Every major equipment manufacturer has released their 2023 iron lineup. Now the work begins. If you’re in the market for a new set of irons, consider this guide a roadmap to tracking down some potential options to complement your game.
To be clear, the goal of this guide is to highlight irons that do certain things well. With the help of Golf Laboratories’ swing-robot, we’re able to whittle down the field and provide worthy options to test in the areas you need it most.
It’s up to you and a certified club-fitter to determine where you should go from there. Now let’s get to the results.
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Dispersion
It doesn’t matter if you’re scratch or just picked up the game — we’re all looking for a tighter iron dispersion. Dispersion is defined as how far your shots span from left to right and back to front. The smaller the pattern, the better.
A tight pattern generally indicates you’re a good ball striker. Or, in this case, whether a club has just the right amount of ball speed retention (or forgiveness) across the entire face.
As we’ve seen in the past with some drivers, it’s possible to hit it all over the face and see very little distance drop-off. The same goes for certain irons. In this case, we tested all irons at 95 mph (using the same shaft and attack angle) and compared the carry distance on center face contact against an average of heel and toe misses to get a carry distance delta.
The smaller the delta, the higher the likelihood you’ll see minimal distance drop off, regardless of where you miss it on the face.
1. PXG 0311 P Gen6 (4.8 yards of distance dropoff between the geometric center and high-toe/low-heel)
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2. TaylorMade P770 (5.2 yards)
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3. Mizuno JPX 923 Tour (5.3 yards)
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4. TaylorMade Stealth HD (5.8 yards)
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5. Callaway Paradym X (5.9 yards)
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Ball speed
For golfers who find themselves lacking in the pop department, a boost in ball speed could be the ticket to lower scores. Or maybe you’re looking for distance at the top of the set to replace a better-player long iron. The options are endless. (Note: The ball speed number is based on geometric center contact.)
1. Callaway Paradym (116.9 mph)
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2. Titleist T400 (116.4 mph)
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3. Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro (116.4 mph)
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4. Srixon ZX4 MKII (116.3 mph)
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5. PXG 0311 XP Gen6 (116.3 mph)
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High toe misses
This one is pretty self-explanatory. If your common mishit is out towards the toe area — impact tape can help you find your common strike location — then it might be worth taking these 5 options into consideration for future testing.
1. PXG 0311 XP Gen6 (6.4 yards of distance dropoff between the geometric center and high toe)
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2. TaylorMade P770 (6.8 yards)
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3. Callaway Paradym (7.6 yards)
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4. Titleist 620 CB (8.3 yards)
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5. Titleist T100S (8.9 yards)
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Low heel misses
While not nearly as common as a high-toe miss, the low-heel section can see action as well. As you can see from the numbers below, the heel carry deltas are noticeably tighter than the toe.
1. Mizuno JPX 923 Tour (0.8 yards of distance dropoff between the geometric center and low heel)
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2. Ping i230 (1.1 yards)
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3. Ping G430 (1.6 yards)
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4. Callaway Paradym X (1.7 yards)
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5. Cobra King Tour (1.9 yards)
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High launch
These iron models produced the highest launch angle during testing. If you’re a better player who consistently struggles with a lower-than-optimal launch, consider trying these options when it comes time to test.
1. TaylorMade P7MB (21.4 degrees)
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2. Titleist 620 Forged/CB (21.3 degrees)
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3. TaylorMade P770 (21.1 degrees)
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4. Mizuno JPX 923 Tour (20.8 degrees)
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5. Srixon Z Forged II (20.7 degrees)
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Low launch
As you might have noticed, many of the irons in the low-launch category have plenty of forgiveness. Does that mean a high launch is best suited for the better player and low launch for the mid-to-high handicap? Not necessarily. While we tested all of the irons using the same shaft and delivery (attack/face angle), the loft on each 7-iron is not the same.
For the most part, game-improvement irons have stronger lofts that promote a low launch and more distance. The exact opposite is true with better player irons where the lofts are generally weaker to induce a higher launch and more workability.
1. Callaway Paradym X (17 degrees)
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2. Titleist T400 (17.2 degrees)
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3. PXG 0311 XP Gen6 (17.2 degrees)
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4. Srixon ZX4 MKII (17.9 degrees)
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5. Cobra King Forged Tec (18.1 degrees)
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High spin
In this case, there’s a direct correlation between high launch and spin. Weaker lofts will produce more spin, which is something better players are typically looking for when they want to work the golf ball. Traditional blades and smaller cavity-back offerings aren’t geared for pure distance. They’re designed to hit a number and move the ball in both directions. You generally need spin to make that a reality.
1. Titleist 620 Forged CB/MB (6,932 RPMs)
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2. TaylorMade P7MB (6,797 RPMs)
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3. Mizuno JPX 923 Tour (6,771 RPMs)
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4. Titleist T100 (6,613 RPMs)
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5. Cobra King CB (6,549 RPMs)
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Low spin
We have a few carryovers from the low launch category. As you’ve probably gathered, low launch can go hand-in-hand with reduced spin — which is a perfect recipe for pure distance. All of the irons listed below are designed to do exactly that.
1. PXG 0311 XP Gen6 (4,460 RPMs)
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2. Titleist T400 (4,734 RPMs)
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3. Srixon ZX4 MKII (4,984 RPMs)
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4. Callaway Paradym (5,006 RPMs)
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5. Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal (5,055 RPMs)
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