Snake Eyes 685OS Irons

Nostalgia is an incredibly powerful thing and companies across almost every industry know it. Whether it’s the revamped Ford Bronco or Netflix’s That 90’s Show, it’s easy to find comfort in things we’ve enjoyed in the past. Surely aware of this, Forethought Golf purchased the Snake Eyes Golf brand in 2022 and has recently dropped a full line of clubs, accessories, and apparel. Many will remember Snake Eyes for its exceptional irons and wedges in the late 1990’s. Like many other brands from that period, it eventually became a retailer’s house brand. Unfortunately, this path sometimes carries consequences when it comes to reputation that are hard to overcome. While nostalgia is great at grabbing attention, golf consumers typically have strong expectations when it comes to regular technological advancement, and right or wrong, house brands will always face challenges when it comes to how they are perceived. Whether the new owners of Snake Eyes will be able to leverage the popularity of the brand’s name with their new line remains to be seen, but at first glance their three new iron sets cover a wide range of player-types. Their 685OS irons, strongly focused on distance and forgiveness, are built with mid to high handicappers, especially those who are looking to save some money, in mind. 

Unfortunately, information from the company is extremely limited when it comes to technological features of the 685OS irons. We are often spoiled with comprehensive details when it comes to how clubs are designed, and we love to share that information with our readers, but in this case not much is available. The company’s website only goes so far as to mysteriously say that this 2022 line “was meticulously created by one of the industry’s top designers.” We’d love to know more about this enigmatic designer and hope to one day be able to share even more with our readers.

Information from Snake Eyes Golf

The Snake Eyes 685OS Irons are the most powerful iron in the Snake Eyes family. The perimeter weighted wide sole iron design allows the center of gravity to be low & back allowing you to hit higher and straighter shots. The Cup face technology provides additional forgiveness and maximum distance on off-center hits. Available in RH & LH.

Aesthetics

The 685OS irons present a somewhat utilitarian look that fans of simpler styling should appreciate. Often, irons in the value segment suffer from poor finishing choices made by the manufacturer. One of the most egregious faults we see is cheap chrome plating. While it’s hard to explain in writing, the eyes can easily the see the difference between a quality chrome finish and one that is lacking. Snake Eyes avoided this pitfall well by giving the 685OS irons a satin finish that is really well done. The soft, glare-reducing brushed finish was one of the first things we noticed, and it added a decent amount of curb appeal to what might otherwise have been an uninspired first impression. 

As one would expect from an iron with OS in its name, this is an oversized iron, but while “OS” can carry with it some negative connotation, there isn’t anything about the size or shape to indicate this is anything other than a standard game improvement iron. Those comfortable with other brands’ irons in this segment should find themselves right at home. 

As shown in the pictures of the 6 iron, 8 iron, and pitching wedge above, the 685OS have a substantial topline void of the beveling or softening many companies use to conceal thickness. Even with what appears to be a very wide topline, the blade is only slightly elongated, which lends a hint more compactness than one might expect. Additionally, the amount of offset sits nicely in the sweet spot between too little and too much. In all, we found quite a bit to like about the 685OS at address. 

Progressive sole widths provide increasing turf-interaction forgiveness as the clubs’ lofts increase. The pitching wedge’s sole is the widest, and it displays some slight rounding with just a hint of softness on the leading edge. While we don’t expect it to provide the same level of performance we see from some of the more advanced sole designs out there, steep swings should find plenty of help with slightly heavy contact. 

Though Snake Eyes touts the 685OS’s cup-face design, there isn’t any visual indication of its existence on the sole. This is an unfortunate design choice, as visual technology reminders are a key satisfier in the game-improvement segment. Consumers have long indicated their desire to see the technology they’ve paid for. 

From the back, we see a substantial cavity with ample perimeter weighting, especially low and toe-side. Even without the company providing any detail, it’s easy to see that the 685OS irons will provide easy launch and forgiveness on strikes around the face. The cavity also reveals what we’d consider the only truly poor design choice – the cavity badging. 

It’s easier to see in hand, but pictures should illustrate what we are saying here. It’s evident that the badging is just a thin piece of glued-on material and it’s not hard to imagine it falling off. The bright, chrome finish contrasts with the head’s fantastic satin finish and manages to make an otherwise nice-looking iron seem dated. 

After reading about the cup-face design, we did have some preconceived notions about how the 685OS would feel at impact. Feel free to insert your own cliched descriptor, but cup faces can be firm, clicky, tingy, or pingy to name a few. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case at all with the 685OS. If anything, we’d describe them as somewhat dull and muted at impact, which isn’t a bad thing in this corner of the market. It does lead us to wonder exactly how this cup face has been implemented, or if it even exists at all, but we will take Snake Eyes’ word that it does. 

Performance

Though the company’s information says that their steel shaft offering is proprietary, the 4-PW set of irons we tested came with 120g KBS Tour shafts. This is a somewhat interesting choice considering the irons’ target golfer, but it does indicate the company offers some sort of custom build option. 

This is a strong-lofted iron, which translated to pleasingly high ball speeds that were right in line with two similar iron sets. At the same time, the extreme perimeter weighting helped launch the ball 1.5-2 degrees higher than those iron sets on average, even with the heavier KBS Tour shaft. All of this resulted in carry distances at or above expectations throughout the set. 

Spin, or should we say lack of spin, is often a point of concern when it comes to irons like the 685OS. This is an occasional consequence of the technologies that provide all the distance and forgiveness we crave. Fortunately, observed spin rates (recorded with Titleist ProV1x RCT balls) were well within an acceptable range, even well into the middle of the set. While testing doesn’t suggest the 685OS are going to perform like some of the High Launch sets that are growing in popularity for vertically challenged golfers, everything we saw suggests most golfers should be able to hit the ball high enough to reasonably hold a green. 

Just as we expected, the deep cavity and face design provided an exceptional level of forgiveness for most off-center impact locations. Ball speed retention was key here, with shots straying ½” to ¾” horizontally being almost indistinguishable from center impact. Low face shots were also handled nicely, with the deep CG helping provide a respectable launch angle. In all, the 685OS irons masked poor swings as well as could be expected.

Details

• Shaft Option: Proprietary Snake Eyes Steel & UST Recoil 65g Graphite
• Make-up: Multiple Options Available
• Customizable shaft length & lie options
• $599

Retailer list is available from their website at www.snakeeyesgolf.com.

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