Graeme McDowell testing new Srixon Z 745 irons at the 2014 RBC Heritage

[anth]

I am intrigued by these. Any more reviews?

Am interested to find out how they seemed to put distance and forgiveness in this design.

Also, what type of player does the bounce suit? Our courses get pretty firm in the summer. I would be concerned about that degree of initial bounce

[MBBG]

Over the past month or so I have hit the two new Srixon irons extensively and have enjoyed them a lot.

First, they look awesome at address. Particularly the 745. But these subtle irons pack a ton of modern technology into a very traditional looking package that offers a lot of help for their given size.

The 745 offers tungsten weighting in the longer and mid irons, has double face milling for consistent spin control, and--the coup de grace--the patent pending "Tour VT" sole design that has been proven in testing to improve dispersion. Basically what they've done is added a lot of bounce to the irons, which goes far beyond a simple leading edge relief grind. They've also put an extreme negative bounce on the trailing edge, making a V sole that comes to a peak in the center on the sole.

The result is an overall sole width when looking at them from the bottom looks pretty thick for such a svelte, playeresque iron. Yet because of the design, the effective sole width is pretty small. And the sole/back cavity isn't visible at address. I just thought this to be a bit of a gimmick, to be honest, but after hitting the 745 compared to other similar irons on both turf and mats, over a period of a month or so, I couldn't help but notice how easy it was to consistently make crisp contact even when bad swings should have punished me with a really heavy or thin shot.

This is a form of forgiveness that can't be quantified in MOI, head size, thin face technology, etc. It really is something special in my opinion, and something that really sets these irons apart from a wealth of tremendous player's CB options out there. I'm kind of odd in that I normally hit the center of the face but am inconsistent with being heavy/thin and with pushing and pulling. No amount of MOI is going to fix a push or a pull, and these won't either. But they do seem to pick the ball up very, very well on thin misses, and they're SO GOOD on slightly heavy misses that you almost can't even call it a miss. They almost seem to have the perfect blend of turf penetration and skipping off the turf that results in a solid shot. It kind of has to be experienced to be understood.

Even on steep shots, they don't leave a divot so much as they smear the turf where the ball previously was. Of course, seriously steep swings on soft bent grass fairways or the like will still result in tearing the turf. It's almost like the forward bounce gently presses the turf down with minimal resistance, gets the club face on the ball, then exits back up, leaving the surface largely intact, having done its job by simply making room to get to the ball. I have been hitting these on bluegrass range grass, and the ground has been soft all fall to the point of being muddy, and this is the type of result I am seeing in these conditions. Sure, there are big soled irons that kind of do the same thing, allowing golfers to hit behind the ball without laying sod over the ball, but those won't offer the looks at address and thinner, shot making type sole these offer.

These are, of course, Endo forged, and with the thick muscle behind the impact area, feel as good as one might imagine. I don't think there are any irons out there that offer traditional forged looks and feel with as much cutting edge research and technology as these Srixons do. Having hit many comparable irons next to these over the course of 6-8 range sessions and seeing the results of the design for my swing, I couldn't help but get pretty excited about these.

Needless to say, I went ahead and ordered a 5-P set of 745s with Steelfiber i110 shafts. I had planned on going with the 4 iron as well, but after hitting the new U45 driving iron, I added a 23* U45 in place of the 745 4 iron for a couple of reasons: I use the 4 iron to tee off on a tricky dogleg on my home course and in some other situations, so I wanted a more tee oriented club in that slot. And also, the U45 feels and looks great, and offers a bit more help on those longer shots. I had them put an i95 Steelfiber in it. They said 5-7 business days for delivery, can't wait to get them!

[dmblanch]

I haven't hit the 745's yet, but I can't wait to do so.

I can say a little bit about the very similar V-sole that is found on my Scor Wedges. I'm a digger and so I have to hit a sole with a bunch of bounce in order to prevent my tendency to grave dig. The V-sole does what MBBG says, it goes in, but then it starts to surface again. It scoops, rather than gouges. It also does this in the sand. You can go after short bunker shots agreessively and it's come back out. Fairway bunker shots result in the same scooping action. Don't hit too far behind the ball and you'll be fine. That V sole similarity with the Scors is the main reason I'm looking at the Srixons. They're the only two makers that use it that I can see.

[sofla]

I am a long time Z Star iron owner/user. Where would the Z Stars fall on with these as far as forgiveness? Would they be directly comparable to the 545 or fall between the 545 and 745? The Z Stars seems to have thinner soles and thinner top line than the 545 but is a long blade/head. Since Srixon went to all the trouble of making these it is my obligation to get either the 545 or 745.