How to Choose Golf Irons? Don’t Miss the Next Season.

When teeing off, unless it’s a par-3, you usually don’t have to worry too much about exactly where to place the ball. Most of us try to send the ball anywhere from where we can play the second shot onto the green or at least close to the green on par-5s. For par-3s or shots onto the green, the situation changes a bit because a good score depends on hitting the green or an area from which you can comfortably chip in one putt.

We don’t recommend underestimating the choice of your iron set, as your sporting experience and ability to improve rise and fall with it. When purchasing, you can choose a more relaxed approach and be satisfied with a standard configuration straight from the store rack, or you can get measured under expert supervision and have clubs tailored exactly to your body without any extra charges.

It’s also good to be prepared for testing and roughly know which clubs might be right for your game. It’s not effective to come to testing wanting to try a bit of everything. Choose two or three models, and leave the rest to trained specialists at authorized fitting centers.

And how to narrow down the selection to models worth testing? Here are a few tips.

Head Design

There’s probably no one who doesn’t like shiny blades, but few people can actually play well with them. Definitely don’t choose clubs based on what you might grow into, because before that happens, you’ll hit so many bad shots you’ll go back to cycling or swimming.

For the right choice, it’s important to categorize yourself by your playing skills and potential. To simplify, we’ll create three groups for you. You belong to the first group if you’re a recreational player who plays often but hardly trains. The second group includes advanced recreational players who play frequently and train regularly. The third group consists of very advanced competitive players who play and train often.

Heads for Recreational Players

The main goal of this category of clubs is to offer higher forgiveness, easy playability from various surfaces, and maximum distance. Thanks to weight distribution around the head’s perimeter, these irons have a larger effective hitting area, which has two advantages: minimal distance loss and a better feel at impact. You don’t have to hit the ball exactly in the center of the clubface for a great shot... the clubhead largely takes care of that itself!

Another advantage is the so-called progressive design. Irons are usually divided into short, mid, and long, with adjustments made to the sole width, offset, head size, lofts, etc., accordingly.

Long irons have a wider sole and a center of gravity farther from the impact area, which, combined with high forgiveness, makes it easier to play on longer par-3s or second shots onto the green. The ball easily achieves the ideal trajectory, significantly improving your scoring position. Mid and short irons have recently started to resemble clubs for advanced players more. They look sportier, offer better feel at impact, and thanks to higher spin, provide increased control after the ball lands on the green. Progressive design helps you achieve greater distance with long irons, where the manufacturer expects rollout, while with short irons, where rollout is undesirable, the ball will stop within a few feet of the pitch mark.

Heads for Advanced Recreational Players

Clubs for advanced players feature a sporty head design with easier shaping of shots. Most irons in this category have a narrower sole, thinner top line, and smaller sweet spot. The manufacturer assumes these players have consistent technique and can launch the ball on an ideal trajectory for optimal landing angle and spin.

Thanks to new materials and technologies, these clubs are highly sought after by a wide range of players from intermediate, ambitious players to tour professionals. Like clubs for recreational players, this category also includes sets with progressive head designs to make it easier to hit long irons, which are balanced for a higher trajectory with a steeper landing angle for better control on the green. With short irons, the main focus is on feel at contact for balanced spin and distance.

Design for Competitive and Performance Players

Almost every golfer has tried hitting the ball with blades and remembers the unpleasant vibrations in the arms when they didn’t hit perfectly, and the clean, soft feel when hitting the sweet spot. For this type of club, the manufacturer assumes the player hits the ball perfectly and offers the possibility to play various types of shots. The clubheads are smaller so the golfer gets the best feedback and contact with the ball and ground. The game focuses mainly on accuracy and maximum control. Even a slight change in the head position at impact causes a different type of shot, which is what competitive players enjoy.

To achieve a low score, players must be able to play shots with various directions or trajectories, which blade models perfectly allow. The main characteristics of blades are a thin top line, narrow sole, small sweet spot (effective hitting area), minimal offset, and higher lofts.

Cast or forged? The advantage of forged clubs is better feel and feedback at ball contact. Cast clubs mainly offer longer durability. It’s not possible to say definitively which type is better and for whom.

How to Navigate Shafts

If you’ve narrowed your choice to two or three club models, the hardest part is behind you. If you decide to visit a testing center, an expert will take care of the rest. If you choose a standard configuration, you’re out of luck and must settle for the shafts the manufacturer assigned.

The most important shaft characteristics are weight and stiffness. For standard clubs, the risk is that manufacturers follow the rule: the more forgiving the clubhead, the lighter the shafts. A strong player just starting golf has few options to find irons with higher forgiveness equipped with heavier shafts. An advanced player with a slower tempo and swing speed practically cannot find a combination of a clubhead for competitive players equipped with a lighter shaft. Your swing tempo will indicate whether you should play graphite or steel shafts and what weight.

Graphite shafts weighing from 55 to 80 grams are recommended for players with a smoother, slower tempo. Steel shafts can be divided into three categories: light from about 85 to 100 grams, medium 100 to 120 grams, and heavy over 120 grams. With a fast, dynamic tempo, the shaft weight should increase proportionally. The second parameter is shaft stiffness, chosen according to swing speed. Just like with drivers, there are charts for irons where you select shaft stiffness based on your carry distance, but these are only guidelines. The correct answer comes only from quality measuring technology and an expert who can evaluate the data.

The Right Grip Increases Feel in Your Shots

The grip is where contact happens between you and the club. We agree that you can probably play with a bad grip compared to a bad shaft, but why not make it easier for yourself?

The most important factor for grips is their thickness. Too thick grips can cause your wrist to lock at impact, and shots will end up right of the target; thin grips cause more wrist activity, and the ball will finish left of the target. Grip thickness should also be considered by anyone with wrist or forearm problems; a thicker grip requires less grip pressure, reducing tension while holding.

Women’s hands are smaller than men’s, so women usually use women’s size grips. Men have several options: standard men’s, midsize, or jumbo grips. All are graduated according to your hand size with the possibility of further adjustments by adding tape. The easiest way to determine your grip thickness is by your glove size: if you wear S or M, standard thickness will probably suit you; otherwise, you need to adjust the grip. The market offers countless brands, materials, and colors, but we recommend focusing on hardness: some rubbers are softer, some harder; some grips are smooth, others corded (stitched). Corded grips offer better hold for players with higher swing speeds, while smooth grips are preferred by players with a strong grip who get blisters from corded grips. Another advantage of softer grips is their ability to absorb vibrations from off-center hits. Lastly, you can choose the grip color; some are fine with black, but why not brighten up your clubs with blue, red, pink, or green? It’s not uncommon for players to mix grip colors in their set. Anyone playing in any weather must also consider that smooth grips become very slippery even in light rain, complicating your technique.

At the authorized CityGolf fitting center, you can try various combinations of heads and shafts so the client always gets an offer for equipment that will help them play their best golf. Take your time choosing your ideal iron set. It’s always better to play with higher forgiveness on par than to carry acres with blades. Enjoy your game.

Why not base your iron choice on your HCP? Be cautious if you see a chart dividing irons by HCP. It can reveal a lot about a golfer, but irons can’t be categorized strictly by HCP. A player with HCP 30 can have great iron play and easily play clubs for advanced recreational players, even if their tee shots and short game have weaknesses... Conversely, a player with HCP 10 may have excellent short game and putting, compensating for mistakes made with irons. Such a player has two options: train with clubs for advanced recreational players or try irons for recreational players with higher forgiveness.