The other day when the new Egg line demo clubs arrived at my house from PRGR, you can imagine how excited I was to try the new Egg Spoon. It turns out though, of the two clubs that I have here for testing, the new Egg Forged Iron which is released on August 28th may have me surprised the most.  The original Egg and Egg II irons were undoubtedly great performers, among the longest and most forgiving irons available in Japan, however their design and feel were hit and miss with better players. The all maraging Egg and Egg II really ended up appealing to higher handicapper and slower swing golfers.

In comes the new Egg Forged Iron, a specially designed 2 piece iron forged and produced by Endo for PRGR (the wedges in the set are 1 piece forgings) to offer Egg like performance in a smaller forged package. It is undeniably Egg like in it's shape but upon closer inspection, the S20C iron is indeed smaller all around and much more appealing to the eyes.

Click on read more to continue the Egg Forged Iron review!

Endo forged for the experience golfer...

Pro Gear has designed the Egg Forged with the experienced golfer in mind. They note that it targets senior golfers who have been playing for years and are now looking for more forgiveness and distance yet still want to play a forged iron providing top notch feel as well as a nice setup.  The entire Egg series concept had seniors and slower swinging golfers in mind when it first launched over 2 years ago, however as many discovered, the Egg clubs performed for any player looking for maximum distance and performance. The new Egg Forged has a similar design concept to the original Egg with a scooped out cavity and while considered a large pocket cavity compared to most irons, it is much smaller than the previous models. The body of the Egg Forged is soft premium S20C then laser welded with a specially designed variable thickness high strength SAP10 face. The face creates high ball speeds thanks to it's thicker center and sweet spot area matched with thinner outer face which creates the slingshot effect like many drivers today.  The wedges as I mentioned earlier are all 1 piece S20C forgings for bite and feel.

Forgiving grind and strong lofts...

PRGR knowing that the sole of the Egg Forged Iron is not nearly as wide as the hybrid like Egg and Egg II, still wanted to maintain forgiveness as they realized a forgiving grind helps players make more pure impact. The sole features leading and trailing edge relief for all swing types and lie conditions and is wide enough to help prevent digging. Another key aspect of the Egg Forged performance is the very strong lofts just like the previous Egg models. The Egg Forged Irons have the strongest lofts of any forged iron I have ever tried with a 23* 5 iron progressing up to a 40* PW.  Because of these lofts, there are 3 forged wedges, an AW 45*, AS 51* and SW 56* also available as options.

Interestingly, PRGR's stock offerings with the Egg Forged are more limited with only 65g graphite in M-40 and M-43 as standard as well as lightweight steel around 100g in M-40 and M-43 as a custom order. These two flexes encompass approximately 88-102mph swingers depending on swing style, though I am hoping that PRGR will offer more custom options for even slower swingers under 88mph and those faster swingers in the 105+ range.

Nice finish and face shape...

The Egg Forged features a mirror sole which I don't particularly care for but I guess its okay since its not really seen at address. The rest of the iron is finished in a dark nickel satin which actually looks pretty good. Unlike the shallow profile of previous Egg Iron faces, the forged model features a traditional iron face shape which I do like.

Penetrating distance champ...

Performance wise this is a forged iron on steroids. It has rather good feel, definitely forged soft but a bit different most likely due to the cavity and face material. Where it really shines is after a pure hit the Egg Forged produces a rather penetrating trajectory with very good distance, actually it even does this on miss hits.  I was hitting the 7 iron around 155-160 while my playing partner hit it over 170.  I'm used to playing strong lofted irons and the Egg hits the ball a full club longer than my current XXIO.  I found the iron to be very forgiving and easy to pure right in the sweet spot.  The clubs are on the slightly heavier side compared to say ONOFF, ViQ or XXIO average golfer models but for a player like myself who sometimes pulls the ball due to a quick tempo and transition, the extra weight actually helped straighten my shots out.  The high MOI of the iron allows for off center hits to still feel pretty good and go pretty far, so the Egg Forged is definitely forgiving.

Nice looking at address...

One thing to note with the previous Egg models is that some better players did not like the way it set up at address. Essentially the previous models were like a set of hybrid clubs, quite large at address with the cavity in full view. the new Egg Forged has a smaller top line and overall top view and the cavity is just barely visible in the long and mid irons but in no ways distracting. The smaller head frames the ball well and the contrast with the slightly darker finish is very eye pleasing.  Best of all, for an iron of this style and design, the offset is considered rather minimal bordering on a straight neck.

I like it.

I have to admit I really like this iron and I am getting the twitch to switch out my very reliable XXIO gamers which also are ultra forgiving and long. I have a soft spot for forged irons and for PRGR as I just love their club design and performance. It's still a month until they are released so I have time to contemplate a change. Nice looks at address, very forgiving grind and on miss hits and very good feel. Mid to higher handicappers and even lower handicappers wanting more forgiveness and distance can consider this iron as it has enough forgiveness for the improving player and enough feel and control for the better player. One negative I must note though is the price as it's higher than I would have liked. The Egg line has always been higher priced as it focuses on a premium customer sector for premium design performance but I can only imagine how much better the Egg clubs would all sell if the price came down a bit (or at least the US dollar recovered to a respectable range). One thing is for certain, the clubs perform regardless of price and if you're willing to pay to give them a shot, like the Egg Spoon, most likely you won't be disappointed.

[View with PicLens]