Srixon ZX Iron Review

By Nate Lammers, Club Fitter

Just last month, Hideki Matsuyama won the 2021 Masters Tournament becoming the first Japanese player to win a major. Hideki is sponsored by Srixon Golf, well known for their golf balls but less so for their golf clubs. The company has been producing fantastic irons for quite some time, but the name doesn’t quite resonate with most consumers. The new Srixon ZX Irons may change all of that. The ZX line of irons features three models – ZX7, ZX5 & ZX4, ranging from beautiful players iron to a forgiving bomber with unsurpassed feel. These irons are made of soft steels and have multi-material construction that leads to the highest performing iron Srixon has ever made. Here is a breakdown of the three models:

Srixon ZX7

The ZX7 was designed to be a player’s iron that looks and feels like a blade while offering an ideal amount of control and more forgiveness. With a narrow top line, compact blade shape, single piece forging and narrow sole, the ZX7 provides the look and feel of a beautifully designed world class player’s iron. The small head shape with reduced offset allows for greater workability, great distance and unbelievable feel.

Features:

Tour Cavity: subtly shifts some mass to the perimeter while concentrating mass at the sweet spot. The result is more forgiveness on off center shots, unbelievably soft feel, and great workability demanded by some of the best players in the world.

Tour VT Sole: allows for smoother turf interaction and improved impact and feel. The V-shape glides through the turf allowing for better contact even on slightly fat or chunky shots.

Multi-Material Construction: the use of high-density tungsten in the long and mid irons maximizes heel to toe MOI (moment of inertia). This makes the club more stable and allows for off center strikes to have more consistent spin and speed. 1020 carbon steel is used on the rest of the head giving the player a buttery soft feel without giving up any distance.

Srixon ZX5

The ZX5 provides pioneering ball speed technology with the soft feel of a premium forging. This gives the ZX5 great distance, a beautiful look at address and workability, without sacrificing any forgiveness. The balance of the ZX5 gives provides distance and control, combining the best of both worlds.

Features:

MainFrame: created with human intelligence yet perfected by the artificial kind, MainFrame is a one-of-a-kind face design that increases ball speed on every shot. While Srixon engineers set the parameters, computers ran the simulations; thousands of them until they had their fastest irons yet. Milled into the backside of each ZX5 face, MainFrame is a variable thickness pattern made up of grooves, channels, and cavities. This pattern maximizes COR for more ball speed and incredible distance on every shot.

Tour VT Sole: as in the ZX7, the ZX5 features the VT sole but is slightly wider giving the ZX5 a lower center of gravity, providing higher flying golf shots with the same turf interaction of the ZX7.

Multi-Material Construction: the use of tungsten for max MOI in the long and mid irons just like in the ZX7 for more control and consistent distance.  The ZX5 also incorporates a forged SUP10 face insert that allows the face to flex more, creating faster ball speed across the face, reducing the penalty on off center hits. The 1020 steel also absorbs vibration for an enhanced soft feel.

Srixon ZX4

This is the most forgiving iron in the family. The ZX4 features a hollow body construction with a sleek and narrow look, giving the iron great distance and forgiveness usually reserved for larger, game improvement iron. Srixon believes this to be the most powerful and forgiving iron to date. The game changing design gives a wider range of players the ability to play a game improvement iron with an unmatched look and feel.

MainFrame: ZX4 also utilizes the MainFrame face introduced in the ZX5 iron. Giving the iron unmatched forgiveness and distance in a player’s distance iron. 

Tour VT Sole: incorporated in all three of the irons, the VT sole allows for great turf interaction on miss hits. The ZX4 has the widest sole with the deepest and lowest center of gravity for the highest, most forgiving ball flight.

Multi-Material Construction:  premium high-density tungsten in the base of ZX4’s long and mid irons lower the center of gravity significantly. It’s the secret to high-launching irons. A forged HT1770 steel face is strong and light, increasing face flex at impact for enhanced speed and distance, while a 431-steel body absorbs vibrations for softer feel.

Fully Hollow Set: hollow body construction is found throughout the entire set, giving the ZX4 unmatched distance and greater forgiveness across the entirety of the club face. All this forgiveness comes in a shape that is still appealing to the eye, fitting a wider range of players looking for a greater aesthetic than a traditional distance iron.

Now that we have discussed the tech in the new Srixon ZX family, let’s take a look at how they performed in The Cluboratory. Each club is a 7 iron and has a Project X LZ 6.5 shaft. The test was conducted on TRACKMAN using our Pinnacle range balls.

The data above confirms that the irons are doing exactly what they are designed to do. The ZX7 flies with a slightly higher spin rate and lower trajectory than the ZX4 & ZX5. This is due to the mildly higher center of gravity and more curve to the left. ZX4 & ZX5 fly the same height with similar curvature. The yardages are consistent with the loft and the construction of the club. ZX4 having the most flexible face and the strongest loft, therefore reducing spin, raising the ball speed and increasing the ultimate carry yardage. On the other hand, ZX7 being weakest lofted and having solid body construction, flies the shortest with slightly higher spin and lower ball speed.

The ZX family of irons from Srixon offers a beautiful iron to every level of golfer. Some of the best testing forged irons ever seen in The Cluboratory have given us the ability to introduce Srixon to all player types. Now is the time to consider a new set of Srixon irons. Make Hideki proud and give these highly engineered, beautiful irons a chance. To see if Srixon is the best choice for your game, contact us to set up your next fitting in The Cluboratory at Miles of Golf.