New Nike VR Forged Pro Combo Review

[driveandputtmachine]

This is a bit long winded I know, but hey I am not a professional writer.

 

Nike 2014 VR Forged Pro Combo Iron Review

HNDCP - .8 – 2.1 over the last three years

SS – Driver AVG 118

Aggressive transition and late release

 

Strengths – Driving, Putting, Chipping, Mid irons

Weaknesses – Bunker Play, pitching, wedge play

Miss – Pin High normally misses on both sides

 

I am a pretty decent player having finished in the top 20 in the Georgia Public Links in 2011, however due to some circumstances I have not been playing much golf or practicing over the last 2.5 years. I have either been to the range or the golf course every week for the last 5 weeks trying to get my game back into shape for tournaments and have my swing “somewhat” grooved.

 

I previously played J40 CB’s with flighted Rifle 6.5’s. Length +.5”, Custom lofts and lies. I hit this set pretty well but was stuggling some with the long irons as I tend to be a medium/low ball flight guy. I cannot stand to look down at a ton of offset, or a huge topline. I understand the benefits, but if I do not like the way something looks I will never hit it well so I cannot play Super GI irons or their like.

 

I received the set with standard rifle 6.5’s in them and immediately removed the shafts, and put in 6.5’s flighted and bent to my previous loft and lie configurations. I did my best to SW them close to where I was with the J40’s as well. I have been to the range every day this week testing and comparing to my old clubs.

 

First I must say that these irons are gorgeous to look at but while the offset shown on the spec sheet is lower than my J40’s they do not appear to be all that different. I do prefer the look of these heads looking down at them and they inspire confidence right away and I thought the J40’s were the best looking heads I had seen.

 

Head 2 Head PW – 8iron

Really not much difference here on any of the days, maybe a yard or two plus to the Nike. The ballflight is roughly the same with a smidge higher in the Nike. I cannot compare spin hitting on a range to fake greens with crappy balls spin check will come this weekend on the course.

 

Head 2 Head 7iron – 6iron

This is where the difference is starting to show. While the 7 iron is very similar in both sets with a smidge higher ballflight going to the Nike, I am seeing a much higher ballflight out of the 6iron in the Nikes. The 6iron in this set seems to have a ballflight similar to the 7 iron of the J40’s. I will have to do some tweaking with the lofts as I am seeing too much of a gap distance wise between the Nike 7 and 6. All things considered I am seeing about a 4-5 yard difference between the 6 irons of the two sets. I have never played any strong lofted irons, always bending for consistent gaps through my set, so I was shocked to see any yardage gain. Let me be clear here, I already choke down and swing easier with my irons than I do my woods, I do not want more yardage, I think this is a by-product of the ballflight.

 

Head 2 Head 5iron – 4iron

There are differences here as well with all of the positives going for the Nike irons. The ballflight seems to be a close to a full club in height higher for the Nikes. I cannot imagine a bunch of difference in spin out of the fairway as I think everyone understands that grooves work in the rough, there is not much effect from a clean lie in the fairway. Once again in conjunction with the 6 iron the 5ironis flying about 5 yards farther with the Nikes and the 4 iron is flying about 6-7 yards farther with the Nike.

 

I am of the belief that you can almost never hit a mid to long iron too high and as I do not swing as hard with my irons as I do my woods, I am experimenting with soft stepping the irons one club today to see how that goes. I have seen in person how high the guys on tour hit the ball and I have only played with four or five people as amateurs that hit the ball that high, and only one that hits it higher

 

I know everyone is screaming honeymoon phase, or I bet your lofts are off. So I went home and checked them again, then took them up to the local golfsmith and put them on their Mitchell machine and they are exactly the same across both sets. To make sure there was not some shaft funkiness going on here I pulled the shafts and swapped them on the 6 irons after the first range session. The depth of the bore is very similar on both sets, and the difference in length was negligible with the swap. I went back to the range and I am still getting the same results. I had the shafts back where they belonged for yesterday’s session and I also tweaked my lofts to get a more even spread across the set. The results are still great getting the higher ballflight I need from the longer irons. I also tweaked my lie angles to work on my misses and so far so good, I have managed to get the block out of my system and I am only missing the irons left unless I put and absolutely horrible move on the ball. I will say that I have honeymoon phases with Drivers, fairway woods and hybrids. I do not have them with irons the way I start hitting the irons is the way I continue to hit the irons as long as I have them and keep lofts and lies checked.

 

In short these irons are fairly forgiving, at least as much so as AP2’s, J40 CB’s and a few other like sets, but the appealing look at address and ballflight gains have me hooked. They will not be as forgiving as i25’s, VR Covert, or any others in the mid GI area. What I get is a great look, which is a prerequisite for me to hit good shots, and consistency with a higher ballflight. I expect when I miss the SS to not be rewarded and still be on the green, I have a feeling if I was I would not continue to work on my game and I would become a poorer player for it.

 

I will report back with the soft stepping experiment and how the differences are on the course this weekend from a couple of lies in the rough.

[tjg1080]

Thanks for the review, I really like these irons myself and may have to pick some up. I struggle with mid/low flight as well, glad to hear the long irons are flying a bit higher for you.

[jonn443]

Wouldn't the reason your getting a higher Ball flight with the long irons be attributed to the "flighted" PX shafts?

[scottvw13]

The pocket cavity of the 4 thru 6 iron is the result of both the higher flight and distance gains. Face tech from the fairways were utilized on the face, making them a bit hotter than the rest of the set. I think going 1 degree strong 7 thru W would help with the gap issue.

[driveandputtmachine]

[quote name='jonn443' timestamp='1396537105' post='9010935']
Wouldn't the reason your getting a higher Ball flight with the long irons be attributed to the "flighted" PX shafts?
[/quote]

I had flighted in the J40's. I had an uncut set of flighted rifles that I put into the Nike's as soon as I got them. So in essence I had the same shaft in both sets. I even swapped the 6 iron shafts between the two sets to make sure it wasn't a mislabeled shaft element or something else. I believe scottvw13 is correct that it is the face tech in the 6 iron up that has resulted in the higher flight and longer distance.

==
Scottvw13,

I like my gaps on the lower end where they are because they tie into my wedges very well. So my PW is staying where it is and I have adjusted everything from there a smidge one way or another through the top end of the set. Having the 4 iron go a bit farther is good as it decreases the gap from my hybrid to the 4 iron.

[GC70]

Nice write up. Can't wait to see how they do on the course for you.


Sent from my iPhone using GolfWRX Mobile

[jonn443]

[quote name='driveandputtmachine' timestamp='1396538462' post='9011137']
[quote name='jonn443' timestamp='1396537105' post='9010935']
Wouldn't the reason your getting a higher Ball flight with the long irons be attributed to the "flighted" PX shafts?
[/quote]

I had flighted in the J40's. I had an uncut set of flighted rifles that I put into the Nike's as soon as I got them. So in essence I had the same shaft in both sets. I even swapped the 6 iron shafts between the two sets to make sure it wasn't a mislabeled shaft element or something else. I believe scottvw13 is correct that it is the face tech in the 6 iron up that has resulted in the higher flight and longer distance.

==
Scottvw13,

I like my gaps on the lower end where they are because they tie into my wedges very well. So my PW is staying where it is and I have adjusted everything from there a smidge one way or another through the top end of the set. Having the 4 iron go a bit farther is good as it decreases the gap from my hybrid to the 4 iron.
[/quote]

Ohhh...well then, I would have to agree it's related to the CB tech in the face.

[driveandputtmachine]

Another range session down and I must say I am still impressed. Had a best two out of three closest to the pin competition with my buddy at the range. Well, no I didn't kick his butt or anything, I continued to win the mid irons, and managed to tie him with the short irons which for me with him is saying something. I beat him by one on the long irons which it should have been more and we are normally a toss up with long irons.

Playing tomorrow and cannot wait to see how the perform on the course.

[shankman92]

i tried them out a few times. Just awesome irons. I would love to afford a set!

those with the vr wedges 52 56 60 would make for such a solid bag

[driveandputtmachine]

So this weekend I played a couple of rounds with the irons. I will start by saying that when I played in high school, college, and tried the mini tours I played a fade. After kids I didn't play much. When I came back I was hitting a draw and I never fought to get my fade back, now I am regretting it. I played the draw for about 4 years with some success, but this time around I am fighting to get my fade back and that is the root cause for some of the horrid shots.

First Round.....
So unfortunately we played some farther up tees and I only was able to hit a few irons. On the front nine I hit an iron only 3 times. The rest were wedges(4's and 5's) and hybrids into par 5's. I hit the 9 iron three times, one to about 5 feet, a second down wind that while right on line flew about 20 yards too far, and a third that was to about 20 feet. Overall on the front nine I was in love and happy.

The back nine I was able to hit a few more shots. One horribly bad swing on a par 3(8 iron), a 6 iron into a par 5 to about 30 feet, horribly bad swing with a 7 iron, and a PW to about 25 feet on a par 5 for my third. I hit 4 iron twice off the tee on short doglegs and it was great.

Second Round.....
Played more reasonable tees. I was able to hit the irons 11 of the 18 holes we played. Of the 11 I hit the green all but twice(with horrid swings, I mean nothing could have saved these). Overall very satisfied, spin into the green from the fairway and rough(well it is all about the same height here right now) is on par with my J40's hitting a few extra shots with them into the greens on both days.

===
My irons are set, I will be selling the J40's ASAP. Stupid places near me only offering me 200.00 for the irons, so High ho, high ho, off to ebay I go.

My gap wedge is set with a Cleveland RTX 52* wedge. 56 and 60 are both J40 Bridgestones, and I am thinking they will be replaced, hit some horrid shots with them this weekend.

Driver is now three rounds in the books, and liking it so far.

[station2station]

Your sig hasn't changed - which made the cut?

Thanks for the write-ups!

[dunn]

i really liked the nike but i didnt like sound and or feel of the pocket cavity mid irons....think it was the 5 iron in pro combo cb that i had, and it was 4 iron in bladed combo and now its 6 iron in new combo....sounds kinda hollow at impact....other than that great irons, was one of the last irons i gamed last year but one of the best too...i almost filled in pocket cavity with silicone to try and change the sound, lol

[CactusGolf]

I wanted to give this a little bump.

I'm picking up a set of VR Forged Pro Combos (3-PW) on the way home from work and I was wondering if anyone has made up a split set between the Covert 2.0 irons and the PCs?

Thinking about Covert 2.0 in the 4 and 5 and then 6-PW in the Pro Combos.

[regiwstruk]

[quote name='CactusGolf' timestamp='1430941794' post='11511727']
I wanted to give this a little bump.

I'm picking up a set of VR Forged Pro Combos (3-PW) on the way home from work and I was wondering if anyone has made up a split set between the Covert 2.0 irons and the PCs?

Thinking about Covert 2.0 in the 4 and 5 and then 6-PW in the Pro Combos.
[/quote]

Watch for the degree gaps, Covert 2.0 Forged are 2deg stronger. As for setup position, the 2.0 forged will have a noticeably larger topline than the VRs.

One other note - the VR Pro Combos are built just for what you seem to be interested in...more forgiving in the long, more control over the short. I've played the Covert 2.0 Forged for a year now and all I can tell is that they are bombers.

[CactusGolf]

[quote name='regiwstruk' timestamp='1430948202' post='11512363']
[quote name='CactusGolf' timestamp='1430941794' post='11511727']
I wanted to give this a little bump.

I'm picking up a set of VR Forged Pro Combos (3-PW) on the way home from work and I was wondering if anyone has made up a split set between the Covert 2.0 irons and the PCs?

Thinking about Covert 2.0 in the 4 and 5 and then 6-PW in the Pro Combos.
[/quote]

Watch for the degree gaps, Covert 2.0 Forged are 2deg stronger. As for setup position, the 2.0 forged will have a noticeably larger topline than the VRs.

One other note - the VR Pro Combos are built just for what you seem to be interested in...more forgiving in the long, more control over the short. I've played the Covert 2.0 Forged for a year now and all I can tell is that they are bombers.
[/quote]Thanks! I printed out the spec sheets for both the Covert 2.0s and VR Forged Pro Combos.

The reason I switched to the Pro Combos over the 2.0s is to get my gapping a little tighter in my shorter clubs. I don't hit many 3 or 4 irons into the greens.

[hwnstyle21]

I just picked up a set and they're really good. I've always missed my S3 Pros and these just feel better. Like all the other reviews the longer irons are great. They're so easy to get up.

[mjguzik]

I put the 2011 ProCombos in the back after many years with Ping ISIs. I can't say enough good things about these clubs, Distance have tightened up to a tolerance that I would have believed. I really enjoy the high level of control, yet the small head size is sometimes unnerving. One peripheral benefit is that the smaller heads will go through the wet rough a little easier. After about 8 rounds, GIRs are much improved, This is looking like a great season!