AP3 was inspired by the development of Titleist Concept C16 irons, which were about adding distance and forgiveness into a player preferred, smaller footprint.
It should still have plenty of forgiveness with an average of 84.9 grams of tungsten per head, placed low and in the toe of the long and mid irons.
Titleist 718 AP3 irons – The results
I hit this iron as part of my 718 fitting and really loved the looks, sound and feel.
It’s not intimidating at all and will suit players of all abilities. Tour players are using it, mid-high handicappers could use it.
I could use it but during my fitting there was a bit of a drop off in carry on my not so good strikes compared to what I was seeing with the AP1.
Even in the shorter irons, I just felt like I was sacrificing a bit of needed forgiveness.
Titleist 718 AP3 irons – NCG verdict
Maybe on a different day I could have got fitted into these but despite me preferring the looks of these to AP1, the performance just wasn’t quite as good for me.
My advice to anyone would be to hit every single iron in the 718 range and let a fitter guide you into the right set – whether that be a split set or just the one model.
At £150 per iron, you don’t want to be making any expensive mistakes.
I’ll be really interested to see how popular this iron will be. The fact that it’s new will create interest in itself.
I suspect there will be a lot of people out there currently using AP2 that probably should be using AP3.
Yes you’ll get that lovely forged feel from AP2 but it really is a compact looking iron. And if you’ve got tour players opting for AP3 instead of AP2 then I think that feel you everything you need to know.
Details
SRP: £150/£175 per club (steel/graphite)
Available irons: 3-P & 48˚
Specs:
Shafts: True Temper AMT Red, Black, White (steel)
Mitsubishi MRC Tensei Red (graphite)
On sale: September 29, 2017.
More information can be found on the Titleist website.
