My club adventure (random club reviews)

[justin.betti]

I like to experiment with clubs. I played a lot as a kid, essentially stopped through college and early adult life, and picked it back up a few years ago.

I belong to a club in the Upper Midwest, so the golf season is maybe 6 months long, if we’re lucky. But I play 2-3 times a week while I can.

I like trying new equipment, but I’m completely unwilling to spend $1000+ for irons or $600 for a driver, so I’ve played around with a lot of used clubs over the last few years that I pick up for a song and usually eventually sell.

I’ll use this thread for reviews of some of my finds.

[justin.betti]

The iron set I had in my bag as my gamers most of last season was the criminally underrated Ben Hogan Alex “Channel back” irons of the mid-to-late 90s. Forgotten souls, between the classic late 80s “Redlines” and legendary 99 Apex blades. 

I grew up playing 90s era oversize irons but never really liking them. A few years ago I switched to old forged blades and realized I preferred the thinner soles, solid feel, and feedback they gave me.

These irons were kind of a happy medium compromise. They’re slightly larger and longer than other Hogan blades and they have that channel back design (not way different than the first generation of PXG 0211 irons), so they’re surprisingly forgiving but I was still able to work draws and fades on a variety of trajectories, when needed. I also added some lead tape near the sole of the long irons to help get them in the air, which worked great.

They’re not as pillowy soft as Mizuno forged irons or even quite as satisfying as some of the pure muscle back Hogans, but they’re solid. And somehow every generation of the Hogan Apex shaft (including the frequency matched edition on these irons) was great; higher launching and slightly lighter than Dynamic Gold without the instability that came with many lighter shafts of its time.

The only drawback to these irons and the reason they’re not still in the bag is distance. Even compared to other traditionally lofted irons (these have a 48 deg PW), these were a few yards behind. The ball just comes off the face a little slow, which is nice for wedges but terrible for longer shots. I’m a 7.6 handicap as of today, but I play an 6400 yd course and I don’t crush the ball, so I can use a little help. Nonetheless, these were the only irons I broke 80 with last year.

My stock yardages with these clubs:

PW - 105.

9 iron - 115ish.

8 iron - 125-130.

7 iron - 140.

6 iron - 150.

5 iron - 160.

4 iron - 170.

 

[justin.betti]

The MacGregor Tourney PCB irons are from roughly the turn of the century, when the company was briefly trying to wake the echoes of the past greatness. 

They released a few similar irons at the same time, a muscle back that Olazabal used for a while, a cast iron with the MacGregor wing-back design inside the cavity, and these shallow, no frills, cavity backed forged irons - among the last models forged in the USA (at Hoffman in TN, if the internet is right).

I was hoping the TT Extra Lite steel shaft would buy me a few more yards than the Hogans (reviewed above), with a similar look/shape and without giving up feel.

While I did add a few mph on the simulator and my shot shapes were similar… this combo was noticeably less consistent, less solid, and less forgiving than other irons I tried. I could have tried them with another shaft, but it wasn’t worth the investment. I moved on quickly.

On the bright side, they were cheap. 
 

Stock yardages:

PW - 110.

9 iron - 120.

8 iron - 130-135.

7 iron - 145.

6 iron - 155.

5 iron - 165-170.

4 iron - Too inconsistent to get a good read.

 

[vandyland]

Two very cool sets of clubs. I play Ben Hogans now (though the company has changed quite a bit in 25 years) and had some Ben Hogan FTxs before. Always loved the 99 Apex and just a general fan of Hogans all the way through. Same with MacGregors up until they relaunched the VFoil which I did not love the look of. Overall, I dig you style with these!