Buyer's Guides

Best Player’s Irons of 2025

Phillip Bishop
Phillip Bishop
Hard Goods/Golf Club Testing Manager

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Best Player’s Irons of 2025

This just in! Golf isn’t easy. 

Neither are the lengths at which we conduct our independent, unbiased and data-driven equipment tests. Today’s Player’s Irons Buyer’s Guide is no exception. It is the most comprehensive player’s iron test of 2025 anywhere. You won’t find one that comes close. 

MyGolfSpy is the leader in independent golf club testing. Each test we release is backed by more than a decade of testing experience and expertise. There is no sugar coating. No marketing BS. Just results driven by data and objective testing.

For this test, we have 22 player’s irons. In total, our team committed 320 hours of testing. Twenty avid golfers dedicated their time to hit all of these irons for a whopping 21,120 shots. 

The results of this test serve as an indispensable guide for the off-the-rack buyer or for anyone looking for a bit of extra insight before your next fitting. Whatever you’re looking for from your next player’s iron, you’ll find it here.

These are the best player’s irons of 2025.

Best Player's Irons of 2025

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Best Overall Player’s Irons

Every year, our player’s iron testing proves to be the category where there is little separation between the best and the worst. Therefore, it is critical that we take additional necessary steps to analyzing the data we collect. In this review, you’ll discover the best player’s irons as determined by our three key scoring metrics: accuracy, distance and forgiveness.

The best player’s irons excel across the board for each of our scoring categories. Yet, the ones that are accurate funnel to the top of the board. 

These are the best player’s irons overall. 

Best Player's Iron Overall Srixon ZXi7

score icon Review Score
9.4
accuracy icon Accuracy
9.5
distance icon Distance Score
9.1
forgiveness icon Forgiveness
9.5
dollar icon Price
$1299.99

Buy This If

  • You want performance across the board:

    Look, the data speaks for itself. Srixon ZXi7 dominates the player's iron space. It is the best iron for accuracy and forgiveness. On top of that, it ranks 7th for distance. Across the board, whether you're looking for accuracy, forgiveness, or distance, this is a player's iron you need to check out.

  • You want subjective appeal:

    Srixon ZXi7 performs. Furthermore, golfers rank it highly for subjective appeal. It is the best player's iron for sound, feel, looks, and likelihood of purchase. It is hard to say no to this player's irons.

Don't Buy This If

  • You are opposed Srixon:

    At this point, Srixon should be on your list of irons to try. They consistently perform in most iron categories.

Bottom Line

Srixon ZXi7 steals the show in our 2025 Most Wanted Player’s Iron test. It separates itself from the competition by finishing with a 9.4 MGS Score. Top to bottom, it is a darn good player’s iron. It receives several accolades in this year’s test, including best for accuracy and best for forgiveness. Additionally, it wipes the floor for subjective awards. Our testing pool rates it the best for sound, feel, looks, and likelihood of purchase.

Testers' Feedback

The best of the best. The feel is soft and pleasing. Stupid accurate.”

I love it. Best of the test so far. Thicker top-line given the category.”

Comfortable to hit, solid, long – spin was high – good dispersion.”

You can do whatever you want with it – not a traditional player’s iron in a sense. Super consistent and checks all the boxes.”

 

Expert Take

Historically, player’s irons is where we see the tightest performance differentials versus every other iron category we test. However, this year brings forth a different outcome. Srixon ZXi7 dominates the player’s iron field for 2025. It is the best for accuracy and the best for forgiveness. You can expect accurate and consistent shot outcomes throughout the golf bag with these player’s irons.

Runner Up PXG 0317T

score icon Review Score
9
accuracy icon Accuracy
9.4
distance icon Distance Score
8.9
forgiveness icon Forgiveness
8.5
dollar icon Price
$1259.93

Buy This If

  • You want accuracy:

    In all of our iron tests, accuracy is the most important scoring category. Whether you have a pitching wedge, 7-iron, or 5-iron in your hand, being on or near the green should be your top priority. PXG 0317T is accurate through the entire iron set. This is a game changer and should be why you check them out.

  • You're active duty, retired veteran or first responder:

    PXG offers discounts to individuals who qualify and it is a great perk to take advantage of. Even more so with a top performing player's iron.

Don't Buy This If

  • You want forgiveness:

    Player's irons are not known for being forgiving. This holds true to PXG 0317T as it is below average for forgiveness in this test. This simply means its performance on certain metrics, i.e. carry distance, ball speed, backspin, and dispersion aren't as good as others.

Purchase at

Bottom Line

PXG 0317T places second overall in our 2025 Most Wanted Player’s Iron test. Much like other top performers, PXG 0317T excels in accuracy. It is the third best player’s iron for this scoring category. Accuracy is stellar and it offers enough distance in this category to intrigue the golfer who wants a sleeker iron but a touch more in the distance category. Furthermore, these irons are on sale through PXG directly.

Testers' Feedback

Performs well, seems to sit close. Very solid and would buy.”

Sits clean, great feel and sound.”

Best PXG iron I’ve hit to date. Super consistent, predictable distances.”

 

Expert Take

PXG 0317T offers golfers an accurate and long player’s iron. Honestly, it is one of the best PXG irons we’ve tested to date. It does take a hit in the forgiveness category, which is where we evaluate consistency for ball speed, carry distance, backspin, and dispersion. Going through a professional fitting can optimize performance across the board for this player’s iron.

3rd Place Orka RS10 CB

score icon Review Score
9
accuracy icon Accuracy
9.3
distance icon Distance Score
8.1
forgiveness icon Forgiveness
9.4
dollar icon Price
$1350.00

Buy This If

  • You want accuracy and forgiveness:

    Orka RS10 CB offers a great performance combination of accuracy and forgiveness. For irons, accuracy performance should be a top priority. Not only is Orka RS10 CB accurate, but it also produces consistent shot outcomes. Accuracy and consistency are two performance metrics that should not be taken for granted.

Don't Buy This If

  • You want distance:

    Most player's irons aren't going to be excessively long like player's distance or game-improvement irons. But, there are player's irons that offer more distance potential than others in this category. If you want pure distance in a player's irons, Orka RS10 CB won't satisfy your need.

Purchase at

Bottom Line

Orka RS10 CB bursts onto the scene of Most Wanted with a third place finish in our 2025 Most Wanted Player’s Iron test. Orka RS10 CB is a true representation of a player’s iron versus some others in the test. It ranks highly for accuracy and forgiveness while finishing below average for distance. If you’re looking for a non mainstream iron option, this is one worth considering.

Testers' Feedback

Great feel, smooth and consistent ball flight. It does what you want it to do.”

Solid. More offset than other irons, which will turn people off.”

Pretty forgiving, didn’t like the offset, easy to hit, and good distance.”

Expert Take

Seeing a newcomer to testing perform well is always a delight. Orka RS10 CB is accurate and forgiving. If you’re a supporter of non mainstream golf club companies, this is one worth checking out. The biggest knock is that it has a considerable amount of visual offset, which may turn off golfers.

Best Player's Irons of 2025

Best Player’s Irons for Accuracy

Player’s irons are made for the best players in mind. This is true in the performance off the clubhead and in the craftsmanship applied to the creation of the iron.

For player’s iron testing, we emphasize the importance of accuracy. Therefore, it is the most-weighted scoring category in this test. The goal with a player’s iron is to hit greens consistently or have tighter dispersion. Getting the ball closer to the hole saves strokes.

These are the best player’s irons for accuracy.

Best for Accuracy Srixon ZXi7

accuracy icon Accuracy
9.5
distance icon Distance Score
9.1
forgiveness icon Forgiveness
9.5
score icon Review Score
9.4
dollar icon Price
$1299.99

Buy This If

  • You want performance across the board:

    Look, the data speaks for itself. Srixon ZXi7 dominates the player's iron space. It is the best iron for accuracy and forgiveness. On top of that, it ranks 7th for distance. Across the board, whether you're looking for accuracy, forgiveness, or distance, this is a player's iron you need to check out.

  • You want subjective appeal:

    Srixon ZXi7 performs. Furthermore, golfers rank it highly for subjective appeal. It is the best player's iron for sound, feel, looks, and likelihood of purchase. It is hard to say no to this player's irons.

Don't Buy This If

  • You are opposed Srixon:

    At this point, Srixon should be on your list of irons to try. They consistently perform in most iron categories.

Bottom Line

Srixon ZXi7 steals the show in our 2025 Most Wanted Player’s Iron test. It separates itself from the competition by finishing with a 9.4 MGS Score. Top to bottom, it is a darn good player’s iron. It receives several accolades in this year’s test, including best for accuracy and best for forgiveness. Additionally, it wipes the floor for subjective awards. Our testing pool rates it the best for sound, feel, looks, and likelihood of purchase.

Testers' Feedback

The best of the best. The feel is soft and pleasing. Stupid accurate.”

I love it. Best of the test so far. Thicker top-line given the category.”

Comfortable to hit, solid, long – spin was high – good dispersion.”

You can do whatever you want with it – not a traditional player’s iron in a sense. Super consistent and checks all the boxes.”

 

Expert Take

Historically, player’s irons is where we see the tightest performance differentials versus every other iron category we test. However, this year brings forth a different outcome. Srixon ZXi7 dominates the player’s iron field for 2025. It is the best for accuracy and the best for forgiveness. You can expect accurate and consistent shot outcomes throughout the golf bag with these player’s irons.

Best for Accuracy (Runner Up) Toura SCB-1

accuracy icon Accuracy
9.4
distance icon Distance Score
7.3
forgiveness icon Forgiveness
9.5
score icon Review Score
8.9
dollar icon Price
$750.00

Buy This If

  • You want accuracy and consistency:

    Toura SCB-1 excels in two key scoring categories – accuracy and forgiveness. In our iron testing, accuracy is based on strokes gained across all three conditions: pitching wedge, 7-iron, and 5-iron. When a golf club performs in this scoring category, you can be confident it offers tremendous upside with hitting greens or being near enough to the green. Forgiveness or consistency is a measurement of how consistent an iron is at producing similar shot outcomes. More so, how efficient is it at producing tight deviations for certain golf ball metrics. Toura SCB-1 offers both of these performance attributes.

Don't Buy This If

  • You cannot afford to lose distance:

    Toura SCB-1 has one glaring weakness in the player's iron category and it is distance. It ranks last for distance and this will likely turn people away.

Purchase at

Bottom Line

Toura SCB-1 impresses in our 2025 Most Wanted Player’s Iron test. It is the second best player’s iron for accuracy and forgiveness. This type of production is exactly what you should be looking for in a player’s iron – accuracy and consistency. But, and it is a big BUT, its distance performance is strikingly poor relative to the field, which lowers its overall score enough to knock it out of the top five overall. Still, if you can live without distance, it is a great option in this category.

Testers' Feedback

Clubhead performed well, but I would purchase it with a different shaft.”

Feel was really nice, spin and carry distance was good, just shorter than my current gamer.”

A truer player’s iron – shorter, compact body, and tremendous feel.”

Expert Take

Toura SCB-1 offers the golfing purist a tremendous player’s iron. It is accurate. It is forgiving and consistent. You don’t have to worry about hot spots or poor distance control. At $750, it is steal in the player’s iron category.

Best Player's Irons for accuracy

Best Player’s Irons for Distance

Player’s irons are not renowned as distance golf clubs. Skilled players look for precision and accuracy and sometimes have to leave distance behind. 

This being said, we know even better players are always going to consider a golf club that offers distance potential. It is simply a part of the buying process and it’s hard to give up on yards. 

These are the best player’s irons for distance.

Best for Distance Vice VGI01

distance icon Distance Score
9.7
accuracy icon Accuracy
8.2
forgiveness icon Forgiveness
7.8
score icon Review Score
8.5
dollar icon Price
$799.99

Buy This If

  • You want distance:

    There are irons in every category that flirt with a different category from a distance standpoint. Vice VGI01 is a player's iron, but produces tremendous distance in a traditionally shorter distance iron category. This isn't a bad thing at all as most golfers will feed into the extra distance. If distance is your goal in a player's iron, Vice's VGI01 fits the bill.

Don't Buy This If

  • You prioritize accuracy and forgiveness:

    Distance sells and Vice has an iron that will appeal to people. We even had a tester go out and purchase a set halfway through the iron test. However, the VGI01's accuracy and forgiveness leave performance on the table and impact its overall score. Go through a professional fitting for these to potential enhance these performance metrics.

Bottom Line

There are irons, regardless of category, that stand out for distance. This year, Vice VGI01 produces eye catching distance performance in the player’s iron category. It was very apparent from the start that VGI01 was going to be a contender for the distance category. Unfortunately, it lacks accuracy and forgiveness. For the price, it is a player’s iron worth considering. But, we strongly recommend a fitting for them or at least being aware of your yardage gapping with them.

Testers' Feedback

Overall pretty good, but mishits weren’t very forgiving compared to others.”

Good sound and feel, but the looks were too shiny behind the ball.”

Looks horrible, feel is great, but poor distance control – too hot.”

Oh. My. Probably not the right category for this iron based on the distance…but it is extremely appealing. I’d take it on the golf course right now.”

Expert Take

There are irons that sometimes don’t quite fit in a specific iron category. An argument can be made that Vice VGI01 could be a player’s distance iron. But, here we are acknowledging it is the best player’s iron for distance. It is explosive. In some cases, too explosive. If you get these irons, make sure you are achieving ideal launch conditions and dial in your yardages.

Best for Distance (Runner Up) COBRA 3DP Tour

distance icon Distance Score
9.6
accuracy icon Accuracy
8.9
forgiveness icon Forgiveness
8.1
score icon Review Score
8.9
accuracy icon Accuracy
8.9

Buy This If

  • You want distance and accuracy:

    There is excessive distance in an iron and there is also controllable distance. COBRA 3DP Tour fits the bill of the latter. It is long for a player's irons. Yet, it is also accurate. This is a great combination for success in a player's iron because it checks off two of three of our scoring categories. Unlike another hot iron in this category, COBRA 3DP Tour offers more playability across the board off the rack. And that alone means you should consider it.

Don't Buy This If

  • You have a budget:

    Unfortunately, a unique iron design comes with a hefty price tag. COBRA 3DP Tour is one of the most expensive iron sets on the market.

  • You want forgiveness:

    Forgiveness and consistency are a key ingredient in performance. For some golfers it might not be important. For others, it might be a priority. COBRA 3DP Tour lacks consistency in some areas which leads to a below average score in our forgiveness scoring category.

Bottom Line

COBRA 3D Printed Tour irons are one of the hottest player’s irons that hit the market this year. The 3DP Tour irons are also hot off the clubface. It ranks second overall for distance in our 2025 Most Wanted Player’s Iron test. Unlike a few other hotter irons in this category, COBRA 3DP Tour offers an above average accuracy performance. Between its distance and accuracy results, COBRA 3DP Tour finishes eighth overall in this year’s player’s iron test.

Testers' Feedback

“Shocked me how well it performed. BEST cobra iron in years. Very forgiving and great feel.”

Had it all, maybe more player distance-like but felt good from the grip to weighting.”

Really good club. Bigger head for the category.”

Expert Take

COBRA 3DP Tour is an intriguing offering in the player’s iron category. Personally, I loved testing it. It’s explosive off the face, but offers more distance control than some others. Additionally, it seems to produce better launch conditions. The price point is steep, which will turn away some golfers. But, if you’re looking for a fun iron to hit, this is it.

Best Player's Irons for distance

Best Player’s Irons for Forgiveness

“Forgiveness” is a nebulous term in the golf industry. It’s used often but rarely defined. As a golfer, do you want a player’s iron that performs consistently? Your answer should be a definitive “yes.” You should desire an iron that produces similar results off the clubface shot to shot. Are the ball speed deviations tight? Are the carry distance deviations minimal? Are the dispersion ellipses compact? Does it produce consistent backspin? These are metrics we analyze when it comes to forgiveness within each of our iron tests.

These are the best player’s irons for forgiveness.

Best for Forgiveness Srixon ZXi7

forgiveness icon Forgiveness
9.5
accuracy icon Accuracy
9.5
distance icon Distance Score
9.1
score icon Review Score
9.4
dollar icon Price
$1299.99

Buy This If

  • You want performance across the board:

    Look, the data speaks for itself. Srixon ZXi7 dominates the player's iron space. It is the best iron for accuracy and forgiveness. On top of that, it ranks 7th for distance. Across the board, whether you're looking for accuracy, forgiveness, or distance, this is a player's iron you need to check out.

  • You want subjective appeal:

    Srixon ZXi7 performs. Furthermore, golfers rank it highly for subjective appeal. It is the best player's iron for sound, feel, looks, and likelihood of purchase. It is hard to say no to this player's irons.

Don't Buy This If

  • You are opposed Srixon:

    At this point, Srixon should be on your list of irons to try. They consistently perform in most iron categories.

Bottom Line

Srixon ZXi7 steals the show in our 2025 Most Wanted Player’s Iron test. It separates itself from the competition by finishing with a 9.4 MGS Score. Top to bottom, it is a darn good player’s iron. It receives several accolades in this year’s test, including best for accuracy and best for forgiveness. Additionally, it wipes the floor for subjective awards. Our testing pool rates it the best for sound, feel, looks, and likelihood of purchase.

Testers' Feedback

The best of the best. The feel is soft and pleasing. Stupid accurate.”

I love it. Best of the test so far. Thicker top-line given the category.”

Comfortable to hit, solid, long – spin was high – good dispersion.”

You can do whatever you want with it – not a traditional player’s iron in a sense. Super consistent and checks all the boxes.”

 

Expert Take

Historically, player’s irons is where we see the tightest performance differentials versus every other iron category we test. However, this year brings forth a different outcome. Srixon ZXi7 dominates the player’s iron field for 2025. It is the best for accuracy and the best for forgiveness. You can expect accurate and consistent shot outcomes throughout the golf bag with these player’s irons.

Best for Forgiveness (Runner Up) Toura SCB-1

forgiveness icon Forgiveness
9.5
distance icon Distance Score
7.3
forgiveness icon Forgiveness
9.5
score icon Review Score
8.9
dollar icon Price
$750.00

Buy This If

  • You want accuracy and consistency:

    Toura SCB-1 excels in two key scoring categories – accuracy and forgiveness. In our iron testing, accuracy is based on strokes gained across all three conditions: pitching wedge, 7-iron, and 5-iron. When a golf club performs in this scoring category, you can be confident it offers tremendous upside with hitting greens or being near enough to the green. Forgiveness or consistency is a measurement of how consistent an iron is at producing similar shot outcomes. More so, how efficient is it at producing tight deviations for certain golf ball metrics. Toura SCB-1 offers both of these performance attributes.

Don't Buy This If

  • You cannot afford to lose distance:

    Toura SCB-1 has one glaring weakness in the player's iron category and it is distance. It ranks last for distance and this will likely turn people away.

Purchase at

Bottom Line

Toura SCB-1 impresses in our 2025 Most Wanted Player’s Iron test. It is the second best player’s iron for accuracy and forgiveness. This type of production is exactly what you should be looking for in a player’s iron – accuracy and consistency. But, and it is a big BUT, its distance performance is strikingly poor relative to the field, which lowers its overall score enough to knock it out of the top five overall. Still, if you can live without distance, it is a great option in this category.

Testers' Feedback

Clubhead performed well, but I would purchase it with a different shaft.”

Feel was really nice, spin and carry distance was good, just shorter than my current gamer.”

A truer player’s iron – shorter, compact body, and tremendous feel.”

Expert Take

Toura SCB-1 offers the golfing purist a tremendous player’s iron. It is accurate. It is forgiving and consistent. You don’t have to worry about hot spots or poor distance control. At $750, it is steal in the player’s iron category.

Best Player's Irons for Forgiveness


How to Choose a Golf Iron

Our mission is to cut through the subjective BS and encourage golfers to buy based on performance. Performance should be your top priority. However, there are other things you need to consider when purchasing a new player’s iron.

Custom Fit Session 

As a better player, you’ll find that sometimes there is very little difference in the performance of two irons. Going for a custom fitting will help you determine things like which iron has minimal offset, which fixes those miss hits off the toe and which allows you to hit your natural shot shape. 

Most importantly, you’ll be able to fine-tune things like spin rate, launch angle and more to get your golf game to the next level. Some of the best golfers do a mixed set with some of the best player’s distance irons for long irons and player’s irons in the short irons. 

A custom fitting will get you the best club for your needs.

Cost

Pricing will always impact a purchasing decision. This is even more evident in the player’s iron category. Since most of the irons are forged or offer multi-material construction, it isn’t uncommon for an iron set to run around $1,400. Some are more and some are less. Forged irons especially will often see a higher price due to the cost of making the iron.

But, for $750, you can get our best value selection – Toura SCB-1. It goes to show there is value to be found in the player’s iron category.

Toura SCB-1 Best value

The best player’s irons often take some time to go on sale. If you have your eye on a specific set, don’t forget to check our coupons and deals page for all the latest and best savings options. (MyGolfSpy Coupons/Deals and Promo Codes)

Shaft Selection

Selecting the right shaft is critical for optimal performance. The proper shaft can positively impact launch conditions and overall accuracy.

Shafts typically are made from graphite or steel with the former being lighter and potentially aiding in faster swing speeds. The shaft flex corresponds to swing speed and affects the trajectory and ball flight.

Player’s versus Player’s Distance Irons 

One of the most important parts of choosing the best golf irons for your game is making sure you are picking from the right category. The majority of irons on the market are targeted towards those looking for the best game-improvement irons. The players that use player’s-style clubs are those with lower handicaps – even PGA Tour players. 

If you are a high handicapper, there are probably better options. You’ll find cavity-back irons with stronger lofts, a lower center of gravity and easier playability. 

For lower handicap players, the key to switching to player’s irons (over the best player’s distance or game-improvement irons) is the desire to control your ball flight and your shots. Most notably, stock lofts on player’s irons will be higher versus player’s distance or game-improvement irons. This alone leads to better launch conditions which may lead to better playability.

A player’s irons won’t be the most forgiving but your goal should be more about control, stability and accuracy. Take a good look at your game before making the switch and ensure these are the best clubs for you.

We’ll be releasing our Buyer’s Guides for player’s distance, game-improvement and super game-improvement in the upcoming weeks. 

More of the best players irons

If you need more information about the best player’s irons analyzed for different strengths here are some options for you:

How We Test Player’s Irons

Testing irons is no easy task. Our 2025 Most Wanted Player’s Irons test took 320 testing hours. For 2025, the testing pool includes 22 different iron models.

MyGolfSpy’s test program is powered by three crucial components :

  • Foresight GC Quad – Foresight is the gold standard in camera-based launch monitor technology because it produces data we can rely on with every shot hit. And since we can’t say it enough, for this test, our GC Quads captured more than 21,000 shots.
  • Titleist Pro V1 golf balls are a key component in testing. Every shot hit in Most Wanted Testing utilizes these golf balls. It is one of many ways we try to eliminate variables and Titleist Pro V1 is our trusted golf ball.
  • The Indoor Golf Shop’s SIGPRO Premium – Indoor golf is taking the world by storm. All of our testing is done indoors at our HQ in Yorktown, Va. With each test, our screens take an absolute beating. Thus, we need high-quality, durable impact screens to handle the workload. SIGPRO Premium exceeds our expectations.

For player’s irons, we have 20 testers. Since player’s irons are marketed to highly skilled or low-handicap golfers, our testing pool includes golfers in this demographic. All 20 testers hit the pitching wedge, 7-iron and 5-iron of each participating iron model. 

Best Player’s Irons of 2025 – Scoring

Providing you, the golfer and consumer, with insights into the best player’s irons on the market is our No. 1 goal with this test. We can’t do that without taking a diligent, in-depth approach to analyzing the data we collect throughout this process.

Our scoring categories remain the same and we will review those below. 

Overall scores are now labeled as an MGS Score. The MGS Score is on a 10-point scale.

Player’s iron testing is comprised of three scoring categories:

  • Accuracy
  • Distance
  • Forgiveness

These three categories are weighted with accuracy taking a strong priority.

Accuracy

Accuracy is a game changer. Hitting the golf ball on or near your intended target leads to better scores. Accuracy is the most important metric when shopping for new player’s irons. For our accuracy category, we analyze one specific metric:

  • Strokes Gained

Distance

Player’s irons are not overly long relative to other iron categories. However, there are irons within the category that separate themselves as a distance iron. Our distance category analyzes two specific metrics:

  • Carry Distance
  • Total Yards

Forgiveness

We label forgiveness as how consistent a player’s iron is at producing consistent shot outcomes. For our forgiveness category, we assess three specific metrics:

  • Carry Distance Deltas – The difference between the longest and shortest carry distance for a given player’s iron.
  • Ball Speed Deltas – The difference between the fastest and slowest ball speed for a given player’s iron.
  • Backspin Deltas – The difference between the highest and lowest backspin for a given player’s iron.
  • Dispersion – Previously called Shot Area, dispersion is a measurement (yards/squared) of the elliptical distribution of a series of golf shots.

Best Player’s Irons of 2025 – Results

Iron ModelOverall ScoreAccuracy ScoreDistance ScoreForgiveness Score
Srixon ZXi79.49.59.19.6
PXG 0317T9.09.48.98.5
Orka RS10 CB9.09.38.19.4
Honma TW Tour V9.09.28.39.3
COBRA King Tour8.98.89.58.7
PING Blueprint S8.99.08.59.1
Toura SCB-18.99.47.39.5
COBRA 3DP Tour8.98.99.68.1
Ben Hogan M50-018.98.89.48.4
TaylorMade P-7CB8.89.17.79.1
Wilson Staff Model CB8.78.68.78.9
Mizuno Pro S38.69.17.68.8
Titleist T-1008.68.78.09.0
Bridgestone 221 CB8.68.38.68.9
Vice VGI018.58.29.77.8
Callaway Apex Pro8.48.29.08.2
Sub 70 TA3 v2 CB8.38.19.37.9
New Level 702 CB8.38.48.48.1
Wishon 585PC8.38.57.58.6
Ben Hogan Fort Worth8.27.97.89.2
Sub 70 669 TC8.27.89.28.0
PXG 0317CB8.18.08.28.3

How the MGS Score is Calculated

Scores are derived strictly from ball launch monitor data by way of our Efficiency Values. Efficiency Values are a cleaner version and representation of raw average as they remove certain outliers from the equation.

With this being said, scores are weighted with 50 percent of the score coming from accuracy metrics, 25 percent from our distance metrics and 25 percent from our forgiveness metrics. You can reference the specific metrics within each scoring category in the previous heading section.

With our iron tests, we stress the importance of accuracy. It is the most important metric as hitting greens should be your number one priority. 

Finally, we reserve a very small percentage of the score to account for things like fitting considerations, excessive amounts of outliers and other details that fall outside the scope of the data.

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Phillip Bishop

Phillip Bishop

Phillip Bishop

Cancer Survivor. Amputee Golfer. Essentially, a OneLeggedBoss. When he isn't facilitating testing or analyzing data, Phillip enjoys his family time, practicing and playing golf, unwinding with video games, capturing photos of nature, or devouring pretzels.

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Phillip Bishop

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Phillip Bishop

Phillip Bishop

Driver Titleist TSR3 3 Wood Titleist TSR3
Driving Iron Titleist U505 Irons (5-6) Titleist T200
Irons (7-PW) Titleist T150 Wedges (50, 56, 60) Titleist Vokey SM10
Putter L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max Ball Titleist Pro V1x
Phillip Bishop

Phillip Bishop

Phillip Bishop





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      Bob

      3 days ago

      How do you account for distance regarding loft variation? Raw data would be extremely helpful.

      Reply

      Dr Tee

      2 weeks ago

      While I applaud your efforts to do these comparisons and ratings and control as many variables as possible, the very most important variable is UNCONTROLLED, the shaft. I am certain you can dramatically change the performance of any one of these heads by simply changing the shaft. AK raised this issue weeks ago in his comment and MGS never replied–why? Because there is no answer. Unless the heads are all tested with the same shaft the results are TOTALLY bogus.

      Reply

      Mark Blake

      1 month ago

      Well of course the Toura lacks distance compared to the Distance winner Vice, because there is 3 degrees loft difference! and I bet Vice has a longer shaft too.
      You really should be renaming the best Distance category to “Most Jacked”. Anyone who chooses an iron because it goes further has been fooled, as distance is irrelevant. C’mon club manufacturers dont need encouragement to make irons go further by cheating. How about make a new category called Most Honest.

      Reply

      AK

      1 month ago

      Did you test each models with the same shaft?

      Reply

      Joe

      1 month ago

      Always wild to me that Mizuno makes some of (if not the) best irons in the market but are never in the top 3

      Reply

      Danny

      1 month ago

      I just hit the majority of the clubs on this list and the S3’s blew everything else out of the water. Also, it doesn’t look like “feel” was accounted for in this testing which would have made a huge difference.

      Reply

      Samuel P

      1 month ago

      The 923 tour won this shootout 2 years ago. Was like 4th last year. Mizuno used to dominate MGS testing.

      Reply

      Scott Nelson

      1 month ago

      Love my Mizuno Pro 225 irons. Gave up my Pings for them! Although I bought a New Level 7 iron to demo and the feel off the club is amazing. Next time I’m looking I will have put New Level in the pool.

      Reply

      Chris

      1 month ago

      I’m most surprised by the Cobra 3DP Tour being 4th worst in the test for forgiveness. Everything I have read and heard is that it’s amazing for forgiveness – A Game Improvement club in a Players shape.

      Reply

      DesertDago

      1 month ago

      Same. The Cobra 3DP Tour performance, like most other clubs, depend on correct fitting which I assume didn’t happen in this test.

      Reply

      Joe

      4 weeks ago

      I currently have ZXi7, Mizuno Pro 243, and Cobra 3DP Tour. I can say without a doubt the 3DP Tour are the most forgiving and its not even close. I played the 243’s all last year and they’re my favorite iron of all time. I still prefer the looks, sound, and feel but of the 243’s but from a performance standpoint the 3DP’s blow them away. If you read the other 2 forum sites you’ll see everyone raving about the forgiveness

      Reply

      Ryan

      1 month ago

      It would be nice to see how Takomo 201 and 301 models compared to this group.

      Reply

      Will

      1 month ago

      Can you please post the actual ball data instead of the MSG scores?

      Reply

      Bryan Reynolds

      1 month ago

      Yes please. Show me the raw data. Also, I think they need to normalize the distance data based on loft. For example, the longest iron in the test, ViceVGI01 has a 7 iron loft of 31 degrees. Some of the irons that scored lower are 34 degrees. That easily accounts for 6-9 yards of carry.

      Reply

      Cody

      1 month ago

      Surprising the Titleist T150s were not included in this test. Was it because the T100s where and you didn’t want two sets from the same OEM?

      Reply

      JL

      1 month ago

      The T150s were in last year’s Players Distance category alongside the T200s. I believe the T150s finished dead last. Will be interesting where they finish this year. I can only assume the T150 will be the 2023 model unless Titleist sent MGS the unreleased 2025 versions for the testing.

      Reply

      Darren

      4 weeks ago

      Thanks for your comment as I was also wondering searching for the T150. There’s a lot of blurred lines/overlapping, so I guess it’s difficult to slot certain irons into categories. The T150 would probably preform well in this category, yet I can see why, against your, let’s say, true hollow bodied distance irons, how it would struggle. The T150 is a players iron with a touch of help, not a players distance irons? You could say this category of club is a ‘Nomad’ and such testing in rigid categories is going to disproportionately skew how it fares. In the UK, Srixon are far more difficult to get fir into, unfortunately. Got my eye on the new t150 coming out and the Zxi7 but difficult to find somewhere that fit into both.

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