Ben Hogan ICON Irons

[MH]

Love reading the updates on these irons, I can’t decide what finish I would go with. Love both, part of me want the dbm finish then I see the classic chrome looking so dam good. Good thing I don’t need another set of irons or I would be stressing about which finish to order

 

[Thrillbilly Jim]

Talk to me about feel at impact. I absolutely LOVED this feature of the PTx. Same? Better? Different?

It's different! When you hit it on the button, it's so PURE! Like swinging through nothing but air. Miss hits are instantly recognizable. It only stung my hand when it was 53 degrees outside. The PTx/PTx Pro has a more solid feeling to me. You can tell you flushed one. Miss hits are noticeable, just not quite as apparent.
To me, ICONS feel better on center shots. PTx/PTx Pro feel better on off center shots.

 

[KEV]

Talk to me about feel at impact. I absolutely LOVED this feature of the PTx. Same? Better? Different?

From what I remember it's a little different. The original PTx I thought felt great but these step it up to the next level on well struck shots. On flushed shots the word plush pops in to my mind. It's a solid soft feeling.

Off center is a bit more jarring. I haven't had a bad shot that has stung my hands yet but it rattles a bit more.

 

[ddec]

I am at my parents house this weekend and my mom saves everything, which is much appreciated in this case because as were going through some things, we came across the the spec sheet and thank you letter that came with the purchase of a set of 1999 Hogan Apex Blades. Thought it would be cool to share it in here with the review of The Icons.
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that is pretty damn cool. I love that she kept that.

 

[ddec]

These are getting another round in the coming days and I CANNOT wait. Spent about 90 minutes at the range with them the other day and got to practice a few more shots with them. My favorite might have been trying to knock down the 100 yard sign with punch 4-irons. I focused mostly on the mid irons because that 6-8 didn't seem to get too much action during my round. But I made sure to work in everything else. The feel on pure-ish strikes is incredibly good and probably would feel a touch better with the chrome finish. I still feel like my misses were altered more long-short than they were left to right. Overall the biggest surprise to me at this point is how easily I feel like I can hit the long irons. I'm hoping to collect some data with them here as well. Would certainly be interested in seeing the heights, spin, and descent because I had several shots on the course where the ball hit and just stopped.

 

[KEV]

These definitely make you want to come back to hit them again Dean. It looks like I'll be able to cut out of work and play in league tonight so I'll get another 9 holes in. After a good last round I'm really looking forward to seeing how I follow up with them.

 

[KEV]

I ❤ these irons.

 

[Thrillbilly Jim]

@KEV and @ddec, are you surprised by how easy it is to hit the long/mid irons? Also, are you seeing a lower ball flight? How does distance compare to your current clubs? 6 iron was shorter than my PTx Pro 6 iron.

 

[Joshnoble01]

Everytime I see a new picture of these I can't get over how good the Ben Hogan's look.

 

[KEV]

@KEV and @ddec, are you surprised by how easy it is to hit the long/mid irons? Also, are you seeing a lower ball flight? How does distance compare to your current clubs? 6 iron was shorter than my PTx Pro 6 iron.

After tonight's wind filled round I have some pretty strong thoughts about them.

- Long/mid irons - I have absolutely been surprised by how easy they have been to hit so far. Maybe it's three honeymoon phase but I haven't had an issue at all. Well, except for that 4 iron.

- Ball flight - this is what impressed me most tonight. I'm getting this awesome, piercing mid flight which is almost exactly what I want. We had consistent 15-20mph winds tonight and I felt like the ball cut right through the air. Shots felt powerful.

My problem with mid flight irons in the past was holding greens and I haven't had a problem with that at all. Even on a downwind par 3 tonight I hit a bit of a toey 8 iron and it rolled out about 8-10 feet. Now that may sound like a lot but considering how hard the wind was pushing it I was impressed.

- Distance - that's been kind of hard to tell as I haven't really played in calm conditions. My gut tells me they're maybe a half club shorter than my last couple of sets but it's tough to tell. I'll pay attention to that in the future. Even playing in the wind my distance control has been pretty good so that tells me it's close.

I'm going to continue praising the V Sole. My course is I'm pretty rough condition right now so I may go from hitting off of hard pan or I could be in thick rough and these shine from both. Hard pan lies are usually a killer for me but so far I haven't had any issues.

I guess the only negative I can give right now, and it's not a negative for me, is I'm starting to see bag chatter after a couple of rounds. I actually like that and think it looks natural in this style of club but I know some don't approve like I do.

 

[KEV]

You know how once in awhile you find a club or clubs you crave to hit? These are it for me right now. I've found myself thinking about them throughout the day and can't wait to get back on the course. I actually want to hit up a local par 3 soon to get a lot of quality time with them.

 

[Popeye]

Repeatedly

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Those are from a tee shot. Below is from approach on a par 5 from 215 out.

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I love how the black finish perfectly frames the ball strike.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

 

[Jman]

Fingers crossed this third week will be the week the combos ship!

 

[KEV]

Fingers crossed this third week will be the week the combos ship!

I hope so, I'm looking forward to what you think of them. You, Dean and I can be the three ICON amigos.

 

[Jman]

I hope so, I'm looking forward to what you think of them. You, Dean and I can be the three ICON amigos.

I’m downright giddy to hit them with how I’ve hit some more demanding profiles this week.

 

[KEV]

I’m downright giddy to hit them with how I’ve hit some more demanding profiles this week.

I've been really surprised at how well I've hit these. To be honest I was expecting hitting these to be a challenge with a little disaster sprinkled in. So far I've had some of my best performances of the year though.

 

[Jman]

I've been really surprised at how well I've hit these. To be honest I was expecting hitting these to be a challenge with a little disaster sprinkled in. So far I've had some of my best performances of the year though.

I’m even excited to hit them with @canada TourV’s in them.

 

[Jman]

Been thinking about these all evening and what I might be able to do with them. My ballstriking isn’t all the way back yet by any means, so there is a little daunting feeling to it all, combo set or not. But damn it should be fun.

 

[G-Man]

These clubs are beautiful however that topline is scary skinny.

 

[ddec]

Been thinking about these all evening and what I might be able to do with them. My ballstriking isn’t all the way back yet by any means, so there is a little daunting feeling to it all, combo set or not. But damn it should be fun.

I think you’ll be fine my friend.

 

[KEV]

As long as it doesn't rain us out tomorrow I have a round planned and these are easily what I'm most looking forward to. I'm going to be playing with a bunch of way better players than me, time to show them what the ICON's can do.

 

[ddec]

As long as it doesn't rain us out tomorrow I have a round planned and these are easily what I'm most looking forward to. I'm going to be playing with a bunch of way better players than me, time to show them what the ICON's can do.

Nice, I have a time for Monday morning at a course that really demands good iron play because getting out of position around the greens can be freaking brutal.

 

[KEV]

Nice, I have a time for Monday morning at a course that really demands good iron play because getting out of position around the greens can be freaking brutal.

That sounds like it will be a great test for these. I was hoping to take my daughter to the par 3 course Monday to really put them to work but it looks like rain again. Spring is really not cooperating here and all I want to do is hit these.

 

[ddec]

That sounds like it will be a great test for these. I was hoping to take my daughter to the par 3 course Monday to really put them to work but it looks like rain again. Spring is really not cooperating here and all I want to do is hit these.

I was hoping to get out today or tomorrow but now with the Mrs being called back in to work for Tuesday, I have all these little projects to get to done so I can get used to working from home while caring for a 4 month old. All of a sudden hitting this 4 iron is not so daunting haha

 

[Thrillbilly Jim]

Been thinking about these all evening and what I might be able to do with them. My ballstriking isn’t all the way back yet by any means, so there is a little daunting feeling to it all, combo set or not. But damn it should be fun.

They're a lot easier to play than I ever imagined!