I gained a full club over my CF16's and honestly it's been hard to get my brain to believe that when I am pulling an iron from the bag. Yelling, "No not the 7! The 8!" at myself in my head has been fun.
Callaway Apex 19 and Apex Pro 19 Irons
Every year we always heard the question “is this the year the update the Apex irons?” Well now it’s time, and they did not disappoint.
Going into my fitting I was eager to give them a chance, but new the Big Bertha irons were possibly the better match for my game. Jason had me start with those, and I was getting good distance but everything leaked right in varying degrees. We tried the Apex iron next and it was evident these gave me a tighter dispersion, which was my goal with the irons. I wasn’t too concerned with more length but if I received its I wasn’t going to complain. So I received both, for reference my 7 iron from my old set went 155-160...
Didn’t expect to gain nearly a club more of length along with tighter dispersion, but I will definitely take it! The profile is thinner and smaller than my previous irons, which I thought would take me awhile to get used to, but so far I haven’t noticed any issues. The sound off the face gives more of a “pop” sound for me, which is pleasing to hear as I rarely got that with my old irons. I’m also not one to hit the center that often too, but even miss hits still sounded purer too, and the distance didn’t go as far, but wasn’t a huge difference. I went 5 through AW in Apex, and even got my 5 iron up to 200 during the fitting, which led me to get a 4 hybrid to match the gapping. These distances were confirmed using an indoor simulator along with an outdoor range session not too long ago. I feel confident pulling a 7i 160-170 now, where a 6 would have been used in the past. Of course the lofts might have changed a little too, which I also need to compare as these look to be a tad stronger than my old irons.
I expected to see big improvements with my irons as my older set (G20) is from 6 years ago, so technology has drastically improved, plus my iron striking is much better now too. They look cleaner and when I address the ball,I feel more confident looking down at them. Other might not notice the same difference from their irons to these simply because they are used to a small iron head as I believe the Rogue irons are a similar size from what I remember seeing at the store.
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Going into my fitting I was eager to give them a chance, but new the Big Bertha irons were possibly the better match for my game. Jason had me start with those, and I was getting good distance but everything leaked right in varying degrees. We tried the Apex iron next and it was evident these gave me a tighter dispersion, which was my goal with the irons. I wasn’t too concerned with more length but if I received its I wasn’t going to complain. So I received both, for reference my 7 iron from my old set went 155-160...
Didn’t expect to gain nearly a club more of length along with tighter dispersion, but I will definitely take it! The profile is thinner and smaller than my previous irons, which I thought would take me awhile to get used to, but so far I haven’t noticed any issues. The sound off the face gives more of a “pop” sound for me, which is pleasing to hear as I rarely got that with my old irons. I’m also not one to hit the center that often too, but even miss hits still sounded purer too, and the distance didn’t go as far, but wasn’t a huge difference. I went 5 through AW in Apex, and even got my 5 iron up to 200 during the fitting, which led me to get a 4 hybrid to match the gapping. These distances were confirmed using an indoor simulator along with an outdoor range session not too long ago. I feel confident pulling a 7i 160-170 now, where a 6 would have been used in the past. Of course the lofts might have changed a little too, which I also need to compare as these look to be a tad stronger than my old irons.
I expected to see big improvements with my irons as my older set (G20) is from 6 years ago, so technology has drastically improved, plus my iron striking is much better now too. They look cleaner and when I address the ball,I feel more confident looking down at them. Other might not notice the same difference from their irons to these simply because they are used to a small iron head as I believe the Rogue irons are a similar size from what I remember seeing at the store.
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Tadashi70
Well-known member
A short bus ride to EPC and some house keeping items then the fun will begin. Can’t wait to hit these clubs. The look really good. The PROs are noice and look like you could do some real damage.
i've seen comments on the Cup Face not being in all the irons (very well could have interpreted it wrong).
If the cup face in each iron and just adjusted with the modern tech being introduced or are certain clubs in each line that dont have the cup face tech?
If the cup face in each iron and just adjusted with the modern tech being introduced or are certain clubs in each line that dont have the cup face tech?
SlightDraw
Well-known member
Do you happen to know if the lofts are the same as CF16?
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The higher lofted irons are straight forged irons as I recall.
In the standard irons, cup face goes through the 8i and in the pros it's the 7i.
They did slightly strengthen the lofts due to the weight shifting lower, but I believe it was minimal...like 1 or 2°. I'll try to find spec details I had.
Thanks. Looks like its just the "scoring" irons for each set without it and that's fine by me.
Looks like a Smoke combo set is in my future.
stfu and take my money. only question is whether to go full apex, full pro or combo.
curtis' low spin with the regular 7i is a little concerning, being a lower spin player myself. only way to know is to test myself! but i want to test a full set, not just a 6i.
can anybody do some comparison pics with rogue pro? i hit that recently, and would love to see some side-by-side pics. bonus points for comparing feel (hoping for something a little softer).
curtis' low spin with the regular 7i is a little concerning, being a lower spin player myself. only way to know is to test myself! but i want to test a full set, not just a 6i.
can anybody do some comparison pics with rogue pro? i hit that recently, and would love to see some side-by-side pics. bonus points for comparing feel (hoping for something a little softer).
Apex love and they look clean!
Great pictures Freddie, these look amazing.
Same for me with distance gains. And it is winter here. And I have to reiterate, the distance comes in a tight little package with fantastic feel. HUGELY impressed with the irons.
SlightDraw
Well-known member
Second a comparison with Rogue Pro!
So compared to the CF16, the Apex is shorter from toe to heel and stronger lofts? Is the forgiveness about the same as the CF16 also?
I believe the PW in the '19 Apex is 43° and is 44° in the Apex Pro if memory serves me correctly. So in the '19 Apex that is 2° stronger that the CF16. With the new weighting scheme and higher launch they had to decrease loft slightly.
Great initial thoughts so far guys! These are the clubs I’ve been waiting for. The ones I think will be kicking my Grandaddy CF16’s out of the bag. Will be following this thread closely, especially interested to hear more from the guys that went from CF16 to CF19.
Bottom line, I will be going to a fitting for these in a few months when it warms up here in Ohio.
Bottom line, I will be going to a fitting for these in a few months when it warms up here in Ohio.
DNevs confirmed there is actually more forgiveness in this setup in terms of the distance you'll see on mishits. I can verify that with the toe shots of I've hit.
I have played the CF16s for the last two years. The '19 Apex feels softer, more of that forged feel, yet the ball just jumps off the face. Launch is a little higher and I seem to be getting more "stop" on iron shots into the green. Is it more spin or a steeper descent angle? Combination of the two? I don't know whether it is the set of irons themselves or the fact that they were built in the pro build department at Callaway, but the consistency of feel throughout the set is what struck home most for me. I am getting better than summer-like distances, gains of anywhere from 1/2 to almost a full club in 40-50° temperatures. Out at The Hideaway, just getting used to them, I pretty much picked clubs based on my usual distance that I would see with the CF16s and was getting slightly better distances than that. Being in a competition like that as opposed to no consequences playing a typical casual round I am probably taking a more aggressive swing back home compared to then and there.
I know these irons were hugely anticipated. Everything I've seen so far looks awesome. Not in the market for irons (still in love with my Rogue Pros) but I'd be lying if I said the smoke finish wasn't tempting.
Maybe the satin finish "hides" the top line a little better but the head on the '19 Apex is slightly more compact all the way around than the CF16's.
Also if anyone played the Rogue Pro's, how much different is the feel of the forged head vs the rogue pro?
SlightDraw
Well-known member
When there's Smoke, there's 
i may have missed it, but did anyone go with the stock elevate shaft? i don't think anyone did. was that because that shaft wasn't the best fit for every one of you guys, or was it not available for testing? personally, that shaft REALLY excites me as a stock option.