Vice Golf Irons - 2024 Forum Review

[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  

Thinking about the testing:

I compared the lofts from my other sets of irons and there isn’t much difference. So really all in all they should compare quite nicely. With the scoring clubs a little weaker they should give me a little more height and stopping power. But we will find out. That’s what the testing is all about right.

The actual lofts are:

I’m interested in the sound and feel. Since these are hollow body and not filled with foam or neoprene, will they sound pingy, dull, or crisp? Without the fill material the clubs should have a little more rebound in the face as well. 

Key characteristic claims:

Developed with insights from millions of data sets from normal golfers; An Iron Set that delivers forgiveness without compromising on performance.

- Triple forged head + milled finish

·      Lighter head weight design to increase swing speed and improve shaft-head-balance

·      Low offset and thin topline with increased face length for improved forgiveness

·      2-piece hollow body construction to create one of the hottest faces in golf

I like to start my testing from the green and work backwards just like I would test a ball. Chipping, pitching, then move back to full shots and then longer irons. The chipping part will be a little harder to test. Most of my chipping is with a Gap Wedge and this set stops at the PW. I’m going to work on using the PW from now until the Vice clubs arrive. My goal is 10 shots per task and remove any outliers. I will use the Mevo to gather the data once I get into the full shots. Data is great for those data junkies out there but I’m more of a performance in the field kind of guy. Hitting off a mat in the simulator or at the range is different than playing conditions. How will these perform out of the rough, tight lies, normal lies, divots, and so on.

I will set up certain distances and hit into a green doing some head-to-head testing with a few different clubs. Distance variance, trajectory, and dispersion will be what I’m looking for. Then try off of different type of lies. (rough, tight lies, wet grass) 

We did get notified that our orders are getting ready to ship. So, the excitement is escalating.  
 

The clubs have arrived and here is a little unboxing for your viewing pleasure.
 

Edited July 20 by Tom the Golf Nut
Added unboxing

[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.

Unboxing, before taking any swings

The pictures show it better than I could describe but they look great. I’ve been looking to upgrade my irons and models like the takomo 101t/jpx tours/Srixon zx5 – irons with a thinner topline but enough weight and tech behind the club face to offer some forgiveness. The VGI01 absolutely falls in this same category and immediately caught my attention. I think the most impressive part of the tech for me is that it sets-up like a blade (only club I can see the cavity on is the 4 iron at 21 degrees) but enough of a cavity back and big enough clubhead to find a nice balance of looking sleek while still giving confidence.

Nevertheless, my first thoughts actually standing over them were conflicting – they look incredible behind the ball with the thin topline and minimal offset but at the same time had me nervous that my game wasn’t ready for them. However, two things kept me optimistic on forgiveness – they advertised increased face length and the low center of gravity. It’s a little hard to explain and maybe the pictures below can show it but the cavity back is not bulky yet feels substantial. The shape of the cavity, with how wide the middle section of the cavity is and extra material near the toe, allows the club to feel stable and give the confidence of having some forgiveness. I did notice that despite very different technology and being made 10 years apart, there are some common elements to the back of the club – this may be why I feel comfortable with the VGI01 despite the more compact design.

First Swings and Range

There were four primary adjustments going from my old adams xtd irons to the VGI01s.

·        Grip Change – through the fitting went from standard to midsize grips

·        Lighter clubheads

·        Clubs bent two degrees flat

·        The move from game improvement to players/players distance irons

I’m expecting their to be an acclimation period and I felt it my first range session. First range session was a mixed bag, it took sometime to get used to the feel of the clubs, both swinging them and feel off the face. The larger grip and lighter clubhead took some time to adust to and find the lowpoint. The club is definitely lighter than my adams irons and he distribution of the club felt different, not necessarily better or worse, just different. This led to some pretty thin shots out of the gate but also showed right away that a thinned shot is still going to have some help getting up in the air, it will be lower but generally fairly straight. Center contact felt good, though tough to fully judge with range balls. While there is some forgiveness to the clubs, mishits are going to see a performance drop-off – which was expected. The flipside being that I was able to feel what the mishit was much better than my game improvement irons. I prefer to play my stock draw shot whenever I can and that was still the ball flight I was seeing on normal swings. Other than massive chunked shots, I found the shot shape and height were more impacted than the distance – I can live with that as golf is so often about limiting variables. All-in-all I felt good but was definitely nervous about how they would translate over to the course.

Example of what a common miss looks like for me

On Course

The next day I went to a local 9 hole course while leaving my driver, 3 wood and hybrid at home. Shorter course but classic Michigan, through the woods golf. We had a group behind us so I didn’t get much chance to hit multiple shots but the round went well. Actually playing a round of golf and using non-range balls. Center strikes feel great and the ball pops off the club face. I found myself excited that I kept getting to hit long irons off the tee because almost every tee shot was a high, easy draw. I had one overdraw on me and one that was straight as an arrow leading to a right rough miss. Overall shot a 5 over round with 71% of fairways hit and 56% of greens in regulation. Fairway percentage was considerably higher than my average on the year and half the greens missed were more distance related which is to be expected with a new set of irons.

Edited August 2 by dback
Added unboxing/first impressions

[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!!

 

Unboxing Review

 

The Packaging

First impressions of the packaging are good.  The box build is very sturdy, it has a clever design pattern built of contour lines to create a pattern of hills with the “Wunderkind” front and center.  The graphics inside the box are also nice, and tie in well to the multitude of adverts for the clubs that have been popping up on my YouTube feed over the past few weeks :D. The packaging around the clubs is minimal but robust and very fit for purpose.  Each of the clubs are secured with a frame of cardboard, and the heads are protected by a sheath of bubble wrap. One thing that I like is that apart from the bubble wrap cover, all of the packaging is recyclable so nothing is needlessly thrown away!

Club Aesthetics

As I opened the box the bright color of the shafts pop out at the eye, lime green was definitely the way to go.  I chose the dark green ferrule to add a little contrast to the bright green of the shafts and club backs.  Once the protective covers come off of the heads the backs show their colors wonderfully.  The design on the back is really clever as well, mirroring the box’s use of contour lines to create a really unique look.

 

The overall shape of the club head is one that is nicely rounded and of soft edges.  One thing I noticed is that the hosel is slightly shorter on the wedges but longer on the irons than the ones on my existing clubs (I used my sand wedges to give an idea below).

  

 

I also noticed that the sand wedge doesn’t seem to have the same rounded backing on the foot as my Rife wedges. The design seems slightly more squared off.  It will be interesting to see how this will work in the sand traps.

 

 

The shafts of the club are also longer than my existing ones.  As I have never been fitted for clubs before, I am excited to see how the change affects my game.

 

 

Weight-wise I found the approach wedge was a total of 16g lighter than my existing Cobra King F8’s.  I am hoping that the lighter shaft combined with the weight of the head helps keep the head down on the swing.

I put the two approach wedges next to each other and could see at rest that the Vice wedge was slightly more open than the Cobra.  It’s a bit more noticeable to the eye than in the picture.  I look forward to seeing if that will help get the ball up and get it stopping any quicker than when I use the Cobras.

 

The Flaws

I had to look really hard to find any problems with the clubs but I spotted a couple of minor flaws on a couple of the club heads.  On the approach wedge I spotted a small chunk missing from the back along one of the edges, and on another club there looked like some discoloration in one of the contour lines on the design section of the back.  But these are two minute blemishes on an otherwise beautiful set of clubs:

 

 

How does the overall look come together?

Overall, the look is one that is bound to turn some heads at the course and get people asking about the clubs. The bright design, the unique heads, and the overall sleek design is going to cause a flare up of the old green-eyed monster in a few golfers.

 

 

I am heading to the driving range tomorrow (have been very restrained and have not rushed out this evening to start hitting balls).  Will give you all the first impressions tomorrow evening or Wednesday evening depending on how long I end up staying up there :D.

 

Have a great evening everyone, speak soon.

Edited August 5 by gingerbeast87
fitting update

[Splatt]

G’day Golfers,

First off a huge thanks for MyGolfSpy and Vice Golf for this huge opportunity.
Vice Golf products always have a certain personality and swagger to them and these irons are no different!!

About me

I go by the handle Splatt on here, which is a combination of my first initial and my surname.
A lucky coincidence is that it’s also the sound my golf ball makes when I slice one into the water hazard!

I’ve been playing golf for around 6 years now ever since getting hooked when I had to attend a corporate golf day for work.
Over that time I’ve had 2 sets of irons (soon to be 3), the first set I borrowed from a friend the week after getting hooked so I could get straight back out on to the course. I can’t remember the brand of them now, but what I can tell you is that they would have been old when my dad was a kid and they were so thin you could easily julienne a carrot with a few whacks.
My next set of irons, and the ones I will be comparing the Vice Irons to, are Callaway Warbirds which are about as basic, no-frills, beginner set of irons as you can get. They came as a set with a Warbird driver, wood, hybrid, 4 to SW, putter, and a bag all for a very low and reasonable price. Over time everything in that bag has been upgraded except the irons.
Now it’s time to say goodbye to those and welcome some new irons into the bag.

How I plan to test the irons

Hit balls, balls, and more balls.

Volume will be the name of the game here. I plan on hitting the driving range with both sets for a direct comparison, both my local outdoor grass range and also the indoor sim for some numerical data.
As well as that, I will be playing as much golf as I can possibly fit in over a variety of courses and time of day. I’ve already pre-warned the wife that the opportunity to test these irons is one I do not take lightly and I need to get in as much time on the course as possible.

With great irons to test comes great responsibility

 

The remote fitting

Last Friday night I had the pleasure of jumping onto a video call with Benny and Alex from Vice Golf for a virtual fitting. I’ve never had a fitting before so I had no idea what to expect, but the guys ran through everything like professionals.
We talked through my golf game in detail with Benny asking questions that, through his years of fitting experience, could guide him to the info he requires to ensure my irons will fit perfectly for my game.
Benny was very knowledgeable, and we left no stone unturned even touching on lie angle, shaft length, and grip type.

The irons:

·         Vice Golf VGI02 irons (I need all the help I can get) 5I to SW

·         Whiz Steel 90g by True Temper – Regular Flex

·         Lamkin UTX Cord Grip in Green

·         Lime green ferrule to bring it all together

It is still to be seen how well the remote fitting has worked compared to an in-person fitting, but Benny has me very confident that I’m going to get a set of irons well suited to me.

Now the long wait for the postage to Australia.

The Arrival and Unboxing

My phone went *ping* at around 6.30am one morning, I checked it wiping the sleep from my eyes and saw a shipping notification that the clubs were out for delivery. And so began one of the longest days of my life.
Around 3.30pm, after a whole day pacing around, there was a knock at the door and long slender package (big enough to fit a set of golf clubs inside) was there waiting for me. 

Everything was boxed perfectly and it made it all the way from Europe to Australia without a scratch. There was only one problem, I had only received box 1 of 2.
Fedex's issue, not Vice.

The bag looked pretty lonely with only wedges, a hybrid, driver and a putter. Kinda looks like a set-up DeChambeau would use.

Not to worry, the remaining box arrived the next day.

 

Initial thoughts

It's hard to do these irons justice in photos, they look amazing in real life.
Very classic looking with muscle back vibes. The topography detail in the slight cavity on the back of the club head is incredibly unique looking and give the clubs a modern feel.

I went for the Lamkin UTX Corded grips and they feel amazing. Super tacky and comfortable, they almost make me feel like I could play without a glove.

Before hitting my first ball with them, I had a loose swing with them in the back garden.
The head felt much lighter than I was anticipating, a huge contrast to the cheapy irons I had previously, but not in a bad way.
They feel light but controllable and turn over quite nicely. I did some keepy-ups with an old golf ball in the back yard and the face feels lightning quick. Thin, and trampolining the ball much more than my old set.

I can't wait to get these onto the course!!

Quick note, as I was getting used to the feel in the backyard, I noticed there was something about the 5-iron that looked far more intimidating down at address than the rest of the irons. 
It is the same blade length as the rest of the set, but it is much narrower.
I know irons get narrower was the loft decreases, but it didn't seem this pronounced in my previous set.
Time to get out the tape measure.
You'll see below both SW from the old set to the vice measure 60mm at the widest point, however my old 5-iron only went down to 55mm, however the Vice 5-iron goes down to 50mm. 
It feels far more blade-y at address than the rest of the clubs. But, that's not the end of the world, lets see how they perform.

 

First round

Now, some would say it's not smart to put a whole new set of irons into the bag for your social clubs first championship round, clubs that, since I hadn't had a chance to get to the range, I had absolutely zero idea how far they went!
Nay sayers be damned! Let's give it a red hot crack!

Immediately, I noticed that these irons are very easy to launch. 
Height on a golf shot is something I have struggled with and on the first hole I had an 8 iron (my old 8-iron distance) into the first green with a tree in my way around half way to the green; I grabbed the Vice 9-iron and launched the ball clearing the tree that was in my way and landed pin high-ish just off the right of the green.
Tiger Woods wouldn't be happy, but I was thrilled! With my old set I would have clipped that tree for certain!

 

The next thing I noticed, and also something my playing partners noticed, was the sound of these irons.
They have a powerful 'THUD' to them despite the hollow interior and a well hit strike gives off a sound that makes it sound like the ball will never stop flying. Quite genuinely, after the first couple of decent contact strikes it actually made me concentrate more over the ball because I wanted to hear that sweet sound again.

I'm going to say I did this on purpose, but of course I had to try them out of the bunker.
Again, the sound of a well clipped shot was music to my ears. In fact, the only bunker that took me 2 shots to clear was one where I was using my old 58 degree wedge which is still in the bag.

By the end of the round I was thrilled with the irons and I can't wait to get to the range to hit them some more.
My confidence with them grew over the round as I hit some far from perfect shots but still ended up with a decent result. 
Oh, and that 5-iron I was intimidated by is an absolute rocket off the tee. My driver had better watch it's back!

Next up is many trips to the range and also a trip to my local simulator with my old irons in tow to get some comparison data.
Be back soon.

 

Small update (few range sessions and 9 holes)

I've had a fair few range sessions now with these irons and the biggest thing that impresses me was one of the first thing I noticed during the initial round; these irons are seriously easy to launch!
This has really surprised me, because they're marketed as 'Players Distance' Irons, which means lower lofts (more on that in a moment), so before I'd actually hit them I was worried the lower lofts would mean I wouldn't get as much height on the shot, which is something I already struggled with.

Another thing I've noticed, especially at the range, is a tighter dispersion pattern that my old clubs. I'll put that to a real test at the indoor sim soon!! One of the things I practice at the range is picking a distance, say a flag at 100m out, and hitting 10 shots at it. I then count how many are on target and how many are too far off-line. Not super scientific, but I generally gauge it by if it would be fairway or bush.
I hit 10 Approach Wedges to a target around 110m away and there was only 1 that was a bit sketchy, the other 9 I would take any day of the week out on the course.
The other wedges performed the same with the dispersion raising as the lofts went lower.

Quick note from my 9-hole game. 
Like my first game, the irons were the best performing clubs in the bag. My driver was being naughty and kept putting me into the bush (pictured above), but luckily the irons are also great at low lofted punch and chip shots. 
I've still not dialed in the distances on these, so I flew a few greens where I probably should have clubbed down; but boy let me tell you, the flight on those shots as they sailed over the greens were beautiful!

Let's talk about lofts

The VGI02 irons are marketed more towards the player that needs a game improvement iron, although these clubs certainly have a more traditional look to them than clunky game improvement irons.
They're more a players game improvement iron, if you will.

And with that comes lower lofted clubs with a higher MOI for forgiveness.

When I first looked through the lofts of these clubs they intimidated me slightly.
The Vice 6 iron was the same loft as my old 4 iron!
The Vice 7 iron was the same loft as my old 5 iron!
ECT, ECT
It's only when you get to the PW that the lofts start to line up.

As I said, this intimidated me because I've struggled with getting height onto my golf shots, especially as the lofts get lower.
So will that mean that if my current 'go-to' club the 7-iron is now a 5-iron loft am I going to struggle to get this into the air?

No

Even though the lofts are the same, it doesn't mean the Vice 7 is going to go as far as my old 5 iron as the shaft lengths are different, the lie angles are different, ect.
But one thing is it is certainly as easy, if not easier, to get into the air as my old 'higher lofted' 7 iron.

In fact, and we'll test this at the indoor sim, the lower lofted Vice 7 iron launches higher than my old higher lofted 7 iron!

This is thanks to the design of the iron with a high MOI and a low center of gravity, these irons just pop into the air with ease.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 09:03 AM by Splatt

[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 June 25 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!