With so much choice out there, selecting the right set of irons for you is a difficult task. What type of head should you choose? What about the loft and lie angle? Should I go for steel or graphite shafts? In this video, irons expert Joel Tadman runs through all the things you need to consider when choosing a new set of irons to ensure you get the right clubs in your bag and can start peppering those flags.
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00:00Are you in the market for a new set of irons? Well in this video I'm going to cover everything
00:05you need to know about buying a new set of irons. There's a ridiculous amount of choice
00:10out there, it can be incredibly confusing. Watch this video right to the end, you'll
00:14find yourself a match made in heaven. So without further ado, let's get into it.
00:30So the first decision you need to make when choosing new irons is which type of iron you
00:36want to go for, and as you can see I've got five here in front of me. Starting with this
00:40one, this is the Muscleback, otherwise known as a blade. It's the one that's got the least
00:44amount of technology in it. It's really aimed at elite ball strikers, tall players, because
00:49it is the most compact and there's not a lot of forgiveness built into this clubhead, there's
00:53not a lot of technology got into it. It's the lowest launching, the highest spinning, designed
00:58for golfers with quite high swing speeds who are very competent ball strikers.
01:02Then we move into kind of low handicap irons. Now these can typically form cavity back irons,
01:07you can have some hollow headed irons as well, but these offer a little bit more forgiveness
01:11and stability, but in a compact head, so will still suit the eye of a low handicap golfer.
01:17The next type of iron we're going to move into is a, otherwise known as a compact distance
01:21iron or a player's distance iron. As the name suggests, it's more of a distance orientated
01:26club. And as a result, the lofts are a little bit stronger, it's going to produce more ball
01:30speed and distance. Conversely, the two previous ones have quite traditional lofts. These are
01:34a little bit stronger, going to give you more ball speed, but you can get them in quite compact
01:39packages as well, similar to the low handicap iron. They are quite refined, but you can get
01:43larger ones as well if you like to look down on something a bit meatier.
01:45The next type of iron is a traditional kind of cavity back iron. These are, again, a slightly
01:50stronger loft still, and you can see there's a lot more obvious perimeter weighting on this
01:55club. So this will give you a lot more stability on those off centre hits. If you're someone
01:59that utilises a lot of the club base, you're going to enjoy the performance that a cavity
02:04back style head offers. And another option you can go for is like a hybrid style club.
02:09So this is an example of a hybrid style iron built more like a metal wood. So it's going to give you
02:14metal wood like ball speeds and also metal wood like launch from that really wide sole. And as a result,
02:20they can make the lofts quite strong on these to give you maximum distance and maximum forgiveness
02:25as well. Obviously, you have options to combo your set with various models within this selection.
02:31We'll talk about that a bit later in this video, but hopefully that gives you an idea
02:34as to the types of irons available and which one might suit your eye.
02:39So the next thing you'd think about with your new set of irons is how it looks,
02:43and particularly down at a dress because that will affect the amount of confidence you have
02:47over the golf ball. And there's a lot of design features you need to consider. The blade length,
02:51obviously, we know as the irons get more suitable for higher handicaps, they tend to get bigger,
02:56blade lengths get longer, top lines get thicker, but there are some kind of grey areas you can get
03:01forgiving irons that have relatively short blade lengths and thin top lines. So you kind of know
03:06instantly when you put it down behind the ball, yeah, that suits my eye, I really like that or no,
03:10I don't like that. Consider things like different finishes, certain irons can come in different
03:14finishes. You've got brushed satin finishes, you've got reflective glossy finishes. Again,
03:19one will suit your eye more than the other, more likely. And there are certain design features
03:23that can actually influence the ball flight. So really think about the amount of offset that you
03:26have on your irons. If you tend to miss your iron shots to the right, having more offset,
03:31i.e. the leading edge, set back a little bit more from the hosel will produce more left bias for a
03:36right-handed golfer and therefore should help reduce your slice. So think about that when choosing how
03:40your iron looks down behind the ball at a dress. It's going to really affect the quality of your shots.
03:45Now, another area of consideration is the sound and the feel. Yes, this is a subjective one,
03:53but I think it's very important that you enjoy the sensation that you have when you're striking shots
03:58with your irons. And these can be anything from something that feels very soft, very muted in terms
04:04of the sound it offers, all the way up to something that's really lively and quite loud and powerful.
04:09And there's a lot of irons that fit in between those, but I've got two ends of the spectrum here,
04:14starting with this muscle back iron, which typically would give you a really soft, dense sensation,
04:20an impact which is typically preferred by the slightly better player.
04:27You can see there wasn't much acoustics there, it was quite muted. On the other end of the spectrum,
04:33you've got more distance-orientated irons that typically offer a slightly firmer feel and often
04:39a much louder sound to kind of translate into a little bit more distance. So it kind of really
04:44just comes down to what you tend to prefer. You can see there's a much louder, clickier sound to it.
04:54And as I said, there are a lot of irons that fit in between those, but it's really important that you
04:58enjoy the sound and the feel you get from your irons. That's going to steal a lot more confidence and just
05:03provide a much more pleasurable ball striking experience.
05:09Now, one underrated area of consideration for your new set of irons is the sole geometry.
05:14Specifically, we're talking the width of the sole and also the amount of bounce that it has as well.
05:19Typically, low handicap irons like this blade I've got here have quite narrow soles with not much bounce
05:24or camber to it. That means the leading edge is going to play quite sharp, you're going to create big
05:28divots and the margin for error on your strike is going to be quite narrow. So it's really designed
05:32for better players, low handicap irons. But if you need a bit more leeway on your strike,
05:37game improvement irons do tend to have wider soles with a little bit more camber to them.
05:42That's going to increase the margin for error. If you do catch the ground slightly before the ball,
05:46it has less propensity to dig, should glide through the turf and hopefully pick the ball off
05:50the top of it a little bit more easily. Obviously, we know game improvement irons with the wider
05:55soles means more weight is pulled lower and further back. It's going to help increase launch and it's
06:00also going to give you a little bit more stability on those off centre hits. A couple more things to
06:04think about on the sole geometry. If you tend to be quite shallow into the ball, you are going to suit
06:08more of a sole that has less bounce to it because you're not needing as much resistance into the
06:14ground. If you're quite steep into the ball, you might want a little bit more bounce to counteract
06:17that steeper angle of attack. And if you are bending the hosel to create slightly less or more loft to
06:23do some gapping things or whatever, if you hit a specific number on your irons, that will affect
06:28the effective bounce and the way the club interacts with the ground. So all these things you need to
06:31think about, obviously that will be covered during a fitting, especially if you're hitting off grass,
06:35but just consider getting the right sole width and the right geometry to match up your technique
06:40and that should help you hit better shots.
06:45So when you're choosing a new driver, the number one factor you would consider is distance. Is one model
06:50going further than the other? That might cause you to choose that model versus the other one. But with
06:54irons, it's a completely different story. It's not about distance, it's about distance consistency.
06:59It's something I've said with my reviews time and time again. I don't really look at how far an iron
07:03goes. It might be useful to some golfers to gain a bit more yardage with their irons, but I'm really
07:08looking at the distance consistency. So the front to back dispersion, how repeatable is an iron hitting
07:14a distance over and over again? Because that is really going to help your ability to score.
07:18Ultimately with an iron shot, you're tasked with hitting the ball a certain distance and if you've
07:22got an iron that delivers that in terms of the right level of forgiveness for your skill level,
07:26you should see your approach shots get closer to the hole and your scoring should improve.
07:31So this particular shot, 145 yards away, you want an iron that's going to deliver
07:36performance that's going to hit the ball as close to that pin as possible.
07:41I've leaked it a bit, but it's pin high and that's the most important thing. If you can get pin high
07:51on most of your iron shots, your score should start to tumble.
07:57Now when you get fitted for irons on a launch monitor, you will be bombarded with an awful amount
08:01of data, ball speed, launch, spin, all that sort of thing. But one parameter I really want you to pay
08:07close attention to is descent angle. So the angle your ball is coming in to land on because that has
08:13a really big impact on the ability of your golf ball to stop. If your golf ball is coming in nice
08:19and steep, it's going to stop pretty quickly by the hole. If it's coming in too shallow and too hot,
08:25it's going to often run past the flag and if the pin's at the front of the green, it's going to be very
08:30difficult to stop the ball close to the pin. So the optimum land angle varies depending on your swing
08:35speed. As your swing speed increases, as does the amount of spin you generate and the land angle
08:40that you have into the green. So talk to your fitter, see what land angle is right for you. Tour
08:46average is about 50 degrees with a six iron, so it's quite steep. I'm generally looking for my swing
08:50speed around about a 45 degree land angle with a seven iron. Might be different for you, but have a
08:56chat with the fitter, make sure you've got a land angle that's appropriate for your swing speed
09:01and that should help you stop the ball close to the hole. So one really important factor when
09:07choosing your new set of irons is the set makeup and there's two things you need to consider. The first
09:12is a combination set, so that refers to having different types of head within a set. So for
09:18example, a lot of manufacturers offer different models within a range that allows you to implement
09:24different models in different areas of the set to give you the performance where you need it. So you
09:28might opt for a slightly larger, higher launching, more forgiving long iron to give you the performance
09:34where you need it. You know, when the shaft's a bit longer, you tend to strike your long irons a
09:37little bit more inconsistently. Having something that's a little bit more forgiving will offset that
09:42drop-off in performance from the mishits and give you more consistency through the set. That's one
09:47example where a combo set can be really useful and we see everyone from tour players all the way up to
09:52high handicap golfers opting for something like this. The second thing you need to think about
09:57is the set makeup. Specifically, what's the composition of your set? So what's going to be
10:01your longest iron? What's going to be your shortest iron? You know, low handicap iron sets typically start
10:06at four iron and run all the way up to pitching wedge. High handicap irons often start at five iron
10:11because the lofts are slightly stronger and go up to kind of a gap wedge. And that's because a lot of
10:17high handicap golfers will want to add one, maybe two hybrids underneath that five iron. So think about
10:23what clubs that you want to have in your bag. Do you prefer hybrids? You might even want to have
10:27three hybrids and then start your set at six iron and work all the way up to a sand wedge. Some iron
10:33sets will go all the way up to sand wedge. So that's another thing you think about. Do you want to go for
10:37a speciality wedge or are you okay with the wedges that are included within the set? All these things you
10:43need to think about, give them a test. Obviously a speciality wedge of that other end of the bag will give
10:48you a bit more versatility, but if you want all your clubs looking the same within your iron set
10:53and your wedges, you know, having the complete set from five iron all the way to a sand wedge
10:57could be the way to go. So two really key considerations. Get the right set that's going
11:02to suit the way you hit the ball. Now the last thing, but still really important thing to consider
11:08when choosing new irons is the spec of the club. Now typically this will be covered during a custom
11:13fitting, but it's worth pointing out in this video if you are buying irons off the rack,
11:17there can be some areas that will affect performance. The first one being the lie angle
11:21of the club, so how the club sits at the ground when you're striking the ball. You want it to be
11:25as flat as possible. Obviously if it's toe down it's going to cause misses to the left, toe up it's
11:32going to cause misses to the right and the interaction with the ground is not going to be as clean as you
11:35want it to be. You think about, you know, when you're swinging through the shaft is flexing, the head of
11:40the club is drooping, so you need to make sure that your club is fitted dynamically to get it nice and
11:45flat at the point of impact. So the line goal is really important. The other thing is the length
11:50of the shaft. Obviously if you're slightly taller you'll probably need a slightly longer shaft to
11:54allow for that. And length is also used to influence the strike pattern. So if you're hitting a lot of
11:59iron shots and you tend to hit the ball out of the toe, the fitter may well add a little bit of
12:04length to shift that strike pattern from the toe more towards the center of the club. So there's two
12:09reasons why you might alter the the length of the club. And the other thing to think about in terms
12:13of the spec is the shaft of the club. So the weight, the flex and the material as well. I would
12:19definitely urge you if you haven't tried graphite shafts in the past, give them a go. That lightweight
12:25feel is really, really nice. It allows you to swing more powerfully, gives you a little bit more launch
12:29and you can get some pretty stiff profiles in graphite now that would suit faster swingers better
12:35players. So graphite is definitely something to consider. Most golfers will look at a steel shaft,
12:40a huge variation in weight and flex. So just make sure you get the right weight and flex
12:44that feels comfortable for you. Obviously a fitter will be able to identify that for you.
12:49So those are the things you need to think about with the spec. Obviously you've got the grip as
12:52well. Make sure you get one that feels comfortable in your hands, the right sort of thickness. If you've
12:57got larger hands you will typically want to go for a slightly thicker grip. There is a kind of
13:02wife's tail, you know, thicker grips, tends to reduce hand action and, you know, stops the club
13:08base from turning over. Not sure how much science there is to that, but could be something to think
13:12about or something to try. You know, those thicker grips, we've seen Bryson with those really thick
13:16grips, could be an option to give you a bit more control. So consider those things when choosing an iron,
13:23the spec is really important. So hopefully you found this video useful in terms of choosing your next set
13:28of irons if you're looking to upgrade very soon. And if you are researching a particular make or model,
13:33be sure to check out the Golf Monthly website for all our latest reviews and buying guides that can
13:38really help narrow down your search. But that's all for me here from God for God Golf Club. I'll see you next time.