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, 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 summer, 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
The Bettinardi CB24 and MB24 irons
Price: $1,600
Who It’s For: Low-handicap golfers who want a compact, classic-looking blade or a better player’s cavity back iron that emphasizes feel and control.
The Skinny: “The first irons from Bettinardi are crafted with the same level of precision and attention to detail that has made the brand’s putters desirable for deep-pocketed golfers for decades. For golfers who shoot in the 60s or 70s, they deliver a high level of feel and control.” Read the full review.
Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $999.99 (seven clubs) with True Temper Elevate steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline grips; $1,099.99 with Project X Cypher 2.0, Mitsubishi Tensei Blue White or Eldio graphite shafts
Specs: Hollow-bodied stainless steel iron
Who It’s For: Golfers who want a distance-oriented, game-improvement iron that launches the ball high.
Excerpt: “Callaway designers used supercomputers to study hundreds of thousands of swings of actual golfers to see how they hit shots. Using that data, the supercomputers employ artificial intelligence to create thousands of iron faces and simulate how they would perform in the real world.” Read the full review …
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Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke HL. (Callaway)
Price: $999.99 (seven clubs) with True Temper Elevate steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline grips; $1,099.99 with Project X Cypher 2.0, Mitsubishi Tensei Blue White or Eldio graphite shafts
Specs: Hollow-bodied stainless steel iron
Who It’s For: Golfers who struggle to hitting shots high enough to land softly and stop quickly.
Excerpt: “The HL, which stands for high launch, has a face design and low center of gravity that combine with weaker lofts to make getting the ball high in the air easier, especially with the long irons. While the Paradym Ai Smoke’s 5-iron has 22 degrees of loft, the 5-iron in the HL version has 24 degrees of loft. Callaway believes this club should be ideal for golfers with a driver swing between 70 and 90 mph.” Read the full review …
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Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max Fast. (Callaway)
Price: $999.99 (seven clubs) with True Temper Elevate steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline grips; $1,099.99 with Project X Cypher 2.0, Mitsubishi Tensei Blue White or Eldio graphite shafts
Specs: Hollow-bodied stainless steel iron
Who It’s For: Slow- and moderate-swinging golfers who struggle generating club head speed and distance.
Excerpt: “The Paradym Ai Smoke Max Fast has been optimized for golfers who have a driver swing that is slower than 75 mph. These irons have the same weakened lofts as the HL irons, but the Max Fast irons come standard with lighter shafts and grips, which should make it easier to create more clubhead speed and carry distance.” Read the full review …
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The Callaway Apex Pro for 2023 looks very similar to the Apex TCB being used by several tour players. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $215 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid steel shafts and Golf Pride Z grips.
Specs: Hollow-body construction with a forged 1025 carbon steel body, forged 455 cup face (3-5) and internal urethane microspheres
Who They’re For: Low and mid-handicap golfers who want a better-player’s distance iron that also delivers shot-shaping and forgiveness.
Excerpt: “The Apex Pro long irons (3-5) have a hollow-body design and a thin 455 stainless steel cup face designed to flex more efficiently at impact to enhance ball speed. This is the same material and construction found in Callaway’s game-improving Paradym irons but in a more compact package. The 6-iron through attack wedge have faces made from forged 1025 carbon steel, the same soft material used in the Apex Pro irons’ chassis.” Read the full review …
The Apex CB has perimeter weighting to add a touch of forgiveness. (DAVid Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $215 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid steel shafts and Golf Pride Z grips.
Specs: Forged 1025 carbon steel. Available in 3-iron (20.5 degrees) through attack wedge (50 degrees)
Who It’s For: Elite golfers who want a touch of forgiveness to go along with maximum feel and control.
Excerpt: “The Apex CB was inspired by Callaway’s Apex TBC (tour cavity-back), which is the iron of choice for Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele. Callaway made the blade length a few millimeters longer than the Apex TCB, but the brand thinks this will be its most-played iron on the PGA Tour next season while also being an option to a few more amateur golfers.” Read the full review …
The Callaway Apex MB for 2023. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $215 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid steel shafts and Golf Pride Z grips.
Specs: Forged 1025 carbon steel. Available in 3-iron (20.5 degrees) through attack wedge (50 degrees)
Who It’s For: Pros, college golfers and club-champion level players who demand control and feel above everything else.
Excerpt: “The Apex MB is a pure muscleback blade. It has a very compact blade length, virtually no offset and a very thin topline. It has a progressive CG throughout the set and Callaway studied and modified the sole design and bounce to make it quick through the grass, so golfers can maintain speed through the strike.” Read the full review …
Callaway Big Bertha irons for 2023. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Price: $999.99 (six clubs) with True Temper Elevate 85 steel shafts; $1,099.99 with Callaway RCH 65 graphite shafts and Callaway Universal grips.
Specs: Cast stainless steel body with 450 stainless steel cup face, internal and external tungsten weights and internal urethane microspheres
Who It’s For: Golfers who shoot in the 90s and 100s and want to maximize forgiveness and distance.
Excerpt: “Inside each head is a large tungsten weight in the toe area that is encased in urethane microspheres. The weight varies by club – but gets as heavy as 43 grams – and helps to lower the center of gravity location and encourage a higher launch angle. The urethane microspheres, absorb excessive vibrations to improve sound and feel.” Read the full review …
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Cleveland ZipCore XL irons. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
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: Cavity-back designed stainless steel heads with stainless steel faces. Available 4-iron through sand wedge.
Who It’s For: Golfers with a handicap ranging from eight to…
