Reid Lockhart Irons

[trickyputt]

I bought a set of heads on ebay, cbs, and gave the made clubs to an employee, but noticed how refined they were. I just bought a set of progessives, and notice how fine these are as well. Whats the inside story on what is obviously a company that cares about their irons?

[mvmac]

I don't know how much inside information there is out there, I can't find much about them. Here's their site for more info

http://reidlockhartgolf.com/

[trickyputt]

Thanks for that link. I have some FST 125 shafts going in the heads. I was weighing them on my Ohaus Triple and they run from 122.2g to 127.8g. At first glance the difference seems to be coming from the way they are cut, not wall thickness. I noticed pretty quick that comparing the lightest and heaviest shafts shows a misalignment of the steps, and that tipping from the steps to the cut is necessary to modify that small weight difference. I guess the cone of the shaft moving up or down has caused the weight change.

[trickyputt]

It went well. The worst was shafting to TLT dimensions and figuring out how to trim to lengths like 36.79 inches. I was stressing on the lies also. I am now the proud owner of a 57 degree lie 5 iron. Those RLs adjusted smoothly and have a good working range for bending. And the surface seems to fit well, they didnt act up and get a ugly surface because of the bend like some chrome irons I once had that looked exactly like Cleveland 588 mbs. They have some UST grips now and the irons/wedges have progressive weighting from Around D2 on the Longs to E2 on the wedges. Thats kinda neat.

[1badbadger]

I bought a set of heads on ebay, cbs, and gave the made clubs to an employee, but noticed how refined they were. I just bought a set of progessives, and notice how fine these are as well. Whats the inside story on what is obviously a company that cares about their irons?

Reid Lockhart was started in the mid '90's in San Antonio Texas by Terry Koehler who now owns SCOR Golf and is heading up the new Ben Hogan Golf Co.  Terry was with Hogan prior to starting RL too, and when they moved their operation to Virginia he hired some of the craftsmen from Ft. Worth when he started RL.  They were a niche company that targeted players who were a 12 handicap or lower. It was all high end stuff...the blades and wedges that are currently on their website are the same ones they had back then, but they were more expensive at the time. The other models are more recent. They had a persimmon driver then too.

I know Ben Crenshaw played the irons and I believe the wedges on tour at one point, but I don't recall if they had any other tour players on staff. Koehler is no longer involved, and I think the company is in Florida now.

[trickyputt]

Well the yard has less grass tonight, and this stump on the other side got a few in the eye, but some were short and some long, but that wasnt what was interesting. The balls all landing in a line (roughly tight) from tee to stump (and past) was my most exciting point.

[trickyputt]

I took the RLs for a spin today. The FST 125s did well, though I wouldnt class them with feeling like they were more than metal tubes. But most of the gir attempts landed and stopped which is good for me. I started out with them running a bit after landing, but I usually play regular flex so the stiffs started lower until I warmed up and wailed on them. The heads...well none fell off which is a plus. I have been hitting big old rocketbladez tours...It took me a bit to dust off my blade cap and put it on. Aim small miss small I was saying to myself at address. I had forgotton how tiny blades are. I got back in the groove pretty quick. The lies are flatter than I have experienced because of the TLT measurements I built them to, and I would revert here and there and address the ball to close and hit a fattie. The TLT shaft lengths for me are longer on the short and PW irons, but once I grooved it in, the set came alive. It is the most amazing thing to swing to the ball in such a similiar way each time. The effect trickled up to Driver and down to putter, which I had sized this morning to the TLT specs. New irons,2 birdies, Some of the longest bombs I have ever hit, even this nasty 210 par 3 took my 4 hybrid right in the solar plexus. Pretty pleased with it all. I am spoiled by TM speed pockets though. Ruined for life probably. Having a set of clubs that had my hands in the same place every time is a luxury too. I should have done that 20 sets ago.

[trickyputt]

Second day. No warm up, Just played 9. Two birds though. The consistency of position in the backswing from setup continues to amaze me. My miss is dropping the backswings hands to shoulder level, and the irons punish this immediately and without mercy. Once reminded, even pitches seem psychically directed.

[trickyputt]

The demi-saga continues, and I have had more accurate shots with the 5i than I am accustomed to, and I mean laser lines to the pin, not fades or draws. So a 4°flat 5 iron isnt as horrible as I worried about, however the longer short sticks are giving me fatties here and there, and since the distances arent really different than previous sets, I will probably take all the grips of off and resize to the middle of the three Loft/Lie options I was given for irons. I knew overlength had risks but since I absolutely hate shaft extenders, overlong and trim later was my choice. I will play one or two more rounds with this setup so I can write down the details of shot flight for each iron and add them up. I just get idea that around the bottom of the set I would like shorter shafts.