2024 Irons – Syndication Server

Srixon ZX4 MK II vs. ZX5 MK II irons: Which is right for you?

They look similar but the ZX4 MK II and ZX5 MK II irons are made for very different players.

If you walked into a pro shop and saw both the Srixon ZX4 Mk II and the Srixon ZX5 Mk II irons on the wall, you might have a hard time telling the difference between the two clubs. Cosmetically, they look very similar, but Srixon designed these clubs for very different types of players.

Both clubs share some technologies, and with the help of custom fitters, many golfers blend the two clubs to create a combo set. However, their differences can significantly impact your game, so here’s a detailed comparison to help you decide whether the Srixon ZX4 Mk II or the ZX5 Mk II might be the best fit for you.

Srixon ZX4 Mk II irons. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Construction and Technology

The ZX4 Mk II has a forged 1770M stainless steel face attached to a 431 stainless steel body, along with a hollow chamber in the center of the head. This allows the face to flex more efficiently at impact to create more ball speed. The ZX5 Mk II has a forged SUP10 stainless steel face attached to a forged 1020 carbon steel chassis for a softer feel at impact, but it is solid instead of hollow. The ZX5 Mk II has also been designed with tungsten in the sole of the long and mid-irons to lower the center of gravity (CG) location and encourage shots with those clubs to fly higher.

The Srixon ZX-5 Mk II irons and ZX-4 Mk II have ridges and cutout areas called MainFrame in their faces. (Srixon)

Both irons have a cavity-back design and a ball-speed enhancing technology Srixon calls MainFrame. Adapted from Srixon’s wood line, MainFrame adds a series of valleys or channels on the inner-facing side of the face to allow more of the hitting area to flex efficiently at impact. It also reduces weight in the face.

Both the ZX4 Mk II and the ZX5 Mk II irons have been designed with Srixon’s Tour VT Sole. This gives the bottom of each club extra forward bounce, so they will work through the turf more easily and maintain speed through the hitting zone.

Both clubs also feature a progressive groove design. The 4-iron through 7-iron in the ZX4 MK II and the 3-iron through 7-iron in the ZX5 Mk II have wider grooves that are spaced farther apart to enhance spin and stopping power, while the grooves in the 8-iron through attack wedge are deeper and packed more tightly together.

From a size perspective, the ZX4 Mk II has a longer blade length, slightly thicker topline and slightly more offset, while the ZX5 Mk II has a more-compact shape.

Who are the ZX4 MKII and ZX5 Mk II irons for?

The best way to find your ideal irons is to work with a good custom fitter, hit shots using a launch monitor, and then compare the data.

With that said, the ZX4 Mk II’s larger size and hollow-body design push it squarely into the game-improvement iron category. It creates more speed and will be more forgiving than the ZX5 Mk II.

The ZX5 Mk II will produce more spin than the ZX4 Mk II, which can allow players to work the ball more easily and hit draws or fades more effectively. With that added spin, the ZX5 Mk II should create a higher launch angle.

The Takeaway

If you are a player who prioritizes distance and forgiveness, the ZX4 Mk II might be a good option, while golfers who want more feel and control along with added forgiveness might be better served by the ZX5 Mk II.

Mizuno JPX 925 Hot Metal, Hot Metal Pro, Hot Metal HL irons

Each of the three new JPX Hot Metal irons feature thinner faces that offer a larger sweet spot.

Gear: Mizuno JPX 925 Hot Metal, Hot Metal Pro, Hot Metal HL irons
Price: $150 per club with Nippon N.S. Pro 950 NEO steel shafts and Lamkin UT+ grips (Hot Metal)
Specs: Cast stainless steel body with Nickel Chromoly 4335 cup face and internal tungsten weight.
Available: Sept. 5 (pre-sale), Sept. 19 (in stores)

Who It’s For: Golfers who want more ball speed and forgiveness (Hot Metal), accomplished players who want a better-player’s distance iron (Hot Metal Pro) or moderate- and slower-swinging golfers who want more height and carry distance from their irons (Hot Metal HL).

What you should know: Each of the three new JPX Hot Metal irons – the standard, HL (high launch) and Pro – feature thinner faces that offer a larger sweet spot and more ball speed on mishits, while also delivering the feel and sound that golfers expect from a Mizuno iron.

The Deep Dive: Mizuno has invested significant time and resources to make better woods over the last few seasons, resulting in clubs like the ST-Max and ST-G drivers, but most golfers still think of the Japanese brand as an iron company. That’s not a bad thing because the Mizuno Pro 241, Mizuno Pro 243 and Mizuno Pro 245 irons are extremely popular with golfers who love classic-looking blade-style irons that enhance feel.

The JPX Series irons have been popular with elite players, but JPX irons are also where Mizuno blends unique technologies and design elements to boost forgiveness and distance, often making them more playable for a wider number of golfers.

The new Mizuno JPX 925 Hot Metal, Hot Metal HL, and Hot Metal Pro irons continue that tradition, thanks to an updated face design and internal changes that should make it easier for players to hit longer, higher shots.

Mizuno JPX 925 Hot Metal irons — Using Nickel Chromoly allowed Mizuno to make the hitting area thinner across a larger portion of the face. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

While each club in the Mizuno Pro family is forged, the JPX 925 irons are all cast using Nickel Chromoly 4335, an extremely strong alloy. Nickel Chromoly was introduced in the JPX 923 irons and is significantly stronger than the standard Chromoly Mizuno has used. This allows engineers to redesign the cup-face hitting area to be thinner.

In the JPX 923 4-iron through 8-iron, the hitting area was 2.05 millimeters thick in the center and thinned to as little as 1.75 millimeters to allow a larger portion of the face to flex at the moment of impact. Now, in the JPX 925 irons, a tiny area in the center of the face is thick (2.4 millimeters), but a larger area around it is thinned to just 1.2 millimeters.

Mizuno refers to this new multi-thickness design as a CORTECH face. This cup face is complemented by a thinner leading-edge area that flexes more efficiently and allows the whole face to bend more at impact.

The thinner face design and the thinner leading edge should result in more ball speed and distance, especially on mishit shots.

The 4-iron through 7-iron in the JPX 925 series have also been given 11-gram internal tungsten weights. By positioning the weights low and forward but not allowing them to touch the back of the face, it should be easier to start shots on a higher launch angle and bring them down on a steeper angle of descent for increased stopping power and distance control.

Mizuno designers also added a series of reinforcing ribs under the topline to stiffen that region of the club. When combined with a new bar that goes across the back, this attunes the JPX 925 irons to sound and feel more solid and pleasing at impact.

There are three different versions of the JPX 925 Hot Metal iron. The standard is a game-improvement iron offered from 4-iron through sand wedge for both right- and left-handed players that should appeal to a wide variety of golfers. Its lofts are strong, with the 5-iron at 22 degrees and the pitching wedge at 42 degrees.

The JPX 925 Hot Metal Pro, which is also available for right- and left-handed players, has a shorter blade length, thinner topline, and less offset, making it appealing to slightly better golfers. However, it has the same lofts as the standard Hot Metal irons, so golfers should easily be able to create a blended set by working with a custom fitter.

The JPX 925 Hot Metal HL is for moderate and slower-swinging golfers who want to maximize carry distance and get more height on their shots. To help them do that, Mizuno weakened the lofts, so the HL’s 5-iron has 25 degrees of loft, and the pitching wedge has 45. The JPX 925 Hot Metal HL is only available in a right-hand version.

Below are several close-up images of the JPX 925 Hot Metal, Hot Metal HL and Hot Metal Pro irons.

Best new golf irons you can buy in 2024

Check out Golfweek’s list of the best irons available to purchase in 2024.

As Golfweek explained in our 2024 Driver wrap-up, the undeniable trend in the world of drivers is toward higher-stability offerings that not only perform well when you hit the ball in the middle of the face, but also help you hit straighter shots and help you maintain distance when you mis-hit toward the heel or the toe.

When it comes to irons, the trend continues to be the broadening array of offers to meet the needs of different types of players. Not that long ago, equipment makers sold blades to the best players, cavity-backs to golfers who needed some forgiveness and oversized clubs to high-handicappers and beginners. Those clubs still exist, but they are complemented by better-player distance irons, sets that blend hybrids and irons for forgiveness, and sets that blend hollow-bodied long irons with precision-minded scoring clubs.

Take Ping as an example. The Phoenix-based brand now has the Blueprint T and Blueprint S for elite players, the tour-proven i230 for good players who want more forgiveness, the i525 for golfers who want a better-player’s distance iron, the game-improvement G430 and it still offers the G710 as a max game-improvement club. Brands like Callaway, Cobra, Mizuno, TaylorMade and Titleist have similarly deep stables.

Early this suumer, new irons like the Bettinardi MB24 and CB24, the Cobra Limit3d and the Wilson Staff Model RB Utility iron have dropped.

So much variety is great golfers, but it has never been more important to seek out a good custom fitter, try several different shafts and heads and see what the data reveals.

Below are many of the irons that you will see in pro shops and specialty stores. Use this list as a starting point to discover clubs that might be ideal for you game.

Best golf irons in 2024

Cleveland Halo XL Full Face irons

These massive hollow-bodied irons were designed to help high-handicap golfers.

Gear: Cleveland Halo XL Full Face irons.
Price: $899.88 (7 clubs) with KBS Tour Lite steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 grips; $999.99 with UST Mamiya Helium Nanocore 60 graphite shafts.
Specs: Hollow-bodied stainless steel heads with stainless steel faces. Available 4-iron through sand wedge.
Available: January 19, but available via pre-order NOW

Who It’s For: High-handicap and moderate clubhead speed players who want an easy-to-hit iron loaded with forgiveness.

The Skinny: These massive hollow-bodied irons have railed soles in the long irons, a low center of gravity and were designed to help high-handicap golfers get more distance, more height and more enjoyment on the course.

The Deep Dive: Grab a better-player’s iron, like a Srixon Z-Forged II or a ZX7 MkII, sole it behind a ball and then look down. What you will see is a super-compact blade length, a narrow topline and almost no offset. At this point, experienced golfers who routinely shoot in the 70s might be drooling, while golfers who are new to the game or who struggle to make consistent contact might be thinking about giving Pickleball a try. Those irons can be intimidating and offer almost no features to compensate for mis-hits or slow swings.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop new Cleveland XL Halo irons” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/QydLao”]

Cleveland Halo XL Full Face irons — The Halo XL Full Face irons look like miniature hybrids in the address position. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Cleveland, which is one of Srixon’s sister brands under the Dunlop Sports umbrella, specializes in clubs that are made to be easy to hit, fun and affordable, and for 2024, it has a new super game-improvement iron, the Halo XL Full Face.

The Halo XL Full Face irons are enormous, which should immediately give confidence to players who routinely shoot in the 90s and 100s. They are designed like small hybrids, so each club is hollow and made to allow the faces to flex easily at the moment of impact for increased ball speed. As the name implies, the entire hitting area is also covered by the groove pattern, which also features two white grooves on the bottom. The lowest, shortest white groove is there to help position the ball in the center of the face, while the wider groove can help players align more easily with their target.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop new Cleveland XL Halo irons” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/QydLao”]

The large head size and sloped HiBore crown design helped Cleveland designers shift the center of gravity location down and back, away from the hitting area, to encourage a higher launch angle.

Many golfers who struggle with inconsistent contact also have trouble working the club through the strike without hitting the ground first. To help golfers who tend to hit the ball fat, Cleveland gave the Halo XL Full Face long irons (4-7) rails to help the sole skim over the turf. The short irons (8-9) have been designed with a V-sole that adds extra bounce in the center of the sole.

To help players get consistent results, Cleveland has added a face-blast treatment called HydraZip. In the long irons (4-7), it is rougher to slightly reduce spin and encourage more carry, but in the short irons and wedges (8-SW), it is somewhat smoother to help golfers get more spin and stopping power on the greens.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop new Cleveland XL Halo irons” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/QydLao”]