Choosing the best golf irons for your game can be overwhelming. Many manufacturers have upwards of ten different models to pick from, all with different characteristics, and that’s before you get down to the finer details of finding the right shafts, length, lie angle, grips and more.
To make things a little easier, let’s answer some of the key questions you’ll be faced with when choosing new irons.
What type of iron do you need?
Irons come in a vast array of styles, all with different benefits and designed to suit different capabilities.
Blades: Blades are aimed at the best ball strikers and offer little to no forgiveness when you don’t hit the centre of the club face. They have small heads, are normally quite simple in design, and offer good levels of control and feedback to golfers who are good enough to use them.
Cavity backs: Cavity backs are typically slightly more forgiving than blades, so off-center hits aren’t punished quite so severely.
Hollow body: This category only emerged in recent years but has become hugely popular. Hollow-bodied irons often look like blades but are packed with technology to help launch, distance, and forgiveness. The TaylorMade P790 is a prime example of a hollow-bodied iron.
Game-improvement/super game-improvement: These irons tend to have wider soles, longer blade lengths and more offset, all designed to offer ultimate forgiveness and launch shots into the air easily.
The type of iron that suits you best will depend on your ability, what suits your eye, and your typical impact pattern. If you’re hoping to improve your golf, you may want to get a set that will work well for you now and still suit you when your handicap comes down.
Forged or cast irons?
There are two construction processes used to turn a lump of metal into a golf iron. Forged irons come from billets of steel stamped under massive force into a clubhead shape. Casting sees the metal melted in a furnace before being poured into a mould and left to harden in shape. Forged irons were typically seen as offering a softer feel, although iron design and the type of steel used in modern irons means cast heads can feel very much like their forged counterparts.
Shafts
There are two main considerations when it comes to shafts: the flex and the weight.
Flex relates to how stiff the shaft is. Typically, players with faster swing speeds will want stiffer shafts than those with slower swings.
The weight of the shaft also influences speed, as it’s easier to swing a lighter shaft faster, making very lightweight shafts a good option for golfers who struggle to generate swing speed. Players with fast swings sometimes find very lightweight shafts more difficult to control and therefore opt for heavier shafts.
Offset
Offset relates to the angle between the hosel and the club face. More offset will help the club face close at impact, which helps golfers who struggle with losing shots off to the right (for right-handers). Better players don’t tend to need this help, which is why blades and irons aimed at low handicappers tend to have less offset than super game-improvement irons aimed at beginners and high handicappers.
Gapping
A good set of irons should offer you consistent yardage gaps between irons, often in 10 to 15-yard increments, depending on your swing speed.
It’s also important to consider the gap between the longest iron you have and the next club up, whether it be a fairway wood or hybrid, and the gap between your shortest iron and any specialist wedges you have. Again, aim for 10 to 15-yard gaps at most, especially at the shorter end of your bag.
Custom fitting
With so many irons to choose from and the endless customisations available, a good custom fitting is the best way to go. If you already have your heart set on a certain brand, you can go direct to one of their fitting centres; if not, many fitters stock clubs from a wide range of manufacturers so you can find the set that fits you best.
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