Which Is The Best Game Improvement Iron?

In this golf bag I have with me some of the best game improvement irons of 2025

and by the end of this video I'm going to hopefully give you

a much better idea of which one of these irons might suit your game

So I've come to the beautiful and sunny Stoke Park Golf Club to take you through some categories

such as looks, sound, feel and performance to try and help you avoid any mistakes when

you're purchasing decisions this season. So without further ado, let's get stuck into the looks

A looks is always a very subjective topic. What I like to look of, you might hate and vice versa

So I'm not going to stand here and tell you what the best looking iron is because you might flat

out agree and I'll cop it in the comments for that. Instead, I'm going to highlight some very

specific characteristics about how these individual models look and you can make your

own mind up and that should help you make a better decision. So if you are someone who's

prioritising or looking for the most confidence-inspiring look you can, I've picked out a few models

here that you might want to take a look at, starting with the Ping G730. Now when you

put this down at address, it's got quite a long heel to toe length, which is always good

but a healthy little bit of offset and we've got an even healthier top line, which gives

a little bit of confidence. You've got a bit of mass behind the ball. Second one, I think

you should probably take a look at is the Cleveland Halo XL full face. Now, we've got a big chunk of

metal behind the ball here. It's almost more akin to a hybrid. It's not masses of offset, but again

there is a really healthy, thick top line to make you think you've got a bit of real estate in behind

that golf ball. Next one is out left field a little bit, but it's the Tor Edge X725. It's very similar

actually to the Cleveland I've just picked up in that it's almost a little bit hybrid-like. Once

again the top edge is very very thick and it's got a little bit more offset even than that Cleveland

Halo XL so if you're someone who misses the ball right that might be something you want to see

Gives the face a little bit more time to square up and finally the PXG Black Ops. Now this is

probably the longest heel to toe length that I've seen so you feel like you've got acres of space on

that club face to hit if you're a heel or toe striker. Again we've got a nice healthy top line

there's plenty of room to hit so this is a really good choice if you're looking for maximum confidence

however if you're someone who's shopping in this game improvement market and you want the help on

offer and you want the technology but maybe you want it wrapped up in a slightly more refined bow then I got a couple you might want to take a look at here the first one of those is the Strixon ZXI4 Now this is a beautiful looking iron to me There still plenty of size to give you the confidence that you going to hit a good shot but it is slightly more compact

than some of the others in the bag there. There's a touch less offset involved in this club

and the overall shaping to me just screams slightly towards that better player end of the

market. It's a really classy looking golf club. Similar to that, I've got the Titleist T350

50. Again there's enough size to give you the confidence but it's beautifully shaped particularly

the transition here from the hosel into the top line is really smooth and really well done and

again gives me some sort of reminders of that better player style of iron. It's a really clean

minimal look here and the final one I want to talk to you about is the Callaway Elite Iron. I've been

a big fan of the looks of this from the get-go. The shelf appeal to me is excellent from the back

It looks really clean, really minimal. I love the high gloss finish and again the shaping is just a

little bit more refined than some in the bag which will remind some of you more of the better player

irons you may have seen and that's why you maybe want to take a look at these. Now on to the sound and feel which are essentially the same thing. I'm going to sit on the fence again

here because I'm not going to profess to tell you what you like. A lot of these clubs sound and feel

very different. We get some that sound and feel quite firm, which some people absolutely love

that kind of industrial robust kind of feel. Some of them feel a little bit softer, a little bit

buttery, maybe a little bit marshmallowy, which some people again absolutely crave. There is a

third feel that I notice in my testing in this category, which I just call springy or lively

you get a really sort of lively kind of a feel again, which some people absolutely love

So instead of telling you what you like the feel of, I'm just going to present the facts as they

are, Your Honor, and we're going to start with some that feel a little bit firm. So if you are

someone who's looking for that kind of firmer, more robust industrial feel, I would suggest trying

some irons like the TaylorMade QI irons, perhaps the Wilson Dynapower, or even the Ping G440

In testing I just find the ball coming off the face very quickly, doesn't feel like it's

on the face for that long, gives that slightly clickier sound that some people absolutely love

Moving down the scale if you're looking for something a little bit softer, again I would

suggest having a look at the Srixon ZX perhaps the Mizuno JPX Hot Metal or even the Tor Edge X725 Slightly different to the firmer ones they just feel like they on the face a little bit longer and give that slightly more mellow

acoustic. Now the springy ones are interesting because they feel the same as the soft ones

they do melt into the face like that but they just feel like they're exploding off with a little bit

more power and if that's something that maybe appeals to you I'd take a good look at the PXG

Black Ops but also have a good look at the Cleveland Halo XL Full Face

So onto the all important performance. Yes, sound and feel are important, looks are obviously

important, but we all want to know how those clubs are going to perform. So I'm going to magically put

up the data that I've collated from all my testing on screen now for you to take a look at. And now

there is a lot of numbers and a lot of data up there, so feel free to pause the video, take a look

digest that, and pull out some parameters that maybe you're looking for in your irons now. Now

some of you might be looking at that data and saying, well, they don't really look like my numbers. What does this guy know about testing game improvement clubs? And yeah, I take that

argument on board. I'm a PGA professional. These clubs aren't necessarily designed for me

but what I would say is I've got a relatively repeatable golf swing. So I feel like I get some

fairly accurate data between these clubs and can really highlight the genuine difference between

those models. That's my argument and I'm absolutely sticking to it, but I just wanted to pull some

data to have a little bit of a chat about from that chart. Starting with one of the characteristics

which I think is really important in this area which is the ease of launch or best stopping power

It's really important to still be able to hit the green with these clubs and keep them on it. We

quite often get caught up in this loft jacking trying to make the club go as furthest as possible

in the launch monitor and it's not always beneficial for our game and the three I've

picked out that I think do a really good job on that are the Ping G440, the PXG Black Ops and the

DS Adapt Max. All good high launch numbers, strong peak heights, which help you keep it on the green

Now, the second part I wanted to talk about is just raw distance, raw carry through the air

And as you can see from the data chart that you might have taken a look at, the PXG Black Ops was

the longest for me. I've got 196 yards of carry out of that 7-iron. The Pink G440 also did a really

good job with a slightly higher launch and lower spin, albeit at 195 yards. And the tailor-made QI

is also a bit of a rocket launcher wasn't far behind there. Now there are some more

unquantifiable bits I like to talk about because irons are so nuanced and the first one of those

I want to talk about is turf interaction There lots of different types so if you someone who looking for that kind of better player turf interaction where you going to get a pinchier more neater strike then The Strixon ZXI4 is one well worth a look at The Tor V Soul on that

is the envy of all manufacturers. It runs throughout their range and carries on to that ZXI4

and helps promote really good ground interaction. Similarly, the Callaway Elite, they've done a

really good job with shaving off the back edge and a little bit of leading edge relief as well

to help that entrance and exit into the turf. Now, one other thing I wanted to talk to you about

which we sometimes leave out of these iron reviews, and I think it's really important to include, is the short iron performance

Quite often we just talk about that seven iron data and hope that translates. But I've made sure I've tested the full sets of all of these

And my two standouts in the short iron area, which we know are our scoring clubs

they're so important, would be the Mizuno JPX925 Hot Metal and the Callaway Elite

The shaping of the short irons is just absolutely spot on. The soles aren't too thick so you get a bit of versatility there and they just provide that little

bit more refinement in the shorter irons than maybe some of the others in the bag. However if

you are someone who wants the reassurance of a slightly wider sole to give you a bit of bounce

and help on those fat shots the Tor Edge X725 does an exceptional job of that as does the Cleveland

Halo XL full face both really wide soles and are really forgiving in terms of their turf interaction

In the current economic climate, we all want to make sure we're getting value for money, right

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to pop all the recommended retail prices of everything in this bag

up there on the screen for you to take a look at, and you can decide from what you've seen whether you think that represents good value for money

However, I do want to pick one out that I personally love in this category

and that is the Tour Edge X725. Now, this comes in at £706, £706, or $899 for a seven-club set

and everything I've seen about this club from the build quality, the looks to the performance

for me that represents outstanding value for money. So there you have it, I hope that's given

you a much better idea of what's available in the game improvement iron market in 2025 for you now

I don't necessarily think it's possible or even responsible to name a best overall iron because

we all need so many different things right and these irons all offer so many different things

however if you were to twist my arm and make me get off the fence there was one iron that I saw

consistently high up across the board through all the parameters that we tested and that was the PXG

black ops iron I think it's well worth a try if you're in the game improvement iron market this

season I hope you've enjoyed this video and we'll see you next time