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Callaway Apex and Apex Pro 16 combo set now available

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Most golfers search for trajectory control and consistency in their short irons, and forgiveness and distance in their long irons, right? Sometimes, however, that’s only attainable by combining technologies from different sets of clubs.

That was the case with Callaway’s new Apex and Apex Pro 16 irons. Golfers wanted a seamless way to create a combo set to take advantage of the strengths of each of the iron designs — 360 Cup Face in the long irons (3-7) and a progressive center of gravity (CG) in the short irons (8-PW, AW). The difference in lofts, however, created inconsistent yardage gapping, and different finishes — Satin Chrome (Apex) and Chrome (Apex Pro) — meant the set didn’t match.

Callaway solved those issues with its new Apex 16 Combo Set, now available on its website.

Related: What you need to know about the Apex and Apex Pro 16 irons.

ApexProCombo

Callaway’s Apex 16 Combo Set aligns lofts between the two different types of irons, and the irons have a uniform Satin Chrome finish throughout the set.

Specs

SpecsApex

The longer irons promise higher ball speeds from the Apex’s 360 Cup Face, while the shorter irons offer the more compact head shape of the Apex Pro irons. See what the irons looks like below.

ApexAddressThe Apex 16 Combo Sets (3-PW or 4-PW, AW) are available in Steel ($1,199.99) and Graphite ($1,399.99). There’s no stock shaft; consumers/fitters pick from a list of shafts that come with no up-charge.

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He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

17 Comments

17 Comments

  1. Robert

    Aug 29, 2016 at 11:38 pm

    It’s true about getting the proper frequency slope by tip trimming a parallel shaft. You’d just cut the butt for length. I think it’s a great move by Callaway, but I just wished they planned ahead and offered single club orders. I realize that other manufactures make great irons, but for the weekend warrior (IMHO) you’d be hard pressed to fined a better set than Apex.

  2. Dmarinace

    Jun 14, 2016 at 7:18 pm

    DO throughout the set seems a bit light.

  3. Bill

    Mar 3, 2016 at 6:32 am

    Callaway REALLY got it right! This is the perfect set of clubs for a serious player that wants workability, forgiveness and distance in the longer irons— all in an absolutely beautiful forged club. I just ordered mine last week after 6 months of intensive research and testing. The shaft options are very good as well.

  4. patrick

    Feb 11, 2016 at 10:17 am

    you cant be serious with that hosel size comment stanley. you sir are an idiot.

    • Jon

      Feb 11, 2016 at 2:59 pm

      There may be some validity to his comment. The old Apex were parallel and the Apex Pros were taper. Where this conglomeration fits in I can’t comment.

  5. mlecuni

    Feb 11, 2016 at 9:36 am

    From what i saw on the configurator, there are some upcharges, at least on the steelfiber (+60$)

    • Ryan

      Feb 11, 2016 at 2:50 pm

      Steelfibre falls under the graphite option.

  6. stan

    Feb 11, 2016 at 8:50 am

    Uh are you all dense?

    You do realize that you can custom order your own combo set from any manufacturer?

    Hell NIKE will let you do this, yet you buy in when Callaway does it?

    Keep in mind ALL heads are .370″ means you will get zero real deal quality shafts….

    Keep up the great work Callaway!

    I will go ahead and order my Mizuno irons whatever head whatever shaft whatever grip combo I want, all real deal quality components, as they have been pushing custom sets and the importance of this for years….

    • paul

      Feb 11, 2016 at 10:19 am

      First, the lofts are modified to match up the different sets. Also, these have matching finishes, since the Apex Pro 16 has a chrome finish that wouldn’t match the Apex CF satin finish if you ordered them separately.

    • Jon

      Feb 11, 2016 at 3:01 pm

      Dense? I wouldn’t consider myself dense. I prefer obtuse.

      • Joshuaplaysgolf

        Feb 11, 2016 at 6:10 pm

        LOL, Jon. Stan is correct, most if not all manufacturers do this, you can hand pick whatever you want in your set. I’ve been blending Titleist sets for years, and it is encouraged.

        • Jon

          Feb 12, 2016 at 10:21 am

          Absolutely. A good buddy of mine did the same thing with Titleist. 7-9 MBs, 4-6 CBs, 3 712U. Some day when I blow the dust off of the old wallet I would like to put together a similar set. The problem is, I am having separation anxiety issues with my old Hogan Apex.

    • Clay

      Feb 12, 2016 at 10:47 am

      Why people feel the need to criticize the choices of others on the internet I do not know. I assume it is a lack of understanding and people fear what they do not understand so they lash out, or life has left you so full of misery and self loathing that your only release is to insult others and try to make yourself feel superior. I will assume it is the former and try to educate you on why some of us are excited about this release.

      Yes you can do this with all manufacturers, I was weighing a mixed apex set against a T-MB/AP2 combo. Unfortunately the new AP2 is not an attractive golf club and with Callaway prior to this release there were two issues, you either had to bend CF16 strong, pro 16 weak, or some combination of the two. In doing so you change the effective bounce of the club and because of the large gap in lofts between the two you were looking at adding or losing between 6* and 9* of bounce assuming a change of 3* bounce per 1* of loft. The only way around this was to play two 6, 7, or 8 irons, one pro and one CF16. Because there is a 3* gap in these clubs you could in theory go 5 & 6 in CF16 and then 6-P in Pro 16, but the idea of carrying two 6, 7, or 8 irons is strange to me.

      Also, if you combo the set you have some satin, some chrome, and some of us prefer sets to match, in my case ideally without chrome anywhere on the club head. I personally hate chrome or any form of reflective clubs, if all irons were satin and all woods were matte I would be very happy with that, so thanks Callaway, keep up the great work!

      As for shafts you can get Project X which is my shaft of choice and with a parallel shaft an experienced fitter can trim them to frequency match your shafts through the set. KBS also makes the C-taper in .370 so depending on what you like in a shaft there are some solid options. For anyone else you can shim a .355 shaft into a .370 head and there will be no noticeable difference to the player.

      So, enjoy your Mizuno’s, they make great sticks. So does Callaway, Nike, Titliest, Tmag, etc. It is personal choice, people spend their money on what they want. If you don’t like it, stfu. You don’t have to play it.

  7. tom

    Feb 10, 2016 at 10:08 pm

    Wish they thought of this a few months ago when I bought the Apex 16’s.

  8. Clay

    Feb 10, 2016 at 10:07 pm

    Awesome!

  9. Nolanski

    Feb 10, 2016 at 6:36 pm

    Brilliant!

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX

5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4

More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.

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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

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Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

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With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.

On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.

Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?

Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’

So that’s why I went back.

 

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A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?

It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.

Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.

It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.

Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.

Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.

So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?

Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.

Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play? 

Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.

There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.

It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.

Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.

And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?

Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’

If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’

My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’

I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”

And you’re going with it this week?

Hundred percent.

Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week. 

Thanks, man.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

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