2018 Hot List: Game Improvement Irons
Higher, farther, straighter: these irons for the everyman continue to provide new levels of versatility and performance.
Callaway
Epic
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★★
Look/sound/feel ★★★★★
Demand ★★★
Verdict Distance in an iron is great, but the extra metres won’t help if your shots can’t hold the green. Callaway sought to create the lightest, stiffest body possible and matched it to a flexible cupface for maximum distance. Then it used a metal-injection-moulding process to create an internal weight out of tungsten and steel. The purpose of the slug is to optimise the centre of gravity for each iron throughout the set and ensure the best possible launch.
Comments (L) The balance and weighting felt good through impact. It’s nice to have an iron that feels strong like that. (M) The face has some spring to it. The ball comes off fast, even on mis-hits. If forgiveness had a feel, this club would be it.
Callaway
Rogue
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★★
Look/sound/feel ★★★★½
Demand ★★★★★
Verdict Sometimes multiple materials are used to mask a deficiency in one area. Here they’re used to produce a progressive-offset iron with plenty of size and a desirable combination of distance and playability. A variable-thickness cupface enlarges the area of the face that delivers high ball speed. Tungsten weighting is used to dial in the trajectory of each long iron. A cool feature: the pockets of air within the urethane injected inside the head. The purpose is to help the face flex while damping vibration.
Comments (M) The long irons are forgiving. I might not need a hybrid. They also have that jumpy feel off the face. (H) I hit a couple a little fat and still got good distance.
Callaway
Rogue X
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★★
Look/sound/feel ★★★★
Demand ★★★★½
Verdict Players seeking pure distance might be drawn to this iron. It uses the same core technologies as the Rogue (cupface, urethane injections with air pockets and variable-face thickness), but there are differences. Among them is a lighter overall weight despite being longer and having stronger lofts (a 42-degree pitching wedge borders on loft indecency). Still, a wide sole and tungsten weighting keep the weight low and back to get the ball in the air and make sure you’renot screaming “Full flaps!” as your shots come into the green.
Comments (L) The sole feels as if it floats through the turf. (H) You can attack the ball with this iron. The built-in forgivenesslets you get away with a lot and frees all the negative thoughts.
Cleveland
Launcher CBX
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★½
Look/sound/feel ★★★★
Demand ★★★
Verdict In its return to irons, Cleveland has chosen to follow a simple but effective design path: make the long irons easier to hit and the scoring clubs easier to control. That’s the overriding thought behind the Launcher CBX – an iron set mixing face-flexing cupface technology in the low-profile long and middle irons with spin control in the short irons. And when you’re a leading wedge company, using the same “tour zip” grooves and laser milling on the face between the scorelines is something few others can match.
Comments (L) If you closed your eyes, you’d swear you’re hittinga forged blade. The feel is that good. (M) Very attractive, inviting lookat address. The edges just seem to flow into each other.
Cobra
King F8/One Length
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★½
Look/sound/feel ★★★★½
Demand ★★★½
Verdict Long, middle and short irons do different things, so why design them similarly? Cobra doesn’t. The 4 through 7-irons are hollow construction with a thin face insert that wraps into the sole to help shots hit low. A shorter hosel on the long irons lowers the centre of gravity to launch the ball higher. The short irons (8-iron through pitching wedge) have carbon fibre in the cavity to elevate feel. A one-length version is available, and both sets have sensors in the grips that work with the Arccos app to provide shot data.
Comments (L) The compact size of the head lets you play the kind of shot you want. (H) It’s like playing a round at elevation. Big hang time. Shockingly good distance.
Mizuno
JPX 900 Hot Metal
Performance ★★★★
Innovation ★★★★½
Look/sound/feel ★★★★★
Demand ★★★★
Verdict How do you get the kind of ball speed typically reserved for an iron with a cupface or thin-face insert without having either? Mizuno uses a special kind of steel called Chromoly 4140M – a material used in high-tech bicycle frames and the body of solar cars. Its high strength-to-weight ratio allows for Mizuno’s thinnest iron face yet – two millimetres. The thin face combined with a deep undercut promotes rebound off the face. A rib structure inside the topline stabilises the frame for optimal feel despite the thin face.
Comments (L) So consistent from shot to shot. Turf interaction was superior. (M) A polished finish. Not too overpowering a topline. The long irons have a clean, crisp punch.
Ping
G400
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★½
Look/sound/feel ★★★★½
Demand ★★★★★
Verdict In the nine iterations of Ping’s G series irons, the head shapes have swung between game improvement and nearly super game improvement. The G400 is the former, and it’s a move we applaud. Referred to as the company’s “game enj oyment” iron, it delivers the off-centre-hit performance this player category needs. The keys are a thinned-out undercut on the iron’s top rail and an improved variable face thickness that expand the area of the face that flexes. The saved weight is used for perimeter weighting.
Comments (M) Love the look at address. It’s almost like it’s cupping the ball, lending a helping hand. (H) If high, consistent, easy-to-hit irons appeal to you, then you need to land here.
PXG
0311XF
Performance ★★★★½
Innovation ★★★★½
Look/sound/feel ★★★★½
Demand ★★½
Verdict This is a nice change from some of the gargantuan cavity-backs in this category. The company pursued a cavity-back but scrapped the idea when it couldn’t match the feel of its 0311 and 0311T irons. Going back to its hollow-construction roots, the result is a better-players iron in look, but with the benefit of an ultra-thin, fast-flexing face supported by an injection of feel-enhancing thermoplastic elastomer in the cavity. A thin maraging-steel face insert and 1-degree stronger lofts than the 0311 provide pop.
Comments (M) I like the way the design on the head hides how wide the sole is, but the sole provides lots of help. (H) A nice, medium-high trajectory with no fade or draw bias.
TaylorMade
M4
Performance ★★★★★
Innovation ★★★★★
Look/sound/feel ★★★★½
Demand ★★★★★
Verdict The company has always found useful ways to seamlessly blend technologies into a single iron set. This iron continues that heritage in a refined shape that pleases at address. The face and sole slots are most visible, but just as important are internal beams that stiffen the body of the club to assist sound and maximise face flex. The topline undercut – where wasted mass is often trapped – has been thinned to 1.2 millimetres, allowing saved weight to be used to lower the centre of gravity for ease in getting shots airborne.
Comments (L) It has a nice click to it off the face, and the result matches that pleasant sound. (M) Just goes miles and miles. If distance is the objective, mission accomplished.
Titleist
718 AP1
Performance ★★★★★
Innovation ★★★★½
Look/sound/feel ★★★★★
Demand ★★★★½
Verdict Titleist continues to take its classic designs and make them more versatile. In the case of the AP1, that means moving to hollow construction in the 4 and 5-irons (based in part on what it learned from its C16 concept irons) to boost speed in those clubs and maintain the company’s standard for feel. The rest of the set features irons with thin faces and 360-degree undercut cavities. Throughout the long and middle irons, high-density tungsten weights are used in the toe sections to provide the highest forgiveness of any 718 iron.
Comments (L) They’ve refined a proven success. You can feel the position of the head throughout the swing. (M) Great forgiveness, tremendous trajectory with a crisp feel through impact.
Ping
G700
Performance ★★★★
Innovation ★★★★½
Look/sound/feel ★★★
Demand ★★★½
Verdict Ping is known for producing easy-to-hit irons. This is another example, but the company went outside its normal design box with a hollow-construction iron. To achieve meaningful perimeter weighting and maximum performance on off-centre strikes, weights have been placed towards the toe and shaft. This helps deliver a balanced centre of gravity that yields ample forgiveness. A body made from 17-4 stainless steel and a maraging-steel face insert yield distance.
Comments (L) The longish heel-to-toe blade makes it look extra forgiving but still a club you’d want to play. (M) High, straight and longer than average. That works for me.
Wilson
C300
Performance ★★★★
Innovation ★★★★
Look/sound/feel ★★★½
Demand ★★½
Verdict Wilson has been enthralled with face flex in irons dating to the original Reflex irons of the 1970s. The most recent idea includes two rows of “power holes” that result in 11 urethane-filled mini-slots surrounding the sole, topline and toe perimeter of the club. The less material that supports the face, Wilson says, the more the face will deflect at impact for more rebound. Worried about feel? The irons feature a larger, softer Lamkin Crossline 2 grip that provides a more comfortable sensation.
Comments (L) So straight that you could call your shots and hit them through a window. (M) You could feel the power boost on all well-struck shots and some mis-hits, too.
Criteria
Our judges, listed at right, cast the only votes in the Hot List, but they gather insight from three independent panels. The Scientists advise us on Innovation. Retailers assess Demand. Players evaluate Performance and Look/Sound/Feel. A product’s score is based on its weighted average in these four criteria, with Performance, Innovation and Look/Sound/Feel largely determining the total score.
Performance
45% The utility of a product, or what happens to the ball when it’s struck by the club.
Innovation
30% How a club’s technology, including custom-fitting, advances the category.
Look/sound/feel
20% What the golfer experiences before, during and after impact.
Demand
5% The relative interest in a product and its reputation.
