Callaway RAZR X - Irons

No matter what clubs you are using, you will need a good swing to do the job. Before you can catch a fish or learn the other finer points of fishing, you will need to know how to use the rod to cast the line. To many golfers, the most important clubs in your bad are not the irons. May be so for most will feel that if you do not tee off well with a driver, you are disadvantaged. It may be true to a certain extent but if you do not use your irons well, you may not get to use the most important club in the bag - your putter.

It is like participating in the Japanese Sasuke where you have to clear stages of obstacles and at certain obstacles, you may have to redo them a few times and by the time you did it, it is game over. You may not realise it but whenever you irons are on song, all your putting becomes sitters - like a goal mouth tap-in in soccer, like a morning smoothie when you have enough vegetables and fruits. Opportunities for birdies and pars start to appear everywhere. Your game becomes like a walk in the park. A good swing matters but some times and more often than not, the right equipment matters.

For all the knowledge I have on Callaway stuffs and even trying friends' clubs, I have never played Callaway irons since the famous X-14, X-16, X18, X-20 and now X-24. Today, I am sharing with you about the Callaway RAZR X irons, Callaway's flagship originally introduced for the 2011 season. They are designed for incredible feel, good distance and a large dosage of forgiveness. I find that it is a more than capable replacement for the X series over the years. It was reported that Callaway may have dumped a lot of money on research and creativity to come up with these.

Every brand of clubs will tell you that their latest will hit 5-10 yards longer. The reality is that 80-90% of golfers will hit the clubs' toes rather than the "safe zone" let alone the sweet spot so having forgiveness in these areas are important. In case, you won't get a GIR (Green In Regulation), you will just need a chip in.

The top line is thicker than player's type which a pro will prefer but they aren't ugly like some chunky club heads. In fact, it provides the confidence for you to go for it. This together with the sole gives you consistency. According to a report I saw on Rankmark, RAZR irons are 56% more accurate than a competitor's irons that chases distance at the cost of accuracy. Callaway shifted the centre of gravity 12% lower and 15% deeper by redistributing 30% of weight to the strip at the back.

The specification for these irons are a D0 swing weight except for the PW which is a D1. The lofts are 25 degrees for a 5-iron, 28 degrees for 6, 32 degrees for the 7, 36 degrees for 8, 40 degrees for the 9 and finally 44 degrees for the pitching wedge.

The refined VFT (Variable face Thickness) face and High-Definition Undercut cavity are tailored individually giving more consistent ball speed across the hot face for added distance and accuracy even when mishit.

You can give high marks for its looks. Sound at impact is somewhat muted but pleasant, very different from other clubs and it has a lovely trajectory when hit. Flight is high but it does not balloon. After going straight and up it ends with a baby draw. It is forgiving. I hit one with an 8 iron from 135m to the green against a head wind and it landed pretty 5 feet away from the pin. I dare not proclaim it is a pin seeker yet as I needed to putt for a birdie. Eventually it should be.

Callaway's stock OEM shaft did not mention who the OEM manufacturer was  but from what I have heard it is from Graphite Design. This is a 65g Stiff Regular (SR) graphite shaft. When I got tested for iron swing speed previously, it was confirmed I could play with a steel shaft. I opted for the lighter graphite as it also transmits less vibration but a 65g shaft is probably 10g heavier than most irons out there today.

Grip seems like a standard Callaway universal grip. You can see from the outline from where one can use two different grip position perhaps one for choking down.

Although this achieved high ranking in 2011, it continues to be highly rated in 2012 against a very strong field of new contenders from a slew of various big brands and models.

They are game improvement irons and have wide soles but they are not chunky and still remain playable and almost like a thin sole player's type.

They have a clever design for the sole. They are built with a thin sole (as you can see here as I covered the weighting that tapered backwards) for playability and yet delivers the forgiveness, distance of wide-soled irons such that though built for high and mid-handicappers, even low handicappers will find it a joy.

A certain golf site had 100 or so golfers to test these irons and found them to be the most accurate irons they have ever tested. They do look like serious players' irons and they gave a 10/10 for accuracy while others like distance and forgiveness were at 9/10.

I had the opportunity to try them during a Golf Digest demo some months back and I like this, also the Mizuno JPX 800 HD and in particular the Ping i20. Watch this review on the RAZR X:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp_dfSy_ETk

I have for donkey years been lugging a cart bag with a single sling but I didn't realise how heavy it was until I used a more compact, slimmer, smaller and lighter caddie stand bag. I think this is much better. I could now feel the bag is so much lighter as the weight is now distributed evenly across the shoulder and in turn free your hands to do or carry other things. I could even drop it to the ground with one hand as the stand opens up for support.

Here's wishing you great golf ahead!

Golf as in life, play as it lies.