Gear: PXG 0311 P GEN6, 0311 XP GEN6 irons
Price: $219 each
Specs: Hollow-body construction with a forged 8620 carbon steel body and a milled back area, forged HT1770 stainless steel face, tungsten weights and internal polymer.
Who They’re For: The updated 0311 P and XP are for golfers who want a soft feel at impact with more ball speed and stability in a club that looks like a better-player’s iron.
The Skinny: PXG made the faces of the GEN6 irons thinner to increase ball speed and provide more distance. The 0311 P is a better-player’s distance iron, while the 0311 XP is a true game-improvement offering.
The Deep Dive: PXG has made irons that play bigger than they look for a decade. The brand’s designers aspire to create clubs that look like they belong in a single-digit-handicap golfer’s bag but deliver more power and forgiveness than a muscleback blade.
The 0311 P GEN6 and 0311 XP GEN6 irons continue that tradition by utilizing multi-material construction and a unique perimeter weight system.
Both clubs use a five-strike forging process that transforms a rod of 8620 carbon steel into the chassis. To ensure the engineers’ designs are replicated precisely every time, the back of each head is milled using a fast-spinning, computer-controlled bit that passes back and forth over the club and shaves off tiny pieces of metal.
The HT1770 stainless steel faces in the 0311 P GEN6 and 0311 XP GEN6 irons are 15 percent thinner and 5 grams lighter than the faces in the GEN5 irons. On the inner-facing side of the face, PXG added a horseshoe-shaped area that PXG refers to as a Power Channel, allowing the face to bend more efficiently around the perimeter.
PXG said that by working as a system, the lighter, more-flexible faces of GEN6 irons helps generate more ball speed and distance, especially on shots hit outside the center of the hitting area.
Inside each head, PXG adds a proprietary polymer it calls XCOR2. It fills the entire inner chamber of each head, absorbing excessive vibrations to enhance sound and feel. The material also supports the face, which PXG said would bend or break after only a few hits without the added reinforcement. While the XCOR2 supports the face, it does not inhibit the hitting area from flexing, so ball speed is not sacrificed.
To add stability, PXG added two tungsten weights screws to both the heel and toe areas of the 0311 GEN6 irons. In addition to adding perimeter weighting, the tungsten screws lower the center of gravity to encourage higher-flying shots that come down more steeply, enhancing distance control and stopping power on the greens.
There is also a larger screw in the middle of the back of the clubs that fitters can adjust to change the swing weight of each iron.
The 0311 P GEN6 irons are a better-player’s distance iron, and they have a shorter blade length with slightly less offset and can help golfers produce a draw or a fade more easily than the 0311 XP GEN6 irons.
The 0311 XP GEN6, in addition to being larger, is more stable and forgiving, and it should produce a higher ball flight than the 0311 P GEN6 irons.
Both clubs are available in a chrome finish accented in black or a Black Label Elite version with Xtreme Dark finish and black Steel Fiber Private Reserve shafts.
