August 5th, 2022: I felt that I should post an update to this article to share some sad news – the Ben Hogan Golf Equipment Company is no more. I wrote about it here.
****************************************
Let’s get this out of the way right from the start—I am a big fan of everything Ben Hogan. Though I first got my hands on a golf club in junior high school, I didn’t really get interested in golf until about 18 years later, when I was introduced to the golf writing of the legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins.
Jenkins, like Hogan a native of Fort Worth, Texas, started covering Hogan’s career as a college freshman writing for the old Fort Worth Press. His admiration for Ben Hogan rubbed off on me through my reading, and my interest in all things Hogan eventually extended to the golf clubs manufactured by the company Hogan founded in the early 1950s, Ben Hogan Golf.
Over the years I have acquired four sets of Hogan irons of various vintages (most recently a nice 3–PW set of Hogan Apex Plus cavity-back irons with the rare Apex 4 graphite shafts), so it was with much interest that I followed the revival of Ben Hogan Golf as an equipment manufacturer back in 2016. I tested and reviewed their original Fort Worth irons back then, and was very impressed by their design, build quality, and performance, even though I felt that their use of loft numbering rather than traditional club-numbering designations was a bit odd.
Jump forward five years to 2021 and we find the reboot of the Ben Hogan Golf Company going strong, having defined the direct-to-consumer business model for golf clubs. I have been keeping my eye on the company’s offerings since 2016, and a couple of months ago I took advantage of their demo program to try (and buy) my first new driver in more years than I care to admit. When I first saw the new Edge EX irons I knew I would have to try them, too.
Why the Edge EX?
I was drawn to the Edge EX, Ben Hogan Golf’s new entry in the “Game-Improvement Irons” category, by their resemblance to the Apex Edge irons of the original Ben Hogan Golf Company (of which I own a pair: new-old-stock 5-iron and 6-iron with Apex 4 graphite shafts), and by the fact that though they are labeled “game improvement” they don’t have that “shovels for duffers” look that is so common to many entries in the category.
The hybrid cavity/muscle-back “Open Cavity” design, which the Edge EX has in common with the Apex Edge of 20 years ago, is a proven way of combining the low/rearward mass placement that is instru-mental in helping get a ball up in the air with the (moderately) wide sole that helps make these clubs friendly in the hands of mid-to-high handicappers.
 |
The open-cavity back and perimeter weighting of the new Ben Hogan Edge EX irons combine for its high-launch characteristics and forgiveness on mishits. (Photo by author)
|
Speaking of the sole, the Ben Hogan V-Sole design, which combines a high-bounce leading edge with a low-bounce trailing edge, is a big contributor to the player-friendliness of the Edge EX, easing turf inter-action across a wide range of conditions.
 |
The dual-camber Hogan V-Sole design helps the Edge EX irons work smoothly through a wide range of turf conditions. (Photo by author)
|
The thickish topline of the Edge EX, while a feature that is disparaged by aficionados of butter-knife blades, is evidence of yet another “friendliness factor” design feature: the perimeter weighting which increases forgiveness on mishits.
 |
| While some may not care much for the topline view of the Ben Hogan Edge EX irons, the perimeter weighting that it represents increases forgiveness on mishits. (Photo by author) |
Other features I like are the lofts and gapping which are employed in the Edge EX design. The people at Ben Hogan Golf believe in con-sistent gapping—all of their iron sets use 4º loft increments—and the Edge EX irons use lofts that are two degrees stronger than their Icon and PTx Pro irons for that little bit of extra help, distance-wise, for the players for whom these clubs are designed. (It is worth noting, how-ever, that the Edge EX lofts are two to three degrees weaker than offerings in the same category from most other manufacturers.)
Personally, I think that a high launch is more desirable than the potential distance gain from jacked-up iron lofts, and higher-lofted irons are easier to hit, so Edge EX lofts that are only a couple of degrees stronger than Hogan’s player’s irons seem a reasonable compromise to me.
Demo-ing the Edge EX
I took advantage of Ben Hogan Golf’s demo program to try out the Edge EX for myself. As part of the tryout I did a bit of a comparison test against the 7-iron from my current gamers, the Sub70 Golf 639 CB irons with stiff KBS Tour-V 90 shafts, as well as the 7-irons from three of my sets of vintage Hogan irons: Apex Plus with Apex 4 (stiff) steel shaft, Apex Plus with Apex 4 graphite shaft, and Edge CFT with Apex 3 (regular flex) graphite shaft. My demo Edge EX 7-iron was fitted with the KBS Tour 90 S-flex shaft.
I chose to play off the Edge CFT, a lesser-known offering from the old Hogan Company, against the Edge EX because it is a similar open-cavity design, but with a Compression Forged Titanium (ergo “CFT”) face brazed into a stainless-steel body. The use of strong, lightweight titanium for the face, in conjunction with the open cavity back and perimeter-weighted design, maximized forgiveness in these clubs which were, in my estimation, ahead of their time and never fully appreciated for their playing qualities.
In two range sessions with the Edge EX and my lineup of comparison clubs I particularly noted the similarity in feel and ball flight between the Edge EX and the Edge CFT, which I attribute to the similarities in design shared by the two. Both feature a high, controllable ball flight and a smooth feel at impact (even if you’re not wearing a nickel-sized bald spot into the center of the club face.)
The loft of the Edge EX 7-iron, at 32º, was two degrees stronger than the clubs I was comparing it to, and relying on eyeball evaluation of ball flight alone I judged it be similar in distance, with higher ball flight (in my hands), especially compared to the older Apex Plus irons, regardless of shaft material. The V-Sole design of the Edge EX allowed the club to work smoothly through even the less-than-ideal turf conditions at the range where I was testing the club (they move the ropes on Mondays, but I was only able to get to the range on weekends—because I still have a day job—so the hitting areas were generally a bit chewed up.)
Despite its standard lie and regular-sized grip, rather than the 1º flat and midsize grip that is my preferred setup, I found the demo Edge EX to be a comfortable, consistent club to play with, and even in the hands of this high-handicapper (slightly higher than average, I admit—I need to get out and play more golf) it is workable, right and left, if you feel the need to play with ball-flight shape.
The bottom-line result of my club testing of the Edge EX—two range sessions, comparing shots to some vintage Hogan irons and my current Sub70 gamers—is that slightly more than a year after buying the Sub70s, I am contemplating the purchase of another new set of irons.
To be honest, if the folks at Ben Hogan Golf were to combine the updated open-cavity design of the Edge EX with the titanium face technology of the 2003-vintage Edge CFT, I wouldn’t be thinking twice about that purchase.
