Tom Wishon Golf 550c Cavity Back

Reviewed by: sbaruffi@enter.net ,  Shoots in the 80s

Model Reviewed:
Wishon 550C

Summary:
As an older golfer (56) who still fancies himself as a decent iron player, I am reviewing these a second time. I just bought a backup set with Dynamic Gold S300 shafts and this set is entirely cavity back, presumably standard loft and lie.

I did not even take this second set to the driving range, and just got back from the course now after hitting numerous good iron shots including a hole out for eagle from 135 yards (knockdown 8 iron into the wind). I am amazed at the reviewer who found these irons harsh. I would have to believe he was not swinging as well as he is capable. The feel of these irons is anything but harsh, only Mizuno comes close to the feeling of hitting a pure Wishon 550 iron.

Like I said and emphasize, these irons are great and the best feeling out there (although I have not tried all the Hogan irons). Was I just lucky to find two great sets, one with Rifle 5.0 shafts and another with Dynamic Gold S300 shafts? If so, than I should start packing for Vegas because I am not all that great a ball striker. I can barely hit a 5 iron any longer. I hit a driver about 230 yards and my 7 iron about 150 tops. My only complaint ever about my first Wishon set is that the A wedge or gap wedge was not a perfect fit for me (I seemed to pull it left more than I should, so I use a Cleveland 52* now). My newer set did not include the gap wedge.

I still maintain that these irons are better than Mizuno MP37's, Hogan, Ping, Maltby Callaway, Armour V25, Ram Nickel, Srixon I302's you name it. Don't let one bad reviewer dissuade you from purchasing these. I don't work for Wishon (though I would love to meet the man), but I don't believe there are more quality clubs out there, and I have hit hundreds over my 40 years of golf.
Give these a try if you get a chance. They are still available at "are you kidding me" prices on ebay. I don't think you have to be a great ball striker to use these irons. As far as workability, I am not the best one to speak to that as I am just happy with a nice straight ball. I do generally set up for a draw and my ball flight is generally mid trajectory. If I do hit a fade with these, I generally need one extra club to get home.

Obviously if you are not hitting the ball well, you should not be reviewing irons. Most of us in the 9-15 handicap range have days where the club feels like a foreign object in our hands and would be better off weilding a croquet mallet. But after using my first set of Wishon's for over 2 years and now finding instant happiness with a new set, I don't think my ravings are irrational exuberance. As always, do your own due diligence, get fitted if necessary and all the other usual disclaimers apply.

Customer Service:
Never have needed any, total quality.

Similar Products Used:
Listed above.

Reviewed by: masangui ,  Shoots in the 80s

Model Reviewed:
Wishon 550C

Summary:
I have been playing for about a year a set of Wishon 550C irons with Dynamic Gold SL R300 shafts and I couldn´t be happier. These clubs are very accurate and very easy to hit for a cavity-back golf head. They are not the longest-hitting irons as their lofts are more "traditional" than most golf clubs manufactured nowadays. Regarding feeling, they feel harder than the Mizuno MX-20 irons I used to play but they are OK.

Customer Service:
I have not used it.

Similar Products Used:
Mizuno MX-20 and Taylor Made 200 irons. Both of them are great clubs too, but the Wishon 550C irons work better for me.

Reviewed by: Greg Stoyle ,  Shoots in the 80s

Model Reviewed:
Wishon 550 C/M Combo

Summary:
As a way of introduction, I have been playing golf for more than 40 years and outside of using Tommy Armour 845's when they first came out, I have played with forged clubs. I just love the feel and responsiveness. Much of that time was spent playing blades and although my handicap is now in the low double digit range, it was as low as a 6 in my playing days. I went forward with a purchase of the Wishon 550's based on the reviews in this forum and it was a huge mistake. I don't really understand all of these positive reviews. Overall, these clubs are harsh feeling, unforgiving and totally unrewarding. In fact, I have not played a set of forged irons that had such a poor feel. The clubs look beautiful out of the box, but that's where the love affair ends. The set that I purchased was a combo set of 3-7 cavity backs and 8-SW in the muscle backs.

Cavity Backs - I find the sole on these clubs to be too wide and I suspect that is one of the reasons why the cavity backs have no workability at all. I really couldn't work the ball flight with these clubs and I had a difficult time making solid contact. When I did, it did not have the nice buttery feel of a forged club.

Muscle Backs - Despite having only the 8-SW with the musclke back option, I found that these clubs have zero in the way of feel. If there is a sweet spot on these clubs, I couldn't find it.

Fit and Finish - As indicated, the clubs look great out of the box but the finish wears poorly. Despite only a half dozen trips to the range and several rounds, these clubs look as though I have owned them for years.

Spine Align and MOI - As far as I'm concerned, this is just a bunch of hype and I couldn't find any benefit to this process at all.

Overall - I had hoped that component clubs had made some advances but in my opinion, this is not the case with the Wishon 550's. They are really just cheaply made knock-offs as far as I'm concerned. If after reading this review, you are still motivated to buy this set of clubs, DO NOT make the mistake that I did and rely on a static fitting through a mail order/internet retailer. Shame on me for thinking that could be accomplished - it really can't - despite what you will be told. The fitting of golf clubs needs to be done through swing analysis so don't be fooled into thinking that you can take a few measurements and everything will be all right!!

Value Rating - The reason for the low score on the value rating is primarily due to the saleability of these clubs if they don't work for you. Unlike most OEM clubs, these clubs have little to no value on the resale market. In this case, a $700 set of clubs has a resale value of about $100.

Summary - I tried the component club option and obviously, it's not something that I would recommend.

Customer Service:
Very good (Wishon Golf), but I don't know what good that does if you are stuck with a set of unusable golf clubs!!

Similar Products Used:
Ben Hogan Apex Plus