Nike VR Pro Combo Irons - Forum Testing Review

[huhhh]

Those things look scary to me (pretty...but scary). Was there any intimidation factor coming from the GI's or was it all "these things want to be hit".

 

[TRyan]

Of course - I played the blue & white nines at Prairie Lakes Golf Course (27 hole facility) in Grand Prairie. It is just off of I-20 in south Grand Prairie and several holes play off of Mountain Creek Lake.

mcook, I have played Prarie lakes before, not a bad little course at all. How are the greens holding up in this texas heat?

 

[JB]

Lets keep this one to the irons guys.

 

[#Cookie]

Those things look scary to me (pretty...but scary). Was there any intimidation factor coming from the GI's or was it all "these things want to be hit".

Definitely not an intimidation factor. They just want to be hit and you want to hit them. You know what they are capable of and you want to see if you can make it happen. Once you hit a few good shots, you just want to come back for more. On the bad shots (fat in my case), I am just thinking that I want to figure this out because I know how much they can help my game. There has been a reference to "throwing darts" and that is what it feels like when struck well. Dead straight and tracking!!

mcook, I have played Prarie lakes before, not a bad little course at all. How are the greens holding up in this texas heat?

Send me a PM to keep the thread clean and I can give you all the info you want!

 

[Mardin]

Mcook, are you finding your divots to be smoother with these clubs than your old ones, because of the sharper leading edge?

 

[#Cookie]

Mcook, are you finding your divots to be smoother with these clubs than your old ones, because of the sharper leading edge?

Good question and one that I will need to pay closer attention to. To be honest, I am a picker of the ball and do not usually create a divot unless I hit a fat shot. I can do some comparisons early next week on the range and get back to you. Playing early tomorrow about 80 miles from home so will be out of town without my old clubs with me until Monday.

 

[JB]

I asked on twitter to give a word or phrase that you think of when you hear or see Nike Golf VR Pro Combo.
If you are on twitter, please give a response. Thanks.

 

[Beowulf]

Due to a prior commitment I was not able to get to the range yesterday after I did the unboxing. At about 4 am this morning I was awakened from sleep by the sound of thunder. I got up and checked the radar and forecast and see a large band of rain heading in. I was really angry. I said to heck with it and loaded my bag and headed for Terre Haute(42 miles) to a covered driving range. Here is what transpired:

After warming up I decided to go thru each club from the bottom up. My normal distances for my PW is 135-140. My first couple of swings were short and left about 10 yds. I adjusted my grip slightly to account for this (difference in offset) and bam, well within my norms. The first thing I noticed was a very distinct sound from impact. It was a great rifle like whack. The feel at impact was a little different than my Mizunos as it definitely felt more solid. I liked the feeling. After a few more shots, most pretty close to on target, I inspected the Club face and discovered that I was leaking a bit towards the toe. This could be that there is about 1 inch difference in length of these clubs though both my sets are standard. Again I compensated and again, it worked. Dead center sweet spot. The ball flight was a beautiful med/high arc with little right to left movement.(I am not a natural draw or fade swinger, more on that in a bit) This was repeated for all the blades in the set, except I did lose about 5 yards on the 8i (165)

The split cavities were a pleasant surprise. Again, the first noticeable difference was the sound. I really like the way these sticks craaack! The feel was nearly identical to the blades except on mishits. These almost hurt. What I mean is there is a resonance you feel severely if you toe one of these babies. (easy fix, don’t toe it…lol) I found the same thing regarding the impact point when I inspected the club face again so again I made the adjustments and was on fire with these irons. I was hitting these the same distance as I was used to, but with a much better dispersion. The only drawback was when I did mishit the ball, it was worse than terrible. The ball flight again was a beautiful arc. I love these shafts!! I hit way more balls with these than I intended because I was loving the results.


It was now time to see what I could do with the long irons. I went ahead and started these with the 3 because I was almost dreading this part. As I said, I have become a real believer in the hybrid club and have not used any 3,4,5 in a long time. I would love to report that it didn’t matter but I can't. My first 3 balls were so far right that I thought I might hit the wall of the bay I was in. Made some stance, grip, and foot adjustments and thought I had it figured out. WRONG! High looping shots way right. I put the three back and grabbed the four. Same thing. I thought…hmmmmm.. maybe it is my mindset. Sat down, drank a cup of coffee and picked the three back up. After two or three swings, it started to come around. Same with the 4. My distances were comparable and I was satisfied that if I kept hitting and kept my mind positive, I would be fine.


Workabilty came next. As I mentioned, my natural shot is pretty straight. Almost too straight. That is, if it starts out wrong, it is gone, it doesn’t come back. I do however try on occasion to shape one in on some holes with limited success. This was a hopeless cause with the cavities, but I feel with a couple of more range sessions it will come in. I say that because with the splits, I was able to lay down some beautiful draws and some not too bad fades. I also used the 6 and the 8 to try some punch shots. Closing the face , delofting of the 6 produced a Randy Johnson like fast ball. Very impressive ball flight and the feel was just as solid as a normal swing. Same thing with the blade. Choked down a bit and sent a beautiful stinger about 100 yards dead on target.


Summary
I know this is a honeymoon period, but I am absolutely in love with these irons. The look at address is super sweet with a very thin topline and as I mentioned, all your senses except smell and taste are so incredibly satisfied. I had a number of people standing around watching me(probably because of the camera) and a few of them commented on how beautiful the clubs looked with the Black shafts.


I am so looking forward to my next time out. I have two 12 hour shifts to do this weekend, but you can bet rain or shine, I will be back out Monday! And Tuesday, and thurs……
Videos and pics to come! Stay Tuned.

I forgot to mention, I had to hit off mats of course because it was raining and I was in a covered bay.

Please hit me with any questions or comments and I will do my best to answer.

 

[Hawk]

Excellent write-up BW. Which irons were you playing prior to this?

 

[Beowulf]

Excellent write-up BW. Which irons were you playing prior to this?

Mizuno MX 200 stock exsar shafts stiff

 

[wcueb923]

Great job.. Thats dedication baby. Way to go!!!!

 

[Tmex]

Great write up Beowulf! Very good initial success. Can't wait for the pics and vids. Are you used to using the longer irons in your previous set?

 

[Beowulf]

Great write up Beowulf! Very good initial success. Can't wait for the pics and vids. Are you used to using the longer irons in your previous set?

Not at all, I have a 20*,23*, and 26* CLK hybrid, though depending on the course, I don't always bag the 26

 

[Beowulf]

Great job.. Thats dedication baby. Way to go!!!!

Dedication? Not really. But a deep burning desire to hit some awesome new sticks! LOL.

 

[the_paulo]

Nice write up Beowulf! That's a bit of a trip to the range, but sounds like it was well worth it to discover your new love!

 

[tomahawk18]

Nice job Beo. I am sure with some practice you will get those long irons to come around. I am concerned with the same issue. I haven't had a 4 or a 3 iron in my bag in 2 years. Sounds like the short irons are money though. Great news!

 

[Tmex]

This will be real good test then of the forgiveness on the long irons. Can't wait.

Not at all, I have a 20*,23*, and 26* CLK hybrid, though depending on the course, I don't always bag the 26

 

[Fairway2Green]

This will be real good test then of the forgiveness on the long irons. Can't wait.

I've never hit a 3 or 4 iron in my life, so I can't wait to get out there and give them a shot.

 

[Hawk]

Mizuno MX 200 stock exsar shafts stiff

I'm never a huge fan of comparisons, but if you had to compare one of the pro cavs (cavity, split, blade) to the MX 200's, which one is the most similar?

 

[Beowulf]

I'm never a huge fan of comparisons, but if you had to compare one of the pro cavs (cavity, split, blade) to the MX 200's, which one is the most similar?

If I had to I would say the splits. but really they are not alike. If you would of asked me last week, I would have said that the 200 feels really solid. After hitting the Nike, not so much anymore. Now that is a solid feel. Hard for me to put in words, but it is distinctive to me. I did game the long iron Mizunos until a couple of years ago and was so-so with them. I feel that these Nike's are a very modest cavity that actually don't feel it. Does that make sense?

 

[Hawk]

If I had to I would say the splits. but really they are not alike. If you would of asked me last week, I would have said that the 200 feels really solid. After hitting the Nike, not so much anymore. Now that is a solid feel. Hard for me to put in words, but it is distinctive to me. I did game the long iron Mizunos until a couple of years ago and was so-so with them. I feel that these Nike's are a very modest cavity that actually don't feel it. Does that make sense?

It's tough to put things like that into words, but you did it nicely. Thanks for the info.

 

[Mardin]

Good question and one that I will need to pay closer attention to. To be honest, I am a picker of the ball and do not usually create a divot unless I hit a fat shot. I can do some comparisons early next week on the range and get back to you. Playing early tomorrow about 80 miles from home so will be out of town without my old clubs with me until Monday.

I was a picker too with my old GI irons and after I switched to the CB's, which has a bit of a sharper leading edge I found myself taking more precise divots, especially with my scoring irons. I can only imagine the divots those blades are going to create. Good luck, and I will be following everyones reviews intently.

 

[JConn]

Ok, I received my irons last night, had to wait until 11PM (after work) to open them (that was torture), took videos and pics, went to bed, got up early to go play nine holes, ran a few errands, just had lunch and am uploading the pics and videos as we speak. Once the pics upload, I will post them with my initial review. Stay tuned, shouldn't be too long.

 

[JConn]

Here are some pictures of unboxing, and first looks. These clubs are absolutely beautiful. I cannot think of another set of clubs that look this good. I put them as spoilers so the post wouldn't be super long.

Got the box last night, so exciting.

Spoiler

Here are my specs.

Spoiler

This shot shows all three types of clubs. Beautiful.

Spoiler

Here is a shot of a clubhead, shaft, and grip.

Spoiler

Those are all the unboxing and initial pics. I will take some comparison pics later today. Initial review will be in my next post.

It cannot be said enough, THANK YOU again Nike and THP for this fantastic opportunity.

 

[MattyKrack17]

after reading everyones thought, i def have to try and hit these!!! thanks for the updates guys!!