
Hello golfers! What a review we have this month! With their new Apex iron range hitting the market our friends at Callaway have reached out and I can’t wait to share my thoughts. They are always working to improve their product from model to model, pushing the boundaries of technology and performance, And the Apex range is no different.
Looking at the Ai 300, of the three iron models I tested for review, this model has been designed as the complete game improvement iron, the cavity-back design featuring a slightly larger profile that blends performance and forgiveness. The Ai 300 on first glance looked nothing like what is typically in a game improvement iron, the head from an aesthetic standpoint looking very similar to Ai 200, however the slightly thicker topline and gently wider toe was visible but far from off putting, which can often be the case. In fact, if you weren’t looking for those game improvement features, I would be surprised if you saw them! When making a few practice swings with the Ai 300, the first thing I noticed was the balance and how nice the club felt. The club head did not feel heavy and neither did the shaft. Something I noticed from the shot dispersion was the forgiveness in the head. By no means was I flushing it, but the ball just kept hitting the numbers I wanted. Their head felt great with ball speeds maintained and the miss hits keeping up with the good shots. The ability to get your bad shot closer to your good shots is a major reason for golfers improving and that’s what I felt with this club.

Now for the Ai 200 and while not too dissimilar to the Ai 300, there is a little more going on in the design in this head. The Ai 200 is a forged hollow-body, combined with a forged 455 face, creating a tour-level sound and feel. The advanced forged construction is slightly different to the Ai 300 as it is a cavity. During the hitting process I did notice the ball speed jump a little more in this iron head compared to the Ai300, but I did feel for whatever reason, I was swinging slightly better with this club. I felt this club had the ability to do slightly more if I wanted it to. I do like to play around with the ball flight height when required on the course and this iron gave me a few more options, whilst maintaining enough spin, which is what this club had been designed for through the Ai Smart Face™. Using real golfer swing data combined with artificial intelligence, the Ai Smart Face™ generates outstanding speed and spin consistency with tight dispersion. It was really cool after we hit the shots to see how close the spin numbers were on really good shots and shots that weren’t so great.
Now for my favourite iron of the day and maybe one of the clubs I’ve enjoyed reviewing the most this year, the Callaway Ti Fusion iron. From the moment I laid eyes on the black PVD finish I just knew I was going to enjoy using this club, which is most definitely the player performance iron we could all play with. Just on the black PVD finish alone it looked great, but when you sit it down, alongside the white golf ball, it gives you that little extra moment of self-belief to hit a great shot! Something we should all take note in is that Callaway have leveraged the superiority of titanium and have provided a face with unbelievable ball speed characteristics. Titanium, the same material used in driver faces, is incredibly efficient and produces a larger sweet spot in an iron when compared to steel. Like the two previous models, the Ai200 and Ai300 the biggest difference is that now I could manipulate the flight and to gently get the ball to fade, and for me the fade is the harder of the two flights to hit. The draw is normally preferred ball flight, and the fade only comes out if it’s the only option, which is very rare. This club got me thinking that I might be able to achieve both. I loved this club from its sleek appearance to its performance-based design. Callaway have once again produced a gem that will go extremely well in the market.

All in all, if you are looking for a game improvement club, a club with forgiveness, a club that has been so well designed that they have started to put Titanium in the face just like a driver, then please make sure Callaway are there in the conversation. They have found a club for almost every golfer. A golfer looking for distance and forgiveness should look no further than the Ai300 and Ai200, however if you are a golfer looking to work the ball a little more, then the Ti Fusion could be your next golfing purchase!!
Callaway Apex Ti Fusion – RRP $529.99
Callaway Apex Ai200 and Apex Ai300
– RRP $349.99
Michael Cooney is a teaching professional at the PGA Centre for Learning and Performance at the Sandhurst Golf Club in Melbourne and is always on the hunt for the latest and greatest in golf products.