Testers Announced: Vice Golf Irons

[GolfSpy_APH]

We are always excited when we can bring fresh, new products to the MyGolfSpy Member Testing platform, especially when said products have created buzz and questions surrounding them. The new irons from Vice Golf fit this mold to a tee, and we are thrilled to have our members get their hands on them for testing.

About Vice Golf Irons

Vice Golf made a big leap by entering the golf club market. The Wunderkind line of irons consists of the VGI01 and VGI02 irons. With many DTC (direct-to-consumer) brands producing irons, it would be easy to think these are template irons. However, that thought would be wrong.

Vice Golf partnered with the largest golf fitting and building company in Europe, called HIO. The two used all their combined expertise and knowledge to build the new irons. In addition, all Vice Golf clubs will be built in-house at the HIO headquarters in Munich, Germany.

Please welcome and congratulate our testers!

@Tom the Golf Nut - VGI01 Irons

@dback - VGI01 Irons

@gingerbeast87 - VGI02 Irons

@Splatt - VGI02 Irons

[Tom the Golf Nut]

 Tom the Golf Nut checking in.

 First a special thank you to Vice Golf for affording this opportunity for testing. PS: I really like the Vice Logo. Total class right there. Thank you, MGS Forum Staff, for selecting me for testing, and the MGS logo is also top notch.

 I have a supportive family that lets me indulge in my passion. We live in middle South Carolina between Pinehurst and Myrtle Beach so golfing opportunities are abundant. Of my three children, two are still home, with my youngest about to enter her senior year of college. My son and daughter (when she is not away at school) work at my golf club and if things work out my wife will work there as well someday. I was just elected to the board of directors for the club, so it is turning into a family affair. I can’t sneak out to get away from the family when they all work there. LOL

Family fun time with my wife, son, daughter (front) and my son’s girlfriend.

I am pretty much a self-taught golfer and have been playing for over thirty-five years. I never stop building things or tinkering on golf related stuff to help improve my game.  I build most things at home. I’m the son of a carpenter and I was a machinist then an engineer in my early days. If I can dream it I can build it.  My biggest improvements in my game came from installing my simulator in conjunction with a MEVO several years ago. I got to see my swing path and ball flight info from the comfort of home. Which will come in handy for testing. I play a decent amount of golf. At least twice a week at my club, playing with customers when I’m on the road, as well as golf outings for charities. I am able to play year-round in my area of the country.

My GHIN handicap is currently 0.5, I have a mid-ball flight and a one hop and stop on the greens. I enjoy playing and do not get upset with a bad shot. Swing tempo is smooth with an average driver swing speed in the mid to upper 90’s. My average ball flight is straight with a middle flight trajectory. I am hoping to increase my iron trajectory a little bit more. Switching to graphite shafts in my irons has helped already. My strengths are finding the fairway with my drive and my short game.

I moved here about a year and a half ago and the courses are generally very different here than my hilly and mountainous courses of Northeast TN. Here it is flatter but requires more placement shots. Being in the sand belt region we have much softer fairways and approach areas (No bounce and roll out here) Lots of dog legs, streams, and waste areas that come into play. The rough is very playable but anything past that is in pine straw or unplayable.     

So, what do I want to accomplish during this test?  

I am hoping to gain a little more forgiveness with these irons. The King Tour's I was using last year has little room for error and I’m a decent ball striker. I have actually been moving them out of the bag one at a time and putting in my older irons which were a DTC brand. I plan on evaluating the data, and my on-course play. On course is where it matters most. If I can get a little more forgiveness on slightly off-center hits, maintain accuracy, and potentially get a little more ball height these will stay in the bag. A little more distance wouldn’t hurt either, but I don’t want to sound greedy. I have seen a lot of good things come from the direct-to-consumer brands and am looking forward to seeing what these clubs can do.

 

The Clubs:

I have been selected to test the VGI 01’s. Vice golf is getting with the times right off the bat with different head color trims, shaft, ferrule, and grip color options. So now we get the opportunity to customize the look. Make it yours.

I had my fitting this morning which was very pleasant and informative. I was probably the easiest to fit as I knew all my specs from previous fittings. After discussions with their team and Jamie on the call as well we decided to keep the same shaft weights, flex, lie angles, and length that I was already fit into.  Then it came to making them mine in terms of colors. 

Decisions, decisions, decisions. I went with the red trim which has the club numbers in red as well. I also selected a Whiz Graphite 60g Mitsubishi black shaft.

  

I added a black ferrule and went with the red Vice Mid-size grip. I was tempted to go with the gray but a little color in my life would be good. I wasn’t sure if they would be a distraction to me.  

I have been a fan of the GP CP2 Pro for years now. We will see how these grips go, but I have a set of the CP 2’s waiting in the wings if needed. 

Clubs are on order and now comes the hard part. Waiting for delivery. I'm sure everything will go according to plan. I'm super excited to test these out. The Vice team is top notch. They even asked for periodic check ins with the team to see if I have any issues, concerns, comments, and just to see how I like them. I'll be honest this is the first time a manufacturer really cared about the product and my relationship with the product once it shipped. They get a five-star rating on a scale of 1 to 5  

Edited 15 hours ago by Tom the Golf Nut
Added Club fitting and selection

[dback]

Hello All! Couldn’t be more excited to be testing out these irons! I continue to be impressed in the opportunities that MGS offers and incredibly grateful to be selected for this one. Thank you MGS and Vice for the opportunity! I have been part of the forum for a few years now and have referenced My Golf Spy since I started getting into the game in 2021. I am a proud girl dad that loves to share my love for golf with my family and grateful they let me enjoy it. I am located in Michigan, so we are in peak golf season here and spoiled with the plethora of courses available at all price points and conditions.

 

I played sporadically growing up, always loved playing (lets be really, I enjoyed swing as hard as possible) but in 2021 my wife and I went to a simulator for date night and I forgot how much fun it was to play. One of my best friends works with the First Tee and after hearing I went to a sim informed me that the annual fall guys golf trip had an opening pop up and asked if I would join – this is where my journey with Vice begins. I dusted off my dad’s old hand me down clubs and wanting to look the part, I went to Marshall’s to buy a couple golf polos and googled cheap golf balls. Plenty of options popped up but right away vice jumped out – loved the branding and the price point seemed better that what I was seeing elsewhere. So, I ordered a hat, a box of Vice tours and their variety box. Proceeded to lose every ball that weekend but had a blast. Fast forward three years and Vice pro plus is my current ball of choice, the hat collection has grown and I rock a vice drip towel on the bag. We just finalized dates and location for this year’s golf trip and I can’t wait to come full circle by rocking some vgI01’s this fall.

The past 3 years have been a blast as I dove head first into the game. I created an 18birdies account and started off at a 28 handicap after my first few rounds and today my 18birdies handicap sits at a 7.7, but let’s be real, some of those scores are a bit generous. My GHIN index just hit my lowest ever handicap at 9.2. My biggest strength is off the tee and putting is my Achilles heel. I am a fairly highly launch, high spin player with my go-to shot shape being a draw, especially with my irons. I’ve worked hard over the past year to go from playing a power fade (let’s call it for what it was, a slice) to a draw. Driver shot shape is inconsistent but with my irons I’m pretty consistently a straight to moderate draw shot shape. My two common mishits are thin and the dreaded snaphook. But overall the garage practice sessions during the winter have been paying off and I have been in the market for a new set of irons. I have had my eyes on some takomo 101ts but both eyebrows raised when I saw vice entering the iron game. I have a random love for Adams golf (shoutout Stacked Golf on youtube) which led to me picking up some adams xtd irons on marketplace a couple years ago and have really enjoyed them – I like all the forgiveness tech built in while avoiding too chunky of a topline. As the game and ball striking have improved, I have been wanting to upgrade and I’m drawn to irons that maintain a sleeker, clean look while still having enough forgiveness. Brands such as takomo, Srixon and mizuno. I’m under no impression that I should be playing blades and consistent iron performance is something I have built my golf course strategy around. In general forgiveness > workability. Which leads me to what I am most curious about in this test:

• Does the vgI01 have enough forgiveness for it to be my full-time gamer? I was torn on which one I would want to test but ultimately the looks of the I01 won out. I was reassured that it was a hollow body design and the increased face length. I have played a handful of rounds with a set of Callaway Apex Pros (2014s I think) when visiting one of my friends and have enjoyed them. Will I be able to find round in/round out performance and consistency with a club outside of the game improvement category.
• How do they look and sound? These are of course subjective but you want clubs that sound good and look good in the bag when someone else is taking a peak at what’s in your bag. Look good, feel good, play good. The pictures look great, love the pop of color than can be added but how do they look in person.
• What does my shot shape look like? I have not hit a ton of irons other than my gamers so there is some curiosity on if I have built my golf swing around the irons. I prefer a draw with my irons but honestly, I’m completely fine playing a cut/fade. As I said earlier, I’m a fairly high launch, high spin player and interested in seeing how much of that is my swing and how much is playing game improvement clubs that are designed to help with this. The minimal offset also intrigues me in potentially helping avoid some snaphooks.
• Spin Numbers. This is addressed in the above but I do have a garage set-up with a garmin r10 and really interested to see some side by side data. I know the r10 isn’t perfect but works well enough to see some trends.
• How do they play on different types of courses? I play a wide range of courses from walking the local munis to the occasional private course invite and everything in between. Michigan has a wide range of golf course styles and I want a club that handles different turfs and conditions well. Love that it has the sole grind similar to Srixon irons that I have rented on vacations.
• Gapping Between irons/wedges and irons/woods? I'm curious about gapping iron to iron as well but I'm already in a spot where I have a bigger gap that I would like between my 50 degree and PW. I'm glad these clubs aren't super loft-jacked but will be curious if I need to find something that gaps from pw to 50 degree

   

• Will they go in the bag? Probably the biggest question for me since I am looking for new irons. Going in the bag is the ultimate endorsement in my book. They look great and are from a brand I love but at the end of the day my goal is to enjoy my time on the golf course. Irons that perform well and consistently, and hopefully lead to good scores, is the most important factor.

I am looking forward to getting these clubs ordered and testing out! My 4 year old has already given her preferences on her favorite color options and she had as much fun unboxing my clicgear as I did last year, hoping for more of the same this year!

 

Virtual Fitting and Club Selection

To start I've never had a true fitting. Two years ago I went to a demo day and they gave me some specs but my swing has changed a ton since. I have gone from a very out-to-in path to fairly in-to-out, particularly with my irons. So there was a lot of conversation around getting a good set-up to avoid the big right-to-left/snaphook miss. I am feeling as comfortable with my swing as ever, so it was nice to build the club around the swing rather than the other way. The team was great to talk with, super conversational and you can tell they know, love and have confidence in their product. Through the conversation, going with the VGI01 was confirmed and built from there. My overall aesthetic is far from flashy but I don't mind a bit of color, so after consulting my design expert (my 4 year old daughter), I knew I was going to go with the Lime Green accent. I think its the perfect pop of color.

Overall set-up will be 4-pw VGI01's with Steel 105g S flex, black midsize grip, black ferrule and bent a couple degrees flat to limit the big left miss. Pretty standard, clean set-up for me but thats what I want to see at set-up. I think these will look great in the bag and I will feel confident with how they look behind the ball. Alex talked highly about the 4 iron replacing his 3 iron which has me intrigued and thinking through what my overall bag set-up will be while testing them. I mentioned at the top too, but it will be interesting to track my shot shape. During the community call vice did and a decent amount of the messaging is about these clubs promoting a draw shot shape due to the light clubhead. I already tend to play this shot shape, particularly with my irons. How will the adjustments made to my set-up play on the course? I like playing a draw and usually my snaphook comes into play when I'm rushing through a swing or really trying to step on one. I'm hopeful the set-up (flatter lie, midsize grips) will give me the confidence and comfortability to play my shot with a smooth swing. The lofts are a touch stronger and the clubs are 10 years newer, so not too worried about distance and shouldn't feel like I need to force more. 

Now the wait begins. It should be the perfect amount of time for me to finish up a couple house projects I have to be able to use my garage hitting set-up again. Between my garmin r10 and shotscope data, I should be able to give a pretty good side-by-side comparison.  The service has been great so far and seems to be something the vice team prides themselves in. There are so many players in the golf equipment game that it's the extras that differentiate brands such as customization options and customer service.

 I have some pretty fun golf lined up in late July/early August.   Hope to have gotten the feel of these irons and see how they handle a variety of golf courses.

 

Edited 13 hours ago by dback

[gingerbeast87]

Introduction:

First of all, I would like to thank both MGS and Vice for selecting me for this test.  I have been drooling over these clubs for a while now and have a feeling I will continue to do so when they arrive.

 

My name is Ryan, I play out of Bristol UK.  My favorite club to play is coincidentally the one I work at on the weekends, Woodlands golf and country club in Bradley Stoke.  I have been playing properly for almost 2 years now and have found that no matter what, no two rounds of golf are the same.  I have managed to get my handicap to 21.4 so far this playing season, and hope to get it lower (down to 18/19 if I can) by the end of the year.  I play as often as I can, I tend to do Sundays most weeks and if I can I tend to get out once or twice a week in the evening after work.  I am one of those fortunate guys whose wife also enjoys playing golf, so I am never alone when I go and can always rely on her to keep me company and caddy for me.

 

●             What are your plans for the review and comparisons?

So I currently use a set of Cobra F8 irons.  They were my second set of clubs after my little Slazenger set that I used to use for knock abouts on the local pitch and putt or down the range.  I have found them to be a really good set of clubs for starting out.  I have 5-GW in the F8’s and use a set of Rife wedges for SW and LW.  I guess the main thing I am looking for out of these clubs is to see how I do with them, will they perform better than my Cobras? The Vice clubs certainly use different tech to the cobras, opting for a 2-piece cast head instead of the hollow back of the Cobras.

●             How do you want to test this product?

For the first week of having the clubs I will be putting some time in at the range to get used to the feel of the clubs.  I will be aiming so see how the do for average distances compared my existing clubs.  I will also be trying so see how they do for distance control. Can I modify my shots with them to get better height/softer drops/lower longer shots? I will hopefully also be able to get some time in the simulator near me to see how they compare on generating spin compared to the Cobra F8’s. 

After the first week I will be heading straight to the course for the real hands-on testing.  Already have dispensation from management (the wife) to go and play golf as much as I can to test them fully, and boy howdy do I intend to!!

●             What will make this product stay with you after testing?

For me it will mostly come down to how they feel on the course.  Vice offers a virtual fitting service so you can tailor the clubs to your individual needs so I look forward to seeing if there are any adjustments that need to be made for my play.  Of course, we all know that looks will come into it as well, and to be fair, they are some sexy looking clubs, largely customizable through the options as well as looking good on their own.

 

●             Why are you excited about testing this product?

I have never had a set of clubs that look half as decent as the Vice VGI02’s.  I love the faux map contour pattern on the back of the club, it has a sleek design, and it just looks so good.  I have seen some reviews on these clubs online already and they are just spanking it! Five-star reviews on so many sites have built up my expectations and hopes so high!

Here is a snap of the green clubs, I like them the most as that little splash of colour gives them an edge.

 

You are able to properly customise the clubs as well, from coloured rubber grips to coloured corded grips for the firmer hand, you can even choose the colour of your ferrule too for that little additional touch.  They offer flexible different coloured carbon shafts, or stiffer steel shafts. You can even modify how may layers of grip tape you need to adjust the width of the grip!

●             What do you know about the product already?

So, I have been trawling the website since I saw the initial call for testers and have found a fair bit out about them, they are a two-piece cast head, weighted slightly more towards the back of the club to keep the fact a little more closed. The website offers different weighted shafts depending on your needs, and a lighter head to help up the speed through the swing.  The website also offers modifications to the loft and lie, so if the basic set up doesn’t quite suit your requirements, you can change it.

As a comparison I grabbed the standard lofts/lies from the website as you can see, they don’t vary massively to the Cobra F8’s but there is more of a difference in the lie.  I look forward to seeing how they compare especially considering my slight proclivity towards a fade (vice on the left cobra on the right):

 

●             What are your expectations?

So here we go folks, looking forward to getting these ordered and shipped.  The website says 4 weeks for estimated delivery times so there may be a little radio silence until then.  We have all yet to order the clubs as we are waiting so see if it is going to be 5-PW or if it will be 5-SW.  Once everything is ordered I’ll let you all know.

If you’ve got any questions or things you would like to see during the test cycle please give me a holler!!

 

Speak soon folks

 

Ryan Gardiner

 

The Fitting Session

 

Good Evening Folks,

 

Was lucky enough to have my virtual fitting this evening.  Was a really nice call with Jamie from the forum, Alex and Wade from Vice.  I have never had a fitting before so it was a new experience.  We went over my state of play, how often i play, what my flaws are, where i tend to send the ball most (off to the right if you were wondering).  You could clearly see how much passion Alex has for the brand and the clubs throughout the call.  

Once we had gone over the questions to determine what would suit my current state of play Alex went through what would likely work best. We started by going over what clubs would be better for my current skill level and state of play.  As i am a higher handicap golfer they leaned to the VGI02 which works well for me as i think they are the prettier of the two styles, and also the ones that have been described as better for someone with a higher handicap or is newer to golf.  They very generously allowed me to go for the lime green backed clubs which will go with my new golf bag perfectly!!!

The team advised that the graphite shafts would be the best for my swing speed as it means i might be able to have a bit more control over the swing.  He believes that this might also help me close the face a little and reduce the chances of sending the ball off to the right (advice that i would take any day of the week!!).  I also had to provide my height and the distance from my wrist crease to the ground when my arm hangs loosely down.  This will aid them in deciding the right club length. When it came to choosing my shaft i thought, "definitely got to make these look unique".  So I have followed up with the lime green 95g graphite shaft.

 

We then went over what grip would be best by getting me to put my hand up by my head, asking what size glove i tend to use, and what size of grip i currently use.  All of this lead us down the road of a standard grip, and in order to balance out the bright colours i have gone for the black grip.  I think the black along with the bright green will work really well.

And the final customisation is the ferrule, I have gone for a nice dark green one which i hope will fit with the rest of the colour options nicely.

So there is a rough idea of what the clubs are going to look like on arrival.  I'm not saying i am super excited but i don't know how i am going to sleep in between now and when the clubs arrive.  Delivery times are probably going to be in between 2-4 weeks so if i have not succumbed to excitement driven sleep deprivation I will be ready to roll then!!

Some great advice from Jamie on the call was to make sure i spend a good amount of time at the range when the clubs turn up in order to get used to them.  Because i am going to be going from the steel shafts of my Cobra King F8's to the graphite shafts on the Vice VGI02's it may take me a little time to get used to the change.  So expect to see some good dispersion patterns adn feedback from the driving range when they arrive.

 

The next step will be the unboxing on arrival, so sleep tight folks and see you then!!

Edited 15 hours ago by gingerbeast87
fitting update

[Splatt]

Placeholder

[sirchunksalot]

Congratulations everyone! This will be an interesting test to see what Vice is bringing to the table as far as irons. If they play as good as they look, I think you'll be in for a treat. 

[Northern Monkey]

Congrats. These irons look lovely so interested to see how they perform

[ParFore74x]

Congratulations testers! Great opportunity to see what Vice is bringing to the table for their iron game. 

[buckpillar]

Congratulations to the testers, can’t wait to read about your findings

[Bad Golfer]

Congratulations Testers! It will be interested to see how these irons compare with other irons out there.

[Cfhandyman]

Congratulations to the well chosen testers and with an international flavour to boot.  So everyone’s question, can these beautiful looking irons deliver the goods. If so, Vice will have another hit on its hands. Good luck and look forward to the reviews. 

[JAYER38]

Cant wait to see the results of this! Congrats to all testers

[MattWillGolf]

Congratulations testers! I’m really intrigued with Vice’s entry into the iron space. Looking forward to watching this one.

[TJ Hall]

Congratulations testers!  Really looking forward to hearing your feedback on these irons!

[spikyash]

Congrats to all testers

[ZackS]

Congrats testers 

[Swood1994]

Congratulations testers! These irons look amazing hopefully they perform as good as they look!

[CSiders12]

Congrats testers! Jealous of yall, but will be keeping a close eye on this one. Test em well!

[Marty2shanks]

Congrats!  Really appreciate all the reviews of the DTC brands.

[Triple_Putt]

Congrats everyone! Looking forward to seeing how you hit them!

[RGB 1022]

Congrats All.    I am so interested to hear how these irons hit.   Love Vice products in general

[Joey2Putts]

Can’t wait to see how they perform! Congrats to the winning testers!

[That’s Mr. Dirt]

First, the Panthers win game seven and now this. I think I’ll stay home today. All kidding aside, congratulations to the selectees. I will be awaiting their reports with great anticipation and hopefully full bank account.

Edited Tuesday at 12:52 PM by That’s Mr. Dirt
Grammar

[a802313]

Should be interesting!  Congrats!!  Look forward to the review. 

[BrianQ]

Congratulations! Pound a way and give em a go!

[Jean D]

Congrats to all!  Looking forward to seeing how these irons make out - not a brand that has much visibility or buy-in here in Canada, so very interested in this one.

[Zgrabby11]

Congrats testers! Interested to see how these irons will stack up versus the big name brands!

[tdc1]

Congrats, Testers!  I'm a bit conflicted over the look of the clubs but, ultimately, performance is always more important than shelf appeal.  Looking forward to seeing the results.

[BobBC78]

Congratulations testers! Interesting that Vice is becoming a full line golf brand; can't wait to see what you all think.

[TerryMac]

Congratulations!  Can’t wait to hear what you all think!