New golf equipment for 2021: Irons

The holidays are a distant memory but ’tis the season for new golf equipment to be arriving at your local pro shop and golf specialty store. We showed you the abundance of new drivers, and now it is time to focus on irons.

The trend in irons is to utilize unique materials and construction to not only allow golfers to hit the ball farther and higher but to get better performance on mis-hit shots. However, this season there are not just game-improvement and max game-improvement irons for mid- and higher-handicap golfers. We are also seeing a bumper crop of irons designed for experienced golfers who have repeatable, powerful swings and demand feel and control.

The best way to figure out which new iron is ideal for your game is to work with a good custom fitter, use a launch monitor and test several models and shafts.

Ben Hogan Player’s Black Combo Set

Ben Hogan Player’s Black Combo Set (Ben Hogan)

Price: $840 There was a time when everyone played the same irons through the set, but now it is common to see pros and elite golfers blend two or three different types of clubs. Why? What golfers want from long irons (distance, height and forgiveness) is different from what they demand from short irons (feel, accuracy and consistency). With the Player’s Black Combo Set, Ben Hogan is doing the blending for you and helping to make all the clubs look consistent. The 4-iron through 7-iron in this set are Ben Hogan PTx Pro models, while the 8-iron through pitching wedge are ICON irons. All seven clubs are forged for enhanced feel and have been given a limited-edition, glare-reducing diamond-black-metal finish that is seven-times more durable that nickel-chrome finishes. The PTx Pro irons in this set are all hollow to allow the faces to flex more efficiently at impact and to create more ball speed. They also have internal tungsten weights to lower the center of gravity and encourage higher-flying shots that come down on a steeper angle. The ICON irons have a thinner topline, less offset and a shorter blade length than the PTx Pro irons. They also feature a progressive center of mass, so the center of gravity elevates slightly as the lofts increase. Many golfers like this because it makes it easier to flight approach shots down for better distance control and enhanced feel.

Callaway Apex, Apex Pro, Apex DCB

Callaway Apex, Apex Pro, Apex DCB irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $185 each with True Temper Elevate ETS 95 steel shafts and Golf Pride Z Grip Soft grips; $200 each with UST Mamiya Recoil Dart 75 graphite shafts Specs: Forged 1025 carbon-steel body with tungsten inserts and urethane microspheres Callaway’s Apex irons have bridged two worlds since they debuted in 2014, providing the feel of a forged club with the distance enhancement of an undercut-cavity, game-improvement iron. They provide power with feel, a combination any low or mid-handicap golfer should love. The original Apex irons have been updated three times over the past seven years, and with the 2021 version of the Apex, Apex Pro and now the Apex DCB, Callaway believes it has the most advanced, broadest line of Apex irons yet. More...

Callaway X Forged CB

Callaway X Forged CB irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $200 each with Project X IO steel shafts and Golf Pride Z grips Specs: Forged 1025 carbon-steel body with 17-4 stainless steel face and tungsten weights Many elite golfers are happy to switch irons as long as designers don’t make major changes and the new clubs perform better. It’s a paradox that traps clubmakers and engineers. Pros, college players and potential club champions want their irons to look and sound a certain way, and when designers stray too far from what players have grown accustomed to seeing and hearing, many players won’t even give the new gear a chance. With the new X Forged CB irons’ release, Callaway has tried to overcome that challenge by designing a better-player’s cavity-back iron differently. More...

Callaway Apex MB

Callaway Apex MB irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $185 each, steel; $200 each, graphite Specs: Forged 1025 carbon steel Chances are excellent that Callaway’s new Apex MB irons are not for you. But that’s okay, because while almost everyone will appreciate these muscleback blades’ looks, they were not designed for the masses. The Apex MB irons are for golfers who stare at the flag and consider two or three different approach options, who can feel the difference in the ways irons work through the turf and want no filters to mask the sensations created at impact. More ...

Cobra RadSpeed

Cobra RadSpeed irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $899 with KBS Tour 90 steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline Connect grips, $999 with UST Mamiya Recoil 460 ESX graphite shafts Specs: 17-4 stainless steel with carbon fiber and 3D printed nylon While pros such as Rickie Fowler and 2020 U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau use irons that are designed to maximize control and feel, when it comes to the most important traits in irons made for recreational golfers, distance and forgiveness rank high. To provide mid- and higher-handicap players with both, Cobra developed the new RadSpeed irons. Looking down at the Rad-Speed irons, golfers will see a relatively thick topline, ample offset and a portion of the back of the club. While there is trailing-edge relief, the soles of these irons are wide. These irons might be off-putting for accomplished golfers, but they are reassuring to golfers who struggle to get the ball airborne and who frequently hit fat shots. More ...

Cobra King Tour

Cobra King Tour irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $1,299 (4-PW) with KBS $-Taper 120 steel shafts Specs: Metal-injection-molded 304 stainless steel with tungsten weight and thermoplastic polyurethane insert Cobra is utilizing a new manufacturing technique to create its latest better-player’s cavity-back irons, which the company said can deliver great feel with more consistency. More ...

Mizuno JPX 921 Tour

Removing some mass from the toe and repositioning it around the head maintains stability but should allow golfers to shape shots more easily. (Mizuno)

Price: $1,299 (4-GW)/$175 per club with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 120 shafts and Golf Pride MCC +4 grips Specs: Grain flow forged 1025E mild carbon steel The appeal of the JPX Tour irons is they provide accomplished players with loads of feel and control with just a touch of forgiveness. With the release of the JPX 921 Tour, the Japanese company is hoping to make those clubs even more appealing to golfers who have a fast, repeatable swing. More ...

Mizuno JPX 921 Forged

Mizuno JPX 921 Forged irons (Mizuno)

Price: $1,399 (4-GW)/$175 per club with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 120 shafts and Golf Pride MCC +4 grips Specs: Grain flow forged 4120 Chromoly Recreational golfers have aspired to hit Mizuno blades for decades because they have a clean, classic look and legendary feel. In reality, even fairly accomplished club players need some forgiveness built into their clubs, and a little extra distance is almost always welcome. With the release of the new JPX 921 Forged irons, Mizuno’s latest offering in the better-player distance category tries to deliver the performance those players need in a club that looks like something a Tour player might use. More ...

Mizuno JPX 921 Hot Metal, Hot Metal Pro

Mizuno JPX 921 Hot Metal, Hot Metal Pro irons (Mizuno)

Price: $1,000 (4-GW)/$125 per club with Nippon N.S. Pro 950 NEO steel or UST Mamiya Recoil ESX graphite shafts and Golf Pride MCC +4 grips Specs: Cast 4140 Chromoly with a cup-face design and pocket cavity. It is not uncommon for golfers on the PGA Tour to complement their irons with a game-improvement club or a distance-oriented long iron at the top of their iron set. Those clubs tend to create more distance, a higher launch and a quicker stop on the greens. For example, Paul Casey has played a Mizuno Hot Metal Pro 3-iron for more than a year because the club is easier to hit from long range than his Mizuno MP-5 muscleback blades. Many amateurs need that kind of distance and height gains not only in their long and mid-irons but throughout the set, and for years they were offered oversized clubs that produced those attributes but that often were not the best looking clubs. Now, recreational golfers who are turned off by oversized clubs but who want more distance and forgiveness can benefit from more normal sized, perimeter-weighted clubs that have flexible faces. Mizuno has two new offerings – the JPX 921 Hot Metal and JPX 921 Hot Metal Pro – made to do that. More ...

Ping G425

Ping G425 irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $137.50 each with Ping AWT 2.0 steel shafts or $150 each with Alta CB Slate graphite shafts Specs: Cast 17-4 stainless steel head with undercut cavity, multimaterial badge and hydrophobic finish When Ping designates an iron is an “i” club, it is likely something made to appeal to better players, such as the iBlades that PGA Tour player Tony Finau uses or the i210 irons that Viktor Hovland has in his bag. Clubs that get a “G” designation, such as last season’s G410 irons, are made to produce distance and be playable for a broader segment of players. Such is the case this year with the new G425 irons, with which Ping is trying to deliver an iron that hits shots farther and higher with a steeper descent angle for more stopping power on greens for recreational golfers. More ...

PXG 0311 GEN4 T, 0311 GEN4 P, 0311 GEN4 XP irons

PXG GEN4 irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $349 each Specs: Forged 8620 carbon-steel, hollow chassis with HT1770 stainless steel face and injected thermoplastic Available: March 9 (pre-order) Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG) debuted in 2014 with a set of irons, the original 0311 model, that featured unique weight screws surrounding the heads and a hollow-bodied design. They were intended to look like a muscleback blade in the address position but play like a distance-enhancing, game-improvement club. The secret sauce was the addition of a soft thermoplastic elastomer inside each head that supported an ultra-thin face without inhibiting it from flexing. The material also softened feel and enhanced sound. Over the past seven years, those irons have been refined and now the company has released the fourth generation of the 0311 irons. More ...

PXG 0211 irons

PXG 0211 irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $195 each Specs: 431 stainless steel body with HT1770 stainless steel face and polymer insert Two years ago, PXG debuted its 0211 irons, which are slightly more affordable for golfers who might have admired the looks and technologies found in the company’s ultra-premium PXG 0311 irons but didn’t want to shell out thousands of dollars for a set of irons. The 0211 irons lacked the 0311’s signature weight screws on the back, but PXG included several critical features in the 0211s, and they were sold at half the price of their 0311 counterparts. Now, coinciding with the release of the 0211 drivers, fairway woods and hybrids, PXG is releasing an updated version of the 0211 irons. More ...

Srixon ZX7

Srixon ZX7 irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $1,299.99 with Nippon N.S. PRO Modus3 Tour shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grips; $1,399.99 with UST Mamiya Recoil 95 graphite shafts (ZX5) Specs: Forged 1025 carbon-steel bodies with tungsten weights The Srixon ZX7 irons were designed to provide the feel and look that accomplished golfers demand and let them flight the ball in different directions while also providing more forgiveness than golfers obtain from muscleback blades. More ...

Srixon ZX5

Srixon ZX5 irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $1,299.99 with Nippon N.S. PRO Modus3 Tour shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grips; $1,399.99 with UST Mamiya Recoil 95 graphite shafts (ZX5) Specs: Forged 1025 carbon-steel bodies with tungsten weights With a reasonably narrow topline and only a moderate level of offset, the Srixon ZX5 irons look like a better-player’s club in the address position. Still, the company has added several distance-enhancing technologies that should make it appealing to mid-handicap players. More ...

Srixon ZX4

Srixon ZX4 irons (Srixon)

Gear: Srixon ZX4 irons Price: $1,299.99 (steel), $1,399.99 (graphite) Specs: Hollow-bodied irons with 431 stainless chassis, internal tungsten weights and forged HT 1770 stainless steel face. Available: March 5 Moderately sized irons designed to provide more distance and forgiveness represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the equipment market. Many elite golfers are adding a club like this and using it as a driving iron. On the local level, accomplished players who want more distance like them because they look like traditionally shaped irons that pack a punch. With the release of the new ZX4 irons, Srixon is offering mid- and higher-handicap golfers a club that looks like those better player’s irons but is designed to give them a lot more distance and forgiveness. More ...

TaylorMade SIM2 Max, SIM2 Max OS

TaylorMade SIM2 Max, SIM2 Max OS irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $799 (4-PW) with KBS Max MT shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 grips; $899 with Fujikura Ventus Blue graphite shafts Specs: Hollow-bodied design with 450 stainless steel face and polymer back piece Available: Feb. 19 For golfers who struggle to get the ball high in the air and who want more distance with their irons, TaylorMade designed the M5 and M6 irons two years ago with a bar in the back of the head called a Speed Bridge. By connecting the topline to the back of the club behind a massive undercut cavity, designers made the head stiffer while also letting the face flex more for increased ball speed. Last season’s SIM Max and SIM Max OS irons advanced the technologies for mid- and higher-handicap golfers, and now TaylorMade is releasing the SIM2 Max and SIM2 OS to deliver even better sound and feel without sacrificing ball speed. More ...

Titleist CNCPT CP-03, CP-04

Titleist's CNCPT CP-03 and CP-04 irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Price: $500 per club Specs: Hollow-bodied irons with internal tungsten weights and forged faces Four years ago, Titleist released the first clubs in the CNCPT family, a driver and a set of irons. Made from space-age materials and featuring designs that pushed the envelope of the company’s manufacturing abilities, the limited-edition driver cost $999 and a set of eight irons was $2,699. Two years ago, quietly, Titleist starting making two new CNCPT irons, the CP-01 and the CP-02, available exclusively at 200 preferred vendors and fitting events. Now Titleist is ready to bring more CNCPT clubs to market and make them more readily available to golfers who have deep pockets. More ...

Tour Edge Exotics C721

Tour Edge Exotics C721 irons (Tour Edge)

Price: $129.99 per iron with True Temper Elevate 95 steel shafts; $142.99 with KBS TGI Tour or Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX graphite shafts Designed to look like a better player’s muscleback blade in the address position, the Exotics C721 irons feature a moderately thin topline and modest offset. Still, they pack plenty of hidden technology to enhance distance and feel. More ...

Tour Edge Exotics E721

Tour Edge Exotics E721 irons (Tour Edge)

Price: $99.99 each with True Temper Elevate 95 steel shafts; $142.99 with KBS TGI Tour or Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX graphite shafts The new E721 is an unabashed max-game-improvement iron designed to send the ball high and far, but it utilizes many of the technologies found in the C721 irons. Featuring a thicker topline, wider sole and plenty of offset, the E721 has a 360-degree undercut channel on the back of the head to push weight to the perimeter and boost forgiveness. This design also gave engineers room to add mass low and back in the heads to shift the center of gravity away from the face. More ...

Wilson Staff D9

Wilson Staff D9 irons (Wilson)

Price: $649.99 with KBS Max Ultralite steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline Genesis grips; $749.99 with Mitsubishi Tensei graphite shafts Specs: Cast stainless steel with urethane For the past several seasons, Wilson’s Staff D Series irons have been the company’s go-to clubs for mid- to higher-handicap golfers looking for more distance. They are also more forgiving than the cavity-back and muscleback blade irons that Tour stars like 2019 U.S. Open winner Gary Woodland use. The latest version, the D9 irons, build on that tradition thanks to the power of supercomputing and a new way of designing one of Wilson’s signature technologies. More ...

Wilson Staff Model CB

Wilson Staff Model CB iron (Wilson)

Price: $999.99 (4-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips Specs: Forged 8620 carbon-steel face with tungsten weight Wilson’s Staff Model Blade irons are in 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland’s bag because he can generate tremendous power and has a repeatable swing. Woodland demands feel and control, but while many golfers aspire to use muscleback blades, they need some forgiveness that blades are not designed to deliver. Enter the new Wilson Staff Model CB, a cavity-back iron developed to appeal to low-handicap golfers who love the looks of a classic blade. More ...

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