Callaway Epic Forged; The Ball Speed Is Frightening

Last night after closing we had one of the Golftec guys try out the new Epic Forged 7-iron. He is a very accomplished striker and below are the results, averaged and best. Launch angle remained constant from 16.5 to 17.1 degrees.

Average:

Distance 228 , Ball Speed 136

Best

Distance 242, Ball Speed 144

All shots were tracked via the GC Quad with all settings set to normal, no boost. In 15 years as a Master Fitter I have never seen anything like this.

Interesting to say the least.

> @rgk5 said:

> Last night after closing we had one of the Golftec guys try out the new Epic Forged 7-iron. He is a very accomplished striker and below are the results, averaged and best. Launch angle remained constant from 16.5 to 17.1 degrees.

> Average:

> Distance 228 , Ball Speed 136

> Best

> Distance 242, Ball Speed 144

>

> All shots were tracked via the GC Quad with all settings set to normal, no boost. In 15 years as a Master Fitter I have never seen anything like this.

> Interesting to say the least.

Too bad you didn't have him hit the Apex 19 or 19 pro for comparisons because the numbers by themselves, while impressive, doesn't really tell us anything about the Epic Forged.

I'm not all too shocked considering the loft on the epic forged iron sets. Impressive none the less.

More shocking is the price.

Yes, $2,795.00 Canadian, 5-GW

Honestly, my X Forged 18's , 5 iron loft is 26*

The loft of epics forged , 7 iron is 27*, What do you not understand ?

Thats not that Frightning.

> @puttingmatt said:

> Honestly, my X Forged 18's , 5 iron loft is 26*

> The loft of epics forged , 7 iron is 27*, What do you not understand ?

> Thats not that Frightning.

The shaft length is also similar. It's a 5 iron. Nothing more, nothing less.

> @puttingmatt said:

> Honestly, my X Forged 18's , 5 iron loft is 26*

> The loft of epics forged , 7 iron is 27*, What do you not understand ?

> Thats not that Frightning.

I understand it completely. Does your 5-iron yield the same speed and distance? After all it is one degree stronger than the Epic # 7 .

To all. I am NOT saying that this type of club is the greatest ever for all players. BTW, the guy hitting the club is five feet, eight inches, about 170 lbs. :o

> @balls_deep said:

> > @puttingmatt said:

> > Honestly, my X Forged 18's , 5 iron loft is 26*

> > The loft of epics forged , 7 iron is 27*, What do you not understand ?

> > Thats not that Frightning.

>

> The shaft length is also similar. It's a 5 iron. Nothing more, nothing less.

I think they already made the best forged head they could w/ 19' apex. but it doesn't fetch the ultra-expensive buyer. in attempt to they basically offered actual 5 irons with "7" stamped on the bottom. yes apex have stronger lofts, but the lengths were generally accepted as standard (i.e. 38" 5 iron).

Need to add 8 wedges to the bag

> @TrueWRX said:

> Need to add 8 wedges to the bag

42, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55 57, 59

Maybe nine. :o

Op thanks for the anecdote.

Some people need to lighten up.

So his spin was in the 2500 to 3000 range? That's the only way to achieve that distance with those launch conditions.

First of all, i agree the ball speed is awesome and the distance is as well, the spin is probably very low but the technology part of this equation is that they have made a club that can go 5 iron distance but with 7 iron launch angle and stopping power.

This is a matter of perspective. The company decided to label the club according to its launch angle and peak height and angle of descent and stopping power. They could have just as easily stamped 4 iron on the sole, the distance and spin still fit the equation but now people are complaining that the club is launching too high and not rolling out. Im impressed with the new technology, They have designed a club that is more forgiving and goes further, even when you compare loft for loft and length for length, the new stuff is still at least half a club longer with superior stopping power. Perhaps it would be better if they just stamped loft on the bottom of the iron. However they are trying to sell clubs, people who can hit the 7 iron over 200 yards are not their customer focus, i believe they are aimed at the 145 crowd who can go home happy because their "7" iron now goes 165 !

I play the 2017 epic pros. People said the same thing about the original epic irons. Lofts aren’t super strong on them compared to newer irons out this year but they fly long and stop as quick as anything I’ve hit. There is absolutely something to the technology in the new era of irons.

I was hitting the new epic forged 7 iron with 134-138 ball speed, 199-208 yard carry and 17 launch, 5800 spin.

Blasted a 7 iron 190 in a golf store. Woah. My 7 goes 150. These definitely have some heat to them. Wish they were less expensive though.

Who cares. After the driver, every club in my bag needs to go an exact distance and go that distance consistently. If I buy irons that have a 7 stamped on a club that goes 220 yards, then I'm going to need to end that set right there, and then play 3 different pitching wedges or something weird. Totally pointless. Maybe it has useful applications for a driving iron but that's really it for me.

I'm not impressed by these companies that keep dishing out distance with irons... Give me clubs that add tons of consistency all over the entire face and make them look like a blade. Then you will have my attention.

> @Z1ggy16 said:

> Who cares. After the driver, every club in my bag needs to go an exact distance and go that distance consistently. If I buy irons that have a 7 stamped on a club that goes 220 yards, then I'm going to need to end that set right there, and then play 3 different pitching wedges or something weird. Totally pointless. Maybe it has useful applications for a driving iron but that's really it for me.

>

> I'm not impressed by these companies that keep dishing out distance with irons... Give me clubs that add tons of consistency all over the entire face and make them look like a blade. Then you will have my attention.

+1000!!!

Can't understand the craze of more yardage from irons. Irons are scoring clubs, all about consistent distance and accuracy. The increased yardage from these newer designs is when flushed. Mishits will suffer. Also, high SS players are the ones that will see the biggest jump. Average players are going to get a few yards.

I switched to Apex forged this year because I like the high launch / low spin trajectory. I don't care what numbers printed on bottom it's a certain ball flight I'm after. Spin itself is far less an element of control than it used to be as the ball doesn't spin as much anymore. I just launch it high and flat low spin making it far more immune to wind and making club selection less variable. The added length just created a gap from PW to GW and the set came with an attack wedge to fill it. Now that I don't need the 3 iron anymore it didn't add to the total club count.

This reminds me of a set of irons I had way back in the day - Yonex Super A.D.X Titaniums - that went an absolute mile. They were at least 20 yards per club longer than anything else I'd tried, which at the time I thought was the best thing ever. When everyone else was taking a 5 iron I could take a 7 and feel like John Daly - they were initially awesome. However I soon found that a) gapping at the bottom of the bag was a nightmare, as back then there wasn't the same selection of wedges we have now, and b) whilst a 7 iron would normally go around 180, I had a couple that came off like a rocket and went over 210. This would have been great, if the OOB wasn't 190 yards away.

Great fun initially, but soon got annoying, so I swapped them for something a little more conventional. Now if I pull a 7 iron, assuming no wind it will travel 165 yards if hit correctly, and no more.

I dont much of an issue, so you just play 6/7 to Aw instead of your more traditional 4/5 to Pw. The A-wedge is 46⁰ in the epic forged.

I can spin the 7i in the EF around 5-5.5k rpm which is more or less the equivalent of the 5i in the Apex 19, but with more height = steeper decent angle.

> @phatchrisrules said:

> So many people need to lighten up here as Snoman said. I love the comments of "I want consistency, not distance". How many of you have logged a real handicap for one season using a "consistent" iron vs. a "distance" iron? Probably none of you. This site has ego written all over it, the consistency all over the face but looks like a blade is the i500 which is widely snubbed as horrible feeling despite it's amazing results. The 790 also fits this bill but is also snubbed because of it's so called "flier" problem.

>

> Want to know why you hit a flier with the the P790, Epic Forged, etc? You probably hit it out of the middle for once. Second, if you hit a flier out of the rough you shouldn't have been there in the first place. I can honestly say I have never seen a flier in person by any skill level of player using modern technology, it's a way for snobby low handicap players that think they should be playing something small to stick their noses into what other people play.

There is a lot of truth to this. Equipment in this category is made for distance and we're going to fit them to play to cover that miss or to manage that tendency. Period. In the few sets we've fit thus far, people are wanting straight up distance. They want that feeling of hitting a 6 iron into a 190 yard Par 3 and knowing it's going to get there. The same for TaylorMade. They're for that player who has some skill but their games are starting to slide a bit or for that golfer who's played harder to play stuff that now wants some help and forgiveness. And if someone doesn't want all that help, but DO want these clubs, we'll adjust the club and shaft offerings to make it perform the way you like, just put you in something else. You don't have to buy these.

Obviously those numbers are impressive. But is that ball speed 'impressive' in relation to a 7 iron? or a well struck 5 iron? If you look at 'good' ball speeds in relation to loft, rather than club #, we may get a better idea of how much the marketed technology improves performance for the '7' iron.

> @phatchrisrules said:

> So many people need to lighten up here as Snoman said. I love the comments of "I want consistency, not distance". How many of you have logged a real handicap for one season using a "consistent" iron vs. a "distance" iron? Probably none of you. This site has ego written all over it, the consistency all over the face but looks like a blade is the i500 which is widely snubbed as horrible feeling despite it's amazing results. The 790 also fits this bill but is also snubbed because of it's so called "flier" problem.

>

> Want to know why you hit a flier with the the P790, Epic Forged, etc? You probably hit it out of the middle for once. Second, if you hit a flier out of the rough you shouldn't have been there in the first place. I can honestly say I have never seen a flier in person by any skill level of player using modern technology, it's a way for snobby low handicap players that think they should be playing something small to stick their noses into what other people play.

You maybe be onto something with the flier. Back in the day when my stock 7 iron wenr 170, out of playable rough it could "jump" to 190 and even worse roll farther after it landed due to less spin. Now with my stock 170 being an 8 iron , it's a much similar distance be it middle of fairway or playable rough. Haven't hit a real +20 yard flier in I don't know how long. I guess that again is due to higher launch rates and lower spin #'s already.

> @phatchrisrules said:

> So many people need to lighten up here as Snoman said. I love the comments of "I want consistency, not distance". How many of you have logged a real handicap for one season using a "consistent" iron vs. a "distance" iron? Probably none of you. This site has ego written all over it, the consistency all over the face but looks like a blade is the i500 which is widely snubbed as horrible feeling despite it's amazing results. The 790 also fits this bill but is also snubbed because of it's so called "flier" problem.

>

> Want to know why you hit a flier with the the P790, Epic Forged, etc? You probably hit it out of the middle for once. Second, if you hit a flier out of the rough you shouldn't have been there in the first place. I can honestly say I have never seen a flier in person by any skill level of player using modern technology, it's a way for snobby low handicap players that think they should be playing something small to stick their noses into what other people play.

well said!

The real question is:

What is the ball speed off the hosel. When I hit my traditional "once a round" shank, I am looking for a strong trajectory.

I dunno...I'm loving my set. Yeah they go far, but the clubs also seem to perform comparable to the number stamped on the bottom. A 7 iron shot looks like a 7 iron, just goes about 1/2 club short of my old 5. Has sure made the fall golf season a lot more fun for me when I'm normally ready to pack it in. I went 5-PW, AW and it slotted in perfectly with where my old irons fit, no gapping issues. Of course, I'm not carrying my 7 225 yards either. I don't think those players are the target market. But I'm not seeing in huge accuracy or distance dispersion that some people seem to have. My 7 iron now goes 170...almost every time. If it's not 170 it's 167 to 172. I'm not getting shots that fly 15 yards farther (or shorter). I must be doing it wrong.

I have a buddy that's a really good player, plays blades now and every time we play together he's grabbing my irons to hit and he just smiles. I'm sure he won't buy a set but he sure loves to hit them. Of course neither one of us give a crap what iron the other is hitting into the green because our games are different. We both pay to play golf not the other way around so for us it's all about the enjoyment of the game. If these clubs do that for people why the vitriol? I guess I've just never worried about what other people are hitting or how far.

I also have an old set (1996 release I think) TaylorMade Tour Burner Irons 3-PW that I'll use once in a while. That PW was 49 degrees, the 9 iron 44.5 degrees...I guess if your 'Player's Blade' clubs are stronger lofted than that your just chasing distance too

My poor Apex grind 7 iron from 1990 feels insecure now that it only goes about 160, but it hits the green 9/10 times.