One of my primary goals in the first 60 days of my new position here at GOLF.com is to test a wide variety of clubs from a wide variety of brands, to get a feel for what everyone’s doing and settle on my own set for the summer. My self-imposed bag deadline is mid-April at the latest; I want to have a summer of actually grinding on my game (and not my clubs!) so any equipment Whac-a-Mole needs to happen now.
As a complete gear degenerate, this is no small task for me. I already have substantial bets with a couple of buddies that once I land on my setup, I won’t change anything through Nov. 1. It’s going to be an emotional roller coaster.
Of all the gear I was jacked up to try, my main targets in the beginning were the new Srixon ZXi irons (see below), Ping G440 driver, Lab putters and TaylorMade fairway woods. Why these in particular? Well, beyond the fact that my golf friends all rant and rave about these clubs, I’ve also seen the momentum these particular pieces garner on Tour. To a club, they seem to sneak into a ton of non-staff bags year over year. That’s a marker of a good golf club.
First up: Srixon ZXi5 and ZXi7 irons
My testing rules:
1. Use your regular ball: No use testing clubs if you’re not using your gamer ball.
2. Gather data inside and verify on course: It’s one thing to get your clubs dialed in at a hitting bay, but it’s your performance on the course that really matters. If it’s wintertime and you’re limited to indoor play, I like using Trackman’s on-course capabilities and hitting shots with wind, firm greens, etc. The device won’t tell you everything you need to know, but it’ll get you pretty far down the road.
3. Limit variables: Ideally everything is apples to apples. Lofts, lies, shafts, balls, etc. Testing needs to be conducted in a vacuum as much as possible.
4. Don’t adjust: If you are having to make swing adjustments to “make something work,” stop wasting your time. That club set-up isn’t working for you.
5. It’s not all about the numbers: I always factor in trust when I’m testing clubs. For me, it’s a harmony thing. When I stand over the ball, do I feel like I’m going to hit a good shot? Does the club fit my eye? Do my mishits fall into a common pattern? If so, can I pivot out of that pattern in one swing? See #4.
Gamer numbers for baseline:
Pretty standard practice here. I hit 20 shots with both my gamer 5-iron and 8-iron not only to loosen up but also to get my baseline numbers.
The criteria:
These five metrics are key for any golf-club test, and will tell you most of what you need to know.
-Ball Speed
-Launch
-Spin
-Carry
-Greens Hit (Trackman driving range; targets were set at 160 yds and 200 yds for my 8- and 5-iron, respectively)
My gamer results:
Average numbers over 20 shots
5-iron: (Callaway Apex Ti-Fusion) 25 degrees of loft, 38 inches, Std lie, Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 120
Ball Speed: 133.4 MPH
Launch: 13.2
Spin: 4897 RPMS
Carry: 199.6 yds
GIR %: 15/20 75%
8-iron: (Callaway Apex TCB 23′) 37 degrees of loft, 36.5 inches, Std lie, Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 120
Ball Speed: 118.2 MPH
Launch: 18.2
Spin: 7797 RPMS
Carry: 159.8 yds
GIR%: 18/20 90%
Bottom line:
My Callaway setup (full disclosure: until recently I worked for Callaway!) has served me well and the numbers haven’t changed at all over the past two years. There really isn’t anything to gain beyond distance, but I’d only want more yards if it meant not losing anything else. That’s where it gets tricky. Typically the faster an iron gets, launch goes up and spin goes down.
The Srixon ZXi test:
Srixon at first glance: I love how these irons look; both the ZXi5 (players performance) and ZXi7 (tour cavity back) are stunning. The ZXi7 (photo, below) looks a little more beefed up than past versions, but I dig that; at 48, I’m not afraid of seeing a little extra muscle in the right spots. To my eye, it looks like the top line is slightly thicker and the overall size of the iron is slightly larger than before. Not a huge difference but something I noted.
The ZXi5 is everything I remember vs. previous iterations. Perfect size for a players’ performance iron, plenty of help down low but also a players’ shape that you want. This is where OEMs are knocking it out of the park, by the way. When you get into these players’ performance/players’ distance categories, the look of the irons are getting cleaner and cleaner. Sometimes it’s actually hard to tell the difference between the Tour cavity backs and players’ performance categories.
My Srixon ZXi results:
40 shots in total; 20 with each club. No deletions.
5-iron: (ZXi5) 25 degrees of loft, 38 inches, Std lie, Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 120
Ball Speed: 134.2 MPH
Launch: 12.6
Spin: 4619 RPMS
Carry: 201.8 yds
GIR%: 16/20 80%
Srixon ZXi5 Custom Irons
View Product
ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Dunlop Sports
8-iron: (ZXi7) 37 degrees of loft, 36.5 inches, Std lie, Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 120
Ball Speed: 118.6 MPH
Launch: 17.9
Spin: 7601 RPMS
Carry: 160.8 yds
GIR%: 19/20 95%
Srixon ZXi7 Custom Irons
View Product
ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Dunlop Sports
What we learned:
The results aren’t all that different from my gamer irons, but there was one fun finding with the Srixons.
While my GIR percentage with both ZXi models was really good, even my mishits didn’t look or feel much like mishits. These shots not only found the greens but their numbers also didn’t change much. My thin shots (which is my miss 95% of the time) still held ball speed and spin in ways I don’t often see. I was losing only 1-2 mph of ball speed, which is a CRAZY number. When results are close in a test like this one, sometimes your decision-making comes down to mishit performance. That’s where Srixon really showed me something.
Raise the floor people!
