New Level 480 Irons - 2024 Forum Review

[Bzuniga]

Congratulations to the testers selected! Looking forward to results on this one!

[ColdOkieGolf]

Great looking irons.   I'm really interested to read the feedback from the testers.  Hoping these are as good as they look!

[Jawmusique]

Congrats everyone!

[Josh Ross]

Thanks everyone! Really looking forward to this one!

[JayDubbzz]

Don't know much about this brand. Wondering if I need it on my radar. Congrats testers!

[RichL85]

Looking forward to these reviews. These irons look great and I love the shaft options that are available, especially the number of choices for no upcharge. 

[ManBeard]

Congrats guys, really looking forward to seeing what you guys think! 

[Erin B]

2 hours ago, Owengeorge13 said:

480db are legit! 

Man I’m jealous 

[Derek9rx]

Congrats fellas 

[PPP]

Congrats

[sirchunksalot]

Congratulations testers! 

This looks to be a well rounded and diverse group getting to put the New Level irons to the test. 

[Lefty11]

Congratulations testers!  Have fun.

[cksurfdude]

6 hours ago, Owengeorge13 said:

480db are legit! 

Without getting too far off topic, am curious as to your impressions of them vs the Apex? 

..I have one DCB 7i (ok) and one CF16 PW (love it) in my practice bag

[Owengeorge13]

24 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Without getting too far off topic, am curious as to your impressions of them vs the Apex? 

..I have one DCB 7i (ok) and one CF16 PW (love it) in my practice bag

My apex 21’s go father (stronger loft by two degrees).  I have KBS tgi 80 in my apex.

480db go about 5-10 yards shorter.  But have completely gotten rid of a left miss (hook).  But I do have a steelfiber 80i in those that are supposed to get rid of a left miss.

the 480db look and feel great.  I would say they are the same size as a P790 (give or take).  They are not hollow, they feel very solid.  They also have leading edge relief that does great through turf as well on thin shots.  They do look a tad bit small for me in the 4,5,and 6.  I do have a combo set for my apex. Apex 21 A-6, apex dcb 6,5.  The size in those irons have taken some time getting used to.

[Owengeorge13]

7 minutes ago, Owengeorge13 said:

My apex 21’s go father (stronger loft by two degrees).  I have KBS tgi 80 in my apex.

480db go about 5-10 yards shorter.  But have completely gotten rid of a left miss (hook).  But I do have a steelfiber 80i in those that are supposed to get rid of a left miss.

the 480db look and feel great.  I would say they are the same size as a P790 (give or take).  They are not hollow, they feel very solid.  They also have leading edge relief that does great through turf and on thin shots.  They do look a tad bit small for me in the 4,5,and 6.  I do have a combo set for my apex. Apex 21 A-6, apex dcb 6,5.  The size in those irons have taken some time getting used to.

 

[Glenmore5]

Well done to all...looking forward to the results....

[CSiders12]

I got my first little taste of the testing opportunity yesterday afternoon! I got a call from the Master Fitter at New Level to go over my specs for building the clubs to suit my game best. I have been fit for many clubs previously, so I knew my specs already, but the Master Fitter was very knowledgeable and helpful. 

First, he asked me to explain my golf game a bit to him. He asked if I held a handicap and what my strengths and weaknesses were on the course. I am currently around a 2 handicap with ball striking being the best attribute of my game. With my handicap and my ball striking, he agreed that the 480-TC head would best suit my game. He explained that the 480-TC provides some added forgiveness in comparison to the MB version, however, would still provide the workability needed to shape shots. 

For my specs, he asked what shaft I currently played, and whether I liked it or wanted to change it. I currently play KBS S-Taper X shafts which I love. I decided to stick with those shafts in the 480-TC irons and have gotten them cut down by -1/4". I am a standard loft and lie, so no adjustments there. 

Overall, he said this build would be very easy and should have them done by the end of the week. The phone call was efficient and effective which I appreciated. For a virtual fitting, I would say this was effortless on my part and one of the easiest experiences I have ever had with a fitting process. 

[Shrek74]

23 minutes ago, CSiders12 said:

I got my first little taste of the testing opportunity yesterday afternoon! I got a call from the Master Fitter at New Level to go over my specs for building the clubs to suit my game best. I have been fit for many clubs previously, so I knew my specs already, but the Master Fitter was very knowledgeable and helpful. 

First, he asked me to explain my golf game a bit to him. He asked if I held a handicap and what my strengths and weaknesses were on the course. I am currently around a 2 handicap with ball striking being the best attribute of my game. With my handicap and my ball striking, he agreed that the 480-TC head would best suit my game. He explained that the 480-TC provides some added forgiveness in comparison to the MB version, however, would still provide the workability needed to shape shots. 

For my specs, he asked what shaft I currently played, and whether I liked it or wanted to change it. I currently play KBS S-Taper X shafts which I love. I decided to stick with those shafts in the 480-TC irons and have gotten them cut down by -1/4". I am a standard loft and lie, so no adjustments there. 

Overall, he said this build would be very easy and should have them done by the end of the week. The phone call was efficient and effective which I appreciated. For a virtual fitting, I would say this was effortless on my part and one of the easiest experiences I have ever had with a fitting process. 

Knowing your specs from previous fittings obviously helped your conversation. But do you feel that he asked enough of the right questions to get proper answers for getting the right heads and shafts if you did not know your specs already?

[Mr. Mushball]

I just got my fitting wrapped up about 45 minutes ago.  I wouldn't call this a virtual fitting, as it was a phone discussion.  Virtual fitting implies to me they are using some remote video analysis to make some determinations.  No video involved here.

What did happen was a very well informed 15-minute conversation.  Simlarly to @CSiders12, the call started off with being asked about my game.  I gave my background with golf (4-years serious play), lack of early instruction, getting on the right path and starting to see results.  Stepped through my current clubs, shot shape, and swing details.  I gave some info on my back injury from my late teens and how that's lead to some swing instability as I tend to stop turning through when it's aggravated.  That lead to questions on shaft length, but in the end deciding to keep things standard to start.  Same regarding lie angle as I'm still working on things and things aren't over-drawing.  The fitter did feel that changing the lie angle a bit to start the ball further right in the future was a relatively easy mod down the road should that be a better setup for me.

In the end, I wound up with a set of 4-PW irons with standard length, standard lie, and the Nippon Modus Tour 105 shafts.  This pretty much matches my current setup shaft and loft wise.  I'm hoping the change to Modus will be an improvement over the current Project X Tour Flighted 105 shafts.

I completely forgot to ask for one of the colored ferrules, which is what I would have ordered from the site had I gone that route, so I'll probably end up with the stock black.   That never detracts from the look.  I should be getting them early next week, either Monday or Tuesday.  

Edited August 7 by Mr. Mushball

[Owengeorge13]

@CSiders12 @Mr. Mushball

were you able to order irons in the new dark finish?

[ClarkWGriswoldIII]

I had my phone fitting this afternoon.  It went very well.  The fitter really seemed to know his stuff.

The fitting took about 15 minutes.  We discussed my history with the game, my current set and the strength and weaknesses of my game.  I was able to find the Trackman numbers from my last iron fitting (about three years ago) which gave us some baselines with respect to swing speed, ball speed, distance, spin rate, etc.  We also reviewed things like my shot shape and trajectory.

After this very thorough discussion, I ended up with 480 DB irons, 5 iron through pitching wedge, UST Mamiya Recoil Smacwrap 760 F3 shafts, standard grips, logo up.  I've always fitted with a standard lie so we stuck with that and the Recoil shafts are very similar to the shafts in my current Mizuno JPX921 irons.

The irons will be assembled tomorrow (Thursday) and shipped out Friday.

 

 

[CSiders12]

Knowing your specs from previous fittings obviously helped your conversation. But do you feel that he asked enough of the right questions to get proper answers for getting the right heads and shafts if you did not know your specs already?

That's a good question... he seemed kind of surprised that I was as knowledgeable as I was, as he said this was an easy build compared to others. In terms of choosing a shaft via phone call, I have a hard time believing anyone could choose the perfect shaft without swinging with the shaft. That's why I went with my current shaft, as I know how it performs. If I was trying to switch shafts, I would want to go in and swing them.

For the correct iron heads, I think he asked enough questions to make an accurate decision as to what head fits my game. I explained that I didn't want clubs going too far, as I've hit cavity back irons before carrying a 7 iron well over 200 yards. I'm looking for consistent distances and better dispersion. With that information, he agreed that the TC iron head should fit my game well.

[CSiders12]

[mention=120465]CSiders12[/mention] [mention=109250]Mr. Mushball[/mention]
were you able to order irons in the new dark finish?

Not to my knowledge. I was not given a choice of the finish in my conversation, however, I also didn't ask about that choice. They look beautiful though!

[Josh Ross]

Hey guys, just wanted to update everyone on my fitting experience with Mr. David Rhoden from New Level Golf. 

I had a nice 15 minute call with David and like the others have said, the call started off with him getting to know me and my golf game. Seeing as I was a fitter for Edison and dealt only with fitting over the phone, I had a good feeling with how the call would go. David was awesome to deal with and we settled on a full 4-PW set of 480-TC. We discussed a blended set but the offset of the DB model was too much for me. I recently went through a shaft fitting as I was looking to change the shafts in my irons and with some feedback from David, we decided that the KBS C-Taper Lite was a great option for me, but we're going to soft-step them to achieve the perfect flex. The C-Taper Lite plays almost a flex stiffer than what is on the label and I'm always between a S and X flex, so we went with the S flex and soft-stepped them to achieve that. The lofts are also much weaker than my current irons when looking at the longer irons, so we went 1° strong to get that a little closer. Thankfully they have the only grip I can use, the GolfPride Z Grip Cord, so they're throwing those on there for me and they should be going out by Friday!

6 hours ago, Owengeorge13 said:

@CSiders12 @Mr. Mushball

were you able to order irons in the new dark finish?

I did inquire about the new Desert Eclipse finish. While David said he figured it would be fine, he emailed today to let me know that the finish wasn't available for our testing so we'll all be getting the chrome version. 

[Mr. Mushball]

9 hours ago, CSiders12 said:

Not to my knowledge. I was not given a choice of the finish in my conversation, however, I also didn't ask about that choice. They look beautiful though!

Same.  We didn't talk about looks at all.  On the website you can choose various grips, but not colors specifically.  The Modus shaft comes in both a chrome and a matte black, which would be killer with the black heads, but again probably not a stock option.  Also, the ferrule never came up in our conversation, which is a customization you can do on the site.  I think I personally wouldn't go with the black heads unless I could fully coordinate the colors.

[Josh Ross]

Tracking updated, my new irons should be here late Wednesday evening! I did ask about the custom ferrules that they offer. I've had BB&F ferrules once before, looking forward to seeing how the Blue Ice colorway looks in person. 

[JAYER38]

Congrats to all the selected testers! This is a test I'm very excited to see.

[ClarkWGriswoldIII]

The clubs are "on the truck", to arrive Tuesday, August 13 between 2:45 P.M. - 4:45 P.M.

[Mr. Mushball]

Mine too!  Got a surprise call yesterday from their shipping guy confirming my address and telling me they were shipping out last night.  Hope they come in earlier!

[Mr. Mushball]

14 hours ago, Josh Ross said:

Tracking updated, my new irons should be here late Wednesday evening! I did ask about the custom ferrules that they offer. I've had BB&F ferrules once before, looking forward to seeing how the Blue Ice colorway looks in person. 

That's the color I would have picked if I had bothered to remember to ask.  However, with the coloring on the Modus shafts I probably stuck with black or the black-white gradient instead.  Curious what you think about them, and if you notice the color pop in your swing through.