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Callaway XR Irons - THP Review

SuperStroke
Drogster said:
Finally ordered my clubs. I went for 5i to AW. Unfortunately, Callaway (UK) don't do the UTx grips, so I went for the trusted Golf Pride Black/Blue. 7 to 10 working days. The clock is ticking. :banana:
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Hope these work really well for you. They do sound so good. If I hadn't got my speedblades last year I would have seriously looked at these. Be interested to know how you get on. I have a couple of clubs on order so I know what it's like waiting!
 
Thedoswells said:
Hope these work really well for you. They do sound so good. If I hadn't got my speedblades last year I would have seriously looked at these. Be interested to know how you get on. I have a couple of clubs on order so I know what it's like waiting!
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Cheers for that. Ya, hopefully I can work some magic with them.

I forgot to mention the clubs will be fitted with True Temper XP 95 steel shafts. They were the best fit for me, when I was fitted at a recent Callaway Demo evening. I tried the Project X PXI, UST Recoil & stock Speed Step regular shaft, but the XP 95 won out, with the Speed step a close second.

It was a close call between the XR & the Pro version (love the finish) in terms of performance, but I was of the opinion that the Regular XR would be more consistent in the long run...time will tell.
 
Does anyone know of a Callaway demo centre near Chicago ? I am from oseas and will be looking to try these clubs out in the coming months when I visit USA (Chicago). Currently have x20's and hoping these could provide a material improvement.... ;)


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Cbdboz said:
Does anyone know of a Callaway demo centre near Chicago ? I am from oseas and will be looking to try these clubs out in the coming months when I visit USA (Chicago). Currently have x20's and hoping these could provide a material improvement.... ;)


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Check around online for demo days in the area. A lot of the indoor facilities and courses have big demo days that Callaway would likely be at.
 
8 days after ordering, I got a call today and they're in! Will pick up tomorrow and post some comparison pics with what I have now.
 
Picked em up, unboxed them at the store and hit them all on the sim to make sure there were no rattles etc. Man, I am hitting distances I haven't hit in 20+ years with these, and they feel great. I'm not a big hitter, so to see 150-155 with a 6i is great for me, it's been a 140-145 club the last few years.

I played MT588's the last half of last year as I went through a swing rebuild, and traded those in (locals note, DeBoers were fantastic to deal with and gave me great trade in value!), but I kept my i20's. I hit the i20's decently well but really high and not long. I may keep them around and play them occasionally. So, I took pics comparing that set with my new XR's.

XR Specs, graphite reg, 1 up, standard length (more on that below)


PX 5.5 with Lamkin Crosslines


When I ordered the Ping's they were green dot and + 1/2" or +3/4" I forget, but anyways, here's the 2 5 irons....as you can see, standard length XR is virtually identical to my '+' Ping


The XR's really are not a hugely sized head, though I understand that depends where you are coming from. Only slightly thicker toplines, very slightly wider bodies, and the hitting area surfaces are virtually identical, XR vs i20. Even the soles are extremely similar, though not identical.

5i


7i



PW

 
my Callaway order changed from backorder to processing.......



Ron-Paul_Its-Happening1.gif
 
Just ordered these in 6-AW recoil 460. Put these against bertha and xr was a better natural fit and better value for dollar. Hoping the AW will blend to my 52 wedge. My miss is thin or fat and these clubs compensate well here. Especially thin shots.
 
[*]And I have to say it again, these stock grips are just not good.
[/LIST][/QUOTE]

Can you elaborate on this a bit? I just ordered some in stock grips. Is there any others available no upcharge? What non stock grips work well with this type of iron?
 
Karl said:
[*]And I have to say it again, these stock grips are just not good.
[/LIST]
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Can you elaborate on this a bit? I just ordered some in stock grips. Is there any others available no upcharge? What non stock grips work well with this type of iron?[/QUOTE]
Grips will be personal, but the texture and the feel of the stock ones are lacking IMO. Particularly in any sweaty or wet situations.

Not sure on the no up, depends on who you ordered from, I'd contact them.

Most will probably be able to get over the stock grips with no issues, but IMO a better grip from Cally would go a long way.
 
There are a few grips offered with no up charge. I know the Lamkin crosslines are, maybe a couple others. The Callaway website will have them - you just have to mouse over each grip to see the cost, but there are a few.
 
Jman, have you hit these out of the rough yet? I haven't owned callaway irons before but I imagine the height of the club comes in handy here. How well can you dig or pop the ball out?

BTW I can agree with you from my time with the 7i this club wants to go straight and is its easy for me to align to the target. I could hit a fade or draw. I also noticed a piercing ball flight I've not seen in other irons.
 
Karl said:
Jman, have you hit these out of the rough yet? I haven't owned callaway irons before but I imagine the height of the club comes in handy here. How well can you dig or pop the ball out?

BTW I can agree with you from my time with the 7i this club wants to go straight and is its easy for me to align to the target. I could hit a fade or draw. I also noticed a piercing ball flight I've not seen in other irons.
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No different than any other iron of this profile from the rough for me, turf interaction was also very very good.

Also, here's a link to the homepage review that went up on them: http://www.thehackersparadise.com/callaway-xr-irons-review/
 
I got to hit the 6 iron from the xr line with a recoil shaft in it at UST. My carry was in the high 190s which is unheard of for me. I don't know if it was the club head or the shaft but my iron swing speed increased and my carry increased by 20 yards.
 
Nighthawk117a said:
I got to hit the 6 iron from the xr line with a recoil shaft in it at UST. My carry was in the high 190s which is unheard of for me. I don't know if it was the club head or the shaft but my iron swing speed increased and my carry increased by 20 yards.
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The irons are legit. And there has been a BIG jump from your Razr X's tech wise.
 
Nighthawk117a said:
I got to hit the 6 iron from the xr line with a recoil shaft in it at UST. My carry was in the high 190s which is unheard of for me. I don't know if it was the club head or the shaft but my iron swing speed increased and my carry increased by 20 yards.
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Very nice. Were those on really well struck shots? How did it compare to not so well struck shots?
 
Karl said:
Very nice. Were those on really well struck shots? How did it compare to not so well struck shots?
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They were well struck. I tried the same iron Saturday morning at Cowboys Club and saw the same results. The 6 iron was going about as far as my current 4 iron and amazingly straight. I was originally planning on buying recoils this week and putting them into my irons but now I'm pondering xr's. Wont happen anytime soon but its making me think.
 
I tried an XR 6 iron with the Speed Step stiff this weekend at our large outdoor range/shop and holy smokes the thing was a cannon. I was testing the XR, JPX850, G30 and the XR had the most center hits (was using impact stickers) and was launching the ball like an 8 iron with the XR (but obviously much longer.) I did notice that with my current Apex 6 iron I was catching most of the shots on the inside.

It might be weird to pack an XR 6 iron into my bag along with the rest of the Apex's but I'm now thinking about it.
 
So I got to try a 7i of the XR today. My coach and club pro got me one with the stiff std shaft, 1inch long and 2 upright. He even let me take it with on the course. I have only played golf with my Mizuno mp-59s and I love them but I never thought that it would be soooo much easier to launch the ball with more forgiving clubs. Then there is the height the ball got to, big difference again. And finally the length of the shots, which was simply chocking to see. I tagged with game golf so I will send exactly how long but probably 15-20 yards longer in the cold Swedish weather. I am intrigued by this clubs.

Hope I didn't mess up the english to much. =)
 
Thanks to all the glowing reviews I picked up a set today :) I have played Mizuno for years and have never been a big fan of Callaway so this is somewhat of a surprise to myself.

Seriously, I tried many clubs and I though these had the most consistent distance on less than sweet shots. They are also very pleasing to the eye, which was important, as I'm coming back to a more forgiving iron. Tried multiple shafts and stuck with the the stock KBS stiff. Good angle launch and spin rates.

FYI, my ball speed averaged almost 5 mph more with the XR pros than anything else I tried.

I'm playing tonight and Thursday so I'll get my thoughts up here after a few rounds.

Thanks again the THP for having me look at an iron that was not even on my radar.
 
mpeterson said:
There are a few grips offered with no up charge. I know the Lamkin crosslines are, maybe a couple others. The Callaway website will have them - you just have to mouse over each grip to see the cost, but there are a few.
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Just an update on this, I was looking into getting the crosslines for no upcharge as the website says. GT got back to me 3 days later and said Callaway will waive the fee on these. I thought it was no upcharge but maybe thats only for online orders or maybe only in the USA. Who knows. They are hooking it up anyway.
 
Very nice Orange Hog. Very similar to what I had experienced comparing the 7i to my gamer.
 
Great stuff Cace. Club Champion does a very thorough fitting. Did you try any other heads other than the XR? Just curious, if you requested that or if it was the first one out of the box that worked.
 
Nighthawk117a said:
I got to hit the 6 iron from the xr line with a recoil shaft in it at UST. My carry was in the high 190s which is unheard of for me. I don't know if it was the club head or the shaft but my iron swing speed increased and my carry increased by 20 yards.
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From JMan's reply I assume you play Razr X's which are the irons I play. I have the DG95 shafts, what do you have? Which recoil shaft did you test in the XR?

thanks.
 
Blazer said:
From JMan's reply I assume you play Razr X's which are the irons I play. I have the DG95 shafts, what do you have? Which recoil shaft did you test in the XR?

thanks.
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Yes I play Razr X's right now, I have Nippon 950GH's in them. With the XR I want to say it was the Recoil 680. I know that's the combo I hit on Saturday at the range that performed the same as my 4i but I don't know for sure what I hit on the trackman.
 
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