When we test irons at MyGolfSpy, testers hit the 5-iron, 7-iron and pitching wedge. Those results are combined to judge the set as a whole.
That works well for ranking iron sets but it can hide something useful if you’re considering a combo set or simply need more help at the top of the bag. So I pulled out the 5-iron data from our 2026 testing and looked specifically at accuracy and forgiveness metrics such as GIR percentage, playable percentage, straight-shot percentage, shot area, proximity and yards from center.
These are the five that stood out for making the long end of the set easier to manage.
Titleist T350
The Titleist T350 produced one of the most complete 5-iron performances in the entire analysis.
Its 80.6-percent GIR rate was the best in the game-improvement category. It also led the group with a 98.73-percent playable rate and 25.1-foot proximity. The T350 finished second in straight-shot percentage and was near the top in shot area and yards from center as well.
Testers hit a lot of greens with it, kept almost every shot playable and produced relatively tight dispersion.
That fits with what we saw from the complete set. The T350 earned a 9.1 accuracy score and 9.0 forgiveness score in the 2026 game-improvement test. If you like the idea of using a more forgiving iron at the top of a combo set, the T350 5-iron has the data to support it.
PING i240
The PING i240 may be the most interesting option here for the better player who doesn’t necessarily want to look down at a large game-improvement iron.
Its 5-iron led the player’s category with a 74.07-percent straight-shot rate and had the smallest shot area in the group. It also produced a 91.9-percent GIR rate, second-best in the category, and finished second in proximity at 23.8 feet.
Long irons get difficult when the misses start spreading in both directions. The i240 kept those misses controlled.
We had already identified the i240 as one of the most playable player’s irons of 2026 when looking at the full testing data alongside the Ballistic CB and Tour Edge Exotics CB. Isolating the 5-iron only strengthens the case.
Tour Edge Hot Launch Max D
Its 5-iron led the super game-improvement category in straight-shot percentage at 62.67 percent. It also produced the smallest shot area and the best yards-from-center result in the group. The 98-percent playable rate was strong as well.
The Hot Launch Max D wasn’t just good when we isolated the 5-iron. It won the entire 2026 super game-improvement test with a 9.3 overall score and was the category leader for accuracy while also finishing in the top three for forgiveness.
For golfers who struggle with long-iron direction more than anything else, this may be the most straightforward option on the list.
Mizuno Pro M-13
The Mizuno Pro M-13 is a good example of why looking at individual clubs can tell us something the overall rankings don’t.
Among the player’s distance 5-irons, the M-13 had the highest GIR percentage at 49.3 percent and the smallest shot area. Its 98.57-percent playable rate was second-best in the category.
The complete set wasn’t an accuracy leader. What it did do extremely well was forgiveness, finishing second in the player’s-distance category with a 9.2 forgiveness score.
That makes the isolated 5-iron result particularly interesting. If you wrote off the M-13 based solely on its overall accuracy score, you’d miss the fact that the long iron was one of the easiest player’s distance 5-irons for testers to keep under control.
Haywood SV.2
The Haywood SV.2 was the other game-improvement iron that kept showing up near the top when I looked specifically at 5-iron performance.
Its 62.3-percent straight-shot rate was slightly better than the T350 and its 1,153-square-yard shot area was even smaller. It also kept 98.36 percent of shots playable.
The GIR rate of 64.9 percent wasn’t as impressive as the T350 but the combination of straight shots, tight dispersion and very few unusable results makes the SV.2 worth considering.
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