Sub 70 699 Irons
Sub 70 Golf is relatively new to the scene, but you wouldn’t guess it when you hit their equipment and see how good it is. Their “straight to consumer” online sales model allows Sub 70 to offer quality equipment at a lower price by “cutting out the middle man” and passing the savings on to you – the player. Though this isn’t a brand new sales model in the golf world, the high quality of the equipment, specifically the irons, at Sub 70’s price point is impressive. The most popular irons so far have been the Sub 70 699 irons – a distance iron with game improvement (GI) technology that has somewhat of a player’s look.
The Looks
There’s been a trend in recent golf equipment to offer an iron that has a ton of distance and forgiveness, but also retains as much of a player’s iron look as possible. This is an excellent way to describe the Sub 70 699. Sub 70 did a pretty good job finding a happy medium for the 699’s looks without sacrificing the performance. The footprint isn’t huge, but the topline would be considered thicker for a player’s iron, yet on the thinner side for a GI iron. Offset is more noticeable in the 4 and 5 irons, but it blends very nicely as you go through the set. To simplify, I don’t think you’ll confuse the 699 irons for butter knives, but they’re still sleek behind the ball and nowhere near clunky.
From an overall aesthetic perspective, the 699 irons are clean and streamlined. There is minimal branding on the club with milling lines along the bottom “muscle.” When you look at the club from the view posted at the top of the page, the 699 almost pulls off a player’s muscle back look. All in all, it’s a good looking profile for the “distance iron” category.
How Does it Feel?
Feel is where we start to turn up the heat. (Wow, I wish that pun was intended…) The Sub 70 699 has a thin 455 Carpenter Steel face that is intended to provide “maximum compression and face flex” regardless where you hit on the face. This helps add ball speed, but also makes the club more forgiving on mishits. Now, keep in mind that the 699 is a hollow club. With such a thin “springy” face, how do they transfer energy back into the ball at impact or keep the face from caving in? See the screw in the toe pictured above…
That screw is covering a port where a material called “TPE” is injected into the head that does a few important things. In terms of feel, the TPE stabilizes the face so you still get a firm, solid feedback in your hands and a great feel of the ball exploding off the face and mishits aren’t as punishing. If the TPE wasn’t there, it would likely feel squishy and just kind of “blah.” The overall feel is very sweet and smooth when you hit a good shot.
How Does it Sound?
Controlling the sound is the second major purpose for the TPE resin used in the Sub 70 699 irons. Regardless of the brand, there’s sort of a signature sound that comes with these modern hollow heads with thin faces and foam/resin injections. The 699’s thinner face and TPE resin injected in the head results in a muted “slap” sound. Without the resin, the sound would be a little more tinny and sound almost like a metal wood. Trust me, I’ve seen it with other clubs. The 699, however, sounds firm and maintains the sound across most of the face. I only noticed the least bit of sound degradation on extreme misses.
On-Course Performance
I’ll just get it out of the way up front. Yes, the Sub 70 Golf 699 irons have strengthened lofts which certainly play a role in the distances for each iron. This is more and more common in modern distance irons, but you still have to hit good shots and it isn’t as simple as just bending your loft stronger. Perhaps we’ll save that debate for another day. The fact of the matter is, the 699 irons get up and GO!
My first experience with the 699 irons came during a trip to Sub 70 HQ where we got to hit them on their simulator. Compared to my gamer 5 iron (using for comparison as it’s the same loft), I found myself carrying the 699 6 iron about 15 yards further. My total distance was up about 25-35 yards as well.
It wasn’t so much that the 699 had a lot of distance that caught my eye, but how easily it was accomplished. First, the ball gets the air and soaring with a powerful flight. Second, consistency came naturally and dispersion was tight. The key with both of these performance points was that they came easily for me. Hitting long and accurate shots was almost effortless. Shaping the ball both ways and adjusting trajectories is a breeze. I don’t genuinely try to brag about my game here often (for good reason), but I’ll say that I was putting up numbers that turned some heads, including my own.
Final Thoughts – Sub 70 699 Irons
The Sub 70 699 is an excellent distance iron that has the potential to appeal to a wide range of players. They’re long, they’re easy to manipulate, and extremely forgiving. They also feel great and look fantastic. Oh, and a “stock” set of 699 irons starts at less than $500! Sub 70’s customer service and the quality of the club itself make the 699 one of the great values in golf that’s certainly worth looking into whether you’re on a budget or not.
Additionally, the Sub 70 699 irons can be combined into mixed sets. Sub 70 is happy to build the specific combo set you’re looking for with your specific build specs. Personally, I can imagine a lot of players, ranging from plus handicaps all the way through the local driving range hero, putting the 699 long irons in the top half of their bags. Regardless of your setup, you’ll find long distance at a hell of a deal with the Sub 70 699 irons.
Stock Sub 70 699 Irons Specs
| Club # | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | PW | AW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loft º | 21.5º | 24º | 27º | 31º | 35º | 40º | 45º | 50º |
| Lie º | 61º | 61.5º | 62º | 62.5º | 63º | 63.5º | 64º | 64.5º |
I have and played the 639 MB’s last year and absolutely love them. Easily as comparable to any major OEM for about half the price. They’re very forgiving with a little more offset for a blade…. Awesome clubs!
Also cant say enough good things about the owner and customer service. I was able to drive to Sycamore and demo the clubs first. Jason, the owner, truly wants people to be happy with the product and will do everything he can to make sure of it
I was fitted for irons by Jason at their facility in Sycamore, IL. As soon as I arrived, everyone who saw me introduced themselves to me and made me feel at home. They all knew I was there for a fitting and set me up in their simulator. Before even hitting a ball, Jason and I had a lengthy conversation about my current game and what I was looking to improve about it. I was currently gaming a set of custom fitted Big Box Players CB irons and was looking to add more distance in my irons. After hitting a few balls with my irons he was 100% transparent and advised that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my 5 year old set and if I wanted to continue gaming CB irons, to stick with them. Maybe upgrade to a heavier shaft but no point getting new clubs. Then I tested the 699’s and a prototype of the 699 Pro’s (since they were not available yet). The 699’s felt great but had a bit too much offset and after hitting the 699 Pro’s, I was sold. We tested the 699/699 Pro’s tuning in the shaft type, weight, length and lie. We also talked about grips and swung a couple clubs with different grips. At the end of the process I went with the 699 Pro’s but since they were not in yet, he put me on the waitlist and called me as soon as the heads were in. We went through my custom specs over the phone and he even had custom ferrules installed at no charge! 4 days later, I received another phone call to let me know my clubs were ready for pickup. He also added that if at any time in the future, if we need to take a look at the lie angles again and dial those in, just to let him know and they would take care of it.
The hype is REAL!!! I would highly recommend taking advantage of their $20 Demo Program to see for yourself! The only thig you will regret is that you’ll wish you would have done it sooner! Thank you everyone at Sub70 Golf!
From what you remember of your testing, do you think that the irons had a decent height to the shots? From what I had read in a separate test, the 699 irons were somewhat low in height. Thanks.
That’s pretty dependent on the shaft/shaft weight and your swing. I didn’t notice them to play low or anything. A good fit will get you the right trajectory.
Great clubs. I have 699’s w/ Nippon Modus Tour shafts and my next purchase will be a 4 utility, though I don’t understand gapping of only 2 degrees to the 5 iron, 22 to 24. Great clubs though. Feel great and are quality clubs with many shaft options.
These clubs have good reviews , but the PXG 0211’s are on sale for about the same price. I can’t make up my mind.
Any Recs on which one ??
By my math, that’s not true. PXG is $100/club, Sub 70 is $71/club. $497 for 4-PW.
If you’re going on price alone, Sub 70. Based on many other personal preferences, I still pick Sub 70.
With the customization on the sub 70 the price is 468, the 211’a have no up charge for customs that i want at 495, I hit hybrids so 5-pw is ok.
I’d still go with the S70. Your math is still lower and I don’t care for PXG in general for a range of reasons. I’d rather support small on this level of iron and S70 is ten times better to deal with. PXG, well I’ve heard enough customer service stories.
I’m with you on this. As a guy that’s had a couple sets of the PXG’s, their customer service was horrible. I went to school at NIU in Dekalb and have known these guys for a couple decades. They’re the real deal, their product speaks for itself, but after I placed my order for a full set, Jason called me personally to thank me. You just can’t beat that these days.
I play the 699’s and absolutely love them!! I wish they would make the 699 Pro in LH. I would for sure but a set. Hint Hint. Please make a left hand set of 699 Pros
Charles – I’ve had a few conversations with Jason, about ready to pull the trigger on LH 699s…are you happy? And is the offset hard to adjust to? I asked about 699 Pro’s in LH, not looking likely for a few years
I had never heard of Sub 70, but I am interested. Do you have any brochures or anything. Also, do you have any other models besides the 699’s? I am 79 years old and haven’t played blades in years.
Hi Ken!
We aren’t Sub 70, we’re an independent site and we reviewed their gear. I would advise clicking one of the links in the review to get to their site and contact Sub 70 through there. They’re renowned for some of the best customer service in the industry so they’ll get you taken care of.
i would li ke you to send me details of your united kingdom dealership
You’ll need to contact the company directly. We’re an independent review site.