Is it taboo to play game-improvement irons?
Golfers tend to want more forgiveness. They want to hit the ball a consistent distance and prevent it from going considerably off-line. But when it comes to irons, are players still reluctant to embrace technology that could actually help them?
Joe Miller, European Product Manager at Srixon and Cleveland Golf, says players might be put off from playing forgiving irons because of their looks.
“I always thought that people who come to the game later, and especially the COVID type golfers who came in during COVID, would they would embrace the bigger irons – but I think golf’s a very traditional game,” he told the Your Golf Podcast.
“With it being a sport played in threes and fours, there’s a lot of camaraderie. At times perhaps it gets a little bit near to the bone, and people feel uncomfortable using clubs where they’re criticised for their size, dealing with remarks like, ‘What are you doing with those big shovels?'”
Srixon want golfers to have the best of both worlds
It’s a stigma manufacturers have increasingly tried to root out from their more forgiving models. The modern iron market is no longer simply split between tiny blades for elite players and oversized clubs for beginners.
There is a huge middle ground, where Srixon believes its new ZXi range fits right in. The new ZXi 5+ is a hollow-bodied iron designed to offer the benefits of a more forgiving set with a compact profile.
“When you look at that Srixon line up with five and five plus and utility, it still affords a level of forgiveness, but it still has those profiles where, when it’s in the bag, you go, ‘Wow, that looks fantastic’,” Miller added.
“When you see golf equipment in a golf shop, it’s effectively upside down. You wouldn’t go into a car showroom and the car’s on its roof, but in a golf shop – they are the wrong way round.
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“For people to be enamoured by a club, I think they’ve got to see it upside down and be pleased because that’s how it’s stored in the bag.
“That’s the first point to make when buying a set of irons, and the next would be they then flip it over and look at the profile from the address position.”
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Do you use a forgiving set of irons? Do the larger soles help or do they put you off? Are you particularly traditional when it comes to selecting what golf clubs you choose to put in the bag? Let us know in the comments or by getting in touch with us on X!
