Maltby TS1 Irons

[azstu324]

On 6/7/2021 at 10:28 AM, mikeanthony said:

This was very helpful, thank you. I did get the 7-8-9i heads over the weekend and took them to my fitter today ... anxious to get them back and see how those perform, and then make a decision on the 5-6i in TS2 or keep 'em all at TS1s.

At the end of the day, if I'm not too pleased with the 5-6i heads in either the TS1 or TS2, I can simply order the other for it's not too much of a financial commitment. For me, my shafts are an inch over standard so my 5i length is that of a standard 3i, and with a small compact iron head, it's not all that confidence inducing. May look up the specs for my TM M1 irons for the 5-6i (for I've been happy with them) and compare them to the TS2. 

They certainly felt nice and I'm quickly beginning to like them. Played yesterday at our home course and shot 85 ... obviously that wasn't due to the PW and GW ... but some of my fav shots of the day were from those two clubs. And is it me, or do forged irons help with spin for those scoring irons around the green? The ball noticeably checked up quite a bit yesterday with those two clubs. 

And I'm already ahead of you! Won't pull the trigger just yet for I'm happy with my Vokey SM7s at the moment. But as I build the set through the GolfWorks site, I do wish my Vokeys had the Nippon wedge shafts as opposed to the standard 105s. Been reading in quite a few places that it's preferred to have a heavy shaft in our wedges for we rarely take full swings with them, and I agree with that. 

Anyhow, more to come! Thanks again!

You get a chance to take the rest of the irons for a spin yet? Just curious to see if you noticed any difference at all and if you have any further thoughts on the set as things are coming together. 

I honestly feel like I've found my set with these. I look at other clubs and even new clubs coming out and just don't see a need to consider anything else. After a year, the TS-1's still check all of the boxes for me. 

 

 

[mikeanthony]

2 hours ago, azstu324 said:

You get a chance to take the rest of the irons for a spin yet? Just curious to see if you noticed any difference at all and if you have any further thoughts on the set as things are coming together. 

I honestly feel like I've found my set with these. I look at other clubs and even new clubs coming out and just don't see a need to consider anything else. After a year, the TS-1's still check all of the boxes for me. 

 

 

It's just the 7i thru GW at the moment and will likely go with the TS2s for the 5 and 6 irons. Just haven't ordered them yet due to prolonged crappy weather as of late in SC, the end of our daughter's school year, an upcoming family trip to ME for a few weeks, and to be fair I'm still somewhat debating possibly the TS1s in the 5/6 as well. 

BUT! I've been really pleased and impressed by them. They're 2* weaker lofts compared to my previous M1 sets, so along with also incorporating a new swing thought with a shorter back swing and more compact follow through (I'm clubbing up and swinging a bit slower, until it's an ingrained muscle memory) ... distance wise, they're about 7 yards shorter at the moment, but my goodness they feel wonderful when well struck almost every time. 

Played my 3rd full round with them on Sunday and shot 87 that included a triple, two 3-putts, and strictly a 3W off the tee (have the yips with my driver). And yet it also included a missed birdie putt from about 2 feet ... which came after a 7i off the tee for a par 3 that was on a rope to the pin.

All in all, I really couldn't be happier and golf is just so much more fun when you're playing well. And you're right, I have no desire to get new irons anytime soon and will only reward myself with possibly newer Maltbys down the line! LOL Have been eyeing their DRM wedges though. My hdcp was at 18+ just over 2 months ago before I ditched the One Lengths, it's back down to 14.7 and looking fwd to it getting lower. 

Edited June 22, 2021 by mikeanthony

[Therty]

Regarding a split set:

I've been playing TS-2 5i and 6i with TS-1 7i-GW for about a year now. I bent the 6i 1 degree weaker (28*) to have 4 degree gaps through the whole bag. Gapping is great.

[KurtActual]

Guys, help me out. Does TGW or Maltby still offer a trial club? I cannot seem to find it.

I'm not in love with my Nike irons at all, and am rather interested in the playability factor Maltby created, so I'd like to take a demo drive on one or three of his iron designs.

Thanks for any help

[NCDuffer]

With Maltby they can build one club to your specs to try, but you buy that club.  Most folks build a 7 or 6 iron to play, and if happy, order the rest.

[brendalonian]

On 8/9/2021 at 6:23 AM, KurtActual said:

Guys, help me out. Does TGW or Maltby still offer a trial club? I cannot seem to find it.

I'm not in love with my Nike irons at all, and am rather interested in the playability factor Maltby created, so I'd like to take a demo drive on one or three of his iron designs.

Thanks for any help

@NCDuffer is right. I recently replaced my previous gamers with the Maltby TE Forged. But before I made the switch, I ordered three 6 irons (all TE because I was really drawn to the simplicity of the head design and more traditional lofts) with varying shafts. I tested the three 6 irons for a while to get an idea of which shaft felt and performed best. I fell in love with the feel of one and that's what I moved forward with. I sold the three 6 iron "samplers" on eBay for pennies on the dollar.

Fortunately Maltby clubs are priced at a point where it doesn't break the bank to follow the method I used. 

FWIW, I'm absolutely loving these irons. The feel is superb. Maltby/Golfworks makes a really good product.

[Deepred]

Am I the only person who thinks the TS1 looks like the Wilson Staff blade?

[Hook DeLoft]

9 hours ago, Deepred said:

Am I the only person who thinks the TS1 looks like the Wilson Staff blade?

A little bit. To me, it looks a lot like the new Apex Pro 21 irons. Actually, the Cally looks like the Maltby. 

[Deepred]

2 hours ago, Hook DeLoft said:

A little bit. To me, it looks a lot like the new Apex Pro 21 irons. Actually, the Cally looks like the Maltby. 

I noticed that as well. 
 

[jtgavigan]

1 hour ago, Deepred said:

I noticed that as well. 
 

My pro just got the Apex Pro irons and he noted how much they looked like the TS1's. 

[fixyurdivot]

On 12/2/2020 at 2:59 PM, azstu324 said:

If playing the longer irons is your jam, Just note that these are butter soft so bending lofts to meet your desired specs is not an issue at all. That said, the Ts2 4 iron wouldn't be a bad accompaniment to the set. 

With my recent decision to go down the DIY Club Build Bench rabbit hole, I am also looking into what irons will be my first project.  I keep stumbling into threads about Maltby irons and just how much those who choose to try them end up finding them every bit as good as their Big Name gamers.  

No decision as yet but these are definitely on the short list. I was wondering about a mixed TS1 (4i/5i) & TS2 option.  Maybe build a TS2 4i and a TS1 7i or 8i for evaluation? The lofts are a bit weaker than both the G410's and now ZX5's that I've been use too.  Any thoughts on just making those 1-2* stronger through the set?  Yea, I know, just drop back a club... but psychologically I feel more confident with that higher number .

Also, my recent fitting identified Accra ICWT 2.0, MMT 80 R (which I'm playing on the ZX5's), and the Recoil 780 F3 as my best fits.  Any reason not to just baseline one of these for any iron head I end up choosing?

[NCDuffer]

10 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

With my recent decision to go down the DIY Club Build Bench rabbit hole, I am also looking into what irons will be my first project.  I keep stumbling into threads about Maltby irons and just how much those who choose to try them end up finding them every bit as good as their Big Name gamers.  

No decision as yet but these are definitely on the short list. I was wondering about a mixed TS1 (4i/5i) & TS2 option.  Maybe build a TS2 4i and a TS1 7i or 8i for evaluation? The lofts are a bit weaker than both the G410's and now ZX5's that I've been use too.  Any thoughts on just making those 1-2* stronger through the set?  Yea, I know, just drop back a club... but psychologically I feel more confident with that higher number .

Also, my recent fitting identified Accra ICWT 2.0, MMT 80 R (which I'm playing on the ZX5's), and the Recoil 780 F3 as my best fits.  Any reason not to just baseline one of these for any iron head I end up choosing?

I came from Ping GMax irons to TS-1s…distance is a tad longer with the TS-1s with a higher, better for me, flight.  When you change loft you will change bounce…say you take your 25 degree club with 3 degree of bounce and make it a 24, you will have 2 degrees of bounce.  You could build want you want at standard loft and hit them.  You can change them after you know how you hit them if you don’t like what you’re seeing.  I wish I had changed sooner to the TS-1s, but never thought a hack like me could swing them. More consistent and they are forgiving.  My youngest plays D1 golf and they get their equipment from a large OEM.  He thought I was nuts until he hit my 7 iron on a par 3.  After his swing he said “wow, dad I think you made a good choice.”  

[Bombers Golf]

I love this post - I've got Maltby through the bag for the most part.  Putter is a Sub70.   

I'm feeling REALLY good about this brand for sure.

[KurtActual]

@liermann.mark Helped me find a test 7i TS-1. Big thanks dude.

Dealing with a wrist sprain currently, but SUPER excited to test these out compared to my current irons.

[NCDuffer]

One swing on the sweet spot and you’re sold.

[Shawn M]

Nice work.  Keep us informed with your experience. 

[Rick D]

I've played Maltby clubs for 10 years. Quality and performance have been excellent. Right now, I play PTM forged irons. I previously played the TE Forged irons. The PTM's are easy to hit, have a medium top line and are forgiving. A friend recently purchased a custom assembled set of TS2's with Nippon Pro Modus 120 shafts from Golfworks. They looked fantastic, felt great and cost 1/3 of what a similar OEM set would cost. Maltby clubs may not be for everyone, but they are good quality clubs that perform great.

[RJDNOKC1]

Maltby products are great and the advice from Jim and others is golden.  

IMO, money spent with the big companies is wasted.

[KurtActual]

After rereading this thread for the dozenth time... should I be concerned that I'm the highest handicapper here looking at TS-1s?

[Kansas King]

1 hour ago, KurtActual said:

After rereading this thread for the dozenth time... should I be concerned that I'm the highest handicapper here looking at TS-1s?

What's great about the TS1s is that they truly are relatively forgiving. However, the profile will be smaller and you will lose some forgiveness due to the lower MOI and narrower sole. That will not make them significantly harder to play though. According to the playability equation brought to us by  lord Maltby , they score an MPF of 711 or super game improvement. They have a relatively low center of gravity at 0.75" to help get the ball up but the real savior for those who aren't the best ball strikers is that the c-dimension (distance of sweet spot from the hosel) is relatively long at 1.396". That puts the sweet spot out in the middle of the club face and not close to the hosel as they typically are in players iron designs.

Overall, it should be a good club for you but if it turns out you don't like them, you probably won't be out too much selling them online. 

[BostonSal]

2 minutes ago, Kansas King said:

What's great about the TS1s is that they truly are relatively forgiving. However, the profile will be smaller and you will lose some forgiveness due to the lower MOI and narrower sole. That will not make them significantly harder to play though. According to the playability equation brought to us by  lord Maltby , they score an MPF of 711 or super game improvement. They have a relatively low center of gravity at 0.75" to help get the ball up but the real savior for those who aren't the best ball strikers is that the c-dimension (distance of sweet spot from the hosel) is relatively long at 1.396". That puts the sweet spot out in the middle of the club face and not close to the hosel as they typically are in players iron designs.

Overall, it should be a good club for you but if it turns out you don't like them, you probably won't be out too much selling them online. 

Ralph Maltby used to make beautiful persimmon and laminated maple woods.

You got your choice of stain finish, insert, shaft, and grip, and you could ask for custom lofts, lie angles, and face angles for a small premium.  Swingweights too, naturally.

That was a different world, of course, but those woods were as good as Wood Brothers, Joe Powell, Kenneth Smith,

and all the folks who used to make custom woods back in the day...but they were less expensive.

It's scary to try out old woods, though, because they've gotten dry and could crack.

Better to keep them as decorations.

 

[KurtActual]

Comparing the MPF numbers and then reading the linked article is convincing.

http://ralphmaltby.com/comparing-playability-of-two-iron-designs/

[ncwoz]

1 hour ago, KurtActual said:

Comparing the MPF numbers and then reading the linked article is convincing.

http://ralphmaltby.com/comparing-playability-of-two-iron-designs/

Worst case you could always have 1 iron built up to your specs and give it a go that way. Then you're only out $30ish if you don't like them, or you'll be one club ahead if you go ahead and complete the set!

[Kansas King]

On 8/27/2021 at 9:14 AM, KurtActual said:

Comparing the MPF numbers and then reading the linked article is convincing.

http://ralphmaltby.com/comparing-playability-of-two-iron-designs/

I honestly wouldn't put a lot of weight into the final MPF number. The biggest number to pay attention to in terms of forgiveness is the C Dimension followed by the VCOG. The VCOG is kind of tricky number in itself because many golfers don't want or need an ultra low VCOG to help with launch and spin. Launch is also impacted by RCOG which can be a real wild card. The MOI number is of questionable importance to me and it's something I would love Maltby or Britt Lindsey at Golfworks to clarify. Typically, clubs with lower VCOG will have a lower MOI as demonstrated in your comparison. Also, if you look at recent Ping irons, many have a high VCOG and incredibly high MOI. Ralph Maltby wrote that more MOI with high VCOG is "bad MOI" and it was never explained why in his book. 

My guess is that the ultra high MOI and higher VCOG designs by Ping and other manufacturers may have some merit at the sacrifice of a solid feeling golf shot and potentially at the sacrifice of help getting the ball in the air. But I don't know. 

If you find club head design and club fitting kind of interesting. I highly recommend you get Maltby's big clubfitting book along with Wishon's books. Wishon used to have a technical paper out on why he wasn't 100% on board with the MPF and I can't find it published anywhere now, so I'm guessing he took it down. Reading Maltby's and Wishon's books will give you a massive amount of clarity regarding club design and will make you able to easily identify what is marketing BS and what matters. 

[KurtActual]

Alright boys, this isnt news to yall, but WOW the TS-1 feels good.

I finally got to hit real golf balls with my test iron today. The past week or so I've only hit BirdieBalls, so this was a new experience for me.

I took a section of synthetic turf and some of my "trash" Kirkland balls to a field near my house. Hit a few with my Nike 7i to set a baseline, then the rest with my test TS-1. Ball flight was very similar, and distance was pretty much identical (same lofts) with the only difference being shafts. Nike has a TT DG Pro R300 Regular Flex, and the TS-1 has a Nippon Modus 105 Stiff shaft. I think I only had one miss hit, where I caught it a few grooves low, which ended up about 15y short of the rest.

Now I am in a really tricky spot. Do I need to be fitted for shafts before deciding what to do?

[tommc23]

5 minutes ago, KurtActual said:

Alright boys, this isnt news to yall, but WOW the TS-1 feels good.

I finally got to hit real golf balls with my test iron today. The past week or so I've only hit BirdieBalls, so this was a new experience for me.

I took a section of synthetic turf and some of my "trash" Kirkland balls to a field near my house. Hit a few with my Nike 7i to set a baseline, then the rest with my test TS-1. Ball flight was very similar, and distance was pretty much identical (same lofts) with the only difference being shafts. Nike has a TT DG Pro R300 Regular Flex, and the TS-1 has a Nippon Modus 105 Stiff shaft. I think I only had one miss hit, where I caught it a few grooves low, which ended up about 15y short of the rest.

Now I am in a really tricky spot. Do I need to be fitted for shafts before deciding what to do?

Being fitted for the right shaft may help you in the long run so you know exactly what is best for you.

[azstu324]

On 9/2/2021 at 8:53 AM, KurtActual said:

Alright boys, this isnt news to yall, but WOW the TS-1 feels good.

I finally got to hit real golf balls with my test iron today. The past week or so I've only hit BirdieBalls, so this was a new experience for me.

I took a section of synthetic turf and some of my "trash" Kirkland balls to a field near my house. Hit a few with my Nike 7i to set a baseline, then the rest with my test TS-1. Ball flight was very similar, and distance was pretty much identical (same lofts) with the only difference being shafts. Nike has a TT DG Pro R300 Regular Flex, and the TS-1 has a Nippon Modus 105 Stiff shaft. I think I only had one miss hit, where I caught it a few grooves low, which ended up about 15y short of the rest.

Now I am in a really tricky spot. Do I need to be fitted for shafts before deciding what to do?

That's the 1 downfall with the Maltby/GW system. There's not really a way to be fit directly unless you happen to have a Maltby builder close by.. which is extremely rare. 

If you happen to have a PGATSS, Golf Galaxy, etc near by, you can go in and do a "mock" fitting. Find an iron that you think matches the specs of the TS-1 the best. I think I used the TM P770 when I did mine. In hindsight, there were probably better options but this is what I thought was the closest at the time. I was lucky to know the guys at PGATSS and they just let me have free reign over the fitting equipment. You may need to pay a small fee like $25 or something.. or they might be just as cool at your local store. 

I was able to narrow down to 2 shafts. The same shaft you have in the Modus 105 and the TT DG 105. I was also able to determine the best length and lie and then have them built accordingly. I chose the DG 105's only because they cost a hair less and had a tad higher flight and spin which I need here in AZ with rock hard greens.

I say if you get along well with the Modus 105, you really can't go wrong with that shaft. You can also take that to PGATSS and have a lie fitting done. Again, for a very reasonable price, you can have them check your lie angle and bend the club accordingly. Some use a lie board with a sole scuff sticker (not the best) and others add a marker line to the ball and determine the lie with the angle the line leaves on the club face. These are also things you can do at home but at least they're checking the lie specs for you. You can then take your specs and have the rest of the set built off of that. 

In a nutshell, this is how I had my set built and couldn't be happier with the outcome. 

 

good luck man! 

 

[Sparkey67]

On 9/2/2021 at 10:53 AM, KurtActual said:

Alright boys, this isnt news to yall, but WOW the TS-1 feels good.

I finally got to hit real golf balls with my test iron today. The past week or so I've only hit BirdieBalls, so this was a new experience for me.

I took a section of synthetic turf and some of my "trash" Kirkland balls to a field near my house. Hit a few with my Nike 7i to set a baseline, then the rest with my test TS-1. Ball flight was very similar, and distance was pretty much identical (same lofts) with the only difference being shafts. Nike has a TT DG Pro R300 Regular Flex, and the TS-1 has a Nippon Modus 105 Stiff shaft. I think I only had one miss hit, where I caught it a few grooves low, which ended up about 15y short of the rest.

Now I am in a really tricky spot. Do I need to be fitted for shafts before deciding what to do?

And down the rabbit hole we go! 

[Londo]

I’m curious as I have heard mostly great things about Maltby, we have a couple of local pros that do fittings and club builds. After playing in HS, I would play 3-4 rounds a year through college and a few years after with some old Cobra irons I got my freshman year. They were slightly small for me and two years ago I really got back into golf and decided to get fit. I got fitted and was offered to have them build a Maltby StiOS set and I did that. I played them for the past two years and they were certainly better than what I was using and playing more definitely helped as well but I never really LOVED them.

A few months ago, my brother got the Srixon Zx5 set and I couldn’t believe how much better I could hit these irons than the Maltby irons. I went out and bought a hardly used set of Srixon 585 irons and between distance, dispersion, feel and look- they are superior in every way and were only $100 more. 
 

My question is, was it merely just a bad fitting for the club and me? Is that particular line of Maltby iron heads not that great? Just looking for some insight from people familiar with Maltby as I really don’t understand why SGI irons weren’t a better fit. Thanks!

[Bombers Golf]

"That's the 1 downfall with the Maltby/GW system. There's not really a way to be fit directly unless you happen to have a Maltby builder close by.. which is extremely rare. "

If it's helpful to anyone, I'm a Maltby dealer in the Minneapolis area.  I do fittings, but it's with a Mevo.  Outdoors only.   I'm old school (I'm old ) so I can kinda "see" the right ball-flight with the customer.   

I absolutely love working with his stuff.  It truly is as good as guys here are saying.