A new set of irons is the single biggest investment you can make into your set of golf clubs. At GolfWRX, to determine the 2022 best irons, we have compiled an expert panel of fitters to help you find out which of 2022 irons is best for your game.

OEMs have again continued to push the engineering envelope of iron design by utilizing new technology and manufacturing methods to create clubs that offer forgiveness, along with faster, more consistent club faces and launch windows. We are also seeing more segmentation of models to help you determine your best set and/or set combination.

• RELATED: Best driver 2022

Ultimately the best way to find your personal iron set is to work with a professional fitter using a launch monitor. The difficult part is a lot of people don’t have easy access to fitters, launch monitors, and club builders—so at GolfWRX, we have done a lot of the work for you.

We are in the era of not just maximizing distance but also minimizing the penalty of common misses for each player—this applies to irons just as much as it does with any other club in the bag. This is why, now more than ever, custom fitting is essential to help you see results on every swing you make.

Join the discussion about best irons 2022 in the forums!

We want to give you the tools and information to go out and find what works best for you by offering recommendations for your individual iron set wants and needs with insight and feedback from the people who work every single day to help golfers get peak performance out of their equipment.

Best irons of 2022: How we did it

Before starting the process of building our best iron survey, we reached out to our trusted fitters to discuss how they sort through the endless number of iron options available to golfers. The consensus was clear—the best fitters in the world see all the options available in the marketplace, analyze their performance traits, and pull from that internal database of knowledge and experience like a supercomputer when they are working with a golfer.

It’s essentially a huge decision tree derived from experience and boiled down to a starting point of options—and it has nothing to do with a handicap!

Modern iron sets are designed into player categories that overlap the outdated “what’s your handicap?” model, and at GolfWRX we believe it was important to go beyond handicap and ask specific questions about the most crucial performance elements fitters are looking at to help golfers find the best set of irons for them. From overall performance to shotmaking, to helping players achieve better trajectories and speed, we strived to ask the right questions.

These are the best iron categories we have developed to help you the reader determine what rankings are most important for your swing and game.

Best irons of 2022: The categories

• Overall performance
• Easiest to launch
• Pure enjoyment
• Shotmakers
• Most technology-packed
• Best blade

Best irons of 2022: Meet the fitters

Nick Sherburne: Founder, Club Champion
Clare Cornelius: Fitter, Cool Clubs
Eric Johnson: Fitter, True Spec Golf
Shaun Fagan: Fitter, True Spec Golf
Kirk Oguri: PGA Professional/ Club Specialist, Pete’s Golf
Sue O’Connor: Fitter, Cool Clubs 
Scott Felix: Owner, Felix Club Works
Mark Knapp: Fitter, Carls Golfland
Ryan Johnson: Fitter, Carl’s Golfland
Eric Hensler: Manager & Fitter, Miles of Golf
Brad Coffield: Fitter Carl’s Golfland
Nick Waterworth: Fitter,Haggin Oaks Golf Super Shop
Scott Anderson: VP of Sales, Fitter, True Spec Golf
Matthew Sim: Director of Operations, Modern Golf
Shawn Zawodni: Fitter, Miles of Golf
Ben Giunta: Owner,The Tour Van
Matt Decker: Head Fitter and Builder, The Fitting Lab – Baltimore
Jason Bodey: Head Fitter and Builder, The Fitting Lab Pittsburgh
Bradley Harrelson: Fitter, 2nd Swing Golf
Alex Dice: Fitter, Carl’s Golfland
Matt Mora: Director of Club Fitting, Urban Golf Performance
Jordan Patrick: Fitter, True Spec Golf
Gus Alzate: Fitter, True Spec Golf
Carmen Corvino: Fitter, True Spec Golf
Blake Smith: Fitter, True Spec Golf
Marc Roybal: Fitter, True Spec Golf
Shaun Fagan: Fitter, True Spec Golf

2022 Best irons: Best blades

This is by far the most straightforward category because it is defined by a single style of club — the blade AKA the muscleback or MB for short. Although modern variations offer a lot more playability than they did decades ago, blades are still defined by their workability, compact shaping, and lower ball flight. If you are looking for the ultimate test or just prefer something in the more traditional vein, these are for you.

Callaway Apex MB

Their story: The Callaway Apex MB is forged from 1025 carbon steel with a classic shape that is similar to other blade irons from Callaway’s past, but this time with a slightly narrower sole and less offset. Another improvement is the 20V grooves ensure optimal spin control in and out of the rough.

The centrally located weight screw in the back of the head allows Callaway builders to maintain the precise center of gravity locations when adding or removing weight from the irons—it’s not a new idea, but it’s one that is key to allowing the irons to be dialed into spec for each golfer.

From the fitters

• “The biggest thing when you are looking at traditional irons is the more traditional lofts that you can still see some shots float too much and lose distance. The Callaway has offered really consistent ball flight and consistent distance than most blades.”
• “The central weight screw for adjusting swing weight has been great this year for quality control and to fine-tune during fittings. Although not everyone is sensitive to swing weight, this feature allows us, and secondly the builders, to get things just right.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece and check out this forum thread.

Mizuno MP-20

Their story: Mizuno calls the MP-20 “the ultimate tour blade” thanks to its melding of modern manufacturing techniques with classic styling. The MP20s provide flow throughout the set from top to bottom leading to greater control over ball flight. This flow also increases forgiveness (please remember it’s still a blade) and launch in the longer irons, with an increased ability to flight the ball in the scoring clubs.

To help create the classic Mizuno feel, the irons are also complemented with a copper underlay beneath the final chrome plating.

From the fitters:

• “One of things that goes under the radar is the grain flow forging that they do. To me, that’s why there’s not much better feeling or softer feeling product. Knowing that the grain of the metal
  is angled to provide maximum feel up into your hands, there’s something romanticized about the engineering, and I do think it’s a separator for them.”
• “Not only is the iron great on its own, but Mizuno has a fantastic fitting cart full of shaft options.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece and check out this forum thread.

Ping Blueprint

Their story: Born from the idea of creating a club for the most exacting of golfers, Ping meticulously prototyped and tested in house with their tour staff and other highly skilled players on everything from preferred shots, grind, to blade size and shape. When it comes to shape, the Blueprints are one of the smallest blades on the market, but there’s some reasoning behind this: highly skilled players prefer a more compact head.

It makes a lot of sense when you consider the fact that the more you concentrate mass, the more that mass will transfer energy when you get close to it right? It was that final design that we saw out on tour around nine months ago that has ended up becoming what we will see at retail. Tried tested and ready for fittings and finding their way into golf bags.

From the fitters

• “We do very few traditional blade fittings and recommendations. The nice thing is that it looks like a blade iron, but the inside of the iron is anything but. It’s forged from the 8620 carbon
  steel, but it has a perimeter weighting story and a material story inside the head that turbos it up a little bit. You get that great classic look and thin topline, but you get some level of forgiveness that you wouldn’t find in the old blades of yesteryear.”
• “It is out of the box for Ping, to make such a compact club. They might look a little intimidating in the long irons but I am seeing players really like the feel and sound from them.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece and check out this forum thread.

Titleist 620 MB

Their story: The 620 MB offers ideal turf interaction throughout the set thanks to more camber and a tweaked leading edge.  In addition to the sole tweaks, the blade length is progressive from the longest iron to the shortest and the transition is so smooth that unless you set clubs next to each other, it’s quite difficult to notice. The final design element is the face height progression which transitions from more shallow to tall in the pitching wedge to offer the greatest control over ball flight.

From the fitters:

• “As long as the player has the skill set to play a blade, the 620 MB is consistent and the misses are not too bad.”
• “It usually comes down to the look and feel with the 620MB and they are tough to beat. They are very soft and responsive while offering good tuft interaction.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece and check out this forum thread.

Join the discussion about best irons 2021 in the forums!

TaylorMade P7TW

Their story: TaylorMade (in collaboration with Mike Taylor, and Tiger) have done a lot to ensure every single aspect or each iron is designed to Woods’ exacting specs and the end consumer is going to experience the same club heads that the Big Cat himself uses.

The technologies include a “hidden” tungsten weight to help concentrate mass behind the sweet spot for “a unique blend of feel, flight and control.” It has been long speculated that Tiger’s personal irons had this feature, and thanks to the full disclosure of the tech specs for the P7TWs from TaylorMade, we the consumers now know what was really behind the chrome this whole time.

From the fitters

• “From a playability standpoint, it’s probably the most forgiving blade out there. It’s not as intimidating as it looks. The P7MB is much less forgviving. The TW is a little longer heel to toe and it feels really good. The tungsten weighting in the middle makes a difference, for
  sure.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece and check out this forum thread.

Join the discussion about best irons 2022 in the forums!