Let me start by being very clear about something. I am not a very good golfer, and will probably never be. My handicap is 14 and I have never been lower than 13. I think that if I played more, practised at all and had more than one lesson every three years I could maybe get down to 11. Anything beyond that is pure fantasy really.
Like many golfers my issue has been consistency. I actually have a pretty good short game by and large but I am capable of hoiking balls to the left and the right without any warning and fat and thin shots could enter my game at any time.
I always used to change my irons every year or so in the pursuit of something better. I am fully aware that the advice to 'save your money and just take a lesson' is probably very wise, and believe me I have tried it, but I am a sucker for marketing and am quite happy to buy into the hype behind the latest clubs in the hope they are a bit better than the last lot.
Just over two years ago the PXG noise was beginning to grow. The philosophy was one that made sense - rather than try and design clubs to hit a retail price-point they were trying to create the best club they could. The billionaire founder, Bob Parsons, was fairly strident in his view that these clubs were the best money could buy and some of the reviews seemed to back that up. The good folk at MyGolfSpy seemed in love and there were many reports on social media eulogising this game-changing equipment. If you want to hear from the man himself this gives you a good idea of how big his thinking is!
This was more than enough for me to decide to give them a go, so on a snowy afternoon in January 2016 I found myself hitting balls into a screen with Scott Gourlay in the south of Edinburgh while his trackman measured my efforts.
Now I should say I have been known to freeze when faced with a trackman and professional swing expert. My body tenses and suddenly all bets are off. Fortunately on this occasion there were no such concerns with Scott. He was quick to put me at ease, let me hit plenty of balls to get loosened up and just had a really nice way about him.
As soon as you hit a PXG iron you know there's something different about it. For the very first time I had an idea what people meant when they talked about the 'butter feel' of a purely struck iron shot. I was immediately convinced this wasn't just marketing talk but something else. After hitting several combinations of shafts we ended on the Accra 80i. Between that and the PXG head we had added eight yards to my 6 iron but more importantly a far more consistent dispersion.
So, two years on what's the verdict? I can say, hand on heart, that I haven't read another iron club review over that time - there's no point as I simply can't imagine how anything could be better. The consistency of the PXGs is the biggest difference to every club I've hit before. The fat and thin shots are virtually eliminated and I've been significantly straightened out. My scoring is now more often than not in the 80s and the pleasure I am getting from the game is a step up from where I was before.
I have added the driving iron that came out last summer to my bag and another wedge. Both clubs have definitely improved those areas of my game. I play a lot of links golf and the PXG driving iron is perfect for getting the ball moving straight and low off the tee and the (questionably named) Sugar Daddy gap wedge is a thing of beauty which gets the ball stopping on the green like I have never seen before.
I don't know anyone who has been for a PXG fitting and hasn't ended up with them in their bags. It really is love at first shot.
Of course, There is absolutely no doubt that these clubs are expensive. For the original 4-PW, GW, SW set I paid over £2,000 - £240 a club - which is clearly a huge amount of money. However, if I had gone for any other make I imagine that I would have already changed my irons by now in the search for something better and that would have no end in sight.
The other companies are trying to get the PXG technology into their clubs but Mr Parsons isn't making it easy for them. Come back to me in another 4 or 5 years and I imagine I will still be hitting the PXG irons. I just need to find a driver now......
No money has exchanged between PXG and UkGolfGuy.com for the writing of this article!
The PXGs look particularly good in a Mackenzie bag!