Callaway legitimately revolutionized irons when they first introduced the APEX lineup way back in 2014, the blending of forgiveness and all-out performance had never been done like that before. Not only that, but with each subsequent release the accolades have grown as has the amount of tech the company continues to pour into them.
What that has led to is an incredible amount of anticipation each time we edge closer to the unveil of the next iteration. Well, the Callaway Apex 21 lineup is coming, and it’s bringing a new friend with it.
The New Apex Family
Callaway has taken full advantage of the two-year lifecycle of the Apex lineup to not just bring forth two irons worthy of the family name, but they have brought a third to the party as well. Yes, a third.
This go-round the Apex and Apex Pro will be joined by their little-big brother, the DCB (deep cavity blade) which they believe makes their lineup reach more players than any other generation before it. But more on that very soon.
The Apex irons continue to be the crème de la crème of the Callaway iron umbrella, and with that it is no surprise that they continue to feature the best of all their iron technology developed over the years and rolled into each new version. This is after all the iron series that defined forged irons meeting true forgiveness and playability, literally blurring the lines of classification like never before.
This year the goal was to stretch the tech even more to hit an even broader player profile, while also in their minds not just retaining but increasing their hold as the “#1 Irons in Golf”. Performance and consistency of performance is the goal, and by implementing things like Flash Face Cup, Tungsten Energy Core, and Urethane Microspheres in all three irons, they definitely look poised to accomplish that.
Callaway Apex 21 Irons
It’s only right to start with the flagship iron, right? The Apex 21 is being hailed as a “21st Century Forging” by Callaway, and continues to be a shape and size that will fit the eye of a broad range of golfers. The shaping continues to let them put forgiveness into the iron, but without getting too big nor losing the shot-making potential that has endeared the line to so many over each release.
The goal was to further entrench the Apex as offering leading distance, launch, speed, feel, and most importantly consistency in all of those aspects. To do that they have implemented a “Big Three” of tech, if you will.
First, A.I. Flash Face Cup is here, and it is the first time that Callaway has implemented AI into a forged iron. It was a natural progression given the success A.I. has allowed them in the past couple of years, but it took a lot to implement it into these three sets of irons. This means more distance, but also with more forgiveness all while maintaining spin numbers better than previous iterations. It is also worth noting once again, each iron has a unique face design, both loft for loft as well as compared to the other two Apex sets.
Added to that is a “Massive” tungsten core with a unique split application system low in the iron with heel, toe, and center sections. The unique split placement allows for the increased MOI blended with a lower CG. In all, there is 5-times the Tungsten compared to the Apex 19 irons, ranging from 34g to 64g in the 3-9 while only 14 in the PW and AW to tune in the desired flight through the set. Rounding it out, the 1025 Carbon Steel with Urethane Microsphere technology that continues to be revolutionary compared to anything else on the market for performance and feel.
Callaway is claiming higher peak ball speed compared to the Apex 19, but more importantly the “sweet spot” is much larger and more centered as well as lower than previously which matches where most golfers tend to miss much better. The set will play off a 30.5° 7-iron and 43° PW, but Callaway notes that the A.I. design is allowing them to generate and retain more spin loft for loft than previously possible.
The Apex 21 will be available in 3-AW and paired with all new premium shafts in True Temper Elevate ETS 95’s (R, S) for steel and UST Mamiya Recoil Dart 75’s (L, R, S) for graphite. They are rounded out with Golf Pride Z-Grip Soft for the stock grip options.
Callaway Apex Pro 21 Irons
The Apex Pro irons have long thrived on being a unicorn of sorts, making a more players style iron impressively more playable for a wider range of golfers. Since they have been infinitely successful, Callaway did the only natural thing, they totally and completely redesigned them from the ground up. These are not like any Apex Pro before. Truly.
Welcome the Apex lineup to the age of the hollow body design.
The Pro’s are now a forged hollow body design that Callaway calls a player’s performance iron. For golfers from scratch to single digits who want performance mixed with forgiveness, this may be the ticket, fitting between the Apex 21 and the X-Forged CB.
Hollow is popular right now, but Callaway believes they have done it differently. They liked the hollow body design because it affords more stiffness in the rear of the club but allows a lot to be done internally with the application of the aforementioned A.I. Flash Face Cup, 1025 Carbon Steel with Urethane Microspheres, as well as a massiveamount of Tungsten.
The Flash Face cup is unique to this specific set as well as club for club within the set. When blended with the “Tungsten Energy Core” which has placed 53g to 90g in the 3-7 of the set you have an iron design primed for more speed, more forgiveness, and more spin consistency. Callaway also believes that thanks to the huge amount of Urethane Microspheres both low and higher in the club, and their ability to collapse and rebound without sacrificing energy transfer, they have produced a hollow body with feel like a one-piece forging. Now that is something that will perk up some ears.
The Apex Pro 21 will be available in 3-AW and the set plays off of a 33° 7-iron and 45° PW. Additionally, the premium stock shaft offerings are the all-new True Temper Elevate ETS 115 (R, S, X) in steel as well as the Mitsubishi MMT (R – 85, S – 95, TX – 105) in graphite and paired with the Golf Pride Z-Grip.
Callaway Apex DCB Irons
Rounding out the Callaway Apex 21 irons lineup, the new kid on the block, the Apex DCB.
DCB stands for “Deep Cavity Blade” and the name says it all, this is an even more forgiving forged iron that Callaway wanted to create in order to allow golfers who need a wider sole, longer blade length, and a bit more offset a way to still be part of the Apex family.
All of the above traits meet up with the A.I. Flash Face Cup, 1025 Carbon Steel with Urethane Microspheres, and Tungsten Energy Core just like the other two irons in the lineup, simply in a more forgiving and easier launching package. Though they feature a progressively large sole than the rest of the Apex offerings, they look a lot like the Apex 21’s and visually blend well enough to make a golfer happy when looking down at the clubs.
The Apex DCB will be available in 4-AW and playing off of a 30° 7-Iron and a 43° PW with the set being practically the same as the Apex 21 other than the long irons. Premium shaft offerings for the DCB are True Temper Elevate ETS 85 (R, S) as well as UST Mamiya Recoil Dart 65 (L, R, S) and finished with the Golf Pride Z-Grip Soft.
Combo Time!
Some of you were reading along and wondering, so this is for you…
YES, Callaway will be offering a combo sets for the Apex 21 lineup.
The main option will be the same we saw last time around blending the Apex 21 3-7 with Apex Pro 21 8-AW through the use of unique tooling in the Pro’s to make the set flow as seamlessly as possible. However, they are fully anticipating the possibility of other combo’s created by the consumer or during fittings with the “Apex Sweet Spot” having DCB 4-5 and Apex 21 6-AW, the “Apex Triple Play” with DCB 4-5, Apex 21 6-9, and Apex Pro 21 9-AW, as well as the “Apex Player” featuring Apex Pro 21 3-7 and Callaway Apex MB 8-AW.
The Details
The Callaway Apex 21 irons lineup will begin fitting on 1/28/21 and have a retail date of 2/11/21. Pricing will be $185 per club for steel and $200 per club in graphite.
Be sure to keep an eye on THP for a lot more to come on the entire Apex 21 lineup.
Thanks for the reply. I have also heard that the pros is a little more forgiving.
Well, i gonna try the pros after the season is over and see if they kick the X forged out of the bag. ?
Curious.. so when you say longer , how much of a diff are we talking?.. for eg PW.. what are some of your normal Apex 21 yardages vs the DCBs?.. and it sounds like from a feel and look the DCBs still gave you the soft forged feel in all the clubs, and the topline wasn’t an issue..
I used to know how to do those. Now they’re high pulls.
I have never really been able to do it and first time was by accident and I realized what I did. Through another ball down just for sh**s and giggles and tried it again and was like, huh. Well that’s not bad lol.
I personally didn’t notice any difference in the topline when i was hitting the two. For the 7 iron, I was hitting the Apex 21s 155-158 carry, and hitting the DCBs 162-165 carry. So about 7 yards longer. Launch and descent angles were similar between the two. Now part of the difference is the DCBs have slightly stronger lofts (maybe it’s all the difference). But the DCBs also had a tighter dispersion for me left and right, and more importantly in distance. That said, if the DCBs didn’t exist, I would have been perfectly happy gaming the Apex 21s as they were also much better for me than any other iron I tried.
That is curious.
I brought my ‘18 XForged 7 iron in with me when I first tried the pros. With the same shaft the XForged spun almost 500 rpm more for me. I switched to the Elevate and then saw essentially the same spin.
I was always told all shafts are not created equal with different heads. I have the MCA MMT 60x in my EPIC Max LS and a PX Smoke Blue 60 6.0 in my Cobra RadSpeed XB and they feel very similar. Different flexes, but both are working haha.
It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, it feels so fricking good! lol
X Forged spun lower for me too. The X Forged were one of the lower launching and spinning heads I tried this year, and the only guys here I know playing them do it specifically for those reasons.
I had been hitting the DCB 4 iron quite well until the last two rounds. ? its time to drag the mattress to the curb ?
It could be that the bounce/grinds on the Pro’s allows the club head to enter/exit the turf quicker than the X Forged clubs… therefore more spin and potentially more distance. For me this is noticeable when comparing the DCB’s with the regular forged irons and when comparing wedge grinds. Bob Vokey talked about this a couple of times on different YT videos.
It’s gonna take some time for me to be comfortable enough to pull my Mav 4H for the 4I. When I hit it well it’s awesome, but the hybrid is still a little more forgiving on less than stellar contact.
It’s always cool to watch a friend get better. A close buddy of mine has gotten significantly better over the last year and a half and it’s been a lot of fun to watch. And the Apex lineup is just fire this year!
It’s almost here!! getting fitted Monday and can’t wait…. Coming from CF16’s with recoil shafts, cant wait to try the standard and DCBs.. who knows maybe i’ll end up with a combo set apex and dcb’s.. If the DCB’s look similar to the CF16’s size wise and feel just as soft, then i’m not sure why i wouldnt get the dcbs over the standard apex. apologies for the rambling…but so many thoughts of what to get..
We’re these THPers, or just a lot of new Apex combos out in the wild?
What did you think of the dcb shots vs the standard.. and could you see yourself playing all dcbs?
No, I don’t have any DCB’s. I have a few standards, the Pros, TCB’s, and MB’s. I think I’ve only ever taken one swing with a DCB, so I don’t really have any input for you on that comparison. Sorry.
no worries… getting fitted tomorrow after coming from cf16s and curious where i’ll land, if it’ll be a combo of dcbs and standard apex.. in my mind i’m leaning to all dcbs, since i do mishit iron shots at time and could benefit from a little help in all the clubs and if they feel soft like the cf16’sdid and also the standard apex 21s do, why not get all the benefits i can from one set..
Not THPers, just golfers at our club.
Apex combos have come along way since the range at Mission Inn.
I absolutely love the Mixed Combo set when I’m firing on all cylinders but I do wonder if I’d be better off with the standard Apex as an all around set. Maybe get some help on those off days.
My prediction is yes.
I have a set with the 21 MBs in 7-PW and 21 Pros in 4-6. Those MBs are just
They really are. I played a combo like yours for quite a few rounds early this year. It’s a nice setup.
Must say that that the Pros are really nice and very forgiving.
The only issue i have is the " click " in the lower irons.
Anyone have standards bent weak and having turf issues??
Call their CS if you haven’t already. I know that grips have been holding up some orders.
@JohnnyCallaway made his own Apex’s 2* weak and had pretty great success with them. You can read about it went for him here
But regarding your question about turf issues, he also answers that in this thread. But just being quick, here’s what it said about it
I’ve had clubs come sooner and some later than the estimates they gave.
What did you order?