Sub 70 Golf Clubs
Is Cheap Forged Actually Any Good?
The question everyone asks about value brands, answered honestly.
What forging actually is
Forging means the head is shaped from a solid billet of steel under pressure rather than poured into a mould. The grain structure ends up more consistent, which is why forged irons are described as feeling softer.
It is a manufacturing process, not a quality tier. A forged head is not automatically better than a cast one, and a cheap forged head is not automatically worse than an expensive one.
Where the price difference goes
In a major-brand iron, a substantial portion of the retail price is tour player contracts, advertising, distribution and retailer margin. None of that is metal.
Sub 70 removes most of those layers. The steel, the forging and the finishing remain, and those are the parts that touch the ball.
What you genuinely give up
R&D scale. Big brands run larger testing programmes and iterate faster. That shows up most in drivers, where the engineering race is fiercest, and least in irons, where the physics has been well understood for decades.
Finishing detail. Premium irons often have more elaborate finishing and cosmetic work. It looks lovely and it does nothing to the ball.
Resale. The clearest real cost. Used Sub 70 clubs sell slowly and for less.
What you do not give up
Feel, in any way most golfers can detect. Blind testing of forged irons across price points produces remarkably little consistency in which one golfers prefer.
Fit, since custom specifications come as standard rather than as an upcharge.
Prove it on your own numbers
The only honest way to settle this is to measure rather than to argue about it. FocusGolf detects each swing from a Wear OS, Apple Watch or Garmin watch with no sensors on the club, logging distance and consistency and storing sessions over months. Record a few weeks with your current irons, then the same with a value set, and compare the spread rather than the best shot. If the numbers match, you have your answer and a considerable amount of money left over.
The honest verdict
For irons and wedges, the value argument is strong and the compromise is small. For drivers, test more carefully — that is where scale genuinely shows.
Buying tip: Compare a fitted value set against a fitted premium set, never against an unfitted one. Fitting is worth more than badge, and the comparison is meaningless without it on both sides.
Model names current as of September 2026.