The next generation of Srixon irons for pros and accomplished golfers made its PGA Tour debut this week in the practice area at Silverado Resort in Napa, California.
With pros preparing for the first event since the season-ending Tour Championship two weeks ago, Srixon brought the yet-to-be-released ZXi5 and ZXi7 irons and expects some players to transition into them in the weeks ahead. Srixon, which is under the Dunlop Sports umbrella along with Cleveland Golf and Xxio, did not release any official details about the clubs or indicate a date when they will be made available to the public.
Based on the naming convention, we can assume that the ZXi5 will replace the game-improvement ZX5 Mk II that was released in 2023 and the ZXi7 will take the place of the better players ZX7 Mk II which was also released nearly two years ago.
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The Srixon Z-Forged II irons are designed to maximize feel and control for elite golfers with powerful, repeatable swings.
Gear: Srixon Z-Forged II irons Price: From $1,142.84 with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips. Specs: Forged 1025 carbon with progressive grooves. Available: Jan. 20
Who It’s For: Elite golfers who want tour-level feel and control in a compact, muscleback blade iron.
The Skinny: The Srixon Z-Forged II irons are designed to maximize feel and control for elite golfers with powerful, repeatable swings.
The Deep Dive: When it comes to designing irons for the game’s best players – tour pros, collegiate golfers, teaching professionals and aspiring club champions – it is as much about what designers leave out as what they add. Golfers who make solid contact shot after shot and want to make the ball curve and bend at their will are not looking for the newest distance-enhancing technologies or sound-improving materials. They want control, consistency and a classic look in the address position.
For those golfers Srixon has updated its muscleback blade and has released the Z-Forged II irons.
Extra mass behind the hitting area enhances feel in the Srixon Z-Forged II irons. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Forged from a single billet of 1020 carbon steel for a soft feel, the Z-Forged II irons have a compact blade length, thin topline and virtually no offset. They do, however, have PureFrame, Srixon’s new shaping feature that puts more mass directly behind the center of the hitting area, where a good player makes contact. While perimeter weighting and a cavity-back design can boost forgiveness for less-accomplished players, concentrating mass heightens feel and the sensations created at impact.
The Srixon Z-Forged II irons have a narrow topline, minimal offset and a classic look at address. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
As with the new ZX-7 Mk II irons, the Z-Forged II irons have a progressive groove design, with the 3-iron through 7-iron having wider grooves better suited for full swing shots. The 8-iron, 9-iron and pitching wedge have grooves that are narrower, deeper and packed together more tightly to get more edges on the ball on approach shots for added spin and control.
The Tour V.T. Sole increases the bounce to help the Srixon Z-Forged II irons maintain speed through the turf. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Finally, Srixon designed the Z-Forged II irons with the company’s Tour V.T. Sole, which has a seam running through the club’s bottom from toe to heel. The front portion of the sole has extra bounce to keep the leading edge from digging into the turf so the club can maintain speed through the strike, while the back of the sole has less bounce but significant back-edge relief.
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The ZX7 Mk II irons enhance the feel of impact for elite players with the addition of the PureFrame weighting system.
Gear: Srixon ZX7 Mk II irons Price: $1,199.99 with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour shafts or KBS Tour Lite steel shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips. $1,299.99 with UST Mamiya Recoil Dart graphite shafts. Specs: Forged 1025 carbon with progressive grooves. Available: Jan. 20
Who It’s For: Golfers who want tour-level maneuverability and feel in a compact, cavity-back iron.
The Skinny: The ZX7 Mk II irons enhance the feel of impact for elite players with the addition of the PureFrame weighting system while still allowing golfers to shape the ball.
The Deep Dive: While some golfers who shoot in the low 70s (or better) still prefer a muscleback blade iron, many accomplished players prefer an iron design that provides more game-enhancing features than blades typically offer.
For them, Srixon is offering the ZX7 Mk II irons, an updated design that blends several features and a new technology to enhance feel and control.
MainFrame adds more steel behind the impact area to enhance feel. (Srixon)
Forged from 1020 carbon steel, the most significant change in the ZX7 is the addition of PureFrame. While Srixon’s game-improving ZX4 Mk II and ZX5 Mk II irons are made with MainFrame (a technology that involves channels, ridges and cutout areas on the inner-facing side of the face that increase ball speed), PureFrame creates a thicker region directly behind the center of the hitting area on the back of the head. Srixon said making this region up to 80 percent thicker amplifies the feel created at impact, which is critical for golfers who typically generate all the distance and power they need.
The Tour V.T. Sole helps the Srixon ZX7 Mk II irons maintain speed through impact. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
To help players maintain speed through the hitting area, Srixon designed the ZX7 Mk II irons with its Tour V.T. sole. It creates a ridge that runs down the center of the sole from heel to toe, with the leading-edge side having extra bounce. The back half of the sole has less bounce but plenty of trailing-edge relief. There are also notches in the heel and toe areas that reduce the amount of surface area on the bottom of the club. All those features combine to help the ZX7 Mk II irons avoid digging and press through the ground more efficiently.
As with the other ZX Mk II irons, the ZX7 Mk II irons have progressive grooves, with the 3-iron through 7-iron having wide, traditional grooves while the 8-iron through attack wedge have deeper grooves that are packed closer together. Srixon said this should help increase spin and precision on approach shots.
Srixon also added a small piece of tungsten in the toe of in the long and mid-irons to increase the perimeter weighting and boost stability on off-center hits.
The Srixon ZX7 Mk II irons have minimal offset and a narrow topline. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
When the ZX7 Mk II irons are set down in the address position, golfers will see a classic shape with a compact blade length, minimal offset and a relatively narrow topline. Interestingly, all the ZX Mark II irons have the same topline width, which can make creating a blended set easier.
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The ZX4 Mk II and ZX5 Mk II irons deliver more yards with an enhanced feel.
Gear: Srixon ZX4 Mk II, ZX5 MK II irons Price: $1,199.99 with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour or KBS Tour Lite steel shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips. $1,299.99 with UST Mamiya Recoil Dart graphite shafts Specs: 1025 carbon steel body with SUP10 stainless steel face and progressive grooves. Hollow-body construction for the ZX4 Mk II. Available: Jan. 20
Who They’re For: Golfers who want more forgiveness and distance with the feel of a forged iron.
The Skinny: The hollow ZX4 Mk II was designed to maximize ball speed and height for golfers who don’t want a set of miniature hybrids, while the ZX5 Mk II is a game-improvement iron created to deliver more yards with an enhanced feel.
The Deep Dive: Mid- and higher-handicap golfers come in all shapes and sizes, from athletic players who are new to the game to weekend enthusiasts who lack speed and don’t have time to practice. Lumping them all together and trying to design one set of irons that can deliver the performance everyone needs is almost impossible, so Srixon has two sets of game-improvement irons – the new ZX4 Mk II and ZX5 MK II – that share some technologies but are constructed differently and meant for different types of players.
Srixon’s hollow-bodied ZX4 irons are designed for golfers who want a classic-looking iron that delivers extra distance and forgiveness.
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 but 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 iron but is designed to give them a lot more distance and forgiveness.
To provide that, Srixon designed the ZX4 irons with a body cast from 431 stainless steel but attached a forged HT 1770 stainless steel face. On the outside, the hitting surface looks like a typical face, but there are a series of grooves, ridges, and valleys on the inner side. Srixon refers to it as MainFrame technology, and those features are created during a milling process while a high-speed bit passes back and forth and shaves off tiny ribbons of material in specific areas. The design team used sophisticated computer systems to simulate different internal face patterns before discovering the one that most effectively spreads the sweet spot across the widest area.
At address, mid- and higher-handicap golfers will see a clean, confidence-inspiring look while the Tour V.T. sole improves turf interaction. (Srixon)
Each of the ZX4 irons is also hollow, so the MainFrame face can flex more efficiently and produce more ball speed at the moment of impact.
Internal tungsten weights in the long and mid-irons help lower the center of gravity location and encourage higher-flying shots that come down more vertically, so they stop faster on the greens.
Designers also added a wide Tour V.T. sole to the ZX4 irons. With a seam running down the center from toe to heel, the Tour V.T. sole helps the clubs enter and exit the turf more efficiently, even on step swings, to help golfers maintain speed and avoid digging.
From an aesthetic standpoint, the ZX4 irons blend seamlessly into the new ZX family. Yes, they have a thicker topline and sole than the ZX5 and ZX7, and there is more offset, but the design is clean and should inspire confidence at address.
Srixon’s newest cavity-back irons blend distance and feel-enhancing technologies with classic looks
Gear: Srixon ZX5, ZX7 irons 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 Available: Jan. 15, 2021
Over the past several seasons, Srixon has developed a reputation for making popular muscleback blades for elite golfers such as Hideki Matsuyama and 2019 British Open champion Shane Lowry.
The company also makes forged cavity-back irons for accomplished golfers and mid-handicap players, too.
With the release of the new ZX family of irons, the Japanese company brings multimaterial designs and other technologies to low- and mid-handicap golfers who want enhanced ball speed and performance while maintaining a classic look.
The Srixon ZX Utility irons blend classic looks with distance-enhancing features for players who want a low flight and accuracy off the tee.
Gear: Srixon ZX Utility iron Price: $219.99 each with UST Mamiya Recoil 95 graphite shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip Specs: Hollow-bodied, forged 1020 carbon-steel body with SUP10 stainless steel face and a tungsten weight. Available as a 2-iron (18 degrees), 3-iron (20 degrees) and 4-iron (23 degrees). Available: Jan. 15, 2021
Many golf club makers love to show off their latest technologies, making things such as moveable weights, exotic materials and unique design elements visible on the back of the club or in the sole. Srixon opted to take the opposite approach as it developed its newest driving iron, the ZX Utility iron. This club has a clean appearance yet it is loaded with features that can help good ballstrikers hit the ball farther and straighter off the tee.
In the address position, golfers will see that the ZX Utility iron has a relatively narrow topline, a moderate amount of offset and a short blade length.
At address, the Srixon ZX utility iron looks like a better-player’s distance iron. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
What golfers can’t see is that the inside-facing portion of the SUP10 stainless steel face is covered by grooves, channels and cavities. Srixon calls the design MainFrame, and it was developed after engineers set up specific performance parameters in their computers and used artificial intelligence to simulate how thousands of different face designs worked. The result of that work is a hitting area that flexes efficiently on well-struck shots and also protects ball speed more effectively on mishits.
To further boost ball speed and distance, the ZX Utility iron is hollow, so the entire hitting area can flex more easily at the moment of impact.
Tungsten in the back of the sole lowers the center of gravity, while the V-shaped sole makes the Srixon ZX utility iron quicker through the turf. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
To lower the center of gravity and encourage a higher launch, Srixon added high-density tungsten to the seam where the back and sole of the club meet. While it should help golfers hit higher shots, the ZX Utility iron’s ball flight should still be lower than a hybrid club’s, making it a good option for players who want to keep tee shots below the wind on firm courses.
