Joe Ferguson runs through the best irons for low handicap golfers on the market in 2024
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00:00So there is a vast array of choice
00:02for low-handicap irons in 2024.
00:04It might be the most packed category of the bunch.
00:08And I've tested dozens and dozens of these at home.
00:11I've now come out to the beautiful
00:13Santo de Serra golf club in Madeira
00:16to take these through a bit more of a thorough test.
00:17We're going to look at looks, feel, sound, performance,
00:21and stay tuned to the end of the video
00:23where I'm going to name my overall
00:24best low-handicap iron for 2024.
00:27Okay, so the first thing I want to talk to you about
00:31is the looks of the club, the aesthetics.
00:33And in this low-handicap range,
00:35it's really, really important.
00:37Low-handicappers tend to be a little bit more discerning
00:39about shapes and angles and offsets.
00:41So it's really important to get that right.
00:43So I've picked out three of my favorites
00:45and I'm going to show you now.
00:48My first standout in the looks category
00:50is the Mizuno Pro 243.
00:53So it should be no surprise to anyone
00:54who's ever played Mizuno irons
00:57that the Pro 243 iron is going to get
00:59in the best-looking mentions.
01:01From a shelf appeal point of view, I think it's faultless.
01:04It's just got a stunning finish.
01:06I love the shaping.
01:07Some real attention to detail
01:09in terms of sophistication from Mizuno here.
01:11Not putting any paint fill in the Mizuno badge.
01:13Just little touches like that look great.
01:15And the paint fill they have used
01:16just here on the Mizuno Pro, really subtle.
01:19And I just think they look fantastic in the bag,
01:21gleaming here in the sunshine.
01:24They're just top-notch from a shelf appeal point of view.
01:27The only thing that stopped them getting probably
01:28the top spot in this category for me
01:30is just down behind the ball,
01:32the head shape just doesn't quite suit my eye
01:34as well as some of the others.
01:35And that's not to say it's a bad head shape.
01:37It is not at all.
01:38It just doesn't quite have the symmetry
01:40of some of the others in this category for me.
01:43But I'd be far from disappointed seeing these in my bag.
01:47Next up for a special mention in looks
01:48is the Titleist T100.
01:50Now this is just a really classic-looking iron.
01:53There's not too much going on here.
01:55And that's, I think, to its benefit,
01:57not to its detriment.
01:58It's got a really lovely, clean,
02:00sort of brushed steel finish.
02:02Nice Titleist logo.
02:04Little bit of nod to technology in the cavity.
02:06But all in all, just a really sort of minimalist,
02:08clean, tidy, and neat head.
02:11And that sort of blends down
02:12when you're looking down behind the ball
02:14from an address position.
02:15It's a really neat aesthetic, very symmetrical.
02:18So for that reason, from a shelf appeal
02:21and an address position point of view,
02:23the combination here is really, really good.
02:26And that's why it had a special mention in looks.
02:28My favorite-looking low-handicap iron of 2024
02:31is the Ben Hogan PTX Tour.
02:34I just think it's absolutely gorgeous.
02:36From every angle, the shaping, the grinding,
02:40the finish, the colors, it's just a stunning iron.
02:43It's a bit of a throwback with kind of the longer ferrules.
02:46That's a bit of a hallmark of older clubs.
02:49The kind of little dimple patterns around the hosel.
02:52But everything about it just makes me want to hit it.
02:54Down behind the ball, the head shapes through the bag
02:58are just perfect.
02:59Perfect dimensions, perfect amount of offset.
03:02The top line's great.
03:03They just tick all the boxes for me in terms of looks.
03:07So for me, PTX Tour, best-looking,
03:09low-handicap iron of 2024.
03:12So now we come on to feel.
03:15And feel is something that's really important
03:17in these low-handicap irons.
03:19It tends to go hand-in-hand with the sounds.
03:21The acoustics and the feel are very, very much linked.
03:24So I've picked out three of my favorites.
03:26And the first one I want to show you
03:27is the Ping Blueprint S.
03:33Oh, I like the feel of that, Howard.
03:36So what I really like about the Ping Blueprint S
03:39is it's got kind of a robust feel to it.
03:41It's a little bit firmer than some of the other irons
03:44in the category.
03:45But for some reason, it really works on this iron.
03:47It's just a real depth of strike
03:49that feels really sort of meaty behind the board.
03:52I really do enjoy it.
03:53And one other thing I really like about this,
03:55got really narrow soles, these Blueprint S irons.
03:58And they just cut through the turf like butter.
04:00Entering and exiting is really, really smooth.
04:03And that gives them,
04:04that really does enhance the feel too.
04:09Oh, gets in.
04:11That's on it.
04:13Okay, these Wilson Staff Model CB irons.
04:17They were a real favorite of mine in testing.
04:20I loved.
04:20From a feel point of view, they're smooth.
04:23They're really sort of buttery soft.
04:25And I just like the overall simplicity of the package.
04:28But yeah, from a feel point of view,
04:30I thought there was a little bit more forgiveness
04:31on some of these shots than I did on some of the other irons.
04:34But particularly off center, they feel gorgeous.
04:41That's flying nice.
04:45So from a feel point of view,
04:46this was a real surprise package to me.
04:48Something you might not have even heard of Tacoma.
04:50It's a direct-to-consumer brand
04:52that's starting to make a few waves on the PGA Tour.
04:55Working with Wesley Bryan from the Bryan Brothers.
04:57And they've just signed another couple of tour players.
04:59And it's a really interesting brand.
05:01But I'll get to more of that later.
05:03But just from a pure feel point of view,
05:06it's just a beautifully precision forged steel.
05:09And it's so soft and buttery.
05:12I can't even tell you through strike.
05:13No matter what ball you're playing with,
05:15you get this really sort of gentle sensation
05:18in the hands through impact.
05:20And another great piece about this,
05:22it's got a relatively wide sole for an iron in this category,
05:25but they've done a little bit of grinding on the front edge,
05:28which really softens that entry.
05:29And again, helps the club through the turf.
05:31And turf interaction in these lower handicap irons
05:34is a really big thing.
05:35So when you combine that with the super soft feel
05:38and the great aesthetic, to me, this is a real winner.
05:41And this is my best feeling low handicap iron of 2024.
05:46Right, before we get to that,
05:50if you do enjoy this video, please hit the like button.
05:53It really helps us.
05:54Also comment down below,
05:55what's your favorite low handicap iron of 2024?
05:58Love to hear about it.
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06:02On to the all important performance.
06:05So I'm just going to put some numbers up on the screen
06:07for you from the testing I've done
06:08of all the holes selection.
06:10And if you need to pause it,
06:11please do take a look and absorb it.
06:13Because there's quite a lot of numbers there.
06:16But from a performance point of view in this category,
06:18it's not all about the numbers.
06:20Yes, that's part of it.
06:21We need to make sure that's adding up.
06:23But it's also, we need to take a bit more
06:24of a holistic approach to performance
06:26in terms of flight control, consistency,
06:29and some of the more unmeasurable things.
06:32On the data table, you'll probably notice
06:34there's a bit of a distance discrepancy
06:35from longest to shortest.
06:37That's probably because in this category,
06:39manufacturers are varying between lofts of 30 and 34 degrees.
06:44So quite a big variance there in this category for me.
06:46So that would account for some of the distance drop-offs
06:49that you might see.
06:50So the first one I want to talk about
06:51taking that holistic approach to performance here
06:54is the Srixon ZX7 Mark II Iron.
06:58You'll see from the data,
06:59it's got a very competitive ball speed,
07:01a slightly lower launch than some of the others
07:03in the category, and a good mid-level spin.
07:05It just produces a really nice sort of mid-trajectory,
07:09very controllable flight.
07:11And it's really repeatable.
07:13Off-center, it's good.
07:14You don't get any strange feeling strikes.
07:16It's just a really good, all-round, solid, reliable performer.
07:20A lot of tour validation from this iron.
07:22There's a lot of good players,
07:24your Ryan Foxes, Shane Lowry's of the world,
07:26using this iron, and those guys don't use irons
07:28that aren't good.
07:29So this would be a welcome addition to most people's bags.
07:32So next special mention in this category of performance
07:35is the Callaway Apex CB.
07:37Now I like this iron as soon as I picked it up,
07:39and that's always a good start.
07:40And the performance results warranted
07:43my initial enthusiasm.
07:45So you'll see from the data, if you did have a good look,
07:48it's not necessarily a standout in any of the categories.
07:50It's not jumping ahead and leading the way
07:52in any of the categories,
07:53but it's really solid across the board,
07:56and that's what I look for in performance
07:58in this kind of iron.
07:59Just something you can rely on,
08:01something you know you're going to get the same result
08:03from time after time, produces a lovely mid-level flight,
08:06nice feel, and the dispersion was really, really tight for me
08:11from left to right and a front to back perspective.
08:15It was really, really strong.
08:16So I found this to be a really, really good performer,
08:20and again, it'd be a great addition to anyone's bag.
08:23So the winner for me overall in terms of performance
08:25in this low-handicap category has to be the TaylorMade P770.
08:30This is the younger sibling of the P790,
08:34and it packs so much of that performance
08:36and the technology that goes into the P790,
08:38but just in a more smaller, compact head
08:40with a little bit less offset.
08:43It offers you all of the reliability
08:44of the other two models that I've just mentioned there,
08:47but what elevates it just above the rest,
08:49it just packs a little bit more of a punch,
08:51just a little bit more ball speed, a nice peak height,
08:54a nice steep landing angle,
08:56which is important in this category
08:57because it gives you more control
08:58when the ball's landing on the green.
09:00So for covering everything those other irons do
09:02and just giving that little bit more oomph,
09:04the winner in the performance category
09:05for low-handicap irons is the TaylorMade P770.
09:11So we've got to that time, and in my hand,
09:13I've got my favorite low-handicap iron of 2024,
09:18and that iron is the Callaway Apex CB.
09:23Now, from the second I picked this iron up,
09:25I liked everything about it.
09:26Always a good start when the aesthetics get in your brain
09:29and really suit your eye.
09:31I just think the curves are in all the right places,
09:33the shelf appeal, I even like the badge at the back,
09:36which would normally put me off,
09:37the sort of weight that sits behind there.
09:39I think that actually adds to the club head.
09:42I like the subtle touches that Callaway have done
09:44where they've not colored in their logo here,
09:46just a very soft, embossed silver Callaway
09:49in the cavity there.
09:50I just think they look so premium,
09:52both from a shelf appeal point of view,
09:54and they've just got the ideal shape down behind the ball.
09:58Now, it was a tough call, this,
09:59between this Apex CB and the P770,
10:02which, as you know, I've just crowned the best performing
10:04iron in terms of raw data,
10:07but the overall package, the sum of its parts,
10:10when you include the overall performance,
10:12plus the aesthetic, plus the feel,
10:15and there was a very tight dispersion,
10:17which I mentioned earlier,
10:18for me, this just about nicks it.
10:21So the best performing iron for me,
10:23or my favorite iron in the low handicap category of 2024,
10:27is the Callaway Apex CB.