The Best Irons Ever?

Golf Equipment Chronicles

Are there any believable claims about golf clubs?

If someone told me that he had discovered a new iron model that is easier to hit than any other iron in the world I would think he was at least stupid, and possibly crazy.

I’ve been writing about golf equipment for ten years – interweaving stories about the “Golf Lab Gang” – myself – a little science and a little sales. This is one of those stories. It reminds me that we all might be a little too smart for our own good.

As golfers, we’re trained to be cynical. Too many years of “longer and straighter”. Would you recognize a breakthrough product if it jumped up in your lap and licked your face?

The “Courage” to Try Something New

Over a year ago, it was time for David Balbi to trade his Nakashima blades for Miura 501’s. We were just getting acquainted at the time so I licked my chops looking at the 64 gram graphite shafts in his irons. Professional clubfitters scoff at lightweight iron shafts.

We performed a comprehensive analysis and fitting. I built an extensive set of demos – exploring every option. We compared them all with radar. Nothing beat the lightweight combination. The new heads went on David’s old shafts.

We started including the “new” makeup in our iron fittings. Long story short, in the last year, operating at low speed, twenty out of the last thirty sets of irons were built with lightweight graphite shafts and now, slightly heavier heads.

Players who bought that setup tested them extensively indoors with electronics and outdoors to confirm feel and ball flight. This is a serious breakthrough that should be extremely interesting to players who are looking for forgiveness and a different feel.

The Logic and Physics Behind the “New Irons”

The first hurdle is overcoming objections to lightweight graphite. Most serious players have suffered multiple disappointments from believing excessive claims about graphite.

There are three iron shaft models that we know combine light weight with stiff flex. They are the Matrix Studio 64, the Aerotech SteelFiber 70 and the Matrix Ozik Program 80 gram shafts.

Start by suspending disbelief. Then, remember the definition of insanity.

You swap a lightweight shaft for heavy steel. Graphite could decrease the overall weight of the club by more than two ounces. That’s enough for a 3-4 MPH increase in swing speed. Now, put a little more weight in the head. Faster swing speed with a heavier head transfers more energy to the ball.

I could make the argument that the combination produces longer distance. It will, but I don’t emphasize distance. My view is that most players swing too hard. The reason is that they are playing clubs that demand a powerful strike. “Longer and lighter” permits a player to swing easier to get the same distance. That promotes finesse.

Players who love to “take a little off” will love lighter irons.

Enlightenment Comes in Stages

Choosing golf clubs, for most players, is a physical and mental match. If you consider yourself a good player – even with modest ambitions – you would never choose “game improvement” irons.

Disdained as “shovels”, game improvement irons are exactly the opposite. Most models come with round soles that bounce off the turf and “drop kick” the ball. Game improvement irons are designed to eliminate “fat” shots.

Drop kicking gets you around the course but does not provide the precise contact required to control ball flight. That requires getting the club on the ball first. An iron with a narrow sole, limited bounce and little offset is the instrument of choice for great ball strikers.

Game improvement irons are designed to offset swing flaws. Increased offset does not help a healthy golf swing. Offset assumes multiple swing defects – starting with an outside-in swing path. I wouldn’t be caught dead with game improvement irons in my bag.

Now you know how warm and fuzzy I feel toward “game improvement” irons. Even though I loved the VC-03 iron it never occurred to me that I could play the entire VC-03 set. It was simply impossible to imagine.

Vega VC-03 – The Game Improvement Iron for Good Players

The VC-03 is not like the game improvement irons that I just described. The sole is shaped with a little radius that allows the head to “dig” the ball out of rough lies. There is not much bounce so a good ball striker can get the club on the ball first. And the usual bugaboo – offset – is solved with a progression as the clubs get shorter.

I mounted a Matrix Studio 64 shaft in the VC-03 3 iron at a half inch over length.

First Swing at the Range – Tingle in the Scalp

Those moments are rare testing golf clubs. In twenty years, I can only remember half a dozen instances of a “magical strike” on the first swing. The Vega VC-03 three iron with the Matrix lightweight shaft in a PCS 6.0 flex value made my scalp tingle.

The ball jumped off the face. Trajectory was high and then flattened out – showing little spin. It looked like a drive. The VC-03 was a huge surprise in the 3 iron. I found that it was easier to hit than any 21* hybrid in my test bag.

When I get a stroke of inspiration about golf clubs, I try to find customers who like the idea enough to buy it.

That didn’t take long. I caught a customer on his way to the range. I handed him my Vega 3 iron. When he returned, he said “it’s not leaving my bag”. That’s a very good sign. And then it happened again – six times.

It was beginning to dawn on me that the Vega VC-03 long irons might turn into a “hot product”.

VC-03 – Largest, Lowest, Thinnest, etc.

After four hundred years of forging iron heads, you wouldn’t think that a company could possibly come up with a new model that would be significantly different from the thousands of models that have come before. It doesn’t take an expert eye to see that the VC-03 design is an extreme forging – in size and in depth of the cavity.

Compared to a “normal” cavity, the cavity in the Vega is milled deep and low. The VC-03 shows the most extreme redistribution of weight in any forged iron ever made. Here are some pictures:

Tweaking the Basic Idea

Some players are disconcerted by the ultra-reduction in weight. Locating a 20 gram grip in the shaft, under the hands can overcome weight perception.

I also like a little extra length in irons with lightweight graphite shafts. For me, the new makeup is not about distance, it is about finesse. I find less weight in my hands much easier to control. Partial shots became more fun. You can move up and down the shaft a bit.

Grips are going through transition. There is a clear movement toward larger diameters to quiet a player’s hands. Also, many women who have long fingers are properly fitted with men’s midsize. The grip is an important element of balance. Our onsite workshop and air installation procedure permits testing with the actual grip installed.

Compared to a “normal” cavity design, the heel to toe dimension is longer in the VC-03.

The first two VC-03 irons that caught my eye were the 3 and 4. From the business end, they seem to be half hybrid, half iron. They are the shape of an iron, but the size of a hybrid. A startling comparison is to lay a VC-03 side by side with a normal forged iron. The difference is dramatic.

The profile shows a narrow neck with a high toe. The top line is square and a little wide for a purist, but once you have a close look at how much metal was moved around in the forging, the VC-03 is easy to accept. One finishing feature that improves eye appeal is the top line edges are squared off. That can only be done with a forging.

So, crazy as this sounds you can find out for yourself.  Pick up a set of demos at the Golf Lab and take them to your own course.