- Staff
- #1
Most of you know that Cleveland Golf introduced an extension to their 588 line of irons this year. We've had quite a bit of feedback already on all three sets in the new series - the Alititude, MT, and TT irons. Within these three sets of irons are three different profiles that are interchangeable in length, loft, and lie - giving consumers the option to build a set of irons that fits their specific needs while avoiding the confusion of combining mismatched specs. It's somewhat unprecedented in that these combo sets are extremely accessible, playable, and customizable for everyday golfers like you and I. Something a little strange happened early in the year though. Tour players started gravitating towards the combo sets.
I know what you are saying, "Hawk, guys have been playing combo sets on Tour for years."
That would be true. However, this is the first time I can recall a dedicated group of Tour staffers playing an oversized game improvement iron that is marketed towards the mid and high handicappers of the world. How many Tour players have you seen play one of these?
Not many. I can almost hear the gasps sitting here at my computer. Tour players utilizing a big, offset, strong lofted, hollow back shovel? Sure enough. In fact, Cleveland has more MT’s in play than any other company’s utility iron.
Here are the names of a few guys that put at least one, if not two, into play at the bottom end of their iron set.
Charlie Beljan
Keegan Bradley
Jerry Kelly
Jason Kokrak
Not a bad list of guys right there – an up and comer that has come close to winning some PGA Tour winners, and two Major winners. They’re all using an iron style that some amateurs would scoff at. MT (and a TT) irons are being mixed with sets like the 588 CB’s, 588 MB’s, CG7 Tours, and CG16 Tours by some of the world’s best golfers.
So, that begs the question – how can amateurs benefit from a combo set? Also, how should they be putting this set together? We’ve seen combo sets available via mass production before, but they’ve had a little different appearance to them compared to the 588 line - blade scoring irons, small cavity mid irons, and slightly larger cavity back long irons. The 588 line offers that, yet they also offer a somewhat more approachable way to try the combo set, one that offers every level of precision and forgiveness available in iron design.
Enter Cleveland’s new iron ‘fitting’ app – youFIT. I purposely downplayed the word ‘fitting’ because this app is really a way to get some suggestions as opposed to a replacement for a full fitting. Cleveland makes the point that a full fitting is the best way to really maximize your iron set’s performance, and the expanded fitting carts introduced in early 2013 make such a fitting easy to accomplish. Still, I’m going to talk a bit about the app today and how it helped me pick a combo set built to help me where I need it most.
youFit can be found on Cleveland’s website in their Custom Fitting menu or by clicking this link http://ironfitting.clevelandgolf.com/#
The first screen lets you choose whether you are a golfer or a dealer. The reason it gives this option is because fitters and dealers can use the app to place orders for their customers.
After selecting the combo set option I navigated around a bit under I found a page that offered some guidance on what set might be right for me. I entered my handicap, along with a few different selections for what I felt was important regarding the performance of my iron set. You see, that answer changes a bit depending on what iron we are talking about. In the long irons I really want something that offers maximum forgiveness and distance and the highest possible trajectory. In the mid irons I still want distance and am willing to sacrifice a little forgiveness, but not much. In the scoring irons I prefer something that is accurate and offers the ability to play different trajectories easily. In all honesty, I don’t mind something a little more compact there either.
The point of all that is to say that my version of the ideal iron set is unique to me. I looked at the suggestions for the different criteria I entered and used it as a guide, along with the knowledge I already have about my own launch conditions and game, to make a choice.
After that, I was able to look through the various custom options, of which there are many, for shafts, grips, and specifications. There was a handy little guide that gave some good information on the various shaft options and it turned out that the stock Tour Traction shaft was quite similar to the one that I play in my other iron set, so I decided to give it a try.
In the end, a summary of the whole process was presented to me - the 588 combo set that I’d be playing in the coming months.
I know what you are saying, "Hawk, guys have been playing combo sets on Tour for years."
That would be true. However, this is the first time I can recall a dedicated group of Tour staffers playing an oversized game improvement iron that is marketed towards the mid and high handicappers of the world. How many Tour players have you seen play one of these?
Not many. I can almost hear the gasps sitting here at my computer. Tour players utilizing a big, offset, strong lofted, hollow back shovel? Sure enough. In fact, Cleveland has more MT’s in play than any other company’s utility iron.
Here are the names of a few guys that put at least one, if not two, into play at the bottom end of their iron set.
Charlie Beljan
Keegan Bradley
Jerry Kelly
Jason Kokrak
Not a bad list of guys right there – an up and comer that has come close to winning some PGA Tour winners, and two Major winners. They’re all using an iron style that some amateurs would scoff at. MT (and a TT) irons are being mixed with sets like the 588 CB’s, 588 MB’s, CG7 Tours, and CG16 Tours by some of the world’s best golfers.
So, that begs the question – how can amateurs benefit from a combo set? Also, how should they be putting this set together? We’ve seen combo sets available via mass production before, but they’ve had a little different appearance to them compared to the 588 line - blade scoring irons, small cavity mid irons, and slightly larger cavity back long irons. The 588 line offers that, yet they also offer a somewhat more approachable way to try the combo set, one that offers every level of precision and forgiveness available in iron design.
Enter Cleveland’s new iron ‘fitting’ app – youFIT. I purposely downplayed the word ‘fitting’ because this app is really a way to get some suggestions as opposed to a replacement for a full fitting. Cleveland makes the point that a full fitting is the best way to really maximize your iron set’s performance, and the expanded fitting carts introduced in early 2013 make such a fitting easy to accomplish. Still, I’m going to talk a bit about the app today and how it helped me pick a combo set built to help me where I need it most.
youFit can be found on Cleveland’s website in their Custom Fitting menu or by clicking this link http://ironfitting.clevelandgolf.com/#
The first screen lets you choose whether you are a golfer or a dealer. The reason it gives this option is because fitters and dealers can use the app to place orders for their customers.
After selecting the combo set option I navigated around a bit under I found a page that offered some guidance on what set might be right for me. I entered my handicap, along with a few different selections for what I felt was important regarding the performance of my iron set. You see, that answer changes a bit depending on what iron we are talking about. In the long irons I really want something that offers maximum forgiveness and distance and the highest possible trajectory. In the mid irons I still want distance and am willing to sacrifice a little forgiveness, but not much. In the scoring irons I prefer something that is accurate and offers the ability to play different trajectories easily. In all honesty, I don’t mind something a little more compact there either.
The point of all that is to say that my version of the ideal iron set is unique to me. I looked at the suggestions for the different criteria I entered and used it as a guide, along with the knowledge I already have about my own launch conditions and game, to make a choice.
After that, I was able to look through the various custom options, of which there are many, for shafts, grips, and specifications. There was a handy little guide that gave some good information on the various shaft options and it turned out that the stock Tour Traction shaft was quite similar to the one that I play in my other iron set, so I decided to give it a try.
In the end, a summary of the whole process was presented to me - the 588 combo set that I’d be playing in the coming months.
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