This week was supposed to be all about the Ai300. Hold Please. Mother Nature didn’t cooperate. I did get to spend some time with the Apex Ti Fusion, though. I was able to fit a couple players with it, and the results were stunning. I’ll be honest, when I first saw this iron, I didn’t give it much thought. First, it’s Titanium. Titanium typically = hard feels. Not so good for a players iron. Titanium also = distance. Perhaps also not so good for a players iron. Second, it’s expensive. At $300 per stick, it has a very limited fit in Upstate NY. I’ll also be honest, it IS quite good looking. I like a dark finish on a wedge, but it takes the right kind of look to draw me in on an iron. This has it.

The fitting head came in, and I put it in the iron head holder. First event. I had a player dying to try the Ai200’s. He’s been asking me for the new Apex for a year. Over a year. I built the 200 for him and he hit it good. Not great. He walked back to where I was standing (next to the fitting heads) as I adjusted the 200 for him. He asked “What are those?”. “That is a Titanium iron.” “I love the look, can I hit those too?” “Of course you can.” After a few more swings with the 200, I built him the Ti Fusion. It went dead straight, high, and we could see it carried a good 10 yards past the 200. He said “HOLY Sh…”. He hit another. Same result. Then another. And another, and another. He finally stopped and said “What is this iron?”

It’s the Ti Fusion. The face is made out of Titanium. The body is forged just like the Apex Ai200. The lofts are the same as the Ai200. The offset numbers are less than the Ai200, and slightly more than Apex Pro (remember, we are talking tenths of a millimeter between Apex Pro and Ai200). The dark finish makes it look like it has even less offset. By leveraging the superior performance of Titanium, the face delivers unbelievable ball speed characteristics. Titanium is very strong, so when coupled with Ai design, you get a face that also has a very large sweet spot – larger in fact than the Ai300 (the replacement for Apex DCB), but in a head that is similar in size to Apex Pro. When you add in the Urethane Microspheres that we use in all of our irons (remember, this is a “gel” with air bubbles in it that is designed to make a cast iron feel more like a forged iron), the result is a Titanium faced iron that doesn’t feel like a titanium faced iron. It has the same smooth, soft feel as a forged iron. No other iron in golf does this. Finally, when you add a new black finish, the look is stunning.

Fast forward to another event last week. I had another long time Callaway Fan. He tries everything, and generally buys something. Apex Mix to Paradym to Apex Pro to Smoke back to Paradym. Gotta try the Ai200. He hit it good. Very good. “OK, order me a set.” “Hold on. I got one more thing for you to try.” “OK. What do have?” I handed him the Fusion with the same shaft and said “Give this one a try.” He said “HOLY F… What is this thing?” Re-read the paragraph above. He asked “How far is it going?” We tinkered. Farther than Ai 200. Farther than his Paradym irons. About the same as his Ai Smoke Irons. But… he never hit one shot off line. Neither did the first player. He loved the look too. He ordered 5-AW, and filled in with a couple of Opus Platinum wedges.

I thought, I need to try this for myself. My results were similar. The distance and the feel was exceptional. Smash factors were routinely in the 1.45 range – with a 7-iron. That’s unheard of!! I saw a LOT of ball speeds in the 120+ MPH range when I hit them. I simply don’t get that with a 7-iron. Good for me is 114 (84 club, 1.35 smash = 113.4 ball). If I catch one, I might see 177 or 118, but 121.6?? Remember, every 1 MPH in ball speed = about 2.5 yards of carry distance. Adding 7-8 MPH for a good ball striker is unthinkable. Add in straight shots, a great look, a great feel, and no real outliers (no crazy long or crazy short shots), and this is an iron I would play.

Are they pricey? Absolutely. But… If you have a guy who is buying a set for the next 8-10 years, does the extra $500-600 sting as much? That’s up to him to decide. I will tell you this. The look, performance and feel WILL keep this club in the mix.

Very few things surprise me in this club world, but these did.