Nike CPR Irons Review? Still Good And Forgiving for High Handicappers?

Nike CPR Irons Review? Still Good And Forgiving for High Handicappers?

“The Nike CPR irons came out in 2014. They featured a mixed composition with hybrids taking the place of the #3 and #4 irons.”

I suppose Nike was just getting ahead of the trend with the Nike CPR iron set. Lots of players were (and still are) replacing their long irons with hybrids anyway so why not cut out a step for golfers? And in case anyone was wondering, “CPR” stands for “Clubs for Prevention and Recovery.” But prevention and recovery of what exactly?

I’ll get into that in the meat and potatoes of this review. But for now, you should know that the Nike CPR irons can be bought secondhand for a very good price and may be a good option for you if you’re looking for a bargain. But what if you’re also a high handicapper? I tested the Nike CPR irons to see what they have to offer us mortal golfers.

Are Nike CPR Irons Still Good?

“The Nike CPR irons have a very simple design…save for the hybrid clubs.”

The #3 and #4 “hybrid irons” look more like woods to me. They have very large heads which look a bit awkward at the ends of such short shafts. But I think I was looking at them more as woods and not what they were intended to be: hybrids. In any case, the  hybrid clubs are ridiculously forgiving. They produce towering launch and work well from the deck as well.

They produce high launch and soft landings so they are viable for a variety of approaches. The irons themselves have a very straightforward design – there are no weight ports, no fancy badges and they look very plain at address – except for one thing.

The Nike CPR irons feature white scoring lines on the face in the shape of a golf ball. The rounded scoring section looks a bit funny at first; but I actually found them to be quite useful. They made it easier to frame the ball. I was framing the ball quickly, swinging with more confidence and for whom it may concern, increasing my rate of play.

The Nike CPR irons are traditional cavity back irons. The soles are just slightly on the thick side but not so thick that they glare out at you at point of address. The Nike CPR irons have a traditional high-toe face profile and progressive offset. These are timeless designs that make the Nike CPR irons viable in 2023.

Are Nike CPR Irons Forgiving for High Handicappers?

“The Nike CPR irons were made for high handicappers.”

That’s what the clunky nomenclature is all about. Let’s start with “Prevention.” What do these clubs prevent? Well, slicing for one thing. I really liked the progressive offset which starts out wide in the mid irons and narrows out in the scoring irons. This made it much easier to hit my favorite shot: the baby draw.

More importantly though, it completely eliminated the right side of the fairway. The soles of the longer irons are also wider which prevents digging from the fairway. The dispersion was reasonably tight – on average I was yielding off-line divergence of 11.3 yards with the 6-iron – and the distance was about average. With the 7-iron I was getting an average carry distance of 157.4 yards.

Now let’s get to the “Recovery” part. What do the Nike CPR irons recover? Playable lies. This is in reference to the hybrid clubs specifically. The hybrid clubs feature a scoop back design which makes it very easy to pluck the ball from the rough, launch it high and land it softly on the green or the fairway. The Nike CPR hybrids are viable rescue clubs that work well from a variety of lies.

Amazingly, I was hitting greens from the cabbage with these clubs. They play straight and offer really nice turf interaction.