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Callaway Apex Pro Irons Review Thread

SuperStroke
Got the Apex Pro's on the range today and I am in love. I need to trust my swing and I will draw the ball with any the irons I have. I am getting them on the course tomorrow and I will update the thread how it goes.
 
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Finally getting to play them on Monday, but the guy whose clubs I'm borrowing has Project X 6.5 shafts in them. Based on the little I can find on these, it seems it's halfway between Stiff and Extra-Stiff, which is pretty much where my pro reckons I should be, but with a low launch, which I don't think I need, particularly in the short irons. Does anyone have any experience with these in the Apex Pros?
 
Veryslowsnail25 said:
Finally getting to play them on Monday, but the guy whose clubs I'm borrowing has Project X 6.5 shafts in them. Based on the little I can find on these, it seems it's halfway between Stiff and Extra-Stiff, which is pretty much where my pro reckons I should be, but with a low launch, which I don't think I need, particularly in the short irons. Does anyone have any experience with these in the Apex Pros?
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The 6.5s are going to play pretty stout. In my opinion flex wise, they are closer to X than they are S.
 
JB said:
The 6.5s are going to play pretty stout. In my opinion flex wise, they are closer to X than they are S.
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Cheers, will bear that in mind. Apparently I tend to deloft the club at the moment due to an overly strong grip, so might need to work on that a lot tomorrow if I'm to get anything out of the lower irons... Swing speed with a 6i is between 85-90 - probably a bit slow to fit these perfectly I'd guess?
 
So I've fallen in love all over again with my Apex Pros. I've been working on shortening my backswing and I've actually gained both yardage and height with all of my irons.
 
jlukes said:
So I've fallen in love all over again with my Apex Pros. I've been working on shortening my backswing and I've actually gained both yardage and height with all of my irons.
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I've been working on the same thing, and I've improved my accuracy as well from what I can see so far. It's counterintuitive in my mind, but it's working.

I went back through this entire thread, some awesome info in here, I'm curious to see what these would be like now, but also curious if my game can measure up to them.
 
Veryslowsnail25 said:
Cheers, will bear that in mind. Apparently I tend to deloft the club at the moment due to an overly strong grip, so might need to work on that a lot tomorrow if I'm to get anything out of the lower irons... Swing speed with a 6i is between 85-90 - probably a bit slow to fit these perfectly I'd guess?
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Today's the day - 'excited' doesn't even come close! I'm like a kid at Christmas wondering how early it's 'ok' to get to the course without looking insanely keen...
 
Ok, tried for a while to think of the best one-liner to sum up my thoughts and it's this: I will be buying these clubs. But, for a little bit more clarification in case anyone, anywhere is interested :smile:

Picked them up early this morning and had a little hit on the range before playing 18. Did my usual and started with my 58* to warm up before moving through PW, 8i, 7i, 6i and 4i. On the range mats, it was really apparent that in spite of the extra stiff shaft (Project X 6.5), they still felt relatively light and easy to swing. Worth bearing in mind that I've been playing with 65g graphite Rocketbladez irons, so I wasn't expecting to find this a particularly easy round. Still, the pitching wedge was easy to control and very, very straight, and my jaw genuinely dropped when I hit the 8i a good 10 yards past what I'd usually expect. Having done a bit of research into the Project X shafts, I'd expected a low launch, but I can't say I saw any of that, just a piercing middle. I did notice what some reviewers early on had spotted, that the lower irons were tougher to get up into the air, but that's always been a failing of mine, so I'm loathe to blame it purely on the clubs. Anyway, hit a few 4 irons off the tee to practise a potential tee shot (with variable results) and then went to the course. I'm not going to go through hole-by-hole, but there are some clear highlights and surprises that I wanted to share.

Workability

As a 17 handicapper (roughly), this isn't one of my stronger suits, but on the par 5 7th I was presented with a tough shot after my second shot didn't quite get the distance I had hoped. Stuck behind a tree with the pin tucked away behind a big bunker, I remembered that lots of you guys had praised the clubs' workability. So, with 140 to the green, I went for a 7 iron half swing and tried to put some draw on it (never tried this before). It flew beautifully, just 10 yards off the floor before curling back and rolling out toward the green. Shocked, I dropped another ball and went for the same thing again. See below for the results... Mind-blowing. Didn't really try many more shots like this, as it's a bit of a last resort for the moment, but it's great to know that it's a possibility if I need it.

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Accuracy

The second hole is a par 3 at 130 yards. I was still feeling my way in with the clubs and had a greenkeeper watching on with disdain. Great. Pulled the pitching wedge and it flew perfectly, leaving just 7 feet to the hole (see below). Greenkeeper didn't even applaud... Went on to drop the birdie putt (only my second ever on that hole!). The very next hole, I went under par for the first time on my home course (-1 after 3) after hitting a 3/4 9 iron to about 15 feet. Don't worry, it didn't last that much longer, with a bogey at the 5th taking me back to level.

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Distance

I found the distance of these clubs very tough to judge at times, and it's clear that I'll have to re-evaluate a lot of club selections on the course, which is a nice thing. I found the 4 iron very easy to hit off the tee, which annoyingly brought a couple of fairway bunkers into play that I normally don't come close to reaching. I didn't find much use for the 5 or 6 irons, but that's more how the round unfolded as well as in part due to my lack of confidence in going for greens from 200 yards or so. The one utter shock though was the 9 iron. On the par 3 8th, I had 130 to the front, so I thought I'd hit a hard 9 iron to find the front tier and avoid the bunkers guarding it. The thing flew 162, leaving a tricky lag putt to give me a par. Clearly they can really fly if you hit them though.

Hole of the round though was the 12th, and it was this that probably made up my mind about these clubs. First, the 4 iron from the tee went just 15 yards less than my driver, just missing the fairway to the left and leaving a tough approach shot over trees to a protected green. Picked up the 7 iron, chucked the ball slightly forward in my stance, and it never left the flag.

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So yeah, to sum up, I had fun! I guess the main thing was that I've never felt so confident with a set of irons, and felt like they can do anything I want them to do, providing I hit the shot right. Sure, there were a few mishits and some errors of judgement trying to fly hazards, but those were very much my mistakes rather than the clubs'. Now to work out whether I go for a standard set with the KBS shafts, or to try to buy these ones off the guy who lent me them...

P.S. Congrats if you're still awake!
 
Mine have been sitting on a table with with no shafts while I'm running around with "other women". These are a marvelous set of clubs. Makes me wonder what they have up their sleeves for next year.

Tapping away on my Galaxy 2 Note
 
Bought the Apex pros in Callaway preowned's awesome sale. Will have 3i through AW in project X 6.0. I found the 6.5s good, but my pro advised me that if I wasn't warmed up/in colder conditions, it might be a bit harder than on a summer afternoon. Either way, I'm very excited to finally have the bag absolutely sorted and can't wait to sort out the rest of my game around the numbers these irons will give me. Thanks all for the very informative thread!
 
so i've had enough time with these now to start feeling pretty comfortable with them i'm still amazed at how easy i can swing with these and still see good distance. i'm swinging easier than i ever have before throughout my entire bag. i can say i've seen a loss in forgiveness from my xhot pros BUT i do feel like i'm more accurate with these and can really go after flags and seeing a much better distance dispersion and tighter dispersion over all. i'm still torn if i want to move on completely from my x hot pros as i'm worried about coming back to these after the winter months with less forgiveness but they did push the x hot pros out rather quickly. Looking forward to growing with these irons and i hope they stay in the bag for a while.
 
Nice Bucky, glad to hear you've become smitten with these, I had a feeling you'd really enjoy them.
 
Jman said:
Nice Bucky, glad to hear you've become smitten with these, I had a feeling you'd really enjoy them.
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i was worried about forgivness more than anything. i do think since i've been swinging easier its made my ball striking better i was working the ball really well today on the range which was awesome putting a nice draw on the ball and knocking it right to the 170 yard marker with my 7 iron.
 
Buckjob said:
i was worried about forgivness more than anything. i do think since i've been swinging easier its made my ball striking better i was working the ball really well today on the range which was awesome putting a nice draw on the ball and knocking it right to the 170 yard marker with my 7 iron.
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It's amazing how that works isn't it? Stop trying to kill it and just swing, but boy do I suck at that. Hahaha

Plus, lets face it, these are some sweet looking sticks too, so that helps!
 
Buckjob said:
so i've had enough time with these now to start feeling pretty comfortable with them i'm still amazed at how easy i can swing with these and still see good distance. i'm swinging easier than i ever have before throughout my entire bag. i can say i've seen a loss in forgiveness from my xhot pros BUT i do feel like i'm more accurate with these and can really go after flags and seeing a much better distance dispersion and tighter dispersion over all. i'm still torn if i want to move on completely from my x hot pros as i'm worried about coming back to these after the winter months with less forgiveness but they did push the x hot pros out rather quickly. Looking forward to growing with these irons and i hope they stay in the bag for a while.
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Glad to hear you're enjoying them.

I had a solid day with these as well, really liking the distance and flight with these irons even after the rounds I've had with them.
 
I hate these irons.

Mainly because I love them so much. I sit at work and wish I could be out hitting them at the range or on the course. The distance and trajectory control has just taken my iron game to a level that its never been before.

Stupid work.
 
jlukes said:
I hate these irons.

Mainly because I love them so much. I sit at work and wish I could be out hitting them at the range or on the course. The distance and trajectory control has just taken my iron game to a level that its never been before.

Stupid work.
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Boy do I know that feeling. On the plus side, I'm a teacher, so summer holidays :smile:
 
Distance is nuts on these still haven't gotten them dialed in like I'd like to mainly due to some wind this week but they are pretty awesome. Biggest complaint is the grips I think they blow. I dunno why but they hurt my hands and are pretty slippery. Got some rel3gens on the way to swap them out.
 
Buckjob said:
Distance is nuts on these still haven't gotten them dialed in like I'd like to mainly due to some wind this week but they are pretty awesome. Biggest complaint is the grips I think they blow. I dunno why but they hurt my hands and are pretty slippery. Got some rel3gens on the way to swap them out.
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Which grips did they come with? Are tour velvet types stock on them?
 
I just got a combo set of apex 4-6 and pros 7-9. Tonight was the first time on course and surprisingly liked the pros a lot more than the apexs. I play to a 5 index and a decent ball striker but wanted a little more forgiveness in the long irons. The pros are phenomenal and couldn't be happier. My only problem is the gaping between the 6 and 7 but not what you would expect. The 7 pro is going about the same as the 6 apex. All the irons have the tour v stiff shaft. The 4 and 5 seem to be fine and going about what I expected. Has anyone had any problems with any of their clubs? I am thinking that something might be wrong with the club, I am going to contact Callaway preowned to see if they will replace it. And on another topic, I know the apexs have stronger lofts but doesn't anyone else hit the pros farther than the regular apexs?
 
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