Cleveland 588 Altitude Hybrid Irons Preview

[LargePhil]

Dan, I saw you running your hand over those pretty blue VSProto shafts. Dan hit ball after ball at this big tree on the driving range. It was about 230 out. I swear he had to have hit it in the same spot on the bark with half the shots. He would look down at the club shake his head and hit another one. JT brought him over the wedge and said hit this. He hit it once and said, I can't hit it anymore.

Nathan was hitting them before Dan and the last group came over. He was shaking his head and looking confused. Bomb after bomb right down the middle.

I was almost ashamed to hit them again, but, I remembered I hit them softer and take care of them.

 

[Canadan]

I don't even want to start. It can't be real....

This dude hit's the 3-iron in this set farther than I can hit a driver :bulgy-eyes:. Hell everybody was smoking them :bomb:. SeeMore guy I'm sure will be stopping by the PGA Superstore . JT723 was knocking them out of sight :golf2:. Heck I hit a few 7 irons and had that deer in the head lights look

As atrocious as they look, they work. Some how. I launch a majority of the clubs too high, but I smell a driving iron in the MC bag......

The store to buy one!

That was a freakin' beautiful thing to watch today, you, JT and ncrowe rocking the p1ss out of these things.

Dan, I saw you running your hand over those pretty blue VSProto shafts. Dan hit ball after ball at this big tree on the driving range. It was about 230 out. I swear he had to have hit it in the same spot on the bark with half the shots. He would look down at the club shake his head and hit another one. JT brought him over the wedge and said hit this. He hit it once and said, I can't hit it anymore.

Nathan was hitting them before Dan and the last group came over. He was shaking his head and looking confused. Bomb after bomb right down the middle.

I was almost ashamed to hit them again, but, I remembered I hit them softer and take care of them.

Such a great summation of that madness. I was chatting with someone later about this.. At what cost does hitting the ball straight come from? Is there a fine line between streamers, paint colour, rockets, or top line that makes a club unplayable?

I just couldn't get over it. They really did hit well, I'm just not sold that they would kick out the Classic hybo.

All things said, that was a hilarious 20 minutes. Glad it wasn't on video.

 

[LargePhil]

It would be like getting caught chutting.


Tapatalking

 

[Canadan]

It would be like getting caught chutting.

Tapatalking

hah, no, I have absolutely NO gripe with people enjoying these irons.. If you can look down at that, you're going to like what becomes of it (assuming you get a good shaft pairing).

These are the real deal. Not a gimmick.

 

[LargePhil]

Yeah, true story Dan. All kidding aside, they play pretty well for my game. The VSProtos are very surprising.


Tapatalking

 

[JB]

At what cost does hitting the ball straight come from? Is there a fine line between streamers, paint colour, rockets, or top line that makes a club unplayable?

The vanity side of golf is a big deal to a lot of people. In our original interview with Hoeffy, he spoke of it.
Although I would argue that if a "top line was unplayable", you would have seen that in the performance, but instead saw great shot after great shot.

 

[Tadashi70]

Some folks need to get the vanity thing out of their system and just realize the reviews and personal feedback is legit. If you want to hit your long iron like your short and play better than your hdcp states, it's time to by performance instead of ego

 

[majBC]

Some folks need to get the vanity thing out of their system and just realize the reviews and personal feedback is legit. If you want to hit your long iron like your short and play better than your hdcp states, it's time to by performance instead of ego

This is so true couldn't agree more with you two, but you see it every day at the golf course a lot of golfers want to hit what the pro's hit or an iron can't look to big it signifies I am a hack or a beginner. My game really improved when I got the Mashie hybrids a couple of years ago, performance sold me but the confidence they inspired can not be overlooked when assessing the value to my overall game.

 

[Bullitt5339]

Some folks need to get the vanity thing out of their system and just realize the reviews and personal feedback is legit. If you want to hit your long iron like your short and play better than your hdcp states, it's time to by performance instead of ego

I have to admit that I have been guilty of this........ But I'm trying to reform myself. These irons are on my list to try as soon as anyone in town gets a set in for me to try. I've been in the market for a couple weeks, and hit everything, but these are the last ones on my list that I haven't gotten to hit yet. And based on the recommendations in this thread, these seem like a "Must Hit" before I make a decision.

 

[LargePhil]

Just to be clear. Yesterday in Monroe, everyone had fun hitting the Altitudes. It was more surprise and disbelief, that was registering for everyone. It went from, I can't game these at the beginning, to everyone considering bagging at least one or more of these. Smart group of Atlanta golfers here yesterday and at least one smart, impressive Canadian, via Ohio. In fairness, it isn't intuitive that the Altitudes are as good as they are, the proof is in the hitting.

My fear, now that I have been playing them for 3 months, is that I won't be able to bag anything else. I am thinking about buying a spare set for the time that these wear out.

 

[SeeMoreGuy]

Chalk me up as a true believer in these irons. We were finishing up our round yesterday on 18 and noticed Large Phil and others at the driving range hitting balls. Of course we wondered how after 27 holes they were still swinging the sticks. We joined them and quickly found out everyone was trying out the Altitudes.

I was not too familiar with the line but LP asked me to give them a try and you cant say no to LP. haha! I was absolutely amazed with what I was able to do with these. I hit quite a few balls and remember only 3 or 4 as what I would call bad shots. Every shot launched high and went long and straight. These were with one heck of a shaft LP had in his irons. I think he told me the torque was 1.8 which is very robust for me. I can only imagine how these would be with the right shaft for my game.

They are not very pretty to look at but that has never bothered me in a club. I look primarily at how do I perform with it first. I am crazy about these clubs. I am getting used to my new G25s and they will remain in my bag but the Altitudes are quickly approaching a second set status. The forged face felt great and going after it was an afterthought. Every shot went where I wanted. After hitting the 6i, LP handed me the 3i which I just knew was going to embarrass myself with. Total opposite result. I felt like I could remove my driver and just play 3i instead.

Looking forward to hitting these on a LM but it wont compare to seeing the ball flight at the range yesterday but it will be nice to see some actual numbers. I can easily see myself gaming these. The primary comparison will be how they perform against my PING Rapture V2 irons but I must say the Altitudes were fantastic.

 

[LargePhil]

Chalk me up as a true believer in these irons. We were finishing up our round yesterday on 18 and noticed Large Phil and others at the driving range hitting balls. Of course we wondered how after 27 holes they were still swinging the sticks. We joined them and quickly found out everyone was trying out the Altitudes.

I was not too familiar with the line but LP asked me to give them a try and you cant say no to LP. haha! I was absolutely amazed with what I was able to do with these. I hit quite a few balls and remember only 3 or 4 as what I would call bad shots. Every shot launched high and went long and straight. These were with one heck of a shaft LP had in his irons. I think he told me the torque was 1.8 which is very robust for me. I can only imagine how these would be with the right shaft for my game.

They are not very pretty to look at but that has never bothered me in a club. I look primarily at how do I perform with it first. I am crazy about these clubs. I am getting used to my new G25s and they will remain in my bag but the Altitudes are quickly approaching a second set status. The forged face felt great and going after it was an afterthought. Every shot went where I wanted. After hitting the 6i, LP handed me the 3i which I just knew was going to embarrass myself with. Total opposite result. I felt like I could remove my driver and just play 3i instead.

Looking forward to hitting these on a LM but it wont compare to seeing the ball flight at the range yesterday but it will be nice to see some actual numbers. I can easily see myself gaming these. The primary comparison will be how they perform against my PING Rapture V2 irons but I must say the Altitudes were fantastic.

Keith, you were really hitting these things. I had a blast watching you and the other guys. I felt like a therapist with a radical new treatment for golfers.

 

[SeeMoreGuy]

You should hang a shingle and go into the treatment business, Phil. Thanks for letting me give these a go. Very impressive.

 

[Ole Gray]

Chalk me up as a true believer in these irons. We were finishing up our round yesterday on 18 and noticed Large Phil and others at the driving range hitting balls. Of course we wondered how after 27 holes they were still swinging the sticks. We joined them and quickly found out everyone was trying out the Altitudes.

I was not too familiar with the line but LP asked me to give them a try and you cant say no to LP. haha! I was absolutely amazed with what I was able to do with these. I hit quite a few balls and remember only 3 or 4 as what I would call bad shots. Every shot launched high and went long and straight. These were with one heck of a shaft LP had in his irons. I think he told me the torque was 1.8 which is very robust for me. I can only imagine how these would be with the right shaft for my game.

They are not very pretty to look at but that has never bothered me in a club. I look primarily at how do I perform with it first. I am crazy about these clubs. I am getting used to my new G25s and they will remain in my bag but the Altitudes are quickly approaching a second set status. The forged face felt great and going after it was an afterthought. Every shot went where I wanted. After hitting the 6i, LP handed me the 3i which I just knew was going to embarrass myself with. Total opposite result. I felt like I could remove my driver and just play 3i instead.

Looking forward to hitting these on a LM but it wont compare to seeing the ball flight at the range yesterday but it will be nice to see some actual numbers. I can easily see myself gaming these. The primary comparison will be how they perform against my PING Rapture V2 irons but I must say the Altitudes were fantastic.

It was really cool watching you hit these with that big ole grin on ya face and that huge smile with the wide eye oh shat look :bulgy-eyes:

LP hit many gorgeous high fades with these irons yesterday. I can see how he loves them so much. I hit a few at the range with nice high draws with that soft feel coming off the face. It's like mashing potatoes with a sledge hammer, getting ready for Easter dinner. Large Phil, these are the real deal :thumb:

 

[#Cookie]

I am pretty darn stoked that LargePhil was able to get these in the hands of so many THP'ers yesterday. They are seeing what the hype is all about firsthand and learning that these aren't just made for the super high handicappers that need help with getting the ball in the air and maximum forgiveness.

I was able to get out yesterday and play 18 in some wet conditions with these. I have been working on a few small swing thoughts lately and am about to start a pretty drastic change for me and these will be in the bag for the ride.

For those that were around when I first got the J40's and read my feedback on them, I was impressed at the turf interaction and the toe forgiveness. With those, misses on the toe would typically see a 5-10% loss in distance but still leave me in respectable situations.

Turf interaction is so important to me as I will be a sweeper one swing and a digger the next - kinda never know what you will see from me. Forgiveness is important to me because I miss all over the face with the majority of misses being on the toe.

What I am seeing with the Altitudes is that my toe misses are finding greens - there really is no more "5-10% short". The toe, while you can feel it out there on the miss, the result makes you think the toe is just an extension of the sweet spot. Now, I play on a course with extremely small greens compared to anywhere around me that I typically play. On average, I hit 5 GIR per round at my home course...something like that. Here are some numbers from yesterday:

8/18 GIR

When I had an Altitude in my hand, I was 7/13 GIR which I was pretty happy with. A few of those misses were me in the trees trying to play a shot up & over or a draw around a tree, etc. I think I only missed 3 GIR when I had an Altitude in hand from the FW. Few examples of the shot results:

Choke down PW from 114 to 14 feet
6i from 180 to 15 feet
Choke down PW from 95 to 22 feet
PW from 117 to 8 feet
9i from 145 to 9 feet
7i from 145 to 25 feet
PW from 130 to 30 feet

For some, those are not great shots but for a guy that struggles to hit many GIR, especially from within 150, this is huge for me and my game. Heck, I shot 82 with 34 putts - was easily looking at a 70's round if a few more dropped.

With the stock stiff graphite shafts, I am seeing a very high launch but after yesterday I am hesitant to classify it as too high. I am slowly getting adjusted to the 55g shafts and learning that a swing that I think is "9 to 3" has me shortening my backswing a little bit resulting in much more consistent ball contact. Put myself in a few bad spots off of the tee where a towering shot over trees was called for and I was able to execute that with a 7i.....not sure I could have done that with the PX flighted steel that I was used to.

I will still be going through a shaft fitting for these, but gotta admit that I am hesitant about bringing my ball flight down too much.....I was liking what I saw out of the stock shaft yesterday.

Much more to come over the next week, great forecast upcoming!

 

[War Eagle]

Some folks need to get the vanity thing out of their system and just realize the reviews and personal feedback is legit. If you want to hit your long iron like your short and play better than your hdcp states, it's time to by performance instead of ego

For some, yes, the feedback is legit. However, there are some that struggle with this type of iron, and I guess I am one of those people. I have tried, multiple times, to hit these irons well, and just can not get them to work. I watch JB hit shot after shot dead on the screws, then I grab one and just can't get a shot off to save my life.

 

[JRod]

For some, yes, the feedback is legit. However, there are some that struggle with this type of iron, and I guess I am one of those people. I have tried, multiple times, to hit these irons well, and just can not get them to work. I watch JB hit shot after shot dead on the screws, then I grab one and just can't get a shot off to save my life.

Same. It has nothing to do with ego it's liking what I am looking at.

 

[T0AD]

War, I couldn't hit them either. I put down at least 25 balls and hit maybe 1 or 2 decent ones. Then I stood there and watched everyone else just utterly destroy them. I was a bit dismayed and overjoyed all at once. At least I don't have the problem Dan and Nate have in knowing they can kill them but being too "shy" to buy them.

 

[Barberakb]

same here, I will game anything regardless of looks, but these just didn't work for me.

 

[Canadan]

The vanity side of golf is a big deal to a lot of people. In our original interview with Hoeffy, he spoke of it.
Although I would argue that if a "top line was unplayable", you would have seen that in the performance, but instead saw great shot after great shot.

I do think range golf is pretty deceptive. I saw lots of guys hit bombs with the altitudes yesterday, but that was said about OGs XHot Pros or even wluker's X Forged irons as well.

What I do think sets the altitudes (and the MT/TT) apart from other GI and SGI irons, is the feedback off the face.. Call it feel, call it sound... I definitely think it's an improvement. Still a 'plink'ish noise every couple shots I guess when hitting it dead on the screws, but absolutely an improvement.

Some folks need to get the vanity thing out of their system and just realize the reviews and personal feedback is legit. If you want to hit your long iron like your short and play better than your hdcp states, it's time to by performance instead of ego

I think people should play what makes them happy.. I'm not going to downplay the altitudes because I have no reason to, but I have no intentions of playing them. Just like I don't intend to play a 46" driver or game a long putter.

Same. It has nothing to do with ego it's liking what I am looking at.

I really don't know why anyone would play something they didn't like looking at.

 

[LargePhil]

I really don't know why anyone would play something they didn't like looking at.

This. I think people get comfort from the look and feel of the club in their hands. I admit, I would love to game a set of Miura or Mizuno's. Works of art in the hand, they are, but, I lost the swing speed to get the most out of them, some time ago. I have 'graduated' to something that gives me easy distance. I envy those of you that have a game that allows you to play with a lovely set of blades. Thankfully this wonderful game has clubs and styles for everyone.

Dan is right, play what makes you happy, these just happen to be what make me happy right now.

 

[Canadan]

This. I think people get comfort from the look and feel of the club in their hands. I admit, I would love to game a set of Miura or Mizuno's. Works of art in the hand, they are, but, I lost the swing speed to get the most out of them, some time ago. I have 'graduated' to something that gives me easy distance. I envy those of you that have a game that allows you to play with a lovely set of blades. Thankfully this wonderful game has clubs and styles for everyone.

Dan is right, play what makes you happy, these just happen to be what make me happy right now.

I'm actually really excited to see you game these Phil. As many guys as I saw hit them, I really didn't get a chance to watch you teach JT hot to hit a high draw hahaha!

 

[ryebread]

I hit the 3, 6, 7, and PW..they got less comfortable the deeper into the set I got, but the flight from the three was quality.. It would replace a classic hybo though, and I don't know that I could do that..

I've had HB3s and XLIs and tend to agree with this. I personally really like the progressively smaller hybrid design of the Cleveland set better than Adams or some others. There is a point though with the Cleveland sets where I prefer a traditional cavity backed iron (even a SGI one). It's just something about it visually.

I think if one had the money (or were a Morgan Cupper), it'd be awesome to have a set like this for the 3-5 (and maybe the 6) with a more traditional iron set for 7 down. That's kind of where the sweet spot seems to be for me.

Having said that, I'm interested in hitting the Altitudes in graphite.

 

[#Cookie]

I've had HB3s and XLIs and tend to agree with this. I personally really like the progressively smaller hybrid design of the Cleveland set better than Adams or some others. There is a point though with the Cleveland sets where I prefer a traditional cavity backed iron (even a SGI one). It's just something about it visually.

I think if one had the money (or were a Morgan Cupper), it'd be awesome to have a set like this for the 3-5 (and maybe the 6) with a more traditional iron set for 7 down. That's kind of where the sweet spot seems to be for me.

Having said that, I'm interested in hitting the Altitudes in graphite.

I was initially planning on doing what you mentioned with like 3-6 and then MT's the rest of the way but I hit these so well in the shorter irons that I just can't find a reason to make that switch. Granted, if the looks bothered me, then perhaps I would be inclined more for that route but since they don't - I am excited to game a full set of these. Will make a few tweaks with the lofts in the GW & DW but that's about it.

 

[majBC]

I was initially planning on doing what you mentioned with like 3-6 and then MT's the rest of the way but I hit these so well in the shorter irons that I just can't find a reason to make that switch. Granted, if the looks bothered me, then perhaps I would be inclined more for that route but since they don't - I am excited to game a full set of these. Will make a few tweaks with the lofts in the GW & DW but that's about it.

mcook77 I think attempo did that with a set of these he had the SW bent to 56* and if I'm not mistaken he had the 3 and 4 strengthened a bit. So this should work fine, but if you have questions you might get with attempo.