By Sean McCauley
Recently, I decided to get fitted for irons for the first
time in my life. I went to see Joel Bush at an
independent club fitting operation called Club
Champion, in Plano, Texas. Prior to the fitting, I played
a combo set of forged blade short irons and cavity back
long irons. And while I was looking for Club Champion
to make a recommendation, I came in with my eye on
the Parsons Xtreme Golf PXG 0311 irons, even though I
knew
the price tag was as high as some country club
initiation fees!
Joel first had me hit shots with my irons on the
Trackman with the KBS Tour X-stiff shafts I was used
to. We then cycled through every type of iron in the
warehouse – Edel, Ben Hogan, Titleist, Ping, Miura,
Fourteen, etc. I was hitting my existing 6 iron 183.8
carry on average – the PXG 6 iron gave me an average
of 195.6 carry with the same lie/loft specs. The PXG
irons came out more like a shotgun shell – the spray of
shots was very tight. On mis-hits it felt like I was
catching it in the center of the face – BUTTER. Parsons
Xtreme Golf irons are definitely different – but I
decided that different is what I needed for my game.
As for specs, I came into the fitting playing irons that
were 2 degrees flat because my golf coach thought that
was best for me. I left the fitting with a standard or 1
degree upright lie – huge difference!
ARE THEY WORTH THE PRICE?
I first read about the PXG irons online and knew that
Ryan Moore was not on staff with anyone due to the
fact he wanted to just play the best equipment no
matter what brand that fit his game. Ryan puts the
PXGs in his bag and hasn’t thought twice about signing
with PXG. Ryan Moore is in the top 5 for greatest
amateur golf careers and gave me the intrigue to try
them out myself.
Best golf iron ever created? I was skeptical at first but I
think so! Online the PXG irons looked like pure blades
but they are much thicker when you see them in
person. The first thing you notice is the high-density
tungsten alloy weights that are positioned around the
edges of the iron – you can feel the maximum
forgiveness factor due to the perimeter weighting. The
different design than the usual iron equates to more
distance (you can see in trackman results), more
forgiveness (can see by tighter spray of miss hits), and
better feel. The head looks a lot like Ping irons –
probably because the head engineer came over from
Ping.
MY SHAFTS: SteelFiber Aerotech i125
I have not had graphite shafts since I was 12 years old.
These shafts come with an up charge but worth it. Joel
at Club Champion gave me every shaft to try with the
PXG’s and these SteelFiber Shafts felt the best. The
SteelFiber shafts look sleek in their greyish tint which
makes them look more like steel than graphite. I got
them with grey Pure grips to match the grey shafts –
overall a different look and different feel.
I picked up my new irons just before the Texas Mid-
Amateur qualifier. I recently lost the weekend before in
the Round-of-16 of the Texas Mid-Amateur match play
and wanted to just get a new feel in the bag. I didn’t
hit one practice shot until the morning of the qualifier –
put up a 68 (-4) the first time using the new irons. I hit
14 of 18 greens and felt more confident knowing these
irons fit my swing.
Recommendation – First of all, if you have never been
fitted, do it. I was a golf club junky before getting
fitted. It might seem expensive but it will save you a
lot of money in the long run if you buy clubs that fit
you best. If you are willing to spend the extra $200 +
per iron – you should give PXG a try. I am a fan of the
company now and don't see myself changing anytime
soon.
