For those of you that don’t already know it, there are 2 types of irons, forged irons and cast stainless irons. Irons also come in different styles, blade, cavity back, and oversize head designs. Each has it’s own place in the market, your job as a consumer is to try and figure out what is best for your needs and size of your wallet. Let’s start off with a little basic education I’ll call Golf 101. Of the 2 types of irons, forged or cast, your wallet could be the deciding factor here. Both methods of making the club head are good, you will not find that one is good and the other bad. In simple terms, a cast head is made by pouring molten metal into a mold, hence the name “Cast”. A forged head is made by heating a piece of metal until it’s red hot, and then pounding it into the shape of a clubhead. This can be done in a number of ways, and it can take as many as 6 steps before the head is ready for use. In each step, the metal is heated, then forged into a certain shape. Then it is re-heated and forged into the next shape. Each time the metal is forged, it gets closer and closer to looking like a golf club, until after the final heating and forging, you have a piece of metal ready for finishing. The finishing process will include a little grinding, boring the hosel to accept a shaft, and machining the clubface perfectly flat and adding the grooves. After that it will be polished and it’s ready to be chrome plated. The only real difference between cast and forged so far, is that cast heads are usually made of stainless steel, and don’t get chrome plated. Most all forged irons are made of low carbon steel, which can easily rust, and that’s the main reason for the chrome plating.
Some people will tell you that forged irons feel softer and cast clubs feel harsher. The truth is that the design of the head, the shape of it, has more to do with feeling soft than the method used to make the head. Others will tell you that forged irons are for better golfers and cast irons for made for beginners. Again, this is not the case. In the past, that might have been true, but not today. Forged irons were all we had before cast clubs came along, and most all forged irons were blades. When cast clubs started to become common, club makers learned that they could cast a club in such a way that they couldn’t forge one. This is when they started to make cavity back irons. And it was the difference in the design of the cast head vs. the design of the forged blade that made the difference, not the method of making the head. As most of you may know, a cavity back head is more forgiving, so it’s what a beginner should use. Blades, on the other hand are not very forgiving, and most amateurs would be well advised to leave them on the shelf. Today, all the club makers are building different head designs to fit a certain skill level of golfer. The bigger the cavity in the back of the head, the more forgiving the club. The lower the center of gravity, the easier it will be to hit the ball high into the air. What the customer will find in the store is a wide range in designs. You can find cast blades, and forge cavity backs. Not too many years ago, all forged irons were blades, and all cast irons were cavity backs, not true today. And this is where the confusion comes from in terms of forgiveness and soft feel. When all forged irons were blades, forged irons were only suitable for the top players. When all cast clubs were cavity backs, it was easy to tell people that cast clubs were for the beginner. Now that you can get just about any design you want, there is no clear cut line between forged and cast. Now that I’ve explained some of the ins and out of head making, let’s get down to the details of these clubs.
What do we have here?
The Pursuit 510 irons come in cavity back, the c510; Muscle back/blade design, the m510, and tour design, the s510. The s510 and the m510 are pretty much the same design, a basic blade, or Muscle back. The difference is in how the sole is ground on the two. The s stands for Scoring, and is designed for the better player with more versatility in how it will play from different lies and whether the club face is opened or not. The m510 is a more all around sole grind, what you might find on most OEM clubs today. Each head is forged of low carbon steel, and finished in a bright chrome finish. For this review, I decided to go with the C510 heads for the 4-PW, and the S510 heads for the gap and sand wedges. My reason is pretty simple. I’m not a good enough golfer to play a full blade design; I honestly need a little more forgiveness in my irons. As for the wedges, I like a tour grind on my “Scoring wedges”. The tour grind allows me to open the face of the wedge and not have too much bounce angle in the way when playing off a firm surface. Here in Colorado, we have firm sand in most of the bunkers, so the tour grind works much better for me. And Colorado doesn’t get much rain, less then 15 inches of moisture a year, so the fairways can be quite firm also. If I were to play a standard wedge with a high bounce angle, I’d have a lot of trouble hitting out of sand, or a tight lie. This is why I got the s510 wedges. If you have similar conditions where you play, you might want to do the same. If you have soft sand and lush grass to play from, the m510 wedges might be a better fit.
For the shafts I went with a set of Project X, Flighted in 5.0 flex. The reason is simple in one sense, and not so simple in another. When I talked to Bob Wilson at Giga Golf, he asked me what shaft I was now playing, and I told him True Temper Tri-Gold R flex. Unfortunately, that shaft is no longer made and Mr. Wilson contacted True Temper to see if they might have a set in a back room, but they didn’t. Then True Temper told him the Project X Flighted shafts would be the closest match available, compared to the Tri-Gold shafts I’m now using. This being the case, it only made sense to go with what TT recommended. The not so simple part was deciding on a flex. True Temper uses a lettering system for all their shafts, L, A. R, S, X, Rifle shafts go by a numbering system, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0. 6.5. And there is no fixed conversation chart you can use to go back and forth between the two systems. Add to this that not all shafts from the same company are exactly equal in flex, and it can get a bit complicated. Luckily, Mr. Wilson was able to figure out what flex would fit my game, and it was decided to go with the 5.0 flex, which is about a R+.
Picking the grip was real easy. The standard grip for this set of irons was the Golf Pride Dual Durometer, which is a top-level grip, and one I wanted to try. Something has to be simple, and this was it.
When the clubs arrived, my first thought was, Oh God. The box they were shipped in was a total mess, dented in and flattened like a pancake. Not a good sign. But when I opened the box, I was amazed to fine that each club had made it through in perfect shape, in part due to the way each club was protected with bubble wrap. I don’t remember how the clubs where shipped, but the term “ Drop Shipped, comes to mind. Now that I could relax, I examined each club closely, and was somewhat surprised at how well it was assembled, I say somewhat surprised because most OEM clubs lack a little in terms of how much attention is given to details of assembly. When I talked to Mr. Wilson, he had assured me all the clubs they build are assembled with expert care. As a club builder myself, this was a concern, but as it turned out, I need not have worried. In all honestly, each club looks as good as the ones I build myself. They couldn’t have been better. Even the grips were all on straight; not one was out of alignment. As a final test before driving to the range, I put each club on my swing weight scale. As I was coming to expect, each club was right on the money, D4, as requested. Nothing left to do but head to the range and beat up on a bucket or 2 of balls.
Test Results
After a few warm-up swings, I set down to business hitting balls off a tee with the short irons. Ball flight was exactly what I expected with the Project X Flighted shafts. Nice and high and straight as an arrow. Moving to the middle irons, I was impressed at how easy they were to play. Again, the ball flight very nice and high, exactly what I like with my mid irons. Next came the real test, hitting the longer irons, in this case the longest iron was a 4. I don’t carry a 3 in my bag, so I didn’t see any reason to order one, leaving room in my bag for one more wedge. To be honest, I’m not the best golfer in the world, especially with the longer irons, so I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to hit this 4 iron without too much trouble. For a 4 iron, the ball flight was pretty high and the distance was about all I could expect. All in all, the first test, hitting tee shots off a tee, was a complete success. I always use a 9 iron for testing how far I hit a certain set of irons. The reason, is simple, I hit my 9 iron 150 yards, and there’s a yardage marker at the range I use at that distance, which makes it real easy to see how far I hit the ball and compare one club to another. As luck would have it, or maybe some good planing, the 9 iron gave be 150 yards of carry, right on line. I couldn’t have been more pleased.
The second part of the test was hitting balls off the grass. Again, I wasn’t disappointed in these irons. For fun and comparison sake, I hit some balls with my current set of irons first, to give me a feel for how my game was working for me. Because these irons are the same size and have the same size cavity as my 600XC irons, I was expecting them to play about the same. And that’s exactly what I got. I’d have a hard time telling one club from the other if I didn’t look at the name on the club head or shaft. Not only do they look alike, they play alike. Solid strikes with the Pursuit irons give me the same results as solid strikes with me SnakeEyes irons. Because the shafts are pretty much the same and the club heads are pretty close, the ball flight with the Pursuit 510’s is the same as what I’m getting with my current set of irons. Nice high ball flight is what I want so my ball has a chance of holding the green.
The third test was to try to work the ball left and right. This may or may not be something you care about, but it’s part or the reason I have the irons I play. I have a set of really forgiving irons, and the ball flight is perfect, except when I try to work the ball. Then, the ball flies nice and straight, not at all what I’m trying to do. Those irons are so forgiving, I can’t work the ball hardy at all. Which, for 90 % of golfers, might be exactly what they need. The SnakeEyes 600 irons are listed as being highly workable and moderately forgiving. That’s pretty much how I would rate them. Being able to work the ball was one reason I requested doing a review on the Pursuit 510 irons. And I wasn’t disappointed at all. The first time I set up to hit a fade, that’s what I got. Same for when I set up to hit a draw, a nice right to left ball flight. Again, I couldn’t have been more pleased. These irons are exactly what I had hoped they would be. Highly workable, beautiful to look at, a nice soft feel when I hit the ball solid, nice high ball flight for holing the greens, and a reasonable amount of forgiveness, but not so much I can’t work the ball.
What it's good for..
For the record, my current set is a mix of the SnakeEyes 600C and 600XC irons. If you’re not familiar with the 600C irons, they are pretty much a second cousin of the Mizuno MP-30’s. The 600XC irons are a slightly larger version of the 600C, with a bigger cavity for more forgiveness. In my case, my 4-6 irons are 600XC’s, and the 7-PW are 600C’s. This provides me with a little extra forgiveness in my long irons, something most golfers could use. Of the 2 heads, the 600XC’s are closer in size and shape with the Pursuit 510 irons. While the cavity is a little different shape, it’s about the same size, and the head is the same size, same length and height at the toe. What this means is that the Pursuit c510 irons are a bit more forgiving then my SnakeEyes 600C irons or the Mizuno MP-30’s. I would highly recommend that if this set sounds like it might work for you, that you try a set of MP-30’s on for size. If you have a Golfsmith near you, try out the SnakeEyes. 600XC’s. If either of them make you smile, I’m sure you will be quite pleased with a set of Giga Golf Pursuit c510 forged irons. If on the other hand, you're happy to hit the ball straight even when you don’t have the clubface perfectly square to the target. I’d recommend you check out a different set of more forgiving irons. Giga Golf has a more forgiving design for you to check out.
Why you need a set
There are a few reasons to consider this set of irons from Giga Golf, or a different set if this set isn’t what you need. For one thing, with most OEM’s, you have to buy a set of clubs the way they come. That means 3-PW, with what ever shaft and grip that comes standard. Not so with Giga Golf. With Giga Golf, you pick out what you want, not what someone in marketing decided you need. You only want a 5-PW set, that’s what you order, and that’s what you’ll get. You want half cord grips, that’s what you order. You want top of the line premium shafts, that’s what you can order. You want cavity backs in your long irons, and muscle backs in your short irons and wedges, guess what? That’s exactly what you can order. And if you aren’t sure what you need, you can contact them at their website and someone is more than happy to help you decide what’s best for your game. When I was deciding what to order, I got all the help I needed. They even called me on the phone and asked questions I might not have known to ask, or thought of at the time. It’s like going to a custom shop and having a club fitter work with you from start to finish. Except for one major difference, your wallet will not be running on vapors, as can be the case with a set of irons from a custom club maker.
Why you need this set of Pursuit c510 irons and s510 wedges is pretty simple. If you are looking for a set of irons that will allow you to work the ball when you need to, this is a great set to buy. If you like a certain shaft in your irons, not just what comes standard, this is the set for you. If you want to mix and match a set to fit the way you play, again, this is what you want. Want a muscle back in your 9 and PW, no problem at all. This is the beauty of working with a component company, or Giga Golf. For the record, I thought Giga Golf was a component company, but I was wrong. They are in fact an OEM. They don’t sell components, only assembled clubs. But unlike the other OEM’s out there, you decide what you want and that’s what you order. So, if you think you might be ready for a custom set of forged irons, but don’t want to empty your wallet completely, give Giga Golf a visit and check out the Pursuit 510 irons. I think you’ll be glad you did. These are first class irons, built with top quality components, at a good price. To be honest; I couldn’t have built the set any better if I had been making a set for myself.
Contact Information
GigaGolf Inc.
231 Douglas Road
Building 6
Oldmar FL. 34677
www.gigagolf.com
3/25/2009
GigaGolf C510 Irons & S510 Wedges
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