Callaway Apex Ai200, Ai300, Ti Fusion irons: What you need to know

Realizing that everyone doesn’t have time to consume endless content on club launch day, we’re offering a fresh version of our detailed tech write-up that focuses on the high points. Here’s what you need to know about Callaway’s newest Apex iron series: Ai200, Ai300 (both priced at $200 per club) and Apex Ti Fusion (priced at $300 per club), all available through Fairway Jockey on 8/15.

Apex Ai200 and Ai300

Callaway’s Apex series irons have been a leader in technology and performance since it was first unveiled in 2014 and helped to pioneer the players’ distance category. Now with another decade of design and materials knowledge under their belts, plus Artificial Intelligence and expanded player feedback, Callaway is introducing the player-focused Apex Ai200 and game-improvement Apex Ai300 models.

What’s inside

The Apex Ai200 and Ai300 share the same technology platform with a forged 455 face cup and a forged 1020 body to produce tour-level feedback and distance on shots hit around the entire face.

Callaway Apex Ai200 Custom Irons

$200

Apex Ai200 Irons are meticulously designed for pure feel, power, and consistency. These elegant hollow-body designs blend performance and precision in our most complete player’s distance iron, delivering performance that stands alone. Premium Look and Feel A forged hollow-body combined with a forged 455 face creates a Tour-level sound and feel. This advanced forged construction is coupled with a stunning, premium design that will captivate you more than ever before. Most Complete Player’s Distance Iron  In addition to enhanced feel, the Forged 455 Face Cup delivers outstanding power across the face. This unique combination of power and feel separates the Apex Ai200 from the rest. Incredibly Consistent Ball Speed, Spin, and Dispersion The Apex Ai200 achieves incredible consistency through the Ai Smart Face. Using real golfer swing data combined with artificial intelligence, the Ai Smart Face generates outstanding speed and spin consistency with tight dispersion into greens. Optimized Flight and Forgiveness Strategically positioned MIM weighting ensures the optimal CG for your best launch windows. And the Dynamic Sole Design ensures enhanced turf interaction to provide more forgiveness through the turf.

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“From the early days, we knew we wanted to come out and be fully forged to give players the best feel, but not make any sacrifices on distance or performance”, said Brian Williams, Callaway’s VP of R&D.

But construction is just the start because it’s what engineers do with those materials and the processes that go into producing the components of the head that make the Ai200 and Ai300 stand out — the most important (as the name suggests) being Artificial Intelligence.

Just like the Paradym Ai Smoke series, Apex Ai200 and Ai300 utilize an AI Smart Face to produce fast and consistent ball speeds, launch angles and spin rates on shots hit around the face. One of the biggest improvement areas for Ai200 and Ai300 includes shots hit towards the lower heel and toe sections thanks to the expansion of the 455 face cup more into the heel and toe to allow for more flex.

“We were relentless in our pursuit of healthy ball flights,” said Williams. “We wanted increased launch with high spin and steeper descent angles into green — we wanted a product that was going to hit to a number with consistency.”

Behind that face, and hidden in the body, are precision MIM (metal injection molding) weights to precisely locate the center of gravity through the set to tune each iron for exceptional performance on approach shots. Both irons also feature a newly engineered dynamic sole design to ensure proper turf interaction.

Callaway Apex Ai300 Custom Irons

$200

Apex Ai300 Irons are meticulously designed for pure feel, power, and consistency. These elegant cavity-back designs feature a slightly larger profile that blends performance and forgiveness in our most complete game-improvement iron, delivering performance that stands alone.  Premium Look and Feel A forged cavity-back design combined with a forged 455 face creates a Tour-level sound and feel. This advanced forged construction is coupled with a stunning, premium design that will captivate you more than ever before. Our Most Complete Game-Improvement Iron In addition to enhanced feel, the Forged 455 Face Cup delivers outstanding power across the face. This unique combination of power and feel separates the Apex Ai300 from the rest. Incredibly Consistent Ball Speed, Spin, and Dispersion The Apex Ai300 achieves incredible consistency through the Ai Smart Face. Using real golfer swing data combined with artificial intelligence, the Ai Smart Face generates outstanding speed and spin consistency with tight dispersion into greens. Optimized Flight and Forgiveness Strategically positioned MIM weighting ensures the optimal CG for your best launch windows. And the Dynamic Sole Design ensures enhanced turf interaction to provide more forgiveness through the turf.

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Specs

Callaway Apex Ai200

Callaway Apex Ai300

Apex Ti Fusion

If Callaway’s Apex Ai200 and Ai300 irons are considered technology-packed, then Apex Ti Fusion is Callaway’s supercar concept, created with advanced materials science and groundbreaking manufacturing techniques to put game improvement consistency into a player-preferred shape.

“This is a concept iron, a signal of innovation, trying new technologies that deliver high performance,” said Zack Oakley, Callaway’s senior product manager. “It’s for performance enthusiasts who want all the bells and whistles, the fancy components. We’ve also given it a cool finish.”

At the heart of Ti Fusion is a thin and fast titanium face that has been brazed to a forged steel body. It should be noted that brazing isn’t a new technology and has been used in fairway woods and some driving irons before, but it’s the total construction of the head including the internal urethane microspheres that allows the iron to be fast, while still offering a premium solid feel.

Callaway Apex Ti Fusion Custom Irons

$300

Apex Ti Fusion Irons are expertly crafted like no other iron in golf. This player performance iron is precisely engineered with a titanium face and a forged hollow- body construction. We’ve leveraged our most advanced materials to provide performance enthusiasts with exceptional power, feel, and consistency. Superior Materials, Unmatched Performance Titanium is an advanced material that provides unmatched iron performance. Our industry-leading brazed titanium construction capitalizes on the power of a titanium face combined with the exceptional forged feel of steel. No other iron combines these performance materials into one iron like we have in Apex Ti Fusion. Revolutionary Speed Leveraging the superiority of titanium, we’ve provided a face with unbelievable ball speed characteristics. Titanium, the same material used in driver faces, is incredibly efficient and produces a larger sweet spot in an iron than steel. Unimaginable Feel Apex Ti Fusion utilizes a combination of advanced materials to achieve an unimaginable feel. The titanium face allows for more deflection and interaction with our patented urethane microspheres. This interaction coupled with a forged, steel body provides a unique feel that is typically only found in single-piece forged irons. Incredibly Consistent Ball Speed, Spin, and Dispersion The titanium Ai Smart Face yields incredibly consistent ball speed, spin, and dispersion. The result is the performance of a 2-piece iron with consistency like a muscleback. Premium DLC Finish Ti Fusion boasts a new, ultra-premium Diamond-Like Coating (DLC) finish. DLC is more durable than PVD and produces a unique and striking aesthetic.

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Like Ai200 and Ai300, the Ti Fusion utilizes Ai Smart face mapping to create more consistent launch and spin on shots hit over a larger area of the face. The result is more consistent distance control. The other advantage of titanium being stronger and lighter compared to a steel face is that more mass can be placed low and around the club’s perimeter to increase overall forgiveness and performance.

“This project has been ongoing for several years at Callaway, where we identified limitations in other constructions we discussed,” said Williams. “We knew we had to come up with something proprietary. It’s now a patented process for us — a new joint construction that allows high deflection across the face for high ball speeds.”

To distinguish the ultra-premium Ti Fusion from others in the marketplace, Callaway finished the head in a black DLC (Diamond-Like Coating) which offers greater durability than PVD and creates a deeper and richer aesthetic.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2024? Find a fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

Golf.com Editor

Ryan Barath is GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com’s senior editor for equipment. He has an extensive club-fitting and -building background with more than 20 years of experience working with golfers of all skill levels, including PGA Tour players. Before joining the staff, he was the lead content strategist for Tour Experience Golf, in Toronto, Canada.

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