Another beginner...

[David in FL]

690cb's are a great club, but not one that I'd recommend for a beginnger.

[Mozgolf]

Would look around at the likes of Amp Cell, Adams Super S or Nike VRS they can be had new for $299, and are GI rather than SGI clubs and seem to fit most of your requirements. Most on-line places are doing them for those prices. Wilson Ci11 can be had for about $250 and could easily be played down to a single digit handicap without being to tough for a beginner

[dave s]

To the OP:  You sound more concerned with what your irons say on the back of the blade and how someone might judge you IF they look at your bag.  Not the right buying decisions for your iron set.

As others have indicated, go to a pro shop, (or a Dicks, Golf Galaxy, Golf Course, etc.) and hit a bunch of different iron brands.  Pay NO ATTENTION to what they say, just how they feel and perform.  Good chance you'll end up with something that (heaven forbid) says Mizuno or Ping on the back of the blade!  Titleist irons may be the worst-performing of the bunch!  You just don't know until you go through a good demo.

dave

[gophinmedic]

To the OP:  You sound more concerned with what your irons say on the back of the blade and how someone might judge you IF they look at your bag.  Not the right buying decisions for your iron set. As others have indicated, go to a pro shop, (or a Dicks, Golf Galaxy, Golf Course, etc.) and hit a bunch of different iron brands.  Pay NO ATTENTION to what they say, just how they feel and perform.  Good chance you'll end up with something that (heaven forbid) says Mizuno or Ping on the back of the blade!  Titleist irons may be the worst-performing of the bunch!  You just don't know until you go through a good demo. dave

Absolutely. I just went looking for a new 3 wood. Hit a callaway, Adams, TM, Nike and nickent. The nickent ended up being the one that felt right, had the right launch angek for me and just happens to be the cheapest.

[jscomp]

If you can do without the "prestige" of Titleist, Golfsmith's own cavity-backed and blade forged irons pop up on eBay. They were called Professional Grind (and later Pro Forged, I think). PHENOMENAL clubs. People with the prestigious name brand stuff often gave me complements on them. I still kick myself for selling them.

[Cufftofist]

I dont need the prestige, and feel that by me using that word, I painted a certain picture. Havent heard of the Golfsmith clubs but Ill check them out. Thanks.

[oughtoh]

I was down the hill from where we live today so found a Dick's and took my daughter there to hit balls with different clubs. They only had one set of girls clubs, rocketballz. She hit them and then she also hit mens steel shaft speedbladez. The speebladez were way to heavy for her, but she did hit them ok. When she hit the rocketbladez she turned and looked at me and smiled. She said what a difference from her Acuity clubs. If you want any different clubs at Dicks you have to special order them, which means you can't hit with them before you order. She wanted to hit the rocketbladez. To make things worse, their machine was broken, so they could not even tell you the stats on the hits.

Ed

[dwade247]

I don't know if you are checking this thread still, but I would say get whatever you like. Whether you like a SGI club cause it is "supposed" to help you play better or you like a Titleist blade cause they are cool or whatever. This game is hard no matter what club you use so I think you may as well feel like a bada** while you are hacking away. I find that when I'm hitting good I can hit any iron and when I'm hitting bad I can't hit anything.

I also think shopping for used clubs is fun and I have liked a lot of used iron sets for <300$ a lot more than some of the new sets for that same price by TM, Nike, Adams, etc.

All that being said, I can't allow myself to spend money on something I don't really need so I am still gaming my box set irons from MC Sports. By the way they are the TREND brand and I have had them for 8+ years and only the driver broke this past season. So not all the box sets are poorly built. Mine actually have Apollo shafts, which are not the best but at least they are "name-brand" shafts.

Remember golf is a sport. I think people on these sites can get a bit too caught up in the "science" such as club fitting for example. Is every shot going to be made from a flat lie with lush grass right at the level of your feet? I doubt it. You are going to have to make adaptations to your swing on the  course so I wouldn't get to caught up in whether or not you are 1* off on your lie angles. Just grab a club and get athletic.

And don't worry about any clubs being above your level. Until someone starts paying you to shoot low scores I would just play whatever irons make the game the most fun for you. For example, once I can justify spending money on irons I am going to get myself some mizuno blades that are way above my level. But who cares whether I shoot an 85 or 95? Not me cause as lame as it is I believe I will feel awesome when I hit a few pure shots with some sweet irons.

[Cufftofist]

Really appreciate the comment DWADE247, I think that is a golden ticket response...and not because It lends me more towards Titleist but that it resonates individuality!

not reddit but have an upvote anyway

[BENtSwing]

I 2nd DWADE's response. In fact, I'd say get the damn Titleist CB's! I started in April '13 and bought big chunky Callaway SGI irons, because that's what I thought I was supposed to get. I didn't like ANY of the SGI clubs. They did their job I suppose, but after I really started focusing on my swing, I realized they provided zero feedback, especially off mats. I wish I would have just bought better clubs from the start. Like DWADE said, this game is hard regardless of what club you are hitting. Buying "better players'" irons, if anything, will just give you motivation to learn to hit them properly. I truly believe that golf brands make "clubs for beginners" so that they will have to buy another set when they improve a little. Get on Ebay, be picky, and get some badass AP2s or CB's. Have fun bro!

[Bad-Frog]

Hmmmmm, I'll throw in a little different approach for you to consider... Judging from your posts, you prefer the idea of swinging a "players" iron with the visual aspect of a more compact head and thinner top line as well as the feel aspect of good feedback when you strike the ball. Nothing wrong with that at all! Lots of people learned to play golf swinging a hand-me-down set of Wilson, MacGregor, Spalding, etc blade or muscle back irons. Some of these old irons are fantastic clubs and can be had for a song! Depending on your local resources (Goodwill, thrifts, pawn shops, Craigslist, etc), you might think about grabbing a set like this. Yes, they have a smaller "sweet spot" and force you to be a more accurate ball striker but that ain't a bad thing as long as it doesn't discourage a person. What this approach does is gets a set of irons in your hands for absolute minimal cost. The irons are similar in style to what you are looking for and will give you something to work with as you develop your swing as well as helping you develop a more "educated" opinion on what you like while you search for a more expensive set of clubs. And once that search is over and you're gaming some $200+ irons, then you also have a knock around set of clubs. Not the right approach for everyone, but something to consider.

[cooke119]

I was looking at the AP1s when the salesmen at Golfsmith had me try the Cobra AMP Cell irons. I really liked them, better feel then the AP1s. I purchased a new set on Ebay for half the price of the AP1s. I'm very happy with them. I'm not a Cobra salesmen but you may want to give them a try, you may like them.