It has been a bit since the last iteration of the Callaway X Forged irons. Today, multiple sets are coming out in the form of a player’s cavity and muscle back, but we are focusing on the Callaway X Forged CB.
Today they are announcing the latest version, the X Forged CB and MB and this post we are talking all things CB. In the video below, we explain the tech, take some swings and breakdown all of the data to give you a full understanding of look, feel sound and performance from the THP Tech Studio.
After watching that, what are your thoughts on the Callaway X Forged CB?
I’m not sure I’m gonna make it that long . Double edged sword with winter setting in. Don’t need clubs. And, more time to obsess over new gear since I’m not on course LOL.
That’d be a 5 for me. Heck of a stretch between a hot 24 and a less hot 29 (CB 6i). Even each bent a degree towards each other might be tough.
I have the 5 iron, working so far. In my old set I had the 24* and 27* UT and went 6 iron. The gapping was perfect for me.
My man! Excited to hear what you think ?
View attachment 8972636View attachment 8972637
Nicely done. ?
What shaft did you go with?
Nippon Modus 130x. Regret? No regrets. Ask me in a few weeks
View attachment 8972640
yeah..first thing I said was "holy offset!". TBH I did actually try the club out at my shop before I pulled a preorder on these. It didn’t bother me too much.
It hasn’t bothered me at all in terms of numbers, and they feel great, but it obviously bugs me visually, because I’ve never hit a club more and not bought it. I still can’t make up my mind on them. They confuse me. I don’t think I’m willing to tolerate that much offset in something that looks like a players distance club, but isn’t. It’s offset (and topline) without benefit. For me. Seems like I don’t love that.
These look gorgeous!!!! Well except for that Vokey Wedge. Where’s the Jaws? (joking abut the wedge)
My favorite iron and wedge shaft right there.
I played around with the 7i from a fitting cart today. Even though I was not wearing the right stuff (seriously don’t try and get a feel in boots/jacket while indoors) I was really impressed. Seeing good ballspeed. Launch was a bit higher than expected and spin was in a good window. My only thing is I wish I could of tried something other than the IO 6.5 and the LZ 6.0 that was more in the weight and profile I like but who knows with the drop in playing I’ll do next year if I should also go with the lower weight.
did not swing it though
MUCH better in hand. I was surprised.
Also was surprised how compact the head was as well not tiny tiny but thought it was bigger
You should have taken a few swings
Nippon makes a fantastic shaft – and very friendly in X.
I hope it’s a great fit.
Since getting the 9 iron I have had 2 driving range sessions and got it on the course once hitting it about 3 times.
I really like the looks of the iron. I am far from a strong iron player but these really intrigued me and I wanted to give them a go.
It’s a small sample size and it’s just the 9 iron but I feel this is a set I can game. I’m playing tomorrow so I will make sure I hit this a bunch and report back
Got some range time with them. It’s a great combo. I know a swing should never fit into equipment; it should be the opposite. BUT there’s something about this set that really has me swinging extremely comfortably and fast due to 1. the offset and 2. shaft profile.
The offset that the CB’s have is really interesting to my eye. It gets me to set up so that my hands ever so slightly past the club head. This might be completely obvious for some. But gets me to a better set up during my backswing.
Anyway, taking these out for a round tomorrow morning. I haven’t played in about 2 weeks. Maybe 3. Itching for a round with this set.
I feel like I missed something – trade bonus you say? Still tempted by a 5 & 6.
Haven’t seen that yet.
Huh. It was up at all the stores here yesterday. Should have grabbed a pic of the signage for the exact details. Trade in bonus towards X Forged CB irons, BB21 drivers fwys hybs and irons, and something Mavrik. Pretty sure that was it. One said they had literally just put the (whatever we call little ad signs in golf stories) out when I mentioned it.
You must have gotten the early look. Will keep my eyes peeled.
Kinda need to wait until/if the Apex pros come out now since I don’t like seeing spin above 7k w/ a 7i.
While I was tehre, I decided to go give the X-forged a try since I knew I could try them with the same shaft I run in my T200’s ( Oban CT125 ) and they had been on my mind considering whats coming up in 4 weeks. Figured it would give me a decent baseline comparison just to see how they do against what I have said in the past has been one of the best irons I have ever played in the T200’s. To make it close, I used the 6 iron from the X-Forged CB at 29 deg and the 7 iron from the T200’s which is at 30 degrees. Same shaft, same lie/offset. Only difference is the head and a slight difference in shaft length. Here are the averages of of about 10 shots with my T200 and about 20 or so swings with the X-forged CB 6 iron. All shots were done with my own Tour BX balls and not the balls at CC.
X-Forged CB 6-iron ( 29 deg )
View attachment 8974297
T200 7-iron ( 30 deg )
View attachment 8974298
Dispersion circle for each
View attachment 8974300
Overall impress is that the CB’s are no joke. They feel really soft but solid. They still thump the ball which is one of the things I like with the T200’s. What surprised me was how forgiving they are and how consistent the spin was on shots. The numbers above really don’t tell the tale. If you look at the last 5 or 6 swings, my average spin was 6320 with only 102 variance. Ball speed was within 1.5 miles per hour variance, and smash factor was a 0.01 variance.
Last 5 shots with X-forged CB 6-iron
View attachment 8974299
So net / net, even though these heads are much smaller than the T200 and look visually smaller, the consistency across the hitting surface is crazy as far as I can tell and in comparison, I give up a degree or so of launch angle, about 600 rpm’s of spin and 2 degrees of land angle for 7 or 8 feet less height but get a way softer feel off the face. I definitely hit some shots not dead center and around the face and they still flew a long way with a consistency I didn’t deserve.
All in all, can’t wait for the Grandmama and seeing what the wizards at Callaway can do. Its a good sign when both the fitters there had recently switched to the CB’s.
I got some unwanted clarification on it yesterday. 6 piece minimum on the X Forged CB to qualify. So it’s off to eBay for me to sell, and then just order the couple I want.
Had the same feeling. I was very surprised. I thought I was going to be spraying them all of over the place. After all, I am no @Canadan . ? There was two shots I thought I blew out to the right hard and both actually just sat there and drew back to be just right of the target line. I did seem to draw these a bit more than the T200s.
I had a series of shots were mishits in different ways in a row. Heel, then toe, then fat, then thin and they all went the same distance dead straight. A ton of forgiveness from this small package.
Well struck shots that I actually controlled the face were hot. The biggest question is always what spin profile will I get. These are definitely a high spin players iron. But its wonderful to have the distance control.
Since they one wasn’t a fitting head, I’m assuming you at least saw/held the rest of the set. What did you think about the look and shape of them?
Only the 7i. That is unfortunately what Callaway sent him for fitting. I would love to see the full set.
I was referring to my z745’s as I have not had the ZX7 in hand yet, but their specs are the same on offset. I actually have a spreadsheet open on this X Forged CB to ZX7 comparison (darn mm to inches conversions!), and the ZX7 are more progressive, having a 0.008" more offset at the 4 iron and in the long irons and 0.019" less by the time you get to PW.
I can probably drop them down next to each other and snaps some pics for your tomorrow.
So hard to try to show in pictures @GraniteRoost , but maybe it’ll come through in these.
View attachment 8977456View attachment 8977457View attachment 8977458
View attachment 8977460View attachment 8977461
Grabbed some of the soles and shapes for you too.
Those are awesome pictures, thanks for doing that! The hosel transition definitely is a little different there, does appear more pulled back on the X Forged regardless of what the specs on paper say.
Interesting how similar the transition is from face to hosel. The top line of the XFCB appears to be more rounded and the grooves and hitting area looks to be shorter with the blade length being very similar.
I tried them with the elevate 120 shaft which I think launched it a little high for me. I could probably get them going a little longer with a flatter ball flight.