c510 Forged Cavity

Every serious golfer should own a set of forged irons. I have a set of Snake Eyes forged cavity backs that I built a couple of years ago. While I don’t play them every day (for that, I have the TaylorMade R7 XDs), at the height of the summer, when my swing is at it’s best, it is a real pleasure to take them to the course. THere is nothing like the sweet feel of a forged club when it’s struck just right.

Unfortunately, having a second set of clubs—especially one that you don’t play on a regular basis is a luxury. And because a set of name-brand forged irons will cost upwards of $1,000, it’s a luxury few can afford.

Enter GigaGolf. One of their latest offerings is the Pursuit 510 forged cavity back iron set. Like the offerings from the big boys, the GigaGolf’s Pursuit is a five-step carbon steel forging. The cavity back increases the moment of intertia to make them more playable, but for those who prefer a muscleback, there is the matching m510 Forged Muscle. Since GigaGolf lets you order clubs individually, you can get the long irons in the cavity back, and the shorter ones in the muscle.

The clubs have a traditional look from address, with a small amount of offset. Scorelines are individually milled to the deepest allowable by the USGA.

And like all of GigaGolf’s products, you are completely safe in ordering them. GigaGolf offers a 30 day playability guarantee.

m510 Forged Muscle

c510 Forged Cavity

The TaylorMade R5 XL line is made by TaylorMade exclusively for sale at Dick’s Sporting Goods. I saw these at my local DSG the other day and liked the look and feel. The main difference to me seems to be that the club faces in the line are larger than the regular TaylorMade clubs. There’s also a driver, fairway woods and iron sets.

TaylorMade r5 XL Hybrid

Ping sort of seems to be the forgotten man among the major manufacturers these days. I don’t see their advertisements on televison. I can’t tell you who’s on their pro staff. They aren’t making the golf news sites and blogs with their equipment. I don’t know anyone who has their newer clubs (although plenty are still playing with 10-year-old models). And they certainly are not being pushed in any of the local pro shops.

It could be just a local thing—maybe they get more traction in other areas—but I get the feeling that they’re kind of sliding backwards.

Still, they continue to focus on producing very player-friendly clubs, such as the new G5 irons, which made Golf Digest’s 2006 Hot List.

The G5s are a refinement of last year’s G2 series, with a wider sole and more perimeter weighting. The weight port on the back of the clubs is larger, too, reducing vibrations and stabilizing the face.

The wider sole was created through Ping’s redesign of the undercut cavity. The pull direction is parallel to the ground, rather than perpendicular to the face. This lets Ping move more mass to the the back of the clubhead.

They’re still not particularly attractive, with their tumbled finish and blunt lines. But with Ping, its all about playability.

PING G5 Iron Set 3-PW w/Steel Shaft

TGW is having a closeout on Callaway Steel X-16 Irons. Regularly priced at $880, you can now get them at $449.

CALLAWAY Fusion Wide Sole Iron Set 3-PW w/ Steel Shaft

Following on the success of its Fusion Irons, Callaway has introduced the Fusion Wide Sole. The Wide Sole takes the technology of the Fusion Irons and applies it to an oversized game improvement iron.

I liked the Fusions when I tried them—although unconventional in design, at address they looked very good. They also had a good feel and trajectory.

The major change in the design is the larger head and the—obviously—wider soles, into which Callaway has inserted “Tunite” weights to further lower the center of gravity. The new clubhead is 25% larger than the original.

Like the original Fusion Irons, the clubhead is constructed from a 6-4 titanium body into which a special vibration dampening material has been injected into the back cavity.  The TPU SenSert™ insert is a chemically engineered thermoplastic polyurethane. It looks funky, but you can’t argue with the results.

I think Callaway deserves props for thinking outside the box on these clubs. This is a set I’d like to give an extended test run to. (Are you listening Callaway? )

CALLAWAY Fusion Wide Sole Iron Set 3-PW w/ Steel Shaft

I was in Dick’s Sporting Goods today looking for a TaylorMade glove (no luck), but found something more interesting: a line of clubs called the TaylorMade R5 XL.

Did I miss this in the past somehow, or is this a new line? I can’t find them on the TaylorMade site either in the “new” section or in the “vintage clubs” section.

The drivers, fairways and hybrids look a lot like the R7 line, sans movable weights. There also was a set of R5 XL irons, which looked somewhat like the R7XD irons that I like so much.

UPDATE:

An executive at TaylorMade tells me that the R5 XL line is made by TaylorMade exclusively for Dick’s Sporting Goods in the US. The design is TaylorMade, the quality is TaylorMade. These are NOT knockoffs.

Here’s a link to the webpage at Dick’s with the irons:

TaylorMade r5 XL Irons - Dick’s Exclusive

TAYLORMADE r7 XD Irons 3-PW w/Steel Shaft

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: An apparent oxymoron: a good looking set of game improvement irons. These clubs are just begging to be hit hard.

Thanks to the nice spring weather we’ve had here in Michigan, I’ve now had a chance to play five complete rounds with the new TaylorMade R7 XD Irons.

I’ll have to admit that after the first round, I was not at all sure that these irons were good for me. I got good distance but the balls tended to fly every which way but straight. But I thought that it could just be spring rust, so I played on.

Things didn’t improve on the second round. I loved the R7XD sand and pitching wedges, and the seven iron was a perfect chipping and pitching weapon, but I couldn’t get any of the rest of the clubs to behave on a full swing.

Finally, on the third hole of the third round, I got angry at them. I was around 155 to the hole on a slight uphill lie. Normally a six: but I felt like whacking something hard and pulled out the seven. Making a full turn, I laid into the ball hard. That’s normally a disastrous recipe for me, but I didn’t care. And to my surprise, the ball took off like it was shot out of a howitzer and flew straight at the pin, landing behind the hole

That’s interesting, I thought. I finished the hole for a par. On the next, I hit a good drive that left me in the fairway. Again, I took one club less and belted it. Same good result.

As it turns out, that’s the secret: these clubs are just begging to be hit hard. The perimeter weighting keeps the ball on line, and the wide soles prevent digging—even on Michigan’s soft spring fairways. Even better, the tuned performance cartridge keeps the impact from sending shockwaves through your arms.