Turbulators

I would steer you toward the AI150 if that club suits you. I think the X Max is just wrong. A clunky blade style cavity back. Or put it this way, all of the size and offset of a technology club, without the technology. My favorite clubs are straight up blades. I have the P7MB and the BPT. Preference to the P7MB. But I also play AI200. Ping G440. I think the AI200 is a criminally under rated iron. So easy to hit. Goes so far. So much fun. I love it. But the precision of the blades is just not an option with the bigger heads. edited to add - the X Max are smallish for a technology head, so maybe that will suit you. But they are pretty close to the ai150 and I think for both being up-sized vs blade , give me some technology or i will just stay blade.

I have seen quite a few data points on cool clubs that left me scratching my head. These AI200 are one of the sets I play. I have them with the MMT Taper 105s. This shaft is a tad soft for me, but if I focus on tempo, i can play it quite well, and focusing on tempo usually means I shoot well too. 5-A. I like them quite a lot. Nice high launch. Quite consistent. No crazy jumpers. They have a bit of that Callaway round look , and I find I like that much better than the Srixon angular look. Totally personal preference , just what makes you comfortable behind the ball. Shorter blade length, my preference. Only down side is Callaway customer service. Used to be pretty decent, but falling off a lot now it would seem. Sent me an email and a phone number to call. Called it, waited 30 minutes listening to the “high volume of calls” - like they have been saying for the past 10 years - then got a person who said, sorry i will transfer you, this is callaway preowned. And back into the queue. They don’t even know their own internal phone numbers. I think callaway is having some issues. This AI200 is a great club but it does not seem to get as much love as some of the other stuff out there, oddly enough. Maybe the cool clubs channel has had a negative influence there. I’d think they would need to be very careful. If they are publishing data that grossly disadvantages the callaway product due to defective methods , well, I’d not want t be their insurance liability carrier.

The MB is a status club. They stop offering that, then they stop being a serious player, by perception. The cost of the molds. And the cost of distribution and stocking and extra sku units. Sku are expensive to carry. Step back a second and think just a bit - Callaway is all about making money. That is all they want to do, and they would market a silver plated pickle in left hand if it made them money. If they do not offer something ,it is because they do not believe it will make them money. And for anybody, anybody, to think they know more about callaway’s business than callaway does, well that says a lot about the person who believes that.

Probably not going to be able to help much. I just don’t understand the “forgiving” issue. I have a half dozen different sets of irons I play. From P7MB and Apex MB (2024), 925 HM Pro, G440, and these Max. I have to say I hit the blades as consistent if not more so than any of the others. The HM Pro is the longest , by far. And these Max are “nice”. I think maybe it has to do with offset, not sure. Best I can say is they play - like you would expect. Get close to the center and you get a nice ball. Move 10mm out and you get a crap shot. I mean, that’s pretty much how it is for all of them. Sorry I could not offer more.

Don’t know but i am wondering why it matters. If there were a foundry in the US then I’d say ok, let’s look into that. But every thing is forged off shore. And all those forging houses are just as good as they manufacturer specs them to be. (Well, unless you need copper underlay - that was joke btw). So I mean, China, Vietnam, those are your most likely sources. Endo is a company, they own forging plants that are not just in Japan.

I have the xforged max. To my eye they are quite a lot smaller than the APEX DCB and MUCH less offset. I cannot agree with a comparison to the DCB in any way. The DCB rings shades of G440 in my head. That is nothing at all like this max iron. In fact, the Max looks surprisingly tight behind the ball. Really like it.