Equipment
Callaway Apex and Apex Pro 16 combo set now available
Most golfers search for trajectory control and consistency in their short irons, and forgiveness and distance in their long irons, right? Sometimes, however, that’s only attainable by combining technologies from different sets of clubs.
That was the case with Callaway’s new Apex and Apex Pro 16 irons. Golfers wanted a seamless way to create a combo set to take advantage of the strengths of each of the iron designs — 360 Cup Face in the long irons (3-7) and a progressive center of gravity (CG) in the short irons (8-PW, AW). The difference in lofts, however, created inconsistent yardage gapping, and different finishes — Satin Chrome (Apex) and Chrome (Apex Pro) — meant the set didn’t match.
Callaway solved those issues with its new Apex 16 Combo Set, now available on its website.
Related: What you need to know about the Apex and Apex Pro 16 irons.
Callaway’s Apex 16 Combo Set aligns lofts between the two different types of irons, and the irons have a uniform Satin Chrome finish throughout the set.
Specs
The longer irons promise higher ball speeds from the Apex’s 360 Cup Face, while the shorter irons offer the more compact head shape of the Apex Pro irons. See what the irons looks like below.
The Apex 16 Combo Sets (3-PW or 4-PW, AW) are available in Steel ($1,199.99) and Graphite ($1,399.99). There’s no stock shaft; consumers/fitters pick from a list of shafts that come with no up-charge.
This week, we have our Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, on the ground at the OccuNet Classic at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas, for the 14th event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season. With that, we see some great things in the Lead Tape Report as we roll into Amarillo.
Joel Thelen
Monday Qualifier, Joel Thelen is in the field this week. He has played on the Korn Ferry Tour for a full season in 2023, and he is back in action this week. A couple of clubs caught my eye this week in his bag.
First off: His trusted Titleist 816 H2 hybrid. This club came out in October of 2015, and it still remains strong in the bag. Also, take a look at this Odyssey White Hot OG 7, putting a capital S in the 7S model. This custom neck has some impressive lean for an arm-lock-style putter. The bottom of the putter is covered in tape for optimal weighting.
Mitchell Meissner
Taking a look at Mitchell Meissner’s bag this week, we have some great lead tape coverage. Top to bottom working from fairway metals, irons, and wedges. We can see on the short irons and wedges that there is tape at the base of the grip, adding a little counterbalance. Along with that, some tape on the short irons and wedges as well. Moving to his putter, he rolls the Odyssey 7 Bird putter. Meissner putts left-handed and strikes the ball right-handed.
Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.
Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: Titleist GTS3 (15 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 70 TX
7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 80 TX
Irons: Titleist U505 (3), Titleist 620 MB (4-9)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 8 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putters: Scotty Cameron Tour Prototype, Scotty Cameron GOLO 6.3 Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
In our forums, one user has offered up a prompt for the true sickos, inviting fellow forum members to share every set of irons they’ve ever owned. As to be expected, this is a lengthy forum topic.
@Lamosteve began:
Can you name every set of irons you’ve owned? Here’s mine
Spalding Dots
Spalding Eclipse
Ram Lazer FX
Lynx Parallax
Mizuno EZ Comp
Ben Hogans
Cleveland CG Red
Taylor Made R9s
PING i20
PING iE1
Taylor Made M6
Our members in the forum have been offering up their own collections. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- macedan: “Started with a hand-me-down Golden Bear set from my brother when I was in high school, never really played more than once a year or got into the game until about summer of 2017. First purchased a set of Cleveland CG4’s (I actually really miss this set sometimes, soft & not terribly large for a GI iron), moved into Nike Vapor Fly’s by the end of the year. Those lasted until spring of 18 when I decided I wanted new, so I traded them in for TM Rbladez. Honestly, although I liked the Rbladez, poor decision on my part, I think this was really about the only time so far that after a week or two I was kicking myself for not staying with what I had. Rbladez stayed with me until late last summer when I switched to P790’s and (knock on wood) I am hoping this will be my longest lasting set.”
- JimmyC59: “MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Triple Crown. Palmer The Standard. Still play these.”
- jgrzask: “Tommy Armour 845u
Mizuno MP-32
Mizuno MP-33 (2 sets)
Bridgestone J33cb – still own
Srixon i-302 (2 sets) – still own
Tourstage X-Blades – still own
Mizuno Hot Metal – still own
Nike Forged Blades – still own
Titleist 714 AP1 – still own
Cobra Forged SS – still own”
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Bud Cauley WITB 2026 (June)
Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament. Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura...
Hannah Green WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Titleist GTS3 (10 degrees, D4 SureFit setting) Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana RB 53 S 3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees,...
Asterisk Talley WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (9 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 S 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (16.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue...
Brianna Do WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (9 degrees) Shaft: KBS PGW 3-wood: Callaway Elyte Titanium (15 degrees) Shaft: KBS PGW 5-wood:...
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Robert
Aug 29, 2016 at 11:38 pm
It’s true about getting the proper frequency slope by tip trimming a parallel shaft. You’d just cut the butt for length. I think it’s a great move by Callaway, but I just wished they planned ahead and offered single club orders. I realize that other manufactures make great irons, but for the weekend warrior (IMHO) you’d be hard pressed to fined a better set than Apex.
Dmarinace
Jun 14, 2016 at 7:18 pm
DO throughout the set seems a bit light.
Bill
Mar 3, 2016 at 6:32 am
Callaway REALLY got it right! This is the perfect set of clubs for a serious player that wants workability, forgiveness and distance in the longer irons— all in an absolutely beautiful forged club. I just ordered mine last week after 6 months of intensive research and testing. The shaft options are very good as well.
patrick
Feb 11, 2016 at 10:17 am
you cant be serious with that hosel size comment stanley. you sir are an idiot.
Jon
Feb 11, 2016 at 2:59 pm
There may be some validity to his comment. The old Apex were parallel and the Apex Pros were taper. Where this conglomeration fits in I can’t comment.
mlecuni
Feb 11, 2016 at 9:36 am
From what i saw on the configurator, there are some upcharges, at least on the steelfiber (+60$)
Ryan
Feb 11, 2016 at 2:50 pm
Steelfibre falls under the graphite option.
stan
Feb 11, 2016 at 8:50 am
Uh are you all dense?
You do realize that you can custom order your own combo set from any manufacturer?
Hell NIKE will let you do this, yet you buy in when Callaway does it?
Keep in mind ALL heads are .370″ means you will get zero real deal quality shafts….
Keep up the great work Callaway!
I will go ahead and order my Mizuno irons whatever head whatever shaft whatever grip combo I want, all real deal quality components, as they have been pushing custom sets and the importance of this for years….
paul
Feb 11, 2016 at 10:19 am
First, the lofts are modified to match up the different sets. Also, these have matching finishes, since the Apex Pro 16 has a chrome finish that wouldn’t match the Apex CF satin finish if you ordered them separately.
Jon
Feb 11, 2016 at 3:01 pm
Dense? I wouldn’t consider myself dense. I prefer obtuse.
Joshuaplaysgolf
Feb 11, 2016 at 6:10 pm
LOL, Jon. Stan is correct, most if not all manufacturers do this, you can hand pick whatever you want in your set. I’ve been blending Titleist sets for years, and it is encouraged.
Jon
Feb 12, 2016 at 10:21 am
Absolutely. A good buddy of mine did the same thing with Titleist. 7-9 MBs, 4-6 CBs, 3 712U. Some day when I blow the dust off of the old wallet I would like to put together a similar set. The problem is, I am having separation anxiety issues with my old Hogan Apex.
Clay
Feb 12, 2016 at 10:47 am
Why people feel the need to criticize the choices of others on the internet I do not know. I assume it is a lack of understanding and people fear what they do not understand so they lash out, or life has left you so full of misery and self loathing that your only release is to insult others and try to make yourself feel superior. I will assume it is the former and try to educate you on why some of us are excited about this release.
Yes you can do this with all manufacturers, I was weighing a mixed apex set against a T-MB/AP2 combo. Unfortunately the new AP2 is not an attractive golf club and with Callaway prior to this release there were two issues, you either had to bend CF16 strong, pro 16 weak, or some combination of the two. In doing so you change the effective bounce of the club and because of the large gap in lofts between the two you were looking at adding or losing between 6* and 9* of bounce assuming a change of 3* bounce per 1* of loft. The only way around this was to play two 6, 7, or 8 irons, one pro and one CF16. Because there is a 3* gap in these clubs you could in theory go 5 & 6 in CF16 and then 6-P in Pro 16, but the idea of carrying two 6, 7, or 8 irons is strange to me.
Also, if you combo the set you have some satin, some chrome, and some of us prefer sets to match, in my case ideally without chrome anywhere on the club head. I personally hate chrome or any form of reflective clubs, if all irons were satin and all woods were matte I would be very happy with that, so thanks Callaway, keep up the great work!
As for shafts you can get Project X which is my shaft of choice and with a parallel shaft an experienced fitter can trim them to frequency match your shafts through the set. KBS also makes the C-taper in .370 so depending on what you like in a shaft there are some solid options. For anyone else you can shim a .355 shaft into a .370 head and there will be no noticeable difference to the player.
So, enjoy your Mizuno’s, they make great sticks. So does Callaway, Nike, Titliest, Tmag, etc. It is personal choice, people spend their money on what they want. If you don’t like it, stfu. You don’t have to play it.
Nolanski
Feb 13, 2016 at 11:27 am
Well said.
tom
Feb 10, 2016 at 10:08 pm
Wish they thought of this a few months ago when I bought the Apex 16’s.
Clay
Feb 10, 2016 at 10:07 pm
Awesome!
Nolanski
Feb 10, 2016 at 6:36 pm
Brilliant!