Golf Information Editor Nick Bayly places the brand new Callaway Apex Ai300 irons by means of their paces
As a 13 handicapper with an 18 handicapper’s iron recreation, I like loads of forgiveness constructed into my irons, and whereas Callaway’s new Ai300 irons are billed as a recreation enchancment mannequin, their dimensions and general take a look at deal with are barely extra compact that you just’d look forward to finding in a membership that’s constructed for this class of the market.
Having mentioned that, it’s a broad spectrum and this Ai300 irons undoubtedly sit on the low finish of that handicap class in that they’ll swimsuit and attraction to first rate ball strikers, and undoubtedly end in some efficiency features, whether or not it’s in ball speeds, constant distance off the center, in addition to people who aren’t struck off the useless centre of the clubface.
My ball flight with the Ai300s was increased than ordinary, helped by the weighting within the head of the membership, and pictures into greens ‘dropped and stopped’ which confirmed me simply how way more spin Callaway have of their up to date Apex mannequin.
My pictures had been additionally longer than ordinary distance-wise, and dispersion was fairly tight and constant after I hit a spread of pictures with every iron within the set.
The decrease irons, the 9 and PW, felt easy when it got here to getting the ball up within the air, making them very best for gamers like me who usually battle to maintain their approaches on the inexperienced, as these irons create excessive ball flight for softer landings.
Like many mid-handicappers I usually really feel as if I lose a little bit of management when hitting longer irons, and consequently solely go as much as a 5-iron in my present set.
Though there was no 3- or 4-iron provided with my take a look at set, I appreciated how the ball got here off the membership with the 5-iron, and the mid-to-high ball flight supplied a pleasant mixture of distance and dispersion management.
What additionally impressed me, all through the bag, was the efficiency I used to be nonetheless in a position to generate with lower than good strike. Having irons with enhanced turf interplay for mishits can also be very best for many who battle for consistency with their swing.
General, I feel these are a really well-conceived and executed set of game-improvement irons. The efficiency features are evident for mid-to-high handicappers and so they additionally made me need to change into a greater ball striker, moderately than doing all of the be just right for you.
RRP: £1,199/£1,299 (st/gr, 4-PW). For extra particulars, go to eu.callawaygolf.com.
