WRX golfers know that Callaway has produced some truly amazing forged irons throughout its history, but few are as beautiful and rare as the X Forged prototypes that Akshay Bhatia has in his bag. At the Grant Thornton Invitational, we asked Akshay about spotted irons and he mentioned that he had two sets of left-handed rare irons. I endorse this in a recent social media post Johnny Wunder from Callaway said Akshay and Phil Mickelson were the only players with the irons, so we believe Callaway only produced three sets of these irons.
Visually, the irons have a very similar appearance to the X Forged irons available on the Callaway Japan website and the X Forged Star irons we saw on the LPGA Tour. The main difference between Japanese irons and these is the extensive milling on the back of the iron. The entire cavity has milling marks where there are different step patterns, and even the spine “muscle” has vertical milling lines.
We can assume that they started life as forged, hollow heads and are then milled to the specifications that Akshay likes. It’s no secret that Bhatia is a huge equipment fan and loves delving into the equipment he uses on tour, so he likely had some influence on the final look and specifications of the irons. Given the different steps in the cavity, it is possible that Callaway engineers will use them to shift the center of gravity to the optimal location on each iron to ensure precise launch conditions.
The worn leading edge appears to be on the sole to help keep the leading edge down and provide some kicking resistance once the club hits the turf. The rear edge of the sole has large reliefs, thanks to which the stick releases from the joint quickly and without excessive resistance.
We don’t have any official word from Callaway on specifics about the irons or whether they’ll hit retail or just be a tour thing of sorts. But for now, we can only admire the photos and wish we had the set in our own bags!
- Please see the remaining photos from Grant Thornton Invitation 2024
