TaylorMade

What it does: It’s fairly well known that most iron impacts happen beneath the centre of the face. To generate performance in that area, engineers need to push the centre of gravity lower in the head because as one told us, “Where the CG goes, the sweet spot follows.” TaylorMade took mass from the high toe portion of the iron and replaced the steel with a lighter density material. The saved mass is moved into a lower, more ideal location to lower the CG. This movement of weight not only increases launch angle and peak height, it also makes the club easier to square at impact.   

Why we like it: This is the classiest-looking game-improvement iron TaylorMade has made, especially the subdued satin finish and clean lines. The club is more than good looks, though. The sweet spot gets a jolt from a springy 450-stainless-steel face that is just 1.6-millimetres thick in its thinnest areas and uses a progressive inverted-cone thickness to create ball speed across a wide portion of the face. A through-slot (up to the 8-iron) protects against a drop in distance on shots hit low on the face. Together, these features produce the kind of distance that’s akin to playing at elevation.

7-iron loft 28 degrees; pw loft 43 degrees