The Return of Ben Hogan Golf

At one time, it was hard to beat a set of Ben Hogan irons. For the better player, they had it all; the company offered a sleek blade that was forged out of soft carbon steel and offered feel that many felt was unmatched by any other manufacturer. Then the company got sold. And then sold again. And again; until finally in the mid 2000s, clubs with the Ben Hogan name all disappeared. Now the company is owned by Eidolon Golf. Readers of this site might recognize the name as the company that owns Scor Golf.

Scor is the maker of the unique 4161 wedges, which offer every loft from 41 degrees to 61 degrees with their V sole. Their thoughts are that short irons are more like wedges and less like irons and should be designed as such. Some of the ideas found on the Scor Wedges are found on the new Ben Hogan irons and wedges, which promise to be the best feeling, most consistent and most responsive clubs you can put in your bag.

While some aspects of the old Ben Hogan company are gone (such as the Apex name), the dedication to producing great feeling clubs remain. Enter the Ft. Worth 15 irons. The clubs are forged from 1025 Carbon Steel and feature progressive weighting. The company says that each club as a precise Center of Gravity location giving them the ultimate performance and and control. The company is also claiming these to be the most accurate Hogans ever created. At first glance, the club looks almost like any other blade, however there is perimeter weighting there. Mass is distributed behind the primary hitting area of the face to give increased performance on off-center hits; however with the design of the club, you still get something much more traditional looking.

Coming from the same company that produces Scor wedges, it shouldn’t be a surprise that these irons feature the company’s V Sole technology. To sum it up quickly, the V Sole features high bounce at the leading edge and low bounce at the trailing edge forming a V. The company says that this gives golfers more flexibility. Each club in the set features the V Sole, but the exact amount of leading edge bounce and trailing edge bounce varies from club to club. Oh yeah, there are a lot of clubs, and I mean A LOT. Unlike the traditional set of irons which feature 8 clubs, or maybe 10 if there is a 2 iron and GW also available, the Ft. Worth 15 irons have 28 different clubs available. Like the Scor 4161 wedges which are available in every loft from 41° to 61°, these irons are available in every loft from 20° to 47°, and unlike traditional irons, the new Hogans have the loft stamped on the club instead of the club number. With these, you no longer have a 6 iron or PW or whatever, but instead at 37° or a 46°. The lower lofted clubs feature 10° leading edge bounce and 2° tailing edge bounce. As the lofts move up, so do the bounce numbers. The highest lofted clubs feature bounce of 18° and 4°.

In addition to irons, are the new TK15 wedges, which appear just to be a continuation of the irons. Like the irons, they are forged from 1025 Carbon Steel and feature the same V Sole. The wedges also have loft specific weighting, and the clubs have a precision milled face. Like the irons, there are a lot of available loft options. The irons left off at 47°, and 48° is where the the wedges pick up, offering everything up to a 63° wedge. The amount of bounce also continues to rise as the lofts increase, ending up at a whopping 35° of leading edge bounce with 6° of trailing edge bounce.

Both the irons and wedges will be available with either steel shafts (KBS Tour V or KBS Tour 90) or graphite shafts (UST Mamiya Recoil). The clubs are set with an early April release date. Steel shafted clubs will run $149 each while graphite versions come in at $169.