Why can't I hit the Fusions?

[designdog]

This is perplexing. And embarrassing. I play either the X-Tour or the MP-60s, depending on mood. Both regular flex steel. I like to keep a “game improvement” set for foul weather, bad days, and general ego enhancement. This year, these were the X-18, regular flex graphite.

 

I’ve eyeballed the Fusions, even hit a 6 iron, and appreciated them because of the limited offset and the thinner top line. Got a set via ebay, for $800, from a reputable seller.

 

I tried them out and had a very nice round. Since then (2 weeks) I cannot hit them, either on the course or on the range. Even my wife says they “sound funny” when I hit them.

 

But I know it is me. I’ve checked the shafts (regular graphite) the lie, etc. They are fine. And once in a while I do connect with one.

 

Is this just mind games? Lack of confidence? Has this happened to you?

 

-ddog

[r7425]

If you can, find a demo Fusion 6 iron and hit your Fusion 6 iron. If they don't feel the same, you could have a fake. If they're the same, it's probably just a slump, it'll pass.

[stevelegend]

I have the same problem...................your just a digger.

[nearfall152]

I have the same problem...................your just a digger.

 

I agree...descending blow is not such a good thing with those

[KDMullins]

I tried to go with a more forgiving iron this year, too. Never will I try that again. If you're a decent player and generally hit the ball in the middle of the clubface, I have found the "more forgiving" irons just don't help that much. In fact, the wider sole makes it more difficult for me to hit consistently. I agree with the above posts regarding digging, too. If you have a tendency to hit down on it with your irons, the wider soles on many game improvement irons bounce, which leads to inconsistency. Long story short, I'll stick with my MP-30s...You know what they say...Once you go forged, you never go back!

[dfung]

Wow, some of these responses are pretty negative.

 

If you're trying to switch back and forth between sets, I think the problem may partly be those graphite shafts. The swingweight will be much lower with graphite (according to the Callaway site, D0 for graphite Fusions vs. the XTour). Since the Fusion is more player-oriented, at least the length isn't greater as well, but you can see most Callaway graphites are 0.25" longer than their equivalent steels. Although the Fusions have relatively little offset, that's definitely a factor when your other clubs are XTours (virtually no offset) and MP60 (not much offset). If your swing was totally solid, then these all shouldn't make a big difference, but of course, the reason we have our "fat pants" sets is because our swing isn't perfect. It's just enough difference to throw you off.

 

I was following the same sort of line of thinking. When I'm with it, I play MP-32s and love them. But I wanted to get something more forgiving for bad days and was looking for something in particular that wasn't going to have a huge amount of offset so it didn't look too weird. I ended up getting a set of Cleveland CG-4s (this was before the CG-4 Tour came out which would have been a better match). They have a lot of offset compared to MP-32s, but not excessively so and don't have too gigantic of a sole. But it didn't really work out very well for me. The standard shafts for the CG-4 are lightweight shafts, so it's a very different feel even at roughly the same swingweight. They also hit way too high for my preference, which I would have thought was a good thing when I was picking them out (the problem I was trying to solve was low hits on my MP-32 long irons) but turned out too be too much. With the swing differences, I can play decently with either set, but not with a mix and not switching back and forth.

 

I think the Fusions are pretty awesome. I bought a 6-iron off eBay and thought about them as my fallback set, but they were way too expensive for that. Instead of the CG-4s (which I think are also pretty good clubs, but need regular old DG shafts), I should have gotten MX-23s. As it is, I've never actually played with the full CG-4 set, basically only carry the 4 and/or 5 with the MP-32s.

 

Perhaps the Fusions in steel shaft would have worked out better. They're great clubs, I think you probably just need to set one set down totally and switch rather than just grab one bag or the other.

[Carlo]

This is perplexing. And embarrassing. I play either the X-Tour or the MP-60s, depending on mood. Both regular flex steel. I like to keep a “game improvement” set for foul weather, bad days, and general ego enhancement. This year, these were the X-18, regular flex graphite.

 

I’ve eyeballed the Fusions, even hit a 6 iron, and appreciated them because of the limited offset and the thinner top line. Got a set via ebay, for $800, from a reputable seller.

 

I tried them out and had a very nice round. Since then (2 weeks) I cannot hit them, either on the course or on the range. Even my wife says they “sound funny” when I hit them.

 

But I know it is me. I’ve checked the shafts (regular graphite) the lie, etc. They are fine. And once in a while I do connect with one.

 

Is this just mind games? Lack of confidence? Has this happened to you?

 

-ddog

The same thing is happened to me but... it was a fake set that a friend of mine bought somewhere! He could actually get the ball in the air and this is his first set, but for me no matter how I adjusted my swing to suit, it was always thud! and right! The graphite shaft was horrible!

Have it checked out...

[designdog]

Thanks guys! I really think you hit the nail on the head in two areas: swing weight and swing plane.<br /><br />While I don't categorize myself as a "digger" since I don't leave a deep divot, I have moved the ball back in my stance which would get my ball strike more at the downward part of the arc. Like a "digger".<br /><br />Even more of an issue, I feel, is swing weight. The Fusions are D0. Even the X-18s are D1 in graphite. My Callaway Tours are D2 and so are the MP-60s, I guess (not listed in their specs).<br /><br />Now, what to do? Are these irons worth the investment to put steel shafts in them? And what shafts? Also, I fear this would limit the resale value if I ever decided to move on.<br /><br />Or, should I give up and try and resell them on ebay? Actually, my other choice was the MX-23s, which could be a good value since the MX-25s are coming out. I would get these in steel shafts, of course.<br /><br />Finally, maybe I should just recall my original premise and spend some time on the range with these irons, and get used to them...?<br /><br />-ddog

[yannechyba]

I experienced the same problem, and it caused GREAT embarrassment. I play Mizuno irons (MX23's and MP32's mix set), but had to rent a set while on a trip with my boss. I chose the fusions over the X18's because they looked more like a players club (less offset, thinner topline...). I was happy because the set was available with my favorite TT Dynalite Gold S shafts.

 

Before teeing off we had 100 free practice balls at the range. All I can say is: disastrous. I tried to do some fixing but since I always pinch the ball with my irons, all I was getting was a lost of ballooned shots being sprayed all over the place. Firts came the fat shots, then the thin ones. I hadn't played over 100 in 3 years! Scored 103.

 

Weird feeling sticks!

[dac]

if you can play x-tours or mp-60's, i don't see why you can't get those fusions to work for you. i think it's a slump. we all have those periods where we can't seem to get anything to work because maybe we're thinking too much about golf rather than actually just playing. (unless of course...the clubs really are bad in one way or another).

[designdog]

Dac:

 

You are probably right, but I hit about 150 balls with them on the range just now, and, although several went where they should have gone, I kept having the feeling that I was slapping at the ball. Picked up my sand wedge and got back in the groove.

 

The Callaway rep is coming to my club later this month and I am going to have him look at them. If the clubs are OK I am going to resell them on ebay, or somewhere else. One good thing about Callaways is that they are easy to sell.

 

This experiment will wind up costing me around $300. Maybe I'll learn from it...

 

-ddog

[MellonC]

desgindog,

 

Check out my signature panel down below. You'll note that I changed the lie and SW on my Hogan FTX to match the Callaway Fusions. I also changed the shaft on the FTX set to match the total wight of the Callaways. The only thing different is the loft. I changed the loft on both sets so that Fusions were always one degree stronger (due to higher ball flight). Now they fly, land and spin just about the same with each other.

 

the only difference is Fusion's forgiveness. The earlier posts were right that thicker soles actually work for "diggers". In fact, I don't even bother trying to pick up the ball clean with Fusions. I just let it go with abondon and it seems to bounce off a bit rather than taking a huge divot. Also because of the offset, I don't try anything funny. Whatever I do with Fusions typycally result in a straight ball flight or maybe just a fade or a slight draw. Nothing drastic.

 

that's about it. Remember that Mizuno stuff is way too different than Callaway stuff. No matter how Callaway spins it, all of its offerings were made for people with huge out to in swings and take enormous divots. Mizuno, on the other hand, is for people who have a flatter swing path (imagine the difference between some of the new guys on the tour and Vijay's swing - his tempo is so good that he doesn't even look like swinging) For example, the pitching wedge on the mizuno has a 63 deg lie angle where as the fusions have 65 degree. That's actually a big difference. Furthermore, the soles on the Mizuno's are much thiner, meaning that you can't dig. You have to carefully hit your shots and not try to dig it. If you try to do that Fusion you'll end up hitting on the thick part of the sole and blade the ball. The second thing is the total weight and swing weight. Because graphite shaft iron weigh much less, your shaft will get out of your path and Voila, OTT or over the top happens. You'll either shank it or slice it with very low trajectory.

 

In order to hit the fusions right, just pretend like you have no finesse controls and hit the ground hard. That's the best way to hit your callaway irons.