Click here for our selection from a range of the best irons on the market!
| Golf Irons Find The Ideal Irons For Your Game Choosing a new set of golf irons can be a complicated task. The variety of designs, materials, aesthetics and prices can be confusing to even the most knowledgeable golfer. Clubhead design, composition and shaft flex are all important in matching a set of golf irons to your game. Ping Irons Types of Irons Irons feature thin clubheads and grooved faces. The two main types of golf iron are cavity back (usually cast) and bladed-style (usually forged) irons - and now many sets are being sold with hybrid options. In these, the hard-to-hit 3 and 4 irons are replaced with hybrids, or golf iron-woods, which add the playability and power of a wood to the feel and control of iron construction. For more information on hybrids, please see our section on choosing the right golf hybrid Cavity Back While a blade style features a full back on the rear of the clubhead, a cavity back is exactly that: the rear of the clubhead is, to a certain degree, hollowed out. This creates an effect known as "perimeter weighting", which is helpful to less accomplished players, distributing the weight away from the centre of the clubface and create a larger sweet spot, giving greater forgiveness on off-centre shots. Moving the weight towards the bottom of the clubhead creates a lower centre of gravity when striking the ball, allowing you to get it airborne more easily. This type of club is ideally suited to mid to high handicap golfers, who benefit most from the forgiveness and higher trajectory - they are also more likely to offer off-set options, to help square the face at impact and avoid a slice. Bladed These are designed with a full back, as outlined above, and no special weight distribution. With a smaller sweet spot, ‘muscle-back’ golf irons are less forgiving on mis-hits. This type of club is ideally suited to a more skilled golfer looking for more control and a softer feel, and when the ball is struck square, they often offer more accuracy. Cast versus Forged Golf Irons Cavity backs tend to be cast - molten metal, usually stainless steel, is poured into a mould to create the clubhead. It is less expensive than forging, and cast clubs tend to offer less feel - so they are most appropriate for medium to high handicappers, who do not need as much subtlety in their golf irons. Blades are usually forged, meaning that they are made from a solid metal block which is beaten into the desired club head shape. Forging uses more expensive materials, such as carbon steel, which lead to better feel, performance and quality - and the smaller sole makes blades easier to hit off tight lies, as well as offering more versatility around the green. These are ideal for better players, for whom the nuances of a shot can make all the difference. Clubhead Design Sizes Clubhead profile can range from standard to oversize. Standard cavity-backs and blades are similar in size to traditional muscle-back clubs, and offer better control for an advanced player. Meanwhile, oversized clubs, with larger cavities, are more forgiving on mis-hits, making them a good choice for mid to high handicap golfers.  Offset The offset distance is the space between an imaginary line down the centre of the shaft and the leading edge of the blade. An offset club helps a player to align the clubface with the target, thus reducing slice and helping produce a higher ball flight. In progressively offset golf irons the offset will vary, with more in the longer irons to correct the tendency to slice with these clubs. Shafts Choosing the right shaft is equally as important as getting the right clubhead design, as it plays a critical part in distance and control. Materials Golf irons are available with stainless steel shafts, which are strong, durable, cost-effective and provide better consistency for good golfers. Graphite shafts are lighter, allowing a golfer to gain more club head speed and better feel for the clubhead, generating more power and distance, and are quite often the choice of higher hadicappers, women and seniors. Flex Flex is the ability of the shaft to bend as you swing. Your local Foremost pro will be able to identify how much flex is right for you without compromising control. Beginners and players with a slower swing speed will generally benefit from a more flexible shaft. When to use them A typical set of irons will include a 3-iron through pitching wedge (advertised as "3-PW"), with 8 clubs in total. The clubs are identified by a number (or "PW") on the sole of each club. Irons are generally categorized as long irons, mid-irons and short irons. Long irons are the 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-irons; mid-irons, the 5-, 6- and 7-irons; short irons, the 8- and 9-irons and pitching wedge. Each club has a little less loft and a little longer shaft length than the next, so each club goes a little farther than the next. In this way, the 3-iron has less loft and is also a little longer than a 4-iron, and will send the ball a little further, and so on through to the pitching wedge. As you move through the set to the shorter, more lofted clubs, the resulting shots will have a steeper trajectory; shots will rise at a steeper angle and fall at a steeper angle. The yardage gap between irons is generally 10-15 yards, with the average recreational male player reaching around 150 yards with a mid-iron, where a female may use a longer iron or hybrid – though only through practice will you work out for yourself the distances you can achieve with each club, and to what degree of accuracy. Two other irons, the 1-iron and 2-iron, are often offered for separate purchase. Beginners will generally want to steer clear of both of these, as with their thin clubheads, very little loft and longer shafts, they are difficult to master. (In fact, many experts will recommend that beginners and recreational players also stay away from 3-irons and 4-irons, replacing them with utility clubs or fairway woods.) In fact, each iron gets progressively easier to hit, the shorter it is, due in equal part to the shorter shaft (easier to control), and the added loft to get the ball airborne. New Technologies Much of the latest technology involves increasing the perimeter weighting to both aid forgiveness and lower the centre of gravity for higher launch and better feel; creating the ideal off-set and launch conditions in the head shape, and stabilising the clubhead by increasing the ‘moment of inertia’ (MOI), to resist twisting on impact, for added forgiveness on mis-hits. Most manufacturers are achieving the maximum COR (co-efficient of restitution) allowable, for maximum speed off the clubface and therefore distance. Click here for our selection from a range of the best irons on the market! |
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