Do you have a favorite iron? Should you have a favorite iron?
It happens naturally for a lot of club golfers, but ask a professional this question, and you’ll probably get quite a few black expressions - which is to say they’re comfortable with every one in the bag.
For your typical club golfer, however, there’s usually a favorite - and nine times out of ten it’s a club with a little bit of loft, the club we’ll go to when we’re struggling.
And we’ve all been here: one, two, three holes played, and you’re desperately trying to hit one decent shot; just one that gets airborne would be progress.
That’s when you hear that line every golfer dreads: “Maybe just try hitting a 7-iron,” says one of your playing partners (they might as well say, ‘Give up, we're just going to carry on without you’).
Sometimes the change in strategy works: out comes the trusty old 7- or 8-iron (forget the fact that you’ve got 250 yards to the green), and you get that clean strike you’ve been searching for. A couple more of these and you’re off and running. When even the favorite club doesn’t fire… it's just not your day.
This subject recently came up in the office, and before long it had become a full-on debate.
“Having a favorite iron is amateurish,” said one member of staff who wished to remain anonymous - and he was deadly serious.
“Only high handicappers have that mindset.” Wow. Really?
“My favorite iron is my 2-iron,” said another (really something only an annoying low handicapper might say).
Keen to find out whether club golfers have a favorite iron in the bag (excluding wedges), we put the question on our Facebook page - and here are the results...
7-iron |
30% |
8-iron |
30% |
9-iron |
13% |
6-iron |
9% |
4-iron |
9% |
5-iron |
4% |
3-iron |
4% |
2-iron |
1% |
As we expected, there’s a lot of love out there for the 7- and 8-irons, which makes these clubs the ‘go-to’ for many amateur and recreational golfers.
But is having a go-to club necessarily a good thing?
“Sometimes I think having a favorite iron can be an issue,” says our resident PGA professional Joe Ferguson.
“I have played in a lot of pro-ams with people who try to shoehorn their favorite irons, whatever it may be, into shots that simply require another club, often with disastrous consequences!”
So why do many of us gravitate towards using a ‘comfort club’ like a 7- or 8-iron?
“I think it stems from an industry tendency, personally,” explains Joe.
“Every lesson I have ever had, the pro has told me to grab a 7-iron straight off the bat. Every custom fitting session seems to be based around a 7-iron too.
“I get that it is the mid-point in many people's iron set, but I wonder whether a lesson with a potentially more challenging 4- or 5-iron may be beneficial for some.”
Talking of the 4-iron, we enjoyed reading the responses from those golfers who named a longer iron as their favorite.
“My 4-iron. Love it for tight lies and stingers,” said Lee Hall, who has our full respect!
Clearly, a favorite club for some golfers will be one that strike fear into others.
There will also be those who have an old favorite because of how it looks and feels, perhaps a 5-iron that remains in the bag despite being replaced by several newer models.
At this point, the make and model of the iron comes into the conversation, and whether you play a set of the best irons money can buy.
It's not unusual for tour players to play with irons that have been updated, like Matt Fitzpatrick, who is still using a set of Ping S55 irons from 2013, clubs that feature a particularly blunt leading edge to help with turf interaction
Maybe the World No. 3's 9-iron is his personal favorite, for it was this club that he called upon to play that bunker shot to set up his US Open victory at Brookline in 2022.
Take the make and model out the the conversation, though, and do you have a favorite iron in the bag?
What is it and why? Let us know by leaving your comments below.
For the record, Joe has always been “an 8-iron guy”. “I much prefer the rounded toe of the 8,” he adds.
A good choice. A nice, safe club (in theory).
