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- #3,401
Some end of season thoughts on my Apex Pros now that the outdoor season is over and indoor league starts soon.
Looks - Besides the TCB's, I think these may be my favorite looking iron of all time. Only thing that would make them better is a black/smoke finish like the previous Apex line had. For real, these things are freaking stunning. The tungsten stamp doesn't bother me a bit. I also haven't had finish issues that others have had though I couldn't care less if the finish did wear. These things are hitting dirt, rocks, grass, sand. They aren't going to stay perfect. Looking at the actual shape, I see offset in clubs and it doesn't bother me. What can get in my head is too thin or too thick of a top line. These are right in my wheel house of looking down and knowing that you have to hit it well to make the club work but have just enough to them that you have confidence. I came from the Cobra Forged TECs and those top lines were just the tiniest bit too thick. Losing that little bit of top line here was huge for the looks for me.
Feel/Sound - I've never been someone who looks for a certain sound or can't stand a more techy sound. I've heard others describe these as "clicky" but I don't hear them that way. I would describe them as "full". Like you know you caught one dead nuts by the full sound. It's not muted, its not high pitched, it's just a strong full "thwack". Huge fan. Speaking on feel, they are SOFT. Maybe not full on MB feel but these feel gooooood. I mention a few posts up how even in the colder weather, these continued to be easy on the hands and felt soft with the ball coming off the face. In the summer these were addicting to hit. Couldn't be happier
Forgiveness - My thoughts here were there wasn't as much forgiveness as I needed when the swing was off. Meaning these don't do the work for you in regards to moving the ball forward. But they do everything they can. I mentioned about my Epic Speed in my season ending breakdown there, these still require you to strike the ball well (of course they do Chris they have Pro in the name). Obviously these aren't SGI irons so of course they require good contact. But they DID offer their share of forgiveness. Especially off the toe. I felt some shots come off of there, did a one hand finish, and saw the ball about 7-10 yards short of where I wanted it. That happened more than I'd care to admit. With as bad as some strikes off the toe felt, they still got out there a decent way.
Spin - The only thing I have to say here is that I did have trouble with these clubs in the wind. I'd hit what I felt was PURE, and the ball just kept ballooning. I know that's a ball related too but I struggled more in the wind this year than I did last year with the FTs. Other than that though, ball was hop and stop with everything from PW down to 5i most of the time. Obviously the 5 and 6 had some roll out but when I was able to hit the green with them, the ball wasn't far from the pitch mark which was awesome
Distance - This is one thing I was worried about when I saw my lofts were going to be about 3* less than the FTs from 5-8i and 2* with the 9i. Yes, yes loft is far from the lone determiner of distance but I was still a little concerned. But these things fly! I hit them just as far as my FTs with about a 2-4 yard variation at times. Hollow Body Distance iron confirmed even with the more traditional lofts. Now, there was about a three week stretch where no matter how the shot felt, my 9i was going the same or shorter than my PW. That had to be a swing issue though (what's new) because that's recently been figured out. But it was very weird
Overall, I couldn't be happier with these irons this year. While my game moved up and down throughout the season, these were consistent performers. And that's the key word here consistent. They kept me in rounds I had no right being in because of my tee struggles. Excited to get some final work with them in sim league this winter and put them head to head with whatever I come out of the Grandaddy with!
Looks - Besides the TCB's, I think these may be my favorite looking iron of all time. Only thing that would make them better is a black/smoke finish like the previous Apex line had. For real, these things are freaking stunning. The tungsten stamp doesn't bother me a bit. I also haven't had finish issues that others have had though I couldn't care less if the finish did wear. These things are hitting dirt, rocks, grass, sand. They aren't going to stay perfect. Looking at the actual shape, I see offset in clubs and it doesn't bother me. What can get in my head is too thin or too thick of a top line. These are right in my wheel house of looking down and knowing that you have to hit it well to make the club work but have just enough to them that you have confidence. I came from the Cobra Forged TECs and those top lines were just the tiniest bit too thick. Losing that little bit of top line here was huge for the looks for me.
Feel/Sound - I've never been someone who looks for a certain sound or can't stand a more techy sound. I've heard others describe these as "clicky" but I don't hear them that way. I would describe them as "full". Like you know you caught one dead nuts by the full sound. It's not muted, its not high pitched, it's just a strong full "thwack". Huge fan. Speaking on feel, they are SOFT. Maybe not full on MB feel but these feel gooooood. I mention a few posts up how even in the colder weather, these continued to be easy on the hands and felt soft with the ball coming off the face. In the summer these were addicting to hit. Couldn't be happier
Forgiveness - My thoughts here were there wasn't as much forgiveness as I needed when the swing was off. Meaning these don't do the work for you in regards to moving the ball forward. But they do everything they can. I mentioned about my Epic Speed in my season ending breakdown there, these still require you to strike the ball well (of course they do Chris they have Pro in the name). Obviously these aren't SGI irons so of course they require good contact. But they DID offer their share of forgiveness. Especially off the toe. I felt some shots come off of there, did a one hand finish, and saw the ball about 7-10 yards short of where I wanted it. That happened more than I'd care to admit. With as bad as some strikes off the toe felt, they still got out there a decent way.
Spin - The only thing I have to say here is that I did have trouble with these clubs in the wind. I'd hit what I felt was PURE, and the ball just kept ballooning. I know that's a ball related too but I struggled more in the wind this year than I did last year with the FTs. Other than that though, ball was hop and stop with everything from PW down to 5i most of the time. Obviously the 5 and 6 had some roll out but when I was able to hit the green with them, the ball wasn't far from the pitch mark which was awesome
Distance - This is one thing I was worried about when I saw my lofts were going to be about 3* less than the FTs from 5-8i and 2* with the 9i. Yes, yes loft is far from the lone determiner of distance but I was still a little concerned. But these things fly! I hit them just as far as my FTs with about a 2-4 yard variation at times. Hollow Body Distance iron confirmed even with the more traditional lofts. Now, there was about a three week stretch where no matter how the shot felt, my 9i was going the same or shorter than my PW. That had to be a swing issue though (what's new) because that's recently been figured out. But it was very weird
Overall, I couldn't be happier with these irons this year. While my game moved up and down throughout the season, these were consistent performers. And that's the key word here consistent. They kept me in rounds I had no right being in because of my tee struggles. Excited to get some final work with them in sim league this winter and put them head to head with whatever I come out of the Grandaddy with!
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