Golf Club Review: The Ben Hogan Apex Iron

As you may or may not know, the Ben Hogan Golf company was purchased by Callaway Golf some years ago. At first, many thought that Callaway would simply shut down the company to eliminate some of the competition, but in the end Callaway decided to keep the Hogan name and continue to produce some great forged irons! The rate that a new club comes out is very, very slow right now, but the fact that a good portion of Callaway Staff Pros use Hogan irons is a testimate to the quality and high standards that Mr. Hogan originally built this company on.

The Ben Hogan Apex Forged Irons have been around in one form or another for over 50 years! There have been several modifications and various models ranging from the classic blade to a cavity back forging. One thing stays the same however, the look and feel great! The new generation of Apex Blades keeps that tradition going strong. It's thin top line, slight offset, and chrome finish give it a classic look, while some modern weight distribution make it playable as well! The designers of these irons moved a little more of the weight towards the sole of the club by taking some of the mass from the very top of the blade. This "stepped" muscle back design helps players to get better trajectory than with an older set of blades. From there though, that is where the technology stops, these are 100% players clubs!

I love these irons! When i took a 6 iron out to the range to test the first thing I saw was how simple and clean it looked. There were no gimmicky materials, not much offset and boy did it look like a butter knife when I set it behind the ball! I have played blades for most of my life, but for some reason never hit a Hogan iron. I was very surprised by how well these irons took off. The way the distributed the weight of the iron really does make it a little more playable than other blades, while still maintaining a high level of workability. There was not a shot that I couldn't play with these clubs. They moved which ever way I wanted them to go and if need be, I could really launch these irons high into the air to get to a tucked pin.

As much fun as these clubs were for me to hit, I have to tell you one thing: You need to be a very good player to use them! Or at least, to have fun using them! There is little to no forgiveness in these blades, the better player and shot maker will fall in love with them while the mid to high handicap player will struggle.

I will review a more forgiving model from the Hogan line next!