9.8 handicap — AP2 vs AP3

Finally upgrading my 716 AP1s to a 718 model. I honsetly can’t decide between the AP2 or AP3 so I wanted to get the community’s opinion. I’m a 9.8 handicap and want the best combination of feel and forgiveness.

How good is your ball striking? I'd probably do a combo if you even need to ask the question TBH. I find the AP2 4 iron pretty easy to hit but prefer the height and distance gapping with hybrids so (course dependant) I generally play 3 and 4 hybrids and 5-GW in my AP2. I've got reasonable speed though and hit the centre of the face more often than not. If you're hitting all over the face best to go with something more forgiving. Get fit for sure.

Feel AP2 hands down. Forgiveness AP3. At your handicap, you can play AP2's.

If distance is not a problem, I'd go Ap2.

You're gonna have issues controlling distances with AP3.

Ap2 are not hard clubs to hit.

I am a 10hdcp and am thrilled with my AP2/3 combo set. I went with Titleist's recommended set up as follows: AP3 in the 4 and 5 iron, normal lofts, AP2 in 6-PW, bent 1 degree strong.

I got the clubs for Christmas, weather hasn't really cooperated but just got a round in down in Mexico last week. I shot my lowest score in 10+ years, course wasn't very long but required precision off the tee, used my 4-iron to great effect, never would have even thought about that with the MP-53's these replaced.

AP2's were very forgiving on thin shots (way better results than I deserved!) and on solidly struck shots, they were just awesome, was pin high all day. AP3's were great out of the fairway and off the tee, so fun to step up to a 180-200 yard shot and feel confident that I'm going to hit a great shot. Hit a 200+ yard approach on a par 5 to a throat between two bunkers that was only about 20 feet wide, ended up dead center in the middle of it, couldn't have done any better with a wedge.

As always, get fitted if you can but given your handicap I think you might benefit from a little extra help in the long irons that the AP3 provides but for 6 and below, I bet you would prefer the precision of the AP2. Just my .02.

Srixon z785

Ap2 fantastic clubs, and 718 best model yet (feel, shape, forgiveness, badging, etc).

Heard good things about ap3 also, but i don't have any issues with longer irons so never really gave them a fair look when getting fit.

Fwiw I started playing AP2 line when I was about a 10hcp as well... don't let anyone tell you they are too demanding if you are confident in your ball striking.

My opinion (from someone who has spent a fair amount of time in the 10ish handicap range) is that if you like player's clubs and want to play the AP2's, you'll probably be completely fine with them for most of the set but will probably want more forgiveness in the longer irons at minimum. I am an average ballstriker for my handicap and would probably play the AP2's up to a 5 iron at the most, and that is coming from someone who distinctly prefers player's clubs and does not mind the lack of some admittedly useful forgiveness in exchange for clubs that I am more generally comfortable with. If you were already reasonably happy with your AP1's and do not have a personal preference for player's clubs, you might find the AP3s or a more generous AP2/AP3 combo to be a better bet.

Srixon 585/785 combo set. The best out there. Oh wait. You said Titleist.

Hummm. I detest the way the AP3 sounds and feels. High pitched and clicky. Never feels solid.

I bought a set for a friend of mine as a gift because I owed him a giant thank you for a business deal.

I bought them before I hit them, but I actually felt a little bad when I hit them after I gave them to him because I hate them so much.

Fortunately he loves them but I think they are nasty.

Just my 3 cents. I’m obviously absurdly opinionated on such things though.

Z585/z785 if you want to combo. Z785 5-PW and u65 4 with a steel shaft. AP3 sound and feel horrid and ap2 are shorter and dont feel nearly as good as z785. YMMV

If I was set on Titliest it would be tmb and then CB or MB.

Srixon 585/785 combo set. The best out there. Oh wait. You said Titleist.

 

Hummm. I detest the way the AP3 sounds and feels. High pitched and clicky. Never feels solid.

 

I bought a set for a friend of mine as a gift because I owed him a giant thank you for a business deal.

 

I bought them before I hit them, but I actually felt a little bad when I hit them after I gave them to him because I hate them so much.

 

Fortunately he loves them but I think they are nasty.

 

Just my 3 cents. I’m obviously absurdly opinionated on such things though.

I own a set of AP3s and I disagree with the above assessment. Just my 3 cents.

I recently was fit for irons. Ap2 and ap3 were my top two. Both are fantastic irons. I'm a little higher handicap than you but irons are probably my best part of my game. I was gaming mizuno mmc. Looks wise I couldn't tell much of a difference. I liked the look of both. Feel wise I think on shots out of the center of the club face there is not a whole lot difference in feel. On off center shots the is definitely a difference. Ap2 is softer on off center hits. The ap3 for me is full club longer for me. I do struggle some with my 5 and 6 iron in my current mmc set. The ap3 7 iron was actually 5 yards longer than my current 6 iron and gave me better height and spin versus my mmc. And I could hit it very consistently. I think that will be a game changer for me. I do not struggle with distance but I still went with a full set of ap3. I ordered 6 iron through 48w. I think of these like my 5 through pw. I am thinking of ordering the 5 iron too. Might be able to knock my 4 hybrid out of the bag. Either way I dont think you can go wrong with either

I'm off 14. I was coming from Apex pro 16s last 2.5 years so I'm comfortable with compact heads. I only play once a week sometimes once every few weeks. Practice once a week. I don't struggle for distance.

I did a lot of testing for my new irons. For me the AP2s were a step back in performance. Feel, distance, and forgiveness were not as good as my old clubs so there was no point getting them.

The AP3s were outstanding and gave me significant performance gains so I bought them. I didn't need the distance but why not have it because the yardages were very consistent and I wanted distance control. Most important for me was the superior forgiveness on off centre hits because I'm not playing as often.

The feel is different to my Apex pros but I find very solid. Good feedback off centre. Solid strikes are ridiculously good.

I agree the long irons are excellent. I'm not sure the combo is required because as they get shorter there is less tungsten and they get closer to an ap2 at the short end than they are at the long end.

Those are my impressions to date.

Srixon 585/785 combo set. The best out there. Oh wait. You said Titleist.

 

Hummm. I detest the way the AP3 sounds and feels. High pitched and clicky. Never feels solid.

 

I bought a set for a friend of mine as a gift because I owed him a giant thank you for a business deal.

 

I bought them before I hit them, but I actually felt a little bad when I hit them after I gave them to him because I hate them so much.

 

Fortunately he loves them but I think they are nasty.

 

Just my 3 cents. I’m obviously absurdly opinionated on such things though.

 

I own a set of AP3s and I disagree with the above assessment. Just my 3 cents.

And that my friend, is why it’s awesome that so many good choices exist. Different strokes for different folks.

Feel is so subjective that it's hard for any of us to help you there. You've got one person saying AP3 is clanky garbage, and another saying they're not.

Go hit them both in a fitting. If you like how AP2 feels better AND you don't see a meaningful drop in performance, get AP2. I like the idea AP3 in long irons...because feel becomes less important than forgiveness the farther away you stand from the ball (just my opinion).

And hey...if you like the way AP3 looks and feels when you hit it, there's your iron.

Ap2 all day.

Amazing irons

I think a lot of higher handicappers mistake bad feel for just a less forgiving iron. IMO most irons feel good when you hit it flush. 'Player' irons like the AP2 aren't going to feel great if you mishit them, even slightly.

If you are coming from AP1 I'd suggest going AP3 in the long irons. I'm an 8hcp and did the same thing - had Callaway CF16 in the long irons (pro in the short clubs) then moved to the 18 X-forged irons. Short irons in the new set were great but I was missing the distance/forgiveness of the CF16 long irons... Decided to put the CF16 long irons back in the bag. At a 10hcp I don't think using ap2s in the long clubs is going to be easy for ya.

10HCP here

Play full set of TMB... but slowly making it a combo of TMB with AP2 short irons.

As it sits I was 2-GW TMB, now I have AP2 GW and PW. Considering 9 iron. Maybe even 8.

AP2 is easy to hit, especially in short irons, and the 718 is by far the best AP2 so far

Thanks for the input guys!

Be careful when you buy combo a set. I have a z565/z765 combo set that I had to do a little loft adjustments to so my gapping was correct where my set changed (6 iron). I was carrying it 15-25 yards further than my 7 iron. It's wasn't a deal breaker as I still have the set but it took a little more time to get them dialed in correctly.

Bottom line, when you're getting fit for them or hitting them on a monitor, see what your distances are where you will be moving into the different iron.

Ap3 has too much offset if it is a problem for you, otherwise the difference is only the loft. Ap3 is not that forgiving and ap2 is not that punishing on off center hits.

Feel wise ap3 is a little clicky but its a common problem with these irons, even ap2 is clicky to my liking, but if you havnt tried japanese blades or 0311 then the feel wont be a problem.

Irons are about distance gapping. Find a set that you are confident with your distance, then it comes down to feel. Personally the shaft is what I’d be more picky over looks and feel.

Personally the shaft is what Id be more picky over looks and feel.

I definitely agree the shaft makes a huge difference. If the only option had been the AMT White I would not have chosen the AP2 because I hated the way they swung with that shaft. Fortunately I started off with the Project X, tried the AMT White just to see if I liked it better. Immediately switched back to PX-LZ and was like a light switch flipping back on, everything was perfect again.

Point being, definitely try more than one shaft as it makes a very big difference.

Srixon 585/785 combo set. The best out there. Oh wait. You said Titleist.

 

Hummm. I detest the way the AP3 sounds and feels. High pitched and clicky. Never feels solid.

 

I bought a set for a friend of mine as a gift because I owed him a giant thank you for a business deal.

 

I bought them before I hit them, but I actually felt a little bad when I hit them after I gave them to him because I hate them so much.

 

Fortunately he loves them but I think they are nasty.

 

Just my 3 cents. I’m obviously absurdly opinionated on such things though.

 

I own a set of AP3s and I disagree with the above assessment. Just my 3 cents.

 

And that my friend, is why it’s awesome that so many good choices exist. Different strokes for different folks.

Indeed.

I wouldn't rule out the 718 AP1. As a 10 HDCP myself they are on the short list for a new set of irons this Spring.

Maybe it's just me but Titleist does a nice job in this set "slimming down" the scoring clubs. Especially comparing AP1 to AP3 I ask myself why bother, just go all AP1 given how good the scoring clubs look in that set. To me, the AP1s are almost a combo set within themselves.

AP2 is a whole different animal to me. I hear that they are forgiving for what they are, but, if they are Jordan Spieth's iron of choice, I probably need to be playing something a little more forgiving.

Handicap has no correlation of what clubs you should be playing. You could be a great ball striker with your irons but be terrible around the greens or off the tee. Handicap is a poor way to look at what you can play. Also the difference between the two comes down to the lofts on the clubs. I have hit both and can't tell really a difference between the two. Go with what you like looking down at, what you hit the best and go from there. Don't let your handicap or anyone dictate what you can or should be playing. That never lets you be able to improve. Good luck, go get fit lol.

Srixon 585/785 combo set. The best out there. Oh wait. You said Titleist.

 

Hummm. I detest the way the AP3 sounds and feels. High pitched and clicky. Never feels solid.

 

I bought a set for a friend of mine as a gift because I owed him a giant thank you for a business deal.

 

I bought them before I hit them, but I actually felt a little bad when I hit them after I gave them to him because I hate them so much.

 

Fortunately he loves them but I think they are nasty.

 

Just my 3 cents. I’m obviously absurdly opinionated on such things though.

 

I own a set of AP3s and I disagree with the above assessment. Just my 3 cents.

I hit AP3s and disagree with your disagreement. They have a strange noise and very clicky. And definitely have hot spots. My distance dispersion for any one club was too much. My AP2s on the other hand, I can hit pin high at will.

 

... I actually felt a little bad when I hit them after I gave them to him because I hate them so much. Fortunately he loves them but I think they are nasty.

 

I own a set of AP3s and I disagree with the above assessment. Just my 3 cents.

 

I hit AP3s and disagree with your disagreement. They have a strange noise and very clicky. And definitely have hot spots. My distance dispersion for any one club was too much. My AP2s on the other hand, I can hit pin high at will.

I can't ever recall seeing an iron more simultaneously loved/hated than the AP3. Maybe I'm more sensitive as I read or watched everything I could find on them before making my own purchase but the AP3 really brings out the "You're wrong... no, YOU'RE wrong!" debate.

Try them, if you love them then you'll have plenty of company and don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't. If you don't love them... you'll also have plenty of company :)

^^ very true statement there. I happen to be in the love them group. Ap3's helped my game quite a lot. I was playing CBs and I just hit the AP3s so much straighter. Personally I have no issue with distance control, or "hot faced fliers". I am consistently hitting more greens with these than I was before.

That being said, you just got to try them to see what group you fall in. I love them, maybe you will too. Maybe you wont. Only way to find out is to hit them.

True statement by fried slice. If you do a combo set make sure your lifts are correctly gapped.

That said, the AP2 are easy to bend, and if you pair with TMB long irons, the lofts are only like 1* stronger in the TMB vs AP2.

The AP3 long irons will not be as close I’m lofts

Finally upgrading my 716 AP1s to a 718 model. I honsetly can't decide between the AP2 or AP3 so I wanted to get the community's opinion. I'm a 9.8 handicap and want the best combination of feel and forgiveness.

Keep your AP1's. Pick up some AP2 in something like 6-iron or 7-iron to PW. You will have the best of both worlds.