Callway Epic Irons

[Big_G]

Really loving my Epic driver, and my irons are starting to fall apart

Looking at the GM news section I saw Callaway are releasing their new Epic range of irons next month (which luckily coincides with my birthday)


All was looking promising until I saw the RRP, £1799 wow, can't see anyway I could that past the missus

 

[One Planer]

Probably nearer a grand on release.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Probably nearer a grand on release.

Still 300 notes above what you would expect to pay for a set of decent irons

what are you getting extra for your cash?

 

[ger147]

High time Callaway brought out a new set of irons...

 

[jamielaing]

I'm truly starting to worry about the cost of golf kit. Balls- 45 for 12, Irons minimum 100 a club, putters are now 100 minimum and drivers 300-500.

The cheapest set up now is the same cost of the premium 5-10 years ago. 500 for a driver, it's insane!

 

[One Planer]

Still 300 notes above what you would expect to pay for a set of decent irons

what are you getting extra for your cash?

Lots of Callaway stickers, marketing guff and other related paraphernalia :thup:

 

[fundy]

Still 300 notes above what you would expect to pay for a set of decent irons

what are you getting extra for your cash?

nothing, but the boys on tour say thanks for their increased contracts

 

[TheDoctor]

I'm truly starting to worry about the cost of golf kit. Balls- 45 for 12, Irons minimum 100 a club, putters are now 100 minimum and drivers 300-500.

The cheapest set up now is the same cost of the premium 5-10 years ago. 500 for a driver, it's insane!

You don't have to pay that much if you don't want to, you can still get a decent setup for a lot less

Balls - Callaway Chromesoft £29.99
Irons - Cobra King F7 5-GW (7 clubs) £549.00 so less than £80 per club
Putter - Cleveland Huntington Beach range £79.99
Driver - Cobra King F7 £279.00

All the above are brand new from a popular website, so the cheapest setup is nowhere near what you say it is
And you could probably get even newer if you went secondhand on the clubs

I am not defending the price of the newest and latest gear, and if you want to pay £45 for a dozen Pro V then that is up to you, but the prices are nowhere near as bad as you make out

 

[Curls]

My Driver & 3W: £200 together from the Forum
3 Hybrid: £40 ebay
4 hybrid: £30 ebay
Irons 5 - PW, £225 ebay
Vokeys: £45 each ebay
Vega: £80 ebay
Putter: £70 ebay
Pro V1s: Ebay Mint/pearl condition ~£1.50 per ball (£18 per dozen)

Just shy of £700 for what is a pretty decent set up. Along the way there have been some poor buys, but only in that they didnt suit me and I sold them on at no great loss. More than anything I've upgraded to better clubs as my swing has become better. I'd say this is my second full set up since I started the game.

When I started I got custom fit at Gainsborough for Pings, it seemed a lot at the time to spend £250 on a driver and £600 on irons but I treated myself and loved every minute of the experience. Clubs did me proud too, until I outgrew them.

£1,799 for irons? Not for me, but I guess if you have it what does it mattter?

 

[jamielaing]

You don't have to pay that much if you don't want to, you can still get a decent setup for a lot less

Balls - Callaway Chromesoft £29.99
Irons - Cobra King F7 5-GW (7 clubs) £549.00 so less than £80 per club
Putter - Cleveland Huntington Beach range £79.99
Driver - Cobra King F7 £279.00

All the above are brand new from a popular website, so the cheapest setup is nowhere near what you say it is
And you could probably get even newer if you went secondhand on the clubs

I am not defending the price of the newest and latest gear, and if you want to pay £45 for a dozen Pro V then that is up to you, but the prices are nowhere near as bad as you make out

Maybe an exaggeration that the prices are for the cheap equipment but here's the point-

Balls - Callaway Chromesoft £29.99 (Cost of Pro V1 4-5 years ago, now £45)
Irons - Cobra King F7 5-GW (7 clubs) £549.00 so less than £80 per club (Cost of top TM irons 5 years ago, now £950)
Putter - Cleveland Huntington Beach range £79.99 (Cost of Ping Anser 5-6 years ago, now £140 for basic)
Driver - Cobra King F7 £279.00 (Cost of Titleist Driver 3 years ago, now £400)

So your 'reasonable set' today including balls is £940 (not including 3 wood/hybrids/wedges) which would've got you pretty much premium 3-6 years ago. Add in two wedges (£200) and a 3 wood (£130) and your bag was £1270 premium.

Now that bag is £2040. And that's with a £140 putter which is fairly basic now. You could easily add another £200 for a Scotty.

Yes people spend what they consider they can afford and you can get bargains on ebay but the premium kit has increased by nearly £800 in 3-5 years.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Still 300 notes above what you would expect to pay for a set of decent irons

what are you getting extra for your cash?

It's for 3 - PW isn't it? So 2 clubs more than you get as standard these days. I think the 3 and 4 are hybrids.

At £1,000 for 2 hybrids 5 - PW doesn't sound ridiculous. It's high, but not outrageous. £1,799 is outrageous.

EDIT: 3 - PW irons only, hybrids. So that is a lot.

 

[dufferman]

Lots of Callaway stickers, marketing guff and other related paraphernalia :thup:

Excuse me. It's their longest, straightest, most forgiving (iron/hybrid/driver/wood) ever! The R&D team have used (popular construction material) to gain (more forgiveness/distance/control) and to shave off (number) of grams per inch. It has the best centre of gravity and moment of inertia ever.

How can you not pay £1799 for that??

 

[Curls]

Excuse me. It's their longest, straightest, most forgiving (iron/hybrid/driver/wood) ever! The R&D team have used (popular construction material) to gain (more forgiveness/distance/control) and to shave off (number) of grams per inch. It has the best centre of gravity and moment of inertia ever.

How can you not pay £1799 for that??

*Scotty attempting to man the Hyper Sarcasm-modulator

SHE CANNAE TAKE ANY MORE CAPTAIN

 

[TheDoctor]

Maybe an exaggeration that the prices are for the cheap equipment but here's the point-

Balls - Callaway Chromesoft £29.99 (Cost of Pro V1 4-5 years ago, now £45)
Irons - Cobra King F7 5-GW (7 clubs) £549.00 so less than £80 per club (Cost of top TM irons 5 years ago, now £950)
Putter - Cleveland Huntington Beach range £79.99 (Cost of Ping Anser 5-6 years ago, now £140 for basic)
Driver - Cobra King F7 £279.00 (Cost of Titleist Driver 3 years ago, now £400)

So your 'reasonable set' today including balls is £940 (not including 3 wood/hybrids/wedges) which would've got you pretty much premium 3-6 years ago. Add in two wedges (£200) and a 3 wood (£130) and your bag was £1270 premium.

Now that bag is £2040. And that's with a £140 putter which is fairly basic now. You could easily add another £200 for a Scotty.

Yes people spend what they consider they can afford and you can get bargains on ebay but the premium kit has increased by nearly £800 in 3-5 years.

Who is to say what is 'premium'? Cost? Since when does cost imply something is premium?

Couple of examples from higher cost drivers that were released years ago yet still had prices similar to what you see today

Taylormade R7 Quad released in 2006 with a price tag of £400 (with inflation you would be looking at about £550 for that today)
Titleist 905 range from 2007 that was £350
Nike SQ from 2009 that was £350
Callaway FT-5 range from 2008 that was £300+

If club prices moved in line with inflation then we would be paying a lot more than we do

 

[TheDoctor]

Genuine question here

Was the same uproar made when Titleist announced the C16 irons at $2,699 or is just Callaway that gets the grief for putting irons out in the price range of the C16 irons and PXG clubs?

 

[One Planer]

Genuine question here

Was the same uproar made when Titleist announced the C16 irons at $2,699 or is just Callaway that gets the grief for putting irons out in the price range of the C16 irons and PXG clubs?

Nah.

Taylormade caught some flack when they released the P770 irons.

 

[jamielaing]

Who is to say what is 'premium'? Cost? Since when does cost imply something is premium?

Couple of examples from higher cost drivers that were released years ago yet still had prices similar to what you see today

Taylormade R7 Quad released in 2006 with a price tag of £400 (with inflation you would be looking at about £550 for that today)
Titleist 905 range from 2007 that was £350
Nike SQ from 2009 that was £350
Callaway FT-5 range from 2008 that was £300+

If club prices moved in line with inflation then we would be paying a lot more than we do

Each of those drivers are cheaper than today's equivalent.

 

[TheDoctor]

Each of those drivers are cheaper than today's equivalent.

The last line of my post appears to have been missed, like I said, if prices moved in line with inflation then

Taylormade R7 Quad was £400 which is the equivalent of £550 in 2017, but I don't see any Taylormade driver costing that much today?
Titleist 905 driver in 2007 was £350, which is the equivalent of £465 in 2017, yet the 917 driver is only £399

Todays clubs are actually cheaper relative to the cost of the ones I listed

 

[hovis]

id love to know if the cost price to callaway is any higher than their current range

 

[USER1999]

I think it is, as reading the blurb there is some major assembly costs for these irons.