Nike VR Pro Combo Irons - Forum Testing Review

[JConn]

Sorry about the delay guys, it has been a busy couple of days and I haven't gotten a solid few minutes at my computer.

Test Date: 09/27/2011
Testing Club: Nike VR Pro Combo irons with KBS Tour Stiff shafts
Testing Purpose: 36 holes played
Course: Prospector and Rope Rider; Golf Courses at Suncadia Resort
My Club: I am using the testing clubs but my prior set was TM Tour Preferred
Ball Used: TM Penta
Environment: Central Washington - Cool, windy at times, sprinkling rain at times.

What a fun day. I must start by saying that I only intended to play 18, but I ended up playing 36 because the courses were not busy so I was able to play relatively quickly. I went with the intentions of shooting some videos, but due to people playing behind me I did not have enough time to do so. I played pretty well after the first nine. I shot 81 (43/38) and 77 (39/38) from the blue tees on both courses, so I was 7 over on the first 9 and 7 over on the last 27. That's golf! I played the same ball for the entire 36, which is quite good for me. Enough about the round, on to the clubs. To try not to sound redundant, I will try to touch on a few things that I haven't for a bit. Forgive me if I sound repetitive.

Ball flight:
I have slightly touched on this, but I have been seeing some very nice mid-high ball flight throughout the set. The set seems to get higher and higher as you go from a mid ball flight with the pocket cavities to a mid-high ball flight with the blades. I like this and feel like this is the way a set should be. It was pretty windy at times so with this ball flight, I was worried that the wind may affect my shots more than I'd like, or in an unpredictable way. This was not the case. A good example of this is below:

PW from 127 yards to a right hand pin (4 yards from the right edge) with a decently strong right to left wind. This worried me. My typical miss is left and if I hit it left and this wind takes it, I'm facing some extra strokes for sure. Thus, I aimed just off the right edge and put a great strike on it. The ball pierced through the wind, even though it was pretty high, and the wind did not move it at all! I was mystified. This hit right where I aimed and took one hop into the greenside bunker.
​

This continued throughout the day and I don't think the wind moved my ball more than a couple feet even at its windiest. Head wind and tail wind are a different story though, as they definitely helped or hurt my distance. Overall I was very happy with the results.

Spin:
These clubs spin the ball quite well. This was one of my main concerns coming into this testing, because the grooves are so small and they are "conforming" which I have heard reduces spin. Well, Nike figured out how to impart a great amount of spin while still conforming to regulations. I am constantly getting one hop and stop results, even with the mid and long irons, and occasionally spinning them back. I find this to be very predictable, which is helps you easily choose the right club every time. I never worry about too much roll out or too much spin back.

Shafts: (KBS Tour Stiff)
I am no shaft expert, and I will be the first to tell anyone that, so I can't tell you a whole lot about the technicalities of this shaft. What I can tell you, is that it seems to be fitting my game quite well and I really like the feel of them. I have only had a few shots that actually hurt my hands, and they were extreme mishits so I'm sure any shaft would've hurt (other than maybe graphite). They seem to be very consistent in terms of flex, but again I don't know how to measure that or if it is in my head, just my opinion. All in all, I am very happy with them.

Quick Overall:
It was a great ball striking day, and other than a few course management mistakes on the first nine I scored really well. I was hitting the ball very straight once again, with my occasional miss being to the left about 15-20 feet. Acceptable for sure, and still left me in scoring position.

More to come - I have to go to class now, just wanted to get this posted while a had a few spare seconds, I will try to complete this write up tonight. As always, any questions are always appreciated.

 

[#Cookie]

Great write-up Jeff! Your observations have me wanting and needing to pay more attention to the wind affect of my shots. I also could not agree more concerning the spin off of these; quite impressive to say the least.

Nice scoring man.

 

[Hawk]

I wish I could see these in action some time. I like the sounds of that ball flight you are getting, JC. Does a head wind affect certain clubs more than others?

 

[JConn]

Thanks Mcook. Wind hadn't been a big issue prior to Tuesday so I never really paid much attention to it. It continues to be windy up here so I will pay attention to this more my next time out.

I wish I could see these in action some time. I like the sounds of that ball flight you are getting, JC. Does a head wind affect certain clubs more than others?

I have been quite impressed with the ball flight TBH. I can't honestly answer that question at this time as I only had a few shots that were played into the head wind. It would make sense that the higher ball flight of the blades would be held up more, but I'm not sure. Next time out I will try a few things to see if I can give you a complete answer. Sorry for the dodging, but thank you for the question.

 

[Hawk]

Nothing wrong with not knowing In fact, I hope I can't answer that question either. I hate headwinds.

 

[Tmex]

I love catching up on this thread!

Real quick question Jeff, sorry if this was answered before but what shafts did you game before? You mentioned that the ballflight gets higher with the scoring irons, was this different from the old set? Sorry if theyre repeats! Great job on the write up!

 

[JConn]

I love catching up on this thread!

Real quick question Jeff, sorry if this was answered before but what shafts did you game before? You mentioned that the ballflight gets higher with the scoring irons, was this different from the old set? Sorry if theyre repeats! Great job on the write up!

Thanks. I actually had the same shafts (KBS tour stiff) in my previous set (TM TP, 2010, not current lineup). However, the Nike's are 1/2" longer, which is why I think they are about a club longer, distance wise. As far as ball height, I think the Nike's are a bit higher but not much. Similar for sure. Thanks for the questions.

BTW, I need a TMex handicap ASAP lol.

 

[the_paulo]

Nice thoughts Jeff!

I'm seeing a higher ball flight throughout the set too, and I put that down to the shafts I was fitted for. I have messed about with the blades a bit in windy conditions, and find it's pretty easy to get these flying through the wind, adjusting the ball flight higher and lower if needed. They do seem to get that penetrating flight rather easily.

Both with the flight and the spin, there's one word that keeps coming up through most of the tester's reviews in this thread, and seems to be coming up more and more - that is PREDICTABLE. To me, that's what I'm looking for in an iron every time I strike the ball - whether it be a 3 iron off the tee, or a PW from the fringe. If you can predict how the ball will react off the club, your confidence and consistency will improve.

 

[Chunkylover77]

Thanks. I actually had the same shafts (KBS tour stiff) in my previous set (TM TP, 2010, not current lineup). However, the Nike's are 1/2" longer, which is why I think they are about a club longer, distance wise. As far as ball height, I think the Nike's are a bit higher but not much. Similar for sure. Thanks for the questions.

BTW, I need a TMex handicap ASAP lol.

Nice thoughts Jeff!

I'm seeing a higher ball flight throughout the set too, and I put that down to the shafts I was fitted for. I have messed about with the blades a bit in windy conditions, and find it's pretty easy to get these flying through the wind, adjusting the ball flight higher and lower if needed. They do seem to get that penetrating flight rather easily.

Both with the flight and the spin, there's one word that keeps coming up through most of the tester's reviews in this thread, and seems to be coming up more and more - that is PREDICTABLE. To me, that's what I'm looking for in an iron every time I strike the ball - whether it be a 3 iron off the tee, or a PW from the fringe. If you can predict how the ball will react off the club, your confidence and consistency will improve.

I am also finding a higher ballflight than I thought I would with these irons. I think the softer flex shaft has played a roll in that. Nike has said we could expect a higher flight in the longer irons(Pocket Cavs) and I have to say that the more I hit them the higher my ball flight is with them. I am really beginning to like the 4I and the 3I is even fighting to stay in the bag. If all things are equal I would prefer an iron to a hybrid simply because I find the iron to be easier to hit lower which is usually what is needed when punching out of woods. I tend to hit my 3/4I when punching out of the woods

 

[2Shoes]

Great write ups guys...keep 'em coming. These irons were definately on my radar and I still would love to hit them to compare to the R11's I'm testing.

 

[JConn]

Great write ups guys...keep 'em coming. These irons were definately on my radar and I still would love to hit them to compare to the R11's I'm testing.

Thanks, and I think a few of us would love to test these against the (theoretically) more forgiving R11's. They are on my radar for sure.

 

[Damaikis]

I absolutely adore reading this thread! You guys are doing a great job testing! This thread has really caused me to be more intrigued by combo sets. You guys have been prompt answering mine and everybody else's questions, so I wanted to give a sincere thanks to all of you. Not sure if there's any lefties here, but if there are I'd love to meet you at the outing and try these out myself.

 

[JConn]

I absolutely adore reading this thread! You guys are doing a great job testing! This thread has really caused me to be more intrigued by combo sets. You guys have been prompt answering mine and everybody else's questions, so I wanted to give a sincere thanks to all of you. Not sure if there's any lefties here, but if there are I'd love to meet you at the outing and try these out myself.

Thanks man, we appreciate you reading this thread and asking questions. I'm pretty sure it's RH only in this testing, but I assume Nike clubs will be at the outing.

 

[#Cookie]

Thanks man, we appreciate you reading this thread and asking questions. I'm pretty sure it's RH only in this testing, but I assume Nike clubs will be at the outing.

Plus 1 to this. I also really appreciate the questions and feedback from the forum members. I will have another write-up tomorrow of my round this morning and now that I have a club membership I will be getting out for 9 quite a bit after work until it is not feasible due to lack of daylight. With all that said - more updates to come from me in the coming days and probably some "on course" video action as well.

 

[sharkwrestler]

They shouldn't. My favorite part of the set by far and I'm not a great ballstriker.

CL I may have missed it earlier there's so much to read. How would you compare the pro combos to the Nike pro blade set? not sure if you've demo'd the blades. you say that the blade is your favorite in the combo set. Went by GG held on to each man it was though to walk out of the store without them. Had to change my shirt when I got home , drool factor.

 

[#Cookie]

Test Date: 10/1/2011
Testing Club: Nike VR Pro Combo irons with PX steel shaft 5.0 flex
Testing Purpose: Full round played
My Club: I am using the testing clubs but my prior set was the Cobra S9's
Ball Used: Bridgestone E6
Environment: Texas - 85 degrees & sunny w/south winds at 10-15 MPH at times

Hey THP! Got out for another 18 yesterday morning. The course I played was only 5950 yards so I had several holes where my irons were not used at all (driver-wedge, etc) but this course makes up for those short par 4's with a few longer par 3's.

There had been some recent mention as to the wind affect on these clubs and with the wind picking up just a tad yesterday I did happen to have a few shots that were into the wind that I can elaborate on. Let's get to the action and some shot descriptions.

Hole 2 - 177 left into a par 4. Decide to go with a smooth 5 iron and I strike it just a hair into the toe area and a little high on the club face. Felt OK but not great. Ball got up very quickly and ended up 7 yards short of the green right front.

Hole 3 - 133 yard par 3. Should just be a nice smooth 9 iron and I bladed it as bad as any shot that I have hit with these irons. Ball never got any higher than 15 feet and almost hit the pin as it flew by about 4 feet high at this point. Landed over the green and ended up about 10 yards behind the green. Nothing pretty about this shot but all things considered - the end result was not terrible and I was left with an opportunity to get up and down (which I failed to do).

Hole 5 - 177 yard par 3. No real wind to speak of on this hole so it was a nice smooth 5 iron. As soon as I hit it, I thought it was perfect. Ball flight ended up being a little higher than I am used to with these irons but I still thought it was all over the flag. Ended up being about 35 feet short of the pin but here is a photo showing how fast these shots can sit when hit into the green. This was a one hop and stop kind of shot:

Hole 7 - 122 yard par 3 into the wind. Hit a smooth 9 iron that would have been enough if I hit it well but it comes off the toe and ends up 4 yards short of the green front right. Luckily, the pin was front right so I was not left with too much for a chip.

Hole 8 - 147 yards into a par 4 and I call the 8 iron up for duty. Not real sure what happened with my swing here but I just hit a complete chunker and advance it 90 yards. If I am going to hit a real poor shot it will be the big fat chunker.

Hole 10 - 147 yards out into a par 4 but slightly into the wind so I elect to hit a smooth 7 iron here. Big tree about halfway between me and the green as I had pushed my drive right but I hit the ball great just how/where I wanted to. Not enough - clips the very top of the tree and ricochets left into the middle of the FW.

Hole 14 - 164 yard par 3 into the 10-15 MPH wind. I decide to go with a 6 iron and hit it absolutely as good as I could have. Thought I had another one pin seeking the entire way and it again comes up 5 yards short of the green. I did not move the ball to try for a lower ball flight but I should have hit 5 iron in hindsight.

I think part of my issue now is I hit a few really good shots and put that number into my head as my distance with that club and then don't hit it perfect the next time and end up short. I really do think I need to look at the distance to the back of the green for example if the pin is in the middle and play to that. I rarely seem to hit past a flag - my miss is short of the green by a few yards.

Final stats for the day:


86 (46-40)
29 putts
6/13 FW's
3/18 GIR's
1 triple
4 doubles
4 bogeys
9 pars

As I mentioned previously I just joined a new club effective yesterday so I will start having a bunch of 9 hole outings after work starting tomorrow so many more updates to come! Welcome to any questions or photo/video requests as I can do anything at this new course while playing or on the range with NO airplanes as you might have heard in my previous videos!

Thanks for reading.

 

[Chunkylover77]

CL I may have missed it earlier there's so much to read. How would you compare the pro combos to the Nike pro blade set? not sure if you've demo'd the blades. you say that the blade is your favorite in the combo set. Went by GG held on to each man it was though to walk out of the store without them. Had to change my shirt when I got home , drool factor.

Having gone back and forth between playing blades and GI clubs I think this set gets it just right. Anyone can hit 8-PW in blades. They sound scary but if you think about it you don't really try and kill the ball with those irons. You play more to a precise distance with the scoring clubs and IMO that makes a club easier to hit. Right around the 7I is where I start to think more about a distance than I do a spot on the green. So just a little more forgiveness in the 5-7I is perfect because you are still thinking about an area on the green plus distance. 3/4I I am thinking strictly about distance so I will take all the forgiveness that I can get.

I think I would struggle quite a bit from 3-5I if they were blades. If you miss the sweet spot by a more than just a bit you are losing quite a bit of distance. IMO it would cost me a couple of strokes which I don't want to lose. On off days I'm guessing it would cost me more than just a few strokes. Just looking at your handicap I would think you would struggle personally and you might get frustrated. I would consider myself a pretty good ball striker and I think the blade set would be more for my ego than my game. The splits in this set are incredible. They maintain the feel of the blades and give just the right amount of forgiveness. I won't lie about the feeling of the Pockets. Not that good. But I will take forgivenes over feel in those irons.

 

[JConn]

Nice recap cookie. 29 putts, way to go man! I have a few questions I know you said your miss was short, is this typically the case? Do you think the wind affected your shots more than you accounted for? Lastly, did you deal with any side wind? If so, how did that affect your ball flight? Just curious. Thanks in advance. Glad you are able to get out more at your new club.

 

[#Cookie]

Nice recap cookie. 29 putts, way to go man! I have a few questions I know you said your miss was short, is this typically the case? Do you think the wind affected your shots more than you accounted for? Lastly, did you deal with any side wind? If so, how did that affect your ball flight? Just curious. Thanks in advance. Glad you are able to get out more at your new club.

Thanks Jeff - appreciate that!

Yes, my misses are typically short. I really do think I need to adjust my yardages in my head (for example: I thought my 8 iron was my 150 club; I think it needs to be my 145 max club). Once I do that, I think I can increase my GIR's.

Hitting directly into the wind, I think it did affect the shot more than I thought it would. I had a pretty high ball flight and it must have just hit a wall once it got above the tree line as I thought on that hole #14 that I was going to be within 10 feet of the hole and end up 20 yards short of the flag. That shot was a combination of wind and me thinking that I hit my 6 iron further than I really do.

I am sure that I did have side wind on a few holes but I sure did not notice it. If it did affect my shot, it was so small it was virtually unnoticeable.

Loving the new club man - going to be a great way for me to get that HC down. If I can eliminate some mental mistakes along with 1 or 2 terrible shots a round I can get down to a single digit without too much problem which is my goal right now.

 

[JConn]

Thanks for the answers, our results in the wind were similar. Keep practicing and working hard and you'll get your HC down there.

Off topic: one thing that helped me lower my handicap this year (13.4 to 6.9) was going out on the course on super slow days and using the course as a range so to speak. Hit 5 drives, drop 5-10 balls at a certain yardage and try to hit it close with all of them, repeat. Especially from 100 yards and in. Shots hit on the course are going to react differently and having an actual hole to aim at, and get confidence hitting to, really helped me a lot. Also, this will help get your yardages pretty accurate. E.g. At 150 hit 10 balls with your 8 and 7, and after a while you will have it dialed in. Good luck man and remember to have fun with it.

 

[JConn]

I forgot to add, I'm impressed with the one hop and stop with the e6! I couldn't get those balls to spin much at all. In fact, those are the only balls I have played with these clubs that actually had some roll out. Have you tried playing "premium" balls with these clubs? I remember seeing AD-333 and a few other balls in your write ups, but no high end balls (that I recall). For me, they have made quite the difference as far as spin goes. Just curious.

 

[sharkwrestler]

Having gone back and forth between playing blades and GI clubs I think this set gets it just right. Anyone can hit 8-PW in blades. They sound scary but if you think about it you don't really try and kill the ball with those irons. You play more to a precise distance with the scoring clubs and IMO that makes a club easier to hit. Right around the 7I is where I start to think more about a distance than I do a spot on the green. So just a little more forgiveness in the 5-7I is perfect because you are still thinking about an area on the green plus distance. 3/4I I am thinking strictly about distance so I will take all the forgiveness that I can get.

I think I would struggle quite a bit from 3-5I if they were blades. If you miss the sweet spot by a more than just a bit you are losing quite a bit of distance. IMO it would cost me a couple of strokes which I don't want to lose. On off days I'm guessing it would cost me more than just a few strokes. Just looking at your handicap I would think you would struggle personally and you might get frustrated. I would consider myself a pretty good ball striker and I think the blade set would be more for my ego than my game. The splits in this set are incredible. They maintain the feel of the blades and give just the right amount of forgiveness. I won't lie about the feeling of the Pockets. Not that good. But I will take forgivenes over feel in those irons.

CL Thanks for your honest opinion. Some day I'll find the time to list my clubs, between working almost everyday and running out to the course not much time left in the day, project list backing up and winter around the corner jeez. For now just to let you know I'm playing with a fitted set of slingshot's. Don't get me wrong I like the clubs, but I think they have limits as to there distance on good hit's not sure if this is holding me back. I'm going to set aside some time this week and get by the GG with my 7 iron and see how the pro combo's and blades differ I believe this is where the pockets come in to play with the combo's. An employee at GG mentioned that Nike will come be coming out with a new club in a couple of months. I can only hope this may help lower the price on the combo's.

 

[#Cookie]

Thanks for that tip Jeff! With my new situation, I could definitely have the means to do that practice on the course.

I do not really play premium balls. I do have the Penta TP balls from the TM giveaway that I have not played - now is probably a good time to get those out there and do some side by side comparison. Just can't get myself to spend $4 per ball when I still occasionally hit the horrific shot but that's for another discussion.


Tappin' from my iPad!

 

[sharkwrestler]

Thanks for that tip Jeff! With my new situation, I could definitely have the means to do that practice on the course.

I do not really play premium balls. I do have the Penta TP balls from the TM giveaway that I have not played - now is probably a good time to get those out there and do some side by side comparison. Just can't get myself to spend $4 per ball when I still occasionally hit the horrific shot but that's for another discussion.


Tappin' from my iPad!

FYI @ Golf Galaxy Penta's buy two get one free.

 

[Wicked Cool Bearded Man]

I'll say, at the very least this thread has made me think about my low irons and what I need the blades for. I hit them pretty well, but as has been stated many times here and on other threads, when you miss, those misses cost you big. So why take the chance? Thanks again all testers for the feedback!