banksfolsom
New member
I just finished the month-long process of evaluating and buying new golf irons today and wanted to provide those considering new irons my impressions. The process started with reading various club reviews from Hacker Paradise (thank you), Golf Digest, and other publications. While reading reviews is a great way to start, I was amazed at how "branded" I was and stuggled to keep an open mind in evaluating the best clubs for my game. Here is the basic info about my game for reference (10 hdc, PW-140, 7I-170). Over the course of 4 weekends at the driving range I hit the following clubs: AP1, Burner-2009, Diablo Forged, MP-58, MX-300, CG7 BP, R9, and X-22. After the first couple of weeks, I narrowed by choices to the MX-300 and CG7 BP (the AP1 was in the mix until the end as well). Here are my thoughts on the MX-300 and the CG7 BP:
Looks:
The MX-300 is one of the best looking clubs I have seen, slim, nice classy details, smaller clubhead. The CG7 BP is also a very nice looking club, dark-colored, very similar to my CG12 wedges, which I think look great as well. My personal preference on looks would be the MX-300 over the CG7 BP. That being said, I would take the looks of these two over all of the other clubs I tried out.
Branding:
If it were just a brand preference, I would choose the Mizuno brand with their long history of making great irons. Cleveland is solid as well, but I would choose the Mizuno brand.
Feel:
This was interesting, there was a slightly different feel, but I enjoyed the feel of each of the clubs. In general, I was able to get a better feel on more of the shots with the CG7 BP's. However, that being said, when I hit a pure shot the feel of the MX-300's but awesome. I would give the feel edge to the MX-300's but not by much.
Forgiveness:
This was an a very important factor in my decision of which clubs to buy. For my swing, I felt that the CG7 BP's had a clear edge in the forgiveness department. I took a number of swings with the CG7's that I know were not that good and the results were still pretty decent. The Mizuno mishits were not terrible, but not nearly as good as the poor hits with the CG7's. I really got a got sense of confidence and comfort level because of the forgiveness of the CG7's.
Distance:
I felt the distance of the two clubs was similar. The shots which I hit pure I felt went further with the MX-300's, beautiful, high and long ball flight. The longer irons (4-6) I was able to hit further and more consistently with the CG7 BP's, which I think ties into the forgiveness factor.
Ball Flight:
The MX-300 had a higher ball flight that I really enjoyed with the shorter irons, the ball rose nicely and then floated softly down to the green. The CG7 BP's had a lower ball flight that was very consistent. My preference is for a higher ball flight so I would have choosen the MX-300's based on this factor.
Decision:
The consistency with which I was able to hit the CG7 BP's was the primary deciding factor in my decision to go with the Cleveland clubs. I really really really wanted to buy the Mizuno's because of the look and the brand name, however I realized that for my game it was more important to buy a club that was more forgiving that I could hit more consistently. Following my last range visit this morning I visited the local golf shop and was custom fitted for the CG7 BP's. One unique decision I made was to get the 4I through PW, I also purchased a 48-degree CG15 wedge to go along with my 52, 56, and 60 degree CG 12 wedges. That will leave me with my Driver and Utility Club (2I) for the longer game, thought it would be more beneficial to have more flexibility in the short game than in the long.
Looks:
The MX-300 is one of the best looking clubs I have seen, slim, nice classy details, smaller clubhead. The CG7 BP is also a very nice looking club, dark-colored, very similar to my CG12 wedges, which I think look great as well. My personal preference on looks would be the MX-300 over the CG7 BP. That being said, I would take the looks of these two over all of the other clubs I tried out.
Branding:
If it were just a brand preference, I would choose the Mizuno brand with their long history of making great irons. Cleveland is solid as well, but I would choose the Mizuno brand.
Feel:
This was interesting, there was a slightly different feel, but I enjoyed the feel of each of the clubs. In general, I was able to get a better feel on more of the shots with the CG7 BP's. However, that being said, when I hit a pure shot the feel of the MX-300's but awesome. I would give the feel edge to the MX-300's but not by much.
Forgiveness:
This was an a very important factor in my decision of which clubs to buy. For my swing, I felt that the CG7 BP's had a clear edge in the forgiveness department. I took a number of swings with the CG7's that I know were not that good and the results were still pretty decent. The Mizuno mishits were not terrible, but not nearly as good as the poor hits with the CG7's. I really got a got sense of confidence and comfort level because of the forgiveness of the CG7's.
Distance:
I felt the distance of the two clubs was similar. The shots which I hit pure I felt went further with the MX-300's, beautiful, high and long ball flight. The longer irons (4-6) I was able to hit further and more consistently with the CG7 BP's, which I think ties into the forgiveness factor.
Ball Flight:
The MX-300 had a higher ball flight that I really enjoyed with the shorter irons, the ball rose nicely and then floated softly down to the green. The CG7 BP's had a lower ball flight that was very consistent. My preference is for a higher ball flight so I would have choosen the MX-300's based on this factor.
Decision:
The consistency with which I was able to hit the CG7 BP's was the primary deciding factor in my decision to go with the Cleveland clubs. I really really really wanted to buy the Mizuno's because of the look and the brand name, however I realized that for my game it was more important to buy a club that was more forgiving that I could hit more consistently. Following my last range visit this morning I visited the local golf shop and was custom fitted for the CG7 BP's. One unique decision I made was to get the 4I through PW, I also purchased a 48-degree CG15 wedge to go along with my 52, 56, and 60 degree CG 12 wedges. That will leave me with my Driver and Utility Club (2I) for the longer game, thought it would be more beneficial to have more flexibility in the short game than in the long.
