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Best irons in golf of 2024: Pure enjoyment

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3 months ago

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In our effort to assemble the 2024 best irons, we have again compiled an expert panel of fitters to help you find out which of the 2024 irons is best for your game.

Ultimately the best way to find your personal best iron set is to work with a professional fitter using a launch monitor. The difficult part is a lot of people don’t have easy access to fitters, launch monitors, and club builders — so at GolfWRX, we have done a lot of the work for you.

We are in the era of not just maximizing distance but also minimizing the penalty of common misses for each player — this applies to irons just as much as it does with any other club in the bag. And of course, proper set makeup and gapping is essential. This is why, now more than ever, custom fitting is essential to help you see results on every swing you make.

We want to give you the tools and information to go out and find what works best for you by offering recommendations for your individual iron set wants and needs with insight and feedback from the people who work every single day to help golfers get peak performance out of their equipment.

Best irons of 2024: The process

The best fitters in the world see all the options available in the marketplace, analyze their performance traits, and pull from that internal database of knowledge and experience like a supercomputer when they are working with a golfer.

It’s essentially a huge decision tree derived from experience and boiled down to a starting point of options—and it has nothing to do with a handicap!

Modern iron sets are designed into player categories that overlap the outdated “what’s your handicap?” model, and at GolfWRX we believe it was important to go beyond handicap and ask specific questions about the most crucial performance elements fitters are looking at.

These are the best iron categories we have developed to help you determine which category is most important for your swing and game.

Best irons of 2024: The categories

2024 Best irons: Pure enjoyment

We continue to see an overlap in the way fitters in this category define the top irons. The most playable irons are the most likely to be higher launching, and shots that fly higher make the game more enjoyable for everyone. This reiterates our belief that your iron selection should not be defined by your handicap but instead by what gives you the best opportunity to play your best — and most enjoyable — golf.

Ping G430

Their story: Billed as Ping’s “longest iron ever,” the G430 irons combine a lower CG with stronger, custom- engineered lofts and a thinner face that delivers up to two more mph of ball speed, per the company. At the heart of the new addition is the PurFlex cavity badge, an innovation that features seven flex zones that allow more free bending in design to increase ball speed across the face. In combination with a lower CG, the badge aims to contribute to a solid feel and pleasing impact sound.

Fitter comments:

  • “The best G.I. iron on the market. Easy to hit and launch while making great ball speed for distance.”
  • “The best iron in the game improvement category. High launch and packed with forgiveness on those off-center hits. It’s one of the easiest irons to hit. So easy to hit and look at for the average golfer.”
  • “Yeah, I mean, that’s definitely a go-to and in the matrix for sure. I mean, it’s just super easy to hit, super forgiving. They don’t mess that iron up.”
  • “Ping does a great job of building golf clubs. Their design is fantastic and it’s not for everybody, you know, it’s not the lowest-spinning club…but it sure is one of the most forgiving golf clubs and most consistent golf clubs. Ping G430 in that category of club, you can have something that a good player who needs a little help maybe can use because it’s consistent across the face, and you can’t do that with some of the other clubs because they’re not as consistent across the face for the ball speeds. It is a monster for us.”
  • “The best iron in the game improvement category. It’s one of the easiest irons to hit.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece.

TaylorMade P790

Their story: Engineers utilized the variables of tungsten weighting, SpeedFoam Air, and internal mass — with an assist from AI — to precisely give golfers what they need in each iron. For example, launch and forgiveness in the long irons. More specifically, TaylorMade is using what the company calls FLTD CG (flighted CG) to strategically position CG throughout the set (lower in the long irons, higher in the short irons). CG is positioned almost a millimeter lower in the long irons compared to previous generations. In the shorter irons, the higher CG positions allowed engineers to dial in spin and promote accuracy.

Fitter comments:

  • “Best combination of everything. The amalgamation of all irons on the market blended into one mathematically perfect design.”
  • “I think people recognize the name. It’s a very popular club. It stands up to every model in a category.”
  • “That’s the staple in the players distance category. It’s year-in, year-out. It’s tough to beat TaylorMade — they don’t go wrong with that iron, for sure. They make little refinements, but it’s almost like, yeah, just keep making little refinements. Don’t kind of mess that up just because the, I mean, it, it fits such a wide range of players and it’s just such a good iron that fits a wide, wide range of handicaps.”
  • “I think where TaylorMade kind of struggled over the past is getting that spin on the golf club, and I think each generation it just keeps getting better. I think they did an awesome job.”
  • “If it’s not our best-selling iron in the fitting center, it’s always like number two. It’s such a great, great performer across the board. And yeah, it just keeps getting better every year. It’s really awesome; crazy distance on that thing too.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece.

Srixon ZX5 Mk II

Their story: MainFrame v2 was developed with an Automated Intelligence process, flex-maximizing variable thickness pattern of grooves, channels, and cavities carefully milled into the backside of Z ZX5 iron faces for high ball speeds. Not only does MainFrame boost COR, but it also repositions mass away from the face and into the toe and sole for a lower CG for easier launch, more consistency, and forgiveness.

Fitter comments: 

  • “I’m a big believer in the V-Sole. For high-speed guys who want a little forgiveness and are steep, it just doesn’t stick in the ground. Super soft and high launching. Not a ton of offset. It’s also been a good fit for moderate-to-high handicappers.”
  • “So I would say it, it kind of stands out in its category because it does launch higher than its competitors. It also sits in between some of the models, like, it doesn’t directly compete with a hollow cavity and it doesn’t compete with, like the Cobra King Tour. Like, it’s a degree stronger. For a forged iron, it performs great for us. The only problem is that it is a little bit light in a swing weight, so we have to be careful of who we fit.”
  • “It’s definitely one of our more popular irons for sure. You know, you get a guy who wants to play something small but still wants something more forgiving, and they don’t want kind of that full hollow body iron. I mean, that’s definitely one of our best sellers for sure. We’re seeing that a lot of combos — that’s a one iron that you can definitely combo with the ZX7 for sure.”
  • “I think a lot of guys like the concept of the V-Sole with them…If you’re talking an overall package, you know, for the guy that is looking for something clean. That’s a spectacular golf club. Good looks and good feel and great, you know, great performance, and it fits a lot of categories.”
  • “I think the one struggle a lot of companies have with that category is getting something to spin, so to try and give like guys so they don’t get those knuckleball shots or that fly out of the rough that goes 20 yards longer. I kind of think that that’s what I think makes that item so good is you get some spin on it, and I think it, it looks and feels good enough that like it, a guy that’s a mid-single digit can play it and be like, yeah, that’s good enough for me. But it’s also forgiving enough that a guy that’s in that kind of 12-to-15 kind of category if he wants to reach a little bit and play something that might look a little bit better. It just fits such a huge, huge range of players. I think it’s just awesome.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece.

Mizuno JPX923 Hot Metal

Their story: “With the JPX923 Hot Metal, Mizuno introduces “4355 nickel chromoly,” which is 35 percent stronger than the original Hot Metal material and allows for an eight-percent thinner clubface. Cup face construction works in tandem with a deep center of gravity for high launch with stopping power. Mizuno developed Hot Metal Pro, Hot Metal and Hot Metal HL (High Launch) from 175,000 real golf swings recorded via Mizuno’s Swing DNA system.”

Fitter comments:

  • “These are great for a player who flips at the ball but also needs some help and forgiveness. The strong lofts help reduce a player’s launch and spin.”
  • “Great forgiveness with the feel that Mizuno is known for.”
  • “Great looking and great feeling irons.”
  • “If I had a player come in, that’s just your, you know, your average golfer. It’s one that is like, “Hey, this is, this is one to try.” This is gonna produce a lot of ball speed and is super forgiving. You can combo it really well. Mizuno does a great job where you can do combo sets just with lofts.”
  • “It’s very good. It’s one of the most popular. Always in the mix of game improvement irons when people come in and they want to hit something that’s forgiving and that also still feels less clicky.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece.

Titleist T200

Their story:  If there were gripes about the previous generation of T200 irons, it was probably because of feel and sound at impact. Titleist heard your feedback on the previous T200 irons, and it listened. The new 2023 T200 irons have a reengineered chassis to create a stiffer structure and create a more stable feeling and muted sound. They also refined the Max Impact Technology within the head to sit closer to the L-face, further solidifying the feel.

Fitter comments: 

  • “Best overall for us. Great looks, workability. Plenty of forgiveness.”
  • “I like the great look of these and they are easy to play for the average golfer.”
  • “That’s a big combo iron for sure, especially, but it’s also, you know, in that player distance category, it’s one of the higher launching ones, and it’s gonna spin a little bit more. I would say some of those irons in that category they launch, you know, they’ve launched a little bit lower and they don’t spin, which it is great for some players, but also some still want to play a smaller package.”
  • “I think it was definitely a big jump from the previous one. Yeah, I mean, one thing I’ve noticed is compared to some of the other irons, even kind of equal loft, it tends to get a little bit more height on it.”
  • “It’s great for one of those guys that if I get in there that’s kind of hitting a little low. It’s one to kind of throw in my hands…you’re seeing that initial launch kind of pick up a little bit compared to some of the other ones.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece.

Best irons of 2024: Meet the fitters

RELATED: Best driver 2024

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Whats in the Bag

Club Junkie WITB league night, week 12: We are back! (hopefully)

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3 hours ago

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Jul 11, 2024

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BK says: League play is back, weather permitting, and it feels like I have been away for years! We are going with a few brand new items in the bag this week as I try and figure out the 14 clubs I am taking on my golf weekend in a couple of weeks. Irons are the Ben Hogan PTx Tour, a progressive set that is built around multi-piece long irons and on-piece forged 9 and PW. The driver head isn’t new but the shaft is the brand new Fujikura Ventus Red with VeloCore+ technology. Finally the lob wedge is the Titleist Vokey Wedgeworks 60 A+ grand.

Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 6x (2024)

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7x (2018)

7-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (20 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8s

Irons: Ben Hogan PTx Tour (4-PW)
Shaft: KBS Tour-V 110 Stiff

Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM10 (50.12F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 Stiff

Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM10 (56.14F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 Stiff

Wedge: Titleist Vokey Wedgeworks (60 A+)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold S200

Putter: Toulon Chicago
Shaft: Stroke Lab 

Ball: Titleist ProV1x

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Equipment

What clubs do equipment free agents choose to use on tour? We found out

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4 hours ago

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Jul 11, 2024

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There are 15 “equipment free agents” in the OWGR top 100, as of June 9, 2024, which is the Tuesday ahead of the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open.

“Equipment free agents” are defined here as players who do not have a sponsorship or a brand deal to play a specific company’s golf clubs. If the player has a brand deal to use a company’s staff bag, or their driver, or their irons, or their putter, or they wear an OEM hat, then they’re excluded from the “equipment free agent” list.

Full disclosure, I’ve excluded borderline players such as Maverick McNealy, Justin Rose, and Matt Fitzpatrick from the list, due to their putter relationships. I probably could have kept them in, since they use varied brands throughout their full setups, but we have to develop some basic definitions here to keep this clean.

Given the amount of golf-ball brand deals there are on tour, however, “equipment free agents” are still considered “equipment free agents” if they have golf ball deals.

Since I’m making the rules here, that’s just something everyone will have to live with for this article/research study. I do think, however, that most “gearheads” would agree with me, that an equipment free agent is someone who can play any 14 clubs that he chooses, thus, he’s an “equipment free agent.” Golf balls just don’t count in this circumstance, in my opinion, and I hope you agree.

Aside from some sort of under-the-table deal that no one knows about, as far as I can tell, and based on what I know, the 15 “equipment free agents” listed below are not compromised by any current club deals. These are players who are free to test and use any golf club, made by any brand that they want to, unrestricted by a contract.

Maybe I’m wrong, and a few of the players do, in fact, have contracts to play certain clubs, but I guarantee that I do not know about it. I’m doing the best I possibly can here to keep these results unbiased.

Also, we have to keep in mind that we’re dealing with equipment free agents here. These are players who tend to enjoy the freedom to test equipment from different brands, and they tend to switch clubs on a regular basis. So, what’s listed below could change by the week, or even by the day. However, I’ve done my best detective work, using our GolfWRX.com weekly WITB photos, using information obtained from equipment companies, and by analyzing the most up-to-date photos on Getty Images, or otherwise. Despite my best efforts, however, I’m sure to get something wrong, because these free agents switch clubs on a whim, and their bag setups often vary day-to-day.

I apologize if I got any information incorrect, but I do guarantee that the information listed below is accurate at a moment of time in 2024. For each of the 15 players, their club information is accurate as of the most recent information possible, as of the day before the Genesis Scottish Open. When you’re reading this article, however, things may have changed slightly. Or, a player listed below could have already signed a new brand deal. That’s just the nature of the “equipment free agent” business, and it’s just something we’re all going to have to accept here.

Lastly, before we get to the results, a few brief notes on the categories.

The categories here are drivers, fairway woods, 7-irons, lob wedges, and putters. For the fairway wood category, I’ve excluded the TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver. It just makes things a little too confusing, because most players who have a mini driver in the bag also have a 3-wood that they use depending on the course or conditions. In this case, I used the lowest-lofted fairway wood in the bag for each player. It just kind of evens the playing field this way, because the Mini Driver is a specialty club, and it can’t necessarily be called a fairway wood – it literally has “driver” in the name! But, just know, that about 1-4 Mini Drivers are in play on a given week by free agents.

Also, I researched just the “7-iron” to avoid any confusion around mixed sets, and to avoid trying to determine what’s considered a “driving iron” and what isn’t. It’s a cleaner list going with just the 7-iron, and I think it gets us what we’re all looking for. Maybe I’ll do some further study on “mixed sets,” but for now, we’ll start with just the 7. Additionally, we’re breaking down just the lob wedge, rather than all wedges used throughout the set. Not only do I think that the lob wedge is the specific club that most people want to know about, but it’s also super messy to include all the wedges in a player’s bag, because many players use some sort of mixed-model or mixed-brand wedge set.

Anyways!

Below, I’ve compiled a list of the most popular drivers, fairway woods, 7-irons, lob wedges, and putters among the 15 “equipment free agents,” who are each ranked inside the top 100 in the OWGR.

The information compiled below is listed numerically, by most usage to least usage, and listed alphabetically.

Driver

Ping G430 LST (4 players)
Titleist GT2 (4)
Titleist GT3 (2)

Krank Formula Fire
Ping G430 Max 10K
Ping G430 Max
TaylorMade M6
Titleist TSR3

Fairway Wood

Ping G430 Max (5)
TaylorMade Qi10 (4)
Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (2)

Krank Formula Fire
TaylorMade Qi10 Tour
TaylorMade Stealth Plus
Titleist 915F

7-iron

Titleist T100 (2)
Titleist 620MB (2)

Avoda Golf Prototype
Callaway Apex TCB
Callaway X Forged CB
Miura KM-700
Mizuno MP-18 SC
Ping Blueprint S Forged
Ping S55
TaylorMade P770
TaylorMade P7TW
Titleist 620CB
Titleist AP2 718

Lob Wedge

Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks (7)
Titleist Vokey SM9 (4)
Titleist Vokey SM10 (3)
Ping Glide 4.0

Putter

Odyssey (6)

Odyssey Ai One 2-Ball
Odyssey O-Works Jailbird Mini
Odyssey Toulon San Diego
Odyssey Toulon San Diego prototype
Odyssey White Hot OG #7
Odyssey White Hot Pro Rossie

Scotty Cameron (4)

Scotty Cameron 009M
Scotty Cameron GoLo N7
Scotty Cameron P5 prototype
Scotty Cameron T5 Proto

TaylorMade (3)

TaylorMade Spider Tour Limited Red
TaylorMade TP HydroBlast DuPage SB
TaylorMade Spider Tour X

L.A.B. Golf Mezz.1 Proto
SIK Pro C-Series Armlock

Individual Breakdown of Free Agents inside the Top 100 (according to the latest WITB information and photography)

Patrick Cantlay

Driver: Titleist GT2
3-wood: Titleist 915F
7-iron: Titleist AP2 718
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey SM9
Putter: Scotty Cameron T5 Proto

Patrick Cantlay WITB 2024

Bryson DeChambeau

Driver: Krank Formula Fire Pro
3-wood: Krank Formula Fire
7-iron: Avoda Prototype
Lob Wedge: Ping Glide 4.0
Putter: SIK Pro C-Series Armlock

Bryson DeChambeau WITB 2024

Jason Day

Driver: Ping G430 LST
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10
7-iron: TaylorMade P770
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Limited Red

Jason Day WITB 2024

Denny McCarthy

Driver: Titleist GT2
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10
7-iron: Callaway Apex TCB
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks
Putter: Scotty Cameron GoLo N7

Denny McCarthy WITB 2024

Davis Thompson

Driver: Titleist TSR3
3-wood: Ping G430 Max
7-iron: Titleist 620MB
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #7

Davis Thompson WITB 2024

Stephan Jaeger

Driver: Ping G430 LST
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond
7-iron: Ping S55
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey SM10
Putter: Odyssey Ai One 2-Ball

Stephan Jaeger WITB 2024

Aaron Rai

Driver: TaylorMade M6
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10
7-iron: TaylorMade P7TW
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey SM9
Putter: TaylorMade TP HydroBlast DuPage SB

Aaron Rai 2023 WITB

Adam Schenk

Driver: Ping G430 Max 10K
3-wood: Ping G430 Max
7-iron: Mizuno MP-18 SC
Lob-wedge: Titleist Vokey SM10
Putter: Odyssey White Hot Pro Rossie

Adam Schenk WITB 2024

Adam Scott

Driver: Titleist GT2
Fairway wood: TaylorMade Qi10
7-iron: Miura KM-700
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks
Putter: L.A.B. Golf Mezz.1 Proto

Adam Scott WITB 2024

Brendon Todd

Driver: Ping G430 Max
3-wood: Ping G430 Max
7-iron: Ping Blueprint S Forged
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks Proto
Putter: Odyssey Toulon San Diego

Brendon Todd WITB 2024

Cam Smith

Driver: Titleist GT3
3-wood: Ping G430 Max
7-iron: Titleist T100
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey SM9
Putter: Scotty Cameron 009M

Cam Smith WITB 2024

Patrick Rodgers

Driver: Titleist GT3
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond
7-iron: Titleist T100
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey SM9
Putter: Odyssey Toulon San Diego prototype

Patrick Rodgers WITB 2024

Mark Hubbard

Driver: Ping G430 LST
3-wood: Ping G430 Max
7-iron: Titleist 620MB
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X

Mark Hubbard WITB 2024

Ben Kohles

Driver: Titleist GT2
3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus
7-iron: Titleist 620 CB
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey SM10
Putter: Scotty Cameron P5 prototype

Ben Kohles WITB 2024

Matt Wallace

Driver: Ping G430 LST
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour
7-iron: Callaway X Forged CB
Lob wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks
Putter: Odyssey O-Works Jailbird Mini

Matt Wallace WITB 2024

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Equipment

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (7/11/24): Handmade TP Mills full prototype Genuine 1 of 1

Published

5 hours ago

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Jul 11, 2024

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At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a Handmade TP Mills full prototype Genuine 1 of 1.

From the seller: (@aston14): “For sale is a brand new Proto T bar alignment, handmade TP Mills Fleetwood putter. All black head and black shaft all done by David Mills with special stampings in the cavity and sole and unique headcover. This has a headweight of 370g,  33.5 inch long fitted with the new Golf Pride Reverse taper grip. Only used on my indoor green, this is a stunning putter but my stroke doesn’t deserve this!! Price is $999 plus shipping from the UK.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Handmade TP Mills full prototype Genuine 1 of 1

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules

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WITB

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