HOT LIST EXTRA
Looking for New Irons? Our Testers Loved These Blending good looks and high performance, Players-Distance irons are finding their way into many average golfers’ bags BY MIKE STACHURA
like TaylorMade’s P·790, the Titleist T200 and now T250 irons, Ping’s i500 series, PXG’s 0311 P and others joining
HAVING IT ALL Players- Distance irons offer looks, forgiveness and speed.
every year to make Players-Distance irons the most intriguing type of iron in the game. It became its own category in the Hot List in 2018. Players-Distance irons offer two key characteristics that make them appeal- ing to a broad swath of avid golfers: relatively compact shapes mixed with distance-enhancing face inserts made of super-thin high-strength steel or even titanium alloys. Throw in some heavy tungsten perimeter weighting that sits low in the clubhead, and the end result is an iron that can do it all— distance, trajectory control, forgiveness (in physics, it’s called high moment of inertia, or MOI) and feel. It all comes in a package that fits a better player’s eye while making an average golfer walk a little taller to the first tee. Indeed, one of
When the Hot List started more than two decades ago, there was one category of
First, let’s look at a little history. The Players-Distance category really emerged a decade ago with Callaway’s multipiece Apex irons, but there were even earlier inklings of this bridge-like iron between the one-piece, cavity-back Players irons that exuded precision and the wider-soled, oversize Game- Improvement irons that promised distance and forgiveness. Further back, irons like the Mizuno MP-H4 and even the Callaway Big Bertha Fusion irons of 20 years ago suggested that distance, forgiveness and precision could live together in the same package. Over the last decade, it has been stalwarts
irons. Now there are four. The equip- ment industry continues to delineate player types based on preferred head shapes and sizes and, most importantly, how certain designs might enhance your skills or mask your flaws. With all those changes, it’s the newest iron cate- gory that is both the hottest and the one offering the most enticing promises. Long story short: Players-Distance irons might provide the best of all worlds for the majority of players still searching for better iron play.
82 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MAY 2026
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator