One of the many lessons learned during 2020 was that venturing into a new sport/activity can, at times, be rather pricey. Whether looking to break into golf, cycling, or kayaking, equipment costs can very quickly creep into that uncomfortable range for the wallet. As an industry, golf saw a significant surge in popularity, which included plenty of first-time participants. What greeted these new players looking to put together a bag full of clubs? High equipment costs.
Enter Stix Golf, which launched seemingly at the perfect time when new players were searching for affordable new equipment. Upon their initial launch, Stix offered a 12-piece set that provided plenty of value. Less than a year later, we now have the follow-up release, which provides seven different set configurations, a new logo, and other improvements to the clubs themselves.
Box sets have often offered tremendous value to the golfer looking for a one-stop-shop experience. Instead of going out and buying individual components, one can purchase a set and have a matching set of clubs throughout the bag without breaking the bank. When the opportunity came to play and review the newest 14-piece set from Stix, there was a high level of intrigue not only to see how they performed but how much of a value they indeed offered.
Upon unboxing, it was pretty evident that the Stix design philosophy was a bit understated. There are no flashy colors or badges throughout this makeup. Instead, we get an utterly blacked-out look that, to my eye, comes across looking nice. I’ve always been a sucker for black irons and wedges, and this product is eye-catching in the bag. Speaking of the irons and wedges, I fancied that the bottom scoring line is red. To me, that made these clubs pretty easy to square up when getting ready to hit a shot. Those red scoring lines didn’t make it over to the woods, but they do have a rather simplistic red alignment dot on the two-tone crown. Completing the look is a black graphite shaft and grip, both of which employ just a simple Stix logo. One of the updates that Stix has mentioned for this updated version is a more durable finish. We are told that this will be five times more durable than the PVD used in the initial release.
We asked Stix about some of the changes that they undertook for the updated model and this is what they had to say: “We went from 12 clubs to 14 as people wanted a complete set. We added more wedges and now offer three flexes in five height ranges. On top of that, we added a bag and headcovers. Again, people wanted the whole package in place, so we put it together for them. In terms of styling, we updated the design to have no cavity plate. We want these to last forever, and we believe in minimalism, so the more we can take away, the better.”
Within my 14-piece set was a driver (10.5°), two fairway woods (16° & 19°), a hybrid (21°), 5-PW irons, three wedges (52°,56°,60°), and of course a putter. No bag or headcovers came with my set; however, Stix does offer a package that includes a Stix branded stand bag. If one were to go this route, it would be cheaper than buying the bag separately. Headcovers for the woods, hybrid, and putter can be added for $65.
These clubs look the part, but how did they play? Truthfully? They exceeded my expectations, especially when it comes to the irons and wedges. The performance was solid, starting off with the driver, which sits a touch closed to my eye. On-centered hits, the ball jumps out there in the same neighborhood as my typical yardages. There wasn’t any point in time on the course where I thought I hit one well and was dreadfully shorter than I expected. Where I felt it lagged a bit was on the heel side forgiveness. Sound-wise, all the woods were higher pitched, which isn’t surprising considering most of the drivers out on the market today utilize carbon fiber, which helps deaden the sound.
The fairway woods are set up with a lower profile, which I prefer. They performed reasonably well off the tee and fairway, although if I had to pinpoint which part of the set wasn’t my favorite, it would be these. They just launched a bit too high for my game, and the ball seemed to float, robbing me of some distance. I could see plenty of golfers who struggle to get the ball up in the air, finding some success with these.
I’ve already mentioned it, but my favorite part of this 14-piece set was the irons and wedges. Having that dark finish on these irons gives them a sleek look. Their loft structure is anything but consistent, with some gaps being 3° and others being 6°, and at 28°, their 7-iron is strong. My first swing of that 7-iron on a Foresight GC2 yielded a shot that carried 168 yards, launching at 20°, and had some low spin at 4440 RPM, but still descending at a sharp enough angle. These irons were easy to hit throughout the set, launched with ease and provided some strong yardages. When moving to the wedges, they offered consistent spin that on full swings with the 56° exceeded 10,000 RPM. There was an instant comfort with these wedges, and it didn’t matter if I was trying to hit the ball high with a lob or a low bump and run. Stix mentioned increased durability on the finish, and so far, the only finish blemish I have seen is on the SW, where the red scoring line has bled over a bit. As with pretty much every dark finished iron and wedge, time will tell.
Finally, we get to the putter, which features a graphite shaft like every other club in this set. Immediately that took a bit to get over, and with a heavy head-weight of 430 grams, I needed to spend a little extra time visiting the putting green. What I like the most about this putter is how the face looks with the milled pattern, and the mid-mallet shape with the plumber’s neck inspires some confidence. Putters are always a very personal choice, so I feel Stix went with a design that will appeal to a pretty significant demographic of golfers.
Box sets might not carry with them the highest regards when it comes to core golfers. Therefore, we asked the Stix team about their growth factor with this type of product. “I think box sets are currently a great opportunity for us. Our results have shown that we are primarily a set company. For our target demographic, this is a unique offering, and I also think it’s an area where the big brands are backing off. As always, we will listen to our customers, and if there is demand for us to continue to diversify, we will take on that challenge. We currently have plans to continue to provide any product that belongs in or on a bag.”
As a young brand, Stix has been aggressive with their social media marketing. If you happen to notice their ads, they have caused some legitimate excitement. After my pleasant experience with their complete box set, I can certainly see the appeal. Golf is supposed to be fun. Sure, it can be expensive to have the most recent club technology and the flashy clubs, but it doesn’t have to be. Stix offers multiple configurations that will suit your playing needs, all while giving you clubs that will surely catch the eye of your playing partners. More information on Stix is available at www.stix.golf.
The Details
Available: Now
Set Configurations:
14 piece set + bag for $924
14 piece set $799
11 piece set +bag $824
11 piece $699, 9 piece + bag $724
9 piece $599
6 piece Iron Set (5 – PW) $449
3 piece wedges $174
Dexterity: RH and LH available.
I think this kind of stuff is great. It’s so hard for a beginner to know what to do or what to get. There are just to many options for the uninitiated. It may be tough for a new player to drop 1k on clubs, and hundreds more on supporting items before they really begin but in the $500 range it is a completely reasonable ask for most I would assume.
Very nice review Dean. Sounds like these offer solid performance for someone starting out or someone who plays occasionally, mainly for fun or for the social aspect of the game, without breaking the bank.
Nice looking clubs!
I agree with this to an extent. I think their target market is much more about those starting out. I might be wrong, but based on the advertising I see on social that would make some sense. I think there are a lot of THPers that fit that, whether on our community or just readers, but the die hard performance based on equipment person? Probably not.
I agree 100% with the bolded.
I hadn’t considered that aspect. And there are definitely folks out there who refuse to buy used. Heck my wife tried to navigate Callaway Pre-Owned to get me a present and then gave up and told me to get it myself ? this could be a nice barrier to entry breaker for the beginning golfer. Especially with great reviews like this one!
I am not going to pretend I know what kind of market share they will get, but given the experience of my friend, and your wife, this might find a nice niche for those starting out who are overwhelmed trying to decide which used clubs are best. Let alone, how to construct a bag with driver, woods, irons, wedges, and a putter.
This is an all in one solution that is seemingly better than a Top Flite set or something similar from a big box retail store.
pretty much this. You ask me a few months ago and i wouldnt have thought there was much of a market. Then helped a non-THP buddy go through a fitting. Basically offered to source his specs from various online vendors and save 3K or so. Said he rather just get them all at once since he was probably keeping them for 10 years, despite being a lot more expensive and have a longer lead-time. ???? kinda opened my eyes to how different online golfers are ha.
We used to sell way too many Top Flight box sets, when I worked at Dick’s…
I think there is a market for a really good box set, that can give someone everything they need to get started or start over.
I think this OEM will find a spot in this current golf market.
And I think that is the million dollar question. Rewind a number of years when TaylorMade bought Adams Golf, they came out with these Adams Boxed Sets priced between $600-$1000 for the golfer that wanted a high quality set without having to piece it together. It didn’t last all that long, but it was from a large company with a certain expectation to put resources behind.
Move to something like this, which for what it is, is a similar concept, albeit without the R&D and IP behind it necessarily. Could it work? I honestly don’t know, but we do know in golf that the perception of something costing more therefore it’s better, is still alive. So put this next to Accuity boxed set from Dicks and it looks like a perfect set. Next to a pieced together set from Callaway or Titleist, probably not, but cost is a factor there.
That was a long way of saying I kind of agree with you there.
Nice write up Dean. Think if they could really hit marketing hard, this set makes a great Christmas gift for a Dad with a young family and not a lot of money to spend…..
I think it will really come down to marketing and messaging. You can only hit the new or non-discerning golfer so many times on Instagram and Facebook before you need to hit the core golfer a little bit. Marketing will be such a crucial aspect there.
Take a brand like Ben Hogan. They are DTC, priced decently well and make high quality forgings. If they had a boxed set at $900 would it diminish the rest of the lineup? It might. I honestly dont know.
The clubs look great but the I’m not feeling the putter. Shame they went for mid-mallet shape. Think they should have gone for a blade.
This guy gets it
What a compliment coming from you.
Nice review btw…
Regarding fittings I see value in paying to get the clubs through the fitter if they guarantee the fit and happiness. I have recently gone through a situation where the fitter took my clubs back after a year when I wasn’t happy with the performance on the course. If I had sourced myself and was unhappy I would have been stuck with clubs that didn’t work for me.
They do look good in @ddec images. What do you think is the right price for a performance based boxed set if it were to exist?
This is a great question!
Taylor nailed it.
There’s a niche to be had here, and it’s a bigger one than a lot of golfers realize.
Ben Hogan’s on line fitting tool kinda builds a “box set for you”, but it comes in a way higher price point. I get what you are saying though, it will be all about messaging for them.
Personally, I think this is right in the sweet spot. $800 for a 14 club set is tough to beat with even used clubs that aren’t super old, but doesn’t send the message that the clubs are cheap junk. I think keeping it under $1000 is important, as numbers like that can be a mental hurdle for some (probably me included). If I was buying them I doubt I’d spend the extra $125 on the bag, but it certainly simplifies things for a beginner and still keeps it under that threshold at $925.
For comparison, the Tour Edge HL4 To-Go set comes in right at $1000. It is a 12 club set, with bag. The Stix set contains a gap wedge and lob wedge. The only other difference, makeup wise, is that Tour Edge includes two hybrids instead of one (at the expense of a 5 iron).
Knowing what I currently know, I’d likely choose the Tour Edge set. However, as a new golfer without much knowledge I’d probably consider the two extra clubs from Stix and the slightly lower price the better deal.
It’s gotta be tough to break into the golf market as an unknown name, but there is a need for products like this. At least at face value it looks like Stix is doing it pretty well. They have a slick looking product at a competitive price.
ETA: I guess I somehow missed the "performance based" caveat to the question. I think @ddec pretty much nailed the best case scenario for that for that in the next post. They could MAYBE shave a few more bucks off the hybrid and putter, but that’d still be north of $1500 before the bag. I think there’s a market in the Stix and Tour Edge price range, but I don’t know about increasing it 50%…even for known quantity clubs.
Man that is a great question. You know performance fairways and hybrids would make that price high IMO. Think of what a box set could have been for something like the Launcher HB line and add in a Cleveland soft putter. Given some discounts for a box deal, say somewhere around 2k.
Figure for my example they could do…
Driver 300
2 woods 350
Hybrid 125
6 irons 450
3 wedges 300
Putter 100
Now even based on those numbers, manufacturers aren’t making a ton per box. Then include options for headcovers and a bag.
Man I really don’t know…
I think if you made them order direct only, some companies could get pretty close, but with R&D comes costs and I think getting to this price would be a challenge. Assuming we are talking real performance that is.
The clubs definitely look good but $900 for 14 with a bag… Sure, it’s below the $1,000 mental hurdle… and the prices are close to Ben Hogan and Tour Edge… but I think they’d be able to sell some more quickly if they were able to reach an impossible price of $750… if they could even get to $500 then that package would be well priced and quite tempting… in my opinion that is.
How about if Stix offered a complete package… call it "The Works" and it includes: 14 clubs, a bag, 2 dozen balls, 20 tees, a towel, a glove, a polo shirt, a hydroflask, and a range finder or GPS watch for $1000… I think that would work and they would sell a lot of them. If they were to partner up with an online golf store for the accessories… it could be a gold mine. Buy a set of clubs and get a discount here kind of thing.
I also think there is always a pride of ownership when buying new clubs vs used. These look good enough in the bag to give you a little bit of that pride IMO.
I am looking into that now.
It’s interesting as I relate these clubs very much to the Sub70 brand.
Sub70 has a pretty crazy amount of options too IIRC
definitely not bad for a box set. Cool to hear you know someone who has a set.
He’s absolutely loves it. coming from used and hand-me-down clubs, it gives him that new club and modern feel. And helps that they definitely don’t suck
That’s really cool. Yup, I don’t think they suck either. The irons were launchers for me and I really enjoyed the wedges. It also helps that they look good too, helps give a little pride of ownership.