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Nike VR Pro Combo Irons - Forum Testing Review

SuperStroke
JB said:
No. I would not see a reason to do so in my opinion. Rather than overlapping irons due to loft or having something bent, I would just play the set that gave me the best numbers overall. Although I would want the Nikes bent to stronger lofts throughout the set if possible for me.
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I would do the same thing JB. I'd have the lofts bent stronger. I've had that done on a set or two, and while some will say it will mess with the bounce, I've never had it bother me one bit.
 
As mentioned earlier, I was intrigued by the testing that Beowulf did by playing only with the irons for a round so I set out this afternoon to try the same thing. Wind today was about 15 mph with maybe an occasional gust to 20 mph.

Hole 1 - Par 4 - 341 yards (downwind)

3 iron down left side of FW to 113 yards out (227 yard 3i off tee)
PW came up 2 yards short of green
Chip to 6 feet
1 putt for par

Hole 2 - par 4 - 357 yards (dead into wind)

3 iron chunked down right side of FW, ball catches cart path and bounces right into water - drop at water - left with 243 yards to green
3 iron hit heavy to middle of FW - left with 125 yards to green
8 iron pulled left of green
Chip to 30 feet
2 putt for triple bogey

Hole 3 - par 3 - 153 yards

7 iron pushed into right bunker
Wedge out of bunker to 18 feet
2 putt for bogey

Hole 4 - par 5 - 498 yards (downwind)

3 iron down right side of FW - left with 298 to green (200 yard 3i off tee)
3 iron down left side of FW - left with 109 to green
PW to 24 feet
2 putt for par

Hole 5 - par 4 - 341 yards

3 iron down right side of FW - 163 to green (178 yard 3i off tee)
6 iron hit kinda heavy - left with 28 yards to green
PW to 28 feet
2 putt for bogey

Hole 6 - par 3 - 124 yards

9 iron to 10 feet (just a beauty tracking the pin the entire way)
2 putt for par (left birdie putt about 10 inches short - ridiculous)

Hole 7 - par 4 - 415 yards (downwind)

3 iron down right side of FW - left with 161 to green (254 3i off tee)
6i over flag to 45 feet
1 putt from 45 feet for birdie (beauty breaking left to right about 4 feet)

Hole 8 - par 5 - 545 yards (dead into wind)
3 iron down middle of FW - left with 404 yards to green
3 iron hit great down middle of FW - left with 244 to green
3 iron hit great down middle of FW - left with 75 to green
GW pulled left pin high just off green
PW to 3 feet
1 putt bogey

Hole 9 - par 4 - 334 yards
3 iron smoked down the middle - no wind - left with 119 yards to green
9 iron to 36 feet
3 putt for bogey

Front 9 - 42 with 16 putts

Hole 10 - par 4 - 379 yards
3 iron hit well down middle of FW - left with 167 to green
6 iron hit a tad heavy to front of green - left with 24 yards to flag
PW to 20 feet
2 putt for bogey

Hole 11 - par 5 - 509 yards (downwind)
3 iron middle of FW but not very well - left with 332 to green
3 iron down left side of FW - left with 133 yards
9 iron to 32 feet
2 putt for par

At this point, I had to stop! I played the front nine in right at an hour and when I was walking up 9, I saw a group in the number 10 FW. Caught up to them on 11 and it was going to be slow going from that point on because groups were being allowed to go off on 10 instead of 1. I walked off and said something to the assistant pro who played dumb about the whole thing. Might be my last time playing there as this has happened like 3 times in a row now.

Overall - I was very happy with how things went. As you can tell, my main focus was on the 3 iron and I hit some really good shots off the tee and off the deck as well but still room for improvement. Blades rocked as always - hit a few good shots with the split cavities and a few kinda heavy but they did not put me into bad positions. Just about every club in this bag just wants to go straight for me and I like that. Today I kept the ball in play hitting 8/9 FW's with the 3 iron which makes up somewhat for that distance loss off of the tee.

Here are a few pics from the day:

My bag for the round.
IMG_0608.jpg


Hole number 6 - par 3 - playing 124 yards
IMG_0605.jpg


Hole number 6 - 9 iron to 10 feet away
IMG_0606.jpg


Same hole as above - 9 iron stopping on a dime! (well within 6 inches anyways)
IMG_0607.jpg
 
JB said:
No. I would not see a reason to do so in my opinion. Rather than overlapping irons due to loft or having something bent, I would just play the set that gave me the best numbers overall. Although I would want the Nikes bent to stronger lofts throughout the set if possible for me.
Click to expand...

Are we allowed to have the lofts bent stronger on these or is that something we would have to wait until after the three month period to do?


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I'm also going to give the playing 18 with only the irons a shot and track my round shot by shot. Hopefully it's not crazy embarrassing. Haha

MCook- Are you starting to like the three iron now? Seems like you're striping it pretty well.


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Nice update, Mcook! Looks like the 3 iron got plenty of work. I noticed a pretty significant decrease into the wind. Obviously that's going to happen, but did you see the ball getting caught up in the air (ballooning)?
 
I was going to ask the same thing as Hawk pretty much. Do you hit the three iron differently depending on the wind, if so how easy did you find it? By this I mean when playing it downwind do you try to play a higher ballflight and into the wind play more of a stinger with it further back in the stance and just smother it.


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Fairway2Green said:
I'm also going to give the playing 18 with only the irons a shot and track my round shot by shot. Hopefully it's not crazy embarrassing. Haha

MCook- Are you starting to like the three iron now? Seems like you're striping it pretty well.


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Click to expand...

Things are definitely a bit more promising with the 3 iron especially off of the tee. I can definitely see myself using it more off the tee now. Off the deck, I definitely still prefer the hybrid just because how easy and forgiving it is. But off the tee - this 3 iron is straight as an arrow...balls stays in play and playing from the short stuff was NICE today.

Hawk said:
Nice update, Mcook! Looks like the 3 iron got plenty of work. I noticed a pretty significant decrease into the wind. Obviously that's going to happen, but did you see the ball getting caught up in the air (ballooning)?
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It got a ton of work - kept the cover off for the most part since I was using it so much. When I hit it into the wind on 2 and 8 off the tee, they were just not well struck shots. Think I may have been trying to give it a little extra since I was hitting into the wind and just did not make great contact. On hole 8 off the deck, I hit it well both times (especially the 2nd - was as good as I have ever hit it) and saw 160 and 169 into the wind. I would not say it ballooned - it still had a good trajectory but was still what I would call somewhat high. As I have said before, I am a high ball hitter by nature so it was not abnormally high for me but it was also definitely not a low boring 3 iron that penetrated greatly into the wind. That is probably something I should have tried (low stinger) but I am so focused on just making solid contact that I did not even think about it on the course today. Lots of rambling...hope that makes sense!!
 
It does. I appreciate the thorough answer.
 
Thanks for the quick answer MCook.


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Another very long range session today. I spent an awful lot of time with the VR Pro wedges after a horrendous showing this weekend with them, but then went to work on my irons. One of my big issues right now is getting the club ahead of my hands on the downswing, which of course turns any club into 5 degrees weaker. Because of that, I spent a lot of time trying to get my hands ahead and it left only a bit of time to really dissect the quality results of the combo irons. That said, I've got a video, and a few comments..

I hit about 100+ 7 iron shots. It remains my favourite club in the set, and has this little draw on my well struck shots that makes my heart happy. At the start of this year, I was so outside of my shot that some 7 iron shots were only reaching 150 yards. Today, I was hitting over top of a 168 yd flag with regular consistency. I have not had this kind of distance for at least a few years, so needless to say I was really excited.

I am finally starting to see a clear cut difference between the 5 and the 4 iron. The full cavities are a fair bit less responsive, which I am comfortable with because of how forgiving they are. I spent quite a while hitting 3 irons to see if I could build on my consistency with it, and I was very satisfied with the results. I can't provide an exact distance because I wasn't hitting directly to a target, but I was very, VERY easily clearing the 190 flag, which I was bouncing a couple of my 6 iron shots near earlier.

I am also finally getting close to bringing my PW back to the 140 mark that I had been hitting it to in the past. This isn't exactly reflective of my past set vs the Nike's but the quality of the club is certainly giving me the ability to find a swing I have been hunting for over the last couple seasons.

I will be taking these on course tomorrow, and seriously considering playing in the club championships this weekend.. Maybe not though.. We'll see. In any case, I felt that this session was just another building block for me and these irons, and I have yet to be disappointed by the results. I will admit that I have played with these so much that I am beginning to lose my benchmark of opinion on how an ion should feel based on my previous set.. I will likely make a point of taking a couple MP-63s to my next range session for direct comparisons.

Also, here is a side view of my swing.. A couple of small modifications since the last posting, hopefully making changes for the better..

[youtube]LLLLdkyp9ws[/youtube]
 
Canadan, fantastic stuff. Great video! I need to do something similar to that.

I saw these beauties in the shop the other day and couldn't quite looking at them. Absolutely fantastic.
 
Great looking swing Canadan! Looks like the Pro Combo's are working out well for you. This has probably been asked already, but does the set progression affect you at all when hitting through the set on the practice range?
 
Nice swing Canadan those irons sound pure, it seems like most of you guys testing love the irons so far and the only bad thing is the stock grips that some decided to go with.
 
All I have to say is Thank You to THP and the Tester's as I am now £509 lighter off but the proud owner of a set of Nike VR Pro Combos (4-PW) Went with the R300 Shaft, Stock Grip and +.5 Upright after being fitted.

I can't wait to get these out on the range / course to hit them.

I tried both R300 and S300 shafts in a 5i and the R300 was giving me better numbers and a better distance. Was surprised really as my old irons were S300. The numbers don't lie though
 
Fair play Mike....bravo! Looking forward to your thoughts.

Im expecting the same change in shaft when i get on a flight scope in a few weeks.
 
I have to say I was very surprised with the numbers. Expected to be fitted to a stiff shaft. I was seeing better distance and dispersion with the R300 shaft than I did with the S300 and my old irons.

The real test will be when I get to the course with them, and I can't wait
 
Can't remember if this has been asked before

What type of 5i do you have, Pocket or Split Cavity?

According the Nike EU site it should be a Split but mine is a Pocket
 
The Nike US set has a split and the Euro set has a Pocket I believe. Mine is definitely a split
 
Chunkylover77 said:
The Nike US set has a split and the Euro set has a Pocket I believe. Mine is definitely a split
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Cheers mate, mine is 100% a pocket.

Just compared the lofts and they are almost the same as my old Titleist. Only the 4 and 5i and 1* stronger in the Nike's
 
Why would they change the make up of the set for US and Europe? Seems bizarre?
 
Singlestick said:
Why would they change the make up of the set for US and Europe? Seems bizarre?
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This is very common. Different regions work better in sales with different types of clubs. Its the same reason that clubs are completely different for the Asian market as they are to the US.
 
JB said:
This is very common. Different regions work better in sales with different types of clubs. Its the same reason that clubs are completely different for the Asian market as they are to the US.
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Well i didnt know that. :alien: :dont-know:

I'd like to understand what data they had to support that i.e. US citizens would more likely buy a set of irons if the 5 iron was a split cavity over the UK buying it with a pocket. I doubt it even crosses anyones mind at all when buying.

But then perhaps im being nieve.
 
The problem I have is that the Nike EU site shows it should be a split cavity in the set and not the Pocket as it obviously is. I am not bothered in the slightest that it is a pocket though
 
Raphael_4 said:
Nice swing Canadan those irons sound pure, it seems like most of you guys testing love the irons so far and the only bad thing is the stock grips that some decided to go with.
Click to expand...

The grips have only been an issue for me in extreme humidity + heat, which has really only happened once, while on the range hitting tons of balls and sweating..

There has been nothing negative about the grips while playing a round, which makes me wonder if a more expensive grip like the NDMC would really be all that much better.

(and thank you for the swing compliment!)
 
Are the grips getting damp from your hand sweat and not allowing you to grip the clubs well in the extreme humidity?
 
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