PXG Irons - 0317 CB vs 0311 P

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

Hey folks; I feel the itch to buy more equipment again LOL.....

I've narrowed to these two PXG product lines, but I want to hear from folks who use them. I'd get the 0311 Gen 6 but I'm quite sure they wouldn't be that much different than the Gen 5s as it were.

The 0317 CBs look nice, too. I'm not sure which would fit me best just yet as I'd need to try them, but I'm interested in what folks think of the 0317 CBs and 0311 P Irons.

I have old Adams Irons, so I expect there will be some acclimation, but I strike these old things well enough that I feel like it is time to move up from some 18-20 year old irons.... LOL

[MattM97]

Combo set them, 0311P up top and 0317CB in the scoring irons. 

 

Will need to bend the lofts a bit to get a good gapping but helps in more areas. 

[Mobert19]

I was just fit 2 weeks ago and it came down to these two models. When flushed, both were similar. Had better launch numbers and mishit forgiveness with the Ps so went all P. Currently in a ZX5/ZX7 combo 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Mobert19

[JB lefty]

Or you could try the middle of the road and Gen5 0311T. Easier to combo if you wanted the CB in the scoring irons. 

[Mobert19]

3 hours ago, JB lefty said:

Or you could try the middle of the road and Gen5 0311T. Easier to combo if you wanted the CB in the scoring irons. 

On paper, it seems like a good idea. I didn’t hit the T as good as the CB for some reason in the 7 iron though. I think the beauty of pxg is their ability to dial in weights so you really should hit them and not take an educated guess if possible. 

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

10 minutes ago, Mobert19 said:

On paper, it seems like a good idea. I didn’t hit the T as good as the CB for some reason in the 7 iron though. I think the beauty of pxg is their ability to dial in weights so you really should hit them and not take an educated guess if possible. 

 

Yeah, I definitely am going to one of their locations for fitting when the time comes. I might go for fun next week if I have time.

 

 

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

8 hours ago, MattM97 said:

Combo set them, 0311P up top and 0317CB in the scoring irons. 

 

Will need to bend the lofts a bit to get a good gapping but helps in more areas. 

 

I was even considering STs in the short irons since I generally hit them really well.

 

I figured 4-5 in a more forgiving variety, 6-7 middle of the road,  8-W possibly in a blade... but not sure yet.

 

I'll ask them about loft because I definitely see potential for gaps. I'd rather not have to worry about changing mechanics of one of two club swings to cover the gap... lol

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

3 hours ago, JB lefty said:

Or you could try the middle of the road and Gen5 0311T. Easier to combo if you wanted the CB in the scoring irons. 

 

Looks like I'm gonna be at PXG all day... hehe

 

No complaints about that.. 😆

[MattM97]

49 minutes ago, Mikey_HACKilroy said:

 

I was even considering STs in the short irons since I generally hit them really well.

 

I figured 4-5 in a more forgiving variety, 6-7 middle of the road,  8-W possibly in a blade... but not sure yet.

 

I'll ask them about loft because I definitely see potential for gaps. I'd rather not have to worry about changing mechanics of one of two club swings to cover the gap... lol

 

I literally just got my set the other day I have to feel out distance with stock numbers, may have to manipulate the CB's a bit depending on distance but I think a gapping session and some bending and I'd have my distances covered whatever they end up being with these. 

[dmeeksDC]

Likely won’t matter much in 8-P if you are a good ball striker. It may matter in the 4-7. The P is substantially more forgiving than the CB. So is the T in my opinion (in the long irons). May not show up in a fitting studio, where players hit lots of consecutive shots with the same club and can talk themselves into anything. It will show up over time on golf courses. 
 

Definitely can combo. Out of the ones available I like Gen 4 the best. Looks the cleanest by far — has the smallest PXG logo — and feels the most solid to me. But I would combo the P and T. I don’t see any advantage to playing the CB but if I did I would look at the Cobra King Tours to compare to the PXG CB. The Cobra design is more forgiving. 

[BirdieBob]

11 hours ago, Mikey_HACKilroy said:

Hey folks; I feel the itch to buy more equipment again LOL.....

I've narrowed to these two PXG product lines, but I want to hear from folks who use them. I'd get the 0311 Gen 6 but I'm quite sure they wouldn't be that much different than the Gen 5s as it were.

The 0317 CBs look nice, too. I'm not sure which would fit me best just yet as I'd need to try them, but I'm interested in what folks think of the 0317 CBs and 0311 P Irons.

I have old Adams Irons, so I expect there will be some acclimation, but I strike these old things well enough that I feel like it is time to move up from some 18-20 year old irons.... LOL

 

 

Entirely different irons with the 0311P being a Player-Distance iron while the 0317CB is a Players iron.

The P will provide more distance with its 30* 7 iron compared to the 33* CB. Also if you are not a great ball striker then the P will provide better results on offcenter strikes.  The CB is a soft feeling CB when the strike is in the center of the face and offcenter strikes also fare well due to the design of the iron.  The soles of the two are different with the CB being narrower for better turf interaction by comparsion to the P.  The P is a larger size head vs the CB.

Spin goes to the CB with more loft, so with firm greens that will help vs the P.  The height of the launch of the P is pretty good so that will help some.

 

I have had both irons and choose to stay with the CB as that is the iron that meets my needs better.

Good luck on your decision and picking the iron that works best for your needs!

[realmfg]

I have 6-W CB and 5-4i in Gen5 T.  Wish I went all CB.  They are really forgiving and look Fantastic down by the ball.  I had the Gen3 Ps and they were great, but just too big at address.  When I got the Ps, I compared them to my Zx7s and Zx7s won out.  Now the CBs took the bag.

Edited August 3, 2023 by realmfg

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

24 minutes ago, dmeeksDC said:

Likely won’t matter much in 8-P if you are a good ball striker. It may matter in the 4-7. The P is substantially more forgiving than the CB. So is the T in my opinion (in the long irons). May not show up in a fitting studio, where players hit lots of consecutive shots with the same club and can talk themselves into anything. It will show up over time on golf courses. 
 

Definitely can combo. Out of the ones available I like Gen 4 the best. Looks the cleanest by far — has the smallest PXG logo — and feels the most solid to me. But I would combo the P and T. I don’t see any advantage to playing the CB but if I did I would look at the Cobra King Tours to compare to the PXG CB. The Cobra design is more forgiving. 

 

On that note about the studio, I actually fired off a message to PXG about how I might try it their clubs in more realistic settings.

 

I find mats and grass to be fairly interchangeable given my current skill level with the irons, but I figure I'd like to see what they'll do (if anything). 😁

 

Generally, with the forgiveness of my current irons it'll be interesting to see how it translates. My contact with the ball has gotten way more crisp.

 

On that note, it seems to have cost me crispness with the woods and driver...... like I forgot how to swing then lol.

[CM1547]

I just got a set of 0311P Gen 5s after going through a fitting. Benefit just wasn't apparent for me to go Gen 6 when I could go previous generation and get the heroes discount for being ex-military and my fitter actually agreed with me. A little more ball speed with the Gen 6 and a slightly different look that you can't even see at address. I have to say I really love them. I was still gaming Mizuno MP-58s before this, so I've seen a massive jump in forgiveness. Those Mizunos felt great when you were striping it, but man did you get punished on mishits. I've hit some truly bad shots with these new PXGs as I feel them out and get used to the new shafts and they still end up close to pin high just off the green. Great shots still feel great which is what I was worried about going into this. I had tried some Ping i200s in a fitting years ago that I went in wanting to love, but even perfect shots felt clunky. That really turned me off to non-Mizuno/Srixon irons at the time, so I am pleasantly surprised to see how awesome these 0311Ps are. I did get them all a degree weak to try to combat the loft cranking tendency in the industry. Brought me back a little closer to my gapping.

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

1 minute ago, BirdieBob said:

 

 

Entirely different irons with the 0311P being a Player-Distance iron while the 0317CB is a Players iron.

The P will provide more distance with its 30* 7 iron compared to the 33* CB. Also if you are not a great ball striker then the P will provide better results on offcenter strikes.  The CB is a soft feeling CB when the strike is in the center of the face and offcenter strikes also fare well due to the design of the iron.  The soles of the two are different with the CB being narrower for better turf interaction by comparsion to the P.  The P is a larger size head vs the CB.

Spin goes to the CB with more loft, so with firm greens that will help vs the P.  The height of the launch of the P is pretty good so that will help some.

 

I have had both irons and choose to stay with the CB as that is the iron that meets my needs better.

Good luck on your decision and picking the iron that works best for your needs!

 

I will at least proudly exclaim that I find center quite well with my irons,  hence why I'm curious about the CBs and even STs.... (I can see the ball marks well grouped). When I don't, I've learned how to analyze and adjust. So that's good.. 🙂

 

The thing is... I wonder if the 20 year gap in purchasing a set of irons means literally anything I strike well will be better and farther than these 2004 or 05 Adam's irons... lol

[BirdieBob]

2 minutes ago, Mikey_HACKilroy said:

 

I will at least proudly exclaim that I find center quite well with my irons,  hence why I'm curious about the CBs and even STs.... (I can see the ball marks well grouped). When I don't, I've learned how to analyze and adjust. So that's good.. 🙂

 

The thing is... I wonder if the 20 year gap in purchasing a set of irons means literally anything I strike well will be better and farther than these 2004 or 05 Adam's irons... lol

 

Unless the irons you currently have that are 20 years old have not been used much then I would suggest that new irons with fresh grooves would be worth any change regardless of model.

 

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

I've used them quite a lot but for the last few years so they definitely have miles on them lol.

 

Part of the reason I chose PXG was because I have their driver and I like it. I tend to gravitate away from the "most used" brands for some reason... Like I am out to prove something.. 😆

 

I also like the looks of them.

 

I'm of the school of thought that I could choose at random and it won't matter. Lol Most of the performance is in the golfer. My scores will improve regardless of the exact clubs I buy.

 

 

 

 

[Pnwpingi210]

The cb will be a solid forged cavity back iron.  Accurate, consistent, and more forgiving than  the size would suggest.

 

the p series is a hollow body iron.  Larger, more foregiving all over the face, and significant higher launch and lower spin.

 

I hit both at a fitting and the cb was 175-180 with a 7 iron and the P series was 195-205.

 

I would think of you are considering the st, the p series is not a club that would suit your game.

 

 

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

4 hours ago, Pnwpingi210 said:

I would think of you are considering the st, the p series is not a club that would suit your game.

 

 

 

I feel that I'm at a transition point with the irons. I tend to favor clubs that challenge my skills. When I commit to something, I'm ultra competitive so I work at it.

 

I've gotten to be a fairly good ball striker with the irons, but it is hard for me to really judge what would suit me.

 

I'm glad to hear folks like them,  though. Maybe I'll be able to try them out this weekend.

[BCULAW]

17 minutes ago, Mikey_HACKilroy said:

 

I feel that I'm at a transition point with the irons. I tend to favor clubs that challenge my skills. When I commit to something, I'm ultra competitive so I work at it.

 

I've gotten to be a fairly good ball striker with the irons, but it is hard for me to really judge what would suit me.

 

I'm glad to hear folks like them,  though. Maybe I'll be able to try them out this weekend.

I played blades for the better part of 20 years and in the last 18 months have played the MP20s, 718MBs, PXG Gen 4 STs, and most recently the 0317STs, which I thought would be a perfect set up for me. 
 

I picked up a set of 0311P heads on eBay for a song and decided to test them against the 0317STs. The difference for me was dramatic. Better distance and ball speed, as expected, but I also got better turf interaction and feel from the Ps. In fact, I’ll just sum up the differences by saying I played significantly better golf with the Ps. They made the game noticeably easier. 
 

I’m turning 50 next year and am in a phase of life where my time at the course is limited. I still have plenty of speed, but don’t play often enough to stay sharp. The Ps give me a really good balance of easy distance, forgiveness, and good feel.  My suggestion is take an honest assessment of your game and how sharp you can keep it. If you need help in any respect, I’d steer you towards the Ps. 

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

The reason the STs intrigue me is the ability to control the shot. With the forgiving clubs that I've got, the trajectory is basically automatic. It's fairly high, and I like that. Though, when I move the ball back in my stance and attempt to lower the trajectory for lower flight, it just about corrects itself unless I exaggerate the alignment. That exaggeration makes it more difficult to get a clean strike.

They're not really meant for shaping. LOL

I've only just recently gotten back to the point where control like that is something I'm starting to experiment with, but I am getting better at it with my wedges. Being that they are blades, that makes sense.

So at least for the short irons I was considering it. Though, like you say, do I want to really work my way around the course, or do I want to enjoy the game...? I suppose it depends on how well I can strike a blade. LOL

 

That's why I do think I'm leaning toward the Ps simply from the "how good do I want to have to be" standpoint.

But the STs fit my personality. "Stubbornly determined." I mean, when I came time to build a garage I decided that not only was I gonna build it, but I was gonna design it. It's overkill.... just the way I like it... LOL

So that part of me is tugging me toward blades. That said, a fitting session may cure me of that LOL

[BirdieBob]

Don't overlook the Gen5 T model which has the same lofts as the CB model.  They will produce higher spin like the CB/ST models but they will be a bit more forgiving due to the design differences.

And they should be less expensive.

[JetSpeed79]

8 hours ago, Mikey_HACKilroy said:

 

The thing is... I wonder if the 20 year gap in purchasing a set of irons means literally anything I strike well will be better and farther than these 2004 or 05 Adam's irons... lol

I think the big thing you’ll notice is forgiveness. I’m on my second season with the 311 Ps after moving up from a set of 10 year old irons. Absolutely love them. I’ve considered moving to a blended 317CB set but I think I still benefit from the extra forgiveness in the Ps. At least once per round I’ll hit a toe ball, look at the result and think “that’s way better than I deserve”. 
 

I’ve also found the 311 Ps are plenty capable of shot shaping. And sometimes it’s even on purpose. 😂
 

 

[Gsea]

1 hour ago, Mikey_HACKilroy said:

Though, when I move the ball back in my stance and attempt to lower the trajectory for lower flight, it just about corrects itself unless I exaggerate the alignment.

trajectory is more about loft and swing length not ball position

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

True, I would assume the design is more conducive to shaping than what I have right now.... LOL

Although, after beating up on range balls yesterday I felt pretty good about my grouping. The iron is from yesterday and the hybrid is from a week ago or so. Multiple strikes with the iron, and 3 with the hybrid. So I do feel pretty good about where I'm at for a visit to PXG. 😄

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

17 hours ago, Gsea said:

trajectory is more about loft and swing length not ball position

Ball position is an important part of the equation if one wants to control that trajectory.

[HarborMike]

You can definitely shape the 0311 Ps on demand, long as you have the skill set and strikes to do so. If you couldn’t, the 0311 Ps wouldn’t be in a lot of the PXG LPGA staff players bags 😉.

[toastinato]

On 8/3/2023 at 7:14 PM, Gsea said:

trajectory is more about loft and swing length not ball position

You do realize you can control loft depending on ball position? Trajectory and ball position are very related lol

[Mobert19]

Just played my first round with the 0311P. Exceptional. Finished the day with 5 birdies (I’m usually good for 1-2). Felt like I was throwing darts. They would just land and stick. Really liking these so far 

[JetSpeed79]

Went in today to talk to the PXG guys about doing a blended bag and was saddened to learn that they no longer carry the shafts I have on my 311 Ps: modus 105s. Looks like I’m going to have to do a new fitting for the 317 CBs to see what will work. Was really hoping to keep it consistent across the bag shaft wise.