ClubTest 2024: 22 game-changing irons tested and reviewed
Check out the complete reviews and test results for all the top new irons below.
Club photos: Courtesy; Design: Tanya DeSelm
For the latest edition of GOLF magazine’s 2024 ClubTest, we relied on a two-pronged approach to deliver valuable insights into the new crop of irons so that you can make better informed purchasing decisions. The GOLF staff tested all the irons to provide feedback and performance thoughts on gear from manufacturers big and small, and we completed thorough robot testing of each iron with the help of Golf Laboratories founder Gene Parente.
Below you will find our full reviews and test results of 22 new iron models from the top manufacturers in the game. See something you like? Click through and buy your new irons today.
MORE CLUBTEST: 18 NEW DRIVERS REVIEWED | 18 FAIRWAY WOODS REVIEWED | 13 HYBRIDS REVIEWED
Want to overhaul your bag for 2024? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf.
BEST NEW IRONS OF 2024
Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Irons
Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Irons
MODELS: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke, Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max Fast and Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke HL
NEED TO KNOW: Instead of lumping golfers in the game-improvement category into one group, Callaway’s R&D team let Artificial Intelligence take the lead in designing the face architecture on Paradym Ai Smoke. Similar to the “swing code” found on the drivers, each iron face was created using AI to benefit specific swing speeds. The standard, hollow-body Ai Smoke is geared for moderate to high swing speeds — someone who carries their 7-iron 130 yards or more — with minimal distance loss on off-center strikes for a tighter downrange dispersion.
Recognizing not every golfer fits into a better-player profile, the Ai Smoke HL is designed around a more traditional cavity-back shape with more mass positioned lower in the head to induce a higher launch and more spin — roughly 750 RPMs — for moderate swing speeds that typically struggle to keep the ball in the air. Once again prioritizing a high launch and more spin, the lightweight Ai Smoke Max Fast adds an additional 2 degrees of launch and 500 RPMs, when compared to its HL counterpart. The goal behind lengthening the blade and concentrating mass low in the head is to make it incredibly easy to get the ball in the air with consistent carry numbers, regardless of impact location.
Club Comparison
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF CALLAWAY’S PARADYM AI SMOKE IRONS
Cleveland ZipCore XL and Halo XL Full-Face Irons
Cleveland ZipCore XL and Halo XL Full-Face Irons
MODELS: Cleveland ZipCore XL and Cleveland Halo XL Full-Face
NEED TO KNOW: Cleveland has aggressively positioned itself as a company making easy-to-hit clubs, designed for maximum fun and enjoyment of the game, and with both the ZipCore XL and Halo XL Full-Face irons, they’ve created two options to help golfers do just that.
Forgiveness where you need it and precision where you want it is at the heart of the ZipCore XL irons design. The longer 4-7-irons are equipped with Cleveland’s MainFrame technology that positions CNC grooves and channels on the back of the face to increase flex to help deliver more ball speed — especially on mishits. The looks of the Halo XL Full-Face irons are quick to grab anyone’s attention thanks to their hybrid-iron design to deliver maximum forgiveness and high launch. Also as the name suggests, the Full-Face irons feature full-face grooves for the first time in an iron design to create a larger effective hitting area to help maintain spin, and that’s to go along with the 20% larger striking area to further boost MOI.
Club Comparison
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF CLEVELAND’S NEWEST IRONS
Cobra Darkspeed and Air-X Irons
Cobra Darkspeed Irons
MODELS: Cobra Darkspeed, Cobra Darkspeed One Length and Cobra Air-X
NEED TO KNOW: To help provide golfers with distance, forgiveness and feel, the engineers at Cobra refined key technologies from the Darkspeed metal wood line (like PWR-Bridge) and shrunk them down to create the new Darkspeed irons. Then, to enhance the feel of the hollow-body design, they injected foam microspheres to fill the internal cavity to finely tune the acoustics. To help optimize ball flight and distance control through the set, Darkspeed irons offer what Cobra calls progressive TECFLO construction that transitions from a full-hollow design with PWR-Bridge and PWRSHELL in the longer 4-7-irons, to a full hollow-body with no face insert in the 8-PW. And, finally, to a half-hollow design in the gap and sand wedges.
What separates the PWR-Bridge of the woods from the irons is that the weight in the irons is suspended on a small post, which allows it to sit almost completely free floating within the hollow clubhead thanks to the supporting foam microspheres. This design allows for the precise positioning of the center of gravity for optimal launch while creating an improved face and sole that helps increase ball speed and launch.
Club Comparison
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF COBRA’S NEWEST IRONS
Miura CB-302 Irons
Miura CB-302 Irons
MODELS: Miura CB-302
NEED TO KNOW: The new CB-302 builds on the lineage of the 301 with a redesigned sole and address profile to create a stronger flight and more forgiveness, along with less offset. The sole is a key piece of the 302 because at 19mm wide (in the 7-iron) it is the widest sole on an iron that has ever been produced at the Miura factory. The combination of the wide sole and deeper cavity positions more mass lower in the head to increase launch on shots hit lower on the face while the V-shape helps moves mass to the heel and toe to boost stability.
Last but certainly not least, to help golfers of all skill levels achieve a stronger more penetrating ball flight the lofts on the CB-302 fit into the modern player profile to reduce spin and deliver the highest level of trajectory control.
Club Comparison
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF MIURA’S CB-302 IRONS
Mizuno Pro 24x Irons
Mizuno Pro 24x Irons
MODELS: Mizuno Pro 241, Mizuno Pro 243 and Mizuno Pro 245
NEED TO KNOW: Mizuno Pro, a.k.a. Mizuno MP, irons have always been distinctive, and now for 2024 Mizuno is once again refining what it means to truly be a Mizuno Pro iron with the release of the 24X series, which includes the 241 blades, the 243 speed cavity and the 245 hollow body built for precision distance and Tour-level speed.
The biggest focus for the Mizuno design team with the new 24X line was to dig into what each iron truly means to the golfers it’s intended for, and after taking positive and constructive criticism about each model, the engineers went to work with no stone left unturned to make sure each model was a better fit. The Mizuno design team stressed every possible detail they could to make sure each model lived up to the lofty expectations bestowed upon them, and with that in mind, they believe they have delivered on those, while also making each iron slightly smaller than the previous generation.
Club Comparison
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF MIZUNO PRO 24X IRONS
Ping Blueprint S and T Irons
Ping Blueprint S Irons
MODELS: Ping Blueprint S and Ping Blueprint T
NEED TO KNOW: Ping isn’t one to release players’ irons very often, so when they do, there’s typically a big reason behind the change. In the case of the new Blueprint S and T irons, Ping designers felt that they had enough feedback from their stable of Tour players to create a new family of Blueprint irons. The goal, they said, was simple: to deliver a performance and control advantage over the previous generation.
Both the Blueprint T and S irons are one-piece forging, but what separates the pure blade design of the T from the S is what Ping designers call “precision pocket” forging. Precision pocket forging is a patented technique that allows Ping designers to forge a “pocket” into the cavity of the longer irons (3, 4 and 5-irons) to save 10 grams that can be repositioned around the head for increased stability on mishits. To go along with very similar address profiles, the Blueprint T and S irons share the same standard lofts as each other and Ping’s very popular i230 irons, which allows them to blend seamlessly from club to club when building a combo set.
Club Comparison
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF PING’S BLUEPRINT IRONS
PXG 0317 T Irons
PXG 0317 T Irons
MODELS: PXG 0317 T
NEED TO KNOW: The “T” is the first hollow-body iron PXG has introduced into their 0317 line. (Little info nugget: 0317 is the Military Occupational Specialty number for a scout sniper, which is used to identify PXG’s precision players iron line.) It used to be that the smaller hollow-body iron lived under the more game-improvement-focused 0311 line, but the release of the Gen6 series and the popularity of the 0317 ST and CB irons mean the smallest 0311 iron is officially dead and will now be part of the better player focused line moving forward.
The players iron category is well-defined by smaller head shapes and thinner toplines, and the designers at PXG understand this well. They have engineered the 0317 T iron in a way that helps it look smaller at address while still providing a boosted MOI (an extra 11% compared to the CB and 14% from the ST blade) and extra ball speed from the super-thin maraging steel face and injected hollow core. The 3X forged and milled body and robotic polishing process help dial in exact weights for each head to provide extremely tight tolerances right from manufacturing.
Club Comparison
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF PXG’S 0317 T IRONS
TaylorMade Qi Irons
TaylorMade Qi Irons
MODELS: TaylorMade Qi and TaylorMade Qi HL
NEED TO KNOW: With the help of lessons learned from previous generations of game improvement clubs, TaylorMade is introducing the Qi irons, with which the company believes they have cracked the code on creating an iron that can go far, straight, and help golfers with the always annoying fade. To help bring these irons to life TaylorMade engineers brought together many technologies, including FLTD (flighted) CG, speed pocket, cap back, and an all-new organic face design process for straighter shots.
By using what TaylorMade calls Integrated System Design, the manufacturer was able to see how different technology variables impact how a golf club reacts at impact, allowing TM to tune each key technology for a better end ball flight. This comprehensive approach to design helps to ensure ideal gapping, ball speeds, launch angles, and ball flight through the full set. To go along with the core Qi irons, TaylorMade is also adding Qi HL irons to the lineup for 2024 to help golfers who struggle with getting the ball in the air and maintaining spin.
Club Comparison
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF TAYLORMADE’S Qi IRONS
Titleist T-Series Irons (2023)
Titleist T-Series Irons
MODELS: Titleist T100, Titleist T150, Titleist T200 and Titleist T350
NEED TO KNOW: Like with the previous generation T-Series irons, there are four models to help golfers find the right performance fit based on Titleist’s 3D fittings principles: distance control, dispersion and descent. These three principles ensure that all golfers have the ability to get the most from their iron approach game, while also having what is known as a playable trajectory to help stop shots closer to the target. The models include the T100, a new T150, the T200 and a new T350 model for maximum forgiveness.
If there was one thing from the previous generation that Titleist and its players wanted, it was an improved feel at impact, and that was a huge focus of the development process. For the T100 and T150, that means an updated and slightly thicker back bar to produce a solid yet soft feel that has been validated by the best players in the world. For the T200 and T350, that feel improvement comes from a refined back cavity badge and redesigned max impact dampener.
Club Comparison
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF TITLEIST’S T-SERIES IRONS
XXIO 13 Irons
XXIO 13 Irons
MODELS: XXIO 13
NEED TO KNOW: As one of the leaders in the lightweight club space, XXIO has become a go-to option thanks, in large part, to specialized technologies designed solely for the set.
The four-piece, hollow-cavity XXIO 13 irons follow the same high launch blueprint as the woods with a tungsten-nickel sole weight (located on the toe-side of the sole on the 5- through 7-iron) pushing the CG lower in the head for launch purposes. XXIO’s Rebound Frame also adds ball speed to the Super-TIX 51 AF titanium face plate through alternating flex and rigid zones.
Club Comparison
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF XXIO’S 13 IRONS
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