Letters from Santa DAY 10 PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway: FULL Set of New 2026 Callaway Apex Ai150, X Forged, X Forged Max Irons

Santa's having a night of it up on The Pole.  I'm having a night of it over here in NE Ohio.  But the Show Goes On baby!  We're wrapping up DAY 10 of my PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway with another Kringle Haymaker!  Choose a FULL Set of ANY new 2026 Callaway Apex Ai150, X Forged, or X Forged Max irons!  And Santa might be even more excited about all of them than I am.

I reviewed and compared the new X Forged and X Forged Max irons for you a few months back here.   But remember me on my 12 Days "day off" a few days ago at Club Champion?  Well I wanted to take the X Forged head-to-head with the Ai150 knowing we'd be giving away a full set today.  I told you a bit already on X and Instagram about the Ai150 all over the face forgiveness and juiced up ball speeds.  I think Ai150 has enough similarities to X Forged (though also obvious differences) to warrant a comparative review as well.  Kringle mini-reviews, I know you love em.

So I'm still working on that comparative review here (about 11:30 pm).  And will have this article edited and the review completed sometime tonight.  It'd be easier to just say hey here's something really cool to win, tag a million people, and something dumb for bonus entries.  It's common and effective for other sites.  But that's not my style and never will be.  So as I get the review ready, I have a few pics for you below.

Here's Santa's actual letter to me.

We're going to cover four areas in each of the comparative sections: appearance and feel; distance; forgiveness and dispersion; and launch and spin.  And these comparisons should give you a better idea of what irons might be best for you.

 

As always happy to also answer any questions you have. 

2025 Callaway X Forged Irons vs. 2025 X Callaway Forged Max Irons

Appearance and Feel

At address the Callaway X Forged and X Forged Max look almost identical from a topline perspective.  X Forged Max have a slightly larger footprint (toe to heel) and a slightly wider sole.

Both X Forged and X Forged Max have Callaway's patented Tri-Sole which uses leading and trailing relief so less sole comes into contact with ground.  This helps reduce digging, bouncing, and even slowdown of the iron through the turf.  Tri-Sole (in my experience) is one of three iron sole designs in the industry that are head and shoulders above all other soles.

 

If you're looking for Callaway's most solid and soft feeling iron you can stop right here on the X Forged.  It's so solid and soft X Forged has to be in any discussion of the best feeling irons out today.  X Forged Max feel is similar enough to X Forged to easily blend into a combo set but it's a slightly more subdued solid and soft with a tad more crisp feel at impact.

Distance

Hit only a few shots with the X Forged and X Forged Max irons and you'll immediately see X Forged Max is up to a full one club distance longer.  I hit X Forged Max with about 3 mph more ball speed and that contributed to making it about 7-8 yards longer than X Forged.

Forgiveness and Dispersion

This one's a bit tricky because I put better swings on the Callaway X Forged irons more often than I did with the X Forged Max.  That's almost always the case with me, smaller (especially more compact) irons just work for my swing.  So I had better overall dispersion with X Forged because I simply hit them better.  With that said the X Forged Max are more stable on mishits out towards the toe and don't rotate the face open as much as they do with X Forged.

X Forged Max are more forgiving on misses low on the face, retaining more ideal (closer to center contract) spin and launch.  So downrange dispersion was better on misses with X Forged Max.  X Forged is more forgiving on misses out towards the toe than it is on misses low, but still has a wider left-right dispersion than X Forged Max on these misses.

Launch and Spin

I'd say both the Callaway X Forged and X Forged Max irons have excellent stopping power.  X Forged however had about 400 rpm more spin and also had marginally steeper descent.  X Forged also launched a few degrees higher than X Forged Max and achieved higher peak heights of about 5 feet.

Interestingly, when I slowed my swing down X Forged launch and peak height came down more than with X Forged Max.  Yet the comparative difference in spin at lower speeds remained the same.  Ultimately at lower swing speeds X Forged Max are more efficient in getting the necessary launch and height to retain expected distances versus the X Forged.

2026 Callaway Apex Ai150 Irons vs. 2025 Callaway X Forged Irons

I want to note right away that I chose to compare Apex Ai150 and X Forged as opposed to Ai150 and X Forged Max because the former two irons (Ai150 and X Forged) are both designed with precision as a priority and (to my eye) look more similar in shape.

While the later two irons (Ai150 and X Forged Max) could also be compared head-to-head I believe that comparison would focus on distance and forgiveness as a priority (their relative strengths over X Forged).  And obviously X Forged is a Players iron where Ai150 is a Players-Distance iron so some of the differences I'm about to mention won't be surprising.

Appearance and Feel

The Callaway Apex Ai150 is a compact looking iron.  Its shape was based on the shape of the Apex TCB irons (which has been my favorite shaped Callaway iron since I can remember).  

 

Ai150 does have a slightly longer profile, a tad wider topline, and slightly wider sole than the X Forged.  But I think anyone who wants that compact look will consider both of these irons just by appearance alone.  And Ai150 is definitely more compact than Ai200 and with less offset.

Ai150 isn't as solid feeling as X Forged (which makes sense as it's a hollow forged iron).  With that said it still feels forged soft, but it's clearly more explosive feeling off the face than X Forged.  I'm not sure if this will help, but I'd call X Forged a more traditional crisp feel and Ai150 a more modern crisp feel.

Distance

The loft of the Callaway Apex Ai150 is more similar to X Forged Max than it is to X Forged.  And that probably has a little to do with the added distance I got with Ai150 over X Forged.  In fact Ai150 was even a few more yards longer than X Forged Max.  If you're going for pure distance choosing between X Forged and Ai150 the latter is the clear winner.

Forgiveness and Dispersion

Put another checkmark in the box for the Callaway Apex Ai150 in both the forgiveness and dispersion categories.  If you recall I was telling you on X/Twitter and Instagram the Ai150 might knock my Apex 24 TCB out of the bag exactly because of the added distance and extra forgiveness.  And when I tell you Ai150 is forgiving let's just say the center strike performance is optional.  I don't think I've ever hit an iron this compact also with this much forgiveness and consistency of forgiveness.

As great as dispersion the X Forged dispersion is (for the type of iron it is) the Ai150 dispersion is just flat out straighter on even small misses.  You can almost RSVP greens-in-reg before you even step on the course.  So with all the Ai150 positives I've mentioned it seems Ai150 has to be the iron I liked more?

Launch and Spin

Launch and spin differences are what pulled me back into the Callaway X Forged as mypreference between that and Apex Ai150.

Remember you always have three different ways to win the daily gifts in my giveaway this year.  And if you miss a day don't worry.  You can enter ANY of the DAY Giveaways anytime throughout the entire 12 Days of Christmas.

On X/Twitter just repost my giveaway announcement and follow all; on Instagram repost and follow all; and here on my blog leave a comment in the section below in the daily DAY review/giveaway, Jingle Bam, Letters from Santa, Santa Dared Me, Santa Triple Dog Dared Me, Hot Koffee and a Kringle, Kringle Gonna Kringle, and Run It Back Kringle articles.

These gifts are great prizes of course, but also some of the best equipment and gear in their class that I played and reviewed this season.  And I hope these mini reviews and recaps give you an idea of why I rate them so highly.

Merry Christmas all, and here's Santa's letter to me again.

I'm gonna land the plane right now Petey and give you the Elfnotes.  Those new Callaway Apex Ai150, X Forged, and X Forged Max irons?  Havesomeone choose a FULL set of ANY model they want.  Ho Ho HOLY WOW!  Yes, Yule read that right.  Full Set.  Any set.  Let them decide.

Callaway irons have always helped me hit Sleighways and Greens.  But even the elves up here on The Pole are geeking out over new Ai150, X Forged, and X Forged Max technologies.  Callaway should just rename the entire new line - Ball Whisperers.

Every swing is joyful (with all of them) like hearing Jingle Bells on every shot.  The accuracy of those Ai150 and X Forged?  Fewer wayward shots means fewer lost elves.  And damn if the distance with those X Forged Max isn’t to the North Pole and Back!

I see you’re spinning out over there like Reindeer on Triple Espresso.  Take your time tonight.  You already compared the X Forged to the X Forged Max.  I know you wanted to compare the X Forged to the Apex Ai150 as well.  Just go easy and get your article finished and updated sometime in the next few hours.  “If you write it... They will come.” (In my best ethereal Field of Dreams voice).

You know what’s not ethereal though?  Frost.  Jack’s still like Wi-Fi signal dropping mid-game MAD about the other night.  One of the elves called him Tito tonight.  Then told him it means Tinsel In a TOrnado.  And now we’re all dodging cookies over here.

The Eggnog and Anarchy is flowing for the both of us tonight my man.