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.
That’s a double-edged sword for consumers because while a larger variety of irons means there is a better chance that brands are now making sets that match your needs (and your budget), finding those clubs can be a daunting task. Therefore, 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.
Pro Tip: Indoor club fittings have come a long way and are convenient, but as spring approaches, if you have a chance to do a fitting outside, hitting off real grass and seeing real ball flights is always best.
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.
Designed together, Wilson’s newest irons for elite golfers feature classic looks, soft materials and precise shaping to amplify feel and control for low-handicap and championship-level players.
Gear: Wilson Staff Model Blade, Staff Model CB irons Price:$1,199.99 (4-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid 115 shafts and Golf Pride Z grips Specs: Forged 8620 carbon steel with milled face and back areas. 2-iron, 3-iron and gap wedge available through custom order Available: Jan. 24, but available for pre-order NOW
Who They’re For: Professional golfers, college players and elite amateur golfers who want to maximize feel and control.
The Skinny: Designed together, Wilson’s newest irons for elite golfers feature classic looks, soft materials and precise shaping to amplify feel and control for low-handicap and championship-level players.
The Deep Dive: There is a cliché regarding fine timepieces, sports cars and houses that says that if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can’t afford it. The Wilson Staff Model Blade and Staff Model CB fall into a similar category. These clubs have been made for elite ballstrikers, college golfers and players who can genuinely say they will be contending for their club championship. If you have to wonder if you are consistent enough and powerful enough to use them, you probably aren’t.
The Staff Model Blade and Staff Model CB were designed together, so many features and aspects of the clubs are the same. For example, each club is forged from 8620 carbon steel to give it a soft feel at impact. Both clubs have the numbers in the identical portion of the toe and dots on the hosel.
Both clubs have also been designed with Wilson’s Fluid Feel hosel that removes mass from the lower portion of the hosel and allows designers to add it to the lower portion of the head, behind where impact is made. Extra mass has also been added to the toe area. Combined, the Fluid Feel hosel and added mass in the toe pull the center of gravity and ideal impact spot into the middle of the hitting area, amplifying the feel for accomplished golfers and reducing the likelihood of left misses.
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The face and hitting area are also milled to ensure they are perfectly flat and the grooves are added precisely. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The faces of the Staff Model Blade and the Staff Model CB have also been milled to be perfectly flat to ensure low-handicap golfers get the spin and consistency they expect from shot-to-shot.
Many low-handicap players will also like the traditional lofts of the Staff Model Blade and CB irons, with the 5-iron at 26 degrees and the pitching wedge at 46 degrees. Compared to previous Wilson blade-style irons, the 2024 Staff Model Blade and CB will have a softer, lower-pitched, deeper sound, as well as a softer feel.
The Staff Model CB is the same size and shape as the Blade, but the perimeter weighting adds a touch of forgiveness. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
While the Staff Model Blade is a true muscleback, the Staff Model CB –which has the same thin topline, narrow sole and minimal offset – offers some perimeter weighting to boost stability and forgiveness. That’s a relative thing because with a blade length this short, misses on the toe will be penalized more than with other Wilson irons, such as the game-improvement DynaPower irons.
As you might suspect, having been designed together and sharing the same price, the Staff Model Blade and CB can easily be mixed and matched into blended sets, giving players and fitters the option of going with more-forgiving long irons and precise scoring clubs if the golfer desires.
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Below are several images of the Wilson Staff Model Blade and CB irons:
Wilson brings back the Dynapower family of woods and irons, adding modern distance-enhancing technologies and materials.
Long before social media influencers were filming themselves playing glamorous courses and hitting trick shots, decades before moveable weights, titanium drivers and TrackMan, golfers in the ’50s and ’60s such as Sam Snead and Arnold Palmer won major championships using Wilson’s Dynapower irons. When astronaut Alan Sheppard snuck a retractible golf club aboard Apollo 14 and hit a shot on the moon, he used a Wilson Staff Dynapower 6-iron.
Seventy years ago, Dynapower irons were state-of-the-art, with a bore-through hosel that removed weight from the heel. Back then, that made them “game-improvement” clubs, but they were muscleback blades with razor-thin toplines and minimal offset. By today’s standards, they’d be elite-player clubs.
Eventually, Wilson stopped making Dynapower irons and woods, but now the Chicago-based equipment maker is bringing the family back using modern shapes, materials and technologies.
Iron out the kinks in your game and save some money while you do it.
This month, Golfweek is helping you find the most affordable equipment on the market.
Whether you’re young and new to the game, seasoned and looking for an upgrade or just want some new equipment without breaking the bank, we have you covered.
We’ve already found some of the most affordable drivers on the market right now. Look out for affordable wedges, putters and other equipment coming out later this month.
Today, it’s all about the irons!
To classify as affordable, each iron set we selected had to come in under $1,000 for a set or under $150 per iron for a seven club average. Without cutting quality, we’ve done the digging to find the best deals out there at the moment. Many of the items below are currently on sale, so act fast!
Wilson’s newest irons for better players are designed to create more distance without sacrificing looks or feel.
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Gear: Wilson Staff D7 Forged irons Price: $999 (4-PW) with KBS $-Taper Lite steel or True Temper Catalyst Black 80 graphite shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips Specs: Forged 8620 carbon steel, urethane-filled inner chamber and slots in the sole Available: Jan. 21
For elite golfers with powerful, repeatable swings, such as 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, Wilson offers the Staff Model blade irons. For players with slow swings who struggle to hit the ball consistently, the company has the Staff Launch Pad irons.
There is plenty of middle ground between those clubs, and for golfers who like the look of a better-player iron but want enhanced distance, Wilson will offer the Staff D7 Staff Forged.
Wilson debuted the standard Staff D7 irons last season, and they are distance-enhancing, game-improvement clubs with good looks. Instead of placing the primary emphasis on distance in the Staff D7 Forged irons, however, Wilson engineers’ first goal was to make a club that would visually appeal to better players, then get more distance from it.
At address, the Staff D7 Forged has a traditional look. You can’t see the Power Holes designed into the sole. (Wilson)
With that in mind, when golfers look down at this cavity-back design in the address position, they will see only a touch of offset, a modest topline and a very clean look.
The distance-boosting technology is in the sole, where two rows of Power Holes were designed behind the leading edge. They are small slots, each covered by a polymer to stop grass and debris from getting inside the heads, that allow the face to flex more efficiently at impact to create more ball speed.
Adding urethane to a chamber behind the face enhances the feel at impact. (Wilson)
To enhance feel, Wilson created an area inside the lower portion of the back of the head and filled it with vibration-dampening urethane. It’s called a Power Chamber and should help produce a more solid feel when golfers strike the ball.
Designers also added extra mass to the topline, making it firmer to reduce twist and support the face more effectively. The extra mass pulls up the center of gravity slightly, but Wilson is fine with that because the Staff D7 Forged is made for more-accomplished players who have some speed and may be looking to shape shots. Moving the center of gravity fractionally higher and increasing spin will not be a problem for those players.
Being distance-enhancing clubs for better players, Wilson made the lofts of the Staff D7 Forged irons stronger than the Staff Model blades’ lofts but weaker than the standard Staff D7. The 7-iron is 30.5 degrees and the pitching wedge is 43 degrees. With that in mind, golfers may want to work with a custom fitter to ensure the gapping between their irons and their first wedge is appropriate to avoid excessive distance gaps.
Combining hollow heads and progressive sole widths, Wilson’s newest max game-improvement irons target mid- and high-handicap golfers.
Gear: Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons Price: $699.99 (4-PW) with KBS Tour 80 steel shafts and Wilson Staff 2 Crossline Mid grips; $799.99 with UST Mamiya Recoil 460 graphite shafts Specs: Hollow-bodied irons with variable sole width Available: Jan. 17, 2020
For high-handicap golfers, the most common problem when hitting tee shots with a driver is a slice. With irons, it’s hitting shots fat and making contact with the ground behind the ball before impact. It robs them of distance and consistency.
Wilson’s newest maximum game-improvement irons, the Staff Launch Pad irons, were designed to help golfers who shoot in the 90s and 100s get more distance and avoid hitting fat shots.
The soles of the Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons become progressively thinner from the long irons to the short irons. (Wilson)
The key to helping these players make consistently better contact is the combination of a progressive sole design and an increased bounce angle. The Staff Launch Pad’s long irons have an extremely wide sole, much like a hybrid club, that skims over the turf. The sole width becones progressively more narrow through the mid-irons and eventually reaches a traditional game-improvement width in the short irons.
Wilson’s engineers also lifted the height of the leading edge by increasing the bounce angle, so the Staff Launch Pad irons are less likely to dig into the ground at impact.
The faces of Wilson’s Staff Launch Pad irons can flex more efficiently because the heads are hollow. (Wilson)
To help golfers generate more ball speed, Wilson made the Staff Launch Pad irons hollow so the thin stainless steel faces can flex more efficiently at impact. The hollow design also helps place more weight low and back, away from the hitting area, to encourage a higher launch angle and a steeper angle of descent to help shots stop faster on the greens.
While the Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons are large, in the address position a players’ eyes naturally focus on the chrome topline, and surprisingly the large back section fades and does not become a visual distraction. In other words, at address the big club looks reassuring but not huge.
