Maltby 2022

[Klubster]

On 12/22/2021 at 11:19 AM, 03trdblack said:

Here's the super game improvement iron if anyone wants to see it.

 

I have been playing Wilson Staff Pi5 irons with dynamic gold shafts for 17 years.  I am now 75 and am admitting that I may need game improvement irons.  I have built a bit of Maltby stuff and always have been pleased.  These look so great that I ordered the iron pack with the Rapport shafts.  As is usual, right after I ordered them, I played a couple of the best rounds of the year.  Go figure.  I am looking for a little more forgiveness and a little more height.  These should fit the bill.  Great job with the minimalist look rather than the gimmicked up look of most OEM heads.  I will just have to get past the thicker top line.  This will be the first time I have ever been 100% Maltby in my bag.

[dlow206]

On 5/20/2022 at 11:23 AM, Kyfra said:

KE4 Max heads are now in stock. 

I ordered an 8 iron head to build before i go all in one a full set

[dlow206]

***double post

Edited May 22, 2022 by dlow206

[Spankapotamus redux]

Just ordered a set 6-G of the KE4 max. Plan to pair them with Rapid taper 95s. I need another set of iron like I need a hemorrhoid, but I really like the look of these and have been anxious to give the RTs another go. Will have to compete with the CBX irons in my bag right now, but at $180, why not.

[Klubster]

I received my KE4 Max set of irons today.  More beautiful in person than the web pics.  I was pleased that the offset was minimal and not very apparent in the long irons.  Top line is just a little thicker than my staffs and look good at address.  Have not hit a ball but feel good to swing.  Have league tomorrow morning and going to play them.  Will see how it gpes.

[Klubster]

This was the first time I had Golfworks assemble anything.  First of all, they did a great job assembling them.  I had a chance to throw them on the swingweight scale this morning and the 4-9 irons were very consistent around D1 and the P and G wedges came in at about D4.  My only complaint was that the heads were still in the plastic shrink  wrap and the head weights were loose in most of them.  They need to open them up and tighten the weights.  Had I not noticed, I would have surely lost some. 

 

I am happy with the assembly option because as I age, assembly has become more like work than a hobby. 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Klubster
add pic

[propman]

46 minutes ago, Klubster said:

This was the first time I had Golfworks assemble anything.  First of all, they did a great job assembling them.  I had a chance to throw them on the swingweight scale this morning and the 4-9 irons were very consistent around D1 and the P and G wedges came in at about D4.  My only complaint was that the heads were still in the plastic shrink  wrap and the head weights were loose in most of them.  They need to open them up and tighten the weights.  Had I not noticed, I would have surely lost some. 

 

I am happy with the assembly option because as I age, assembly has become more like work than a hobby. 

I am curious to hear your thoughts on the rapport shafts as well as the Max head.

 

[Klubster]

I wish I could give you feedback on them.  Of the two solid shots I hit today, they were longer than my old Staffs.  First time I have played graphite irons.  Went from 130Gm Dynamic Gold to the 75Gm Rapport.  Club does not feel the same at the top and had trouble getting hands in position.  Will have to work on these on the range.

[propman]

Went thru the same situation 2 years ago going from steel to graphite. 

No doubt its an adjustment going lighter. 

[Klubster]

8 minutes ago, propman said:

Went thru the same situation 2 years ago going from steel to graphite. 

No doubt its an adjustment going lighter. 

Any tips?  How long before you got comfortable?  Just a different feel at the top of the backswing and the mind seems to take over and the mind is a crappy golfer.

 

I do not think I am alone.  A friend of mine just went to Pings w/graphite.  Really good golfer and I watched him shank shot after shot in the lake.  I thought the clubs were going to follow.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Klubster

[propman]

1 minute ago, Klubster said:

Any tips?  How long before you got comfortable?  Just a different feel at the top of the backswing and the mind seems to take over and the mind is a crappy golfer.

What worked for me was going to the range and limiting my swings to the easier to hit irons ie 8 thru gw.

Also, I concentrated on shortening my back swing ( I always have a tendency to overdo the backswing).

Also, just try to tone down my usual samarai pass at the ball. THINK "SMOOTH".

Took 2 or 3 range sessions to get somewhat adjusted to the weight diff.

Good luck. Graphite shafts are so much better on the joints/muscles. And when you nut one, the feeling is fantastic.

Keep in mind, I'm an old mid teens capper.

[Red4282]

2 hours ago, Klubster said:

Any tips?  How long before you got comfortable?  Just a different feel at the top of the backswing and the mind seems to take over and the mind is a crappy golfer.

 

I do not think I am alone.  A friend of mine just went to Pings w/graphite.  Really good golfer and I watched him shank shot after shot in the lake.  I thought the clubs were going to follow.

When dropping shaftweight that much its very helpful to increase swingweight. I was using 125g shafts and my preferred swingweight was d3-4. When I switched to 110g shafts I had to go up to D6. 

Edited May 29, 2022 by Red4282

[Klubster]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Went to the range this morning and have some early impressions.  The swingweights are D1, the same as my old clubs but feel lighter at the top of the backswing.  The PW is a D4 and I used that to warm up, punch some shots and get some feel.

 

Early shots came off as a low trajectory, but that was not the club's fault.  Due to the lighter weight, I found myself rushing the downswing and my right hand not catching up.  Once I slowed the downswing, everything synched up better and I got greatly improved results.  Overall, I was satisfied with about 80% of the shots.  Can not address distance as we had a 16mph wind today from my left and into my face.  The most I can say is there was a green supposed to be 110y and a smooth 9i was pretty consistently pin high into the wind with range balls.  Keep in mind that I am 75 and have lost a lot of swing speed.

 

On to impressions.  I came from a 2005 set of Wilson Staff Pi5 players clubs with Dynamic Gold shafts to these with the Rapport shafts.  There is not as much feedback with these as the old irons, but it is there-it just feels softer.  A flush shot feels really good.  The sound is not as crisp as the crack from my old ones, but a very pleasing one.  I would say the trajectory is a little higher.  The 7i seems to fly about as high as my old 7i, but the new one has the loft of the old 6i.  The combination of lower COG and lower kick point probably will help get the ball in the air, but the shaft feels very stable and probably plays true to flex.  Gonna take some time on the course to work out the distances.

 

Surprisingly, I think these heads are going to be quite workable.  It was pretty easy to hit a 5-10 yard draw into that crosswind, but none of them got away from me.  It was easier to draw these than my Staffs.  Fades are always easy.  The vast majority of solid shots I hit were straight to a slight draw.  

 

I am far from confident with these irons, but greatly optimistic.  Well struck shots had a nice flight path.  I think Maltby has a winning combination.  

[bvmagic]

Tried the Maltby max wedge as my first "test" into component brands instead of a major OEM.  Wedge feels great and puts plenty of spin on the ball.  Price of the Ping glide 4.0 wedge at $199 just seemed ridiculous to me.   

 

Now I am interested to see how the KE4 Max irons work for others.  Recently moved on from players type irons to G15 irons since I don't play / practice like I used to.  Can't see myself going back to a players type iron after seeing how forgiving irons have helped me hit more greens.  

[Klubster]

I have played Maltby forged wedges that I built for years.  Every bit the equal to the OEM brands.  Since I got the Max irons, may replace the old wedges.  Not because I need to, but they are not bright and shiny like the new clubs.  They still have steel shafts and might switch those too.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Klubster

[NRJyzr]

23 hours ago, Klubster said:

Any tips?  How long before you got comfortable?  Just a different feel at the top of the backswing and the mind seems to take over and the mind is a crappy golfer.

 

I do not think I am alone.  A friend of mine just went to Pings w/graphite.  Really good golfer and I watched him shank shot after shot in the lake.  I thought the clubs were going to follow.

 

21 hours ago, Red4282 said:

When dropping shaftweight that much its very helpful to increase swingweight. I was using 125g shafts and my preferred swingweight was d3-4. When I switched to 110g shafts I had to go up to D6. 

 

 

I'm doing similar to what Red describes.  I picked up the idea from something I'd read from Dave Tutelman.  The idea is to take one third of the weight reduction and add it back at the clubhead.  

 

I don't follow it religiously, use it as a starting point, but it's surprising how little difference there is between the DaveT idea and my final results.  For the most part.

 

It's working fairly well.

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by NRJyzr

[dlow206]

i admit, i have always been a skeptic, but got a KE4 max 8 iron, built it, and proceeded to flush it. really happy with the build too. came out at about D 0.8 with a steelfiber i95CW R at -0.5" from standard. that makes me happy. 

[QuickFeet]

Although not new for 2022 the DBM's are pretty awesome!

 

Worked at Nike Golf in Ft. Worth for 8 years; hit and played most every club they designed and released.  The irons I played the longest were the Covert Forged and just retired them; replaced with the Maltby Forged DBM's and 54 and 58 Forged TSW wedges.  The Nike irons were good, no issues, but sometimes you just want something new and had the feeling Maltby would be my next set of irons.  Value and quality made the decision pretty easy.

 

So I recently purchased the DBM 4-GW premium pack, finished the assembly Thursday (6/9/2022) and put them in the bag to play Friday morning.  No range or practice time with them prior to tee time.  Played really good and shoot a 68 which is 4 under.  My first round in the 60's for 2022 and the Maltby irons played a big part in good scoring for the day.  Ha!  I guess I'll keep them.

 

The DBM's are easy to swing and hit, frame the ball nicely at address, solid as any iron I've ever played, and ball flight is exactly what I'm looking for.  I've always hit the ball pretty straight but was hoping the DBM would give me a bit higher ball flight than the Covert Forged.  I didn't feel that I would need any "honeymoon" as this was an easy change for me.  The head shape between the Covert and DBM is similar; DBM has a bit thinner top line and the dark finish is pretty much no glare.  Both positive for me.  I was able to reach my target swingweight of D2.5 with an additional 4 gram tip weight; I can live with that. The DBM's are 25 grams lighter than the Covert's due to the difference in shafts.  Covert's had USTM Recoil 95's versus the Recoil SC 660's in the DBM's.  At 67 years old, lighter may be a good thing anyhow.  😜

 

Build sheet is attached for those that may want to take a look, more details as to the assembly.  Playing two or three times a week I'm expecting more rounds in the 60's. 😃

Maltby Forged DBM Irons Build Sheet.pdf

[Klubster]

There may be something to game improvement irons.  It has been two weeks since I got my KE4 Max set.  Feeling more comfortable now. Hit my 4 iron for only the second time-did not even take it to the range-and absolutely purred it to the center of the green.  No problem getting it in the air, considering it is lofted like my old 3 iron that I only attempted when I was playing really well.  Anybody on the fence might want to give them a try.  They really do not look like GI irons at address.

[Rodrig13]

8 hours ago, Klubster said:

There may be something to game improvement irons.  It has been two weeks since I got my KE4 Max set.  Feeling more comfortable now. Hit my 4 iron for only the second time-did not even take it to the range-and absolutely purred it to the center of the green.  No problem getting it in the air, considering it is lofted like my old 3 iron that I only attempted when I was playing really well.  Anybody on the fence might want to give them a try.  They really do not look like GI irons at address.

I just got a KE4 Max demo head in yesterday and can’t wait to test. When I looked at the pics and specs online I expected a well designed but clunky looking ultra game improvement head. Boy, was I mistaken. 
 

I am blown away by the look of this head. First of all, the game improvement characteristics of it are not visually off putting in the least. The modest top line is shocking. The cavity while large is well hidden at address.
 

I fit myself into the TS-1 and I am loving every second of them right now. However, I am finding myself a bit jealous that the KE4 Max was not available when I first started my golf journey 10 years ago. My first clubs were a used set of Ping G10’s. While they were easy to hit and certainly did their job, I found them to be generally ugly to look at. I guess that was one of Ping’s staples at the time—ugly but a focus on playability. That being said, if these heads are as easy to hit as they are advertised then surely my younger self missed out lol. 
 

Something else that I am going to take advantage of when building sets of these is the fact that some of the club paks are available in 6, 7, and 8 clubs. This is something I wish Golfworks had more versatility with. I get why they can’t do it across all heads from an inventory perspective. It’s just the value junky in me that appreciates when I can save some coin and pass that along to whoever I am building for. 

[Ize]

I just built up a set of KE4 Max irons with KBS tour lite in X-flex.

 

Still waiting to rest them out as the weather has been terrible, I agree with previous posters there a great looking head much better in person than the pics online.

 

Comparing them to my srixon zx5s there's not a lot of difference size wise the top lines slightly thicker, slightly longer blade length and a tiny bit more offset, even sole width looks pretty similar.

 

Cant wait to hit them, the reason I built them up was I'm not getting out on course as much as I would like to and wanted something may give me a little more help.

[theglide]

2 hours ago, Ize said:

I just built up a set of KE4 Max irons with KBS tour lite in X-flex.

 

Still waiting to rest them out as the weather has been terrible, I agree with previous posters there a great looking head much better in person than the pics online.

 

Comparing them to my srixon zx5s there's not a lot of difference size wise the top lines slightly thicker, slightly longer blade length and a tiny bit more offset, even sole width looks pretty similar.

 

Cant wait to hit them, the reason I built them up was I'm not getting out on course as much as I would like to and wanted something may give me a little more help.

Interested in your thoughts once the weather clears.

[woodriff]

On 2/16/2022 at 1:23 AM, PhillipG78 said:

Any idea how easy to the TS-4 will be to bend, they sound very similar to the P7TW and the Ping BluePrint and 59’s. Would love to get a set with same specs as the P7TW’s

Bending will be fine. Any forged Maltby can be bent 2-3 degrees either way. 

[dmeeksDC]

6 hours ago, Ize said:

I just built up a set of KE4 Max irons with KBS tour lite in X-flex.

 

Still waiting to rest them out as the weather has been terrible, I agree with previous posters there a great looking head much better in person than the pics online.

 

Comparing them to my srixon zx5s there's not a lot of difference size wise the top lines slightly thicker, slightly longer blade length and a tiny bit more offset, even sole width looks pretty similar.

 

Cant wait to hit them, the reason I built them up was I'm not getting out on course as much as I would like to and wanted something may give me a little more help.

I agree. These are like the perfect set to take out if you are not playing often. Or maybe if you are — the feel is excellent. I do wonder how the short irons will play vs more traditional construction but that’s about the only question I have. These look nice from address. The slightly thicker top line works because it is not super thick and it makes the blade length not seem too long. The sole is a real difference vs other irons in this category. Really like the camber on the trailing edge of the sole. They nailed the proportions IMO.
 

I hit the KE4 Max 4 iron again today and it was the same as the first. So I can say the long irons are about as good as you can find for ease of play. If you can’t hit these long irons, you can’t hit long irons. 

[bellairemi]

Just received my set of KE Max irons today and hit the range - had the club pak built with the Score LT shafts as those are a great fit for me and I like how they feel.  This was sort of a flyer so I had a set of irons with which to play after a failed PXG fitting and subsequent return of the irons.  Figured the KE Max would make a good set for visiting people if I did not like them.

 

Agree with everyone else that they look much better in person that in the GW pictures.  The proportions are really well done so nothing screams GI (except the performance).  Even though they are made from 17-4, they feel quite nice.

 

Performance was very good.  Misses lost just a few yards and I really like the sole through the turf.  I adapted to how they went through the turf immediately which is pretty rare for me.  Definitely will be staying in the bag going forward.

[dmeeksDC]

2 minutes ago, bellairemi said:

Just received my set of KE Max irons today and hit the range - had the club pak built with the Score LT shafts as those are a great fit for me and I like how they feel.  This was sort of a flyer so I had a set of irons with which to play after a failed PXG fitting and subsequent return of the irons.  Figured the KE Max would make a good set for visiting people if I did not like them.

 

Agree with everyone else that they look much better in person that in the GW pictures.  The proportions are really well done so nothing screams GI (except the performance).  Even though they are made from 17-4, they feel quite nice.

 

Performance was very good.  Misses lost just a few yards and I really like the sole through the turf.  I adapted to how they went through the turf immediately which is pretty rare for me.  Definitely will be staying in the bag going forward.

How is the flight with the KE4 Max heads paired with the Score LT shafts? If those shafts really are the same as the old Dynalite 109 shafts (which was replaced with DG 105) those were good quality shafts. 

[bellairemi]

The steps are just like the Dynalite 109 (very distinctive).  Flight is mid-high with no ballooning as I was hitting them into a one club wind at the range today.  It has been some time since I hit a set of irons and immediately loved them (the TE Forged ironically was probably the last).

[goalie]

I've decided to try a set myself.  Going with the Rapport shafts in R, 1/4" long, with 1.5 degree upright lie.  

 

Ordered 6-GW, can't wait!!!

[dmeeksDC]

On 6/28/2022 at 10:39 AM, goalie said:

I've decided to try a set myself.  Going with the Rapport shafts in R, 1/4" long, with 1.5 degree upright lie.  

 

Ordered 6-GW, can't wait!!!

Sounds like you’ve got your specs down.  I bet these irons will not disappoint! Always like to see reviews on the heads and Rapport shafts. 

[Millhill88]

Still hoping the TS3 's will drop soon.   Is there any info on Specs yet?   Lofts, Offsets, etc???