The Best Blade Irons in 2023

There are very few more satisfying feelings in the game of golf than puring the ball with a blade iron.

Traditionally, bladed irons are muscle back irons. However, in recent years, the line has gotten more and more blurry.

It used to be that blade irons were only for low handicap players. These days though, it’s pretty easy to find a set of blade irons that also offer a high degree of forgiveness.

You have to be careful though because the type of blade irons you choose can make or break your performance.

Blades differentiate themselves from distance irons mainly with a muscle back design instead of a cavity back. They also tend to have thinner top lines and smaller face profiles.

While these features greatly increase workability over distance irons, it’s these same features that also make blade irons less forgiving than distance irons. This is why they tend to be played by more skilled and experienced golfers.

Distance irons are also designed to eliminate side spin making it very difficult to purposely hit a draw or fade.

With a bladed iron, you have your choice of how you can work the ball. If you are looking for more accuracy, feel and versatility, a blade iron is the way to go.

But which one do you choose? That will depend on the needs of your game but to help you sort through your options, we have compiled a list of 10 amazing blade irons. Let’s get started!

AT A GLANCE

THE TOP 3

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TaylorMade P770 Irons

Best All Rounder

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Mizuno Pro 221

Best Premium Pick

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Titleist 620 MB

Best Value Option

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#1 – TaylorMade P770 Irons – (Best Choice)

Selling Points:

  • Forged construction
  • Hollow-body design
  • Tungsten weighted

Remember how we were talking about the line between game-improvement and blade irons getting blurry? The P770 irons are a perfect example of that phenomenon. At first glance, these are traditional blade irons with muscle back design, limited offset and thin top lines.

The hollow body design conceals awesome forgiveness features though such as a speedfoam layer and Speed Pocket. There is also progressive inverted cone face architecture that spreads the sweet spot out towards the toe where many players tend to mis-hit.

Don’t let all the forgiveness fool you though – the incredibly thin 4140 steel face provides consistency and distance. The compact head design also allows for a high degree of lateral workability while the tungsten weighting in the long irons will allow you to acutely control launch.

Pros:

  • Surprisingly forgiving
  • Great feel from the carbon steel
  • Effectively dampens harsh vibration

Cons:

  • Limited spin in the short irons
  • A bit pricey

Overall Rating: 96/100

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#2 – Mizuno Pro 221 – (Best Premium)

3 Selling Points

  • Beveled design
  • Grain flow forged
  • Copper underlayer

When it comes to feel and durability, you can’t do much better than Mizuno. The Mizuno Pro 221 irons feature the company’s famous grain flow forging process which is a meticulous forging method that produces world-renowned consistency across the entire face.

Through testing, we found that repeatable distance and predictability were amazing with these irons. These are very compact player’s performance irons and the beveled design makes them look even smaller. Weight savings in the heel allows for more mass behind the impact zone.

This feature puts more power behind your full swings and produces a noticeable increase in distance. Controlling draws and fades was remarkably easy with this iron set and the thin copper layer behind the face allows for a soft feel at impact.

Pros:

  • Very durable
  • Incredibly consistent
  • Supremely workable

Cons:

  • Short irons lack robust spin rates
  • Not forgiving

Overall Rating: 98/100

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#3 – Titleist 620 MB – (Best Budget)

3 Selling Points

  • Progressive blade length
  • Tour-refined sole
  • Muscle back design

Don’t give in to the perception that you have to spend a ton of money to get a premium set of bladed irons. The Titleist 620 MB irons are a perfect example of the antithesis of that sentiment. You can pick up a lightly used set of the 620 MB for relatively cheap.

The 620 MB irons produce a low, controllable launch and piercing ball speeds. The entire set looks great at point of address thanks to limited offset and progressive blade lengths. Around the green, these irons are a scorer’s dream.

Good up and down, side to side workability and spin control are the hallmarks of the shorter irons in this set. These irons would be great for players looking to score lower.

Pros:

  • Very clean aesthetic
  • Forged design
  • Good consistency

Cons:

  • A bit heavy
  • Poor carry distance

Overall Rating: 96/100

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#4 – Cobra King Forged Tec – (Best Cobra Option)

3 Selling Points

  • Forged face insert
  • Hollow body design
  • Stock Arccos Caddie smart grips

This is another great example of how blade irons can be forgiving. The hollow body design of the Forged tec irons from Cobra allows for a layer of foam that helps boost ball speed and smooths out harsh vibrations.

The forged face insert also increases forgiveness up and down the face. Our testers noted that even on their mis-hits, they got ball speeds that were comparable to dead-center strikes. There is also toe-biased tungsten weighting to increase distance on mis-hits.

Almost everything about the Forged Tec irons is meant to increase distance on mis-hits. But the compact head design and feel you get from the forged face insert and muscle back design are reminiscent of a classic blade iron. These are great irons for mid handicappers.

Pros:

  • Great feel
  • Clean design
  • Very forgiving

Cons:

  • Blades are a bit long
  • Durability issues

Overall Rating: 91/100

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#5 – Taylormade P790 – (Best Blades For High Handicappers)

3 Selling Points

  • Speed Pocket
  • Forged L-shape face insert
  • 8620 carbon steel body

The combination of a soft 8620 carbon steel body and forged 4140 steel face insert makes these irons incredibly responsive. They play hot and will increase your distance with the long irons. The P790 are basically more forgiving versions of the P770’s so they would be great for high handicappers.

The blade length and face profile of the P790’s are slightly larger than the P790’s so they lend themselves more to players who struggle a bit with accuracy and consistent contact. The P790’s even have Taylormade’s famed speed pocket which increases face flex.

There is also tungsten weighting in the toes of these irons which helped with the mis-hits of our high handicap testers.

Pros:

  • Very forgiving
  • Great for high handicappers
  • Great responsiveness

Cons:

  • Not as workable as the P770’s
  • They don’t look great at address

Overall Rating: 94/100

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#6 – Callaway Rogue St Pro – (Best For Distance)

3 Selling Points

  • Urethane microsphere layer
  • 450 steel construction
  • Hollow body design

The new Callaway Rogue ST Pro’s are the most workable in the in revamped Rogue ST iron lineup. Don’t be intimidated though – like all Rogue clubs, a high emphasis on forgiveness was placed on the design of the ST Pro’s.

The muscle back design belies the hollow body construction that houses a layer of urethane microspheres for improved feel and distance. The 48 gram tungsten weight in the longer irons will also put more power behind your full swings.

Pros:

  • Very forgiving
  • Clean design
  • Great launch

Cons:

  • A bit heavy
  • A bit pricey

Overall Rating: 93/100

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#7 – PXG 0211 ST Irons – (Best For Mid Handicappers)

3 Selling Points

  • Triple-forged construction
  • Solid-body design
  • Strategically placed mass

Now we’re getting back to more traditional-style blades. But we’re easing back into them. The PXG 0211 ST irons have very compact head profiles and a solid-body, forged design. They produce magnificent feel and consistency.

However, the mass of the head was spread evenly across the body to help produce better distance for players struggling with that. So the PXG 0211 ST’s are a great middle ground between a pure set of blades and distance irons.

Pros:

  • Good distance
  • Good launch
  • Solid feel

Cons:

  • Poor carry distance
  • Distance control was a bit of an issue

Overall Rating: 94/100

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#8 – Srixon ZX7 – (Best Srixon Blades)

3 Selling Points

  • Single-piece forged
  • V-shaped sole
  • Tungsten to weighting

Srixon surprised us all with the ZX7 irons. By far, the best thing about these compact, blade irons is the short game spin control. The sharp, deep face grooves in the short irons and wedges allow for outstanding spin control around the tee.

Our testers were able to hold onto faster, pitched green with these irons. While the longer irons lack a bit of consistency, the v-shaped sole makes up for it a bit with better turf interaction. These would be a great choice for anyone looking to improve their short game.

Pros:

  • Good distance
  • Great spin control
  • Excellent scoring irons

Cons:

  • A bit unbalanced
  • Lacking feedback

Overall Rating: 95/100

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#9 – Ping Blueprint – (Best Ping Blades)

3 Selling Points

  • Forged construction
  • Narrow soles
  • 8620 carbon steel

Not only are these the best Ping blades we ever tested: these are some of the best irons for short-game performance overall. The one-piece construction allows for unparalleled consistency across the face and throughout the set.

These irons are also perimeter weighted so they feel very balanced throughout your swing. The forged carbon steel and compact head design make it very easy to work the ball and the robust spin rates in the short irons are a scorer’s dream.

The face grooves in these irons have been painstakingly milled for acute spin control – especially in the short irons. This would be a great choice for anyone looking to optimize their short-game accuracy.

Pros:

  • Soft feel
  • Great spin control
  • Excellent short game performance

Cons:

  • Not forgiving
  • Limited launch

Overall Rating: 98/100

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#10 – Wilson Staff Model Blade Irons

3 Selling Points

  • Milled construction
  • Lightweight hosel
  • Rounded sole design

The turf interaction of these irons is amazing. The rounded sole allows for a smooth glide through the toughest turf. The forged carbon steel imparts a soft feel to all of the irons in this premium set. These are lightweight irons that provide incredible consistency.

We would recommend them to any player who prefers a soft feel at impact and maybe even for senior players looking to remain competitive. Short game spin control was excellent and you get incredible feedback even on your chip shots.

While most of our testers noted that the Wilson Staff Model Blade irons didn’t help much with distance, our faster swing speed players didn’t seem to have any problem with distance. Side spin was also kept nice and low in the longer irons for the most part.

Pros:

  • Great for holding onto fast greens
  • Soft feel at impact
  • Great turf interaction

Cons:

  • They may not be the best if you need help with distance
  • A bit pricey

Overall Rating: 96/100

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Final Thoughts

In the above list, we did our best to not only present our readers with, what are in our humble opinion, the best blade irons of 2022 (so far); but sets that will suit the needs of a wide variety of players as well. It’s very important to choose a set of blade irons according to the needs of your game.

However, if we were to choose just one set to recommend golfers that we don’t know anything about, we would choose the Mizuno Pro 221 irons. We would choose these because they have what players in the market for blade irons typically need: consistency and extreme workability.

Still, take time to evaluate your game and the irons we included in this list. That will be the best way to decide which ones are best for you. Check these irons out and start improving your game today!