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Callaway Apex Iron Set (L100+) : Does this set have some issues?!

• SimonTheBeetle 3,513 Posts

  Tue, Jul 25 2017 6:58 AM

  @Jim

  No, I haven't. Since I dropped the freebie, I've been always playing with NIKE 20XI-X ball, the best one I can afford with my tight budget.

  If what you're saying is true, I'll have to simply give up the Apex because I purchased piles of NIKE 20XI-X balls in advance while I could so I'm more or less stuck with them. :-(

• SimonTheBeetle 3,513 Posts

  Tue, Jul 25 2017 7:54 PM

  NMackinnon2:

  Hi I also bought the new Apex irons and found the same thing ,they were awful especially distance control and by a fluke I found the answer like most players I used a Nike ball so a couple of days ago I ran out and decided to use up some of the many balls I had in my bag so I loaded up the callaways and hey presto the clubs are transformed they actually started going where I sent them the one drawback is they are not as good as the Nike but on the plus side they are much cheaper .So try it out you should see a great improvement hope this helps ,all the best  Neil.

  Hi Neil,

  You must be on moderation as your post appeared much later and I just saw it.

  After all, ideal combination of clubs & balls does exist like Jim's wild-a**ed guess! I wish somebody had told me this before I purchased the Apex set. Like I said, I have piles of NIKE balls in my bag and I gotta use them up.

  Thank you so much for your post with valuable info, Neil.

  Simon

  P.S.: Does Callaway Steelhead XR Iron Set have the same effect with NIKE balls? i.e. Becoming extremely inconsistent in distance control? This question does not only address to Neil, but to anyone who knows 'the' answer and/or has experiences with the equipment.

• SimonTheBeetle 3,513 Posts

  Wed, Jul 26 2017 1:16 AM

  [Interim Report]

  It's been just over a week now that I'm playing struggling with the Apex irons.

  As mentioned earlier in the thread, the distance control has been extremely inconsistent and unstable. In addition to this, to make the matters even worse, the crosswind effects are also very unpredictable, thus making your aim adjustment nothing more than a simple lottery.

  In conclusion, I'm hitting the damned little thing all over the place, long short all random, even hitting a green has become a real challenge now! LOL

  For instance, please take a look at these stats of a round of mine :

  

  

  

  

  78% of GIR + 16.39 for Average Distance to Pin!!! LMFAO Only the putting upgraded the score from humiliating to somewhat respectful and I tell you what... I was very lucky to sink some of the long putts in that round.

  I know you will probably call me crazy, obsessed or paranoid if I say this, but I also observed that the distance in overall from driver to wedge with a NIKE ball has been decreased since I removed all NIKE clubs from the bag! My driver does not fly as far as it used to, not to mention the irons of course, even wedges frequently come up short!

  As many infer, there may be an ideal combination of clubs & balls (probably using the same brand products). As I already explained, I've got no intention (for now) to purchase additional Callaway balls as I have to use up all my piled-up NIKE balls.

  And a good friend of mine told me that the very first NIKE Vapor L97 set was the same, very inconsistent when first out and then two weeks later, became very easy to control. I just hope that will be the case for my Apex as well. If it doesn't happen, then I will give it a try with its sibling balls.

  Later alligator.

  Simon

• Kenher01 1,151 Posts

  Wed, Jul 26 2017 3:49 AM

  SimonTheBeetle:

   

  P.S.: Does Callaway Steelhead XR Iron Set have the same effect with NIKE balls? i.e. Becoming extremely inconsistent in distance control? This question does not only address to Neil, but to anyone who knows 'the' answer and/or has experiences with the equipment.

  Hi Simon,

                  Re the Callaway Steelhead XR's, I love em. Much easier to ding. I'd say they are only a few feet shorter in their arc (apex) in the air than your Apex's & i use the Nike L 90 Black with them, 5.5 distance & 4.6 spin. For me this seems to suit them when i drag dot to bottom (FBS) & then nudge it up to between 9/10th's to -75% BS from 3i through to 9i depending on the distance.

  The PW is a bit quirky, Crazy results with distance when i hit flat/top or a lot of BS, The optimum for me with the PW seems to be the dot just nudged below the equator

  Ken

• Jimbog1964 8,378 Posts

  Wed, Jul 26 2017 5:30 AM

  Kenher01:

  Re the Callaway Steelhead XR's, I love em.

  Glad your set suits you...He has the L100 set though, and you the L97 set.  There will be a difference. 

  I have not played the L100 new Apex set.  I do know I have had issues before with new clubs when first out........Having not tried the new clubs at all I simply can't comment more of course.  In my case the issue simply went away after a week or so from memory, and I never changed how I map.........Hope it's not that, but throw it out there for CS to maybe have a look to check it out... 

• SimonTheBeetle 3,513 Posts

  Wed, Jul 26 2017 6:06 AM

  Kenher01:

  Hi Simon,

                  Re the Callaway Steelhead XR's, I love em. Much easier to ding. I'd say they are only a few feet shorter in their arc (apex) in the air than your Apex's & i use the Nike L 90 Black with them, 5.5 distance & 4.6 spin. For me this seems to suit them when i drag dot to bottom (FBS) & then nudge it up to between 9/10th's to -75% BS from 3i through to 9i depending on the distance.

  The PW is a bit quirky, Crazy results with distance when i hit flat/top or a lot of BS, The optimum for me with the PW seems to be the dot just nudged below the equator

  Ken

  Hey Ken,

  Sup? :-)

  It's freaking amazing that I'm coming to the same kind of conclusion with Apex + NIKE 20XI-X. With NIKE Vapor Fly Pro, it was so simple : Just use FBS all the time and adjust power % according to elevations, green ondulations and winds. It was pretty much a dart game with them. It has become my iron-play style, but I can't do it any longer with the Apex. So I'm calibrating the amount of spins and power %, nudging up & down the dot to find out the best combo. (To be honest, I sometimes wonder why I'm bothering to do all this as all my headache will be gone if I just switch back to the Fly Pros. But then, it would be a total waste of credits and above all, now that I have a better equipment, it will leave me a feeling of being a loser if I can't take a full advantage of it.)

  Thanks for your tips, Ken.

  Simon

• SimonTheBeetle 3,513 Posts

  Fri, Jul 28 2017 1:08 PM

  [Final Report]

  Straight to the point, the conclusion is...

  PLAY A BALL THAT SUITS YOUR CLUB!

  Many said this numerous times, but I was stubborn to hold my NIKE 20XI-X to death. How silly I was!

  Today, I finally tried a different ball (Callaway HEX Chrome+ in my case) and the ball AT LAST started flying and landing where intended! PW & 9I behaved somewhat differently comparing to NIKE Vapor Fly Pro (Apex PW being longer and 9I shorter), but still quite accurate, predictable and above all, con·trol·lable!

  Hope others who will follow my path find this useful.

  All the best!

  Simon
  

• duffputt 314 Posts

  Wed, Aug 9 2017 6:41 AM

  I have a little of the same issue.

  More often than in the past I get shots that go 5 yards shorter or longer than what it was supposed to do.

  Most would call them VEM shots.

  I also have the +103 irons but play the +100 the most due to slower meter.

  I think there s something about it, but it doesnt happen so often that it needs attention from my side.

• phred952 2,714 Posts

  Wed, Aug 9 2017 8:19 AM

  What +103 irons?

• PSUTOM 188 Posts

  Wed, Aug 9 2017 9:01 AM

  I had been kicking around the idea of changing my irons, and carefully observed what other higher ranked players used. It seems that most choose TaylorMades of varying levels, but some still use the Vapor Flies that I use.

  Since reading this thread and comparing my past ball usage, I believe I'll stick to my current combination. I'm sure WGT would not like my assessment, but if something works why mess with it.