2021 Best Game-Improvement Irons (Buying Guide)

Lightweight

Mazel’s best game improvement irons come with lightweight graphite shafts, which you’d think would help with the swing speed. I think that we’ve just become used to irons with ultra-thin, cupped faces that have trampoline-like sweet spots. These, being a budget option, don’t have that type of tech built in. But the light weight makes it possible to swing the long irons fast enough to get a great, penetrating trajectory.

Low CG Long Irons

The 4 and 5 irons are hollow-bodied with very low center of gravity, allowing them to launch the ball high enough to be useful. Many players are concerned that the short length won’t let them generate enough speed to give the ball lift, but the Mazel clubs are definitely hittable.

Wide Soles

The Mazels have a nice wide sole, which will help beginners who may have issues digging the club into the ground and hitting it fat. The thick sole is very forgiving and encourages good contact even on poor swings. It also helps for chipping around the green, which is something beginners often have difficulty with.

Overall

Experienced golfers who try these out may be soured on the single length concept if they lose yardage with the Mazel irons. That’s why I recommend these for beginners: they’re easy to hit and they do a good job of keeping the ball in play. That should be the primary concern for someone just starting out.

Once they’ve been hooked and are willing to make an investment in their game, then it may come time to upgrade to a single-length set that provides better distance. A beginner golfer won’t have any problem making the transition, and they’ll be pleased to suddenly be hitting the ball a lot further.

Clubface Tech

Hiding under the sort-of-hexagonal “Rogue” badge on the back of the irons is Callaway’s patented 360 Face Cup and Variable Face Technology (“VFT”). The face cup is a lining around the sweet spot of the iron, implemented to maximize the area that has a trampoline effect and gives really breakaway distance. And the VFT thins out the face at the middle, while thickening it at the edges, to expand the sweet spot and provide optimal forgiveness.

Tungsten Tech

Tungsten is a dense metal, twice as heavy as steel, that’s used to manipulate the center of gravity of each iron to improve its launch. The use of tungsten is still fairly new in iron construction, and I think the reason it’s not quite catching on yet is that it really firms up the feel of the club. Even pure contacts feel overly stiff, and if you catch it out closer to the toe with a long iron, it really stings.

Callaway has implemented urethane “microspheres” that are designed to soften the feel, but the combination of cast iron steel and tungsten weights makes for a feel that’s just not as soft as I’d like.

Results

The feel may be lacking, but the results are quite good. These are some of the most forgiving best game improvement irons available, with a very large sweet spot that rewards mediocre swings with good shots. So even though the shots feel a bit heavy and stiff coming off the clubface, the shots that result are always better than expected.

The 60 gram Synergy graphite shafts are an attractive upgrade option. Much lighter than the stock 95 gram steel shafts, the Synergy shafts offer higher swing speeds and good forgiveness. They help soften the stiff feel of the tungsten. I’d recommend going graphite if you decide to buy the Rogue irons, as they help mitigate the issues described above.

Our choice for the best feature of the latest version of the Big Bertha Irons is the Suspended Energy Core. Resting in the lower half of the iron, the core helps lift the golf ball in the air, regardless of how well you hit the golf ball. Even on off-center shots, the Big Bertha Irons provide forgiveness and reliable consistency.

Once we got these out onto the course, we were blown away with how much fun this set is to hit. For our mid handicap testers, the Big Bertha set provided more lift and distance with a nice soft landing on the green.

For more advanced golfers, shaping shots with the Big Bertha Irons isn’t entirely off-limits. Although most game-improvement irons typically provide a one-way method for getting the ball in the air, there is subtle sophistication with this collection.

Several club combinations are available with the Big Bertha Set. Most sets come with anywhere between one and three wedges and begin at either the 4, 5, or 6-iron. When buying a game improvement iron set, it is wise to understand how the set will work with your 14-club limit, so its nice that Callaway offers differing sets with a variety of clubs.

“Launcher” brand comes to irons

Cleveland had been out of the iron game for a few years before the Launcher CBX Irons made their debut in 2018, focusing instead on their Launcher woods and their legendary wedges. But with the introduction of the Launcher CBX line of irons, they’ve put a very strong foot forward. The Launcher aspect of the name is visible when you look at where the weighting is: a thick sole designed to get the ball up off the ground easily with a nice high launch.

The low center of gravity and perimeter weighting make for a large sweet spot and good performance on shots that miss the sweet spot. What I love about these best game improvement irons set is that they hide all that tech behind a simple, elegant topline. When you stand over the ball, it feels like you’re using a beautiful set of blades. But the results are the forgiveness and extra yardage that you get from true game improvement cavity-backs.

The thin, blade-like topline may actually be intimidating if you’re used to thicker, chunkier toplines. They don’t necessarily look like they’ll provide much help to off-center strikes, but they do.

Zip Grooves

Cleveland is known best for their wedges, so it’s a no-brainer for them to bring their wedges’ Zip Groove technology to the Launcher irons. Precisely laser-milled, the Zip Grooves impart an amazing amount of backspin on the ball. This helps iron shots land softly and improves accuracy. Players with low swing speeds who are used to the ball landing on the green and rolling over the back will be pleasantly surprised to hold more greens and have more birdie opportunities.

Jack of All Trades

The Cleveland Launcher CBX irons are a great all-around set of irons. While some best game improvement irons may be longer and others more forgiving, these are a good combination of all the attributes you should look for in an iron set.

Hybrids or woods?

To be honest, these are more like high-lofted woods than hybrids. The design is that of a set of fairway woods with increasingly higher lofts. They’re forgiving but not very long, and I found that the design of the 9-iron and wedges wasn’t conducive to the high, soft shots that you usually look for from short irons.

They’re also very difficult to hit out of the rough, as the sole is just too broad to dig through thick grass.

Who are these for?

These are clubs made for beginners or seniors who have trouble getting the ball up into the air. Very slow swing speeds will find a good ball flight, but anyone swinging 80 mph or faster will just hit pop-ups. It’s hard to review these properly as they’re made for a very narrow subset of golfers.

The bottom line

For senior golfers who can’t get the ball into the air any more, these clubs are ideal. And beginners who can’t hit irons but don’t want to spend the money for the Cleveland Launcher HB hybrid irons may find these to their liking. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend these.

They do come with a full set of headcovers. They’re glossy and a little tacky-looking, but they’re necessary as these aren’t very durable without protection.

Moonshots

Cobra’s clever center-of-gravity adjustments with the hosel and weighting help to keep ball-flights low with short irons, but Orlimar doesn’t have that feature. The intercept irons all have the same weight and center of gravity, so the short irons and wedges give you extremely high trajectories.

Some players may hear this and say “I wish I could hit the ball higher, this sounds great!” but believe me, the trajectories are almost unmanageably high. If there’s even a breath of wind, the ball flies so high that the wind effects are magnified. A 9-iron that normally flies 140 will balloon into the wind and come up under 100 yards. When you try to choke down and flight the ball down, it still flies super high.

No 4-iron

One of the advantages of single-length irons is that long irons are easier to hit, but unfortunately Orlimar doesn’t offer a 4-iron. I’m guessing that the reason behind this is that the center of gravity and short length made the 4-irons too hard to get up off the ground. Without the hosel adjustments of the Cobras, the 4-iron of the Orlimar would probably be unhittable. So you’ll need to carry a hybrid to replace the 4-iron, which starts to defeat the concept of single-length clubs and just one swing needed.

Get a grip

The grips included on the Orlimar Intercept are not very good. They feel slick out of the box and wear down quickly. I’d suggest re-gripping them soon after purchasing them, but that starts to mitigate the fact that they’re a low-cost option.

The good

Having gotten all the nitpicking aside, these are decent-feeling irons that provide very good distance and decent forgiveness on mis-hits. I can see why golfers would be hesitant to pay a steep price for what’s essentially an experimental set of clubs, so these are a good option that provide decent performance at a great price. Curious golfers may well find enough to like here to stick with them and become single-length devotees.

Hollow construction

The Launcher HB has faces that look like normal irons, with hollow bodies that resemble woods or hybrids. You can tell by looking at them that they’re designed with a low center of gravity and they’ll have no trouble popping the ball up into the air. Like most drivers and fairway woods, the hollow bodies offer a good amount of forgiveness. Heel and toe shots fly straight and nearly as far as contact on the middle of the clubface.

However, the hollow bodies also mean the ball won’t curve at all. If you’re used to playing a bit of a slice or a draw, you’ll need to adjust to these. The ball flies straight with very little curve, so make sure you’re getting that clubface square at impact. Wherever it’s facing, that’s where the shot will go.

High launch sacrifices distance at mid-to-high swing speeds

For higher swing speed players, the high launch of the Launcher HB will tend to mean less overall distance. They start out high and tend to float before deflating towards their target.

Slower swingers, however, may actually find that these increase the yardage they’re able to achieve. They’re great for beginners as well, as the forgiveness level is very high. As you start to get better, though, you’ll likely want to find more workable irons.

Bag chatter

Since these are painted, hybrid-like clubs, you’ll probably want to use headcovers for all of these or they’ll get seriously scratched up. With most iron sets, headcovers aren’t necessary, but with these hybrid irons they’re important.

Buttery

I don’t know how TaylorMade did it, but these M4 Irons are a cast set that feels awfully close to forged. They’re soft and buttery, with a large sweet spot that really sends the ball. While overall distance and accuracy are good-but-not-great, they make up for it in feel. The sound, which is a major and underrated aspect of feel, is excellent: a good strike is rewarded with a click that sounds like it was produced in a studio.

RIBCOR

TaylorMade’s version of a springy, large sweet spot is called RIBCOR technology. It reinforces the perimeter of the club, making the hitting area large and lively. The weighting is spread out nicely to the heel and toe, giving the irons a high moment of inertia, which transfers more forward motion to the ball and gets it started in the right direction. A high moment of inertia means good forgiveness and ball speed.

Strong lofts

But some of the distance found in the TaylorMade M4s is simply achieved by them making the lofts exceptionally strong. What used to be a 5-iron is now called a 6-iron. A 43-degree loft, formerly known as a 9-iron, is called a Pitching Wedge. So some of this distance is a sort of ill-gotten gain. Long irons will be a bit harder to hit because of the stronger lofts, but with the proliferation of hybrids replacing long irons, that may not be an issue for many golfers.

The hosel

If you want confirmation about how much thought TaylorMade put into the M4, look no further than the fluted hosel. They’ve shaved a tiny bit of metal off of each hosel, giving them a few more grams to use to provide a better center of gravity. This minor detail shows how far the engineers are having to go to maximize every bit of technology available to them. It’s a small but impressive detail.

Overall

The TaylorMade M4 irons are a great option for players who have started breaking 90 regularly and are looking for irons that’ll help them elevate their game. With excellent feel and good all-around performance, they’ll stay in your bag a long time.

Single length

Bryson Dechambeau is the face of single-length clubs, and his winning ways have golfers all around the world wondering if single-length irons are right for him. His first set of single-length irons was made by Edel, but when he turned pro he signed on with Cobra and they developed a set with him. The King F8 is the result of that collaboration.

All the irons and wedges in the King F8 line have shafts that are 7-iron length. The theory is that you’ll be able to practice one setup and one swing and use it for all of your clubs. I’m a supporter of experimentation and giving everything a shot, and there’s a lot to be said for single-length irons.

I think in the coming years, we’ll see more and more players going single-length, especially if they do so from a young age.

Hosels

One issue with single-length irons is that the long irons go too low and short, and the short irons go too high and far. Cobra has played with the center of gravity of each iron to rectify this issue, moving weight around from the hosel to the sole so long irons have short hosels and very lower centers of gravity. Short irons have long hosels and a high center of gravity to keep ball flight down.

Grooves

The grooves are cut deeper in short irons to give better spin on short shots. V-grooves on the long irons reduce spin, resulting in higher, longer shots with more roll-out. It’s a clever twist that helps control the trajectory even further.

Final thoughts

I think these Cobra irons are worth looking into for players who struggle with long irons and don’t have a lot of time to practice. You do have to have a pretty good swing speed, and you may have an adjustment period. The long 9 iron and pitching wedge definitely look weird, but the short 4- and 5-irons are so much easier to hit. I don’t know if they’ll catch on or not, but I think there are a lot of golfers out there who would benefit from trying the Cobra King F8 out.