First things first, My builder did an amazing job on this build and was instrumental in me even being able to get these as he’s a club ho’ing expert and therefore has an account with every single golf company in the history of mankind! Seriously, thank you sir I appreciate the countless emails, calls and brainstorming. Top notch and I appreciate all of your help. These are absolutely beautiful and the build quality is amazing!!!
Let’s get into the review.
The irons look very nice and very much like a players club. They have a biggish face which makes them appear very easy to hit but the top lines are not huge and the sole is very playable, not huge but not blade like either. Just a very good mix.
The build quality on these clubs is outstanding. Hat tip to Mr. Wishon. When I hit them they feel as good as any iron I’ve hit and I’ve gone through my fair share!
These are built to an 8 iron playing length, 36.5″. After going back and forth a few times I landed on stiff flex UST Mamiya Actionlite shafts. Because these are all .370 parallel tip we tip trimmed them to 6 iron length, yep they are soft stepped 2 clubs, to get them to play more like firm flex. I also went with the No1. 50 Series Pro grips as I’ve fallen in love with them.
The clubs also all were bent to 1.5 degrees flat.
My setup makeup is the following:
***4 iron – 5 iron bent to 21 degrees
5 iron – 24 degrees
6 iron – 28 degrees
7 iron – 32 degrees
8 iron – 36 degrees
9 iron – 40 degrees
PW – 45 degrees
GW – 50 degrees
SW – 55 degrees
***LW – SW bent to 59 degrees
I decided to tear the bandaid off and hit the SW first, as this was my biggest fear in giving the single length irons a go. I consider myself a pretty good wedge player and I was afraid if these were going to give me trouble it was going to be with the wedges as they are longer than what I’m used to.
I couldn’t have been more wrong, distance was right on the money. I hit that SW over and over and was within 5 yards each shot. I decided to try and hit a few chips, I choked down on the club and was happy to see that I could still play my normal shots.
Cue megawatt smile.
I decided to give the 7 iron a go. What I had heard is that the 5 to 7 iron have a different sound to them. They have a higher COR to get more distance and that gives them a bit of a different sound. Those have a bit of a ping to them. It’s not distracting, but if you’re not ready for it it can take you by surprise. I had watched Mark Crossfield’s review on these, so I knew what to expect.
Again, my 7 iron distance was right on the money, still a happy camper!
So the final test was the 4 and 5 irons. Honestly, those clubs were the reason I was so excited to get these. I struggle at times with consistency in those irons and so with high anticipation I took a swing. Same subtle ping, penetrating ball flight and great distance. Normally I hit my 5 iron about 180 when I catch it. The ball flight on the Wishon’s was a bit lower but damn if it didn’t come to rest next to the 200 yard stick. I probably flew it about 190 and got 10 yards of roll.
I’d have to say there is absolutely no distance problems and the height was fine. I went through the rest of my bag and my distances were all correct and my gapping was spot on!
Still have that megawatt smile in my face.
So there you go. That’s my review of my new Sterling Single Length Irons. As you can tell, I’m pretty damn impressed with them. Ball striking is always what I’m looking for and I believe with these I’ll improve my ball striking. Are these for everybody? Maybe, maybe not but I believe they will give me a little something extra and I can use all the help I can get.
Best,
Nick – Chapel Hill, TN