A year after Callaway Golf updated its Apex Iron lineup with three models focused on professionals and elite ball strikers the brand have just have announced three new models to the iconic Apex line of irons. This announcement is led by Apex Ai200 and Apex Ai300 offerings which are the only irons with a forged body and forged Ai Smart Face for distance, feel, and exceptional spin control.
To make understanding the Apex line easier, Callaway has switched to a number system. The larger the number, the bigger and more forgiving the irons will be. Smaller numbered clubs will focus more on feel, precision, and control. This will mean golfers will be able to easily understand how each club relates to the others in the Apex family. The Apex Ai200 (which replaces the Apex ’21) and Ai300 (which replaces the Apex DCB) now cosmetically match the most recent Apex Pro, CB, and MB irons, even though both are hollow-bodied irons designed for mid- and higher-handicap players.
Apex Ai200 is Callaway’s most complete players distance iron, featuring an elegant hollow-body design that blends performance and precision. The forged hollow-body is combined with a Forged 455 Face Cup to create Tour-level sound and feel in a stunning, premium profile. In addition to enhanced feel, the Forged 455 Face Cup delivers serious speed across the face. This unique combination of speed, feel, and consistency separates Apex Ai200 from the rest in its category.
Apex Ai300 is Callaway’s most complete forged game-improvement iron, highlighted by an elegant cavity-back design with a slightly larger profile that blends performance and forgiveness. This forged cavity-back is also combined with a Forged 455 Face Cup to deliver Tour-level sound and feel in a stunning, premium profile. And like the Ai200, the unique combination of outstanding speed, feel, and consistency separates Ai300 from the rest in its category.
Both irons achieve incredible consistency through Callaway’s Ai Smart Face. Similar to the use of Ai in their metal wood category with Paradym Ai Smoke, Callaway use real golfer swing data combined with artificial intelligence. Knowing they wanted to create more ball speed but maintain the spin rates and launch angle characteristics in the Apex irons, Callaway engineers programmed supercomputers to run thousands of simulations of impacts using different face patterns and designs. The result is a hitting area that should give golfers more distance, but also more consistency because the hitting area does not have hot spots or excessively rigid areas.
Additionally, both Apex Ai200 and Apex Ai300 promote optimised flight and forgiveness. Strategically positioned MIM weighting ensures the optimal CG (Centre of Gravity) for the best launch windows. The Dynamic Sole Design ensures enhanced turf interaction to provide more forgiveness through the turf.
Callaway have also added an adjustable weight plate to the back of the Apex Ai200 and Ai300. It is not meant for golfers to change, but it allows fitters to adjust the swing weight of the heads during fittings for extra customisation and ball flight tweaks.
The Ai200 has been designed for slightly more skilled golfers who tend to hit down on their iron shots and compress the ball. It has a thinner topline than the Ai300, along with slightly less offset and a narrower sole. The Ai200 should produce a lower initial launch angle and a touch more spin than the Ai300, but because it is larger, the Ai300 will offer more stability on mishits to go along with its higher ball flight.
Both the Ai200 and Ai300 have strong-ish modern lofts. The Ai200’s 5-iron has a loft of 23 degrees and a pitching wedge at 43 degrees. The Ai300’s 5-iron has 22 degrees of loft, and its pitching wedge is 42 degrees. Working with a custom fitter, golfers should easily be able to create combo sets of Ai300 long irons and Ai200 scoring clubs and they fit seamlessly together.
In addition to the Ai200 and Ai300 the new Apex lineup also includes the ultra-premium Apex Ti Fusion, Callaway’s most advanced iron. This set is engineered with no limitations for players who want to enhance their game with speed, feel, and control. It features an industry-first forged titanium face that promotes faster ball speeds for increased power.
Apex Ti Fusion breaks the trade-off between a traditional one-piece and two-piece iron by creating more deflection than steel, with more urethane interaction and a forged body. Historically, titanium-faced irons have been made for mid- and higher-handicap golfers who want more ball speed and distance, and the addition of a titanium hitting area certainly helps to do that in the Apex Ti Fusion, however, the Apex Ti Fusion is geared toward a different player. As stated above, the numbers 200 and 300 differentiate the differences between the first two models and their performance the Apex Ti Fusion can be thought of nearly as an Ai150 (this is not the name but just a way to think of it). It’s slightly smaller than the Ai200, and its dark finish makes it appear even slimmer. Golfers can expect the Apex Ti Fusion irons to perform more like the updated Apex Pro released last year. Still, thanks to the titanium face, the irons should provide more distance and better performance on mishits. The Apex Ti Fusion irons’ lofts are modern, with a 5-iron at 23.5 degrees and a pitching wedge at 43 degrees.
All three Apex irons are available at retail from August 23. Apex Ai200 Irons come as stock with a True Temper DG Mid 100 Steel Shafts and UST Mamiya HDC Recoil Dart Graphite Shafts. Apex Ai300 Irons are available with stock True Temper DG Mid 90 Steel Shafts and UST Mamiya HDC Recoil Dart Shafts. Both will have an RRP of €1699 (Steel) of €1799 Callaway Apex Ti Fusion irons come with a stock True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid Gunmetal steel shafts or Mitsubishi MMT graphite shafts with an RRP of €2699.
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