What Are the Best Golf Irons Going into 2025?

The time is now.

You’re ready to commit to a new set of golf irons.

You’re fed up seeing your playing partners hit less club into greens than you, and you need something that will help you keep the ball in play more effectively when you mistime the odd shot.

The breadth and depth of irons available on the market today leaves you spoilt for choice, with more new irons to be released next year, which is the good news.

The bad news is, how do you decipher between what a multi-material iron and a player’s performance iron are? Are you sure you’re ready for a set of blades, or would a cavity back be better suited for your abilities?

The possibilities are endless, so to help you along the way, we have put together the ultimate guide to help you know your AI-designed faces from the ultimate soft carbon steel forged blades.

To do all this, we’ll look at the following areas:

• Iron Technology - What Are The Key Trends In Iron Design?
• The Key Differences In Iron Profiles From Beginner to Elite Player.
• New Irons Released For 2025
• Dial Your Iron Play In With Custom Fitting

Iron Technology - What Are The Key Trends In Iron Design?

Manufacturers pour as much time and development into iron design and technology as they do with their drivers, meaning we now have some of the most sophisticated irons ever designed.

Admittedly, the new tech is aimed more at players with mid- to high handicaps who need more assistance with shot accuracy and distance. However, it is still relevant for lower-handicap and elite players considering blended sets and wanting more forgiving, easier-to-launch, longer irons for their set.

When we think of the releases this year, we can group the key technologies in the current crop of irons into the following areas:

• AI-Enhanced Smart Faces
• Multi-Matriel Construction
• Maximum Distance From Spring-Effect Faces

AI-Enhanced Smart Faces

Some of the biggest golf companies are starting to invest time and effort in employing AI to enhance their products.

Callaway offers a great example of how they use AI and what that means for their iron designs.

Callaway has recorded 250,000 unique swings from players of every level of the game. This, in turn, has created over a million data points relating to impact locations, ball speeds, launch angles, and shot dispersion from the captured swings.

Callaway’s use of AI to analyse all these data points has led to 80,000 lines of unique code, creating 50,000 different iterations for optimal ball speed and spin rates across the face.

In essence, Callaway is using AI to create mini sweet spots across the face to ensure consistent, optimised ball speeds regardless of where the shot is struck.

What does that mean in reality?

Let’s take a scenario where you are faced with a 150-yard (137-meter) approach shot. You need to carry the ball to the green, as there are deep bunkers short of the putting surface where getting up and down is extremely difficult.

Your normal club for this distance is an 8-iron. You slightly mishit your shot out of the toe, and your ball doesn’t carry to the green, leaving you stuck in one of the bunkers facing a difficult shot.

Callaway’s idea behind what it has christened AI Smart Face is that even if the shot is struck out of the toe, the ball speed would remain consistent with a centred strike, meaning your ball would carry to the green.

Callaway has introduced its AI Smart Face technology in the AI Smoke, AI Smoke Max Fast, and AI Smoke HL irons.

Multi-Matriel Construction

How would you like to hit an iron with all the feel of a soft-forged blade without the hard-to-hit aesthetics associated with a blade-style iron?

Now, you can have the best of both worlds with models like TaylorMade’s P790. The P790 features a soft forged face insert to provide all that feedback and feel and is melded to a harder steel, which forms the main body of the iron. Miura has also created a model highlighting their forging skills with the IC-602. Miura employs a Chrome Molybdenum face from three to nine iron, while the pitching wedge and sand iron feature an ultra-soft premium S35C carbon steel to create the maximum soft feel for greater creativity.

While manufacturers look to soften the feel of an iron with a soft forged face, Callaway has taken a different approach by releasing its Ti-Fusion irons.

The Ti-fusion irons introduce a titanium face melded to a carbon steel chassis, forming the rest of the head. Lighter and stronger than steel, Callaway can make the face of the Ti-Fusion thinner, helping to create a bigger spring-like effect and helping you hit the ball further. Callaway also claims that using titanium doesn’t diminish the feel of the iron. The feel of the Ti-Fusion is similar to that of a normal forged iron.

Tungsten

Tungsten has been used in iron construction for a number of years. Engineers find tungsten useful in creating the exact centre of gravity in each iron or positioning a tungsten weight to improve an iron’s forgiveness.

Looking at PXG’s latest 0311 Gen 7 irons gives you the most obvious visual clue of how they used tungsten in their irons. Mizuno uses tungsten internally in the four to seven iron of its JPX 925 Hot Metal iron to lower the centre of gravity, helping to get the ball airborne and with more stopping power on approach shots.

Foam Fillings

Foam enhances the feel and feedback of hollow-bodied irons. When these irons first appeared, golfers struggled to get used to their acoustics and feel. Adding specialised foams has helped overcome that problem, with TaylorMade’s P790 and Cobra’s King Tec Forged irons being stand-out examples.

Manufacturers can employ other materials in the construction of their irons to improve stability or reposition weight to gain more performance from their irons.

Cobra is pushing the boundaries further by employing 3D printing technology to create an internal lattice structure in its Limit3d irons. Cobra has experimented with 3D printing in its putters and has called on the technology again to reposition 33% of the internal weight to create a blade-like iron with high MOI and a lower centre of gravity.

The Key Differences In Iron Profiles From Beginner to Elite Player.

We demand different things from our irons depending on our level of play and experience.

Beginners and high handicap golfers will likely need irons that offer maximum forgiveness, distance, and getting the ball airborne.

Some of the technologies we’ve discussed above will help achieve this. The aesthetics of irons aimed at beginners and high-handicap golfers will also look different from irons suited for better players.

At address, these irons inspire confidence by having a thicker top line and a longer face, making them look easier to hit. This iron profile is also likely to feature stronger lofts to help you hit the ball further, which could lead to lower ball flights and less spin, making it difficult to stop this type of iron on the greens. However, manufacturers also tend to build these irons with a wider sole, which helps lower the centre of gravity and get the ball airborne more easily.

Cleveland’s ZipCore XL irons and PXG’s Black Ops irons are good examples and have good price points, which could also be a major consideration if you want to invest in your first set of irons as a new player or higher handicap player.

Better players are looking for something different in their irons. They want to control ball flight and shape shots at will. Their ball striking is sufficiently good that they don’t need much assistance from their chosen irons and want maximum feel and feedback.

This level of golfer is looking at bladed irons. Blade irons have a smaller head profile behind the ball and a thinner top line. Blade irons are constructed using the softest carbon steel available to promote the feel and feedback the better players crave.

Two examples of the purest blades available today are Mizuno’s Pro 241 irons and Miura’s MB-101. ProtoConcept’s CO1 TB irons are also worth looking at if you are into your Japanese clubs.

Mid- to low-handicap golfers have a wide choice of iron options. If you fall into this bracket and like the look and idea of blades but don’t think you’ll get the most out of them, you can look at player's cavity back irons, such as Callaway’s Apex CB or Mizuno’s Pro 243 irons.

Player’s distance irons, such as TaylorMade’s new P770, combine more traditional looks with a hollow body design to provide some forgiveness on off-centre hits.

Combo sets are also becoming more popular. Combo sets can feature easier-to-hit longer irons blending into more bladed shorter irons for maximum control.

A combo set could benefit players of all abilities. However, the best way to ensure the right mix for your game is to be custom-fitted.

New Irons Released For 2025

Some manufacturers have already released what essentially is their 2025 iron models. Mizuno’s Pro series covers every level of golfer within the range. We’ve already mentioned the pure blade Pro 241 iron. The Pro 243 offers the same blade-like appearance as the 241, but the 243 adds a small cavity to assist with off-centre hits.

The Pro 245 model has a hollow body and multi-material construction to offer maximum all-around performance from an iron that, when you look down at it at address, doesn't look much different from the 241.

Srixon is building a loyal fanbase by producing some of the best-looking and best-performing irons in the marketplace at very reasonable price points.

Srixon’s success will likely continue with the January release of the ZXi5 and ZXi7 irons.

Both updated models continue with Srixon’s V.T. Sole, which helps turf interaction with variable sole widths and bounce angles.

The ZXi5 will feature Srixon’s MainFrame variable face thickness technology. This technology creates grooves, channels, and cavities forged into the back of the face, designed to optimise launch and ball speed. 

The ZXi7s will feature an updated version of PureFrame technology, which forges a ridge into the cavity to add extra mass to the sweet spot.

Callaway launched the Apex Ai 200 and Apex Ai 300 irons in late summer. Both irons are player’s performance irons with hollow designs and Callaway’s AI Smart Face technology we detailed earlier. Callaway also launched its Ti-Fusion iron. The Ti-Fusion’s main feature is the titanium face successfully blended into a steal chassis to create exceptional performance with ultimate feedback and feel.

TaylorMade also took the opportunity to update two classics in its iron lineup. The P.770 and P.7CB irons were also released in late summer, offering sleek new brushed satin finishes. The P.7CB introduced a combination of tungsten and a proprietary material into the iron's sole to improve stability.

January will be a busy time for further new releases, and we’ll keep you updated on what launches.

Dial Your Iron Play In With Custom Fitting

Buying a new set of irons is making an investment into improving your golf game.

If you want to invest correctly, consider having your next set of irons custom-fitted to your exact needs.

Custom fitting for irons opens up so many different possibilities for your game. We mentioned earlier the idea of building a combo set of irons, where the longer irons can be easier-to-hit models before blending into shorter irons that offer more feedback and playability.

Custom fitting helps uncover where one iron model switches to another by determining the optimum distance gapping, spin, launch, and carry distances. Trying to build a combo set won’t work if you hit your five-iron 190 yards with one model only to find you only hit your six-iron 160 yards from a different model.

Building the right combo set requires the help of a launch monitor and a qualified fitter to create consistent distance gapping. This involves getting the right head combination and marrying the correct head to the correct shaft to create those optimised numbers.

Improving accuracy is equally important as adding distance. Any new iron set, whether combo or normal, has to offer tighter shot dispersion to your play, so a fitter will always look to see where improvements can be made throughout the iron set.

When you buy your iron set due to custom fitting, you don’t just get the feel-good factor of placing new shiny golf clubs in your bag. You gain the confidence that your new irons are built precisely for your needs and improve your scoring abilities through improved distance, shot dispersion, and how your irons perform when you’re not playing your best.

Today’s irons offer more flexibility than they ever have. Blades are still the way to go for the purists who value feel and feedback above all else and have the game to use them.

However, we can also choose irons with blade-like looks and a small cavity-back or players' performance irons that pack more punch while maintaining blade-like looks.

Multi-material hollow-bodied irons offer the maximum performance for golfers who may need more assistance with distance and accuracy.

Additional technologies, such as AI-backed advances, are helping deliver the next generation of irons designed to help golfers even more. We see this in Callaway’s AI Smoke and Apex AI irons, and we’ll likely see other manufacturers using AI in the future.

As with any department of golf equipment, buying irons that work for your game requires custom-fitting.

At Nine By Nine Golf, we have experience helping golfers of every level find the right set of irons for their game. We have helped golfers find the ideal combo iron set, tighten their shot dispersion, gain more distance, and improve distance gapping through the correct head and shaft combination.

You can book a custom-fitting session for a new set of irons and try a wide selection of manufacturers of heads and shafts while our experienced fitters help narrow down the correct choice for your game.

You can also look at the latest releases on our website, where all irons from manufacturers such as Callaway, TaylorMade, Titleist, and Srixon can be fully customised for shafts and grips. Once you have found the ideal combination, you can order directly from our website.

As always, please contact us if we can answer any of your questions about the latest irons, the technology that powers them, or the custom-fitting benefits for your game. We’d be happy to help.