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Which set of the AP2 irons are best?


NikeSwoosh13

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All are great. But if you insist me to choose one, for me 714.

 

716 goes a bit higher than 714 with the same shaft which is not good for me.

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The 714s do look the best, and I haven't hit the 716, but I am a fan of the OG and 710, probably the 710 being my favorite. I remember them being a little bit thicker al around, but I could be wrong, making them look a little easier to play. They are all great.

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712 have been the best for me. I owned the 714 for a short time & had a demo set of the 716 on the range for a while.

 

712 feel more solid to me & more head heavy - easier for me to put a more consistent swing on them

 

 

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I have the og 2008 ap2 still. I have only wanted to switch once and it was for the 712 ap2 but in the end I stayed with the og

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I've hit every version except the originals, multiple times, in multiple shafts, both indoors and out, including playing a few rounds with a set of 712 and 714s that belonged to friends.

 

My take:

 

Best Looks: 714 (possibnly the most beautiful players iron I have ever hit)

Worst Looks: 716 (new cavity look isn't for me, looks like a SGI from the back in my opinion)

 

Best Feel: 712 (butter soft on center, feedback off without being obnoxious)

Worst Feel: 714 (clicky soft on center, cruel and unusual punishment on toe misses)

 

Most Offset: 712

Least Offset: 716 (For sure less than 712 in bottom of the bag, and visually smaller than the 714, though maybe not any different in specs... anyone wanna comment?)

 

Best Flight: 712

Worst Flight: eh... none were bad, the 712 just gave me the flatter trajectory I desire, I guess the 716 is a bit higher than I like for this segment.

 

Best Distance: 716 (no comparison to me)

Worst Distance: 712 (loft changes make this unfair battle me thinks)

 

Best Ball speed: 716

Worst Ball Speed: 712

 

Most Forgiving: 716 (again by far for me, especially towards the toe or thin, my two misses)

Least Forgiving: 714 (I literally hated these off the center even a touch. I guess I'm being harsh on calling the feel part of forgiveness. The end result was fairly close to the 716, but the feel just off the center ruined it for me)

 

Best Turf interaction: 716 (the slightly rounder thin sole really shines for me)

Worst Turf interaction: 712 (but I was a sweeper at the time and the flatter sole design/bounce/something made me catch more thin shots than normal)

 

Most Workable: 712 (if you know how to hit a draw or fade, its predictable)

Least Workable: 714 (never could find the feel I was looking for at impact, made it hard to get cute with shots)

 

I will say, I'm not an AP2 guy. I wanted to be sooooo badly, as they are beautiful irons, and I know the quality is there, but they just haven't been for me.

 

The 712 was 1/2 club shorter than Wilson Staff FG Tour V1 I had at the time, though the feel and looks were luscious.

 

The 714 came out and I was 100% sure it was going in the bag, until I actually hit it. It just had no feel "around the center" for me. I am good enough to play a player's cavity, but its not like I'm wearing dimes into my grooves. I am around the center enough to have this category of iron really shine for my game, but the toe miss on the 714 was so repugnant to me that I couldn't do it. They were pretty long, pretty forgiving, and drop dead gorgeous, but, like I model girlfriend, they just complained too much. When I hit the apex and apex pros against them the thought of the 714 AP2 going in the bag ended. The apex was much longer and much more forgiving, the Pros were a bit longer and as, if not more, forgiving, but they just felt lightyears better than the 714... for me.

 

Then came the 716 AP2. To me, the 716 AP2 is a huge step forward for bringing some GI features into this cross-category iron, without compromising what made it a player's offering. The look of the cavity? Eh... I dunno. Its just not as classy and sharp as the 714, but how they play... my god. Longer than the 714 (3-4 yards), easier to hit, with less (visual?) offset in the lower end of the bag. Nice trajectory, a bit higher than I want, but nothing a C-taper upgrade couldn't fix. Easy to move when you want to, easy to hit straight when you want to. The best AP2 to date, bar none... For me.

 

Why are they not in the bag? Whelp... $$$$ for starters. They just weren't significantly better than the apex pros (14) to me to warrant an upgrad. The less offset bottom of the bag was VERY appealing, but the distance was no more than my Apex Pros and the forgiveness and feel was equal. I'm not paying a grand to just get better looking clubs that perform the same.

 

I ended up falling into a set of Wilson Staff FGTour V4s... and being 100% honest, they play virtually identical to the 716 and the Apex Pros to me. The offset and size of the Wilson Staff V4s appealed to me big time, and I virtually stole them off the BST. Having had the FG Tour V1 and V2, I knew these would be good and got a set blind.

 

If you could completely hide all badging, and hit the Wilson Staff FG Tour V4 against the 716 AP2 in legitimate blind test, I think you would be hard pressed for anyone to know the difference at all.

 

So, in conclusion, the 716 AP2, to me, is at the very top of the heap of Player Cavity offerings currently available, but that being said, I think there are offerings out there that are as good for less cash.

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I've hit every version except the originals, multiple times, in multiple shafts, both indoors and out, including playing a few rounds with a set of 712 and 714s that belonged to friends.

 

My take:

 

Best Looks: 714 (possibnly the most beautiful players iron I have ever hit)

Worst Looks: 716 (new cavity look isn't for me, looks like a SGI from the back in my opinion)

 

Best Feel: 712 (butter soft on center, feedback off without being obnoxious)

Worst Feel: 714 (clicky soft on center, cruel and unusual punishment on toe misses)

 

Most Offset: 712

Least Offset: 716 (For sure less than 712 in bottom of the bag, and visually smaller than the 714, though maybe not any different in specs... anyone wanna comment?)

 

Best Flight: 712

Worst Flight: eh... none were bad, the 712 just gave me the flatter trajectory I desire, I guess the 716 is a bit higher than I like for this segment.

 

Best Distance: 716 (no comparison to me)

Worst Distance: 712 (loft changes make this unfair battle me thinks)

 

Best Ball speed: 716

Worst Ball Speed: 712

 

Most Forgiving: 716 (again by far for me, especially towards the toe or thin, my two misses)

Least Forgiving: 714 (I literally hated these off the center even a touch. I guess I'm being harsh on calling the feel part of forgiveness. The end result was fairly close to the 716, but the feel just off the center ruined it for me)

 

Best Turf interaction: 716 (the slightly rounder thin sole really shines for me)

Worst Turf interaction: 712 (but I was a sweeper at the time and the flatter sole design/bounce/something made me catch more thin shots than normal)

 

Most Workable: 712 (if you know how to hit a draw or fade, its predictable)

Least Workable: 714 (never could find the feel I was looking for at impact, made it hard to get cute with shots)

 

I will say, I'm not an AP2 guy. I wanted to be sooooo badly, as they are beautiful irons, and I know the quality is there, but they just haven't been for me.

 

The 712 was 1/2 club shorter than Wilson Staff FG Tour V1 I had at the time, though the feel and looks were luscious.

 

The 714 came out and I was 100% sure it was going in the bag, until I actually hit it. It just had no feel "around the center" for me. I am good enough to play a player's cavity, but its not like I'm wearing dimes into my grooves. I am around the center enough to have this category of iron really shine for my game, but the toe miss on the 714 was so repugnant to me that I couldn't do it. They were pretty long, pretty forgiving, and drop dead gorgeous, but, like I model girlfriend, they just complained too much. When I hit the apex and apex pros against them the thought of the 714 AP2 going in the bag ended. The apex was much longer and much more forgiving, the Pros were a bit longer and as, if not more, forgiving, but they just felt lightyears better than the 714... for me.

 

Then came the 716 AP2. To me, the 716 AP2 is a huge step forward for bringing some GI features into this cross-category iron, without compromising what made it a player's offering. The look of the cavity? Eh... I dunno. Its just not as classy and sharp as the 714, but how they play... my god. Longer than the 714 (3-4 yards), easier to hit, with less (visual?) offset in the lower end of the bag. Nice trajectory, a bit higher than I want, but nothing a C-taper upgrade couldn't fix. Easy to move when you want to, easy to hit straight when you want to. The best AP2 to date, bar none... For me.

 

Why are they not in the bag? Whelp... $$$$ for starters. They just weren't significantly better than the apex pros (14) to me to warrant an upgrad. The less offset bottom of the bag was VERY appealing, but the distance was no more than my Apex Pros and the forgiveness and feel was equal. I'm not paying a grand to just get better looking clubs that perform the same.

 

I ended up falling into a set of Wilson Staff FGTour V4s... and being 100% honest, they play virtually identical to the 716 and the Apex Pros to me. The offset and size of the Wilson Staff V4s appealed to me big time, and I virtually stole them off the BST. Having had the FG Tour V1 and V2, I knew these would be good and got a set blind.

 

If you could completely hide all badging, and hit the Wilson Staff FG Tour V4 against the 716 AP2 in legitimate blind test, I think you would be hard pressed for anyone to know the difference at all.

 

So, in conclusion, the 716 AP2, to me, is at the very top of the heap of Player Cavity offerings currently available, but that being said, I think there are offerings out there that are as good for less cash.

so, how do you feel about the 714's?
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To me they are the golf equipment equivalent of a gold-digging supermodel that refuses anything but missionary after the wedding...

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714 for me. Hit everything AP2 line, they are all good but the 714 is where it's at...my wallet was sure pleased with that being the case.

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Owned original, 710, 712 (still have), 714, and hit the 716 (but only once.)

 

IMO the biggest leap in advancement was from the original to the 710. From there, every model update has just seemed to be tweaks. There is no best model, just the one that has the traits that you like best.

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Per my earlier post, the 716 AP2s do have slightly less offset than the 714s, and the 714s had slightly less than the 712s.

 

If anyone cares about offset as much as my OCD mind does.

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Vokey SM9 - 52.12F, 56.14F - KBS Tour 120 Wedge

Vokey SM9 - 60.08M - KBS Hi-Rev 2.0

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