Best Irons For Low Handicappers 2023

The 2023 season is here, which means there’s a whole host of new irons for low handicappers out that are supposed to deliver a premium feel and control, but which are the best?

We’ve hit them in the sun, in the rain, abroad, at home, in the heat, in the snow, on the course and in a simulator room with TaylorMade TP5 golf balls using TrackMan to create honest reviews you can actually trust.

To help you improve your approach play in 2023, we’ve scoured our data to put together a list of the best golf irons for low handicappers 2023.

Best Irons For Low Handicappers 2023

Reviewed by Jack Backhouse

I am exactly the player that these irons are aimed at. A pretty fast swing, but not really a good enough ball striker to warrant using blades; but desperately disillusioned about my own ability and want to use a players’ iron.

The Cobra King Tour irons are the solution to this mess. They look good enough to fool me into believing I’m a good player but pack enough of a punch in the head to provide the help I need.

You can straight away feel the power in these clubs. Shots seem to shoot from the face despite soft feel from the multi-material heads, I’m not surprised these have gone straight into the bag of Rickie Fowler, a long-time pure blade player.

These irons feature Cobra’s industry-leading 5-step forging process, which allows them to centre the CoG with extreme precision, and makes them feel so soft. On the back of the head, Cobra has placed an aluminium medallion just above a TPU insert which makes the sweet spot bigger and boosts ball speeds on off-centre hits.

PROS

• Classic-looking iron with a thin top line
• Fast ball speeds across the face
• Forgiving on off-centre strikes

CONS

• Quite a lot of offset for a player’s iron

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• RELATED: Read the full Cobra King Tour irons review HERE

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Lofts: PW 44°, 9i 40°, 8i 36°, 7i 32°, 6i 28°, 5i 25°, 4i 22°, 3i 19°

Shafts: KBS $-Taper (120g)

Grip: Lamkin Crossline (58R) – Black/Silver (48g)

More information: Cobra Website

Reviewed by Jack Backhouse

The ZX7 MKII have big shoes to fill, but I think they’re even better than before. The soft feel you get from a centred hit is so pure you repeatedly hit shots where the ball feels like it weighs nothing.

Srixon have redesigned the back of the club with its new Pureframe, which has an 80% thicker portion of carbon steel right behind the sweet spot, which makes shots not only feel great but perform a lot better too.

The ZX7 MKII delivers really tight dispersions thanks to the minimal offset and tour-inspired head design. I barely hit a shot offline with my averages with the 6 and 8 irons 3.6 and 6 yards away from the centre.

I really liked how consistently the irons spun; each shot felt like I would be able to stop it on the green despite my low launch. Having enough spin allows players to shape the ball both ways and control the flight more, which is essential for good iron play.

They are not the most intimidating clubs to stand over, which is great for how well they feel and play. Often I find that the nicest feeling irons are the most intimidating to stand over, especially in the long irons, but I really like the balance Srixon have struck here.

PROS

• Great looking compact head
• Well-controlled flight and spin
• Pretty long for a tour iron

CONS

• You know when you have miss hit it, even if the shot isn’t too bad

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• RELATED: Read the full Srixon ZX7 MKII Irons review HERE

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Lofts: PW 46°, 9i 41°, 8i 36°, 7i 32°, 6i 28°, 5i 25°, 4i 22°

Shafts: N.S. PRO Modus3 Tour 120

More information: Srixon Website

Reviewed by Jack Backhouse

Do you believe in love at first sight? Well, you might after getting a glimpse of TaylorMade’s new P7MBs. The contemporary look and design features a thin top line, minimal offset, a super narrow sole and after feedback from Colin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy, TaylorMade have made the head smaller from heel to toe.

The best part about these irons is undoubtedly how they feel. The 1025 Steel is 5X forged by a 2000lb press, which all you need to know makes the centred strikes feel solid. The P7MBs make you want to keep pounding balls on the range so you can get that feedback over and over again.

What is really impressive, however, is the front-to-back dispersion. Front-to-back dispersion is a really important metric for low handicappers and professionals as knowing exactly how far you are going to hit it. Also, knowing the yardage difference between a good and bad strike is going to help make better decisions and hit more greens in regulation.

PROS

• Heading turning beauty
• Centre strikes feel so soft
• Easy to control shape and trajectory

CONS

• Expect serious feedback through the hands on poor strikes.

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• RELATED: Read the full TaylorMade P7MB irons review HERE

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Lofts: 3i – 20°, 4i – 23°, 5i – 26°, 6i – 30°, 7i – 34°, 8i – 39°, 9i – 42.5°, P – 47°

Shaft: KBS Tour – S, X

More information: TaylorMade Website

Reviewed by Jack Backhouse

Once I mustered up the courage to go try the Mizuno Pro 221 irons, I’ve not taken them out of the bag since. I love how the short irons are so small, giving you the feeling that you’re wielding a surgical tool for precision rather than a big clunky sledgehammer.

All the irons feel so soft on a centred strike, giving you the impression you are never out of control. This is thanks to Mizuno building in a thin copper underlay underneath the forged nickel chrome.

I don’t think that these irons are just for the elite ball striker, like I originally did. If you are a player looking for something other than distance and want more predictable precise results, the Mizuno Pro irons are a great choice.

If you find the long irons too hard to hit on test, you can make these irons into a split set with other heads from the Mizuno Pro series. Mizuno even have a nifty split set calculator to show you what lofts the set will have to make the gapping perfect. You also get the choice of 23 custom shafts which is the best custom range of any brand.

PROS

• Smaller more refined shaping
• Beautiful to look at
• Feel brilliant and soft on good contact

CONS

• Practically no forgiveness
• More ‘traditional’ weaker lofts will mean less distance than most modern irons

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• RELATED: Read the full Mizuno Pro 221 irons review HERE

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Right-handed lofts: 3i = 21° 4i = 24° 5i = 27° 6i = 30° 7i = 34° 8i = 38° 9i – 42° PW = 46°

Featured shafts: 23 shaft options available

More information: Mizuno Website

Best irons for low handicappers 2023

How do we test irons?

At National Club Golfer we are passionate about producing accurate and thorough reviews and make sure our testing process is rigorous so we get a good understanding of how each club performs.

Each iron is hit with TaylorMade TP5 golf balls to allow us to collect launch monitor data with our in-house TrackMan and Flightscope. After this, it is time to head out onto the golf course and test the clubs in practice and competition play. We do this across various golf clubs in our base of Yorkshire.

What is important when buying a new set of irons?

When buying a new set of irons, it is important to know what you want from the clubs to help you improve.

Most people are looking for more distance, each iron model is optimised for different things. Depending on your swing and your impact conditions, you may not actually hit the model that is advertised as the longest, the furthest. So if you want more distance it is always worth giving different models a hit before you make a decision.

For most golfers, especially high handicappers, something that is more forgiving is going to yield the best performance. Most forgiving golf irons have a slightly bigger club head with perimeter weighting for high MOI. Cavity backed irons also have a center of gravity that is further back to help players get more height on their shots.

If you are a low handicapper, you probably are not looking for distance or forgiveness but a superb feel and more predictable shots. irons for low handicappers tend to sit smaller behind the ball, are forged irons and have more loft for a more consistent ball speed.

Don’t forget about the shaft either. Getting the correct shaft can help dial in your spin, launch angle and can also give you some extra distance. Having a club fitting or trying different options with your local pro can really improve the performance of your new irons.

Why You’re NOT Striking Your Irons Properly

striking your irons well is a vital ingredient to improving your golf and being a good player. It is very rare you see a top player miss-hit a ball. Understanding what should happen at impact and then getting your head around the mechanics that allow that to happen is a huge step towards shooting better scores.

Check out this video where Equipment Editor Hannah Holden and PGA Professional Jack Backhouse go through some drills you can do to start getting better.

5 Tips to Break 70

If you’re looking at the list of best irons for low handicappers 2023, you must be a single-digit handicap golfer looking to break through and shoot a score in the 60s. have a look at a video Hannah Holden made with PGA Pro Jack Backhouse on 5 tips you can use to break 70.

You’ve probably spent a small fortune to get the set up that’s right for your game, so don’t forget to get specialist insurance from Golf Care to protect your clubs from theft, loss, and accidental damage. Plus, they even cover GPS watches, trolleys, and other golf equipment. With 30% off annual insurance starting from just £26.59, and a free golf gift bundle worth up to £365 including 12 free Srixon balls, it’s a no brainer. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP.

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