Any of you ever heard of Rocco Mediate? That's the ol' geezer that took Tiger Woods to an 18-hole playoff in the US Open in 2008, and even after that, Tiger needed an additional hole to finally fend him off.
I took a look in Rocco's bag and he's playing these Callaway X-22s irons. This is a pretty snazzy club with all the latest and greatest technology that you've come to expect in a Callaway golf club. I have to tell you I was a little surprised to see a Tour Pro playing a golf club that looks like it is designed more for amateurs.
For example, the first thing that jumps out at me is the big cavity back face. I’m more accustomed to seeing the pros (and even low-handicappers) playing more of a blade style looking back. Don’t get me wrong, the cavity back design has slowly started to work its way into the bags of the tour players, especially after they discovered that you could still work the ball with them. Workability is more a function of the thickness of the topline to bottom and your ability to feel and subtly spin the ball in all directions. But what’s more radical about this club is the radical look. It is very modern looking with a silver X jumping off the face and a reinforce weighting on the bottom. Finally, the irons come standard with graphite shafts. This is another characteristic of clubs you’d find in a amateurs bag, then somebody who is trying to dial their yardages to the nearest half iron. So what is it that Rocco sees in these sticks?...Besides the fact that Callaway is probably paying him a mint to play them.
Let's dig deeper into the technology, shall we?
"Precision Notch Weighting" means they've moved all the weight to the perimeter, giving the club a high MOI, while providing more forgiveness and stability. "S2H2" means they've actually removed weight from the hosel to be used elsewhere. Finally, "Modified Tru-Bore" means that the shaft tip extends through the hosel and club head to the sole of the iron. This improves feel because the tip of the shaft is closer to the center of the clubface.
There's not too much that I don't like about this club. It is designed for the better player, as the face is smaller than those huge oversized irons that Callaway makes for the higher handicapper. The shape of the head has a thinner topline and narrower sole, thus as I previously mentioned, it can more easily be used to work the ball. This certainly make it look a little more like a tour player's club.
That being said, I would suggest before you buy these clubs that you take a gander at the Callaway FT iron set. I like the looks of these clubs even better, and I believe the performance will be even greater.
Just don't tell Rocco that I said that, but just think: maybe if he was wielding the FTs he would have beat Tiger in The Open.
Find this Callaway X 22 Iron Club Set:
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