Are you frustrated with the inflating price-tags of modern day golf clubs from major golf brands? Do you think new golfers to the game are being priced out?
Well this was the opinion of Ryan Atha, using his experience working at a local pro shop in Scotland. He recognised the challenges golfers faced when buying new clubs: high costs and a complicated buying process and in 2019. In an attempt to change this trend, he took matters into his own hands and founded Caley Golf.
Caley irons are designed to give golfers the option of a high-quality set, without the price tag we tend to see on the big brands, a business model not too dissimilar to that of Takomo.
Being direct-to-consumer, the golfer needs to know what type of iron they're looking for however as there’s no option for a fitting before buying them, apart from a few specification choices online.
That being said, at £499 for a full set, not to mention the great looks, the Caley 01 irons certainly caught our eye and I couldn’t wait to put these to the test on-course.
Who Is It Aimed At?
I think these could be a win for the more budget-conscience golfers, maybe a beginner or someone that is looking for a new set but knows they're aren't going to play too much over the year and isn't interested in the full custom fitting process.
If you’re in the mid to high handicap range, looking for a set of irons that are forgiving, very clean and premium looking without having the usual big brand price tag attached to them, then the Caley 01 irons could be the ones for you.
The Tech
These irons were developed by a PGA professional who felt as though most modern golf clubs are priced unreasonably, and that the overall buying process was too complicated. Because of this, he wanted to build his own brand of premium golf clubs, without the premium price tag. The Caley 01 Irons feature the following:
Each club in the set features a hollow construction, allowing for a larger clubface and increased forgiveness on off-centre hits.
The ultra-thin face provides exceptional ball speed and distance while the hollow-body design promotes a high launch and soft landing.
The sleek, modern design is sure to turn heads on the course. Caley list the performance key performance benefits as: explosive distance, extreme forgiveness, high launch, spin control and a soft feel.
Caley 01 Irons Review
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Looks
In terms of looks, I think the Caley irons have hit the nail on the head trying to get that overall premium finish to them. The only details we see are the tiny ‘01’, Caley ‘X’ on the back of the club, and ‘CALEY’ down the hosel. I personally really like this very clean overall look and would describe them as almost a thicker, more rounded version of a TaylorMade P790 iron.
Since these irons are designed for mid-to-high handicap golfers they do have a slightly thicker top line at address, as we would expect. Although this isn’t really my preference when it comes to irons, I think they’re great to add a bit of confidence stood over the ball especially on the longer end of the set, which is exactly what is needed for the handicap range being targeted by the Caley 01 irons.
Feel
I was really enjoying using these clubs out on the course. The feel was great when I produced a good strike, a lot of the time, I stood over the ball with confidence at being able to get the ball close. I did struggle slightly with the longer irons, especially trying to hit them well from a driving range matt, as even when I hit it well it felt as though I’d slightly thinned the shot.
I noticed this sometimes out on the course too, but only on the longer irons. What I found strange however was that it never seemed to correlate to a bad outcome with the actual shot, just a slight thin feel at impact...
When using wedges from a set of irons for more delicate shots around the green, I don’t expect too much in terms of feel and control as we’ve not got the same technology that we see in specialist wedges. Around the greens I felt as though the irons did come off a bit hot and didn’t have much spin, but I was never expecting that from the pitching wedge in this set, so its not something I can mark the Caley irons down for - you have to be realistic.
On-Course Performance
On the course, I felt good speed using the irons off the tee but struggled to get much spin from the Caley wedge around the greens with the shorter shots. Having said that, I did feel more control on the longer pitches in to greens which was good to see.
The Data
To get the numbers for the Caley 01 irons we took them down to the St Andrews Links Golf Academy to put them head-to-head with my Titleist T150 irons. And if I’m honest, what we found was slightly confusing more than anything else...
Looking at my 8-iron, I was seeing an average carry of 148 yards, which seemed tiny compared to the Caley 8-iron flying a very impressive 158. However, moving up to the 6-iron saw my T150 going only 3 yards further on the carry at 164 yards compared to Caley’s 161. When looking at a higher end set of irons, you expect the gapping to be very consistent but unfortunately it was an area in which the Caley irons fell down slightly on.
One of the main drawbacks (but reasons these irons come at such a low-price tag) is that they’re direct-to-consumer, meaning that there’s no custom fitting process, or option to test them out before purchasing them. This lack of personalisation could be one of the reasons why the gapping wasn’t great with the Caley irons so bear in mind if you're looking for real precision in your game.
Caley 01 Irons Verdict
Costing only £449 for a full set from PW to 4 iron and considering how well they performed, as well as their looks and feel, I think you’d be struggling to find an iron set that’s much higher value for money than the Caley 01 irons. Considering we see iron sets in the market at up to 3x the cost of these, I think its safe to say the value for money of the Caley irons is pretty much exceptional.
If you’re in the mid to high handicap range, looking for a set of irons that are forgiving, very clean and premium looking without having the usual big brand price tag attached to them, then the Caley 01 irons could be the ones for you.
I went into this review almost hoping that these irons would be best suited to me, because they're the exact type of set that I would like to use if I could, and I just love the story of how they have come to life too!
Would I Use Them?
The Caley 01 irons aren’t designed for me as a golfer. That said, I was really impressed with the performance of the irons and wouldn’t feel at a huge disadvantage having them in the bag despite being the wrong model and not custom fitted to me.
However I can absolutely see these being a great set of irons for those mid-to-high handicap players who don’t want to break the bank investing in a new set - if you're new to the game, these are a no brainer to have on your testing list!
Caley 01 Irons Pros and Cons
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