The C03TC's design concept, evolved from a completed form

A major challenge for us when developing a new C03 series was deciding on how we will evolve it. This is because we had recognized the C03 irons themselves were already complete in form as a soft iron forged cavity back.

As long as the irons would be crafted from a single material of soft iron forging, there would be constraints on the shape, size and head structure. It was by no means easy to decide on where to improve the C03, given its exquisite balance already attained.

What gave us clues were the support from the pros in the US.

Many players on both the PGA and LPGA Tours tried PROTOCONCEPT, a completely unknown brand at the time, and used our products in their actual games. During this, we were able to receive feedback from the players, who told us they "were already satisfied, but having this would make it even better."

As such, to achieve the performance the professionals are seeking became the theme for developing the C03TC.

It is difficult to describe the direction of the evolution we have achieved for the iron in words, but in essence, we focused on balancing the stability in trajectory and maneuverability. Another element was achieving a sense of unity for the flow across the club set while pursuing the performance required for each club number.

To accomplish this, 3D CAD was used to design the center of gravity across all club numbers.

Simply making the shape similar to that of a neighboring number does not create a good flow between club numbers. We designed the clubs precisely from a three-dimensional perspective so that the shape and feel of the clubs are consistent, yet fully demonstrate the required functions with both long and short irons.

This evolution also correlates with the increased popularity of launch monitors over these past few years.

Tour players today constantly check the club path and face angle to achieve their intended trajectories.

To make this easy to do, the basic performance was made to possess characteristics that make face rotation stable and easy to hit square. On top of that, to achieve better control over the ball, the irons have also been balanced with excellent maneuverability to hit with the intended bend, height and spin.

The C03TC that was created based on feedback from tour pros has become an iron that can be used by amateur golfers as well as tour pros, and delivers results.

This experience was a reminder for me that depending on the design concept, even single material of soft iron forging still has room for evolution.

PROTOCONCEPT Brand Producer

Yasufumi Kawasaki