Without a doubt, the loudest buzz in golf equipment heading into the 2009 season is Nike’s new Victory Red series of irons. After years of promise, Nike’s golf R&D have finally delivered a world-class set of irons that will stand shoulder to shoulder with the big boys at Titleist, Callaway and Ping. Find out more after the jump.
Besides their great looks, the Victory Red irons are actually based on the design of the very clubs that Tiger Woods plays. That fact in itself has great appeal to most golfers. The irons actually come in three configurations: a full cavity back for the high handicap player, a forged half cavity back for the better amateur and professional and the TW forged blades—the same club that Tiger plays—for the professional. Golfers can either buy full sets or they can mix and match to maximize their sets to optimize the strength in their games. Genius.
This past March I spent a week in Orlando playing the VR half cavity back irons. Now, let me preface this by telling you that I am a nine handicap who plays cavity back irons with an offset. In the past, when I’ve played forged irons or clubs with little or no offset I’ve had a horrible time trying to get the ball airborne, with off-centre hits stinging my hands. None of this happened with the VRs. As I worked through the bag on the driving range it quickly became clear to me that the lack of offset was not going to be a set back. As a matter of fact, I now found it easier to make sure that the club face was aligned perpendicular to the target line. Because the clubs have a partial cavity back, I found them much more forgiving than the blades I had tried to hit in the past. The true test though would come on the course.
It has been a long winter and I haven’t had a chance to hit a lot of balls, so I expected a lot of rust in these first few rounds of the season. That rust barely showed itself as these new irons felt so good that I immediately felt mid-season confidence. The ball (the new Nike Vapor) popped off the club face with ease. Whether I hit them off a tee, from a tight lie or out of a fairway bunker, the partial cavity back helped straighten out misses. More importantly, I finally had a game improvement club in my hand that allowed me to feel like I could shape and control shots better than ever before. I shot a first round 82 which is a full five shots better than my first rounds over the past two years.
My final assessment: the Nike Victory Red irons are both forgiving and muscular, making them among the best two or three sets of irons I have ever played. I suggest that you take some time to see which set of Victory red irons will be the best for you.
