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Modern iron sets are designed into player categories that overlap the outdated “what’s your handicap?”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

It’s no mistake that we are seeing overlap in the way the top irons are defined by fitters in this category. The most playable irons are most likely to be higher launching, and shots that fly higher make the game more enjoyable for everyone. This reiterates the point previously made that your iron selection should not be defined by your handicap but instead what gives you the best opportunity to play your best — and most enjoyable — golf.

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. It’s 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.

Callaway Apex 21

Their story: Callaway Apex Forged irons were created with one goal in mind: optimization, not only through the set but into each specific iron. For the first time, Callaway used A.I. to design its patented Flash Face Cup, which in previous applications created a face that was not only fast but extremely forgiving.

In this newest iteration of the Apex iron, the focus was on control and “spin robustness,” which is another way to say spin optimization. Callaway was able to not only increase ball speeds and forgiveness across the face but with a new weighting configuration, also able to control and optimize spin. Each iron face is tuned to complement the loft (i.e. long irons equal high launch/low spin, mid irons equal mid launch/mid spin, short irons equal lower launch/higher spin).

From the fitters:

• “They have had Apex for so many years and each year they add improvement. It fits a wide range of golfers from 4 to 15 handicaps. Some distance irons see some hot spots on the face and the Apex just offers really consistent ball speed, spin, and distance.”
• “Apex has always been one of our bread-and-butters. Actually, if anything the 790 tilts toward the better player, and the Apex tilts a little bit towards the player that wants some help. It’s not as clean looking, but it has that forged feel, good looking, forgiving, ball speed, yeah, it’s…those two irons are our top dogs for sure.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece.

Callaway Apex DCB 21

Their story: Same tech package as Apex Forged (standard) in a beefed-up chassis for the higher handicapper. This iron, which is Callaway’s most forgiving forging ever, is a direct response to the players who wanted the full Apex Forged experience but with a bit more forgiveness.

Players will see a bit more offset, thicker top line, wider sole, and a longer blade length. This combination equals more launch and ball speed across the face all while staying true to the Apex Forged loft package which makes combo sets a no-brainer.

From the fitters:

• “It’s almost a blend, but it’s more like the original Apex but a better look and feel. They’ve thrown a lot into it. And they do all those combo sets now, so they do it right. There’s almost too many options to be honest.”

For more photos/info, read our launch piece.

Ping G425

Their story: The Ping G425 iron builds off the success of the G410 by packing more forgiveness into a smaller package designed to add distance and give golfers the ability to reduce dispersions and land the ball softer into greens.

The most important design feature of the G425 irons is the new metal wood style VFT (variable face thickness), used to increase ball speed, consistency, and launch. The new VFT is possible thanks to the Hyper 17-4 stainless steel material, which allows engineers to go thinner while still maintaining structural integrity and feel. This new VFT is not symmetrical and is instead a more sideways egg-shaped oval. This allows the G425 iron to have more face deflection than Ping has ever been able to create with a cast design. When you add in the new face with an improved hinge (notice the small notch on the toe to also increase deflection) you get a diving board-like effect to send the ball higher to stop sooner.

From the fitters:

• “The G425 iron is easily the number 1 iron I fit players to in the fitting bays. A lot of players come in are high handicaps and need forgiveness. The Power spec allows us to decrease the loft by 2 degrees for those players who need to lower ball flight and reduce spin. The retro spec lofts allow us to add 2 degrees of loft for those players who need to add spin and height to their shots.”
• “For us, I believe it to be the most forgiving iron we have on the sales floor. For customers that spray the ball, or distance isn’t their biggest motivating factor, not that it’s short, but they’re really trying to hit a specific yardage and a specific target. It’s as easy to hit as anything we’ve ever carried.”

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

Join the discussion about best irons 2022 in the forums!