Caley Golf Irons & Driving Iron - 2023 Forum Review

[GolfSpy_APH]

3 hours ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

I will for sure be putting it into play, but the results off-mat so far have me... Unsure if it should be any time soon. To be fair, the DI I have I hardly ever use, as I feel more comfortable with a 5-wood, however, I've hit a few good ones with the Caley and (like you) find that it's very dependent on tempo. And since it's SUCH a difference from the set 4-iron, I'm not quite adjusted to it. 

But I will for sure be doing an irons-only round where it will get worked out.

Did you know the smaller the profile the bigger the sweet spot gets?

Not actually, but I do think there is something to being able to be confident with a smaller profile and finding the middle a little more often... But also finding the Hodel or part of the club with no grooves haha 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

8 hours ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

I will for sure be putting it into play, but the results off-mat so far have me... Unsure if it should be any time soon. To be fair, the DI I have I hardly ever use, as I feel more comfortable with a 5-wood, however, I've hit a few good ones with the Caley and (like you) find that it's very dependent on tempo. And since it's SUCH a difference from the set 4-iron, I'm not quite adjusted to it. 

But I will for sure be doing an irons-only round where it will get worked out.

Sounds good. I will say I am likely dropping my 4i to give me the option to carry the DI full time. The roll out I get alone on approach shots could really help on open par 5s and getting there in 2. Right now my 4w and 7w are really sad because I’ve neglected them on the course with the Caley testing going on. The shaft is possibly getting a heavier weight pit in when testing is done so I can have a closer tempo to my actual irons, although as it stands it kinda is a good training aid for tempo

[AndySP]

First Impressions today!

Had a small range session and 9 holes today with the DI. The club feels extremely solid considering it’s hollow-bodied. It makes a solid sound with a great inspiring ‘thwack’ that couldn’t be mistaken for a hybrid. Very satisfying. First attempt was a tee shot on a narrow par 4. One of the goals I had for it was to get a second serve club for these types of holes. I’ll try to get some video for y’all.

I hit a decent shot just pushed into the right rough, gps had it maybe about 225. Felt good for 7:30 in the morning. I also hit it as my 2nd shot on a par 5. It’s definitely an intimidating club off the turf, but even catching it pretty thin, I still got about 210 out if it and left myself with a good look. Not sure I’d have the same result with a normal 3 iron. The biggest plus is that I’m not afraid to hook it, which has been my nemesis with the hybrid. Excited to get another working session in at the range and grab some numbers. 

The trajectory is definitely somewhere between a normal 4 iron and my 19* hybrid. Seemed to be flying 5-10 yard shorter than my hybrid which has a longer shaft, but with a more controllable trajectory and none of the dippy hooks that I’m prone to. I sadly manage to get on a rut hitting a bunch of push fades in a row but seemed to work it out after a few balls. Sadly I wasn’t able get good numbers to post here with my prgr because they use the limited flight balls, but I should grab more data on course soon.

I did have some trouble getting a feel for it though. I haven’t been able to measure the swing weight, but the overall build weight is very light, (371g) about 55 grams lighter than my 5 iron (426g). I play dynamic gold 120’s, which is not the heaviest shaft available, but I believe on the heavier side of average. The UST Dart looks to be available in 4 weights: 65, 75, 90, and 105:

I’m not an expert on fitting/club building, but my guess is that the player looking for a 3 utility iron would be more likely to be fit into the 90 or 105 shafts than the lighter weight options. At the current weight, it doesn’t blend in with my irons as I would have hoped. That said, I’ve never owned a Utility before, so my preferences are not as informed perhaps as people who have spent more time with them. I did notice on the site that Caley build them standard to 39.75 and 18* which is  closer to 2i utility loft/ length in the TM UDI (39.75) and Sub70 (40) options. However I couldn’t find the webpage anymore with the specs, so I used @Vegan_Golfer_PNWscreenshot to compare from earlier. 

Right now, I’m thinking about whether something with a bit more weight would help, but I’m not ready to go out and re-shaft it just yet, especially now that I noticed it’s really more of a 2iron than a 3 for the lofts of my set. Still, based on how nice the club is overall I would love to see other shaft options become available. 

 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

7 minutes ago, AndySP said:

First Impressions today!

Had a small range session and 9 holes today with the DI. The club feels extremely solid considering it’s hollow-bodied. It makes a solid sound with a great inspiring ‘thwack’ that couldn’t be mistaken for a hybrid. Very satisfying. First attempt was a tee shot on a narrow par 4. One of the goals I had for it was to get a second serve club for these types of holes. I’ll try to get some video for y’all.

I hit a decent shot just pushed into the right rough, gps had it maybe about 225. Felt good for 7:30 in the morning. I also hit it as my 2nd shot on a par 5. It’s definitely an intimidating club off the turf, but even catching it pretty thin, I still got about 210 out if it and left myself with a good look. Not sure I’d have the same result with a normal 3 iron. The biggest plus is that I’m not afraid to hook it, which has been my nemesis with the hybrid. Excited to get another working session in at the range and grab some numbers. 

The trajectory is definitely somewhere between a normal 4 iron and my 19* hybrid. Seemed to be flying 5-10 yard shorter than my hybrid which has a longer shaft, but with a more controllable trajectory and none of the dippy hooks that I’m prone to. I sadly manage to get on a rut hitting a bunch of push fades in a row but seemed to work it out after a few balls. Sadly I wasn’t able get good numbers to post here with my prgr because they use the limited flight balls, but I should grab more data on course soon.

I did have some trouble getting a feel for it though. I haven’t been able to measure the swing weight, but the overall build weight is very light, (371g) about 55 grams lighter than my 5 iron (426g). I play dynamic gold 120’s, which is not the heaviest shaft available, but I believe on the heavier side of average. The UST Dart looks to be available in 4 weights: 65, 75, 90, and 105:

I’m not an expert on fitting/club building, but my guess is that the player looking for a 3 utility iron would be more likely to be fit into the 90 or 105 shafts than the lighter weight options. At the current weight, it doesn’t blend in with my irons as I would have hoped. That said, I’ve never owned a Utility before, so my preferences are not as informed perhaps as people who have spent more time with them. I did notice on the site that Caley build them standard to 39.75 and 18* which is  closer to 2i utility loft/ length in the TM UDI (39.75) and Sub70 (40) options. However I couldn’t find the webpage anymore with the specs, so I used @Vegan_Golfer_PNWscreenshot to compare from earlier. 

Right now, I’m thinking about whether something with a bit more weight would help, but I’m not ready to go out and re-shaft it just yet, especially now that I noticed it’s really more of a 2iron than a 3 for the lofts of my set. Still, based on how nice the club is overall I would love to see other shaft options become available. 

 

Good first time out! I’ve also thought of bending it 2° weak to get it more like a 3I loft but then it might blend to close to my 7w in distance. Might combine that with a heavier shaft later as you stated. Would hope for me to be able to get it to launch of the turf better. Be vary if the heavier Darts. They are a different tip diameter that the 65. 

[AndySP]

5 minutes ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Be vary if the heavier Darts. They are a different tip diameter that the 65. 

Thanks for the heads up! I definitely didn’t notice that.

I have a similar feeling with the lofts, it’s a tough thing. On one hand, I play in the wind enough that higher 7 woods and 4 hybrids can get squirly, but they are nicer in the rough and for holding greens (assuming I could even hit them from that far out). On the other, I’m feel much more confident with the Utility off the tee. It seemed like it would have held greens that are soft—which is definitely the next step for testing. 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

3 minutes ago, AndySP said:

Thanks for the heads up! I definitely didn’t notice that.

I have a similar feeling with the lofts, it’s a tough thing. On one hand, I play in the wind enough that higher 7 woods and 4 hybrids can get squirly, but they are nicer in the rough and for holding greens (assuming I could even hit them from that far out). On the other, I’m feel much more confident with the Utility off the tee. It seemed like it would have held greens that are soft—which is definitely the next step for testing. 

Totally. What I like about this utility is off the tee the dispersion is tighter than with woods with no gear effect. However I can see where I would play a 4w or 7w of the tee over this as well. The utility off the turf is so nice for open greens. I can get about 30-40 yards of roll so I can just hit a punch shot and run it up. So much utility there (see what I did there  ).  The woods are way better from rough or uneven lies so they will still have a place for me. Tbh, my top of the bag is almost like TXG recommends. Driver, fw, utility and hybrid (my uw is such a nice mix of hybrid and fairway) then iron set. 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

I am also curious what to do with this club in a Labor Day round I have planned. This one hole in particular if the tees play all the way back I may be willing to use it, otherwise I may just have to bomb driver over the water instead if they play farther up. 

[Beakbryce]

Fun read so far. These clubs look interesting although the unboxing was a bit weird with all the crushed boxes. Looking forward to lots of numbers as the lofts look at least 2018 ish lofts. They don't seem to have the latest round of jacking up! 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

Had a rough go with the Caley today. Timing was just off and I was hooking it a ton off the tee. Hit a few into penalties because of it. Did utilize it a bit off the turf in recovery situations. Definitely thinking this club becomes more useful with a heavier shaft as I am inconsistent timing it.

[AndySP]

2 hours ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Definitely thinking this club becomes more useful with a heavier shaft as I am inconsistent timing it.

I don’t want to start a confirmation bias theme going, but it’s interesting that we seem to be having similar feelings. 

I’m having a hard time ignoring the difference in weight as well. It requires a specific intent that’s different from my other irons and hybrid, and it’s easy to mis-time. 

I was able to get it going well on the range this weekend but my first few after changing clubs always seemed to be a little wild. I hit great (for me) shots when I catch it, but weak push fades when I don’t. 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

4 minutes ago, AndySP said:

I don’t want to start a confirmation bias theme going, but it’s interesting that we seem to be having similar feelings. 

I’m having a hard time ignoring the difference in weight as well. It requires a specific intent that’s different from my other irons and hybrid, and it’s easy to mis-time. 

I was able to get it going well on the range this weekend but my first few after changing clubs always seemed to be a little wild. I hit great (for me) shots when I catch it, but weak push fades when I don’t. 

yup. exactly. Luckily, I have the opportunity to swap the shaft out but will do so after the final review goes up even though the data is fully there that as is, the weight is an issue for more than just me. Now, curious how @GolfSpy SAM is doing with it as his irons are KBS light? This likely would work better for someone playing 90g shafts in their irons already.

[GolfSpy SAM]

38 minutes ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

yup. exactly. Luckily, I have the opportunity to swap the shaft out but will do so after the final review goes up even though the data is fully there that as is, the weight is an issue for more than just me. Now, curious how @GolfSpy SAM is doing with it as his irons are KBS light? This likely would work better for someone playing 90g shafts in their irons already.

In comparison to my Cobra "2-iron" (King Tec Utliity), which uses the KBS $ Taper Lite, there's a distinct weight difference.  I think the thing that's confusing, personally, is that with my KBS Tour Lite (100g, I believe), the weight difference between the 4 iron and the 01X utility is VERY noticeable.  I can't think of it as a "3 iron", firstly because - it's not, and secondly because it's weighted far more like a Fairway wood.  

I've only hit it off a mat at the range - didn't have a chance to put it into play during Friday's round, as I was trying to use that first outing specifically to get a feel for the iron set. I do plan to use it off the tee almost exclusively, however.  It is DEFINITELY a timing thing, as my eyes sees "iron", but I have to remember to tell my brain to see "hybrid/fw".  When I do that, I've had some good success off the mat, but if I try to go after it a little, I haven't gotten great results.  

However, the P790 utility uses the 60g RDX Smoke, the DHY uses the Aldila 75g graphite, the (new) Cobra Tec uses ultralight 50g or standard 70g, and then offers a ton of upcharges/different shafts, as well as steel. 

So it's hard to come by any kind of consensus when it comes to what other companies use in their utilities.  I'm going to get a little more range time in with it before my next round, and see how it does off the tee on some short(er) par-4s.  It would be awesome to have a weapon in the bag I could count on for some decent roll-out and not crazy-high flight (like my current 5-wood is prone to).

I'll keep you updated!

[AndySP]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

P790 utility uses the 60g RDX Smoke, the DHY uses the Aldila 75g graphite, the (new) Cobra Tec uses ultralight 50g or standard 70g, and then offers a ton of upcharges/different shafts, as well as steel. 

It sure seems like manufacturers are trying to carve out different setups for different folks even in the Utility iron range—which I clearly didn’t expect. FWIW, to balance out the others, the TM stealth UDI is stock with Aldila 100 or 90 g options, and the Srixon ZX Mk II also uses the Recoil dart, but the 90g option. 

I wonder if this means Caley sees the club as more of a TM DHY than a “players”option, or if they plan on offering more options to serve the middle road more. I can’t seem to find the club on the website anymore to check.

 

[Navart]

Okay, folks!  Exciting news...

Played my first full 18 holes with the 01s and it was the lowest of the season. I remarked earlier how these puppies just pop off the face, well they hold onto greens pretty damn well too. Almost have me wondering if I can get away with a little lower spin ball too. Heavens knows it'll help me off the tee...

Check out a few screenshots from our pal  Arccos 

 

I'm a higher handicapper as noted in the intro for this test so the stretch of three straight pars felt fantastic. And if anyone in the Twin Cities area hasnt played Minneapolis GC it is a treat! Here's some commentary on two of these holes:

Hole 11 - This nine iron flew for me out of the light rough. Unless the green is really sloped or large, I typically opt for the middle and our goal was achieved here. The pin was front so it left me a long putt but I had a nice lag to seal the par.

Hole 12 - The prior hole maybe pumped my tires a little bit and I decided to get outside of my comfort zone and give the mid-long irons a rep. With a slight curve left and trees about 260yd out on the right side I also thought my driver's big fade could leave me a tough line to the hole. Tee shot with the 4i felt fantastic. Definitely left it a little open but good contact. The following shot left me with options I didn't love and really I probably should've hit a 5i or 6i here with that bunker. The ball was a little above my feet and did not make as good of contact as the prior stroke but in the end probably for the best and helped me with a nice, cruise-y wedge. The 4i might be here to stay folks...

[Navart]

On 8/17/2023 at 11:38 AM, GolfSpy SAM said:

Managed to get to a simulator for some base numbers, and I won't lie - I'm a little surprised.  While I know that GI irons typically have fast faces, I wasn't prepared for the difference in yardage I'm seeing.  I will for sure say I'm by no means thinking this is the be-all/end-all in regards to these Caleys - it's just fascinating to me.  Another caveat: I did not bring my gamer set for this particular session, which was a mistake, as I'm pretty confident in those numbers, and I should have seen if there was any variation in the software that would not show up on-course.

All those aside, these things feel pretty fantastic.  I've got a pretty slight fade on most shots - very okay with this.  I'd love to get my path more neutral than the out/in it's currently in, but honestly, I'm not seeing crazy slices, just nice little fades, so I'm okay with the results.

As mentioned above, I am very surprised at the numbers these were giving me.  Again, I'll wait and see until I'm on course tomorrow to see if it's the same. 

Here are the lofts of my Sim Max Irons (2020),                       and here are the lofts of the Caley's.  

                       

 

Per the lofts, I would have assumed I'd see about a 1/2 club difference in them, but I'm seeing closer to 1.5-2 clubs difference, which is ... surprising.  Again, it could be the simulator used (Uneekor, balls with 3-dots, no club stickers, but a high-speed camera to capture face impact), but with my gamers, my 8-iron is 160-165 all day, every day, and with the Caley's, I was seeing 147-153.  

This is not bad in and of itself, mind you, and I'm reminding myself of that as I type this.  My dispersion was pretty excellent (slightly left of line, which given that these are 1-degree upright, might make the difference to being right of line like I normally would be) with all clubs tested (6, 8, PW).  

Why did I only test those three, you ask? Because I was also testing some new wedges from Indi, and I wanted to see where the 48 and the 56 landed (they're AWESOME wedges, btw - Just crispy), and the set-up I was using only had spots for 5 clubs.  So I figured if I gapped 6/8/PW, I should be able to closely extrapolate what the 5/7/9 would do.

So here's what I got (I did try emailing myself the report, but when I got the email, there was nothing attached - going to try to contact the place today to see if they can send it over), along with what I play my SIM's to when on-course.

PW: 127 / 135

8: 147 / 165

6: 167 / 185

So, as you can see, this is, in some cases, much more than the loft differentials.  

I'll stress again, however, that if I can be as consistent with these as I hope to be, I have no problem with those numbers - it was just a bit of a shock to see the difference. I was fully expecting about 5-ish yards, MAYBE 10, per club.  

There's a lot of variables here I can't quite pinpoint (were the balls legit, or were they banged up (one of them had a significant cut on it - could be from the new wedges I was testing, but...maybe that played a factor?)?), but I didn't want to not share the results just because they weren't what I was expecting. 

I'll have a much better idea on Friday when I get these out on the course.

Until then!

 

Sorry I'm a little late here but very interesting, @GolfSpy SAM. I also got into a bay (trackman doppler RCT balls) to get some baselines in and came away with strange numbers as compared to my gamers that DID NOT end up being what I saw on the course just yesterday. I went the opposite route as you did and decided not to post the full results because honestly I could not make heads or tails of it. When looking back, all of the spin rates were italicized so I am fairly convinced that the person prior to me was using their own balls and left them unbeknownst to me.

One example below are the 9i gamer (purple) vs Caley 01 (yellow). I toggled this to total distance and this suggests 119yd and 126yd totals, respectively. The Trackman was giving me 1.5 club difference to my real life gamer stock yardages...

I intend to go back to the bay and troubleshoot. I cite the total yardage above because I am  definitely getting 15yd further CARRIES out of my 9i than these totals with the Caley 01s in my on course experience.

[GolfSpy_APH]

@Vegan_Golfer_PNW want to hear your thoughts on this. As a higher handicap with a very high swing speed do you think working to dial back would help your game? 

Of course we all want to hit the ball far, but maybe taking the mindset of I want this to be a safe 230 club off the tee (just guessing on distance) vs a potential hit this hard and see how far it goes off the tee club would help? 

Now a little personal background. I have a Ping Crossover 2 and 4 iron. I have had one of my best ever rounds with the 2 as my sole tee club, however I was thinking more positional vs driver like get it as far down as possible.

Of course weight and feel will have an impact, but just curious if a slight shift in mindset may return greater results ?

 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

@Vegan_Golfer_PNW want to hear your thoughts on this. As a higher handicap with a very high swing speed do you think working to dial back would help your game? 

Of course we all want to hit the ball far, but maybe taking the mindset of I want this to be a safe 230 club off the tee (just guessing on distance) vs a potential hit this hard and see how far it goes off the tee club would help? 

Now a little personal background. I have a Ping Crossover 2 and 4 iron. I have had one of my best ever rounds with the 2 as my sole tee club, however I was thinking more positional vs driver like get it as far down as possible.

Of course weight and feel will have an impact, but just curious if a slight shift in mindset may return greater results ?

 

So I will say this could be a good kind of training aid. Also in my last few rounds I have used this as a primary tee club, only using driver on par 5s. Scores are similar. For me it is very hard to dial back speed and hit well, especially with longer clubs. I will say, I don’t try to kill this club like I do the driver, I just swing if that makes any sense. That would be something to try but I have found tempo to me more so an issue. If my tempo is off from the 3:1 ratio I think that is where things get rough. I actually should try something my coach told me last year and feel an half swing when things get hooky, maybe that could help here. Again, I have only had this a couple weeks, so this could still be part of the break in period. However, in the long term I want clubs I can swing the same way throughout the set, and having a nice static weight progression I believe will be the key there. Great questions!

[GolfSpy_APH]

8 minutes ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

So I will say this could be a good kind of training aid. Also in my last few rounds I have used this as a primary tee club, only using driver on par 5s. Scores are similar. For me it is very hard to dial back speed and hit well, especially with longer clubs. That would be something to try but I have found tempo to me more so an issue. If my tempo is off from the 3:1 ratio I think that is where things get rough. Again, I have only had this a couple weeks, so this could still be part of the break in period. However, in the long term I want clubs I can swing the same way throughout the set, and having a nice static weight progression I believe will be the key there. Great questions!

I had a similar ish thing I was going through and it may be worth trying (even just for this club) it helped a lot with contact and consistency for me. It was thinking about Rahms backswing and how short and compact it is. Granted I havent seen your swing, but if it is similar I had a tendency to get pretty long in the back swing, so the though of shortening the backswing length I actually ended up in a better spot up top and started making much much better consistent contact with everything. I never noticed any distance loss and because strikes were better the distance and launch was also better. It kinda felt weird to start, but when I got to that spot at the top where I thought it was too early I would transition and everything slotted in well. 

Anyway just a thought which may help? Or it could be equally terrible advice haha!

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

2 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I had a similar ish thing I was going through and it may be worth trying (even just for this club) it helped a lot with contact and consistency for me. It was thinking about Rahms backswing and how short and compact it is. Granted I havent seen your swing, but if it is similar I had a tendency to get pretty long in the back swing, so the though of shortening the backswing length I actually ended up in a better spot up top and started making much much better consistent contact with everything. I never noticed any distance loss and because strikes were better the distance and launch was also better. It kinda felt weird to start, but when I got to that spot at the top where I thought it was too early I would transition and everything slotted in well. 

Anyway just a thought which may help? Or it could be equally terrible advice haha!

Totally. I actually edited that in to my reply to you. That was something my coach has told me before. Especially in tournaments I get too long and overswing, get across the line when I get nervous. I was playing with a buddy yesterday and that could have been a reason, although my other irons were just fine.  I’ll try that thought next time out and see how the DI responds. It’s either that, or something @RickyBobby_PRpointed out from my feel practice and I am coming too inside the ball. Also, most these round so far, I have not hit any range balls prior as I golf before the family wakes/before work when I can. I do warm up and swing the clubs, but that can lead to some faults if I am not careful. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

 

@Vegan_Golfer_PNW want to hear your thoughts on this. As a higher handicap with a very high swing speed do you think working to dial back would help your game? 

Of course we all want to hit the ball far, but maybe taking the mindset of I want this to be a safe 230 club off the tee (just guessing on distance) vs a potential hit this hard and see how far it goes off the tee club would help? 

 

I think this is something a lot golfers including myself can look at changing in their approach. Many of us swing near full speed on every swing especially in the top end of the bag where we want max distance. This leads to our swing flaws coming out and making longer swing and swinging harder and increasing mishit and wider dispersion.

 

[Shlax]

49 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Many of us swing near full speed on every swing especially in the top end of the bag where we want max distance. This leads to our swing flaws coming out and making longer swing and swinging harder and increasing mishit and wider dispersion.

Completely agree. I would also add "making the strike less efficient" to the list. How many times have we been at the range to work on something and found that basically half-swinging did not even remotely equate to a 50% reduction in driving distance only to go all out at every drive the following round (at least that's my case )!

That being said, from what I've read from @Vegan_Golfer_PNW about the 01X DI so far, I feel that having to change swing tempo and/or swing effort to allow a club/shaft to perform/load correctly may be taking it one step too far. In my experience with the Srixon ZU85 20* driving iron and the stock UST Mamiya Recoil F4 95 shaft, something similar happened where the tip section was too soft. I also had to "hold it back" a bit because it did not suit my swing charactertistics and tempo. With a slightly softer swing and efficient/pure strikes, it resulted in this driving iron simply being a more forgiving and surprisingly, a higher launching alternative to my 4-iron. It ended up being of little use in my bag.

This makes me think that despite the 01X DI being a pretty good club overall and currently possibly suitable for players with slower swing speeds, which is usually rare for DIs as slower swing speed players typically look for higher launching clubs, the lack of shaft options might be detrimental to Caley's reach. The testers have enough speed to sort of outclass the current shaft offering despite the Recoil Dart being labelled as stiff due to its relatively light weight.

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

15 minutes ago, Shlax said:

Completely agree. I would also add "making the strike less efficient" to the list. How many times have we been at the range to work on something and found that basically half-swinging did not even remotely equate to a 50% reduction in driving distance only to go all out at every drive the following round (at least that's my case )!

That being said, from what I've read from @Vegan_Golfer_PNW about the 01X DI so far, I feel that having to change swing tempo and/or swing effort to allow a club/shaft to perform/load correctly may be taking it one step too far. In my experience with the Srixon ZU85 20* driving iron and the stock UST Mamiya Recoil F4 95 shaft, something similar happened where the tip section was too soft. I also had to "hold it back" a bit because it did not suit my swing charactertistics and tempo. With a slightly softer swing and efficient/pure strikes, it resulted in this driving iron simply being a more forgiving and surprisingly, a higher launching alternative to my 4-iron. It ended up being of little use in my bag.

This makes me think that despite the 01X DI being a pretty good club overall and currently possibly suitable for players with slower swing speeds, which is usually rare for DIs as slower swing speed players typically look for higher launching clubs, the lack of shaft options might be detrimental to Caley's reach. The testers have enough speed to sort of outclass the current shaft offering despite the Recoil Dart being labelled as stiff due to its relatively light weight.

Well said. If this was the 90g dart in stiff, likely singing a different tune. This club does have some nice get up. I am hitting farther, even poor strikes, than I ever did my gen2 pxg DI. I will say this DI would suit some one very smooth with speed, such as @chisag

[RickyBobby_PR]

19 minutes ago, Shlax said:

Completely agree. I would also add "making the strike less efficient" to the list. How many times have we been at the range to work on something and found that basically half-swinging did not even remotely equate to a 50% reduction in driving distance only to go all out at every drive the following round (at least that's my case )!

That being said, from what I've read from @Vegan_Golfer_PNW about the 01X DI so far, I feel that having to change swing tempo and/or swing effort to allow a club/shaft to perform/load correctly may be taking it one step too far. In my experience with the Srixon ZU85 20* driving iron and the stock UST Mamiya Recoil F4 95 shaft, something similar happened where the tip section was too soft. I also had to "hold it back" a bit because it did not suit my swing charactertistics and tempo. With a slightly softer swing and efficient/pure strikes, it resulted in this driving iron simply being a more forgiving and surprisingly, a higher launching alternative to my 4-iron. It ended up being of little use in my bag.

This makes me think that despite the 01X DI being a pretty good club overall and currently possibly suitable for players with slower swing speeds, which is usually rare for DIs as slower swing speed players typically look for higher launching clubs, the lack of shaft options might be detrimental to Caley's reach. The testers have enough speed to sort of outclass the current shaft offering despite the Recoil Dart being labelled as stiff due to its relatively light weight.

The downside of blind buying or limited selection is likely to get something that doesn’t work for the golfer

i typically blind buy when I don’t care if it works for me or not and I’m just looking to demo it. If it works great it sticks around if not then traded in. If it’s going into my bag for sure then I’ll at a minimum self fit

[chisag]

4 hours ago, Shlax said:

I would also add "making the strike less efficient" to the list. How many times have we been at the range to work on something and found that basically half-swinging did not even remotely equate to a 50% reduction in driving distance only to go all out at every drive the following round (at least that's my case )!

 

... Several have made comments like these on this thread and I will let you in on a little secret. You aren't even close to making a half swing. Everyone is different but you are probably much closer to a 90% swing and if very disciplined maybe 80%. For most just the idea of taking a shorter backswing helps to alleviate the desire to be on the Long Drive Tour so it can produce a better tempo. Reducing your swing length by 10 to 20% can also result in a better position at the top of the backswing because with a good takeaway, more faults happen in those last 10-20% than the previous 80-90%. 

... When teaching and asking a student to make a 1/2 swing, none ever came close. But the thought of swinging shorter almost always had a positive effect with their swing and contact. We all want to hit the ball far off the tee but with anything other than a driver we are not looking for max distance, we are just looking for the end of our range distance. The real advantage of hitting a DI off the tee is laying up short of trouble or finding a narrow fairway. So if we hit a DI 215 with our best swing, missing the center a little and only hitting it 205 still leaves us in a good position. But hitting it 225 could find the very trouble we are trying to avoid. 

... I like to think of my DI or Utility iron as my 3 iron off the tee. I use my 4 iron off the tee quite a bit on short holes and don't want anything different from my DI. But like GSSam said:

"In comparison to my Cobra "2-iron" (King Tec Utliity), which uses the KBS $ Taper Lite, there's a distinct weight difference.  I think the thing that's confusing, personally, is that with my KBS Tour Lite (100g, I believe), the weight difference between the 4 iron and the 01X utility is VERY noticeable.  I can't think of it as a "3 iron", firstly because - it's not, and secondly because it's weighted far more like a Fairway wood.  

... I play 95 and 85gm Steelfiber shafts in my iron and have an 85gm EV Black Hy shaft in my DI and while the Hy shaft produces a slightly higher trajectory, the feel, weight and balance are pretty much the same as my 4 iron. If you have a DI that you use primarily for tee shots and the occasional wind cheater off the fairway I think you will find a heavier shaft much more beneficial than some of the lighter stock shafts from OEM's. But if you hit fairway woods and hybrids poorly and want a Utility to replace them from the fairway, rough, bunker and occasionally off the tee, a lighter shaft could work well for you.  

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

31 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Several have made comments like these on this thread and I will let you in on a little secret. You aren't even close to making a half swing. Everyone is different but you are probably much closer to a 90% swing and if very disciplined maybe 80%. For most just the idea of taking a shorter backswing helps to elevate the desire to be on the Long Drive Tour so it can produce a better tempo. Reducing your swing length by 10 to 20% can also result in a better position at the top of the backswing because with a good takeaway, more faults happen in those last 10-20% than the previous 80-90%. 

... When teaching and asking a student to make a 1/2 swing, none ever came close. But the thought of swinging shorter almost always had a positive effect with their swing and contact. We all want to hit the ball far off the tee but with anything other than a driver we are not looking for max distance, we are just looking for the end of our range distance. The real advantage of hitting a DI off the tee is laying up short of trouble or finding a narrow fairway. So if we hit a DI 215 with our best swing, missing the center a little and only hitting it 205 still leaves us in a good position. But hitting it 225 could find the very trouble we are trying to avoid. 

... I like to think of my DI or Utility iron as my 3 iron off the tee. I use my 4 iron off the tee quite a bit on short holes and don't want anything different from my DI. But like GSSam said:

"In comparison to my Cobra "2-iron" (King Tec Utliity), which uses the KBS $ Taper Lite, there's a distinct weight difference.  I think the thing that's confusing, personally, is that with my KBS Tour Lite (100g, I believe), the weight difference between the 4 iron and the 01X utility is VERY noticeable.  I can't think of it as a "3 iron", firstly because - it's not, and secondly because it's weighted far more like a Fairway wood.  

... I play 95 and 85gm Steelfiber shafts in my iron and have an 85gm EV Black Hy shaft in my DI and while the Hy shaft produces a slightly higher trajectory, the feel, weight and balance is pretty mush the same as my 4 iron. If you have a DI that you use primarily for tee shots and the occasional wind cheater off the fairway I think you will find a heavier shaft much more beneficial than some of the lighter stock shafts from OEM's. But if you hit fairway woods and hybrids poorly and want a Utility to replace them from the fairway, rough, bunker and occasionally off the tee, a lighter shaft could work well for you.  

All great points Sam. As for the last paragraph, at least in my testing, this is not like a fairway wood at all. Maybe @GolfSpy SAM has to hit his that way and it works. I will also say, for the current cost of the DI, $261 last I checked (FYI somehow its not showing up on their site ), the low weight shaft option is a risk to players just buy off the rack IMO.

[chisag]

13 minutes ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

As for the last paragraph, at least in my testing, this is not like a fairway wood at all.

 

... I am not saying "like a fairway wood" but a "replacement for a fairway wood". Some just swing a shorter shaft more efficiently and prefer looking down at something closer to an iron than a wood. These players usually prefer something like a wider sole Taylor Made DHy over a narrow sole P790 UDi. 

[AndySP]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

replacement for a fairway wood". Some just swing a shorter shaft more efficiently and prefer looking down at something closer to an iron than a wood. These players usually prefer something like a wider sole Taylor Made DHy over a narrow sole P790 UDi. 

This is kind of me. I’m not a great fairway wood player, so my goal is to have something reach a little further than my longest iron without getting out of my comfort zone. With the lighter shaft, it reminds me that I’m not swinging a normal iron as soon as I pick it up. Still, when I get it timed up, the feel is undoubtedly great. 
 

I hit the UDI and liked it better than the DHY, but it could be partly because it matched and gapped  better with my current irons. It had a similar feel too, if not slightly more hollow feeling. Comparing it to the other options, I wouldn’t call  the Caley compact, but it’s not DHY big. If it’s meant to compete with the latter, then maybe @Vegan_Golfer_PNW and I aren’t really the target players?

I did notice that the stock length is .25 longer (39.75) than other 18* utilities, like the Sub70, for what it’s worth. 

It would be nice to see the website again though, as I can’t remember how Caley described it. 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

1 hour ago, AndySP said:

This is kind of me. I’m not a great fairway wood player, so my goal is to have something reach a little further than my longest iron without getting out of my comfort zone. With the lighter shaft, it reminds me that I’m not swinging a normal iron as soon as I pick it up. Still, when I get it timed up, the feel is undoubtedly great. 
 

I hit the UDI and liked it better than the DHY, but it could be partly because it matched and gapped  better with my current irons. It had a similar feel too, if not slightly more hollow feeling. Comparing it to the other options, I wouldn’t call  the Caley compact, but it’s not DHY big. If it’s meant to compete with the latter, then maybe @Vegan_Golfer_PNW and I aren’t really the target players?

I did notice that the stock length is .25 longer (39.75) than other 18* utilities, like the Sub70, for what it’s worth. 

It would be nice to see the website again though, as I can’t remember how Caley described it. 

This is where you and I differ. I went from not liking fairway woods, to hybrids only and now back to fairway woods, especially off the turf. The thing now with this DI, and again, I love it for this when timing is on from the tee is it just goes. Now getting into a more static weight progression to fit my set should in theory get me in better timing all around.

Driver mid 60g, 4w 75g, 7w 81g (maybe shoulda gone XS there and be at 85g), possible DI shaft replacement 95g, 120g in irons.

As for the length I bet it is a SW weight issue. If they are even 1/2" shorter, they are in C8/9 territory. Granted, they could then beef up the head more. Nice find on the length side of things. Would also make it easier to hit being shorter.

[Shlax]

Played a quick round after work and managed to finish all 18 holes by sunset (the last two holes were pushing it, but it went well).

This round was the first real test for the Caley 01CB irons. My final score (89) is not representative of the performance of these irons (see link in How’d You Play for some venting and commentary about my round).

• Ball flight: At the risk of repeating myself, I love the ball flight with the 01CBs and the x-stiff KBS Tour shaft. It is penetrating yet quite spinny so I can still hold greens (and the greens at tonight’s course were hard in preparation for a tournament this Friday. Hard greens are a rare thing in my neck of the woods).
• Distance: I had suspicions that the Caley 01CBs were slightly longer than my gamers. Well, it has been confirmed today. They appear to be roughly 5 or 6 yds longer than my Srixon Z785 despite being 0.5“ shorter. All things being equal, it can now safely say that these irons offer more distance than my current set (most likely due to the different shafts in both sets).
• Worth noting: I had 3 flyers today: All from the rough and with the 6, the 7 and the 4-iron. These 3 shots carried roughly 20 yds over their expected carry distance, which is very unsettling to say the least. For indicative purposes, I have only had a single flyer shot that comes to mind in the time that I have had my Srixon Z785s. I hope that this sort of thing will not happen routinely as it’s not viable to go at greens from the rough and not know what to expect from the club.
• Feel: The Caley 01CB irons are forged cavity backs. Therefore, you can expect a smooth, effortless and uniform impact on center strikes. That being said, I would like to mention that the feel is not that of the flagship Srixons or Mizunos irons that I have tried. While still good, it’s just not the same; simply isn’t. I would liken it to having a modified car that has as much horsepower and racing parts as a Ferrari: While both cars might lap around the track in a similar time, being in the Italian supercar is just a different experience altogether (not that I know what I’m talking about, unfortunately, but I thought that it was a good analogy).
• Looks: In the bag, they look great. One golfer with whom I was paired initially thought that they were this year’s TaylorMade P7MCs (I’ll let you decide if the mix up is understandable). The 4, 5 and 6 irons are simply stunning. They all have what I expect from any prototypical players’ iron in the narrow sole, thin topline, short blade length, low profile, etc. The 7 and 8 irons are also good looking clubs. Once we get up to the 9-iron, things start to get a bit bulkier in my opinion. The sole appears strikingly wider in the bag and the face’s height also appears larger, especially in the heel section. As for the PW, well, it’s not a nice club to look at at address. It sort of stands gigantically behind the ball in comparison to the other irons and the topline, especially in the heel section, gives the impression that there is massive offset even if it’s basically non-existent.

Now, I am more than pleased with the Caley 01CBs’ performance. If it wasn’t for the 0.5“ shorter length, I would most likely overlook my impressions about the PW’s looks and the slightly less smooth/premium feel and put them in the bag instead of my Srixon Z785s right now. Performance appears to be there and in the end, that’s what matters most. I will still wait a little while for now though.

However, hear this: If you are in the market for brand new forged players’ irons that perform great in terms of distance, control and forgiveness, are way more affordable than products from OEMs, you do not care about not having a recognizable brand (yet) in your bag and want to be able to customize loft, lie and shaft length, then I would happily recommend the Caley 01CB irons! They are that good.

Edited August 24, 2023 by Shlax
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[Shrek74]

10 hours ago, Shlax said:

• Worth noting: I had 3 flyers today: All from the rough and with the 6, the 7 and the 4-iron. These 3 shots carried roughly 20 yds over their expected carry distance, which is very unsettling to say the least. For indicative purposes, I have only had a single flyer shot that comes to mind in the time that I have had my Srixon Z785s. I hope that this sort of thing will not happen routinely as it’s not viable to go at greens from the rough and not know what to expect from the club.

Could your fliers from the rough have been due to grass between the ball and clubface at impact causing lower spin and thus more distance? I know the pros (and talking heads) mention that a lot when looking at shots out of the rough and if it's a "flier lie" or not. If the fliers were from the fairway, I'd be more concerned. Just a thought.