In golf equipment, there’s a stigma that forged irons are reserved for only elite ball-strikers who value the workability of a smaller clubhead and forged feel.
But on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-hosts Kris McCormack and Wadeh Maroun broke down how Callaway is fighting that stigma with it’s Apex Ai200 and Apex Ai300 irons.
“Callaway is the only company out there that’s doing fully forged components in that hollow-cavity, players-distance kind of iron,” McCormack said. “So a lot of companies out there have a forged face that they’ll put onto a cast chassis or incorporate some different multilateral construction components.”
So what does that really mean? McCormack explained further.
“A lot of it comes down to feel consistency, acoustics, sustainability, ball speed, spin,” McCormack said. “You look at golf essentially when you break it up into different demographics, different player types, right? And there’s always kind of this stigma that better players have forged products in their bags. So, when you’re looking at players-distance iron or something that has some game improvement components to it, more often than not, when you get into those categories and you have a variety of different types of materials coming into the build in your irons, you sacrifice feel, you sacrifice acoustics. And there’s just not a lot of feedback there.
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.
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.
“It’s gonna give you the forged feel with a club that’s injected with some kind of material to help you keep the same ball speeds, keep you keep the same distances, all of those kinds of things,” he said. “So if you miss hit, instead of being 15, 20 yards short, like you might be with a forged iron, you’re going to keep maybe be five yards short.”
Want to overhaul your bag for 2024? Find a fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.
Jack Hirsh is the Associate Equipment Editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.
