What you need to know: Bettinardi ventures into the iron category with a pair of offerings. The MB24 irons are a muscleback blade aimed at those with mad skills while the CB24 is a slightly more forgiving iron that promotes a higher launch. Of course, both irons are forged from 1025 carbon steel.
Price/Availability: $1,600 for a set of seven irons, steel shaft. Available for pre-order immediately. On sale by authorized dealers and Bettinardi’s Studio B in Oak Brook, Ill., April 5.
3 Cool Things
Forged with a twist: The MB24 and CB24 are not simple single-piece forgings despite their classic looks. “We’ve always wanted to get into irons, but I always said we didn’t need to rush into it,” said company VP of marketing Sam Bettinardi. “We needed something that was different from everything else that was out there.
The main point of differentiation is the use of high-density tungsten and military-grade ceramic matrix composite within the forged carbon-steel head that help optimize CG positions as well as boost moment of inertia.
“We didn’t really want to create a game-improvement set, but we wanted to take those philosophies from a game-improvement set, namely a lower center of gravity in your longer irons and manipulate the center of gravity along the X axis and along the Y axis on the face to produce optimized results in terms of launch angle and spin,” said Ryan Petzke, head of engineering for Bettinardi. “We also designed a higher center of gravity in our pitching wedge and scoring irons to create a little bit of additional spin.”
“When we started prototyping and we got these heads in, we hit the irons and we all kind of giggled and smirked and looked at each other going, you know, holy smokes,” said Bettinardi.
Plenty of muscle: Both the MB24 and CB24 feature a muscle in the back of the club that shifts progressively throughout the set, ever so slightly shifting from heelward to toeward as you move down the set, albeit in slightly different ways depending on the model.
“Bob’s [company founder Bob Bettinardi] an 8-handicap and I’m a plus-2 and those are two very different golfers with different opinions of what they prefer and that’s really how we ended up with the two designs,” said Sam Bettinardi.
All about you: The CB24 will be available in right-handed and left-handed options, and both models will offer 24 shaft and 18 grip options.
Additionally, those perhaps leery of going to a fitter several hours away or plunking down $1,600 for a set without giving them a full workout will have the ability through the company’s website to order a single iron in order to test it at their convenience.
“I think there’s a lot to be excited about here from the consumer side, but I want to temper that enthusiasm and make sure golfers get the right specs,” said Bettinardi. “We have a loyal customer base built on quality products and we want to maintain that legacy.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
