The ingredients that go into tour-quality “players” irons are usually about the same. They need to have short blade lengths, thin top lines, narrow soles and a minimal amount of offset to meet the needs of the most accomplished golfers.

Callaway’s new Apex Pro irons are no exception, at least at address, where they look nearly identical to the company’s forged players iron from last year, the 2013 X Forged. But when they’re viewed from the back, the irons tell a very different story.





Above: Callaway’s Apex Pro irons (left), look nearly identical to the company’s 2013 X Forged irons (right) at address. The sole designs are also roughly the same.

The Apex Pro irons are forged from the same 1020 carbon steel as the 2013 X Forged, but their multi-material construction and new 37WV grooves bring modernity to the former one-piece design.

In the long irons, for example, Callaway engineers added high-density tungsten to the soles, which lowers the center of gravity (CG). That accentuates the irons’ CG height progression, a weighting scheme that gives the long irons a lower CG that launches the ball higher, and the short irons a higher CG that launches the ball lower.

Evan Gibbs, Callaway manager of performance analysis, says the lower CG of the long irons adds about 1 mph of ball speed to the clubs (compared to 2013 X Forged), and the higher launch it creates makes them more forgiving as well. But in the short irons, where better players tend to create too much spin, the CG was moved higher to help golfers control their trajectory.

The discretionary weight needed for the new mass placement was made possible by the extensive milling of the iron’s cavity, which allowed the faces of the irons to be made 17-percent thinner than those of the 2013 X Forged. But according to Gibbs, that change won’t negatively affect sound and feel, which was tuned with a polymer insert added behind the impact area that helps eliminate the harsh frequencies golfers associate with bad feel.

Above: The 37WV grooves on the Apex Pro irons are wider and not as sharp as the 20-degree V grooves the company used for the 2013 X Forged irons. They’re also duller than the 30WV grooves used on the company’s Apex irons.

Maybe the most intriguing part of the Apex Pro irons is their new groove design, which is the result of extensive testing done with Callaway tour players in 2013. Last year’s X Forged irons had the company’s 20-degree V grooves, which were spaced closely together. But Callaway received feedback from its tour players that the grooves actually spun the ball too much from the rough, causing the ball to launch too low.

Tour players prefer to hit what Gibbs called a “controlled flyer” from the rough, which allows them to hit the ball higher to carry obstacles such as the tops of trees, and a farther total distance as well. But they didn’t want to hit the shot at the expense of consistency.

After much testing, Callaway found that wide-spaced V grooves with 37-degree side walls were the most consistent from the rough, and they offered the additional launch that tour players wanted. While the 37WV grooves will be the only grooves offered at retail on the Apex Pro irons, tour players will have their choice between the 20-degree V grooves, 37WV grooves and even duller 45WV grooves, which launch the ball higher and with even less spin.

Above: Callaway’s Apex Pro irons (left) have slightly shorter blade lengths, thinner top lines, less offset and narrower soles than the Apex irons (right).

They Apex Pro irons hit shelves on Jan. 17, and will sell for $1099 with KBS’ new Tour-V steel shaft, $1299 with UST Mamiya’s Recoil 600 Series graphite shafts. Check out the specs and additional photos in the gallery below.

Click here to see more photos and what GolfWRX Members are saying about the irons in the forums.

Click here to see more photos and what GolfWRX Members are saying about the irons in the forums.