The iron head photo comparison thread

[Hook DeLoft]

Some of the most common questions I see on golf forums concern the size of iron heads.  Such as, "Is the topline on iron A smaller than the top line on iron B?  How does the sole compare to iron C?"  So, I thought I would start a thread where people can search for comparisons.  I'll start it off with pics of a few irons I have lying around.  The first pic is 7 irons for comparison.  Left to right we have an old Wilson FG 17 muscle back, the current Titleist T100, Gen 3 PXG 0311, original generation PXG 0211 and a Callaway XR Steelhead from a few years ago. 

 

The second pic is of the soles of the irons.  Same left to right order.

 

Now, from above.  Order reversed from first two pics.

Now, address position.  Same order as first pic (Wilson on left, Callaway on right.

The PXG irons at address.  0311 P on left, 0211 on right.

 

Sole comparison of PXG 0211 and Callaway XR Steelhead.

Now, some 6 irons.  Left to right:  Wilson FG17, Mizuno MP 64 and PXG 0311 P.

6 irons.  Same order as before.

A shot of the backs.

 

/

[Hook DeLoft]

Ping i210 vs. PXG 0311 P 3rd Gen  Ping on the left.

[Hook DeLoft]

Titleist T300 vs. Mizuno 921 Hot Metal. Mizuno on the left.

[Hook DeLoft]

New Mizuno Mizuno Pro line. Left to right:  221, 223, 225.

 

[Hook DeLoft]

Mizuno 223 vs. Ping i59. Mizuno on the left. 

[Hook DeLoft]

Mizuno 223 vs. Callaway Apex Pro 21. Mizuno on the left. 

[Hook DeLoft]

2

225 vs. MP 20 HMB. 225 on the left. 

[Lefty19]

Appreciate the pics and wildly surprised the PXG irons look bigger comparatively to the others... I just haven't seen them in person but read lots on them.

 

Also, in your opinion since I haven't seen the new Mizuno iron yet in person- how they do they compared to the 921 JPX in size? I've seen them but only hit the 919 JPX forged and liked it but liked my J15cbs better. I think of the J15 cb to be in between the 919 JPC forged and the Tour irons.

 

SO my question is, how do the 221,223 and 225 compare to MP64 and any of the JPX lines?

 

225 vs. MP 20 HMB. 225 on the left. - they look similar at address with the HMB hiding a tiny bit of the topline unless it was just due to the angle of the irons... 225 looks good though.

 

David

 

PS- those FG17s look sweet but you better bring the right swing for those! haha

Edited December 17, 2021 by Lefty19

[Hook DeLoft]

I’ll get some JPX vs. Mizuno Pro’s Monday or Tuesday. In the pics the 225 and HMB look nearly identical, but the 225 looks smaller in hand. It definitely has a thinner top line. 
The PXG 0311 P looks smaller than it is. If you looked at the Ping i210 and the PXG back to back without looking at them the same time, you would swear they’re the same size. 
I occasionally hit the FG 17’s. They are easier to hit than many other blades. At least until the 5 iron. Then things get a little dicey. 

[bens197]

This belongs in the Louvre. 

[XHOOPER]

The FG17's are still gorgeous.

[Buried In Clubs]

Top line? What's a top line?

[Lefty19]

28 minutes ago, Buried In Clubs said:

Top line? What's a top line?

Too funny- that knife looks like the old McGregor 1 iron I was given as my first club... It was smooth of the backside of it and worked fine as I'm a lefty... Hit tape balls around the yard but and didn't go very far... 

 

Too lord that thick thing on the left though- I assume that's a slightly higher GI iron? LOL

[Buried In Clubs]

2 hours ago, Lefty19 said:

Too funny- that knife looks like the old McGregor 1 iron I was given as my first club... It was smooth of the backside of it and worked fine as I'm a lefty... Hit tape balls around the yard but and didn't go very far... 

 

Too lord that thick thing on the left though- I assume that's a slightly higher GI iron? LOL

The one on the left is a walter hagen of some sort I assume. Has WH in fancy script in the cavity on back of the head. The one on the right is an old Forgan 3 iron

[Shapotomous]

I have four to compare...I kept them in the same order for all the pics, from oldest to newest.

An early 70's Wilson Staff, an early 90's Wishon designed Golfsmith Tour Cavity Forged, a Mizuno JPX 900 Forged and a Ping G410.

 

 

 

[Hook DeLoft]

@Lefty19It looks like it will be next week before I can get comparo shots to the JPX line.

[Lefty19]

3 hours ago, Hook DeLoft said:

@Lefty19It looks like it will be next week before I can get comparo shots to the JPX line.

All good and absolutely just curiosity to scratch was all.... I am NOT in the market for anything to buy- my bag is set unless I won something in all these giveaways. haha

David

PS- Saw you live in Jackson, MS... played several courses in your area- I'm from Biloxi originally and live in DFW now- ya'll have some good tracks for sure.

[Hook DeLoft]

4 hours ago, Lefty19 said:

All good and absolutely just curiosity to scratch was all.... I am NOT in the market for anything to buy- my bag is set unless I won something in all these giveaways. haha

David

PS- Saw you live in Jackson, MS... played several courses in your area- I'm from Biloxi originally and live in DFW now- ya'll have some good tracks for sure.

I grew up in Gulfport.  Small world.

[Lefty19]

21 minutes ago, Hook DeLoft said:

I grew up in Gulfport.  Small world.

I'm not giving you anymore of my information then.. haha... You'll know who I was if you played in the 90's- I was young- full of pee and vinegar back then. I was cocky and a hot head. Played in a lot of money games but the small side action of the big games at Great Southern. I didn't want to have to run a spreadsheet or sit for hours to figure out a couple of hundred bets... Those guys in those games had more pockets and ballz than I ever did- they were good but made some good players fold due to the stakes being so high.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Lefty19

[Hook DeLoft]

1 hour ago, Lefty19 said:

I'm not giving you anymore of my information then.. haha... You'll know who I was if you played in the 90's- I was young- full of pee and vinegar back then. I was cocky and a hot head. Played in a lot of money games but the small side action of the big games at Great Southern. I didn't want to have to run a spreadsheet or sit for hours to figure out a couple of hundred bets... Those guys in those games had more pockets and ballz than I ever did- they were good but made some good players fold due to the stakes being so high.

I was long gone by then.  Sounds like fun though. 

[PuffyC]

Love this thread. I have a set of FG-17s and it’s pretty shocking how much smaller they are compared to modern clubs. If Wilson came out with a rebooted version that was hollow with all the modern tech I’d buy a set in a heartbeat. Just a gorgeous design. Semi-related but I wonder why more companies don’t do that - take an old classic like the FG-17 or Apex II cameos and give them a modern reinterpretation. I bet there are a lot of folks who grew up playing those clubs who would jump at the chance to own a modern version that looked the same but was much more playable.

[Hook DeLoft]

Ping i525 vs. Mizuno MP 225

[Sluggo42]

29 minutes ago, Hook DeLoft said:

Ping i525 vs. Mizuno MP 225

This difference is astonishing…

[Hook DeLoft]

16 minutes ago, Sluggo42 said:

This difference is astonishing…

Yeah. I didn’t expect the i525 sole to be so much larger than the MP 225.

[Shapotomous]

The width of the sole, the thickness of the top line and the heel to to camber of the sole are three things that look BIG to me in those pics of the i525.  

[RollingGreens]

Both for their category are very clean looking but the 225 takes the cake. The sole and wider width face really give the i525 the look of a GI players distance vs the 225

[MWGolf23]

Thought this image would apply to this thread comparing Mizuno Pro 221, 223, 225. 

Things that are interesting to me:
#1 225 PW and 9 top line, then the big jump to the 8. PW and 9 are mostly forged with a half cavity design. Then the tech comes in at the 8 and I guess a much bulkier top line
#2 223 8 to 7 sole width change. The 7 is when the chromoly and tech are introduced. The 8-PW are just bigger forged blades than the 221s.
#3 With the 223 7 iron sole width big jump, it's actually larger than the 225 7 iron by .4mm, and .2mm larger in the 6.
#4 223 constant top line size.

Overall, I really really like what Mizuno has done with the MP line this year for 223 and 225. Keep it as bladey as possible in the short irons, while progressively making them a little more forgiving as you change sets, and then introduce the tech for more forgiveness, ball speed, and distance in the mid/long. I love my MP18 blade short irons, and I could essentially keep it that way with a slightly bigger blade profile in the 223s and retain that buttery feel.

[jacksonstorm]

On 12/9/2021 at 2:59 PM, Hook DeLoft said:

Ping i210 vs. PXG 0311 P 3rd Gen  Ping on the left.

Could you give me a brief thoughts on forgiveness,distance,feel of these two irons (Pin i210 & PXG 0311 Gen3). Have owned many of those you show and close to getting the Gen3 0311 P. Thanks

[Hook DeLoft]

2 minutes ago, jacksonstorm said:

Could you give me a brief thoughts on forgiveness,distance,feel of these two irons (Pin i210 & PXG 0311 Gen3). Have owned many of those you show and close to getting the Gen3 0311 P. Thanks

Unfortunately, the Ping head was a demo.  I haven't hit them enough to say how they compare to the 0311.  However, I have gamed the 0311 since last August and find them to be very forgiving, especially on toe hits.  You can hear the difference between flush and off center hits but the penalty on mishits is minimal.  Of course, a huge miss is punished more but that has been the case with every iron I have owned.  The feel of the 0311 is excellent.  They feel really solid on good strikes.  Not marshmallow soft like hitting the center of a one piece forged muscle back but very satisfying.  I ordered the 0311 2 degrees strong to get the gapping I like in my wedges, so my distance is a little skewed vs. stock.  I would say I get the distance I expect based on the lofts.  Despite being a low spin player, I find they have as much spin as other irons with comparable lofts.

[jacksonstorm]

Thanks great input. I made a rash decision and bit on the YouTube Takomo 101 irons (price & looks). Lot's of info on TXG, others so for $459  &$50

shipping tried to order. Emailed company (HQ in Finland made ShanHai). They kept running out. Then came out with the beautiful fully forged one piece of metal Takomo 201 Forged CB. $589 +$50 shipping =$639 but I had promised myself a set of reasonably priced irons as a second set so I ordered last set in stock with my spec KBS C-Taper Lite R. These are jewels and have had success at range but course is what counts. Just sold my Ping G410 with SteelFiber i95 reg and have a chance to replace them with the 0311 P Gen 3 with MMT 80 stiff. Fiqured those will be the more forgiving but also wanted 2 sets for other reasons. Don't mean to bore you but always appreciate when someone responds so quick with asked

Thanks Doug