worrisome when I encountered any wind.

• Forgiveness – The trend continues. THEY AREN’T FORGIVING. PERIOD!

• Distance – This was were my frustration got to a breaking point. I was losing at least a club of distance across the board, which led to my accuracy from usual yardages being worse and my birdie count dropped dramatically.

 

Play it or Trade it? (5 out of 20 points)

Overall, these just didn’t perform for me how I needed them to and frankly I couldn’t wait to get them out of the bag. If I do hold on to them they will be nothing more than an emergency set. Everything performance-wise for me was just not up to par with my Cobra set. And sometimes it wasn’t really all that close. Even though my score is not great, the club isn’t all bad. The DBM finish is top notch and the feel is exactly what everyone is looking for. Honestly if the 4-6 irons were replaced with something else (or you had the ability to order a blended set), the score would probably be up somewhere in the low to mid 70’s. So if your a good enough ball striker to play a true blade and your not afraid to replace the long irons, then these are worth giving a look.

 

Final Score: (55 out of 100)

[Jon Brittan 467]

Ben Hogan Ft. Worth Black irons - Stage One

 

 

Hi, I’m Jon and I’m probably nowhere near your typical golfer, nor anything like your typical MyGolfSpy member I imagine.

 

I’m 39 years old, from Cambridge in the UK and I have barely any history with the sport whatsoever.

I played my first golf as a child at a small 9-hole pitch and putt course near home, a few rounds just as something to do. That was when I was about 8 years old.

My next dalliance with golf came at 17, where I played five whole rounds in a summer with a couple of friends who played. I actually bought myself clubs just for that, but that was where it ended.

For the next 20 years I would have told you golf wasn’t a real sport, you don’t get sweaty and it “doesn’t count”, while spending my time playing football (soccer) and racket sports both at a reasonable level and quite obsessively.

 

By the age of 37 I was not only struggling to find time to play my usual sports, but my career meant I was struggling to find time for my family, now having two children of my own, so I took the rather drastic decision to just quit my job and spend a year at home. My kids were already at school but it meant I could take them, pick them up and have plenty of energy to re-engage with them.

 

My father played golf with some of his retired friends and invited me for a round now I had nothing to do with my days…
I was hooked almost immediately.

 

 

I decided I wanted to teach myself the sport, so aside from a couple of sessions with a friend who is a PGA professional, I’m entirely self-taught. I also cast aside the clubs I had bought and kept since 17 in favour of buying a set of blades. My rationale being that if the clubs did nothing to assist me, I had to get good. I’m a terrible perfectionist, or horribly competitive, one or the other and can self-motivate to just keep working and keep trying until things get better.
I also caught quite the bug for “pretty” clubs and now have a rather extensive collection.

 

So, that’s me. A 39 year old obsessive, who has been playing the game for 2 years now and wants to be the best he can be.

 

 

Golf for me, so far

 

As I mentioned earlier, I’m from Cambridge in the UK.
England, compared to many places, is a surprisingly small country, so it’s no challenge for me to drive half way across the country just to play a different course and I like to try different places for variety.

Our courses range from parkland to links, often quite small, tight and compact with a lot of hazards and you should try coming to England and avoiding the weather! We have a lot of wind and changeable conditions to deal with.

 

I’ve gone through a lot of clubs already in my two years playing.
My starting point was wanting to play “players” irons, I didn’t want my mistakes masked and found I could feel exactly what I’d done wrong, so it would speed my development.

My approach to buying was simple, I looked on eBay for under-priced clubs that weren’t being noticed, bought them, tried them and if I liked them more than what was in my bag they went in, otherwise they got re-listed and sold at their real value for a profit. At the same time, anything I really liked the look of stuck around too.

I quickly iterated through irons, plenty of Titleist sets, several Mizuno before finally settling on my current mix of Srixon Z765 4-6, Z965 7-PW, putting most of my bag into muscle-backs.
Here’s my iron history in picture format

 

 

My bag is then rounded out with a Ping G400 9 degree driver, Taylormade Burner 2.0 15 degree 3-wood, a TM 22 degree hybrid which is really only an alternative to the 4-iron for flight purposes these days (and needs to be replaced), while the other end has a CG15 52 degree gap wedge, SM5 56 degree sand wedge and a Miura K-Grind 60 degree which is my scoring baby, beautiful.

 

I recently picked up an EVNRoll ER3 to replace my old putter, the only club I’d retained from my teenage club set. It was a wrench… By fate, it is essentially stamped with my daughter’s name, born 14 years after I’d bought it.

The Driver and Putter are the only clubs I’ve been fitted for.

These clubs match with the Ping driver perfectly

 

 

The biggest strength of my game plays solidly against the biggest weakness.

I currently play to a handicap of 6, but my scoring can be in a lot of places day-to-day.

 

My main strengths are the fact I’ve got quite a natural feel for most sports, I pick things up quickly and I’m obsessive in my thirst for knowledge when it comes to the “why” and “how” of how a sport works, so I’ve picked up a lot of the details of the game already.

 

My single greatest weakness is that I’ve only been playing for two years, I’ve not had time to really embed muscle memories heavily, not hit enough balls year on year and my swing hasn’t “settled” to the peak of what I should be capable of.

 

Combined this means when everything is on song I can shoot really low scores, but when things are off and I don’t let things go I can easily start to over-think, or simply be at a place where all my yardages have changed dramatically (in either direction) for a day and struggle for scoring.

 

I’m an aggregate 6 who has a number of under-par rounds under his belt, but can also start stretching the high-teens on a truly bad day.

 

My Srixons are fitted with stiff Nippon Modus 105 shafts, so my usual ball flight is low/mid and penetrating with a fair amount of spin. Typical misses for me are an unwanted fade in the long irons (4 and 5) to an overly strong draw in the mid to short irons. It’s rarely off fairway, but either can be enough to damage approach shots.

A typical 150 yard approach for me is an in-between shot for me, but most commonly a well-struck 9.

 

 

First Impressions

 

The box arrived, nicely packed with each head safely secured away from the others and a small collection of paperwork and stickers.

 

 

Some notes on club care, but you just want to pull those clubs out and have a look

 

 

They are immediately, noticeably pretty

 

 

But wow are the long irons thin!! I'm used to playing blades, but that’s my little finger!

 

 

Ben Hogan, as a company, have definitely got the look of these irons down. They are pretty, without question. The black finish looks fantastic and feels really good. It’s very matte, but just gives the impression it’s going to be durable too.

 

Despite being very small, tight blades, Ben Hogan claim that their ability to move discretionary weight around in these irons is going to improve launch angle in the long irons for a high trajectory, lower the trajectory in short irons and make them more forgiving than their size suggests. They also use a V-sole design, much like my Srixons, to improve turf interaction.

Finally, Ben Hogan claim that this black finish is built to last.

 

Here is the Ben Hogan V-sole compared to my Srixons and a Titleist, traditional bounce, blade

 

 

 

It’s a far more subtle V than Srixon use, but there’s definitely something there compared to a typical blade

 

My clubs have been fitted with Dynamic Gold S300 shafts and midsize grips bulked out in the lower hand. First impressions are that in hand they feel wonderful and you can’t deny their beauty.

 

 

 

 

They are amazingly beautiful clubs, while even the grips look great (and feel it)

 

 

 

As a package the first impressions are very good.
 

 

What to expect from this review

 

I’ve been really enjoying my Srixons this year, they are beautiful clubs, forgiving for what they are and feel fantastic. They were the clubs I’d had my eye on since they were released. For the Hogans to replace them in my bag they need to be everything they are billed to be, more forgiving than they look, accurate, smooth and that black needs to stay black…

 

They’ll be getting a strong run out at both undercover mat based ranges along with a grass range, while I like to try to fit one or two full rounds of golf in every week. These will be dropping straight into the bag and having to earn the right to stay there.

Finally, while launch monitors are not that commonly available or accessible here, I am working on getting regular access to one for the duration of this review so I can both optimise my use of these clubs, but also get some tangible numbers for you guys as to how these compare both to my Srixons, but also some of the other clubs I still have here.

 

I’ve taken the opportunity to have a quick swing with these already and first impressions are good, I was a little pressed for video opportunity so this swing was a little tight, but here’s a first swing with these clubs and some closing photos.

I’m excited to get these into play and I hope you’re looking forward to seeing and hearing all about it.

 

 

 

[Jon Brittan 467]

Stage Two – 13th November 2018

Ben Hogan Ft Worth Black – Official MGS Forum Review by Jon Brittan

My Golf Spy ask that we aim to make these stage two reports around 2,000 words or less.
In the writing of this I’ve come to realise I’m nowhere near that and I can’t do justice to the time I’ve spent with these clubs with a heavy editing session.

For those who want a quick read, to this end, I have included a “conclusion” for each section at the bottom of that section and concisely summarised my thoughts in the main conclusion at the bottom, feel free to jump ahead.

To the rest of you, settle in for the ride 

Intro

First of all, I’d like to thank the Ben Hogan company and My Golf Spy for making it possible to review the Ft Worth Irons. These are honestly a set of irons that would barely have crossed my register currently, had it not been for this opportunity.

So, as we left the stage one the Ft Worths were going straight into my bag and straight out to the course.

I wanted to see if these v-soled irons could match up to my Srixon Z-*65s through the turf and through the ball.
I wanted to know if the scoring irons could be as accurate as the 965 blades I was using and whether the long irons wouldn’t punish me horribly compared to the 765 player’s cavity backs I move out to in my Srixon set.
I also wanted to know whether these beautiful, black clubs would remain that way, or whether I was going to end up with some grey, silver or otherwise discoloured and messy-faced, plating-coated iron.

I’ve managed to fit in nine rounds of golf over the seven weeks I’ve had these clubs so far. I’ve done eight extended range sessions at the local driving range, three at a nearby grass range and in the last week and a bit I have completed building a practice cage at home.

There are very few accessible launch monitors available in my vicinity, so at this juncture I need to also offer a significant amount of thanks to the people at Skytrak golf who agreed to provide a Skytrak launch monitor for my use in this review, enabling me to provide some launch monitor figures to back up my perception of the clubs on both the range and course.
I’ll also be following up with a review of that product separately and updating this review further with additional launch figures over the coming weeks.

 

Looks (9 out of 10 points)

These are an amazingly beautiful set of clubs.

From the moment you draw them out of their delivery box and wrapping you notice the clean, traditionally shaped head. They look almost like something the classic craftsmen of the early years of golf would have made if they had modern day production techniques available to them at the time.
They’re almost unique in their style, if you carried them into your local big box you would struggle to find anything that even resembled them in a modern, mass market iron.

The head is slim, almost sculpted in its shape and the progression of the shape throughout the set is exceptionally clean.

The graphics on the head, especially with the black coating, are clean and enhance rather than detract from the look. It’s a thoroughly well considered package from a design standpoint.

They stand out as a set of clubs almost immediately and anyone so much as glancing at your bag can’t fail to notice them, whether it’s the black heads or the razor thin nature of the clubs throughout the set.

If I were to look for complaints it would be that they would probably look even better with black shafts and, as a ShotScope user, I prefer flat-topped grips, but that really is getting to the point of nit-picking.

As a lover of beautiful clubs and owner of both Srixon Z965 and Mizuno MP5 irons, I can say with some comfort that these are truly gorgeous clubs that will catch the eye of anyone.

Now, I suppose this is the point where we should discuss that question of the finish. Ben Hogan claim the finish on these clubs will last, so what do we think?

Well, here’s a 9 iron straight off the course…

And here’s my Pitching Wedge after a quick clean down. This club has hit, I estimate, 500+ balls already. The inlay is a close-up of the strike area.
We don’t have sand based ranges around here and the range I use keep their balls nicely cleaned and new, while I wipe off my match ball at any legitimate opportunity, but these wipe up to look new still.

The only club that is marked of my set also shows just how tough these are.
When I was practicing on the grass range I hit two submerged stones in the same swing, flint stones with an absolutely full swing. It’s nicked the club, but given the size of the stones and the pace of the swing the damage is surprisingly slight.

For a final contrast, here’s a wedge from another mainstream manufacturer that I estimate has probably hit ~100 balls total. Cast wedge and the usage is far more visible, as are the dings you get from the usual on course objects in the turf.

Looks conclusion
These are a beautifully made, beautifully finished iron with truly classic looks that should last.
They won’t inspire confidence in the player who doesn’t already have it, but they will perfectly suit the eye of a player comfortable with thin irons.
The golfing rapier to a G700 battle-axe. Both aim for the same outcome, but these are a precision tool.

 

Sound and feel (9 out of 10 points)

What can really be said here?
They sound and feel exactly and I really mean exactly as they look like they should.
These are a forged players club with next to no meat on them. If you flush it out the centre you’ll be far more aware of the sound of your strike than feeling anything, there’s a tiny register through your hands that the club-head decelerated very, very slightly, but the “crack” of contact is the biggest indicator that there used to be a ball in the path of the club.
It’s a solid, meaty sound in stark contrast to the soft, ethereal feel you get and anyone nearby can guess at the flight from the sound alone.

Where this changes is in mishits.
If you hit too close to toe or heel then the crack turns into a far less satisfying click.
When you get used to it, you could take away the feel from your hands, close your eyes and guess the ball flight from the sound alone.

The feel on off-centre strikes is also completely different. How you feel about this is, I imagine, quite subjective.
Mishits do not feel nice, not even slightly and I can only imagine what they’ll be like in the depth of winter with cold hands, yet if you set out like me to aim for consistently clean striking, they do give you all the feedback you need to know what you did wrong.
You don’t need cameras or impact tape with these clubs, they practically scream at you “bottom grooves” or “that was three millimetres from a shank, what do you think you’re doing?”

For some this feel would simply fall into “harsh”, for others it’s everything you want while you correct that stroke. I fall into the latter category and for me both the sound and feel of these clubs fall pretty close to ideal.

Sound and feel conclusion
Maybe there’s no excitement to the sound, no drama for anyone used to modern hollow cavities, but these are a solid sounding iron and the feel is as pure as it gets in a golf club when you flush them.
Nothing feels like a Mizuno? Hit these well and these feel like nothing, a swooshing arc through the air that the ball felt too embarrassed to interrupt.

 

 Range Performance (17 out of 20 points)

These next two categories are really tough for me to score and I really do mean tough.
I’m writing this and still discussing with myself what score I actually want to give here, at the point of writing this sentence I’ve not yet put a score in above…

Part of this comes down to the fact I am a slightly schizophrenic golfer, I imagine many of us are one way or another.

I play forged players blades because I want to be the best ball striker I can be, so I use clubs that force me into that and give me no leeway to really get it wrong. At the same time, if I swung an iron and suddenly, magically, gained 20 yards with no loss in any other area I would take that and hold onto it tighter than a very tight thing…

On that basis I could see someone with a tour level swing popping a 20 into that box with barely a pause for thought.
At the same time, if you read the Ben Hogan blurb and took their “by optimizing the geometry of the Depression Cavities, we've made the Ft. Worth BLACK irons even more forgiving” to mean GI cavity back level forgiveness than you might struggle to push these into double figures…

It’s okay, though, I’ve decided on my score now, it’s up there in the box above. You’ve already seen it even if I’ve only just written it.
Now, I imagine, I need to explain why…

I tend to play fake rounds in my head when at the driving range, after a warm-up and a quick work through the bag to feel out how everything is working on the day, I pick out a course from memory and play it in my head so no two shots are the same in the session.

Let’s start by saying “These are a player’s blade”, there is simply no getting away from that fact. If you don’t make contact, you’re not getting the shot you wanted.
That said, if you do make proper contact these will give you your shot over and over and over.
These are point and shoot irons, if you do your job right, these irons won’t do you wrong.

In terms of distance, these clubs aren’t going to blow you away. Most of us will have read the G700 reviews recently with a little envy and even glanced an eye over the i500 and i210 reviews with half an eye on those distance figures.
If you’re wanting to stretch your range, these aren’t the clubs for you, but I’m not docking any points for that because I’m pretty sure we all knew that already. What these clubs are is true-to-loft, you hit them right and they go the distance you expect them to, no more and no less.

I had mine in Dynamic Gold S300 shafts, my Srixon are in Modus 3 105 Stiff. The trajectory of the Hogans is fractionally lower, but by exceptionally small margins. Both are what I would consider to be a mid-trajectory flight throughout the set, with the Hogans possibly a little lower in the short end of the bag but otherwise staying consistently mid-trajectory throughout.

Control and workability is everything you would expect of a small, thin, player’s iron. These clubs reward a smooth, relaxed swing that remains under control. You can shift the ball at will with baby draws through to strong draws coming at will and flighting the ball up and down as needed. The only shot shape I struggled to pull off consistently was a meaningful fade in anything below the 4 iron.
I’m docking one point purely for the fact I really couldn’t get these to go right no matter what I tried, but otherwise these clubs do everything you could ask a block of metal on the end of a stick to achieve on your behalf.

Then we come to that question of forgiveness. Ben Hogan tell us that for what these are, they are going to be forgiving, but is that true?
Well, that’s a difficult one to answer and I fully suspect all those of us testing these clubs are going to give you at least a slightly different answer.
My take is… Well, a bit of both.
Are these clubs, especially at the long end, forgiving?
Yes…. No……. Yes, no, yes???
Compared to my Srixon Z765 player’s cavity back, are these more forgiving? No they are not, but then these aren’t a cavity back, these are a muscle back and I’ve not to this point carried a full blade that high up my bag. So the answer is also, yes, because I honestly found almost no difference whatsoever between the Hogan 4-iron and my previous Srixon Z765. That is actually a really surprising thing to say and quite well to the Ft Worth’s credit, I could consistently stand over the top of this ultra-thin, butter knife blade and have no worries that I was losing anything I previously had from my “more forgiving” club.
In fact, I’m a little weird on this front, but the thin sole made me more confident I was going to be able to hit that clean, crisp sweep your longer irons need with no unwanted sole interaction.

Hogan also claim that in moving around this weight they have been able to improve launch and flight numbers.
The question again comes down to what you’re expecting…
I’m about to give you some launch numbers and what you’ll see is certainly interesting.
I made a selection for this testing, putting the Hogans up against my Srixons and from all the rest of the irons I own I chose… my father’s Ping G10 game improvement clubs in Ping regular flex shafts to really put this “forgiveness” to the test.

I “lost” the main batch of launch numbers I wanted to provide you guys with.
I was under time pressure the day I did an extended test and, not having had enough time with the Skytrak to know precisely what I was doing, I made an elementary mistake with the data export.

The numbers I’m going to present here were gathered with a smaller sample set using 80% range balls on an early morning at -1*C (30*F), so speed and distance are heavily down, spin is slightly up but launch angle is right where I would expect and identical conditions for each club make comparison easy.
My testing method was four initial strokes with each club before moving on to the next, then two rounds of three strokes with each club, three rounds of two and then four rounds of one stroke each, working the opposite way through the set. I then threw away two shots at each end of the recorded results to be left with the averages of 16 shots per club.
I’ve also included PGA Tour averages (from the Trackman website) just to show us where we ideally want our figures to be…
For now I’ve included Pitching Wedge, 7-iron and 4-iron to compare through the bag and I’ll add more full-bag figures in the thread as I get proper chance.

I’m going to present these results in a cut down format to make scanning this review easier, showing only the figures we actually care about. More complete launch monitor results will be posted in the conversation thread later.

Let’s start with the Pitching Wedge

Ball speed, backspin rate, total height, descent angle and total distance all in the Ft Worth’s favour. Ideally I’d increase my launch angle with each of these clubs a little, but this is a clear category win for the Ft Worth. When you get to the scoring end of the bag, these clubs definitely have you covered.
I’ve cut out some figures here that will go back in for the thread itself, but left-to-right dispersion was also tightest for the Ft Worth, front to back was tightest for the Ping G10 but every club was within 1 yard of each other for dispersion spread in both lateral and length, so not significant for full-swings.

Moving on to the 7-iron, here are the numbers

When I looked at the figures I was a little surprised. You can see that in raw numbers the G10 gave me the “best” raw numbers. That said, this comes with a caveat, the Ft Worth had the tightest dispersion in both directions, front-to-back and lateral.
This is where pure numbers can separate from both perception and reality though. The G10 seems to offer the best figures other than over-spinning a little, but if you’d asked me, blind, which club I’d hit the worst I would have said the G10 without a doubt. I didn’t feel confident over it and none of the shots felt good. If you threw me into a match situation with a choice between that club and either of the others I would never draw it as psychologically I really struggle with fat-soled clubs and I wouldn’t feel relaxed over my swing.
The second point of note here, though, none of these clubs are wildly separated in terms of performance so far…

So, let’s go to the 4-iron. If we’re going to see some real separation, it’ll be here, right?
My Srixon set have moved on to the Z765 cavity backs, away from a pure blade and the G10 has a sole almost as wide as a hybrid, while the Ft Worth 4-iron could almost be used to chop wood with the sole.
Let’s see the numbers

Interesting, eh?
The range balls I was using have “broken” all of these figures a little here as they tend to under spin on wedge shots and over spin on long irons / woods, which is clearly on display here, but what should be the most “punishing” of these clubs is the one that performs the best for me.
Consistency, again, across the board was pretty similar in all ranges of dispersion.
The 4-iron is where these clubs start to separate themselves, but in these numbers it’s actually in the Ft Worth’s favour!

One point to raise here, though, is that the Ben Hogan company claim that they have made these long-irons higher launching, well they’re the lowest launching here, but that is probably also in part due to the shaft option. They have as much land and stop potential as either of their competitors in this test though, while offering more distance!
I put a lot of this down to the fact that I am psychologically strange in golf terms and I feel “safer” hitting a really thin long iron than a thick one, so I just stand over the Ft Worth 4 and feel like I can hit it cleanly with ease more-so than the wider-soled clubs.

So, there we have it, for now at least until I fill out the thread with further range testing on days where the temperature is above freezing and I will use my usual gamer balls for comparison.

In range testing the Ft Worth irons hold up admirably against a direct competitor in the Srixons and a game improver iron in the Ping G10.
If your swing can be kept consistent then the performance is pretty much spot on what you would expect for loft.
You could ask a question of the claim of increased launch in the long irons, but my perception (and the general numbers here) suggest that they are on a par with both other irons I tested and, given the right launch characteristics these are fine.
I think with a gamer ball, on a warmer day you’d see really good numbers and we’ll look to expand on that in the on course testing report.

Range performance conclusion
These aren’t “forgiving” by game improvement iron standards, they are also not high launching, but if you accept them for the clubs they are then they are everything a player could need from a golf club designed to do nothing more for you than exactly what you ask of it.
If you hit these well, you don’t need anything else.

 

On course performance (36 out of 40 points)

I’ll start this section by stating I haven’t managed to complete the volume or type of on course testing I’d wanted to for these irons. Earlier in the year I was playing typically two rounds a week at a variety of courses, where as soon as these irons turned up some unfortunate events for other people I work with meant I had to cover a lot of other people’s work and has given me less availability both to play and to travel to play.
I have still managed to fit in 9 rounds of golf, but all at the same course.
I use ShotScope in all of my rounds and have done so for most of this year, so have plenty of statistics off my Srixons to compare with the Ft Worth irons, but only playing the one course has stilted some of these results between the clubs so I’ll be doing specific round comparisons rather than “lifetime use”.

Another interesting note is that we had an amazingly dry summer in the UK, most courses turned to concrete so fairways were unforgivingly solid and greens were not hugely receptive to grabbing the ball when it landed. In the last couple of weeks we’ve caught up a bit on yearly rainfall and conditions have softened considerably, meaning total playing distances became a lot shorter, but shooting at pins was back on the card.

Due to the dryness, I had to dump my hybrid and woods out of the bag for a couple of rounds just to get a solid test of these irons in. One round at my local course at peak dryness I managed to drive 6 of the par-4 greens, I could have thinned my bag down to Driver, 60* wedge and putter…
Taking everything out of the bag other than these irons and my putter for a couple of rounds made me re-think my course strategy and also learn to dial in distances to make best use of these irons. Having a 4-iron as your longest club and a PW as your shortest makes you think about scoring shots where my usual local-course game is to just drive as long as possible off the tee and usually be left with a partial wedge into the green.

So, how did these perform?
Right from the off, the accuracy of these irons was undeniable, unerringly so. If you aligned yourself properly, the ball travelled the line you hit, shot after shot so long as you connected well.
Typically with my Srixons if I mishit a shot I could lose it gently (5-6 yards) left or right, what I noticed with the Hogans was that I never lost anything right, but if my swing got sloppy I could hit a sudden 10+ yard draw/hook. This only happened a few times, but it was immediately noticeable that it was a complete one way failure, but far larger than with the Srixons, while still rarely leaving you unplayable.

How I two-putted from here I don't know

The trajectory I found on course was actually higher (as were my ball speeds and distances though) than what I had seen on the range and I would say, perceptually higher than my Srixons. Even moving out to the Z765 in my long irons, a 4-iron approach was something I didn’t ever look forward to in the Srixon set.
I can honestly say that I actually started to enjoy hitting long irons with these clubs. It only really “clicked” with me in my last two rounds, but I was suddenly looking for reasons to hit my long irons rather than wondering if I could play a soft hybrid or lay up with a shorter club.
That said, the forgiveness just isn’t there on fat shots at all. The v-sole does everything it can to try to push the club back out of the turf, but if you hit a long iron fat it’s just not going anything like the distance you wanted. Ben Hogan may call this forgiving, but there’s only so much you can ever do to recover a poor long iron swing and these are not going to help you with fat shots. Thin shots though, surprisingly playable… Pick your miss!

Workability is everything you expect of an ultra-thin, small blade. If you want to shape shots then these are very much the right type of club for it. Want to punch down low into the wind, simple. Want high and soft into a green, go for it. Need to work it right-to-left around that tree branch, you’ll enjoy watching this…
I had the same problems I had seen on the range with really struggling for a left-to-right that didn’t bleed distance to the point of being unplayable, but that is entirely possibly me and I’m not sure you’d make an iron selection purely on whether or not you can hit a fade or strong cut. I can’t achieve significantly more with any other club I use either, but I can move my Srixons that way a bit more so that’s a point off here…

Out of the rough this wasn't going to be a quick stop, but still so very controllable

Comparing these clubs to the Srixon set I had been gaming before is interesting. The weather conditions of the summer had skewed some of my Shot Scope figures a little, as had the fact a couple of the courses I was playing in the summer had some huge elevation changes, meaning I’ve hit gentle 7-irons (in traditionally lofted blades) over 240 yards this year…
When I first logged into ShotScope and started to look at the club comparison it would look like the Ft Worth irons were notably shorter than the Srixons, but when I started to pull together a meaningful dataset something interesting happened… I hit these Ft Worths longer than I hit the equivalent Srixon and more accurately!
The first bit of acclimatisation was almost counter-intuitive. With my Srixons you can really go after them, yet with the Dynamic Gold shafted Ft Worth I found the more I relaxed and played a completely smooth swing, the more I got out of them. It took a little while to completely stop trying to hit them, but with it I found both more distance and more accuracy than the clubs they were trying to displace.

It's funny how easily we can convince ourselves of things that aren’t true.
Following a summer of being spoiled by insane hitting distances it was easy to feel like the Hogans were okay, not bad, but just not up to what I was getting out of the Srixons. It was only when diving into the data and creating an actually comparable set that it started to stand out that these clubs were out-performing the Srixons that came before them.

One thing I would note, though, is that on those really firm fairways neither the Srixons or the Ft Worth Black were nice to hit fat, you’d really feel it and with no sole to “slide” you would have to really be driving downwards to do anything other than bounce up and blade the ball. It was a rarity, but a fat shot with the Hogans on ultra-dry ground is truly punishing.

Once the weather had changed, though and the ground had softened out both the Hogans and the Srixons were in their element.
I do believe in the V-sole technology used by both companies. Hitting a good shot from a soft fairway is always a beautiful feeling, but you need to try this type of club to truly appreciate it, the sole shape transitions your time in the turf to a “kiss”.
The V-sole between the two clubs take a slightly different approach, however. Srixon use a wider sole anyway with a far more even split between front and rear bounce. Ben Hogan have a far smaller front negative bounce region before the “V” and transition to a more typical positive bounce, but this works well for the design of these clubs and I was finding short, shallow divots where I would expect a traditional thin blade to have shaved inches out of the ground.

While the “hook” miss was certainly bigger than the two-way miss of the Srixons, the rarity of it happening and knowing it was always going to be one way inspired confidence in attacking pins too.
The course I’ve been playing has several holes where the pin can be tucked on the right hand side of the green with a bunker short and right of the green.
In the past, with this flag location I would tend to shoot centre green and rely on a two-putt to get your score, but suddenly I could attack those pins knowing that at worst I was going to be the opposite side of the green, but there was no chance of winding up in those bunkers and this set up far more scoring chances than I was getting previously.

The first time I stood over the 4-iron on course was intimidating, but mostly I think because people say it should be with an iron this small. I had to adjust my swing a little to sweep even more than I was used to with a long-iron, but once I’d found that swing I started to get some fantastic results.

One round prior to the ShotScope screengrab, this was a 210 yard 4-iron from the fairway in a round I didn't record

I have to say that Ben Hogan golf clubs really weren’t on my radar before this testing opportunity came up, but having had the chance to play them I’m definitely aware of the brand now.
I think they’ve done a fantastic job with these irons.
They possibly over-play the “forgiveness” of these clubs and it’s truly a shame that with the beauty of the black heads they’ve not sourced a black iron shaft too in order to complete the look, but there is very little I would change about these irons.
The market has options for larger, more forgiving player’s irons, it’s rare to see such a pure, traditional player’s blade and it’s surprisingly playable.
It’s hard to see what they could really change about these clubs without changing what they are fundamentally and I’m not sure why they would want to. These are a wonderful call back to the traditional days of asking a player to form the technique of putting a small piece of metal against the back side of a ball with some precision and the club market is richer for their existence.

On-course conclusion
Temper your expectations having averted your eyes from the silly figures you can see out of clubs many degrees stronger than these, with construction closer to a metal-wood than a traditional iron, accept these for what they are and they will truly surprise and reward you.

 

Play it or trade it (19 out of 20 points)

Okay, I’ll be honest here, this score changed as I wrote this review, but then so did many of my perceptions right up to this last weekend just gone.

There is no question you’d want to put these clubs in your bag if for the looks alone, but should you?
These irons were never going to get a bad score here from me, they were always going to be into double-figures at least, but up until last weekend I had a perception that I would probably go back to my Srixons.
I felt for no good reason that the Ft Worth, once I looked at the data, were probably going to prove shorter and less forgiving than the Srixons and so I should go back no matter what I actually felt in-play. (When recording the launch monitor figures I was checking that shots were picked up correctly, but had intentionally avoided looking at the numbers until now so as not to colour my perception)
I also wanted the Srixons when I got them, they were the clubs I’d been longing for and then there was something silly; My Srixons have flat-topped Golf Pride grips which my Shot Scope tags fitted on better, it really had got down to that small a set of details.

Then we got to the last couple of weekends where the course had really softened up, the last two rounds I would play with these clubs before writing up my thoughts.
Two weekends ago was enjoyable enough in itself, but this weekend gone…?

I’d had a long range session during the week, hit these clubs every night in my home cage and had an extended session in the cage on Saturday. I then had a 30 minute practice session in the cage on Sunday before heading to the course and had, quite possibly, the most enjoyable round of golf I have ever had at that course.
I can honestly say, without having looked at a single bit of data for this review yet, at the end of last weekend there was no way these clubs were coming out of my bag currently.
I hit a 6-under par 66 in 30 mph winds with one bogey where I hit a 9-iron 145 yards through the wind which didn’t affect the shot in the way I expected it to. That makes 7 birdies in one round though and almost entirely attributable to these clubs, 4 of those came from 160+ yard approaches while one was a 150 yard par-3 at the most exposed point on the course played to 10 ft on a hole where, due to the set up, I struggle to get that close on a still day. The other two were driver-wedge holes, but aside from the one hole where I couldn’t quite up-and-down even in the wind I never felt like I was in trouble trying to hit par that day.
I have never felt that confident that my irons were going to just do what I wanted and the turf interaction in the softer ground was beautiful, while the spin levels were perfect for drop and stop. From long irons through to short, not one approach shot was outside a yard of where it landed on the green.

Looking at the launch numbers (accounting for the range ball and temperature effect) has only compounded this view.
These are now my clubs and they’re staying there.

I’ll be honest. Having read the Ping reviews this year and being a bit of a gear *****, I will be going and trying out the G700 purely on @jacustomgolf's results, but it’s going to take something special to displace these clubs now.

I liked these clubs, but had convinced myself that I probably needed more forgiveness and that the Srixons were giving me that. It turns out that wasn’t true and this weekend I honestly started a love affair with the Ben Hogan Ft Worth Blacks. They are exactly what I wanted to be playing when I set out in golf and they perform exactly the way I need them to.

Are they for everyone? No, definitely no. They’re not forgiving in the sense we’ll talk about game improvement irons as being forgiving, you really can’t mishit a shot with these and expect to get anything like the shot you wanted, but… If you want a club to form a long-term bond with, to learn and grow together and one which will criticise your mistakes, but reward you when you do it right while drawing envious glances from all around then these are the club for it.

Then we get to the money…
Can anyone actually touch these for what they are asking?
This will probably be the shortest paragraph in this whole write-up, if these clubs suit your game then there is no question they are exceptional value. Beautiful, play well and the “Diamond black” finish seems like it’s made out of actual diamond, it just doesn’t mark.
There is no question that I would buy these clubs now if I had to pay to keep them, give me a black shaft option and I’ll buy a spare set!

 

Conclusion

Okay, that was a novel, but let’s condense it down here and that’s easy enough to do.

When I received these clubs we wanted to know whether they were forgiving as the Ben Hogan company claimed, if you got higher launch in the long irons and whether the finish would last.
When I was picked as a tester I started to question myself. Am I really good enough to play these clubs? Should I be putting myself out there for this or is this the point where I really should accept I’m new to the game and go into GI irons?

The answers to these go hand-in-hand.
These clubs are not forgiving, if you want them to rescue your poor shots.
These clubs are not high launching, if you expect to see your launch angle in long irons go up.
However, if you go into this with open eyes and understand these are very thin, very traditional blades then in their format they really are forgiving. They went toe-to-toe with Srixon Z765 cavity-backs and Ping G10 game improvement irons in long irons and not only stood up, but came out on top. They’re not going to raise your launch angles either, but again, against clubs that should launch higher they stayed on par.
The finish goes without saying. I’ve hit hundreds of balls with these irons and once cleaned you’d be hard pressed to tell half of them had been used, they are by far the most durable irons I’ve ever played.

Are these for everyone? No.
Should these be near the top of your list if you want to and can play blades? Definitely.

These are clubs with a very specific target market of golfer, if that golfer is you then these are as near to a 10/10 as you can get and amazing value too.

 

Final score – 90 out of 100

This last photo insists on being here, again, I can't delete it, so let's just appreciate what this 9-iron can do at 150 yards on a really windy day

[poprocksncoke 1,450]

Stage 1

After much anticipation I received a call from my wife that the UPS man had dropped off a package, she knew this because the dogs started barking like crazy (who needs a doorbell?)

 

 

 

My name is Kirk and I have resided in the Bakersfield, California area most of my life.  I am married to a wonderful woman and have 4 kids.  Have a daughter that turned 3 this year so she keeps me pretty busy.  I started golfing at the age of 10 with my father and my grandpa.  We played at a 9 hole golf course in Delano, California.  At the time my grandpa had his own golf cart he kept at the course, as you all well know this is the most exciting thing to a 10 year old about the game of golf.  Have many fond memories about that course which I eventually became the Head Professional from 2002-2004.

 

In 1991 I became employed at Wasco Valley Rose Golf Course, which unfortunately has now been closed.   I was elected to membership in the PGA in 1998 and continued working in the golf business until 2004.   Although I no longer work as a PGA professional my love for the game still continues.

Ok, so now a little about my golf game.  Since I became a PGA member I had to play with a 0 handicap, since then I have not established a handicap and have not applied for reinstatement to amateur status.  However, I typically can still score in the mid to low 70's on a regular basis.  My typical swing tempo is relatively smooth although sometimes my backswing can get a little too quick and long.  Most of the time when I am hitting it well my typical ball flight is a draw so if I'm going to miss, it's most likely to be to the left.  The strengths of my game are putting (even though I like to tinker with new putters) and I am consistent with my driver off the tee.  When I used to play almost every day I considered myself to be a great chipper around the greens, these days I don't have the touch I used too but that's another story!  If I did have to choose a weakness in my game it would be my long irons but still hit them better than I can a hybrid, don't know why I just haven't had any luck with the hybrids. 

 

 

I had never bagged a set of Hogan irons before and trust me, I have had a lot of different brands of irons in my bags throughout the years.  Not that I haven't hit them, my father and grandfather both used to have sets of Hogan's back in the day and the first golf pro I used to work for would play nothing but Hogan irons at the time.  Heck, I have an old set of my grandpa's Hogan's tucked away in my garage somewhere.  Have heard nothing but good things about these irons since the original Ft. Worth's were released so excited to see how these clubs perform for me.  Currently in my bag is a set of Callaway Apex CF Pro's.  I had played Mizuno irons for years and my set was getting pretty game worn, I had hit some of my father's Callaway irons and always hit them well so I figured why not get me some?  They have been a good match with my swing so let's see what the Hogan's can do to kick them out of the bag?...........

 

 

First impressions of these irons is probably the same thing everyone says when they see them “beautiful!”  The weighting on the clubs have a good feel too them and they set up really well for me at 2 degrees upright.  I choose the KBS Tour shafts, the same shaft I have pretty much been playing for years now.  I have tried many different shafts over the years, Dynamic Gold, Nippon, Project X (my least favorite) and a short stint with Steelfibers.  I feel the KBS shafts give me a tighter dispersion than the others and have a smoother feel to them.  The thing that stood out about these irons most to me was how thin they were, yes if I need to butter some toast these are going to be my go to clubs.  Overall first impression is very positive one, lets see how they perform for the Stage 2 review.  A friend of mine has the original Ft. Worth irons and when he saw these, let's just say he's a little bit jealous. 

 

 

Without getting a lot of playing time in with these irons yet the thing I am most curious about is how the Diamond black finish is going to hold up.  Hogan claims higher launch angles with the long irons and lower launch angles with the short irons.  I'll take me some of that!  I like to sometimes hit lower shots into the greens with the shorter irons, with the Apex's I find that to be a little more difficult without too many adjustments in the swing. 

 

 

Lastly, thank you MGS for the opportunity to test these clubs and hopefully I can help anyone on the site who may have any questions regarding how these irons perform.  So…….  Any questions???

 

 

 

 

[poprocksncoke 1,450]

Ben Hogan Ft Worth Black Irons – Official MGS Forum Review by Kirk Boland

Intro

Welcome everyone to Stage 2 of my review of the Ben Hogan Ft Worth Black Irons.  Since these clubs arrived I was anxious to get them into play.  My main concern was how that beautiful black finish would hold up?  For the first couple range sessions and rounds I decided to keep my Callaway Apex and Hogan Ft Worth’s in the bag at the same time so I could do some comparisons, my initial main concern was the comparison in distance and accuracy between the two.  The last three range sessions and the last 4 rounds the Hogan’s have been on their own.  So let’s see how they have fared so far, shall we?

Looks  (9/10)

Hogan has always made a great looking iron.  This time they have outdone themselves.  I have a friend that has a set of the original Ft Worth irons and those are good looking clubs, the black puts them over the top. 

This is a classic blade with very thin lines with red and white lettering that stands out really well with the black background.  The first thing you will notice about these irons compared to most other is the thin sole of the club.  It has been mentioned that maybe the black color makes them look thinner?  Well, don’t we all look thinner in black?  Anyway, don’t be scared they won’t bite, that is unless you need to get to a tucked pin. 

I haven’t played with a blade iron in a few years and I can say these are much better looking than those bulky heads with stickers and inserts on them. 

The black finish is holding up very well, no issues there.

 

Sound and feel (8/10)

Like most irons the sound and feel of the club depends on how well you’ve struck it.  When struck well these clubs have a great clicking sound and a crispy feel.  When the ball is struck poorly these clubs will give you instant feedback that lets you know it’s time to hope for the best.  A mishit shot will give you some vibration and a dull thud sound but by no means the worst I have felt nor heard.  

 

Range performance (18/20)

To be honest I’m not the best range player.  Think it must be a concentration thing or something like that.  Most of my bad shots come on the range.  Get them out of the way early maybe?

Most of my range sessions are before the round to get loosened up.  Start out with S/w, 9 iron, 6 iron then proceed to hit a couple 4 irons.  If I have time maybe 2-3 with the driver.  I hit most of my range shots with my 9 and 6 irons.  On a couple occasions when just at the range I went through the whole set to get a good feel of these irons and how they would transfer to the course. 

The accuracy of these irons is outstanding.  One would think with that thin head this would be a problem but instead I found it to be a plus, club just cuts through the turf easily.  Distance wise these are relatively on par with my current set.  I have found that if I need a little extra it’s there for the taking if struck correctly.  I was able to pick my spot on the range to consistently hit it to, then muscle a few up for a little extra yardage.  The forgiveness of these irons is about middle of the road.  They are not the best nor are they worst.  If the ball is hit clean they are great, mishit it and I found I lost quite a bit of distance on the thin shots and somewhat loss of distance on shots off the toe.  The distance was the only real problem I had with mishits; the accuracy was still not too far off, nothing way off of target.

On course performance (37/40)

Now that we’ve warmed up on the range, let’s hit the course!  These irons performed just as well on the course as on the range if not better.  I’m going to score these best out of 10 on 4 categories (Accuracy, Trajectory, Forgiveness and Workability) to reach my final scoring for this category. 

Accuracy (9/10)

I have been pleasantly surprised with the accuracy of these clubs.  The rounds I have played with them so far I have had as good if not better GIR #’s than with my current set.

 

Trajectory (10/10)

I have always had a high ball flight with my irons but for some reason once I get to the 4 iron that goes out the window.  Has not been the case with these irons, the flight of the 4 iron has been pretty consistent with the rest of the set.  I also like to hit some knockdown shots every now and then, have had no issue with keeping the shots low when needed.

Hole 18 par 5 over water, hit a nice high 4 iron just below the pin (spoiler alert:  made the putt)

Hole 6 had about 110 yards to the center and the pin was in the back of the green, decided to hit a low 9 iron and chase it back to the hole.  Didn’t quite hit it hard enough but that was more the Injun not the arrow.

Forgiveness (8/10)

This one is a hard one for me to rate, they are not the most forgiving clubs but they aren’t bad either.  Mishits were never too far offline.  When hit off the toe the ball would drift off line somewhat and loose some distance but ended up not being too bad of a shot considering.

Hole 5 hit the ball off the toe here, ball drifted off line and came up somewhat short but overall not a terrible shot.

Hole 13 this was the biggest issue I had with the forgiveness of these irons, when hit the least bit thin they would consistently come up short.  Ball would not steer too far off line but a much more loss of distance than I am accustomed to.

Workability (10/10)

Workability of these clubs is fantastic!  Had no problems shaping my shots with them whether it being playing a draw, hook, high or low shot.  Need to hit a fade?  Not much luck there but that’s on me. 

Hole 18 again, was able to aim at the bunkers on the right and had plenty of confidence that the draw would get me where I needed to be.

Overall compared to my current irons I was pleasantly surprised.  I was expecting to lose some distance but that was not the case.  It was much easier playing a draw with the Hogan’s and not having to worry about the ball going straight instead of drawing.  Confidence level was high with the Hogan’s.

Play or trade (18/20)

I was very happy with these irons even though at the beginning I was a little concerned I would lose forgiveness and distance against my current set.  Turned out I was wrong.  Now if I can just stop hitting those 1 or 2 thin shots per round, no problem, right?  These clubs will remain in my bag for the foreseeable future. 

Overall Score (90/100)

 

 

[TravisClarke 23]

Hello fellow MGS members! I cannot express how thankful I am to the fine people at MGS and the Ben Hogan Equipment Company for letting me take part in this review. This is a very exciting opportunity for me and I cannot wait to share it with everyone! I really hope my reviews will be informative, helpful and thorough for all members.

Saying that, I really want to encourage all members to ask questions, and raise their hands with concerns or suggestions for tests. Your engagement will put this review over the top, so without further ado let me get started.

My name is Travis Clarke and I am an avid golfer located near the geographical centre of North America and yes, that is how you spell centre when you are from Winnipeg, MB Canada. I am a proud husband and father to three beautiful children who are 6, 4 and 1 years old.



I started playing golf around 9 years old in the front yard of the house on the farm my grandparents operated in Dauphin, MB. I would grab whatever clubs and balls I could find and try to hit them about 75 yds. over the gravel road. I have fond memories of my grandfather taking me out on the Gilbert Plains golf course to learn the game. I remember the first time it felt right hitting the ball. We were teeing off on the 5th hole on the original 9 at Gilbert and I launched my tee shot and out drove my hero/grandpa for the first time, at that point I was hooked.

From there my parents arranged for a few close friends of mine and I to join the Breezy Bend golf course and that is where my game took off. We learned the game on the course and rarely spent time on the range. We would play up to 54 holes a day with the help of the long summer nights and enjoyed playing both recreational and competitive golf. We played in several Manitoba Jr Championships, as well in the Manitoba High School golf league were we represented Winnipeg in the provincial championships.

During my school days, I starting working at the Clear Lake Golf Course in Clear Lake, MB. I continued working there through my university years and ended up with 9 years of service at the course. Clear Lake is a resort course and, in my opinion, is Manitoba's hidden gem. It is also where I met my wife!

www.ClearLakeGolfCourse.com

After school and settling into a career, I started playing more at Breezy Bend again before making the move over to the St Charles Country Club. St Charles is one of Winnipeg's premier golf facilities with 27 holes of which 9 holes are designed by Donald Ross and another 9 by Alister MacKenzie. St Charles also has top-notch practice facilities and coaches which has really helped me improve, keep sharp and ratchet up my love for the game.

www.StCharlesCountryClub.ca

I typically get out to the St Charles Country Club once per week for a game and sprinkle in 1 or 2 range sessions. My golf game, like many, has a lot of highs and lows. The highs tend to fall in the 80's and low's in the 70's. My current handicap index is 6.2 and climbing (Ugh).

Strengths of my game include:

Putting
Ability to scramble
Above average, length and ball height.

Weakness of my game:

Ball striking consistency – to many thin and thick shots
Over swinging which leads to poor ball striking
Tee shots - I struggle getting off the tee and finding the fairway consistently.

From 150 yds. I hit a 9 Iron and I would say I have an aggressive swing speed.

My performance can really vary as I believe I have too much hand rotation in my swing. I can hit some nice shots if my hands are squaring up nicely; otherwise, I tend to play army golf (left, right, left). The last few years I have focused more on practicing and have even engaged a local golf pro to help me with a few lessons. In the past (before kids), I just played a lot of golf and skipped the practice part.

So what is in my bag you ask?

Bag: Callaway Hyper-Lite 4.5 Carry bag with stand.

Ball: Taylor Made TP5X. I recently tried a Snell for the first time and enjoyed the ball. I am looking forward to giving Snell and further test.

Driver: Titleist 913 D2 1 Wood With Mitsubishi Diamana +Plus Blue 62 shaft.

Fairway Wood: Titleist 913 F - 3 Wood - With Mitsubishi Diamana +Plus Blue 62 shaft.

Hybrid: Titleist 913 H 19 Degree Hybrid - With Mitsubishi Diamana +Plus Blue 62 shaft.

 

Irons: Titleist 714 AP2 Forged 3 iron Gap Wedge With True Temper Stiff Dynamic Gold shafts.

 

Wedges: 56-degree Titleist Vokey SM7 14 F high bounce sand wedge. I own but do not carry a 60-degree Cleveland CG15 mid Bounce lob wedge.

 

Putter: Scotty Cameron California Fast Back with Super Stroke Mid-Slim 2.0 Grip. I putt cross-handed.

 

Grips: Winn dri-tac standard (red/black) on my irons, and Golf Pride New Decade Multi-Compound Cord standard (red/black) on my woods.

Why so much Titleist? I wanted to get into a forged iron and wanted a club that was also going to offer a decent level of forgiveness. I demoed the AP2 irons at our local shop, then played a round on rentals during a winter golf game, and really enjoyed playing them. Lucky for me the old course I worked at had Titleist clubs in their rental bags. I was able to buy the gently used set for less than the cost of just the irons from a local shop. The set came with my driver through gap wedge and included one Vokey wedge as well a staff bag. It was a deal I couldn't turn down!

What did I order from Hogan?

Hogan Ft. Worth Black Irons, 4 - PW
Shafts: UST Recoil 780-F4/Stiff graphite
Grips: Standard sized grips Ben Hogan personalized rubber grips by Lamkin

I have always been interested in graphite shafts but have never been able to make the leap of faith (my AP2s have DG stiff steel shafts). I thought this was the perfect avenue to make the leap to graphite and to share my experience. I'm really looking forward to putting these clubs to the test and seeing if the Hogan and UST Mamiya claims are accurate.

Sept 15th 2018 - First Impression



My new clubs have arrived and I am so excited to try them. Below are my first pictures of the clubs and I love the look with the black metal finish on the irons, the matte black UST recoil graphite shafts and how the grips tie it all together. These clubs definitely pass the eye test for me.

Hogan Claims:

Patented Diamond Black Metal Finish:

I'm a big believer in the aesthetics of a golf club and I really hope that the clubs will maintain this factory finish. My initial impression is very good but I really wonder if they will hold up to my abuse?

Modified V-Sole Design:

I've been really working on my ball striking this last year and I'm seeing improvements. I tend to hit a few heavy (fat) shots per round and am very intrigued to see how the V-Sole design and the high bounce leading edge will react. The Hogan Ft Worth have a lot more bounce than I'm used to.

Simplified Preciseloft System:

This is very intriguing to me and something I never really paid a lot of attention to in the past. My current AP2 specs show that my high irons (3 thru 5) only have 3* gaps where the other irons have 4*. With Hogan we have an equal 4* separation on all the irons. It really has me thinking. Will my 4 iron fly further? Will I loose trajectory?

AP2 Specs:



Hogan Specs:



UST Mamiya Claims:

Recoil Technology:

Is designed for optimal spring effect in the walls of the shaft to increase velocity and distance. It will be interesting to compare distance to my current AP2 irons with the steel shafts.

ES = Enhanced Stability:

To improve my shot dispersion or make my misses not as bad. If this works I will be over the moon!

SMACWRAP:

Don't ask what this stands for but my hands may love this. This feature is designed to help eliminate vibration and optimize noise. When the weather gets cool in Canada we have all experienced the vibration of hitting it thin. I can't wait to see if this helps with the stingers that run through my fingers after those thin shots.

The arrival of the new clubs is very exciting for me. My first plan and test is to get them onto the range at my local course for some initial work and review. From there I'm jumping right into a golf trip with family out to Nova Scotia, Canada where we will play Cabot Links, Cabot Cliffs, and the Highlands. That will be a demanding test for my game and these clubs; I can't wait!

I also plan to use these irons on the simulator at my local course. They offer club gapping where we hit each iron and record the statistics. I have already done this with my AP2 irons and plan on doing the same with the Ft Worth Black irons. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the results compare.

To all the readers out there please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or tests you would like to see from me. I encourage and look forward to the feedback.

Regards


Travis Clarke
Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Edited November 28, 2018 by TravisClarke

[TravisClarke 23]

Stage Two – Dec 2018

Ft Worth Black Iron Review – Official MGS Forum Review by Travis Clarke

Hello fellow MGS members! I cannot express how thankful I am to the fine people at MGS and the Ben Hogan Equipment Company for letting me take part in this review and I apologies for my delay in my 2^nd stage.

My testing including range time at my local course, 8 games of golf which included a fantastic trip to Cabot Links, and 6 hours on a golf simulator once the snow flew. I was able to really put these clubs through the ringer and this helped me gather some great information and form a strong opinion on these clubs. So without further delay below is review!

Looks (9 out of 10 points)

My first impressions of the new Fort Worth black Iron's by the Hogan golf company was very good. The black finish is very attractive on the heads and the graphite shafts with the gray/blue grips complimented the overall look very well. I felt the clubs have a very stylish and aggressive appearance.

At first I felt they looked a lot smaller then my current set of irons which are the 714 AP2 model by Titleist. They looked more like a players club and something that was not going to be very forgiving. But after a closer side by side comparison I realized that is not the fact. Both clubs are very similar in face area. The main difference that I noticed is the top line slope from the toe to heal is steeper on the Hogan irons. This isn’t really noticeable at address and is more noticeable in a direct side by side comparison as show below.

 

 Hogan has done a very nice job with the graphics on the club. They are a simple, and effective graphics that don’t dominate or take away from the overall look of the clubs. The graphics do their job to advertise for Hogan as well announce they are a players (forged) club.  

The finish on the irons is something that really intrigued me. Out of the box the irons look great with the black finish but I have to admit I was curious if the finish was going to hold up after repeated use. I can easily admit that I’m very impressed with the finish and how it is holding up. I would never hesitate to buy these clubs because of concerns with the finish holding up.  

Overall the appearance comes together very nicely and the irons really stand out compared to my more traditional Titleist setup. I feel the clubs do stand out from the rest of the pack but I wouldn’t go as far to say they are flashy which I really like.

Sound & Feel (9 out of 10 points)

These are definitely forged clubs and if you have played forged irons before you know what I’m talking about. When you hit a pure shot there is nothing that feels or sounds better in the game of golf. On the other hand, if you hit a bad shot you know nothing feels worse in the game of golf. This is especially case when the temperature drops.

I would describe the sound as very crisp on good shots. The quality of the click usually relates to the shot result. I found the higher the pitch the worse the shot was. The quality shots had a nice deep pitch that feels buttery smooth.

Range Performance (14 out of 20 points)

I really enjoyed my time testing these clubs on both the range and on a simulator. I felt it gave me a great understanding of how these clubs fit with my game.

The last few years I have been more focused on specific drills on the range as well as some range games for gauging my progress. For the club trial I wasn’t as focused on trying to implement swing changes or improvements rather I focused on using these clubs based on the current state of my swing.

The first game I worked on was what I call “targets”. Our range has 5 small greens and I progress thru all 5 targets from shortest to longest keeping track of shots to hit each target and total shots to hit all 5 targets. My results are below.   

 

From my results you can see I preformed better with my original set of irons. Part of the advantage I believe my old clubs had was on the 5^th target. This target was at 214 yds and this was a nice distance for a full 4 iron with my old clubs. The Hogan irons I found definitely go further with the lower irons which I relate to the consistent 4-degree loft decrease per iron compared to other manufacturers. The problem on the 5^th target was I had to take a bit off my full swing to hit the 214 yd target. I struggled finding the right distance, I was either to long, to short and the odd shot off-line . Eliminating that target brings the results much closer together.

I really enjoyed this game as it quickly made me realize the Hogan set got me more distant out of the low irons. I also found the ball seemed to have a lower more penetrating flight with the Hogan irons. For my next test I used the trees on the range as my guide and I hit several shots trying to get the peak ball flight below the tree height. My results for that was that I was able to keep 80% (8 out of 10 shots) of the shots below the tree tops with the Hogan irons compared to 60% (6 out of 10 shots) with my AP2 irons.

Unfortunately for us this year the cold came earlier then normal and this meant I had to take my testing inside to the simulator. The positive of this was I was able to get some really nice data and side by side comparison of the Ft Worth irons vs my current set. For this test on my simulator I hit 5 shots with the Ft Worth irons and then 5 shots with my current set and put the numbers side by side. I was able to compare the shot dispersion as well as the performance statistics. I did this with 3 different irons (PW, 7-iron and 4-iron) and the results are below.

PW – Stats Comparison:

PW – Hogan Dispersion:

PW – Titleist Dispersion:

7-Iron – Stats Comparison:

 

7-Iron – Hogan Dispersion:

7-Iron – Titleist Dispersion:

4-Iron – Stats Comparison:

4-Iron – Hogan Dispersion:

4-Iron – Titleist Dispersion:

The results from the simulator were interesting as they confirmed some of my initial thoughts on the clubs but they also made me realize I was wrong on one of my initial assumptions.  

Distance: With Hogan using the consistent 4-degree loft change between irons resulted in me hitting my low irons further then I traditionally do. The Hogan 4 iron at 22 degree’s was averaging just over 225 yds per shot. Compared to my Titleist 4 iron at 24 degree’s averaging just under 218 yds per shot. Remarkably the distance with the high irons was pretty much identical which is probably related to the lofts being the same as well. I never realized this till now but I much prefer the consistent gapping used by Hogan.

Ball Trajectory: This is where the simulator surprised me a bit. Coming off the range I felt the Hogan irons had more penetrating (lower) ball flight vs my Titleist irons. When you compare the launch angles on the clubs it tells you a different story. Comparing both PW’s, you will see they have the same loft but you will also see the launch angle with the Hogan was actually higher compared to the Titleist.  This got me thinking and made me realize the Hogan clubs let me work the ball up and down better then my current set. This probably explained my better results with my trajectory game on the range. This definitely is a bonus or advantage to the Hogan irons.

Shot Dispersion: This is where I struggled with the Hogan irons. I typically struggle with my misses and I found that my misses were much greater with the Hogan irons compared to my Titleist irons. Comparing the 7 and 4 irons you will see I was consistently centre or left of centre with my Titleist irons where I was playing army golf with the Hogan irons. (Left, right, left, right). This really effected my mental game on the course which I touch on later in the review.

On-Course Performance (28 out of 40 points)

My on-course performance was both rewarding and also very challenging. I was able to get the new irons out to my home course for few rounds before I jumped right in to a golf trip to Cabot Links.

A quick plug for Cabot Links. This facility is truly world class and a must play for golfers with a bucket list. The conditions are incredible and it is a great test for your game. I would highly recommend playing Cabot if you get the chance. Below is a video that shows how fierce the wind blew for 1 of our rounds. This wind was a great test for the Hogan irons.

What I found on the course:

Accuracy – I really struggled with controlling the Hogan irons. Accuracy is a weakness of my game but I found it got worse with the Hogan irons. I found my offline shots would go further offline compared to normal and this caused the problems to snowball on me. I would try to correct my last miss and end up going the other way which was frustrating and ultimately lead to me having less confidence over the golf ball which is never good.

Trajectory – I loved how the Hogan irons performed. I was able to hit knock down shots with ease and this was a big advantage on the wind sweep links golf course’s at Cabot.  I was also able to launch the ball to good heights when the conditions allowed which was also a big bonus.

Forgiveness – The Hogan irons are a forged iron and as most know a forged iron is typically not the most forgiving iron. Hogan has done a nice job of providing a nice level of forgiveness with these irons without taking away from there playability. As expected, your misses won’t travel as far but I found the penalty wasn’t as dramatic as I expected. I found that on the course a miss would cost you about 1 club which I think is more than acceptable.

Workability – This is where these irons shine. I loved how I could work the irons up or down and left and right. On well played draws I had no problem working the ball 10 to 15 yds. Compared to my other irons which I really had to try to move that ball that far.

Confidence – Standing over the ball looking down at the irons I really like what I saw. From an aesthetics point of view the clubs are beautiful which I think is an important part of feeling good and confident about your next shot. This only lasts so long till my misses started weighing on me. I struggled controlling the ball on bad shots and this got in my head and didn’t help my confidence over the ball. I don’t blame the clubs for this as much as I do my ability but overall my confidence sagged as I played more and more with these irons which was frustrating. Perfect example was me missing the green on 3 consecutive swings on the signature par 3 - 16^th at Cabot. The hole isn’t long but accuracy is demanding and missing the green leads to a re-load.

Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20 points)

This type of club is made for a really good player and all really good players should consider them. My game isn’t consistent enough for these clubs and the benefits didn’t outweigh the draw backs ☹. I believe if work on my game and reducing my misses I can get it to a point where these clubs will be more beneficial then not and will let me play with confidence.

At this point if I was going into a big game, I would have to put these clubs back on the shelf. The clubs are great to have but they don’t help me play my best golf at this point. 

Conclusion

Overall the clubs are a great players club and unfortunately, I’m not a top-notch player yet. The clubs looked, felt and preformed very, very well. I loved the look of my clubs and they brought a lot of excitement to the game out of the gate. I loved how they felt on good shots and was pleasantly surprised with how they felt on not so good shots. The clubs had fantastic workability which let me believe I could hit most shots. I just struggled with my misses which lead to me lacking in confidence. This ultimately led to me not scoring as well as I typically do on the course. My average score was 2 to 3 strokes higher when playing the Hogan irons compared to my old set.

This review really did open my eyes to the Hogan brand. In the past I would not have put the Hogan brand in the same league as other high-performance clubs on the market. That was a big miscalculation by me. The Hogan brand is a top performing brand and if I was in the market for this type of club, I would definitely give them a proper shot.  

Specifically, for my review of the Ft Worth Black Irons:

Pro’s:

·        Looks - these are beautiful clubs.

·        Feel – when hit well they give you a real buttery feel.

·        Workability – I loved how I could move the ball up and down and left and right with ease

·        Loft gapping – The consistent 4-degree loft change staggered my irons distances very well and provided                   consistent gaps between all irons

Con’s:

·        Misses – I struggled with my control. I found with these irons my misses went further left or further right then           typical which snowballed on me and my confidence over the ball.

In closing my game currently isn’t consistent enough for these irons. I found the penalty for my misses was too drastic and ultimately caused my scoring to increase. If I was a more consistent player, I believe these clubs would only improve my game and the pros would out weight the 1 major con. If you are in the market for high performance clubs make sure to give these irons their fair shake as you will be pleasantly surprised!

Final Score: 75

Edited January 25, 2019 by TravisClarke

[JohnSmalls 6,920]

Can't wait to see the reviews on these sticks.  Great group of testers!

[tommc23 13,474]

Can't wait to see the reviews on these sticks. Great group of testers!

I agree this one will have my attention big time

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[chemclub 1,026]

Really interested to hear about face wear on these. There are a bunch of different dark finishes - each with their own resistance to wear.

 

However, I actually like how some dark finishes give way to a dull grey underneath, it somehow frames the ball in a way that fits my eye.

 

Good luck to everyone.

[GB13 7,784]

Really interested to hear about face wear on these. There are a bunch of different dark finishes - each with their own resistance to wear.

 

However, I actually like how some dark finishes give way to a dull grey underneath, it somehow frames the ball in a way that fits my eye.

 

Good luck to everyone.

Yeah I like that too. It inspires confidence and allows you to line up properly, or at least the same, every time.

Good luck, I look forward to reading your reviews.

[Nunfa0 6,087]

I forgot that this was coming, Ben Hogan have been making some beautiful clubs this year. It will be great to see how these perform 😁😎

[DPattGolf 1,733]

Alright everyone! My Stage 1 is now up and feel free to ask away with all of your questions! Don't hesitate and get involved! 

[DPattGolf 1,733]

Really interested to hear about face wear on these. There are a bunch of different dark finishes - each with their own resistance to wear.

 

However, I actually like how some dark finishes give way to a dull grey underneath, it somehow frames the ball in a way that fits my eye.

 

Good luck to everyone.

This is my second set of irons with the DBM finish and it is by far the most durable black finish out there

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[Jon Brittan 467]

Another bump here, my Stage One is up and I think we're all very excited to get these irons into play.

Echoing David's comment, please feel free to ask questions as we go

[jlukes 16,464]

Definitely never seen a sole with progression like this set either. Curious to see how they play for you guys