Irons expert and 3-handicap index golfer Joel Tadman has a wealth of experience testing irons and in this video, he has compiled a test of the latest models aimed at single-figure golfers. This comparison covers everything a good ball striker considers when choosing irons, be it the visuals, feel, ball flight and distance consistency. Be sure to watch to the end where Joel picks his favourite models and the overall winner, which may well surprise you.
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00:00our sport for choice when it comes to new options and it can be difficult to know which one is right
00:04for you but that's what i'm going to attempt to convey to you in this video by testing all of the
00:08latest models on the market for the low handicap golfer so you can understand the subtle differences
00:13between them and which one might be right for you and as a low handicapper myself i feel like i'm
00:17in a really good position to offer some really insightful feedback to help you pick the best
00:22model we're at black bear golf club here in florida the weather is beautiful the sun is out and the
00:26range is perfect for testing all 10 of these irons so let's dive into the different categories now
00:32starting with looks starting with the look and obviously all 10 of these low handicap irons are
00:41relatively compact down behind the ball designed to appeal to the eye of the better player but there
00:46is some variation between the models within this test starting with some of the larger heads if
00:50you want something a little bit bulky down behind the ball you've got our models like the ping i230
00:55and the cobra king tour is offering something a little bit more generous behind the ball if you
00:59don't want to look down on something too intimidating that said if you want a really small looking head
01:04or a blade style looking head there are some other options like the tireless t100 the mizuno jpx 923
01:11tall that have really thin top lines and really narrow soles so if you're a competent ball striker
01:15those are the odds you're probably going to gravitate towards for me personally i like something in the
01:18middle that's going to give me a little bit more top line something something with a slightly wider
01:23sole but isn't too large or offset and there's a couple that really stand out for looks and i've
01:27got them here they are the 10made p770 which i think has lots of shelf appeal they've really slimmed
01:32down this iron versus the prior generation and just ticks a lot of boxes from the look point of
01:36view apart from that toe screw which i think is a little bit detracting from the look but in terms
01:40of the profile address and the finish on it i think it really uses a lot of class and then the
01:45strixon zx7 i think this is a fantastic looking iron really clean and down address it's just perfect
01:51really the top line is thin but it's not too thin there's not much offset on there the finish is
01:55quite light and i think it looks great from the back as well so these would be my two for looks
02:00tell me p770 and the strixon zx7 mark ii so now we move on to the field category and this is a bit
02:06tricky because it is subjective player to player people want to feel different things whether it's
02:10something that's quite lively or something that feels as soft as possible for me i think i'm somewhere
02:14in the middle i like there to be a bit of energy to the face but also i like quite a soft feel and
02:19quite a short thud sound to it and there are a few that really stood out in terms of the feel out of
02:22the middle these are the ones that really had that wow factor out of the middle i think that's
02:25something that you want from an iron when you hit it out of the middle it gives you that wow factor
02:29it makes you want to hit shot after shot the first one for me would be the pxg0317 st now this is a
02:35blade but it's got this weight pour behind the the sweet spot here when you strike right out the middle
02:40you're really rewarded with a soft springy sensation there's no vibrations that come up into the
02:45hands the sound is fantastic yes it does drop off a little bit more than the others off center but
02:50if you're a competent ball striker you're really going to enjoy the rewards when you hit the shots
02:54out of the middle with this club the other one would be the cobra king taurine so this is one of
02:59the larger heads on test but it has a milled cavity behind the bottom of the sole and it's filled with
03:05an insert so you're getting a soft feel from those dampened vibrations and you're also getting
03:10stability from the slightly larger head as well so that combination really works for me
03:14and the other one is the vega vmb so this is as the mb suggests it's a blade it's a one-piece
03:19forge club and there's a lot of meat here behind the sweet spot so you can see how much metal there
03:24is there behind the area as a result you get a really soft dense feel from this club yes it's
03:29probably one of the least forgiving irons on test but i really enjoy the feeling when you hit one out
03:33in the middle has a really nice sound and feel to it so those are three that really stood out you know
03:37if you prioritize a soft feel with a little bit of energy and liveliness off the face i really enjoyed
03:42those three clubs so now we move on to the forgiveness of these low handicap irons and
03:46what we're seeing actually despite these irons being nice and compact down behind the board
03:49manufacturers are able to build quite a lot of forgiveness and stability into a lot of these
03:54heads and we're seeing some low handicap irons that are kind of one-piece forging becoming a little bit
03:58less prevalent and more irons with tech built in a bit more prevalent within the market and there are
04:02a few that stood out for forgiveness and stability uh the first one would be this callaway apex pro 21 this
04:08iron's been around for a while it's a few years old but with that tungsten weighting in the head
04:12it really does help stabilize the face and i noticed that even though it's quite a compact head
04:17it's surprisingly forgiving i don't really like the feel of it it didn't feel as soft as i wanted it
04:21to feel but i think in terms of stability it's very uh a high performer in that regard the next one
04:26would be the ping i230 this does a lot of forgiveness through size it's one of the more generous
04:31profiles that address but it was very consistent and it also flew a touch higher than a lot of the irons
04:36uh in this test i think that's going to give you a bit more stopping power and playability as well
04:41so in terms of forgiveness the ping i230 was right up there the other one i really enjoyed was the
04:46taylor p770 so this is a hollow headed iron it's got tungsten waiting in there it's got a head filled
04:51with foam so it feels nice and it also feels probably one of the livelier irons on test and as a result
04:58it was quite consistently longer than the other clubs and just gives you a slightly different sensation
05:02impact i would say versus the other this is the only hollow head on test so it just gives slightly
05:07different vibes versus the others and the last one with the tight list t100 so this is one of the
05:11smaller clubs in terms of how it looks down behind the ball it's got a really thin top line if you
05:15look down at your address it looks like a blade but similar to the callaway there's a surprising amount
05:20of forgiveness built into this club giving a little bit more help on those slight off center hits
05:24especially heel and so i think the ball was certainly curving a lot less than i was expecting which is a big
05:30plus for an iron like this tight list t100 so if you're looking for something that's compact
05:34i'm going to give you a little bit more help those are the four to go for so now we move on to the
05:38all-important performance of these low handicap irons and i'll flash up some data on the screen now of my
05:42indoor testing that i did on the four-size sports gc quad launch one to using titus pro 1x
05:48golf balls what you notice and that the distances the average carry distances i experienced were mostly
05:54correlated down to the lofts of these clubs so you see they range from 31 degrees in the vega vmb up to
05:5934 degrees in a few of the different models and that definitely correlated in terms of the the
06:03amount of carry distance as well but also a little bit in terms of the construction of the head for
06:07example the taylor made p770 was one of the longer irons on test but it's relatively traditional in
06:12its loft at 33 degrees but so that gave me a bit more distance than i was expecting and there's some
06:18clubs like the sfrixon zx 7 mark ii and the cobra king tour at 32 degrees did give me a few more yards
06:25than the others so if you want a bit more distance those are the ones to gravitate towards you know
06:30for me i think i want something somewhere in the middle uh like i said the p770 the ping i210 was
06:35giving me ample distance uh while also giving me good control as well i think when we're looking at
06:41irons we're looking at how was i able to control the direction and that front to back dispersion and
06:45the irons have really stood out in that regard where they definitely the the taylor made p770 even
06:50though it's a hollow head it was really consistent the ping i230 again very forgiving which helped
06:55with that consistency of distance and being able to control that where the ball was going and as
06:59one of the smaller heads on test i was surprised at how consistent the mizuno jpx 923 tour was it
07:05was a bit intimidating for me but actually when you got in the groove with it i was really enjoying
07:09and surprised at how straight the ball flight was and with that traditional mizuno forging you've got
07:14really consistent distances as well so in terms of performance it really kind of depends what you're
07:18looking for generally the larger heads do give you a little bit more speed and the smaller heads do
07:22give you a slightly lower ball flight and not quite as much carry distance but in terms of performance
07:27those three irons were the ones that really stood out for performance okay so we've gone through all
07:31the categories and now it's time for me to pick my favorite low handicap iron of 2023 and it's worth
07:36pointing out this stage that all 10 of these irons are excellent i think regardless of what you're
07:40looking for any of them would would do a really good job in your bag and different low
07:44handicap golfers prioritize different things and yeah with all these irons hitting the ball
07:48relatively similar distances with relatively similar spin profiles really just comes down to looks
07:52for me and there's a three that really stood out and this is why i think they're my favorite whether
07:56you prioritize feel or forgiveness you might go in a different direction for me personally
08:01these are my top three and the in third place it would be the tailor-made p770 what i like about this
08:06club is it because it's a hollow head there's quite a lot of technology built into this it just gives me
08:11a bit more margin for error when i'm not swinging well or in those longer irons when they're difficult to hit
08:16properly i just feel like i can get away with it a bit more with the p770 and despite it being a
08:20hollow head i think it feels really nice as well springy but relatively soft and really consistent
08:25from a hollow head you often find with hollow headed irons they can be quite hot out in the middle but
08:29that was not the case with p770 it was really consistent in terms of the carry distances it was
08:34delivering in second place it would be the ping i230 just pips the p770 for being a little bit more
08:41forgiving and a bit more consistent than p770 a lot of that comes down to size it is a little bit
08:46larger and i quite like that and i like the fact that it's got a lot of grooves and a white bottom
08:51groove on the face it really helps me align the face um address if i'm struggling with controller
08:55direction i'm able to align it to my target a bit more easily and i think it feels really nice as well
09:00even though it's one of the larger heads it's probably one of the softer feeling heads and just
09:04feels really stable i like the the impact experience of this ping i230 so that's why it's the runner up
09:10for me but my overall favorite might surprise you it's a bit of a left field choice but it is the
09:15cobra king tool i think this is one of the best looking irons in terms of shelf appeal i think it
09:20looks fantastic at the back and it has that a nice combination of being forgiving but also feeling
09:25really soft this this insert tpu inside the back really does a good job of dumping those vibrations so
09:30you get the feel almost of a blade or a one-piece forging but in an iron that's a little bit more
09:35lively and a bit more consistent and very very stable yes it gives you a little more distance
09:39because it is stronger in loft you might want to tweak those slightly if you go for a custom fitting
09:43but obviously i think the fact it's got quite a lot of technology built into it and slightly stronger
09:47loft without sacrificing ball flight you know a lot of low handicappers still want a little bit more
09:51help when those offset hits this iron is delivering that so for all-round performance and kind of appeal
09:56for the low handicap golfer my number one choice is the new cobra king tour that's all for me i hope
10:01you enjoyed this video and i found it useful and it comes down to narrowing down your search for
10:05your next set of irons if you're a single digit golfer do let me know in the comments if you found it
10:10useful if there is an iron that we maybe missed off and you want to know more about obviously let me
10:14know there's plenty of reviews on the golf country website if you want to check out those but
10:18that's it for me from black bear golf club here in orlando florida we'll see you next time