Hi Robb,

Great questions and some of which we hear a lot.  First up, as you know the 712 AP Irons do not come with a 2 iron.  You can de-loft the 3 iron by 1° - 2° but I wouldn't suggest you go any further than that because you will change the sole angle and start to have problems with the leading edge digging into the turf.

Having said that if you de-loft the 3 iron to fill a distance gap between your 15° fairway and your irons then you will only open up another gap between your now 2 iron and your 4 iron requiring a second 3 iron with standard loft.  This would be a far less effective solution than adding a 19° fairway (which can be changed to an 18° if required).  If you like hitting your 15° fairway wood and prefer this club over a hybrid this would provide the better long term solution.  I wouldn't go with a 17° fairway- that is just a little too strong and too close to your 15° fairway in terms of loft.  You might still have trouble with that troublesome distance...the 15-20 yard distance further than you hit your 712 AP 3 iron.  A lot of Tour players actually favour this option for the exact same reason as you- they prefer the shape of a fairway metal to that of a hybrid.

I'd probably avoid adding a 712 CB 2 iron to the bag just to have an iron with a number 2 on it.  We have a lot of requests to make up hybrid sets of irons-eg 3,4,5 in CB's and 6,7,8,9,P in MB's or even 3,4,5, in AP2's and 6,7,8,9,P in MB's.  In these instances the long irons match and the short irons match,  however in your case you are potentially adding a CB 2 iron with a different look and feel to your other long irons- in my experience having mismatched short or long irons is a little like carrying two different putters- one for the long ones and one for the short ones.  It doesn't work in the long run.

I think you will get a lot more out of carrying a higher lofted fairway metal to complement your existing 15° fairway metal and fill in the distance gap between your fairways and irons- rather than trying to invent a 2 iron solution.

Hope some of this helps- as you know the best way to find this out is too trial some demo clubs or have a fitting session with one of our trained Staff professionals.  Let us know how you get on.

Regards

Dave

I went for the Titleist CB 2 iron, same specs as my other irons. What a beautiful , pure golf club.Its a club I can use off the tee on par 4s that are a bit tight,par 3`s around the 200 meter mark , off the fairway and on any shot that requires a really low tragectory IE: under a tree , overhang etc.I dont find it any harder to hit than my AP2s and it feels so crisp when I hit it.It does require a bit of commitment which is true for all long irons but its a real" go to" favourite of mine.Incidently I use it quite a lot from the fringe instead of using my putter and have sunk plenty of chips with it.One of the first shots I hit with it was an into the wind second shot of 189 Meters straight into a 1and 1/2 club headwind. It landed 2 meters short of the pin and released less than a meter past which I holed for a birdy .Ok Guys ,,, I have one  question relating to this whole Hybrid /Long iron thing.If you dont offer a 2 iron in 3 out of 4 sets of irons you produce, why is there a need for the new "experimental irons" 2 3 4 we all are reading about( and salivating over)?I find this a little market driven rather than practical. Its easy to say" Get a hybrid"  when ya only offer one 2 iron out of  four iron sets.I dont find Hybrids easy to hit.And to tell you the , truth Its a no brainer to me to offer a 2 iron in one of the  more Player oriented blade/cavity backs than say a AP2 or AP1? Dont  get me wrong I have no complaints and its one of my most favourite clubs with a great record of good results ,Im a Titleist desciple,, BUT the question is relevant Seems like youve sold everyone a Hybrid ( Not me)NOW you decide to give us what we actually wanted in the first place?Love to see a AP2 2 iron in the next issue of the irons. Everyone looks at it in my bag and says Im crazy UNTIL they see me hit it.I was bought up hitting long irons.Im sure if you offered a 2 iron in AP2 CB and MB more people would use them.Plenty of people can hit them Im sure of that.They are just told  its not available.

Cheers and thanks again

Robb P