William L. Coney Blog: First Look: 2017 Callaway Steelhead Pro Irons

Monday, January 23, 2017

First Look: 2017 Callaway Steelhead Pro Irons

By: Tony Covey

Let’s kick this off with a random factoid that may only interest fans of Callaway Golf:

With more than 2x the market share of its nearest competitor, Callaway is currently the #1 Iron Company in Golf. And within that category, the company’s Steelhead XR iron is the #1 selling individual model. And just so we’re clear, there’s none of that bullshit we paid guys on tour to play it baked-in to an otherwise dubious claim. Both metrics are 100% based on actual golfers like us spending our actual money on Callaway irons.

Call it another milestone in the aftermath of Callaway’s 5-year war. Callaway is riding a wave of momentum right now, and I suspect it would like to keep it going - and that fact alone at least partially explains the launch of the new Steelhead Pro iron.

You Don’t Need Me to Explain This

If you’re already familiar with the Steelhead XR, you can pretty much figure out where Steelhead Pro fits. It’s more compact, has a thinner topline, less offset, and all of that appeal to a better player kind of stuff that comes with the Pro/Tour variant of just about every iron ever created.

You know how this works; give up some forgiveness, get some workability.

Oh, and they’re black, which plenty of golfers like.

Why Pro, But Why Now?

The timing of the Steelhead Pro announcement is both obvious and curious.

The obvious part is that PGA Show time again. The entire industry is in Orlando for the show right now, which means everybody needs something new to talk about. And well, Chrome Soft X is so last week, and EPIC - that was so long ago that I l forgot about it and let John Daly talk me into a Vertical Groove driver instead. The point is, Callaway gots to keep it fresh.

The curious part is that Callaway elected not to release the Steelhead Pro in parallel with the standard model last fall. From the consumer perspective, it’s better when golf companies put all of their cards on the table so we can choose from the full catalog.

From the industry perspective, I can understand the need to spread out product launches and vary the cadence. Callaway’s goal is to sustain buzz and keep its products smelling fresh, without resorting to flooding the market with more gear than that market handle, and you know…crippling the whole damn retail industry…again. Lessons learned, right?

So, on balance, we shouldn’t complain too much.

Key Features

Like the regular Steelhead XR, the Steelhead Pro retains the popular Steelhead shape. Other carryover stuff you might be inclined to care about includes:

Bore-through hosel design – a throwback to the original; Callaway says it frees up discretionary weight and helps boost MOI.
Next-generation 360 Facecup – More ball speed, especially when you miss the sweet spot.
Progressive CG Design - Easy-up long irons, workable mid-irons, and lower launching, higher spinning short irons.
Steel-Infused Polyurethane Layer – Absorbs vibrations for better feel, while helping drive the clubhead’s mass lower.

As previously mentioned, the Steelhead Pro features a black PVD finish.

Specs

For those who meticulously agonize over spec sheets, the key details here are that the Steelhead Pro is a degree weaker and quarter-inch shorter throughout the set, both of which serve to justify the stuff Callaway is saying about enhanced control.