Rating golf irons

[James H. Colin]

How do you rate the variety of irons available on the market today?

[silver & black]

All of them are good. It depends on what you like and what you hit the best. I know that's a pretty generic answer, but it's the truth.

[James H. Colin]

Thanks. Looking at Tommy Armour irons at Golf Galaxy. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

36 minutes ago, James H. Colin said:

How do you rate the variety of irons available on the market today?

What do you mean by rate? Performance, looks, feel, quality for price? Or just overall? 

Everyone is different and could value different aspects with more or less weight. 

Lots here will reference MGS most wanted as a General guide or basic starting point, but in the end getting out and hitting the variety of options is hands down the best not to mention the most fun way to compare the variety of heads available.

[RickyBobby_PR]

Anything out there is good. What matters is how do they fit your swing.

Rating best to worst is impossible because what’s best for one person isn’t best for someone else.

Rating on forgiveness is similar because spin and launch will vary per golfer and if they are off they won’t be forgiving for that golfer 

[bens197]

Brand agnostic is a great approach.  

I loved watching players during a fitting and their reaction when a club they never expected / heard of would end up being top dog.  It happened...a LOT.

[cnosil]

As a most wanted tester I have the opportunity to hit a large percentage of clubs in the market.  We are asked for subjective feedback on the clubs and i continually say every club in the market is top notch.  Some may not work well for your swing but or you may not like the looks but you can get decent performance out of pretty much everything.  

[pakman92]

16 hours ago, James H. Colin said:

How do you rate the variety of irons available on the market today?

IMO, the biggest change in the iron market today vs 10 years ago is the introduction of follow-body design.   Now the technology of creating weight savings and putting in strategic places with tungsten weights, hotter faces, etc are all hidden away from external view.   This makes the current set of irons in this category, dam good looking.   Biggest change in iron design that's present today vs the past.

[GeeISuppose]

It seems like there's an embarrassment of riches these days. I've been in the market for new irons recently, and the sheep number of options is overwhelming. At the same time, I know most of the places I could go nearby for a fitting would push certain brands, and I don't like the idea of being limited by someone's sales agenda.

[revkev]

On 5/9/2022 at 7:18 AM, cnosil said:

As a most wanted tester I have the opportunity to hit a large percentage of clubs in the market.  We are asked for subjective feedback on the clubs and i continually say every club in the market is top notch.  Some may not work well for your swing but or you may not like the looks but you can get decent performance out of pretty much everything.  

Would you say the same for putters?  You seem to have lots of options in the closet.

[Thin2win]

I would agree that finding a bad club is a hard challenge these days. I'm 99% confident that if needed I could game an entire bag of a single brand,  or a different brand in every spot and still score the same.  lots of great options.

[chisag]

On 5/8/2022 at 6:05 PM, bens197 said:

Brand agnostic is a great approach.  

I loved watching players during a fitting and their reaction when a club they never expected / heard of would end up being top dog.  It happened...a LOT.

 

... So very true!   Something I experienced at the pga show demo day. When I first started going the pre-release information would have me very interested in some clubs, usually the big name OEMs. But when I hit everything available I was always surprised by something either completely off my radar or something I had discounted as not for me. Amp Forged irons are a good example. Demo day for Cobra meant Rap music played loudly and a party atmosphere that just didn't appeal to me as I was there on serious business and it takes all day with focus and concentration. Many loved the Cobra booth so I am probably in the minority. I was very interested in the new Players Irons so these bright orange cavity backed irons with a rep that had virtually no information about loft/lie/shafts/materials but handed me a coupon for a free drink and offered me a flat brimmed hat seemed the exact opposite of what I was looking for. But setting them down at address got my full attention as they looked almost perfect to me eye and believe in my review said they looked like I designed them. Then I hit them and they were the sweetest feeling multi material irons I had hit. Flipped 'em back over and that bright gaudy orange badge was still there and that might have been the first time I fully realized I did not care what the cavity looked like as long as they looked good at address and gave me the performance I needed/wanted. To this day it is one of the most enlightening experiences I have had with a golf club and I played the Amp Forged for 2 seasons. 

... I get it but I will never understand serious players that say things like "I will only play Mizuno irons ... Ping wedges and nothing else ... If it isn't a Scotty Cameron I am not even gonna try it". If you are open to everything, something will most definitely surprise you. 

[bens197]

2 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... So very true!   Something I experienced at the pga show demo day. When I first started going the pre-release information would have me very interested in some clubs, usually the big name OEMs. But when I hit everything available I was always surprised by something either completely off my radar or something I had discounted as not for me. Amp Forged irons are a good example. Demo day for Cobra meant Rap music played loudly and a party atmosphere that just didn't appeal to me as I was there on serious business and it takes all day with focus and concentration. Many loved the Cobra booth so I am probably in the minority. I was very interested in the new Players Irons so these bright orange cavity backed irons with a rep that had virtually no information about loft/lie/shafts/materials but handed me a coupon for a free drink and offered me a flat brimmed hat seemed the exact opposite of what I was looking for. But setting them down at address got my full attention as they looked almost perfect to me eye and believe in my review said they looked like I designed them. Then I hit them and they were the sweetest feeling multi material irons I had hit. Flipped 'em back over and that bright gaudy orange badge was still there and that might have been the first time I fully realized I did not care what the cavity looked like as long as they looked good at address and gave me the performance I needed/wanted. To this day it is one of the most enlightening experiences I have had with a golf club and I played the Amp Forged for 2 seasons. 

... I get it but I will never understand serious players that say things like "I will only play Mizuno irons ... Ping wedges and nothing else ... If it isn't a Scotty Cameron I am not even gonna try it". If you are open to everything, something will most definitely surprise you. 

The cobra scene…I’d imagined it had a desired effect despite some folks discounting them just in music alone. Sad. 
 

This resonates with me because even though I walked in to the shop to buy MP irons a few months ago. I ALMOST** went Callaway because they surprised the living bejesus out of me. They were unreal. Save some data points it could have been a different story. 
 

[ParFore74x]

When I was fitted for irons last year, I walked into the fitting with the mindset that brand means nothing. I was playing Callaway X2 Hot irons at the time and the Callaway Mavriks felt familiar to me right out of the gate. The fitter had me try everything available to me and I was pleasantly surprised at how good most of the irons felt to me. By the time we arrived at the end of the fitting, my decision was down to aesthetics because my final three selections (Mavriks, G425, JPX 921HM) were giving me similar numbers and feel. 

I can only speak for the clubs that I hit that day but, I can say that all of the OEMs make quality equipment. Quite honestly, I wouldn’t mind having a second set of clubs just so I could have some of my other finalists from my fitting at my disposal.

[cnosil]

4 hours ago, revkev said:

Would you say the same for putters?  You seem to have lots of options in the closet.

I’d say the same for putters.  While I may not like the looks or sound/feel they all roll the ball well.  When testing the putters I am able to putt pretty well with all of them.  Some have a little better distance control based on how hot the face is some look a little better to my eye.  I have a lot of putters becuase I like putters.

[revkev]

13 hours ago, cnosil said:

I’d say the same for putters.  While I may not like the looks or sound/feel they all roll the ball well.  When testing the putters I am able to putt pretty well with all of them.  Some have a little better distance control based on how hot the face is some look a little better to my eye.  I have a lot of putters becuase I like putters.

My problem would be that if I had a lot I might be tempted to put a different one in during one of those struggling periods - Currently I have four sets of irons, 20 or so wedges of various types, four drivers, three 3 woods, 2 5 woods, 7 wood, 9 wood, several different lofted hybrids (I don't even game one of them) but only 2 putters.  

[fixyurdivot]

On 5/8/2022 at 2:38 PM, James H. Colin said:

How do you rate the variety of irons available on the market today?

You rate them based on how they perform.  If you haven't done so and have the means to do so, do yourself a BIG favor and get fitted - by someone that is competent and brand agnostic. I can tell you from my two iron fitting experiences over the past 4 years that some irons and shafts will love your swing and some won't. A couple I really wanted to work (loved their look) didn't and a couple I wouldn't have expected did. Also, while most say the choice in iron had is more than 50% of the equation, don't underestimate shaft choice... this was what surprised me the most.  Good luck and have fun.