Haywood CB/MB Irons - 2024 Forum Review

[CB Lobo 4 Life]

Spent some time in my garage messing with the irons a bit to get a good "feel" for them as I would be hitting the range hopefully tomorrow or the day after. Don't worry I have not forgotten my next post. I am working on all the details extensively as I want to share a lot with you all. 

I will say that the irons are incredible. Sure, there will be some honeymoon phasing in here but I am enjoying them so much. After getting a feel for them I hit five straight with some Dry shampoo on the face. Needless to say, we are getting well acquainted. 

*All five shots hit with 8 iron. Personally my favorite club in the bag.

[Rob Person]

5 hours ago, CB Lobo 4 Life said:

Spent some time in my garage messing with the irons a bit to get a good "feel" for them as I would be hitting the range hopefully tomorrow or the day after. Don't worry I have not forgotten my next post. I am working on all the details extensively as I want to share a lot with you all. 

I will say that the irons are incredible. Sure, there will be some honeymoon phasing in here but I am enjoying them so much. After getting a feel for them I hit five straight with some Dry shampoo on the face. Needless to say, we are getting well acquainted. 

*All five shots hit with 8 iron. Personally my favorite club in the bag.

Show off!  

This will lead onto tons of questions on how do they cleanup after impacts like this,  durability of finish, etc.

[Willie T]

On 3/5/2024 at 3:17 AM, frazzman80 said:

There were also hand-written numbers on the plastic and I wasn’t sure what these meant (as it didn’t seem to be loft or lie, but were like 263.5 and 249.5 and randomly went up/down for each iron). I’m taking half a point deduction here, because it just made me wonder. It was different and not in a good way.

Great unboxing video @frazzman80!   A quick thought on the numbers - could they be the individual weight of the heads?  Also the 7i coming in w/out the cellophane seems weird and I was going to explain maybe they, Haywood, was doing a final recheck of the loft/lie and it had maybe come off in the process…and lo and behold as I continued to read the thread they answered your question.  Speaks highly of the Mfg@haywoodgolf! 

Edited April 2 by Willie T

[frazzman80]

3 hours ago, Willie T said:

Great unboxing video @frazzman80!   A quick thought on the numbers - could they be the individual weight of the heads?  Also the 7i coming in w/out the cellophane seems weird and I was going to explain maybe they, Haywood, was doing a final recheck of the loft/lie and it had maybe come off in the process…and lo and behold as I continued to read the thread they answered your question.  Speaks highly of the Mfg@haywoodgolf! 

Appreciate the feedback. I had not thought about those numbers being the weight. 

As for the 7 iron being sans wrapping, Haywood had explained it in a response earlier (it was a loft/lie check): 

 

Edited April 2 by frazzman80

[LeakyValve]

@frazzman80 @ArizonaLogan great videos!!  
 

Frazz… did I miss something in your unboxing writing for the deductions? I seen that you said the deductions would be in “bold” but only saw the statement about the numbers on the heads?

[LeakyValve]

@frazzman80 went to find your current spec sheet. Really curious to see everyone’s differences in shot length with different lofts 

[frazzman80]

1 hour ago, LeakyValve said:

@frazzman80 @ArizonaLogan great videos!!  
 

Frazz… did I miss something in your unboxing writing for the deductions? I seen that you said the deductions would be in “bold” but only saw the statement about the numbers on the heads?

So, this being my first review, I got a little confused on what I was supposed to be scoring and focused a bit too much on the packaging instead of the clubs. I edited out the packaging aspects and re-tallied the scores based solely on the clubs, hence the single deduction.

[frazzman80]

2 hours ago, LeakyValve said:

@frazzman80 went to find your current spec sheet. Really curious to see everyone’s differences in shot length with different lofts 

I have those linked in my main post (in the post about the online fitting - thanks for calling this out as I made a note that my specs and the Haywood specs are specifically in that post). The Haywood lofts are weaker than my current gamers and Jonathan Haywood specifically noted to expect 8-10 yards less distance per club for me. You can bet this is going to be a focal point of my "numbers" section and my practice/rounds over the next few weeks.

Edited April 2 by frazzman80

[arodrig29]

On 3/5/2024 at 3:17 AM, frazzman80 said:

Haywood CB/MB combo irons – Official MGS Forum Review by frazzman80 (March 2024) - Thank you MGS and Haywood for this amazing opportunity!

For those who don't know, this is my first official MGS test (after lurking/reading these forums since 2019). I promise to give you my all!!!

Who is frazzman80?

My swing has been homemade from day 1, well, really since buying my first set of clubs (legit persimmon woods and blade irons likely from the 70s in a golf bag that was literally coming to pieces at a garage sale at age 11, literally thrilled to pay $5 for something I had only seen on TV). I did manage to get it decent enough to break 100 by the time I went to high school and asked the AD if we had a golf team and if so, how could I try out. His response: “If you can find 4 other guys who can play golf, I’ll figure out where the district tournament is and I’ll drive you there.” We came in dead last, but my high school had a golf team every year after that and I made regionals my senior year.

I tried to play in college, but was never good enough to make the team at D-III Texas Lutheran (though I did make 4th alternate my junior year and got a ton of free golf out of it). My college roommate won D-III nationals our senior year and is a PGA teaching professional now…but that’s as close as I ever got to professional golf.

I’ve continued to play as much as possible for the last 20 years post-college and love what golf has given me. My wife plays and golf was the impetus for our first date. I’ve made countless friends on course, some for a day and some for a lifetime. My kiddos are 10 and 8 and have had clubs in their hands since they were in diapers (although my 8-year-old is more about eating all the snacks than actually teeing off when we play).

    

frazzman80s game and my expectations for this test

As for my game, I broke down this year and finally paid actual money for a real handicap (currently 6.7). Living in Texas, I play year-round at the public courses in and around San Antonio (wherever I can get a good deal). I live on 35 acres so I have my own personal driving range (so long as the cows do their job and keep the grass short enough). I have a Rapsodo MLM2 Pro and a Haack Pro net so I can give you all sorts of data from those during this test. It’ll be these versus the Callaway Apex ‘19s I’ve been gaming for the past 4.5 years (KBS $ Taper Lite shafts 2 degrees upright). I have Arccos and will use that for all on-course data.

I love the idea of providing personal perspective on these Haywood irons. I’m very excited to work with a “mom and pop” DTC company as I have a passion for those kinds of businesses and go out of my way to support “the little guy”. I have high hopes and expectations. I also am a bit worried.

I know my Apex ‘19s are more players distance and the lofts are strong, much stronger than the Haywoods. I worry about gapping from my 4-hybrid to existing 49-degree Edison wedge. I also worry about hitting muscle-backs…SG approach is already my weakest stat per Arccos. Will they be as forgiving as my gamers (which I already mishit at times)? To replace my Apex ‘19s, these will have to decrease dispersion while keeping the distance/gapping that I already I have (Arccos stats below).

    

At the end of the day, if this review helps someone, then I have actually done something special. That would mean the world to me.

I'm going to try to keep this post clean with my deep/in-depth posts later in the thread. I'll label these by topic and link directly to each as the test goes along so everyone can read as things happen.

• Remote fitting breakdown link (this includes my gamer loft/lie specs and Haywoods)
• Testing plan breakdown link (new as of 3/26/24)
• Unboxing video (3/30/24)

 

First Impressions – 19.5 out of 20 (reasons for deductions noted in bold below in review)

Due to the one-day delay in shipping (totally UPS, not Haywood’s fault), my irons were slated to arrive on Good Friday, which meant that there was a distinct possibility that I would be in church when they came in and with a “signature required” order, that troubled me just a bit. So I wrote a love note to the UPS person basically begging them to accept my signature on paper as signature on their delivery machine if I were in church. Sure enough, I returned home from church to find the paper gone and this box beckoning me to bring it inside at my door! (Thanks UPS person, bringer of joy).

The outside of the box was in pretty good shape given the multination 1,000+ mile trek. I’ve had many golf-related items shipped to me over the years and aside from the one time I was fully wowed by Club Champion’s box (full color graphics on premium slick cardboard that was very reinforced) most companies have your basic box with their logo on it. This one being white stood out, but I wasn’t expecting the personalized name of the outside. I think it is a awesome personal touch and made me feel as if Haywood definitely backs up their claim of “hand-touching” every order.

If you want to see every single detail of the unboxing, please check out the video below, but I’m going to sum up and let me speak to the details there.

I like the printed letter inside the box and certainly appreciate that I got a full custom letter that lists my specs, mentions the test and has Joshua Haywood’s name on the bottom (would have felt more special to have at least a digital signature on it). Plus, the towel, tees, hat and thank you note were a very nice bonus surprise! Kudos for that little extra there.

When I got to the actual clubs, they were well protected in the box. The heads were bubble wrapped and secured very well - encased in foam blocks with iron slots. They were not going to move in that box. One of the grips was missed by the rubber band and this could have allowed this individual iron to rattle in the box whereas all others were fully banded together. I’m not sure this could/would cause any damage to that individual iron.

Once out of the foam and bubble wrap, as noted in the video, the 7-iron didn’t come in plastic, and this confused me once I saw that each other iron in the set was in plastic. It made me question if there was something different or wrong about it (like was it not new, or did someone put a voodoo hex on it before boxing?). There were also hand-written numbers on the plastic and I wasn’t sure what these meant (as it didn’t seem to be loft or lie, but were like 263.5 and 249.5 and randomly went up/down for each iron). I’m taking half a point deduction here, because it just made me wonder. It was different and not in a good way.

My first impressions of the clubs themselves though are just wow. The milling on the backs of these irons is truly a signature element, and the lines on each is definitely unmistakable. It’s bold, iconic and definitely the first thing you notice on the clubs. The finish on each is matted and almost a light gray, which I appreciated immediately because shiny clubs equal sun-reflective clubs and that isn’t my preference. If these perform, then I will be darned proud to bag them and show them off as showcase irons. I’m also pleasantly surprised about the size of these, especially the MBs, as I was worried I was getting tiny thin razors and these are larger blade length and top line than I expected (and comparable to my Callaway Apex ‘19s) so my confidence in being able to strike them increased tenfold just upon getting them out of the box!

All of the grips are properly aligned "Haywood" up (as I had requested, this was a fitting option to have the logo up, down or off and I decided on up). Behind the ball these are confidence inspiring (yes, even the MBs). The first thing I noticed is that they sit aligned to the target without requiring any manipulation (my Callaways move closed if you ever let go of the grip) and I expect this will help me to keep the club aligned better in my pre-shot routine. Looking down at the club, the face and top line blend well and I love the finish being the same color across the face. 

Making use of the included towel.

The muscle backs are so sexy they make me feel sexier just being around them.

The cavity backs are equally stunning from up close and far away.

Photo to show faces and backs blended together.

Close up the 4 iron with the 9 in the background for comparison.

That milling on the 9 iron...drool...

Up close of the milling on the cavity back 7 iron...also drool.

The back side of the cavity backs are so refined, they remind me of the curves on a sportscar.

The grooved face finish on each of the irons matches the color of the non-grooved areas, so no worries about shiny reflections or different colors when you have the club at address.

Different perspective of the muscleback PW. 

Close up on the milling of the MB PW.

Back side featuring the milling on the CB 6 iron.

Close up of the milling on the back of CB 6 iron.

Probably the sexiest my bag has ever looked on the course.

The iron closest to the ball in my Callaway Apex '19 5I and the iron furthest from the ball is the Haywood CB 4I.

Grip perspective. The iron closest to the ball in my Callaway Apex '19 5I and the iron furthest from the ball is the Haywood CB 4I.

    

Thumbnails to show the milling, face and back of the MB 9 iron.

Aesthetics - score coming soon

 

Wordy yet direct, funny and informative. Well done sir. Looking forward to on course testing feedback!

[Beakbryce]

Following this test. Have fun. Unboxing, the clubs look super. 

[Franc38]

The numbers on the stickers on the clubs are obviously the heads weights in grams. Not very useful for the buyer to know but really helpful for the guy doing the assembly to get all sticks in the set to be at about the same swingweight. So typically the heads are weighted and labelled after production to help assembly of the finished clubs (you don't have much variability in grip weight and the shafts are more or less what they are... ).

[Nunfa0]

I'm loving what the team are posting and it has me positively vibrating with excitement and anticipation to get going with mine .

Unfortunately this is the update I got today...

[Nunfa0]

On 4/2/2024 at 2:04 PM, LeakyValve said:

I’d be curious to see the difference in specs between the testers current gamers compared to their Haywood’s. things like loft, lie, and if there’s a difference in length. 

Here are the specs for the Titleists I have (from 5 iron)...

And here are the Haywood specs...

The lofts for the Haywood irons have been changed to the same as the T100S irons, so the bounce will be a couple of degrees smaller.

Edited April 4 by Nunfa0

[Nunfa0]

The main difference between my current gamers and the Haywood irons will be the shafts. As I have said before, I went for lighter, higher launching shafts to give myself more spin and stopping power.

Also, I can't give the bounce specs for the T100S irons, because Titleist don't provide them. They don't believe it's necessary for irons 

[LeakyValve]

@Nunfa0 nice so the lofts will be bang on. Curious if there gonna be any distance difference!

[frazzman80]

My aesthetics post is up on the main thread for everyone's reading enjoyment. Summary - they are a work of art.

[Nunfa0]

10 hours ago, LeakyValve said:

@Nunfa0 nice so the lofts will be bang on. Curious if there gonna be any distance difference!

That is one of the most interesting things for me in this test. I am putting these minimal tech, forged and milled irons up against muscle channels, tungsten weights and fully forged faces. If the Haywood's can keep up with the Titleist's, then that is a big step towards a permanent place in my bag. It is not a deal breaker but I don't want to lose too much distance.

Edited April 5 by Nunfa0

[Nunfa0]

9 hours ago, frazzman80 said:

My aesthetics post is up on the main thread for everyone's reading enjoyment. Summary - they are a work of art.

It's always a good sign when new clubs make you wax lyrical .

Nice write up and great pictures. See your stuff is keeping my excitement on the boil!!

Are you having any issues with the smaller soles? Any digging or trouble getting through the turf?

[frazzman80]

1 hour ago, Nunfa0 said:

It's always a good sign when new clubs make you wax lyrical .

Nice write up and great pictures. See your stuff is keeping my excitement on the boil!!

Are you having any issues with the smaller soles? Any digging or trouble getting through the turf?

I like the soles better off real grass than off a mat so far. I've only had the one round on course with them (writeup of every shot coming soon), but I always take a very shallow divot as I'm more of a sweeper and the soles were spot on for the first round. I find on the mat that I hit them ever so slightly fat, and I think on the turf I'd be going through the soil versus bouncing off the mat if that makes sense.

[frazzman80]

Ok - so I've downloaded all my Rapsodo data from all shots hit with my Callaway Apex '19s to use as baseline data for performance comparisons. I know my existing lofts are WAY stronger than the Haywoods, so I needed these numbers in order to compare the old vs new and test my theory that the Haywood 4 will equal my Callaway 5 (and 5 will = 6, and 6 will = 7, and 7 will = 8, and 8 will = 9, and 9 will = PW, and PW will = GW). After all, Joshua Haywood himself did tell me to expect 8-10 yards less per club.

I posted my Arcoss distances in my main post and I plan to use those also for distance, but the Rapsodo data below is what I'm going to use as it is consistent and takes out things like wind, elevation, different turf conditions, etc. 

As I go through each and every club on the Rapsodo, I'm going to post the Haywood numbers so we can have a direct comparison. NOTE: I only play 5-P in the Callaways before I get to my 49-degree Edison Gap wedge. If the theory holds that the Haywoods run a club shorter, then it's no big deal for me as I'll just play 4-9 Iron in the Haywoods and keep my exact gapping in my bag. If that happens, the real battle will be between the 49-degree Edison and the Haywood MB PW for that 115-yard space in the bag. If the Haywoods aren't a club shorter, then I'll have to see how the gapping works at the top of the bag. 

I'll update this post with the Rapsodo data for the Haywoods once I have that information (I still need good data on the 5 and 4 irons and want to hit additional other shots with all the clubs). 

Edited April 5 by frazzman80

[Nunfa0]

I have had some great news; my clubs are being delivered tomorrow (Monday in NZ)!!

Unfortunately, I am going away for work for a couple of days, so I won't see them till I get home on Wednesday .

[chadmariage]

Can't wait to see these results.

[GolfSpy_APH]

Curious for the testers as to how the sole interaction is and how they are in the rough?

[frazzman80]

5 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Curious for the testers as to how the sole interaction is and how they are in the rough?

No concerns with the face shutting down or anything pronounced like that for me. As mentioned above I like them more off the turf than the mat so far. On course I found they were better than my Callaway Apex that have a thicker sole, like they cut through the grass better. 
 

I will subject the Haywood’s to my “personal driving range” (aka my cattle field) this week and will give a full report of good, rough and bad lies by the end of the week.

Tuesday, when I get home from this family eclipse trip, I will post the shot-by-shot from my practice round last week. I’ll note what shots were tee, fairway and rough.

[ArizonaLogan]

On 4/1/2024 at 12:04 PM, ArizonaLogan said:

There has been off and on rain in my area for the past 3 days. If it finally stops tomorrow I should be able to form my complete first impressions by Thursday.

I changed my plan to post the first impressions today so that I could get 2-3 days of initial testing besides just one. But it turns out I wasn't even signed in while I was typing. I lost my progress like 2 minutes ago, I will rewrite and post tomorrow despite the fact that I could retype 450-500 words relativity fast (right now I have college assignments to finish instead).

[Lefty11]

I love the look of these irons! Testers: what do you think of the weight of these irons?  

[Nunfa0]

My irons have arrived  

And I am 250 miles away!!

[CB Lobo 4 Life]

Hey Spys! I apologize I have not been able to post in a while. I had a horrendous work week this last week and some personal issues that came up. However, I did get to test the irons and I did get the first impressions piece done. I look forward to creating a part 2 where I have created a video going over a lot more details. Happy Monday and Solar Eclipse day! If you need to stay indoors read this update! 
 

 

[Nunfa0]

I may be miles from home but the view from the office is not bad...

[ArizonaLogan]

On 3/5/2024 at 1:17 AM, ArizonaLogan said:

First Impressions: 60-75 Shots (17 out of 20)

 

The first good thing I noticed was the packaging during unboxing. The clubs were sealed in a plastic wrap, underneath a bubble wrap pocket, and nestled in slots in a foam block. I had 100% confidence that nothing happened to the clubs during transit.

This leads me to the first 1-point reduction for a few details that are likely avoidable (I've never seen them on other iron sets).

• The 8 and 4 irons had some kind of oil on the head under the plastic wrap.
• There was a sticky residue around the butt of the grips (it likely came from gripping).
• Most irons had some sort of “stretch marks” on the hosel. I suspect these came from bending the irons 1 degree upright.

To conclude with the unboxing, I liked the extra items that were included (Haywood hat, Haywood tees, Haywood towel), but unless Haywood says otherwise, I have reason to suspect that the items were “special treatment” for the MGS testers.

“Looks”/Aesthetics (9 out of 10)

Studies suggest that around 70%-85% of information is gathered with our eyes, so what I noticed about “looks” is what I’ll be starting with.

The very first thing that I noticed about the irons was the CNC milling on the backs of both the MBs and the CBs (I think a few others did as well). For me, the milling is the most eye-catching feature of the irons.

(Above) "MB semi-up-close." Photo by ArizonaLogan

Both iron models have very straight and simplistic lines, as well as minimalist branding which I really like. I think both of the iron models could be made to have a thinner topline, but it is already thinner than most irons, so I won’t deduct a point. I love how the matte finish has a touch of shine to give the irons a nice, slightly darker “color”.

(Above) "CB semi-up-close." Photo by Arizona Logan

I am undecided about the name/number filling being white instead of black, but if I had to choose, I would probably choose white anyway. There are no point reductions in aesthetics. But I can’t give a perfect score when I prefer the look of some other iron models ( 620 MBs, Takomo 301 CBs, 659 TC).

First Shots & Feel Impressions (9 out of 10)

In the first on-course session, I went to a few different par 3s and approach positions on par 4s. From every position I hit from, I got a closer shot from my current TS4s. Note: I had 3x the attempts with the Haywoods. However, a few “rounds” were close, and the Haywoods had a more consistent distance dispersion.

These irons feel as good as almost every other forged iron I’ve hit. But the irons somehow sound like some non-forged irons (TE C722). Even the sound of a pure strike has a slight metallic “snap”, like you would hear when cutting a large wire or padlock. I think It’s one of the only irons I've tried where the sound doesn’t match the feel.

One thing to note is that the durability seems to be about average for the softer 1020 carbon steel (Maltby TS4s are 1025). I already see some “bag chatter” and a few major nicks after only one week.(Above) "Dent in 4 iron." Photo by Arizona Logan

(Above) "7 iron bag chatter." Photo by Arizona Logan

But overall, my first impressions are a little bit better than I expected, especially considering the price of these irons. Besides the minor details I noticed during unboxing, no other negatives stood out to me in the 60-75 shots after.

(Above) "How it feels after saving $700 on irons." Photo by Arizona Logan (Most of the money is fake.)

 

 

I've amended my post to include first impressions. I'm quoting it here to bump the thread.