New Level 480 Irons - 2024 Forum Review

[CSiders12]

@Mr. Mushball @ClarkWGriswoldIII I am happy to see that they have incorporated this into all irons in the 480 lineup. Some brands seem to keep these features for only specific irons, so I'm glad to see this as a standard design.

[Owengeorge13]

I’m testing/reviewing the new MLM2Pro launch monitor.  Only hit the PW today before the sun went down.  Pretty nice group of shots…I’ll be hitting the rest of the 480db on the launch monitor soon enough.

[Owengeorge13]

Just now, Owengeorge13 said:

I’m testing/reviewing the new MLM2Pro launch monitor.  Only hit the PW today before the sun went down.  Pretty nice group of shots…I’ll be hitting the rest of the 480db on the launch monitor soon enough.

Here’s the link if you would like to follow along.

[CSiders12]

10 hours ago, Owengeorge13 said:

I’m testing/reviewing the new MLM2Pro launch monitor.  Only hit the PW today before the sun went down.  Pretty nice group of shots…I’ll be hitting the rest of the 480db on the launch monitor soon enough.

That's a pretty nice dispersion pattern! Those numbers are pretty consistent and it looks that way by looking at the dispersion as well. I'm glad the irons and the launch monitor are working out for you!

[CSiders12]

I hit another range session this evening and really enjoyed it. I was playing with @Intriguing and mentioned that these irons are the first irons I've ever had that I am confident hitting when pulling a 4 or 5 iron. Low lofted irons have typically been the bane of my golf existence, but that is no longer with these clubs. I don't know what it is, but I love the look of the irons. They instill confidence in me when standing over the ball. I'm excited to continue using them and getting a true feel for the clubs.

[Intriguing]

I hit another range session this evening and really enjoyed it. I was playing with [mention=127645]Intriguing[/mention] and mentioned that these irons are the first irons I've ever had that I am confident hitting when pulling a 4 or 5 iron. Low lofted irons have typically been the bane of my golf existence, but that is no longer with these clubs. I don't know what it is, but I love the look of the irons. They instill confidence in me when standing over the ball. I'm excited to continue using them and getting a true feel for the clubs.

I would agree! Golf with Cory a lot and this is the first time there is true confidence in every iron. Even the miss hits still aren’t bad ones to have. I’m a little jealous myself!


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[Old New Golfer]

On 8/15/2024 at 4:46 PM, CSiders12 said:

I was able to go to Pinseekers, similar to a Top Golf, last night and hit them for the first time. All I can say is that I am impressed. I hit the Pitching Wedge, 7 Iron, and 4 Iron and compared them directly to my current Mizuno JPX 921 Tour irons. The distances were very similar through all of the clubs, but the thing that stood out to me was the consistency of dispersion and carry distance. With my pitching wedge, I hit 5 shots that landed 137, 138, 138, 137, 139. I then moved to the 7 iron where I hit 5 shots that went 168, 168, 167, 171, 169. Lastly, I hit 5 shots with the 4 iron and hit 208, 214, 209, 204 (toe strike), and 211. 

This is exactly what I am looking for when I play with a set of irons. I hit the ball plenty far and am not seeking further distance with my irons. I am more afraid of hitting a flush shot and having it go an extra 10 yards on me. These irons proved that they have consistency across the face and don't have that huge one in it. Something that really comforts me when playing. 

Excuse me if I’m just venting my ego. That’s the biggest thing, consistency. Others have mentioned that with these clubs. I myself am a person who in the old days nailed a one iron Hogan Tour Blade, deadly accurate. Wasn’t easy to do. It’s so satisfying to confidently drop a ball on a pin from any distance out. I’m considering these clubs now due to you people. 
since coming back. I’m put off by all those clubs perverting specs. Extra long, loft, etc. who needs that? They ain’t extended the courses none. Numbers don’t mean nothing with some. 
.

BTW…Read on if you want my dribble. You’re in Iowa City. I pass through there and back, every other week in a truck. You’re just down i80 from the truck circus (i80 truck stop). Just up i380 from you is that new driving range. Your area is notorious for roads getting bad icy. Seen hundreds of cars and dozens of trucks off the road. I rather sandbag it on the way back. It’s because I don’t need to get home in the middle of the night. No Lyft drivers to give me a ride to my house. Maybe we can meet one day? I have to have legitimate parking. I’m hazmat. Can’t pull over on an exit ramp.

[ClarkWGriswoldIII]

On 8/18/2024 at 10:01 PM, CSiders12 said:

Does the DB version also have the grind on the sole of the club? I have found that I am not digging as much and I think that is because of the grind on the sole of the TCs. 

Had another round with the 480 DBs yesterday in unseasonably cool Ohio August weather.  I did not play well, but it wasn't the irons as I had issues missing putts I usually make and did not drive the ball well.  The highlights for the irons were a 6-iron from a really bad downhill lie (my least favorite in all of golf) and a 5-iron punch through some trees.  Both shots came out well and the results were much better than expected and better than I deserved given the shots that put me there.  I seemed to be about a half club short on some shots but I think that could be attributed to the atmospheric conditions. 

[3JackCity]

This Northeast Ohio August was been very cool. Hoping we get some weather going into fall. I am not ready for the season to be over.

[CSiders12]

16 hours ago, Old New Golfer said:

Excuse me if I’m just venting my ego. That’s the biggest thing, consistency. Others have mentioned that with these clubs. I myself am a person who in the old days nailed a one iron Hogan Tour Blade, deadly accurate. Wasn’t easy to do. It’s so satisfying to confidently drop a ball on a pin from any distance out. I’m considering these clubs now due to you people. 
since coming back. I’m put off by all those clubs perverting specs. Extra long, loft, etc. who needs that? They ain’t extended the courses none. Numbers don’t mean nothing with some. 
.

BTW…Read on if you want my dribble. You’re in Iowa City. I pass through there and back, every other week in a truck. You’re just down i80 from the truck circus (i80 truck stop). Just up i380 from you is that new driving range. Your area is notorious for roads getting bad icy. Seen hundreds of cars and dozens of trucks off the road. I rather sandbag it on the way back. It’s because I don’t need to get home in the middle of the night. No Lyft drivers to give me a ride to my house. Maybe we can meet one day? I have to have legitimate parking. I’m hazmat. Can’t pull over on an exit ramp.

I would happily meet up! These clubs are 100% legit and I would recommend them to people serious about getting quality clubs at a better price than the big-name brands. If you got some, would you go with the TC version or the DB version?

[Josh Ross]

I'll be back with an update and hopefully some solid data this weekend. Unfortunately had a family member pass away and will be away for a couple days. 

I will echo what my fellow testers are saying, the consistency continues to impress me. I'm also having an easy time shaping the ball when I want to. So far, these irons have been the perfect blend of forgiveness and workability and that 4 iron is still so fun to hit.

[Old New Golfer]

51 minutes ago, CSiders12 said:

I would happily meet up! These clubs are 100% legit and I would recommend them to people serious about getting quality clubs at a better price than the big-name brands. If you got some, would you go with the TC version or the DB version?

That’s a tough call for me. I’m only getting older. Might be best off with the DB. Attracted to the TC. If I ever get my swing together. My autonomic mind doesn’t remember at all. 

 

51 minutes ago, CSiders12 said:

Edited August 22 by Old New Golfer

[Owengeorge13]

Sale!

I got some more numbers today on the 480db set.  I’ll post later.  I did a range session with the 8 and 6 iron.  The front/back, left/right dispersion is pretty sweet!

[Mr. Mushball]

3 hours ago, Owengeorge13 said:

Sale!

I got some more numbers today on the 480db set.  I’ll post later.  I did a range session with the 8 and 6 iron.  The front/back, left/right dispersion is pretty sweet!

 

This is a sweet deal!  They are already very reasonably priced for the feel, look, forgiveness and downright confidence these clubs bring to your bag.  Drop this by $200 on a full set?  FANTASTIC!

For comaprison, that's the price I paid for my PW-5 set of Callaway Rouge ST MAX irons USED from the Callaway used store.  These clubs are much better for the same price in all categories.

[ColdOkieGolf]

5 hours ago, Owengeorge13 said:

Sale!

I got some more numbers today on the 480db set.  I’ll post later.  I did a range session with the 8 and 6 iron.  The front/back, left/right dispersion is pretty sweet!

Oh dang!   Knowing the level of attention they put into the builds,  it really seems like you'd be hard pressed to find a better price/quality ratio with this sale.

[Old New Golfer]

7 hours ago, Owengeorge13 said:

Sale!

I got some more numbers today on the 480db set.  I’ll post later.  I did a range session with the 8 and 6 iron.  The front/back, left/right dispersion is pretty sweet!

Thank you for posting this. Just got home. Been thinking on clubs. Went ahead and pulled the trigger on a set of TC's. I do wonder what the pitching wedge is?

I also ordered the SPN FF forged wedge in 61 degrees.

I just got the TT Dynamic Gold 300 S shafts. Should be ok.

I was thinking about a U2. I'm a sucker for long irons. I already got my Titleist 2 iron to play with. I can always pick up a U2 or/and a U3 if I want.

 

[Josh Ross]

Well, we made it home safely from the long trip for the funeral. Time to get to bed so I can go out and get some data for you guys tomorrow!

[Mr. Mushball]

Another round in with the 480-DB irons.  Love these so much.  What a difference between these and any other clubs I've had to play with.  So clean, so forgiving, so versatile.  The confidence they give behind the ball makes me believe I can make anything work.  I mean, I'm still a very high handicap, but I do think these clubs are helping me lower my score. 

The shape shots I've hit have worked well, and my mishits have landed much closer to target than with previous clubs.  Both toe and heel strikes have not spun out so much and mostly go straight with a slight push or pull depending on where it's hit.  Sole strikes are as expected and lose some distance, but still energy is transferred to the ball.  I hit a whopper of a stinger on accident with my 7-iron today, and it went much longer than expected and cleared the green.  ShotScope had it at 144 yards total, which is about the best I should expect out of a 7-iron when well struck.  

Sadly, have some last minute travel that needs to be done mid-week, so will have to wait until Thurs-Fri to get on a launch monitor to get some data.  I've seen some posted by a few others, but I think it would be informative to see it from a very high handicap like myself.  I think it will tell a good story about these clubs compared with other results.  My suspicion is that it will be similar, with just a bit wider dispersion as I'm not the best ball striker.

[Josh Ross]

Woke up with a tweak in my knee that kept me from being able to really get after it in my swing but thankfully I was able to hit my wedges with a full swing no problem. I took the 480-TC PW along with my Srixon ZX7 PW to a practice area where I can use my own golf balls and hit 20 shots each (in groups of five). I hit all of these from the only lie available to me which was a slightly longer than usual fairway cut. There is no hard data to this test today, but the results were still interesting to me. I used brand new Maxfli Tour golf balls for this session.

In this test, I used my rangefinder to put myself at 147 yards from the target as this is my usual distance with my Srixon ZX7 PW. I took the best shots from each group and found that the ZX7 was a couple yards longer, but that was where the good news for the Srixon stopped. The 480-TC was way more forgiving, with off-center shots looking more like a good shot than the Srixon mis-hits. The front to back dispersion was insanely tight with the New Level which is so important to me. The ZX7 can sometimes produce flyers that go too long and other times a slight miss causes them to come up shorter than I'd like. It seems with the New Level that the flyers aren't happening and the slight misses are still solid golf shots. The last thing I noticed was that the well-struck shots from the 480-TC had more bite to them, which undoubtedly contributed to the slightly shorter distance. A while back I changed to a ball that doesn't spin as much when I switched to my Edison wedges because there was too much spin. This led me to looking for a little more stopping power on the greens with my irons and so far I am seeing it.

Looking forward to getting some real data soon to back up what I'm seeing on the course! I hope you enjoy another amateur attempt at some cool media!

[ManBeard]

Looking forward to some simulator data! Good job guys, very informative so far, you're doing great. 

[KK44]

Thanks for all the insights fellas! These are really interesting to me and it's great to hear how they stack up against the Mizzy's. I would love some tighter dispersion in a player's iron and if these are close to being as soft as a Mizuno, I'm going to have to take a hard look at these.

[Jawmusique]

It’s cool that they are stacking up so well against other iron companies. 

[ClarkWGriswoldIII]

Another round with DBs tonight.

In this round, the 5 and 6 irons seemed about a half club short of what I am used to with my Mizunos but that's to be expected with the loft differences.  The clubs continue to impress me with consistent distances and flight patterns on even slightly off center strikes.  The only bad strike that seems to lose much distance is the bad toe strike.  Heel strikes and thin strikes tend to maintain their distance.  When I'm not hitting six inches behind it, the clubs get the ball out of all but the worst of lies without many issues.  I can't say that the left/right dispersion to this point is better than my Mizuno JPX921 Hot Metals but the distance dispersion is better.

[Owengeorge13]

6 minutes ago, ClarkWGriswoldIII said:

Another round with DBs tonight.

In this round, the 5 and 6 irons seemed about a half club short of what I am used to with my Mizunos but that's to be expected with the loft differences.  The clubs continue to impress me with consistent distances and flight patterns on even slightly off center strikes.  The only bad strike that seems to lose much distance is the bad toe strike.  Heel strikes and thin strikes tend to maintain their distance.  When I'm not hitting six inches behind it, the clubs get the ball out of all but the worst of lies without many issues.  I can't say that the left/right dispersion to this point is better than my Mizuno JPX921 Hot Metals but the distance dispersion is better.

I’m seeing the same thing with my NL480db.  The 7,6, and 5 are generally five yards less of carry and don’t roll out as far for total distance.  I’m seeing some noteworthy consistency in left to right and front to back dispersion though.  I just posted a range session in the MLM2pro test I’m working on.  I’m hoping to take out my Apex 21’s soon and do some side by side comparison data evaluation.

[ClarkWGriswoldIII]

13 hours ago, Owengeorge13 said:

I’m seeing the same thing with my NL480db.  The 7,6, and 5 are generally five yards less of carry and don’t roll out as far for total distance.  I’m seeing some noteworthy consistency in left to right and front to back dispersion though.  I just posted a range session in the MLM2pro test I’m working on.  I’m hoping to take out my Apex 21’s soon and do some side by side comparison data evaluation.

Comparing my Mizuno JPX921 Hot Metals to the 480DBs, the 5 and 6 irons have a 5 degree difference, the 7 irons have a 4 degree difference, the 8 irons have a 3 degree difference, the nine irons have a 2 degree difference and the wedge has a 1 degree difference.  New Level's philosophy focuses on performance as opposed to tech and loft jacking for distance and so far I would say this bears out.  In reality, if I can hit more greens say with the DB 7 iron than the Mizuno 8 iron, I will take it.  I'm not the guy looking to impress my playing partners with the club I use.

[Erin B]

15 hours ago, Owengeorge13 said:

I’m seeing the same thing with my NL480db.  The 7,6, and 5 are generally five yards less of carry and don’t roll out as far for total distance.  I’m seeing some noteworthy consistency in left to right and front to back dispersion though.  I just posted a range session in the MLM2pro test I’m working on.  I’m hoping to take out my Apex 21’s soon and do some side by side comparison data evaluation.

 

16 hours ago, ClarkWGriswoldIII said:

Another round with DBs tonight.

In this round, the 5 and 6 irons seemed about a half club short of what I am used to with my Mizunos but that's to be expected with the loft differences.  The clubs continue to impress me with consistent distances and flight patterns on even slightly off center strikes.  The only bad strike that seems to lose much distance is the bad toe strike.  Heel strikes and thin strikes tend to maintain their distance.  When I'm not hitting six inches behind it, the clubs get the ball out of all but the worst of lies without many issues.  I can't say that the left/right dispersion to this point is better than my Mizuno JPX921 Hot Metals but the distance dispersion is better.

Man I am so green with envy! I love my NL 902PDs but seeing what you guys are experiencing with the 480s has me salivating! 

[CSiders12]

Thank you for posting this. Just got home. Been thinking on clubs. Went ahead and pulled the trigger on a set of TC's. I do wonder what the pitching wedge is?
I also ordered the SPN FF forged wedge in 61 degrees.
I just got the TT Dynamic Gold 300 S shafts. Should be ok.
I was thinking about a U2. I'm a sucker for long irons. I already got my Titleist 2 iron to play with. I can always pick up a U2 or/and a U3 if I want.
 

That's awesome! I can tell you right now, you will not be disappointed with the TCs. I have really enjoyed playing them so far.

[CSiders12]

So, I have made the decision to move to these irons full-time and put my Mizuno's away. Something about these irons just fits me. The feel, the look, and the confidence I have with them is just too good to pass up. More people need to check into these!

[Erin B]

3 minutes ago, CSiders12 said:

So, I have made the decision to move to these irons full-time and put my Mizuno's away. Something about these irons just fits me. The feel, the look, and the confidence I have with them is just too good to pass up. More people need to check into these!

Next year, my 902PDs are still young!

[cksurfdude]

16 hours ago, CSiders12 said:

So, I have made the decision to move to these irons full-time and put my Mizuno's away. Something about these irons just fits me. The feel, the look, and the confidence I have with them is just too good to pass up. More people need to check into these!

I'm tempted. May go in on a 7i demo...