Can Vice Golf Fit You For Irons And Wedges Online?

Welcome to Part Two of my exploration of Vice Golf’s online fitting system. A few weeks ago, I walked you through the steps of Vice’s putter and ball fitting interfaces.

This time around, things get a little more complicated as I go through the online fitting process for irons and wedges.

We will see if Vice Golf’s online fitting can produce an accurate club fitting without seeing me hit a ball or directly recording my swing data.

Is that really possible?

Naturally, I also had to play around with the customization options. Let’s just say that Crockett and Tubbs would appreciate my final build.

Vice Golf / HIO’s fitting database

Before we dive into the fitting details, let’s spend a moment reviewing the part of the fitting that we don’t see. After you answer the questions about your swing on the Vice Golf site, your answers are run through the HIO fitting database. HIO is Europe’s premier brand-agnostic club fitter. Their fitting database includes data from thousands of fittings. 

Your answers are fed into the HIO database and it instantly spits out your club recipe.

The Vice fitting process doesn’t stop there. Like with the putters, you can also schedule a free 30-minute phone consultation with a fitter to fine-tune your fit.

Answer questions and get your fitting

I consider myself an average iron player. Not super long nor pinpoint accurate but my irons usually don’t get me into trouble. My driver has the honor of routinely destroying my scorecard.

Anyway, I’ve done iron fittings in the past so I sort of know what my playing specs should be for irons.

At least I thought I did.

As it turned out, Vice had some surprises for me.

Questions and answers about Dave’s iron play

What’s your gender? – Male What’s your height? 5’11”-6’1” What is your average score per round? – 82-90 Do you prefer more forgiving or more sporty looking irons? More forgiving irons How far do you hit your iron 7 (carry)? – 140-155 What are you struggling the most with your irons? Hitting it too short and struggling with accuracy Which type of shafts do you prefer in your irons? – Graphite  Have you ever thought about the ideal shaft weight for your irons? – Yes, I prefer heavier shafts to balance the club. Do you tend to miss shots toward a certain side? More bias to right of target How about the launch with your irons? Could launch lower What type of grip do you prefer? Rubber Which grip size do you currently play with? Standard +2 extra tape

After processing my answers, the Vice/HIO database analysis determined that I should be playing the VGI02 irons, 5-SW, 60-gram graphite A flex shaft, 0.5-inch long, one degree strong and 0.5 a degree upright.

Most of what the computer kicked back to me was about what I expected but the A-flex shaft recommendation was a surprise. I’m not the longest hitter but I didn’t think that I had moved into the A-flex part of my career just yet.

Maybe there is more gray in my beard than I thought …

If I was doing this fitting just on the computer, I probably would have stopped there. How could an A-flex shaft be the correct fit unless there is something different about Vice shafts?

Thankfully, I had a consultation with the fitter scheduled so that I could ask some questions about the Vice Golf graphite shafts.

Before we get to that consultation, let’s look at my wedge answers and initial fitting since I chatted with the Vice fitter about wedges and irons.

Questions and answers about Dave’s wedge play

What’s your gender? Male What’s your height? 5’11”-6’1” What is your average score per round? 82-90 On average, how far do you hit your PW (carry)? 91-110 Which type of shafts do you prefer in your wedges? Graphite  Have you ever thought about the ideal shaft weight for your wedges? Yes, I prefer heavier shafts to balance the club. Do you tend to miss shots toward a certain side? More to the right of the target How about the launch with your wedges? Could launch lower What type of grip do you prefer? Rubber Which grip size do you currently play with? Standard +2 extra tape

It’s not too surprising that the wedge fitting results were similar to the iron results. After answering the questions, I got fitted into the VGW01 head with the same shaft and bend specs as the irons.

I took that as a good sign. It would be odd if my similar answers resulted in a totally different build recommendation for the wedges than the irons. 

Chatting with a Vice Golf fitting specialist

I thought both the iron and the wedge recommendations were fairly close to what I would play but, as I mentioned, the shaft recommendation raised some concerns.

That was the first thing I asked the Vice fitter about.

In terms of the flex, the fitter told me the Vice Golf graphite shafts play stiffer. Having experienced a similar thing with SteelFiber shafts, this made sense to me.

I just had to tell my ego that they are regular flex in spirit.

My other concern was the weight of the shafts. Historically, my timing turns to garbage when I hit light shafts. Sixty grams is great for my driver but not for my irons. I currently have 75-gram Recoil Dart shafts in my irons. They launch a little high but are easy to control.

Light shafts in my wedges have proven to be a disaster for my short game.

With this in mind, my fitter changed the shaft recommendation to the Whiz 75-gram regular shaft, soft-stepped to keep the A-flex. For the wedges, he did the same but with the Whiz 95-gram shaft.

After our discussion, he also tweaked the bend profile a bit. Bumping up the lie angle to +1° in the irons and +2° in the wedges. The loft was set back to standard since the irons are long enough without being a degree strong.

Customizing the Vice Golf irons and wedges

Once you have your build all set, you have the option to customize the paint and other cosmetic aspects. If you’re familiar with my putter preferences, you know I had to add a little pop to my irons and wedges.

Get ready. Some of you are going to hate these but I think they turned out amazing.

Dave’s Miami Vice Golf VGI02 irons and VGW01

You’ve got to know the rules before you can break ’em. Otherwise, it’s no fun. (Sonny Crockett, Miami)

Somehow, my customization muse took me to South Florida circa 1985. Maybe I shouldn’t have rolled up the sleeves on my linen sport coat when I sat down at the keyboard to answer the fitting questions.

Regardless, once I saw the white shaft and baby blue ferrule options, adding splashes of pink became mandatory. I finished things up with a neon-pink Vice grip and then patiently waited for the clubs to get from Germany to California.

When they arrived, I couldn’t have been happier. I love how they turned out. I think that the paint scheme makes the irons pop and it complements the already great look of the irons and wedges.

How cool is that topographic cavity engraving on the VGI02s?

Vice didn’t have to add that aesthetic element but doing so makes the irons stand out from other hollow-construction irons.

As far as looks go, these are a 10/10 for this beholder.

Playing the Vice Golf VGI02 irons and VGW01 wedges

Goofing around with color is fun and all but the whole point of this project was to get a set of irons that would fit my game.

As nice as they looked, I couldn’t wait to get them dirty and compare them head-to-head to my PING G440 gamers.

Feel

The feel and feedback from the VGI01 irons is excellent. The explosive squish when you pure a shot is so satisfying. Should you miss-strike a ball, the dead retort at impact will make you want to be a better person.

The club lets you know where on the face you hit the ball, a characteristic not always found with hollow game-improvement irons.

Durability

Maybe durability is an odd thing to talk about with irons but I was curious as to how these would hold up during play and practice. At $499 for a base VGI02 set, these are way less expensive than most other irons.

Durability is definitely not an issue with the Vice Golf irons or wedges. Somehow, Vice Golf was able to make these inexpensive without making them cheap.

So far, range mat scratches and on-course marks vanish with the wipe of a moist towel. Thousands of range balls later, the irons and wedges still look like they just came out of the box.

Play

How did they play? In a word, interesting. I’m not using interesting in the “may you live in interesting times” cursed context. Maybe a better word would be “intriguing.” There were areas where the Vice Golf irons and wedges exceeded my expectations and other areas where I was hoping for more.

Like most of your reading this, my ball striking is consistently inconsistent. My greatest wish when it comes to equipment is that it can reduce the shot variations produced by my inconsistencies.

For the most part, the Vice Golf irons and wedges did just that. They took some getting used to. Once I spent some time with them on the range, I was able to get a feel for how they interacted with my swing.

The VGI02s launched significantly higher than my high-launching PING G440s. What was interesting was that the distance for the two was about the same. The Vice Golf irons typically carried the same distance but with a steeper angle of descent.

(Kudos to the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento for having Toptracer monitors on the driving range.)

My main observation was that I tended to miss left more with the VGI02s, especially if I am swinging hard. Of course, I place most of the blame for my misses on my swing. I know I have swing issues and, yes, I’m taking lessons.

That said, the left misses with the Vice irons often were further left than the same shot with the PINGs. This could prove to be just a familiarity issue since I’ve played more rounds with the PING G440s or it could be that my silver-haired brawn is overpowering the Vice shaft.

Regardless, the Vice irons are definitely playable and should prove even more so as I continue to play with them.

The VGW01 wedges are a delight. I love the look of the full-face grooves. Chipping and pitching with the wedges have been excellent, sand play as well. Last round I was four-for-four out of greenside bunkers, a significant improvement over my norm.

The wedge fitting was spot on.

Vice Golf can fit you online for clubs but schedule the free consultation

All in all, I am impressed with my (Miami) Vice Golf irons and wedges. After answering a few questions online and a free follow-up session with a fitter, I had a set of clubs that were very playable.

I don’t think Vice’s fitting process can truly replace an in-person fitting. Nothing can replace a professional fitter seeing you swing in person and recommending a build from that experience. I would imagine that Vice / HIO would agree with me on this.

That said, if you are not able to get fitted in person and you’re looking for another alternative, you should check out what Vice is offering.

Remember, all of the fitting is free including the call with an actual professional club fitter. My key takeaway from the process is this:

There is no reason to take a risk on an off-the-rack set of irons fitting when you can get a custom-fitted set from Vice instead.

Why not head to the Vice Golf site and see what the fitting algorithm says should fit your swing?

I’m curious if the recommendation is similar to what you are currently playing or if Vice Golf thinks you, too, should be switching some specs.

Get your free online iron and wedge fittings at ViceGolf.com and let me know.

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