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MacGregor MT Pro C irons and MT Pro Wedgs

ualtim

Carrollton, TX
Supporting Member
Aug 20, 2005
7,779
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For every range session in the past two months, I have been running an extended test on a couple of new products from MacGregor: The MacGregor MT Pro C irons and the MacGregor MT Pro DW Design wedges.




Right out of the box, you can see immediately that you dealing with a "new" MacGregor design philosophy. Gone are the days of futuristic looking clubs that would look at home on the space station and in their place MacGregor has issued us a set of golf tools that would look right at home in any modern pro's bag. The Forged cavity back MT Pro C's are just beautiful. They have clean lines from every angle and from address look and feel like a fine set of forged blades. The offset is imperceptible and the head just frames the ball perfectly. Looking into the the cavity, you can see a little old school meets new school. The markings are more subdued than recent models and remind you of classic MacGregor irons of years past, but the fine milled cavity is a work of modern art. Reminiscent of some of their VIP blades at first glance, you will find a larger cavity than it initially appeared to provide that forgiveness that most of us are look for in a modern cavity back.

The MT Pro DW design wedges (the DW comes from Don White, a long time MacGregor club designer) are as beautiful and functional as any other OEM offering. Unlike some of the OEM's, the MacGregor Mt Pro DW design wedges are forged out of 1025 steel (same material as the MT Pro C's) and have a wonderful grind straight from the factory. The grind provides heel and toe relief as well as some reduction on the back edge which will make the wedge a bit more versatile for those players who choose to open up their wedges to vary trajectory and/or spin. At address, you will see a classic wedge head shape with just the slight hint of a rounded leading edge. The graphics on the back of the wedge are very similar to the Pro C's, retro MacGregor with a hint of modern flare. The MT Pro DW design wedge is a very beautiful wedge to look at.

While having beautiful clubs in your bags looks nice, they are worthless if they do not perform out on the course. I am happy to report that the clubs play just as good as they look.

The MT Pro C irons: I could not wait to get these irons out to the range and compare them head to head with some of my other irons. The MT Pro C irons came with True Temper Dynamic Gold S300 shafts and MacGregor branded Golf Pride DD2 grips. After taking a few practice swings with the 6-iron, it felt very well balanced and comfortable in my hands. My initial tests were done with a side by side comparison with a Ben Hogan Apex Plus and a Ping eye 2+ 6 iron. From the first hit, I was very impressed with Pro C irons. They definitely have that forged feel that you would expect with a modern forged cavity back. Not quite as soft as a Mizuno MP-60, but softer than the Hogan Apex plus. The launch qualities of the iron were perfect for my ball flight which tends to get too high. With the Pro C's, I was able to launch a more penetrating ball flight with the 6 iron, and keep the 9 iron ball flight from really ballooning which I have a tendency toward doing. Compared to the Apex Plus and Eye 2+, the Pro C's were giving me the lowest ball flight followed by the Hogans and then the Eye 2+. As with most forged clubs, you could really tell when you missed the center of the club face. The Pro C's provided instant feedback on where you struck the ball, especially if was away from center. Since my game provides a number of swings that impact the ball off center, I was able to get a good understanding of how forgiving the Pro-C's were compared to the other irons. Not surprisingly, the Eye 2+ irons gave me the most level of forgiveness as they are after all more a game improvement club than a forged cavity back. That being said, comped to the Hogans, they were much more forgiving. I lost distance on off center hits, but not as much distance as I was losing with the Hogans. On center face contacts, the Pro C's were hands down the best feeling iron in the bunch. Nothing beats the feeling of a forged iron when you hit in the center of the face, and the Pro C's did not disappoint here. Over the course of a few range sessions, I found myself hitting the Pro C's more that my other irons as I just loved the feel and ball flight that I achieved from them when I had good contact. They feel good in my hands,and if I was in the market for a forged cavity back set they would definitely be a serious contender.

The MT Pro DW Design Wedges: The MT Pro DW Design wedges had much tougher competition when it came to what I could produce to test along side it, my beloved Srixon 504 WG wedges. For the test, I had a 54* in the black finish and a 56* in the satin finish. After warming up, I started hitting some wedge shots with the 54* and was quite impressed with the feel and results. The MT Pros feel like a forged wedge should. A nice soft feel with a rewarding click of the face. One of the reasons I love my Srixons is the sole grind and ease of use off of multiple surfaces and grass height, and the MT Pro's are just as versatile. I could open up the face for cut shots, square it up and lower the ball flight a bit, hit it out of divots, and get good contact out of the rough. The 54* MT Pro was matching my Srixon shot for shot with similar results and similar feel. The real test would be the 56*. I should note that I have not had a lot of luck with 56* wedges in the past. Most 56* wedges come with too much bounce in the sole and not enough ground off the back and heel to suit my swing and my game. I was quite surprised when I started hitting the 56* on the short grass at the range. I was getting clean contact without the dreaded "blading" that I normal get with 56* wedges. Like the 54*, I could open up the face and hit cut lobs, square it up and hit a lower trajectory shot, and get good contact out of divots. The 56* was quite impressive.

There is a nice short game area at the Falcon's Fire range that I used to give the wedges their short game tests and bunker work. I worked both the 54* and 56* through a series of chips and pitches from different lies and was quite impressed with the feel and distance control. While they did not quite match up to my Srixons, I would contribute that to the length of time the Srixons have been in my bag and the different lofts being used. A nice surprise was the bunker play of the MT Pro 56*. I am not a great bunker player by any stretch of the imagination, but I was hitting some great bunker shots with the MT Pro 56*. Out of firm wet sand, I could generate some good spin and was again surprised with the versatility of the wedge. As I worked through looser sand, I was still achieving some really good bunker shots and was quite surprised how close I was getting the ball to the hole consistently. The only bunker shot I had problems with was the severe upslope with really loose beach style sand. I really needed to hit a lower lofted club, and would have hit one out on the course, but I wanted to see how it would perform under extreme conditions. I left quite a few in the bunker, but eventually found a way to get them out and on the green. The MT Pro DW design wedges were quite impressive through all the different aspects I tested them through. I did find that I like the black finish feel compared to the stain finish as I felt that the impact feel was just a bit softer. While they are not going to kick my Srixons out of the bag, if I were in the market for a new set of wedges I would seriously consider buying the MT Pro DW design wedges over the Srixons. They are very similar in feel and performance, to me, and the only reasons the Srixons are staying is because I already own them.

In conclusion, I was really impressed with the new line up from MacGregor. The classic looks blended with modern playability and design truly represent a step forward for a company with a long tradition in the game. Both the MacGregor MT Pro C irons and MT Pro DW design wedges are fine products that I feel will compete at the highest level with the other OEM designs.
 

Eracer

No more triple bogies!!
Oct 31, 2005
12,405
8
Great review Tim. As you know, I bought the MT irons, opting for a bit more forgiveness than the Pro-C model. Mine came with the Nippon 950GH shaft which (for me) is far superior to the True Temper offerings I've tried. You are right on about the design of the heads, as they are indeed a nice blend of modern and "old-school" design elements. One of the things I noticed is that, while the heads seem small when framing the ball at address, they are significantly larger than the 845 V-25's I previously played. They "fool the eye" quite nicely. As for performance - I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment. Wonderful on center strikes (or even near-center strikes) and enough feedback to tell me exactly what I did wrong on mediocre hits, without too great a penalty.

The 54º Pro DW wedge I bought is proving to be everything I want in a wedge. Great feel, versatility, and good looks to boot. I was concerned that the 54º model might have too much loft, since I bought it to replace my 52º gap wedge, but oddly, it's proven to be just as long as the 52º it replaced. I suspect the extra 1/2" shaft length makes the difference. I'm hitting the new DW wedge better than any gap wedge I've ever hit (including the Srixon GW) and I'm probably going to buy the 58º model soon. It's going to be tougher still to replace the 56º Srixon; we'll see how that goes.

In short, I think better players who are in the market for a forged cavity-back player's iron would do themselves a great disservice by ignoring the Pro-C clubs. In fact, any player in the market for a premium iron - be they muscleback (Pro-M,) player's cavity-back (Pro-C,) forged GI (MT and the MT Mid,) or SGI (MT OS) - would do well to put MacGregor on their demo list.

I plan on demoing the MacGregor hybrids soon. Everyone here who's been paying attention knows how much I love my Bafflers; for me to even contemplate trying another hybrid speaks volumes about my opinion of MacGregor right now. And no, Dave, they DON"T make an 8-hybrid.)

Too bad MacGregor doesn't get more press. They deserve to be returned to the status they once held as one of the premier club manufacturers.
 
OP
ualtim

ualtim

Carrollton, TX
Supporting Member
Aug 20, 2005
7,779
2,331
Country
United States United States
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I agree, Eracer, the whole new line up from MacGregor is really nice and deserves a bit more publicity. Their new iron line up is quite striking from the blades all the way to super game improvement. The GI irons and Mid Size irons set up beautifully to the eye and do not have that shovel on a stick look. The DW Design wedges are as good as or better than most of the other OEM wedges I have hit.
 

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