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Golf Irons Buying Guide

Whether you are Tiger Woods or Mrs Woods, there's a set of irons that's just right for you. There is no doubting that the most essential and basic part of any golfers game is their iron play. The iron is truly the staple of your bag. The ability to control and shape your iron shots is what will define your game. Its great to be a good driver of the ball, but unless you find the greens from your positions, it will all be in vain.

Irons make up about 8-9 of the clubs in our bags, so finding the right set for you can have an considerable improvement on your game. There are a lot of various types of irons and different specifications you are offered and this page will help you in your quest to find golf's Holy Grail, the perfect set of irons!

Types Of Iron

Forged Irons

Forging a club is very similar to what the village blacksmith used to do. The metal is sunk into a rough shape and then hammered until the desired design is complete. The manufacturer is then presented with a raw forging iron, which is a close approximation of the club head desired. The carbon steel or chrome club head is then by finished by milling, grinding and drilling. The end result is a solid looking, soft metal iron that has a reduced sweet spot. The completed forged irons are aimed towards good players who place importance on the feel to be able work shots and control trajectory.

Cast Irons

The alternative to forged irons is the cast iron. This type of iron involves pouring the liquid metal into a mold. Producing the metal through a mold means that the manufacturers can make more complex head designs. Therefore, cast irons are more suited to the design of today's irons that are perimeter weighted and intricate. It is easier and cheaper than forged irons, which is the reason for the lower price tag.

Best Buys

Mizuno MP-32: Best blade.  The cut-muscle design gives great shot-making capability to better players

Nike Victory Red Forged Split Cavity: Best iron for mid to low handicap players.

Mizuno MP-57: Best iron for mid handicap players.

Srixon I-701: A forged iron with a big cavity back that is so easy to hit, but gives great feedback too.

Nike Slingshot 4D: Powerful cavity back iron, ideal for mid to high handicappers

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Designs Of Irons

Blade Irons

The blade iron offers a small hitting area from thin clubhead. Blades distribute weight evenly throughout the entire head, producing a small "sweet spot" in the center of the head. This is to say that a shot hit in the center of the face will produce a longer, straighter flight trajectory. Shots which aren't hit pure (off-centre) will produce a shorter, unpredictable flight trajectory.

Because more weight is placed behind the sweet spot it offers more feel to a shot than a cavity back (hence, the blade iron is sometimes known as a muscleback iron). Suited to low handicap players who choose to benefit from the feel and workability of a blade iron.

 

Cavity Back Irons

A cavity back iron, also known as perimeter weighted, has generally been associated as an investment cast iron. Again while the manufacturing process isn't really important, the design of the club head is. The cavity back iron is made from stainless steel that offers a hard-hitting golf shot. The iron distributes the weight around the perimeter of the head, producing a large "sweet spot".

This makes the off-center shots more forgiving, flying longer and straighter, than an off-center shot with a muscleback iron. This increased forgiveness reduces feel and means that the cavity back iron is more suited to a high handicap golfer who can benefit from the larger sweet spot technology, essentially a 'game-improvement' iron.

 

Hybrid Sets Of Irons

By far the most recent of the iron types on the market is the hybrid irons. Aimed towards players who struggle to hit longer irons, the hybrid set progress from cavity back short irons, through hollow back or reduced cavity mid irons to part-wood-part-iron longer clubs. The benefits of this type of set are clear. The cavity back short irons offer maximum forgiveness and control for shorter shots into greens. Following that, the hollow back mid irons move the weight of the club head lower and further back on the club to produce easily-hit high mid iron shots. Finally the long irons combine fairway wood distance with the control and accuracy of a long iron. For a mid handicap golfer or older player, this set could provide the perfect mix to help your iron-play.

Shafts

Steel Shafts

The most commonly chosen shaft for irons, steel has many benefits that suit a set of irons. The carbon steel or stainless steel material is thick and offers consistent torque and flexibility. The advantage of this as concerns irons is the ability to have the same flex and stiffness in your 3 iron as you have in your 9 iron. The reduced price and highly durable features of the metal make it a popular choice for all golfers.

Graphite Shafts

Not as common as steel in the iron market, graphite can still be a great advantage because it is lightweight. This offers a golfer the chance to increase swing speed and perhaps unlock more distance in his/her game. The drawback of graphite is the feel of the shaft. A stiff graphite shaft will not feel like a stiff steel shaft and may mean the feel is not consistent through a graphite-shafted set of irons. The other drawback is obviously price, the process of making graphite shafts is more expensive than steel and this is represented in the price of graphite irons. However, if you are an older, junior or lady golfer who perhaps prefers a light feeling club, then the extra money you spend may benefit your game.

Multi-Material Shafts

A recent addition to the shaft market is the multi-material shaft. This type of shaft combines both steel and graphite in one shaft. Typically it is mainly a steel shaft that utilizes a graphite tip. The steel section of the shaft offers a solid shaft that allows players to control the ball flight more. The graphite tip lets the club have a limited amount of 'zip' into the ball that can help produce more distance. The graphite tip also helps filter out any unwanted vibrations at contact to optimize the feel of each shot.

For more information on shafts, go to the Golf Shafts Buying Guide

Tips For Buying Irons

How Many Clubs Do I Buy?

This may seem a fairly elementary question but actually there are many options when it comes to deciding exactly which individual clubs you buy. The most common set of irons is from a 3 iron to a pitching wedge (PW). Many better players may choose to buy 2 to 9 iron and leave room to add specialist wedges. The 2 iron will offer them an extra bit of length on their longest iron and another club to use on the tee. A slightly weaker player or older player may decide to choose 5 iron to SW, the reason being that they will leave room for fairway woods and utility clubs in their bag in place of the longer irons, whilst using wedges provided by the set.

Try Before You Buy!

One of the great benefits of buying clubs today, is the option to try clubs and visit demo days. We could not recommend this enough. Just finding the right clubs for you is fine, but unless you actually use them and see how they hit then you may never be sure you are getting the perfect set.

Custom Fitting

Custom fitting is a service offered by all the big manufacturers that has revolutionised many golfer's games. The ability to adapt the specifications of irons to match your size and swing is a very useful method of buying clubs. The average set is designed for a player that is roughly 5 foot 10 inches tall. If you are not exactly this height it is likely that you would benefit from custom fitting.

It involves customising the length of shaft and lie (i.e. the taller you are the longer shaft you will require and you may perhaps need a more upright lie). The shaft stiffness can also be adjusted to suit your swing speed so that the club does not arrive too open or shut at impact. Even the head design can be custom fitted to your swing and desired shots.

Custom fitting will take approximately 30 minutes to do at your local pro shop or golf shop. It will cost you a little more than buying a standard set of clubs but may save you money as you wont need to change set as you will have a set perfectly suited to you (so no excuses!)

Demo Days

Demo days where manufacturers offer all golfers the chance to try out all their latest equipment and get advice on specifications and any other questions you might have. Some demo days even have custom fitting trucks with computer analysis equipment to analyse you swing and build you a club to order there and then. A list of demo days for all manufacturers can be found in our Demo Day section.