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Titleist 714 AP1 Review Thread

SuperStroke
Hawk said:
Yea, it's not been a bother after the initial "my brand new clubs got dirty" feeling.
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I believe most of the "owner induced blemishes" on my AP1s are from actual use rather than life in the bag, so to speak. Scuffs on the sole and face from playing in sandy Florida, a few on the back that I am sure are from raking another ball over on the range. My SCOR wedges came with covers and I put them on when the clubs are riding around in the trunk of the car, which is most of the time they aren't lashed to a cart, but I take them off then the bag comes out of the trunk. However, if fiddling with covers between shots doesn't bother you, go for it. They are nice looking clubs.
 
Would be interested in some 4i comments. What irons are you coming from? How well do you hit it?
I only went down to 5i. Need a something below it. Loft wise the 4i is practically a 3i.
I can hit the 5, can I hit the 4?



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I don't see why not, but impossible to say.
 
Depends on your swing. I prefer long irons over hybrids but most do not. I feel more confident with irons as I can not consistently control a hybrid. IMO the 4 in this set is great!

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Hawk said:
I don't see why not, but impossible to say.
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Yeah, fully realize the problem with the question. But it is hard to demo a 4i, then I also have long shaft, upright, x stiff.....
From a practical standpoint, it makes the hybrid purchase easier as I would assume a 24* will be close; and can be dialed in to fill the gap via loft.
 
Philly said:
Yeah, fully realize the problem with the question. But it is hard to demo a 4i, then I also have long shaft, upright, x stiff.....
From a practical standpoint, it makes the hybrid purchase easier as I would assume a 24* will be close; and can be dialed in to fill the gap via loft.
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I start to lose performance in the 5 iron slot, but even 6 irons have been a challenge in the past. I'm hitting this 6 iron better than I've ever hit any 6 iron, though I've also been heavy into lessons and practice.
 
Yep. For me it is a little different.
I am realizing that, I have not been nor will I ever be the guy who will consistently hit the lay up shot on the par 5, knock the wedge close, then get the birdie but certain par. I am a hands-y flashy 15.5 (with 84 and 104 scores in me).

Although the odds of my hitting the green from 230-240 are low, they are not dramatically lower than hitting a good lay up AND a good wedge back to back. Thus me overthinking this part of the bag.

Have found a place for a fitting that is outside and a guy comfortable spending some time (related to other post and my winnings). Essentially going to examine everything lower than the 5i (including the driver). I have 4 slots, hopefully 2 of my existing clubs will work. That's the theory this week (Until I look at the thread on the k grind 58* and consider 5 wedges).
 
Philly said:
Yep. For me it is a little different.
I am realizing that, I have not been nor will I ever be the guy who will consistently hit the lay up shot on the par 5, knock the wedge close, then get the birdie but certain par. I am a hands-y flashy 15.5 (with 84 and 104 scores in me).

Although the odds of my hitting the green from 230-240 are low, they are not dramatically lower than hitting a good lay up AND a good wedge back to back. Thus me overthinking this part of the bag.

Have found a place for a fitting that is outside and a guy comfortable spending some time (related to other post and my winnings). Essentially going to examine everything lower than the 5i (including the driver). I have 4 slots, hopefully 2 of my existing clubs will work. That's the theory this week (Until I look at the thread on the k grind 58* and consider 5 wedges).
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Great approach right there.
 
For some reason I just can't seem to hit these clubs consistently... I played bladed irons before these and I hit them relatively well, with the odd shank though. I think that had more to do with my swing than the club itself, I'm going through a major swing change right now and it's not working well with these clubs... My buddy who recently bought the 714 AP2's was with me at the range and offered to let me hit his. Never hit balls so well in my life. Swung the PW, 7i and 5i all side by side and the difference was outstanding. I bought the AP1's for the confidence and added forgiveness, but for some reason I'm hitting the ball very inconsistently with them. When I hit them side by side at Golf Town, it was on turf/hard ground. The course I play at is a lot softer and the AP2's seem to be a lot easier to swing in those conditions.

Need your guys advice. I went to Golf Town to re-grip my woods and saw a set of 714 AP2's on the wall for $950. I immediately looked at them, they had upgraded KBS tour shafts and Golf Pride Multi-Compund Black/White grips on them. The clubs look brand new, the guy played one round with them then brought them back and bought something else. I asked the guy for fun how much they would give me for my AP1's, I've only played 2 rounds with them and they're 9.9/10, the 4 iron is also still in the plastic as I've never hit it. He told me he'd give me $800 towards them, so I'd pay an additional $150 and get the AP2's. The math makes sense to me, I paid roughly $1,100 taxes in, with the extra $150 I'm at $1,250. If I were to buy the AP2's from the beginning it would have costed me $1199 + $88 for the KBS shafts + $80 for the Golf Pride grips which works out to roughly $1,550 (Canadian taxes are 13%). Basically, I'm saving almost $300 on them.

The only thing I want to confirm shouldn't be a problem is that the clubs were bent +1.5 degrees. The manager assured me that the metal is so soft you could bend the things 15 degrees without sacrificing the integrity of the metal.

Do you guys think this is a wise move for me to make? I had them put them aside for me, I'll most likely go in today if someone can reassure me I'm making the right decision lol! I did give the AP2's a chance, hit a ton of balls with them and played a few rounds, just doesn't feel comfortable when you're actually out there playing opposed to hitting in a simulator.

Any advice is appreciated! :D
 
Titleist recommends no more than 2 deg either way to keep from cracking the chrome which would eventually lead to rust. But they should be fine to be bent back to standard.

The MSRP for new AP2's is around $155 per club. I think actual price with KBS Tour shafts and upgraded grips from somewhere like TGW.com is around $150 per club. So $1200 is about average for a new 8 club set with upgrades.

I'm a mid-high handicapper and hit the AP2's fine. I have a tendency to hit fat shots with clubs with wider soles. The big difference I find is that they are a smaller club with a smaller "sweet spot". So it's easier to hit one off center that really doesn't travel far.
 
I'm one for saying hit what you want and feel confident in what you play.

However, judging new equipment during swing changes is not something I would do myself. Though by all means, sounds like a good deal and if you think you'll feel more confident playing the AP2s, then I say go for it.

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You've got it in your head that you need to make a change, but you have a small sample size to go off...and that sample size is in the middle of a swing change. Tough spot. If I'm being honest I'd say that if it was me I'd be telling myself "its me, not the clubs, this is stupid" ... then I'd obsess over it for a couple of days before heading to the store to do the transaction.
 
Once its in your head that your clubs are wrong there's only one thing to do...swap them out. Every bad shot you ever hit with the AP1s you'll find yourself wondering "AP2's might have been better!".

Whether or not there is any factual basis to that doesn't matter...you NEED confidence in your clubs.
 
It's done. They ended up giving me $850 for the clubs because I know the guy and they were in immaculate condition. Not to mention I still kept the original box and the 4i still had the plastic on it lol! It ended up costing me an extra $100 with tax included. I paid $1,100 for the AP1's initially, now I have $1,200 into them with clubs that would have cost me $1,500 with taxes in due to their upgraded shafts and grips. The Black Multi Compound grips look amazing as well on the AP2's. Just plain class.

Can't wait to hit these this afternoon, it's definitely going to be a confidence boost for me. As far as the people telling me to avoid changing my clubs during a swing change, all I'm doing is slowing down my backswing. I have a tendency of whipping the club back very fast, it's messing the club up on the downswing for me. My shaft sometimes isn't parallel with the ground as it should be for my swing, sometimes it even hits my neck lol it's THAT fast of a backswing.

I'll let you guys know if it was the right decision or not by tonight! Thanks again for all the advice!
 
Well the swing weight may be slightly different, but I would think that they should still feel close to the same during your swing with the shafts being the same.

I couldn't find any info on the clubs head weight or lists of swing weights with various shafts for either model.
 
Played 2 rounds with the AP2's after the swap... Best I've ever hit irons in my life! It was like day and night. I was hitting every shot pure, ball flight was amazing and distance was impressive. Definitely made the right choice! Ecstatic with the way I've been playing using the AP2's, never hit so many greens in my life.
 
Just put the 48* W1 in the bag. Went with the XP95 shaft for now as it feels like a good shaft to have between my Steelfiber i95 and the TT Wedge shafts in the SM5s. The distance gap is real nice too.
 
Just finished up a lesson with my coach. He was glad to see that I'm swapping out my 48* SM5 for the much more forgiving AP1. My instructor brought his GC2 with him and he let me use it to get some numbers with full and partial swings. On full swings with the W1 AP1 with the XP95 shaft, I was hitting the ball higher and with 1 yard less carry my 44* AP1 PW with the i95 shaft.

Now the reason I went with the i95 Steelfiber over the stock XP95 was because it gave a much tighter dispersion. That fitting was done off a mat but tonight I was hitting off grass and I saw dispersion that was just as tight with the XP95. My coach is chalking that up to the tweaks we've made in my swing since the fitting.

Now the total height was only 10' higher but the fact that I was hitting a club with 4* more loft only 1 yard shorter than the lower lofted club has me thinking about switching my 5-PW to the XP95 shaft.
 
Forgot to mention that I was hitting range balls and still seeing 1 hop and stop with the XP95 shafted club but 1-2 hops forward with the i95 shafted club. The 4* difference in loft was some cause for the difference I'm sure.
 
Love that W1. I spent half my warmup session hitting 3/4 swings at a 106 yard flag and it was a pleasure. High balls and very consistent dispersion.
 
I was hitting alternating shots between the W1 and my 48° SM5. Both were just as accurate on both distance and line, but the AP1 W1 is WAY more forgiving when I hit off center. The SM5 was giving about 700 RPMs more backspin, but that isn't enough for me to give up the forgiveness of the W1.

I'm so glad I took your advice on this one Hawk.
 
Adam Hartzell said:
I was hitting alternating shots between the W1 and my 48° SM5. Both were just as accurate on both distance and line, but the AP1 W1 is WAY more forgiving when I hit off center. The SM5 was giving about 700 RPMs more backspin, but that isn't enough for me to give up the forgiveness of the W1.

I'm so glad I took your advice on this one Hawk.
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What wedge set up do you have after the 48? On tap talk so can't see it if it's in your signature.


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