50 Word or Less
A no-brainer choice for the good or aspiring player. Offers control and precision in short irons with a little more help in the long irons. Tremendous stock shaft option in DG Pro.
Introduction
We all want to have our cake and eat it, too. In the world of irons, that means we want the looks of a pure player’s iron, minimal offset, thin top lines and soles, and short blade lengths, but without the demands that come with a pure player’s iron. We want a little forgiveness on mishits, and maybe a little help with the long irons, if it’s not too much trouble.
Nike, smart as they are, knows this, so they delivered the VR Forged Pro Combo Irons. Is it really the best of all possible worlds?
Looks
Nike brought together all the best visual elements of a player’s iron in this set. The offset is minimal and the hosel blends very nicely into the leading edge. The top lines start out a little thicker in the 3 iron and gradually get thinner towards the PW. Let me emphasize that this is a small transition. If you look at the 3I and PW separately, you’d probably say that they’re the same size; only when they’re next to each other do you see the difference.
Sound & Feel
The Nike VR Forged Pro Combo delivers on the promise of sweet forged feel. Purely struck shots are rewarded with a soft, crisp impact. When you miss the center, there’s adequate feedback, but not much shock or sting (except when you’re hitting balls in sub 40° weather).
The best, most surprising thing to me was that the split cavities and the pocket cavities felt exactly the same. I was expecting that the pocket cavities would sacrifice some of the solid, forged feel, but the polymer (AKA “shot-making gel”) that fills the cavity allows the long irons to keep the same feel as the short irons.
Performance
Since they are basically two different clubs, I’ll deal with the split cavities (7-PW) and pocket cavities (3-6) separately.
The split cavities perform exactly as you would expect: you get a lot of ball control with a little bit of forgiveness. The ball flights very similarly to other irons in this segment, a nice, piercing, mid-trajectory. You can miss a little bit in any direction and get good results, but these clubs do reward precision.
The pocket cavity long irons are what really make this set special. As promised, they offer a higher trajectory and more forgiveness, something that almost all of us can use in the long irons. Let’s face it, as iron lofts have gotten stronger, long irons have become unplayable for most of us. Whether it’s due to a lack of swing speed or lack of dynamic loft, we don’t hit them high enough to see real distance gaps. All this year I’ve carried a utility iron in place of a 3 or 4 iron for just this reason. Head to head against my utility iron, the Nike 3 iron launched just one degree lower. With the Nike VR Forged Pro Combo set, I could actually carry 3-PW again.
One contributing factor to the excellent performance of the long irons is the stock shaft, the True Temper Dynamic Gold DG Pro. I had a chance to review these shafts a few months ago and was very impressed by how they help boost long iron trajectory without sacrificing short iron control.
Conclusion
The Nike VR Forged Pro Combo is an iron set that any player below a 20 handicap should be considering. It nails the subjective elements with player’s iron looks and soft, solid feel throughout the set. More importantly, it gives players the control they want in the short irons with the forgiveness they need in the long irons.
Price and Specs
The Nike VR Forged Pro Combo set (3-PW) retails for $999.
The stock shaft is the True Temper Dynamic Gold DG Pro in R300, S300, or X100.
Watch the Video
Matt Saternus
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Great review once again…
These are my current gamers with the new Wedges. LOVE LOVE LOVE the DG Pro’s . I thought NOTHING would ever throw my KBS tours out of the bag, these did……
Thank you.
The DG Pros definitely didn’t get the hype that they deserved when they were released, but I think that once people try them they will realize how good they are. Thanks to KBS and Nippon, True Temper is really dialing it up in terms of making shafts that feel great AND perform.
I can’t wait for these to get into stores. They are on the top of my list for new irons.
These look really really clean. I like the sound of more forgiving long irons.
How is the ability to put spin with the shorter irons??
Nate,
They performed like blades – you can spin them a lot if you want, you can also hit lower spinning shots.
Best,
Matt
I trialed these irons with many others and these came shining through. The feel through the set is awesome, and the ball flight is more consistent than my old MP-54s. I don’t know if it is because of the DG Pro shafts. People are saying that the VR Pro Combos are not going to add distance, but they sure don’t hit any shorter than anything else I have hit, but for me, maybe even added a little distance. These things are really fun to hit.
Anyone know the loft specs on these irons?