Once in a while as an equipment reviewer, something lands on the doorstep that unexpectedly grabs your attention, and that was the case with the Eleven Golf hybrid irons that arrived with me over the Christmas period.
Reading into the ethos of the company, it seems that Eleven Golf is on a mission to make the game as easy as possible for as many people as possible, and it believes it has a product that can compete with the very best golf irons. The fact is, there are a great many golfers out there that struggle with their irons. The narrow soles demand a certain precision of strike, and there is only so much that can be done with CG location to help those who struggle getting the ball airborne as easily as they would like. That is what the hybrid iron from Eleven Golf aims to assist with…
With hybrid heads available from 3 all the way down to pitching wedge, these clubs aim to circumnavigate any issues you might be having with your irons. The lack of hosel socket will also very much appeal to those of you prone to the odd shank here and there!
In terms of the looks, from a shelf appeal point of view, it would be fair to say that they are pretty minimalist. An all black, gloss head is only interrupted with the Eleven logo on the sole, along with the relevant number of hybrid iron, and the loft in very small font. I have to say I really like this aesthetic. All too often, even the best game improvement irons can be somewhat patronising in their appearance, with overly flashy colour schemes and unnecessary futuristic graphics, but not so with Eleven.
The look down behind the ball is an interesting story. The 3 down to around the 6 iron is a visual you will be familiar with if you have used any of the best hybrids in the past, but from 7 down to pitching wedge, it is most certainly unusual! That’s not to say unpleasant, it is just a shock to the system to see what is essentially a hybrid behind the ball, with 42 degrees of loft looking back at you! The shock did pass though, and I soon got used to the loft. With excellent proportions, nice shaping and an extremely square sitting head, I was looking forward to my first few swipes…
Performance of the Eleven hybrid irons was genuinely excellent. Throughout the bag, the ease of use was what stood out to me the most. Due to the hollow body hybrid construction, the loss of ball speed on mishits was very minimal, not to mention the improved feel. All of you will be familiar with the unpleasant harsh sensation in your hands from a severely mis struck iron shot, but these impacts were so much less punished from a feel perspective with the Eleven hybrid iron.
The ease of launch with these hybrid irons is another standout point. If you are a player who struggles to get the ball to a satisfactory peak height with your irons then these should very much be on your radar. When you couple the high launch angle with some impressive ball speeds, distance will inevitably increase, and that is what happened with me. For context, my normal 7 iron peak height and carry are around 97 feet and 174 yards, and with the Eleven hybrid 7 iron, this increased to 126 feet and 182 yards on a Trackman 4 launch monitor.
The Eleven hybrid irons are made up of some very high end components. The KBS Tour Graphite Iron shafts are available in multiple flexes and the G-Rip grips feel tacky and durable.
One of the few negative points I found during testing was the lack of workability. My hunch is that because the ball is that bit quicker off the face than with a conventional iron, it has fractionally less purchase to facilitate much fade or draw and the results were very minimal curvature. Whilst, as a PGA Professional who likes to shape the ball, I am highlighting that as a negative, it will likely be music to some peoples ears! For the majority of players that these hybrid irons are aimed at, that will actually be a very positive thing.
Turf interaction is another area the Eleven hybrid iron performs extremely well. Because of the wider sole design than a standard iron, any slightly fat or heavy shots I hit were punished a lot less severely than with my normal irons as there is significantly less ‘dig’ to the hybrid sole.
I was genuinely impressed with the Eleven hybrid irons. Anyone who is looking for exceptional ease of use, a higher ball flight and a ball speed boost should seriously consider these clubs. If you struggle with your irons, whether that be with strike, carry distance or stopping power, there is most definitely an easier way here. They also come with nice, neat individually embroidered headcovers to stop any marking up.
Eleven Golf is a direct to consumer brand so purchases are made from their website, but what I do like is the option to just purchase a single hybrid iron so you can test the performance benefits for yourself before committing to a full set.
Single hybrid irons will set you back $114.79/£89.99, which I think represents excellent value at this performance level, and full sets are priced at $567.63/£445.00 and $867.39/£680.00 depending on set composition. Shipping is available worldwide.
