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Modern iron sets are designed into player categories that overlap the outdated “what’s your handicap?”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: Most technology packed

This is the “give me everything you got” list. These irons are the cream of the crop for offering technology to improve feel, distance, and ball speed. The great thing about the technology category is it’s not reserved for higher handicap golfers—it’s for anyone looking to get everything they can out of their game in an iron that also suits their eye.

TaylorMade P790

Their story: Of course, we also know the real story of the P700 line in general, P790 in particular, is under the hood, so let’s take a look.

SpeedFoam, which was the showpiece of the original (2017) P790 line gets an upgrade in the 2021 edition. Dubbed SpeedFoam Air, the ultralight urethane foam is 69 percent less dense than the 2019 iteration.

As is the formula in golf club design, saving weight in one area allows engineers to relocate it to another to accomplish specific aims. In this case, it’s to aid launch. And that’s just what the folks at TM have done, moving the CG lower in the heads of P790 irons to the tune of an average of .5 millimeters.

From the fitters

• “Just a ton of technology packed into a great looking iron. The ball speeds has been crazy good and I am impressed with how TaylorMade keeps improving them. Even for better players who just want a little more distance, they love the look.”
• “It’s still very highly in demand. Very forgiving. Very long. In those hollow foam irons, if not the best, probably the leader in that category.”

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

TaylorMade Stealth

Their story: Building from the Cap Back Design in SIM2 Max and SIM2 Max OS irons – which utilized the concept of a multi-material hollow body construction – the new Stealth irons are engineered to improve face flexibility and deliver fast ball speeds. TaylorMade engineers created the multi-material Cap Back Design by utilizing the concept of the hollow iron but replacing the steel back with a low density, polymer composite cap.

From the fitters

• “I think TaylorMade made the right choice making it slimmer and just one model. It launches the ball really well for a wide range of players and the sole design fits a lot of different players and turf. Creates consistent play from tight or fluffier lies.”
• “We’ve done very, very well with early fittings. It’s a very, very long golf club. Even longer than P790 or some other forged golf clubs. Its claim to fame is going to be providing a players look but with a game improvement distance profile.”

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

Cobra LTDx

Their story: The irons have been re-engineered from the inside out using a PWR-COR Weighting design that strategically positions the CG and adds face and body flexion in design to deliver maximum ball speed.

Combined with a thinner and larger PwrShell Face, the LTDx irons seek to provide players with an iron that blends forgiveness, high launch, excellent feel, and longest total distance.

The PWR-COR Weighting system features a multi-material design utilizing a floating steel core bar that is suspended in a lightweight and soft polymer. The steel core bar positions the CG low and right behind the impact zone.

From the fitters

• “So good, man. After the last 2-3 generations, they’ve imporved little things from each line. The look, the sole width, I think this generation is the best. The CG being so low and back it launches the ball so high. The guys that come over the top, deliver a lot of loft…the LTDx is crazy. It gets the ball in the air, but you get the benefits of a strong lofted iron. It’s so good. Probably the second longest 7 iron I’ve ever hit behind the Wilson D9.”
• “Cobra, in general, from an aesthetics standpoint, does the best job across all the vendors. They make beautiful cosmetics across their lines. It’s elegant, refined, and exceptionally easy to hit.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece.

Callaway Rogue ST Pro

Their story: The Pro features all of the best technologies of Rogue ST in a hollow body construction and a compact players shape. These irons are designed for low-to-mid single-digit handicap golfers.

In an industry-first, Callaway combined high strength 450 steel with A.I. designed Flash Face Cup for more ball speed and better ball speed consistency, according to the company. New A.I. face optimization for speed, launch, and spin: Uniquely developed for each model, engineers pursued A.I. face optimization for spin rate consistency across the face, which yields higher launch and steeper descent angle to hold greens.

From the fitters

• ” It’s a sleeper…it’s that smaller, blade-type look, but even more forgiveness…it’s a great looking golf club and it’s fast. It’s a little clickier, but it just sounds fast. Sound isn’t something guys are too concerned with anymore. It still goes high enough, it has a little spin, so it’s good for a lot of players and even better players with some speed.”
• “I think the Rogue pro is a little more squared off than Apex, which has a little more camber. It fits a wide variety of players I will tell you that. It launches high, the hollow body, a lot of guys like the sound of the crack. It’s a clean looking iron, too. The brightness or shine and minimalistic black badge is an eye catcher. I’ve done a lot of sets 1 degree weak to take some offset off. Rogue ST Pro is for someone who needs ball speed and launch but doesn’t need the spin. It’s between like the 770 and 790. It’s best of both worlds and really impressed me a lot.”

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

Ping i525

Their story: Technological features of the i525 players distance irons include:

Forged, Maraging-Steel Face: The strength of the variable-thickness, maraging steel allows for a thinner, more dynamic face structure with an internal sole undercut in the 17-4 stainless steel body to increase flexing in design for more ball speed and shots that launch faster and higher with distance control.

Sound Engineering: A polymer is precisely injected onto the inside of the face in a bid to improve feel and sound without interfering with face deflection, the source of its increased ball speed.

Extreme Weighting: Tungsten toe and shaft tip weights combine with a tiered, dynamic face structure and cavity to expand the perimeter weighting while preserving ball speed through greater face deflection in design for added distance and improved accuracy. Per Ping, this also provides tighter dispersion and increased forgiveness.

From the fitters

• “It’s going after that 790 market. It’s maybe not as clean, but for Ping it’s a great-looking iron. It has some speed and it has some forgiveness, too.”

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

Join the discussion about best irons 2022 in the forums!