MacGregor Popular 2-iron Review

I recently discovered a MacGregor Popular 2-iron and decided to give it a go. I'll start off with the pictures.

As you can see, the dimpled face is a major technological advancement. If dimples work for a golf ball, why not a golf club? Also note the seamless transition from hosel to shaft, the product of the "guaranteed hand forged" (as stated on the back of the iron) manufacturing process.

The camera had a hard time focusing in this picture, so you can't see the MacGregor logo on the left with the Popular name in the center. Near the sole of the club is the guarantee of hand forging. We can see here that this club has that classic muscleback look to it, with no cavity in the head at all. In fact, it has the opposite of a cavity and the back is convex!

This shot (again, with poor camera focus) really shows the reason this club is marketed as a "blade". You could probably spread butter with this thing, provided your tetanus shot was up to date. A very thin sole with little bounce means it'll slice right through the turf without even batting an eye.

This picture highlights the minimal offset design of the club, combined with a thin topline, to create a streamlined appearance at address. MacGregor really put their all into the visuals of this club.

First Impressions:

- The stock shaft was a bit stiff, with not much bend to it. I would prefer more options if I were to purchase an iron like this.

- The stock grip as well was terrible. Very slick with no end on it (the end of the shaft was left exposed to the elements). I would recommend regripping for all who purchase these clubs

- An intimidating looking club that was even harder to hit than it looked like. Perimeter weighting is a thing of the future with this baby! Launch it low and watch the worms dive below! This club is best used in the wind, as a mediocre strike will produce a ballflight with a peak height of around 10 feet in the air. A pure strike still only produces around 30 feet of total height.

Overall thoughts:

I would not recommend this club. Between the lack of options for both the grip and the shaft (along with the poor performance of the stock components) and the absolutely unrelenting punishment that it dishes out on a thin shot (tip: don't hit this without a thorough warmup unless your hands like to feel broken) I would say this club is not comparable to others currently available. I've also heard that it's impossible to find a golf shop that keeps them in stock.

We have four big trash barrels full of clubs that people have left at one point or another, including an old set of Titleist blades the pro donated, that we pull out when doing junior group lessons. One kid called up saying his lost his 7-iron and, while I didn't find his club, I found this in the bottom of one of the barrels.

That's awesome! My mom is an antique dealer and gets this sort of stuff once in a while. She got this sweet looking persimmon driver that I really wanted to hit, but the shaft has a split in it right hear the clubhead