lirubis's Full Review: Callaway X 20 Tour Iron Set
There are a few things I hate about golf, and one of them is the fact that your ability to hit certain clubs is diminished by your physical capabilities... and also severely influenced by our crazy little voice inside telling you to find new gear as soon as "something" stop working for you the way it used to.
I am SO USED to my Mizuno MX23's that no matter how good some new stuff I try is, I just chicken out and stick with "same old..."
But sometimes, some gear just tears your past beliefs and preferences apart and wreaks serious havoc inside the brain. I just experienced this when I tested the "shovels" called X20 tour from Callaway. Too bulky, too thick, too ugly, not forged....not a chance!
I gravitated towards more "macho" irons, like the Mp32, or lately the MP60 from Mizuno too, and while it feels great to hit them good, I am having to face reality and admit that my hands, hips and shoulders are just NOT the same as before. Injuries, laziness and a big ego just steered me in the wrong direction, and my handicap has now reached teenage numbers...know what I mean?
Club tests and common sense pushed me into looking for something less demanding, but I just cant look down at most of the game-improvement sticks out there without thinking "man, those are THICK suckers!". And I believe the search was suspended right after I tried the new R7 irons from TM (the non-tour model), and not being able to hit them at all.
CALLAWAY?
I remember the SHOCK I got from the first time I laid my eyes on the latest Big Berthas...OMG! Those are golf sticks, or metal detectors?? Geeez....
The X20's are "not quite blade looking", IMO. They just look a LITTLE bit smaller and thinner than the "normal" X20's, and much less offset. But there's got to be something VERY good about them that quite a bunch of TOUR players use them... to play pro golf tournaments! (Rocco Mediate I know for sure...)
THE CLUB
If you have followed the evolution of the Callaway family of clubs, the X20's may the most technologically advanced irons that you can actually afford, a superb specimen that has some seriously popular genes in the blood, as the x14, x16 and x18 lineage can be seen and heard all over the X20's body. The more exotic members of the Cally iron family, such as the FT's or the Fusions have just too many add-ons, and too big a price tag!
The cavity back is deep and noticeable. The perimeter weigh distribution allows for some serious reposition of the CG back in the club, increasing the effective hitting area noticeably. My MX23' could only dream of such a big sweet spot! Now, you must also consider that there is a seriously big effort to provide more MOI, achieved via "extreme notch weighting" Callaway has made so popular. Made of 1020 stainless steel, they sure feel strong and muscular, but devoid of the wonderfully soft, buttery feel of high-end forgings. Tolerable? Absolutely. The X 20's do not stand out as harsh feeling sticks. I think they may be the sweetest feeling Cally's since the X forged!
Now, lets move on to the sole: do this sticks ever dig in? It is amazing the way they can work their way around rough and tight lies with ease. I was able to hit quite a few approaches from the rough that went up all the way into the green, and I think the weight and sole combination is a major cause of the improvement in this department: I usually miss short with my usual gear.
This stick recently won a gold medal in the latest Club Test of a major golf magazine, and considering the competition they faced...I find it quite amazing that such a beefy, thick stick could beat several player favorites.
The ones I got to try were almost made to my specs: 5.0 Project X shafts 1 deg. flat...I have never tried the Project X in such a "soft" flex (and they are quite STIFF for all I care), and I gotta say I LOVED this shafts. Perfect trajectory, nice feel, superb control. The Project X shafts flex rating is much more useful than the standard R/S/X designation most shaft manufacturers use, but you must keep in mind that the 5.5 flex plays pretty much like a s flex Dynalite Gold TT shaft! The 5.0 plays like a firmer R Flex.
PLAY and PERFORMANCE
The feel, compared to the Mizunos I have played, is...okayish. I expected a much different feel from these bulky looking heads, and since they are not forged...but that cavity back is filled with a material that not only manages shock in a very efficient way, but also provide quite a lot of feedback to the hands as well. Not like forgings, but far from "cast hell" for sure.
This irons play a LOT easier than any Mizuno I have tried. They also help your game a bit more than the great R7tp's. No...make that a LOT more. The head-shaft combination is excellent, does not compromise playability at all.
Distance is NOT a superior feature on this sticks, I lost a couple of yards at most, but the best feature is, by far, something called CONFIDENCE.
From the 4 iron to the PW, this set is so consistent that I wonder why I will ever be able to make an excuse not to play them. really, it is just point-and-shoot for me! You can work the ball and spin it at will. And an even bigger surprise came out as I searched the Maltby Playability factor Files, just to find out that this heads are rated as "super-game improvement" sticks! They hit the 700's in this scale, almost 300 points better than my "forgiving" Mizunos!
So, are this X20īs average Joe material? I would say: definitely NO. The limited offset and smaller heads (compared to the OS X20īs) demand golfers a very proficient stroke every time. But when you compare it against other "tour" clubs in the neighborhood, this clubs let you walk away with very little damage: distance loss is not severe, and direction will rarely be penalized. I was more confortable hitting the short irons that I could ever imagined with such a "thick" topline club. The best thing is that you really do not have to hit hard on this clubs to get the distance and trajectory you need. They WILL do their work if you allow them to do so.
BOTTOM LINE
Yes, they take a little while to get used to, specially if you have never been fond of bulky-looking club heads. The X20īs will help you in many ways, and do not let that "tour" designation fool you: they DO help like all Callaway clubs should. In the end, I just have 3 words for you guys out there, between 8-12 handicaps: MUST TRY THEM. Unless you have a slow swing speed and require help getting the ball up in the air, this may be the club you are looking for.
The X Series is all about giving serious golfers total performance with enhanced forgiveness for the ultimate in confidence. The new Callaway X-20 Iro...More at GreatGolfDeals.com
The X series is all about giving serious golfer total performance with enhanced forgiveness for the ultimate in confidence. The new X-20 Irons deliver...More at Golfio.com
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