What immediately distinguishes the Fox M2 Jr. club set from many other youth sets is its seriousness. This set comes in a highly attractive black, leatherette golf bag complete with matching rain hood. The clubs themselves are compellingly designed with small fox heads on the back of each club. They are cute, but hardly cutesy. They look like smaller versions of real golf clubs. The resulting presentation is one that should appeal to kids of all ages – including those wannabe grownups ten years of age and older. Unlike some colorful youth sets, these relatively staid kiddy clubs have the benefit of appearing to children to be just the same as adult clubs, but in sizes appropriate to their own physiques.
The durable heads of M2 Jr. irons are made from 431 stainless steel. They are muscleback cavities. They are moderately sized and provide some sincere forgiveness without sacrificing too much in the way of playability. In fact, they seem exceptionally playable when compared to some of the clunkier, jumbo-sized youth sets we have seen.
The heads of the M2 Jr. woods are made from 17-4 stainless steel. They are also of a moderate size – friendly, but not unwieldy. As with the irons, they are handsome and playable in their nature. Their elevated lofts are specific to the needs of juveniles. Their low, wide shapes help to get the ball airborne easily. From what we can tell about their performance, they are dynamic, lively, little woods.
The Fox Youth M2 Jr. youth clubs come in two, basic sizes: One for kids aged 5-9 and one for kids aged 10-14. We “tested” the basic set plus a 4-wood in the smaller, peewee version. The resulting experience was one we will soon not forget.
Our first tester was a six-year old boy with an enthusiastic, albeit moody, approach to golf. He had been repeatedly coached on the fundamentals of the game by a doting grandfather. His initial response to the Fox clubs was very positive. The image of the little fox and the overall, assertive nature of the irons soon overwhelmed him, however. After a few aggressive swings at golf balls, he spied a groundhog running into a newly dug den that was located smack in the center of one of our practice traps. Off flew our junior tester in pursuit. With Fox M2 Jr. iron in hand, he started flailing away at the entrance to the woodchuck’s den. Finding progressive too slow using traditional swing mechanics, he soon began digging at the hole with the iron. The iron did not have enough loft for the job at hand. Being inexperienced, Junior had little understanding of sand wedges. The result: No groundhog was brought to bear. Disillusioned, our pint-sized associate would not return to the testing fold. Oh well, some things are more important to a six-year old boy than golf.
Our next tester was an eight-year old girl. This young lady was a talented athlete who was well-schooled in golf, lacrosse and field hockey – a regular , little jockette. Again, this bantam tester liked the cute but no-nonsense presentation of the Fox clubs. Her past clubs had been all pink and yellow – too child-like for her current state of mind. Being an aggressive child, she took immediately to the more serious, weapon-like look of the Foxes. They looked good and felt good to her. Her results were immediately strong with both the irons and the 4-wood. Her little blasts flew long and straight, and with surprisingly good height.
Again, unfortunately, the testing session was destined for an early termination as there had been, unbeknownst to us, an invisible pony waiting on the tee beside our distaff peewee. After a short testing session, she jumped on this transparent steed and bounded off across the field. She then proceeded to engage an entire squadron of invisible ponies and riders in a full chukka (chukker?) of polo. After all was said and done, our mini-tester’s feedback read: “Nice clubs. The 4-wood makes a great polo mallet. I like the black bag and the little fox.”
Further juvenile testing netted results no more structured than those of the first sessions. (We should have gone with the bigger kid set) Needless to say, this will probably be GCR’s last attempt to conduct actual, on-site testing with kiddy clubs in the hands of actual, on-site kiddies. In the future, we will use our own opinions of juvenile club sets. We’re all arrested adolescents, anyway.
Summary: Four things about these sets of Fox M2 Jr. clubs were apparent to all, young and old. They make for a classy set of clubs of obvious quality. They look like serious, grownup golf clubs. They inspire users with an enthusiastic sense of fun. And lastly, they are real golf clubs in every sense of the word – playable and durable. These Fox clubs make a great second set of golf clubs for children – that set that comes after the adults have ascertained that the child has a real interest in golf.
Little, bitty kids should have cartoon characters on their golf clubs. Older kids who are ready to learn the game appreciate miniature versions of real golf clubs. These serious Fox clubs will not embarrass their users when said users are confronted by older children and teens on the course or at the range. The handsome, black bag is very practical. It will make a child feel like a serious golfer in front of all comers.
Leave a Reply