BEST GOLF IRONS of 2024 | BEST GAME-IMPROVEMENT IRONS (Part 1)

This edition of the BEST OF 2024 series features the best golf irons of 2024 in the game-improvement irons category. These are the best golf irons in the game designed to help golfers in the mid-to-high handicaps hit longer, straighter iron shots. The game-improvement irons in this test include the Cobra DARKSPEED, TaylorMade Qi, Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke, and Cleveland ZipCore XL.

0:00 Intro
3:00 Testing (Cobra DARKSPEED)
9:52 Testing (TaylorMade Qi)
13:12 Testing (Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke)
16:54 Testing (Cleveland ZipCore XL)
22:48 Kevin’s Picks

In this video, 2nd Swing’s Drew Mahowald is joined by master fitter Kevin Kraft to test and review the best golf irons of 2024 in the game-improvement irons category.

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Hey golfers I’m Drew molder second Swing Golf joined here in the tour van of our second swing minetonka store with Kevin Craft um today’s going to be a fun one we have our best of Series this is part one of the game improvement iron for 2024 so um we’ve got four models here

And I think you know some of these manufacturers are going to release a new sort of series of game improvement iron every year we see that here we also have maybe one that’s not maybe it might be surprise in here to some of the viewers

So yeah um um I’ll just run through them right here quick we got the Cobra dark speed um we’ve got the tailor made Qi we have the cway Paradigm AI smoke um and then we also have the Cleveland ZIP core XL so that’s kind of the the one that

Might be a little bit out of left field for the viewers so kind of let’s run through each of these models and what you like about them so far fitting okay um all the models are better all the models that had a previous gen model are better than their previous generation uh

One of the big changes that we’ve seen this year is a little higher trajectory and more spin which from a fitter’s perspective that makes my life a whole lot easier because I’m trying to make your life a whole lot easier and I can make your life a lot easier as long as

We’re getting good trajectory and spin numbers so that we get a good Landing angle so the ball actually stops right it’s great to be able to find more distance everybody seems to come in wanting more distance yep right so but if everything’s coming in like this and

Rolling over the back of the green that ain’t any good no it’s not going to help a lot of people so we want that ball to stop so we’re definitely seeing better spin numbers and better trajectory numbers and better Landing angle numbers because of that and that’s what we’re

Really looking for ball speeds continue to get faster so you’re going to continue to see distance gains we just want good positive distance gains not distance gains that become a liability right right and so that’s what each of these models here brings to the table um

And I guess I also wanted to address the wild card here a little bit that is the Cleveland ZIP Court XL um we just recorded a podcast this morning and I asked you to sort of provide your maybe top five releases of the Year here in

2024 early on yep and one of them you said was Cleveland zipcore XL irons and so what about this one has you so intrigued so far it’s big and friendly and really goodlooking and puts up good numbers that there’s nothing else to say after that it looks good it feels good it sounds

Good and it puts up good numbers there you go there you go that’s that’s all that needs to be said here so um what we’re going to do is going to have you hit um probably six to seven shots with each model we’ll probably get from there

The best four or five okay we’ll get a test up there we’ll have some numbers we’ll have some data and then we’ll also come back in and conclude with the number one performer uh number one in terms of look feel sound and maybe talk about Innovation as well with each so

Cool um you have anything else to add otherwise we’re ready to hit some shots here let’s hit some shots okay all right so Kevin the Cobra dark speed is number one today and that is a very unique new finish on that on that

Iron I like it a lot I do too it reminds me of the nickel finish to the wedges the with the VY wedges it does yeah it does looks really good it’s uh I mean look you can’t have something called Dark speed and have it be like bright

And flashy right it’s really needs to be kind of kind of muted um I like this a lot they’ve done a a great job of taking what two generations ago was a really bulky backside yeah taking that down keeping forgiveness up making it a a better

Looking you know down at it kind of golf club the Finish helps too right um a darker finish appears more compact M so it’s uh it’s good it’s really good I like I like looking down on it um it’s a pretty long blade length L very forgiving sure yeah sure okay well some

Good good feedback from Kevin on the appearance um now it’s about the performance and uh I imagine you’ll be hitting these good ways I hope so yeah I hope so we’ll see there you go okay cool and so for the record we should probably address what your typical seven iron numbers are

I know this is these are very different clubs than your irons but we should at least get out there these definitely are designed for more springy than than what I typically so you’re going to spin a little bit lower they’re going to travel a little farther than 170 carries kind

Of my number okay with a seven iron so usually at about 5400 5,500 RPM of Spin and about 104t in the air so yeah okay that’s that’s the height height number is about right yeah it’s good come on Dr man there we go oh little hang a tiny bit open there

I think little hanger yeah think I atoned for the last hanger there we go there you did all right okay so Cobra dark speed you actually CL clipped that last one over 200 yards Let’s see we got some would look at that as a good thing some would not

This is the one you had to letay face a little bit open yeah um we’ll call it the one the one hiccup we can leave the rest of those in there yeah yeah that’s a pretty that’s a pretty good dispersion it’s it’s stupid good um actually so

Numbers up here 87 Club speed 124 Ball speed 142 on the smash about 43 73 Spin and it’s actually pretty consistent on the spin yeah um the one you left open did go up to like 47 4,800 but that’s that’s how that works yep it’s exactly

How that works yeah so um and the the distance is also very consistent across the board here too I mean your carry number is anywhere from 183 to 189 um this last one is the really the one that kind of just flew a teny bit further

Than than the others but a little less spin on that last one the spin went a little bit down but um thoughts on on dark speeder this is by the way the strongest lofted one of the test so 27 degrees okay um it feels strong yeah

Feels like the ball jumps off the off the face um it’s maybe going to be a little bit on the firmer side okay of iron you know some of these some of these irons with the way they’re constructed now kind of feel like Fairway Woods right there

There’s so much springy uh effect in here this feels very much like an iron uh which is which is good you can tell where you catch it on the club face and you know numbers are numbers are fine 100 feet in the air average is pretty

Decent um you know the uh what’s our Landing angle here because that’s the that’s the key to me that’s the key component oh I don’t even have it up there let’s uh I should probably add it up there yeah let’s put Landing angle in there where do I find Landing angle

Landing angle right over there there we go okay so I’m looking for a a minimum of 45 is is if I can get it right there are people out there that just can’t get it and that’s okay uh we get it make it as high as possible but yeah we got that

46.2 so and that that qualifies and we should note all of them all the shots except for maybe you could you could be really nitpicky and count this one as under 45 but 44.7 so um and I think and I also think there’s something too maybe I don’t know if you’ve noticed this

But seems like people generally swing with a shallower attack angle on mats and therefore might get more spin out on the course actually is yeah that’s the theory I have for my own game but well it it certainly happened to me too cuz I grew up in in Ohio practicing

Off mats and I’ve got tendonitis in both wrists from hitting off the mats and I used to be much more steep than I am now I’m very I’m I’m pretty shallow nowadays I don’t take much of a divot and that’s almost by necessity uh Hitting off the

Mats is yeah so there’s I think I think there’s a lot of times people will ask you know isn’t that spin way too low and I typically I kind of think well yeah that’s probably too low for almost everybody or I shouldn’t say almost everybody but a lot of players but if

You take that on the course I bet your spin goes up yeah quite a bit just of hitting off of a s ground you know the mitigating Factor spin height and Landing angle are our three control Dynamics right so everybody obsesses over well not everybody a lot of people

Obsess over carry distance and I do too I you know somebody comes in they want distance I’m that’s that’s my goal right off the bat let’s let’s find some more distance but again it’s got to be it’s got to be good useful distance we we’ve got something that’s you know producing

Bad landing angles and the ball’s just going to run that’s that’s just I’m not I’m not doing that person you can’t get away with on a lot of courses running the ball up to the green with your irons um you might be able to a few holes but

On a lot of holes also there might be a bunker or a hazard or thick rough in the way that won’t let that happen so yeah um all right okay good start from the dark speed iron indeed let’s go to what have I got tailor made yeah tailor made Qi

Qi how’s that one look when you put that one down looks good it’s um it’s a different shape okay um how’s it different like a little brighter so there’s a little more a little more going on through here and what I I call the crotch yeah you know

Where the hosle enters to the you know con nexts to the head and and how it rises up it’s to me it looks a little bit different shape than maybe what I’ve seen in the past from Taylor Made okay subtle but um but it looks good it’s a

It’s a nice looking Club head it’s definitely a little shinier yeah you know but it’s not it’s not called Dark Qi it’s Qi so yeah yeah so I got to choke this one down a little bit this uh this one I only had it a half inch over

Length so you got KBS to our oh okay uh SE tape or light so okay okay all right and this one of note one degree weaker at 28 okay cool that felt really good looks really good that also felt really good wow something about just a high draw that seems to land

Softly love that we love that like that yeah I mean every shot is the same isn’t that the idea did I jinx it yep I did you did I mean it’s funny C the announcer it’s funny how much further he hasn’t missed one of these since he was in high school

Yep there it is there I was striping it nice high draw now I’m pushing it pulling it it’s all your fault drew that one looks pretty good right that one’s all right o little low spin though okay good so Qi irons uh more efficient with this one and SL slightly

Slightly more spin okay overall um what did you think about the is there a difference in feel between this this does not feel quite as firm as the as the dark speed this has a little bit more of that like springy feel like that feels hot dark speed feels hot but it

Feels like an iron hitting it this is a little more almost feels like a a rescue club or something yeah interesting okay I mean it it shows up you got a higher smash Factor you actually swinging it a little slower but the speed and actually the carry was more or less the same

Right so with the added Loft you H it a little bit higher tiny bit more spin that makes sense golf club’s doing what they’re supposed to do yeah exactly exactly so Club number three should you go to the Smokey AI smoke sure smokey all right how about that one so this one is

Definitely a different shape for Callaway we talked about the crotch yeah this is a much higher crotch than what what Callaway’s had in the past usually this cuts down pretty deep and then the climb up to the toes a little steeper which has always been a Hallmark of of a

Golf club that I really like the look of I’ve always really liked Callaway’s this one’s a little bit different in that this one this one is a little different in that for sure I do remember in our swing report testing for the AI smoke that that AI smart face was

A was really impressive in the testing yeah so yeah first impression is that sounded more thuddy yeah it’s kind of halfway first swing about kind of halfway between the two yeah it was more of a thud like a hitting a punching bag or something there’s some spe oh my

Goodness a little more Club speed on it too yeah this one moves this one moves really easy this actually feels really good wow you were just Everly swinging this one huh that’s weird I’m not doing I’m really not trying to do anything different no I mean it’s the same shaft it’s the same

Head seven iron you know that was a little toey that one turned over at Tad yeah this one is also at 28 so it’s the same lock as the Q okay and I think the spin is seems like it’s a little lower so far I caught a little tiny bit of mat

Behind that one can see the spin go down there there’s a reaction to hitting one a little thin all right good Callaway AI smoke how about so numbers are interesting here you swung this one considerably faster I mean considerably 2 miles an hour yeah it’s is weird but again we’re

Using the same shaft we’ve got you know it’s just a seven iron head yeah um so that results in more ball speed um interesting though the spin was down despite the faster I’m not terribly surprised um the the major issue I had last year with the with first gen

Paradigm was if I didn’t have somebody that hit it high it was hard to put them in into it because didn’t produce a ton of spin I don’t produce a ton of spin with irons anyway so you know for me looking at 4200 it’s on the low side it’s a little

It’s a little worrisome Landing angle still okay probably get away with it um but ultimately I’d like a little more for for customers if possible yeah yeah I think it’s especially if you were to get onto a firm green yeah you know if you get a soft green typically it

Doesn’t matter what the spin is that will but if I mean if it’s a firm green or firms where the ball ising 10 11 yard that where it becomes a problem after it lands so but I like the feel feels really good looks nice and clean I mean

It’s it’s a good golf club it’s going to fit it’s going to fit a lot of people sure yeah all right this definitely no issues with ball speed I think this is the moment a lot of people are waiting for on this video it’s going be the

Cleveland ZIP core XL here okay all right so the zip core XL now um lookwise how is it different it is one added degree of Loft yet again so it’s 29 29 cool yeah so it should be potentially higher launching higher spinning than the ones we’ve already

Tested so kind of reminds me of a dumb joke a dumb joke yep okay let’s hear it horse walks into a bar water tender says hey Paul why the long face it’s got a long face okay get it yeah it’s pretty good well yeah that’s we’ll allow it on the

Channel I need some comments in the I need some a YouTube comment right now if you’re watching this I need your on a scale of one to 10 how you rate that joke Kevin dumb joke I I prefaced it by saying it was a dumb joke that’s true

You did so there shouldn’t be anybody rating the guy the guy telling it might not be that right there shouldn’t be anybody rating it a 10 it should be like a oh no no no it’s yeah okay all right yeah I it’s it’s long face it is it’s

Definitely a long face I like the look of this it’s a little deeper crotch just goes to my yeah aesthetic um it looks friendly it just looks like a very friendly Golf Club okay see how it performs I thinned that a little bit no you did I left that face

Open remember folks golf is hard there’s some distance is that it’s got a very distinct sound it does it’s like uh I don’t want to call it like the g425 of drivers a couple years ago not quite that bad but it’s uh it’s very distinct compared to the other three

Yeah see that it’s just weird because it sound it doesn’t sound like a solidly struck golf shot but it was it’s just it’s a very different it is sound impact in these three o there’s a big poke turned her just a little bit more than normal I don’t think I’ve put my very

Best swings on this one to be honest which is a little too bad I don’t want to I don’t want it to come off as not good let’s do one more for Giggles okay there’s a that’s better good swing to end on there oh I turned it a lot

Though turned it huh okay okay all right so here’s our uh set for the Cleveland zipcore XL um think like we mentioned it’s it’s definitely different sound it seems like it’s I I don’t know what it sounds like it sounds like a a a an empty hollow

Body Club even though it does have a big cavity in it so yeah um sounds probably not going to be for everybody yeah I kind of yeah you might be right but let’s let’s let’s go over the numbers because I mean the numbers so it’s interesting right

Because that is the highest lofted Club yeah okay so it went the highest with the steepest Landing angle but the spin was lower mhm now go over here it was maybe it’s maybe the farthest left on the dispersion or it’s close yeah so that could have something to do with it

Yeah I said I’m not sure I necessarily put my yeah best my best group of swings on it but um but I like I like that it’s doing what it’s supposed to in the launch and and uh height Landing angle category that’s that’s the big one for

Me Landing angle 48 right so in terms of in terms of a trajectory we were higher with this than anything else yeah and then carry wise it finished third but only2 yards behind equal second yeah so that’s pretty good spin rate is a little

Bit on the low side you know we try some different shafts and see we can’t change that a little bit but I like the trajectory on this I like the fact that it gets up in the air a little bit more I mean it’s worth noting that the zip

Core XL did go farther than the QI and it is weaker lofted than the QI now that’s pretty much a result of spin being 41 to 44 yeah but yeah still worth noting I think so um I just think from a value perspective this club being a little less expensive it

Definitely yeah oh totally earns a earns a a place at the table right I think so too yeah and I like look the look is great the performance is still really really solid I mean again we’re we’re kind of our purpose here is to nitpick right and try to find the differences

Between them you know um and that’s one of them is is is the spin element that will have to be a consideration in the fitting Bay sound you everybody can make their own determination there’s a lot of people out there that love the 425 driver yeah seriously also VT soul on

That still awesome um every Cleveland trick on iron that has that it’s we don’t we don’t get to test it here with the but in terms of turf interaction it’s exceptional for somebody that does really get into the turf this can be very beneficial sometimes it’s not the

Best fit for somebody that’s really shallow but you know yeah yeah all right well let’s uh we’ll come back and wrap it up with uh our final takeaways on uh those three categories so Mr Craft um we got to go through our categories here on the best of so we got performance

Innovation and then look sound feel okay um we start with performance since we got numbers in front of us to look at here so this test and then I can also let you sort of because the numbers are kind of so similar and it’s sort of you

Know it’s going to be a player dependent on which is best for you can also maybe take me back to some of your fittings this year too so far when these with these clubs of these four if you were to pick one on performance what’s what’s your pick what’s your

Vote due to my obsession with spin height and Landing angle especially heightened Landing angle um I’m actually GNA give it to the to the Cleveland yeah uh it it gave us the steepest Landing angle of the group mhm um I like that it was it was the highest

Launching yep you know ball speed was fine it was the slowest ball speed but uh but the efficiency was was yeah the same across the board with the exception of of Taylor Made um yeah I mean it was I don’t think it was my best group

Of swings I’ve made today but yet you know the numbers were good and I really like like that trajectory yeah I think it’s a really friendly iron for players it is very like you said doubt long face um but there’s and there’s also the elements of like a little bit High

Higher uh standard Loft at 29 degrees a little more there that it’s for both like because I it seems to me like most players that get fit for these types of irons actually need make sure they need enough Loft yes you know and that’s and that’s really the number one reason why I’m

Giving the performance to this golf club yeah because the height was higher because the landing angle was higher yeah um and maybe it’s maybe it’s not completely Apples to Apples being that you know everybody’s got their own loss but these are these are our offerings

Right so yeah that’s what it and now I me in that sense it’s fair totally yeah I mean it’s it’s in some senses it wouldn’t make sense to test them on the same Loft because their standard Loft isn’t that you knowa so um okay Innovation now

Um again this is a little bit different category but the technological advancements made by each brand for that iron um I know there’s been some different you know different Tech added to each of these before uh I know like tayor maid’s got a new face Tech that’s

Supposed to be slice eliminating C’s got their smart face down into the club on the iron faces as well that they’ve all the way from irons to drivers I know there’s a lot of thinking I I don’t know man that’s a that’s a that’s a really tough question in terms of

Which ones the you know the the the most yeah um I don’t know if I can make a choice you going to make a make a tie all four of them tied I mean um well we could we could potentially say that this didn’t exist last year so in terms of the uh

The Innovation this is actually didn’t have a a true yeah for the masses game approvement iron I mean that’s yeah right um we can call it a no contest a draw on the on the Innovation I mean probably oh golly I don’t know I really don’t know the QI is a lot better

Feeling than the uh than stealth than stealth we can go so so I like that we’ve got smart face yep which I mean obviously dominated the wood the driver category for us so you know if we’re just going to go I suppose purely off of who’s leading the pack in pure Innovation it’s

Probably got to be C okay okay yeah I we’ve we’ve given a lot of high remarks on the smart face already so uh they have that technology down on the iron big deal for sure um speaking you mentioned feel so and the kind of the look SL sound SL feel category is it

Tailor made yeah it is it is it is yeah I thought I thought this I mentioned that this sort of feels a little bit more like a fairway wood or hybrid type iron it feels very springy springy it feels pretty soft um I just thought this was overall the the one

That felt the best coming off the coming off the club and looks wise looks wise I’m actually going to give it to the Cleveland the Cleveland I thought the overall look of of this to me aesthetically is is a little bit better um but the sound feel sound sound we’re

Not going to give that to Cleveland yeah right right that’s that’s not the the tone I really like um really I I guess maybe from a sound perspective probably back in Taylor Made though Callaway is really really close thought those two were were probably the the closest in terms of the that you

Know oral resp and we should we’ll note again the look sound feel part is player dependent AB very player depend this is just getting Kevin’s take on things and just cuz I like it doesn’t mean anybody else should I mean we still wanted to get provide

The feedback anyway for you on these so um but these are four great irons um I think clearly we saw a lot of distance I actually really like how steep The Landing angles are for all of them uh despite you know they the lofs are getting stronger we talk about Loft

Jacking and all these things but as long as the is going high enough and landing at a steep enough angle and can stay there on a especially on a soft green and you’re not going to have a big concern about how strong or weak that loft is correct people really

Shouldn’t worry too much about Lofts it’s that’s kind of your job really I mean that’s that’s the F shot yeah yeah if you come in for a fitting you worry about swinging I’ll worry about all the rest but you know I don’t worry about the in our perfect world you know this

Would say this is my one 70 club right yeah and and there would there wouldn’t even be a number because it doesn’t matter what the number is as long as it the tool has a purpose and we meet that purpose and then we do it with a good

Spin height Landing angle combination so that we can make the ball stop yep um I don’t I don’t get too lot too wrapped up in loss Lofts it’s all about hitting the numbers that we’re looking for yep exactly and that’s what that’s these irons can do for you so golfer schedule

That fitting get with someone like Kevin in the tour van um trading your old irons to upgrade and and save on that new set yes and um it’ll be playing better golf so Kevin thank you for joining and uh getting some great stuff in here yeah those were those were really Good