Mark Brooks 1999 Apex Irons

[Orchardist]

Bit of a fun video with Mark Brooks breaking out the last set of "Hogan" irons he played in competition.

 

Take it in for what it is, some of his thoughts about the end of the wound ball era, not a conversation about the remnants of the Hogan company at that time. 

 

 

 

[OnTheBag]

I played Hogan Apex blades for most of the 90's and still enjoy my Ft Worth Blacks today.  They were outstanding sticks.

[ezgoer]

Shouldn’t be a surprise cuz he’s a winning tour pro but the consistency is incredible! The difference between good and bad shots for him is other worldly compared to what I’m accustomed to. 
  

Edited August 31, 2023 by ezgoer

[Orchardist]

14 hours ago, OnTheBag said:

I played Hogan Apex blades for most of the 90's and still enjoy my Ft Worth Blacks today.  They were outstanding sticks.

The Ft Worth irons...I was always curious about them when they came out as the 15 and finally ordered a set during the covid thing over the phone with them at the time.  They were being phased out and the person working at Hogan had to go check on head availability. Amazingly enough I got the very last set of Ft Worth Whites they made.  They always make me smile at how close I was to never answering the question of how they play.

[Cwebb]

Good video.  He's still got his tour swing.  Loves that draw, but can cut it no problem

[freddiec]

Great video. Mark not a very long hitter, but tremendous ball striker. thanks for sharing. 

[mocokid]

Just prior to takeaway mark puts hosel/heel behind ball.  I love to look at the old clubs, but glad I have g400 with recoil shafts in bag.

Edited September 1, 2023 by mocokid

[MrFlipper]

As someone who plays 60s irons with modern woods, that was really interesting. And he talks about the 99 apex 7 iron at 33 ish loft, same as his blueprints. My 67-68 staff 6 iron is 34 ish. 

 

Don't really mind the yardage difference in irons. The woods, that's sure different. 

[Maine Golfer]

Thanks for sharing 

[bcjim]

Interesting.

 

I have several Hogan sets from the 80s and 90s including that one.

[Puppetmaster]

Thanks for posting, good find. As mentioned already, very cool to see how effortless it was for him to shape shots, alter launch, spin, etc. Sneaky long too with the right shot shape. 

[RobotDoctor]

The '99 Ben Hogan Apex blades are really a terrific iron.  These were my gamers for many years.  I have my second set as my backups.  I gave my first set to a buddy back in 2002 or 2003 when I got a set of Mizuno MP32s.  He ended up trading those in for a set and I was bummed be didn't offer those back.  I got my second set late winter 2013 and put Nippon Modus Tour 120 stiff shafts in them and gamed those from 2014 through the summer of 2020 when I got the 2020 Ben Hogan Icon blades.  I put the Apex irons back in my bag in early 2022 because I just could never get the feel of the Icon blades and realized those were not as good as the '99 Apex blades.  I am going to try a set of Mizuno Pro 223 irons and see how they go.  That said, the '99 Apex blades are not too far away if the Mizzys don't perform.

 

Also, I find hitting the '99 Apex blades to be relatively easy to make great contact with.  I love this blade!!!

[weakputt]

1 hour ago, RobotDoctor said:

The '99 Ben Hogan Apex blades are really a terrific iron.  These were my gamers for many years.  I have my second set as my backups.  I gave my first set to a buddy back in 2002 or 2003 when I got a set of Mizuno MP32s.  He ended up trading those in for a set and I was bummed be didn't offer those back.  I got my second set late winter 2013 and put Nippon Modus Tour 120 stiff shafts in them and gamed those from 2014 through the summer of 2020 when I got the 2020 Ben Hogan Icon blades.  I put the Apex irons back in my bag in early 2022 because I just could never get the feel of the Icon blades and realized those were not as good as the '99 Apex blades.  I am going to try a set of Mizuno Pro 223 irons and see how they go.  That said, the '99 Apex blades are not too far away if the Mizzys don't perform.

 

Also, I find hitting the '99 Apex blades to be relatively easy to make great contact with.  I love this blade!!!

About six months ago I picked up a mint 5i > E 2003-04  Apex set, I think they are referred to as "double steps". The #3 & #4 were the hybrids. I have not hit them and may never.

Just wondering how much they differ from the infamous '99 Apex's, other than the dual muscles? 

[RobotDoctor]

I've hit these before and found them to feel a bit harsh or crisper.  The '99 Apex are Endo forgings and feel like butter.  These could be one of the very best forged irons during that era and match up with many into today.  Keep in mind they are old standard lofts so a bit weaker than irons today.  Of course that shouldn't matter unless someone is adamant on how far a particular iron number goes.  I am more concerned with results not how far I hit a 7 iron.  Of course my '99 Apex are bent a bit strong due to me wanting a lower ball flight.  I have my own loft and lie machine and have bent my irons to match ball flight for years.

[RolandofGilead]

On 9/2/2023 at 12:12 PM, MrFlipper said:

he talks about the 99 apex 7 iron at 33 ish loft, same as his blueprints.

The stock 7i loft on those Apex irons is 36 degrees. I wonder if they bent them for this test.

 

I played those ‘99 Endo Apex blades last year and loved them. I ultimately sold them in favor of some early 90s W/S blades but man, there aren’t many iron sets better. Retro lofts are really fun - there is something special about going straight from PW to SW and keeping the 3i (and 2i depending on the season) in the bag.

Edited September 5, 2023 by RolandofGilead

[SnowbirdTom]

On 9/3/2023 at 3:22 PM, RobotDoctor said:

The '99 Ben Hogan Apex blades are really a terrific iron.  These were my gamers for many years.  I have my second set as my backups.  I gave my first set to a buddy back in 2002 or 2003 when I got a set of Mizuno MP32s.  He ended up trading those in for a set and I was bummed be didn't offer those back.  I got my second set late winter 2013 and put Nippon Modus Tour 120 stiff shafts in them and gamed those from 2014 through the summer of 2020 when I got the 2020 Ben Hogan Icon blades.  I put the Apex irons back in my bag in early 2022 because I just could never get the feel of the Icon blades and realized those were not as good as the '99 Apex blades.  I am going to try a set of Mizuno Pro 223 irons and see how they go.  That said, the '99 Apex blades are not too far away if the Mizzys don't perform.

 

Also, I find hitting the '99 Apex blades to be relatively easy to make great contact with.  I love this blade!!!

Realizing this is the vintage section, all I’ll say is the 223s settled my iron sets wanderlust for new stuff.

[OBbogey5]

‘Toe is ripped off. Heel is pulled off..’

 

Only wish I could sound this cool about golf equipment. 

[Yacho]

Chiming in here after running across this post when doing a little research on the 99 Apex.

 

I ended up with a patched-together set of these last year.  The price was right and it was a local pickup, and as someone who's more interested in the playability factor of older irons vs being a collector seeking out clubs in pristine condition, I didn't mind the hodgepodge nature of the set.  The E wedge-7i, and the 4i had been refinished at some point, the 5i seemed to be an orphan filling in for a lost family member, and the 3i that was included was a 2003 Apex model. All reshafted with TT Dynalite Gold sensicores.  The 6i head was also clearly filling a hole like the 5i was, however, it came from a family where the "forged" stamp on the hosel is bookended by dots, and interestingly enough...  the "toe is ripped off" as Mark states in the video when describing the weapon in his hands.  There's a good look at the grindwork at 4:05 in the video, very similar to the move that was done on my 6i.  Why did people do this? Just wanted a rounder toe look?  Easiest way to get rid of a couple grams for swingweight purposes?

 

And there's other threads out there regarding the 2 dots on the hosel, but not really a consensus as far as I can tell.  Best theories are that the marks possibly denote heads from the custom shop, headweight variants (heavier/lighter than standard), or lie angle variants.

 

Here's my 6i with the 5i next to it for reference: 

 

"Toe-ripped" 6i top, 5i bottom 

 

 

Dots surrounding "forged" on 6i

 

 

Toe grind on 6i

 

Club history is fascinating, especially when they're Hogans!

Edited January 24 by Yacho

[jholz]

I've still got my set in my in-laws basement. Such a great MB design. Loved playing those things.