ERG Golf?

[azstu324]

Has anybody heard, read, or seen anything about this company? Looks like at one time they were trying to push their products here on MGS through the forum. 

I've got the itch to build myself a set of blades on a budget. I've got some leftover TT DG 105 shafts that need a home and I need a project. I've been using Maltby stuff for a while and am quite familiar with the component underworld. I came across this absolutely sexy looking set of 1025 forged blades made by a company called ERG and sold through Monark golf. Specs look great and all lofts appear very traditional (as desired). And for $100 for 5-PW, this just seems too good to be true. In the grand scheme, these are blades. No modern tech, no frills, likely a forging dye re-purchase or copy of some sort but there's really nothing in it when all I'm looking for is exactly what these appear to be. Clean, classic looking, and basic. 

Has anybody heard of or even played ERG? Are these everything that they appear to be or is there a catch?. or a "you get what you pay for" disclaimer? 

https://www.monarkgolf.com/golf-components/clubheads/golf-iron-heads/erg-golf-v3-1025-forged-iron-heads.html

 

They almost remind me of Mizuno MP 52's but maybe a little more blade-like? 

 

Cheers!

[Deepred]

I asked the same question on another website and got the same total lack of answer, lol

i was thinking about a set of the Apex lookalikes but these are sweet as well.

 

[azstu324]

16 minutes ago, Deepred said:

I asked the same question on another website and got the same total lack of answer, lol

i was thinking about a set of the Apex lookalikes but these are sweet as well.

 

So I actually pulled the trigger on these heads. I paired them with some TT DG 105 S300 shafts. I'll be logging my first round with them tomorrow. I have had a good amount of time at the range and launch monitor and I'll say that this is a hell of a club! Feels and sounds premium when struck well. It's still somewhat forgiving and interacts well with the turf due to the decent amount of sole camber. I will say that the heads are heavier than average. Each head weighs about 1 head lower so I was kind of thrown for a loop when trying to work out swing weighting. Example: 9i weighs about what the PW should weigh and so on, so static weight per club is about 4-6g heavier than usual, and swing weights are in the D5-6 range. I ended up going with an MOI matched setup.. in other words, the swing weight gets progressively heavier moving from 4i to PW. 

I was able to contact the head marketing cheese directly and he provided some helpful info. The company's owner is actually part owner of 2 foundrys that stamp out some of the big name irons like Titleist, Mizuno, and TaylorMade. He has free access to the expired dye catalogues and in essence, owns the actual forging dyes and is able to make enhancements to designs to meet any specs that they are wanting to put in an iron. So it's like taking another model and adding their personal touch. He did also state that they intentionally went with heavier heads as that is what more skilled and tour players prefer. We'll see how my body feels after a round with this heavier setup tomorrow. I'll keep you posted if you have any interest. 

[Deepred]

Awesome ! 

Im interested how it works with a 45* PW

Forged heads for $100! How can it get better than that.

 

[MacMan]

On 12/8/2021 at 5:29 PM, azstu324 said:

Has anybody heard, read, or seen anything about this company? Looks like at one time they were trying to push their products here on MGS through the forum. 

I've got the itch to build myself a set of blades on a budget. I've got some leftover TT DG 105 shafts that need a home and I need a project. I've been using Maltby stuff for a while and am quite familiar with the component underworld. I came across this absolutely sexy looking set of 1025 forged blades made by a company called ERG and sold through Monark golf. Specs look great and all lofts appear very traditional (as desired). And for $100 for 5-PW, this just seems too good to be true. In the grand scheme, these are blades. No modern tech, no frills, likely a forging dye re-purchase or copy of some sort but there's really nothing in it when all I'm looking for is exactly what these appear to be. Clean, classic looking, and basic. 

Has anybody heard of or even played ERG? Are these everything that they appear to be or is there a catch?. or a "you get what you pay for" disclaimer? 

https://www.monarkgolf.com/golf-components/clubheads/golf-iron-heads/erg-golf-v3-1025-forged-iron-heads.html

 

They almost remind me of Mizuno MP 52's but maybe a little more blade-like? 

 

Cheers!

I had the ERG 3, badged locally by St Andrews Golf Co. But identical. Had KBS C-Taper 115 shafts. Very nice irons, softer feel, good flight etc... paid £600 but when I decided to go back to Muscle Blades (Cleveland CG1 Tours S300 Shafts) I only got £120 for them... for me the downside is the resale values.. but technically as good as anything out there??? 

But cheaper I suppose than a full set of P790's, Srixon ZX5 or similar...

For me depends on whether you plan to upgrade or change short term, or plan to stick with them.....

[Deepred]

3 hours ago, MacMan said:

I had the ERG 3, badged locally by St Andrews Golf Co. But identical. Had KBS C-Taper 115 shafts. Very nice irons, softer feel, good flight etc... paid £600 but when I decided to go back to Muscle Blades (Cleveland CG1 Tours S300 Shafts) I only got £120 for them... for me the downside is the resale values.. but technically as good as anything out there??? 

But cheaper I suppose than a full set of P790's, Srixon ZX5 or similar...

For me depends on whether you plan to upgrade or change short term, or plan to stick with them.....

This V3 or a different model?

[azstu324]

3 hours ago, MacMan said:

For me depends on whether you plan to upgrade or change short term, or plan to stick with them.

I've been  playing Maltby clubs for the past few years so resale value isn't really a concern. Usually I play a club with intent to get my $ out of them and not so much for the resale #'s. I figure if I can play a season with nice new clubs for $100, and enjoy playing them, that to me is worth the price. The only thing I've paid for in this case is the heads and new grips as I already had the shafts and do all of my own work. 

So far I'm seeing that the investment was worth it as I'm liking everything about them up to this point. That said, I'm YET to get them out for an actual round so I might be getting way ahead of myself. The holidays just didn't provide as much playing time as I had hoped for.

 

 

 

[Deepred]

How do these ERG heads compare to the Maltby TE/DBM?

[azstu324]

On 1/1/2022 at 8:58 PM, Deepred said:

Awesome ! 

Im interested how it works with a 45* PW

Forged heads for $100! How can it get better than that.

 

To be fair, I did have all of the lofts bent 1* strong on these. When I compared the stock lofts to my current set I was just about 5 yds short on my distance. 1* put them right in the sweet spot to keep my distances the same as my Maltby TS1's. 

To give an example, the shafts that I'm using were pulled from the TS1's. The TS1 7i is 32* so just slightly strong. The V3 7i was bent to 34* but still getting the same distance and well within the conservative loft range. 

[Deepred]

I went back and checked it’s the X series that has a 45* pitching wedge. 

[azstu324]

38 minutes ago, Deepred said:

How do these ERG heads compare to the Maltby TE/DBM?

I played the DBM's for nearly 2 seasons so am pretty familiar with them. the 1 major downside to the DBM's was that they hardly had any bounce to speak of. They had very wide and flat soles for a "CB" and turf interaction wasn't the best. Here in AZ, a blade that digs can literally wreck a club or shaft in a couple of seasons. The ERG v3's however had plenty of  bounce and a notable cambered sold. The sole and overall profile is more compact than the DBM. The slick move on Maltby's part was to shorten the hosel and make the top line pretty thin so that helps disguise the overall size of the head. 

As for the weight, most of the clubs that I'm seeing and have played fall about 1 club different for each head and that's still the same for the DBM's. The feel of the DBM's was probably a little softer but I don't mean that in a bad way. The ERG's feel superb when struck well but I think they come with a little more solid of a feel due to the extra mass in the head. Not harsh or clicky at all. 

With the Maltbys I also really disliked the shape of the GW and PW. It's almost like they weren't designed with the rest of the set. They were almost rectangle-like. I don't have an ERG GW so can only speak for the PW but I really like the shape of it. It's almost like they blended the shape of the set with a nice 50*. It's got a more rounded leading edge that I find works really well with the grass and is very consistent and forgiving so far. It would also work well for a transitional wedge for low bump shots around the green as the edge is cut to just get under the ball. It also blends pretty well with my Maltby TSW 50* wedge. 

 

[MacMan]

3 hours ago, Deepred said:

This V3 or a different model?

V3...

[MacMan]

1 minute ago, MacMan said:

V3...

Sorry just checked the website mine were the X3's...

[Deepred]

Those look nice, they are listed at $191 for 5-PW for the heads. 
 

[IONEPUTT]

They look like a nice set of forged irons, and for the price of $101.70 they are worth a try. I checked the lofts and they are right on the mark with the forged irons I have been using which is good. 

That said, I would NOT call these irons a "Blade" design. They do have a small cavity in the back, a lot like the 20 year old Mizuno MP30 set. This is what I refer to as a " Half Cavity" desingn. NOT a full size cavity design and not a true Blade design either. 

I for one would NOT worry too much about them being of good quality for that price. They are not that much different is price then what some other component companies are selling forged heads for. IF you do some research, you might be surprised to find that 95% of all golf clubs are made in one of 6 foundries in China. Only major OEM I know of if Mizuno and they are made in Japan.  I have a set of SnakeEye 600C forged irons I built up that were forged in China and they are excellent irons in every way. I also have a set of cast irons that are a 95% copy of the old Callaway X-16 Tour irons of some 20 years ago. Also an excellent set of clubs and they only cost me $7.50 per head for the set of 3-SW. My wife liked those X=16 copies so much I had to build her a set with graphic shafts to make her happy. 

MY guess is that you will be happy with your new toys and they will work out just fine. For what it's worth, Tom Wishon has his club heads made in China, and his club are some of the best clubs you can get. IF you install the right shaft in those heads you should be happy and ready to go out and play some good golf.  

And if you care, I recently re-built and set of Titleist AP2 irons and set the swing weights at D6 and they are working out just fine. I happen to like a higher than normal swing weight for all of my clubs so your new irons would suit me quite well I think. Please let us know how they work out for you when you get a chance to play with them a bit. Should be interesting to know how they perform.

As for ERG and Monark company I have NOT heard of them  but that is not too surprising these days, as more and more new companies are starting up since the Covid virus showed up. Good Luck and get back to us when you can. 

[IONEPUTT]

A lot of golfers that post on golf forums state that all "Clones" or "Knock Offs" are nothing but cheap junk and not worth buying. I found this a bit alarming when I first read those posts, but then I built a set of irons using a so called "Cheap Clone" set of cast iron club heads. When I built them up with a set of XS steel shafts that everyone told me were "way too stiff for a 55 year old golfer new to the game, I didn't know any better so I just built them and went out to the range to do a little practice work with my new toys.  First swing and they felt fine to me and they were easy to hit so I didn't give it much thought after that. Then I read a few more negative posts on my cheap clones and had to reply to those posts.  What I posted after using my "Bad" clubs was that they weren't too bad. I had just gotten home after playing 9 holes on a longer than average Par three course, shooting "One Under Par". Eight pars and one birdie from 8 greens hit out of 9 tries. Not too bad for a set of cheap clones with shafts that were too stiff for an old guy. 

   As you might expect that post of my one under par day didn't stop the "Nay Sayers" of the world from posting their opinions, but that's okay. I've learned to ignore all the stupid things people post of all types of forums sites. 

[Deepred]

Years ago Turtle Wax brought out the first polymer wax for cars. They thought it would immediately sell out. Easier to apply and much cheaper it would be a sure fire market changer. It sat on the shelves until they had to recall it. Later they  created new packaging, doubled the price and it flew off the shelves.

That same customer mindset applies to golf like few other industries. The more it costs the better it must be.

 

 

[IONEPUTT]

Funny how we humans think about buying things that are cheaper than some other products. Too cheap it must be bad, too high and it's over priced. Hard to know what price  point will sell well.

But I do like Turtle wax, I use it all the time at the driveing range. A thin layer of wax on the face of my driver and woods shows my ecactly where my ball striking is and it wipes off easily with no problems when I'm done. Much better than using foot spray that costs a lot more and can leave a mess behind. 

[Deepred]

It’s also good for protecting the paint on clubs. 

[IONEPUTT]

That was what I first used the wax for, on newly built drivers and fairway woods. Then I forgot the remove the wax from the face  of a driver and found a new use for the waX  Been using it as impact wax ever since. 

[Deepred]

I had a Bang Mellow Yellow, great driver head but that yellow paint would chip if you stared at it. 

[Stuka44]

On 1/5/2022 at 3:13 PM, IONEPUTT said:

A lot of golfers that post on golf forums state that all "Clones" or "Knock Offs"

I have a 2H & 3H "knock-off" clubs.  I bought them around 10 years ago, and paid $37 a piece for them, INCLUDING SHIPPING AND HANDLING!  Great clubs, pray everytime I hit one that after 10 years the head doesn't go flying off, because I would hate to have find something new.

[Deepred]

I chuckle at companies promoting Carpenter steel or 455 steel face clubs. Golfsmith produced those over 20 years ago.

 

[azstu324]

If anybody cared for an update, these CB's are as good as anything. Feel, playability, looks, etc are every bit as good as ANY OEM. 

So far, these are the clubs that I've been able to compare them to and find that they easily fall right in the mix:

TM P7 mc

Srixon ZX7

Cobra MIM Tour

Mizuno JPX 921 tour