If you’re a better player in need of a distance boost, this is your category.
We considered 22 players distance irons; 15 made the list.
GOLD
LISTED ALPHABETICALLY
Callaway
apex 19
Performance ★★★★★
Innovation ★★★★★
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★★
Demand ★★★★★
VERDICT
The original Apex iron enjoyed a three-year run as a top seller. Given the enhancements, expect a similar run with this club. The body is forged from 1025 carbon steel and expands the 17-4 stainless-steel cupface – where the face wraps around the top and bottom of the club to create more flex – up to the 8-iron. The cupface brings a distance benefit to a wider portion of the face with more consistency, especially on shots struck low.
COMMENT
“Impact felt like a trampoline.
Soft and responsive. Incredible forgiveness. Love the looks, too.”
Callaway
mavrik pro
Performance ★★★★★
Innovation ★★★★★
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★★
Demand ★★★★
VERDICT
The Mavrik name goes to the heart of company founder Ely Callaway’s innovative thinking. This club brings
a fresh approach to iron design, starting with the use of artificial intelligence to create a unique cupface for each iron throughout the set. The purpose is to bring the kind of distance golfers in this category want. Further helping that endeavour is the use of strong lofts, including a 43-degree pitching wedge.
COMMENT: “Gosh, that was easy. Turf interaction was exceptional.
Distance was off the charts. Great launch.”
Cobra
king forged tec
Performance ★★★★★
Innovation ★★★★★
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★★
Demand ★★½
VERDICT
The changes from its predecessor are subtle, yet noticeable. The muscle-back shape hides the fact the head has a hollow construction for extra ball speed. A metal-injected tungsten toe weight allows the centre of gravity to be in line with the centre of the face to boost distance. A One Length option and the Cobra Connect grip sensors that provide player analytics through the Arccos round-tracking system remain.
COMMENT: “That flushed sound and soft feel at impact is terrific.
You can tell shots would land soft and hold greens.”
Mizuno
jpx919 forged
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★★
Demand ★★★
VERDICT
Details matter to players using irons in this category. An example is Mizuno infusing boron into carbon steel to make the steel more durable, thus allowing for a thinner face and better weight distribution to assist shots hit off centre. A cut-through slot in the sole (covered by a welded strip of steel) creates more flex over a larger area of the face. It also allows for a deeper undercut cavity that creates a lower centre of gravity to help boost height on shots.
COMMENT: “A reassuring look at address.
This is like a road grader in turf interaction. It’s in charge of the ground.”
Mizuno
mp-20 hmb
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★½
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★½
Demand ★★★
VERDICT
The MP-20 HMB mixes two kinds of iron designs within the set: hollow, two-piece clubs in the long and middle irons (through the 8-iron) and a partially hollow construction for the 9-iron and pitching wedge. The secret sauce in terms of feel is a chrome-plating technique used in a 1987 set of blades developed for Tommy Nakajima in which an underlayer of copper is used to enhance the usual double-nickel chrome plating.
COMMENT: “The back doesn’t have much cavity, but it’s easy to get in the air. As easy to shape as any blade.”
Ping
I500
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★½
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★½
Demand ★★★½
VERDICT
Iron technology for today’s better players deftly balances two pressing needs: precision and power. The good news is that Ping has a solution that addresses both in one iron. A hollow body and high-strength, maraging-steel face allows for five times the face flex at impact compared to a standard cast iron. That leads to distance increases, because not only does the ball launch faster off the face, but the face bends in a way that launches shots higher.
COMMENT: “You can feel the forgiveness.
Has a consistent sound at impact on mis-hits as well as pure strikes.”
PXG
0311 p gen3
Performance ★★★★★
Innovation ★★★★½
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★★
Demand ★★★
VERDICT
The company’s Gen2 irons were super cool, but the polymer inside the clubhead, although it produced a nice feel, dissipated energy at impact. PXG solved that issue with a new formulation that’s firmer on the outside and softer on the inside. The result is a face that deflects as much as two times more than the Gen2 model, and more flex means more metres. Those nifty weights in the back are still there to assist centre-of-gravity location.
COMMENT: “The club feels appropriately weighted, not too light.
It’s easy to swing and keep on path.”
TaylorMade
p790 (2019)
Performance ★★★★★
Innovation ★★★★★
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★★
Demand ★★★★★
VERDICT
A surprise hit two years ago, the goal with this update is to boost performance without sacrificing feel or the aspirational look. It starts with a thin, forged, steel L-shape face insert (1.6 millimetres thick) for more face deflection. The use of tungsten also changed the design from a disc low and towards the toe to an internal bar situated low and stretching from heel to toe across the impact area, helping get the ball in the air, especially with the long irons.
COMMENT: “The epitome of this category.
The feel of a players iron with controllable distance and good feedback.”
Titleist
t200
Performance ★★★★★
Innovation ★★★★★
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★★
Demand ★★★★½
VERDICT
Titleist’s 718 AP3 was its first foray into the players distance category. This is an admirable follow-up. A high-strength steel L-shape face provides plenty of pop, particularly on shots struck low on the face. The real hero, however, is the “max impact” spherical structure. Made from a lightweight silicone polymer and situated directly behind the impact area, the structure supports
a thin, flexing face across a broad area.
COMMENT: “Easy to hit it high or keep it low. Manoeuvrability is so strong. A winner in all areas.”
SILVER
Ben Hogan
ptx pro
Performance ★★★★
Innovation ★★★★½
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★
Demand ★
VERDICT
When you put the Ben Hogan name on an iron called Pro, you’d better deliver. Hoganites need not worry. The long and middle irons are hollow with a high-strength, maraging-steel-alloy face insert, and the short irons are a solid construction of co-forged 1025 carbon steel with titanium cores of various sizes. The idea is to selectively replace the steel with lighter titanium to shift the centre of gravity upward on the short irons.
COMMENT: “They look like classic Hogans but have that sizzle off the face you want. A soft feel, too.”
Honma
tr20p
Performance ★★★★
Innovation ★★★★½
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★½
Demand ★
VERDICT
This iron is targeted at serious golfers in the scratch to 12-handicap range, and it should find interested players among that audience. The pocket cavity with tungsten creates a lower centre of gravity, making it easier to launch the ball. Stronger lofts combine with a soft forged L-shape cupface to produce force with feel. A visually pleasing package features a shorter blade length from heel to toe than the TW747P iron it’s replacing.
COMMENT “You can feel the face flex at impact,
but it doesn’t give the harsh feel you sometimes get with that.”
Mizuno
jpx919 hot metal pro
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★
Demand ★★★½
VERDICT
It used to be that Mizuno had to overcome a couple of perceptions when it came to its irons: that its clubs were strictly for low-handicap players and that those clubs, while great for shotmaking, lacked power. The creation of the Hot Metal Pro model changed that. A high-strength steel alloy creates a thin, fast-flexing face for the kind of distance normally found in irons with a cupface or sole slot. A perception-changer indeed.
COMMENT: “I like that the help is visible.
A lot of weight behind the sweet spot produces an incredible feel.”
Srixon
z 585
Performance ★★★★
Innovation ★★★★½
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★★
Demand ★★
VERDICT
Don’t let the sleek exterior fool you. This is more than enough golf club to keep up with your mates. A high-strength steel face insert provides plenty of zip at impact, aided by an interior channel that acts as a slot around the entire face. Not to be overlooked is the revised V-shape sole, which features a higher bounce angle toward the leading edge that tapers to less bounce on the trailing edge – good for those with a steeper angle of attack.
COMMENT: “The sole grind powers through the ball aggressively.
Could hit climbing draws with long and middle irons.”
Titleist
cncpt cp-01
Performance ★★★★
Innovation ★★★★★
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★½
Demand ★
VERDICT
If you’re going to charge $US4,000 for a set of irons, you’d better push the boundaries of materials and performance. That starts with a hollow-body design with an ultra-thin face using an unnamed steel never before used in golf. High-density tungsten – up to 50 percent of the club’s overall weight in the long irons – is placed in the heel and toe to improve forgiveness and stability on off-centre hits and to help shots launch higher with less spin.
COMMENT: “The ball really jumps off the face; maybe on the futuristic side, but I like the new look.”
Tommy Armour
845 forged
Performance ★★★★
Innovation ★★★★½
Look • Sound • Feel ★★★½
Demand ★★
VERDICT
“It’s a serious fact that players who need every bit of help in scoring often are hopelessly handicapped by their clubs.” Tommy Armour said this, so it’s fitting that the Armour brand would make an iron that doesn’t fall into that description. A players shape with
a thin topline and a little offset belies the power created by a high-strength steel L-shape cupface. Forty grams of tungsten in the toe enhance stability on off-centre strikes.
COMMENT: “There is effortless power in these. The loud crack
at impact makes you feel good about your swing.”
