New 2019 Maltby Driving Iron FDI(updated highly requested old HDI)

[dthrog00 23]

I expect the KE4 FDI I ordered will be delivered tomorrow.  It is the 2 hybrid with the stock Maltby shaft in the pak assembled with standard length and loft, 1 degree upright.  I'm putting this against the Titleist 816 H1 21* and hoping it will be easier to control left to right and gap well between my 4 iron and 5 wood.  The local courses are closed so I'll be hitting practice balls (foam) in the garage.

Dave

[dthrog00 23]

As I mentioned yesterday I received my KE4 FDI today and given the courses are closed I put it through the paces in my garage net hitting foam balls and birdie balls.

First impressions are positive.  It is a reasonably large head and inspires confidence at address.  I must have swapped a shorter shaft on my 21* 816 H1 because the Maltby at standard club length (40") has a longer playing length by about 1/2".  The FDI is much larger than the TE forged in all dimensions, but particularly in sole width and top line.  The FDI looks looks very nice.

It is hard to tell what is going on hitting foam balls/birdie balls in the garage.  Initial takeaways are that it launches noticeably lower than both my 4 iron and the 21* hybrid, but I was able to get it in the air whether off a tee or off my Fiberbilt flight deck.  I was also able to start it on my intended line.  I'll have to see shot curvature when I'm able to hit it outdoors.

The regular flex Maltby Pro hybrid shaft is thought to play firm on the Golfworks site, but honestly I'm not seeing it.  It flexes substantially more than my iron shafts which is probably to my benefit as I need launch in a club like this.

For the club to stick in my bag I need it to: 1) be able to flight it straight and count on it going mostly straight, 2) provide a useful backup tee option on tight holes that have caused me problems the past couple years, 3) be an option for hitting into longer par 3s (none have trouble in front so run out is ok there), 4) be able to gap properly between my 4 iron and 5 wood.

Address:TE forged 4 iron left / KE4 FDI 2 hybrid middle / Titleist 816 H1 21* right

Soles: TE forged 4 iron left / KE4 FDI 2 hybrid on right

Backs of clubs: TE forged 4 iron / KE4 FDI 2 hybrid

Club faces: TE forged 4 iron top / KE4 FDI 2 hybrid bottom

Dave

 

[bellairemi 114]

I tried a few different shafts but ended up selling it as it was really a one trick pony.  I could hit wonderful stingers with it and, well, wonderful stingers.  Too bad as I liked the look and feel.

[dthrog00 23]

I wonder if I may end up with the same issue, but I hope not.  They are inexpensive enough that it is worth trying for me.

I find the hybrid launches high enough that it does not provide much roll out at all off the tee and I tend to spray it left/right.  I'm hoping this club will be easier to consistently square up and give potential for more run, but I have to be able to get it airborne consistently.

Dave

[dthrog00 23]

i used the FDI today with my Mevo and Sklz hitting net in the backyard.  I was having trouble finding the center and found ball speed losses accordingly. 

I think I was putting better all around swings on my 3 wood and found ball speed deviation was smaller with that than the FDI.  I'm not fully used to the FDI yet and will need further testing.

I'm typically a low 120s ball speed guy with the driver on good strikes and on solid strikes with the FDI was seeing 110 ball speed. Good 3 wood strikes ball speed today was 117. 

My swing speed is slow for a club of this type, but the local courses I play have a few short par 4s where mishit drivers go OB  and also have 170-ish par 3s where the FDI could have a purpose.

Dave

[Popeye64 582]

i used the FDI today with my Mevo and Sklz hitting net in the backyard.  I was having trouble finding the center and found ball speed losses accordingly. 
I think I was putting better all around swings on my 3 wood and found ball speed deviation was smaller with that than the FDI.  I'm not fully used to the FDI yet and will need further testing.
I'm typically a low 120s ball speed guy with the driver on good strikes and on solid strikes with the FDI was seeing 110 ball speed. Good 3 wood strikes ball speed today was 117. 
My swing speed is slow for a club of this type, but the local courses I play have a few short par 4s where mishit drivers go OB  and also have 170-ish par 3s where the FDI could have a purpose.
Dave

Which loft did you go with?

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[dthrog00 23]

2 hours ago, Popeye64 said:

Which loft did you go with?

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19*.  Options I'm considering:  19* FDI gapping with 24* TE 4 iron and even 4* gaps from 5i through GW or 21*, 25* 816 H1 hybrids into the same 5i-GW.  My long club off the turf is a 5 wood.

Dave

[Popeye64 582]

19*.  Options I'm considering:  19* FDI gapping with 24* TE 4 iron and even 4* gaps from 5i through GW or 21*, 25* 816 H1 hybrids into the same 5i-GW.  My long club off the turf is a 5 wood.
Dave

For your swing speed the 19 is pretty aggressive. The 21 would have fit better with your 4 iron and been a lot more playable for you.

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[dthrog00 23]

4 minutes ago, Popeye64 said:

For your swing speed the 19 is pretty aggressive. The 21 would have fit better with your 4 iron and been a lot more playable for you.

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I thought a 3* gap from 21* to 24* would not work.  19* may be too low of a loft, but is too early to say.  If 19* turns out to be too low one option is to bend it.

It is a relatively low cost experiment.  Maltby clubs are a tremendous value.  I really like the TE forged.

Dave

[Popeye64 582]

I thought a 3* gap from 21* to 24* would not work.  19* may be too low of a loft, but is too early to say.  If 19* turns out to be too low one option is to bend it.
It is a relatively low cost experiment.  Maltby clubs are a tremendous value.  I really like the TE forged.
Dave

The modern lofting drops to a 3° gap in the lower lofted clubs.
For instance the TS-2s drop to a 3° gap after the 7 iron. But grow to 5 ahead of it.
The TS-1s 3-4 are 2.5° which then goes to 3.5 and gets as high as 4.5.
So to your point the 3° gap is actually where you want to be.

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[dthrog00 23]

Since my initial poor session I've had 3 more sessions each with promising results.  Today I played a simulated round using my outdoor net (which means switching clubs for each shot and not necessarily getting in a groove with a particular club) with passable results.  

Unless there directional issues that I can't see given I'm hitting into a net I think this club is a good fit for "must stay inbounds" tee shots and ~ 170 yard par 3s.

My 2018 Top Flite Gamers I've been using with the metallic dots are getting really worn.  I'm going to take them out of play and start using new ones.

Simulated round:

2I

Shot	View	Ball Speed (mph)	Club Speed (mph)	Smash	Carry (yds)	Launch Angle V (°)	Spin (rpm)	Height	Time (s)
1		103.3	76.9	1.34	145	18.2	3964	64′4″	5.1	delete
2		115.3	80.9	1.43	169.8	17.3	3787	77′12″	5.7	delete
3		109.8	79.5	1.38	159.7	21.1	3964	88′1″	5.8	delete
Avg		109.5	79.1	1.38	158.1	18.9	3905	76′10″	5.5
Dev		4.9	1.7	0.03	10.2	1.6	83	9′9″	0.3

Yesterday off tee:

2I

Shot	View	Ball Speed (mph)	Club Speed (mph)	Smash	Carry (yds)	Launch Angle V (°)	Spin (rpm)	Height	Time (s)
1		103.8	74	1.4	144	16.5	4034	57′10″	4.9	delete
2		108.2	72.8	1.49	157.9	21.9	3624	87′5″	5.7	delete
3		108.2	75.2	1.44	159.5	22.5	3294	88′11″	5.8	delete
4		108	76.8	1.41	155.8	20.6	4027	83′1″	5.7	delete
5		113.7	77.3	1.47	169.2	21.4	3578	95′3″	6	delete
6		109.8	76.6	1.43	161	17.9	2902	66′11″	5.2	delete
Avg		108.6	75.4	1.44	157.9	20.1	3577	79′11″	5.5
Dev		2.9	1.6	0.03	7.5	2.2	398	13′2″	0.4

 

Yesterday off the mat: --- I do not believe the spin number

3I

Shot	View	Ball Speed (mph)	Club Speed (mph)	Smash	Carry (yds)	Launch Angle V (°)	Spin (rpm)	Height	Time (s)
1		109.8	77.6	1.42	153.5	17.3	5379	75′5″	5.5	delete
2		107.8	75.7	1.43	150.3	18.6	5378	77′7″	5.5	delete
3		106.3	77.2	1.38	149.5	18	4576	70′2″	5.3	delete
Avg		108	76.8	1.41	151.1	18	5111	74′5″	5.5
Dev		1.4	0.8	0.02	1.7	0.5	378	3′1″	0.1

Dave

[Triplebogey 26]

21 hours ago, Popeye64 said:

The modern lofting drops to a 3° gap in the lower lofted clubs.
For instance the TS-2s drop to a 3° gap after the 7 iron. But grow to 5 ahead of it.
The TS-1s 3-4 are 2.5° which then goes to 3.5 and gets as high as 4.5.
So to your point the 3° gap is actually where you want to be.

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Hi Popeye, so I am trying to understand why companies make the gaps bigger in your scoring clubs and smaller in your long irons?  I would think we would want smaller gaps in scoring irons/wedges?  Is it because of the tech in the new age clubs?  

[Popeye64 582]

Hi Popeye, so I am trying to understand why companies make the gaps bigger in your scoring clubs and smaller in your long irons?  I would think we would want smaller gaps in scoring irons/wedges?  Is it because of the tech in the new age clubs?  

Distance sells. Somewhere in the industry in the UGI and SGI categories they decided the slower swing players needed some help. So they started adding loft and higher launching irons. The trend caught on and now its seems that even players style irons are creeping up in loft.
I still have a pretty fast swing and I struggle with the 5° gaps but I see slower players seem to be just fine.
I do play SGI style irons in my long irons but a blade style in my scoring irons. So its 4° gaps for me in the scoring clubs up to 6 iron.
So I actually play two 6 irons the blade 6 iron is 31°. The SGI iron 6 iron is 27° and the 5 is 24°. That leaves me a utility iron at 21°.
For me it's just the right gapping.

Distance is sexy and it sells. Bottom line.

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[Triplebogey 26]

1 hour ago, Popeye64 said:

Distance sells. Somewhere in the industry in the UGI and SGI categories they decided the slower swing players needed some help. So they started adding loft and higher launching irons. The trend caught on and now its seems that even players style irons are creeping up in loft.
I still have a pretty fast swing and I struggle with the 5° gaps but I see slower players seem to be just fine.
I do play SGI style irons in my long irons but a blade style in my scoring irons. So its 4° gaps for me in the scoring clubs up to 6 iron.
So I actually play two 6 irons the blade 6 iron is 31°. The SGI iron 6 iron is 27° and the 5 is 24°. That leaves me a utility iron at 21°.
For me it's just the right gapping.

Distance is sexy and it sells. Bottom line.

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I am guessing if I bent my TS2’s weak to more traditional lofts I wouldn’t like the result with ball flight? 

Wish I was good enough for more players type iron but I have a lot of swing speed but need the forgiveness of a GI iron. 

[Popeye64 582]

I am guessing if I bent my TS2’s weak to more traditional lofts I wouldn’t like the result with ball flight? 

Wish I was good enough for more players type iron but I have a lot of swing speed but need the forgiveness of a GI iron. 

It's really tough to start bending a modern set to get to traditional lofts. The 5° gaps make it impossible. I never liked aggressive loft changes as it changes bounce as well. Not in a good way.
That's why I cant get away from the MMB blacks and then the TS-2 long irons. The TS-2s are so easy to hit and accurate from long range.
I work in the TS-1s at times but I just love the 4° gaps of the MMBs. I keep going back to them.

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[Ben Hogan mark 23]

I've seen this driving iron in the catalog I get in the mail. Had my eye on it and may have to give it a try after reading this thread.

[Triplebogey 26]

2 hours ago, Ben Hogan mark said:

I've seen this driving iron in the catalog I get in the mail. Had my eye on it and may have to give it a try after reading this thread.

Do so and report back

[dthrog00 23]

I've put the 19* FDI through the paces enough now to make a reasonable conclusion that it is equivalent distance wise to my 18* 5 wood off the tee.  Good hits are about 1 MPH different in ball speed with about 500-700 RPM less spin.

I haven't used it enough off the deck to make the same conclusion, but early returns are that it is very similar.  The difference may be that mishits with the FDI, while not losing much more ball speed than the 5 wood, result in a quite low flight that may be difficult to take to the course.  5 wood mishits still have reasonable peak height although distance falls off badly.

The FDI does not appear to satisfy my original intent of gapping properly between the 5 wood and 4 iron.  It may be that the FDI is going farther on pured hits than expected or I had vanity distance with the 5 wood.  More testing is needed to fully evaluate consistency off the deck.  I noticed last season that 5 wood shots on par 5s would tend to balloon at times.  I was using a 917F2 at the time.  It is very windy in northern IL and it is possible the lower spin with the FDI could be a benefit.

I can't get over how good the club feels and sounds.  Feel/sound is fantastic and far exceeds my expectations.

The courses here are not open so all feedback is using real golf balls outdoors into a net with my Mevo.

Dave

[dthrog00 23]

I had another range session this morning putting my various long club options through the paces off the deck: ST190 3 wood, ST190 5 wood, 816 H1 21* hybrid, G15 3 iron (20*), KE4 FDI 19*, and TE forged 4i (24*).

1. The G15 3i iron was quickly eliminated as the offset and overall look is so dissimilar to the rest of the set that I can't consider it.

2. I hit the 816 H1 5 times and despite my best efforts something about my swing at the moment and that club is just not resulting in good ball speeds. 

3. The TE forged 4 iron is very consistent, this is a great club for me and gaps in well but is probably not useful for long par 3s or par 5s.

4. I hit the FDI 23 times.  6 were various categories of bad strikes, 2 of them 20+ yards less than median carry, another 2 10+ yards less, and another 2 5+ yards less. The balance of 17 were ok to excellent strikes.  Among the 17 only 1 of them failed to reach 60 foot height.

5. I hit the 5 wood 19 times.  It just does not go as far as I would like it to.  I'm getting about 5 more yards carry out of it than the FDI.  Mishits still get sufficient launch.  I had a similar mishit % and std dev of carry as the FDI.

6. I hit the 3 wood 9 times.  The average shot is 14 yards more carry than the 5 wood. 

Takeaways:

The data says the 3 wood is clearly the best option for me for maximum distance advancement shots (2nd shots par 5s).  The 5 wood gaps reasonably well behind the 3 wood, but is NOT a max advancement club. 

The FDI is useful for the 170 yard par 3 shot I mentioned, shots from 165 off the deck, and shots were the wind is a concern.  It would probably be wise to bend the FDI 1* to 2* weak to try to get it to gap ideally between the 4 iron and 5 wood.  I need more testing with the 816 H1 because I had success last year with that club.

Dave

Edited April 12, 2020 by dthrog00

[WalterS 33]

thanks for your test results.