x20 carbon shaft ... fundemental question

stevesxm · April 24, 2008

hitting issues

hello all,
am a relatively new golfer. can shoot in the low 90's/ high 80's . have been using nike slingshot irons , steel shaft, regular everything. won a tournament the other day so treated myself to a set of new callaway x20 irons w/ graphite shafts... regular everything.

and i hook them . every time. they got such good reviews that i fully expected them to be magic. i stood on a 150 yd par three today and hit 10 balls with the nike 8 iron... all on the green. then i hit 10 balls with the x20 ... all distance perfect... all 20 to 30 yds to the left. no amount of face opening makes any appreciable difference. from the ground it is just as bad regardless of the club. it is as if im putting some hellacious side spin on it somehow that im NOT doing w/ the nike.

do you think this can be a carbon shaft issue ? the SEEM to be about the same flex not noticeably more or less whippy but i am at a loss to explain it.

they do have significantly more offset then the nike...

rattler917 · April 24, 2008

From what i've read on here the offset should have no real effect on the ball besides a higher trajectory. The shaft could the problem because of the increased torque, or maybe it's a mental thing. I'm not an expert but this seems to be what i've read on here previously.

Baconator · April 25, 2008

If the shafts are too soft for your swingspeed you may find all of your shots going to the left. It's also possible that the lie angle on this set was too upright for you. If this is the case the heel will catch as you contact the ground which rapidly closes the clubface. I don't think there is anything specific to this club that causes hooks, but perhaps the offset makes them difficult for you to line up your shots? I've had that problem with other irons (the X-12 pw I tried has about a 1/2" offset and I cannot hit it for love or money).

stevesxm · April 25, 2008

i had a long talk with callaway today and you are right about a couple of things. they say that even tho the carbon shaft says " regular" it is likely that it is softer than my steel nike " regulars " ... and they mentioned the more uprite " standard" lie angle as well. they said the x20 is designed to combat most high hcap players tendency to open the club at contact and slice . the extra offset they build in along with the increased lie angle all contribute to " fixing" your slice... hence the " game improvement label" sort of like the "draw" they build into their fairway woods and drivers if you specify it.

they said " send em back" no problem . 100 % refund. and recommended the x20 tour w/ steel shafts for me if i wanted to take a whack at them.

i will say this... their ft-5 driver ( draw) and fti squareway fairway woods took me from being a 99 player to being an 89 player essentially over night. i was hoping the irons would do the same but regardless of that, as a company to do business with, i find them simply extraordinary.