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Titleist 714 AP1 Review Thread

SuperStroke
Hawk said:
Unfortunately I haven't. I ought to find a fitting cart.
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Def worth a try. I think Titleist nailed the pairing of the head with that shaft. Also could look at the 105, or as Jman pointed out, think Titleist for the first time is offering the Tour 90s as well. Im going to go hit mine straight up against the speedblades on a launch monitor to help make up my mind. I hit the new tour preferred CB's yesterday, and while I liked the looks of them, I preferred the ballflight, distance, and forgiveness of the speedblades. Making myself commit to more a GI iron for 1 season to see the results and not letting myself get totally hung up on looks.
 
I've put them both up against each other on the launch monitor a few times and the similarity in performance was pretty surprising to me. I've always thought the RocketBladez/SpeedBlade were the longest an most forgiving GI irons out there, but from day one these have been neck and neck for me. At some point it just becomes personal preference in looks when everything else is so close and these win that battle in my eyes.
 
Hawk said:
I've put them both up against each other on the launch monitor a few times and the similarity in performance was pretty surprising to me. I've always thought the RocketBladez/SpeedBlade were the longest an most forgiving GI irons out there, but from day one these have been neck and neck for me. At some point it just becomes personal preference in looks when everything else is so close and these win that battle in my eyes.
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I can go a step further. When I tested these, I put them up against the Cleveland TTs and I got nearly identical results.
 
JB said:
I can go a step further. When I tested these, I put them up against the Cleveland TTs and I got nearly identical results.
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Might explain why I liked the TT's. Similar in profile too.
 
Hawk said:
I've put them both up against each other on the launch monitor a few times and the similarity in performance was pretty surprising to me. I've always thought the RocketBladez/SpeedBlade were the longest an most forgiving GI irons out there, but from day one these have been neck and neck for me. At some point it just becomes personal preference in looks when everything else is so close and these win that battle in my eyes.
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Thanks. Im most interested in the launch and peak height and descent between the two. To my naked eye, it looked to me like the speedblades were launching and peaking higher than my AP1s. If the performance is very similar, as it was for you and JB, I will definitely stick with the Ap1s as I agree in looks and personal preference I absolutely like them more.
 
Very well could be and you certainly never know until you take a look at the numbers. I'll be interested to hear the results.
 
These clubs are beautiful, but I don't think they're as good of an investment for mid handicapped improving golfers. If I were in my 50's or 60's and trying to maintain my score these would be an absolute must for my bag. It keeps your irons shots consistent and gives you loads of confidence. However, as good as that might sound for a decreasing handicap, for me it wasn't. I don't have the same workability with these. I tried these out at Golf Town and it felt boring playing with them. Solid feel and results, but I can't see myself going from a 12 to a single digit handicap. I can see myself definitely staying where I'm at without getting any worse, but I feel as if these clubs are more for people with a handicap in the 20's or 30's looking to get down to where I am. This is just my personal preference. If you're going to be spending over $1,000 on clubs, you want something that'll benefit you as well once you've reached your handicap goal. You'll never reach your ball striking potential if you don't test yourself with a more demanding club. At a compromise, I'd suggest an AP1 (6-4) and AP2 (PW-7) if you're more afraid of the longer irons. This gives you workability (or potential for future workability if you can't shape the ball yet) for when you do become a better ball striker. This way, when your game improves you'll be able to utilize the benefits of the AP2's along with the advantages of the AP1. I love my MB's from PW-7 iron. I can really shape the ball with them, and when I get into my longer clubs (6-4) I get that added forgiveness while still maintaing workability with the AP2's. It's all about feel and comfort, but if you're in your 20's or 30's looking to become a single handicap or scratch golfer one day, you need the aspiration of becoming a great ball striker, not just a good one because your clubs hide your mishits.

I'd love to hear if anyone agrees or disagrees with my philosophy. Again, just my personal thinking. Everyone is different with different golfing goals.

Cheers everyone!
 
Never ever have believed into 'growing into' a set of clubs. I think that's a great way to set yourself up for a new set of clubs in the very near future.

It's a fitting thing in my eyes, as well as personal preference. Ben Curtis plays these on the PGA Tour, so to say that they are holding somebody back in their goals to improve is not accurate imo.
 
You can "work" any iron, its just a fact.

I like boring golf though, boring golf leads to lower scores.
 
That's circumstantial to your game. Boring golf might lead to higher scores for some people.
 
JOEE said:
That's circumstantial to your game. Boring golf might lead to higher scores for some people.
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As is and will working the ball if you look at it from that perspective. But lets get back to the irons here.
 
Jman said:
As is and will working the ball if you look at it from that perspective. But lets get back to the irons here.
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Gotta side with Hawk and Jman here. Its all about personal preference and what your individual needs are. I certainly dont think you are going to regress by playing an iron like the AP1 by any means. They still require you to put a pretty good swing on the ball, but yes they help your mishits more than others. I think that's a great thing. Speaking on a personal level, my handicap and ball striking certainly would fit me into more of an ap2 type club. And in fact I played the 712 Ap2s prior to making the switch. For me, based on my swing characteristics and size, I need more distance and higher launch out of my irons, and that is where GI irons are much better than players irons. Give me the guy all day who hits a straight ball into the middle of every green than a guy who plays a beautiful draw but misses half his greens. If boring means hitting fairways and greens and making pars, sign me up for that all day.
 
Never said regress, just said keep playing where I'm at.
 
The same thing still applies. A club like the AP1 has no inherent tie to the ability (or inability) to improve.
 
This is all I have to say


[video=youtube;M5pVV7x-5N4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5pVV7x-5N4[/video]
 
I won't wade too deep into the GI vs Players debate except to say that I disagree with JOEE's belief that playing clubs that are harder to hit well will force one to become a better player. I've been playing Ping G20s for over a year and those shovels are about as GI as they come. I can indeed tell when I mishit them, and in what way, and over the last year I've dropped from a 20 to a 10 handicap, so ball striking ability has improved. And I can "work" shots with those clubs, though not to an extreme degree, which is just as well for my game which I am endeavoring to make as boring as possible by eliminating expeditions into the back-country brush, waterfront areas, or the beach.


To that end, I visited my friendly local Titleist Advanced Fitting Center today and got a fitting for some new 714 AP1s! I've been playing graphite shafts in my Pings so we started with the Kuro Kage 65 shafts. These felt pretty good but seemed a bit whippy. I didn't take notes on the numbers I was getting, but they weren't bad. I was, however getting a stronger fade than my normal slight one and it seemed persistent. Next we tried a lightweight Nippon shaft (NS Pro 960?) and the XP95. The Nippon shaft gave better numbers but I didn't like the feel. Then he pulled out an Aerotech i95 Steelfiber shaft that I tried not to like because I knew there is a hefty upcharge, but that failed. They felt a bit heavier than the Kuro Kage, which is not surprising, but actually lighter than the steel shafts that were both of similar weight. But the Aerotech had a much softer feel than the steel on slight mishits and the strong fade I had been seeing with the Kuro Kage went away. All of the numbers were good and both I and the fitter were surprised that I seemed to hit the Aerotech about as high as the Kuro Kage since it is supposed to be a lower launching shaft.

So the trigger is pulled. 5 - PW AP1s, Aerotech i95 shafts, mid-size New Decade Red grips on order. Sadly, it will be several weeks, seems I'm not the only one that wants those shafts dang it!
 
Why nobody try with the Fujikura MCI shaft?
 
Eone said:
Why nobody try with the Fujikura MCI shaft?
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I've worked with this fitter in the past and have a lot of confidence that he knows what he's doing, so I didn't question him too closely on why he was choosing specific shafts for me to try. We were working on distance, height, spin and dispersion from the launch monitor, and on how they felt to me. From the Titleist shaft options brochure on their web site it doesn't look like the Fujikura is a standard option, so he may well not have had one for me to try. As an Advanced Fitting Center I am under the impression he has a pretty wide range of options available for testing, but certainly not every shaft on the market.
 
PirateJim said:
I won't wade too deep into the GI vs Players debate except to say that I disagree with JOEE's belief that playing clubs that are harder to hit well will force one to become a better player. I've been playing Ping G20s for over a year and those shovels are about as GI as they come. I can indeed tell when I mishit them, and in what way, and over the last year I've dropped from a 20 to a 10 handicap, so ball striking ability has improved. And I can "work" shots with those clubs, though not to an extreme degree, which is just as well for my game which I am endeavoring to make as boring as possible by eliminating expeditions into the back-country brush, waterfront areas, or the beach.


To that end, I visited my friendly local Titleist Advanced Fitting Center today and got a fitting for some new 714 AP1s! I've been playing graphite shafts in my Pings so we started with the Kuro Kage 65 shafts. These felt pretty good but seemed a bit whippy. I didn't take notes on the numbers I was getting, but they weren't bad. I was, however getting a stronger fade than my normal slight one and it seemed persistent. Next we tried a lightweight Nippon shaft (NS Pro 960?) and the XP95. The Nippon shaft gave better numbers but I didn't like the feel. Then he pulled out an Aerotech i95 Steelfiber shaft that I tried not to like because I knew there is a hefty upcharge, but that failed. They felt a bit heavier than the Kuro Kage, which is not surprising, but actually lighter than the steel shafts that were both of similar weight. But the Aerotech had a much softer feel than the steel on slight mishits and the strong fade I had been seeing with the Kuro Kage went away. All of the numbers were good and both I and the fitter were surprised that I seemed to hit the Aerotech about as high as the Kuro Kage since it is supposed to be a lower launching shaft.

So the trigger is pulled. 5 - PW AP1s, Aerotech i95 shafts, mid-size New Decade Red grips on order. Sadly, it will be several weeks, seems I'm not the only one that wants those shafts dang it!
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Thanks for the report PJ. Lots of great info.
 
Hawk said:
Thanks for the report PJ. Lots of great info.
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It was your excellent review and subsequent comments along with the many other positive reports in this thread that helped guide me in the decision process. So thank you, Hawk, and everyone else! I'm really looking forward to getting the new sticks in the bag.
 
My pleasure. I hope they serve you well!
 
I'm picking up my set tomorrow 5-w2 with the Aerotech i95 steel fiber shafts. Can't wait. I got them based on Hawk's review and hitting this combination recommended by the Titliest clubfitter that was at a demo day I went a month ago. In fact the whole bag is going to be Titliest except for my putter.
 
What's the rest of the bag look like? Congrats on your irons by the way!
 
Congrats beardog. Lot of guys going with those i95's. Makes me ponder!
 
Hawk said:
Congrats beardog. Lot of guys going with those i95's. Makes me ponder!
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A solid combo for sure. These irons are big time sleepers of 2014 IMO.
 
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