A Deep Dive Into the Most Used Irons on the PGA Tour (2024)

I am in the process of changing my irons but before finalising my choices after testing out a bunch of the latest models I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the iron setups of the best players on the PGA Tour to see what they are playing with.

So we took a look at all the irons the top 100 PGA Tour players use, uncovered the most used iron brand and most popular irons on Tour, found out how many of the pros use blades or cavity backs before finally seeing what’s been changing each since we started this analysis a few years back.

And as a whole Titleist are the most used brand of irons by the top 100 on the PGA Tour with 37% playing them. Callaway and PING irons are played by 16% and 15% respectively with Srixon models chosen by 12%. Scottie Scheffler’s irons brand of choice TaylorMade are used by 6% as are PXG irons.

And ignoring utility irons the most common iron set-up played by 40% of this elite group is 4-iron to pitching wedge.

Golfing Focus’ detailed analysis of the iron set ups of the best Tour players has formed part of our overall look at the most used clubs on the PGA Tour and what is very clear when it comes to their irons is that there is no such thing as a ‘standard’ set.

Because the world’s best players are always aiming to find whatever advantage they can they are constantly experimenting with those options to find the best combination that suits both their game and the particular course they are playing on any given week.

The days of every pro having a 3-iron to pitching wedge as ‘standard’ are certainly long gone and what is very apparent in the modern game is that the top players are getting closer to almost choosing each iron individually and not as a set!

The Most Popular Irons On The PGA Tour. Titleist’s Dominance Is Growing

Analyzing the iron setups of the pros is not as straightforward a task as it used to be.

And the simple reason for that is that there are now so many more options for golfers when it comes to making up their set of irons and clubs in general.

Many of the top PGA Tour players are now carrying hybrids or 5-woods, 7-woods or even 9-woods in preference to long irons while others are opting for utility/driving irons.

So for some Tour pros today their ‘standard’ iron set is starting with a 5-iron or even a 6-iron in the case of Brian Harman!

Irrespective of this Golfing Focus took on the challenge and was able to put together a complete breakdown of the irons used by the top 100 players on the PGA Tour to find out what the most used irons are among this elite group.

And Titleist’s T100 irons are the most used model of irons by the top 100 PGA Tour pros with 22 choosing at least one T100 iron as part of their iron set. Titleist’s 620MB are the next most popular with 12 playing them followed by their 620CB iron model which is used by 11 pros. Srixon’s ZX7 Mk II irons are the next most used with 10 choosing them.

Callaway’s Apex TCB irons are played by 8 pros with PING’s Blueprint S model used by 7. Scottie Scheffler meanwhile uses TaylorMade’s most used iron, the P7TW, which is indeed also played by the great Tiger Woods himself.

This is the third year Golfing Focus has been doing this deep dive analysis into the iron choices of the top PGA Tour pros and Titleist’s dominance when it comes to the most used irons seems to be growing.

In 2023 we uncovered 29% of the top 100 using Titleist branded irons and with that number now rising to 37% it suggests a significant core of the top players on the PGA Tour consider them the best golf irons.

But a comment we here often is that Titleist are only the most used irons on the PGA Tour because they have the most sponsored players on their books.

Endorsement deals undoubtedly play a big part in professional golf and many pros are indeed paid large sums of money to use a particular brand of irons.

That being said there are a number of equipment ‘free agents’ out there such as Jason Day, Adam Scott and Patrick Cantlay, who have the flexibility to play whatever irons they want.

And interestingly amongst this select number our research found that Titleist irons were even more dominant with 50% of the irons used by the ‘free agents’ being produced by them.

Admittedly the data set in the table below is small but given Titleist irons are also dominant among the PGA Tour pros who are free to play whatever iron they choose makes it appear that there is some consensus among them that Titleist irons are a little better than the rest.

BRAND OF IRONS	PGA TOUR EQUIPMENT ‘FREE AGENTS’ USING BRAND
Callaway	1 (Matt Wallace)
Cobra	1 (Justin Rose)
Miura	1 (Adam Scott)
Mizuno	1 (Adam Schenk)
PING	2 (Stephan Jaeger, Davis Thompson – 4-iron)
Srixon	1 (Jason Day)
TaylorMade	1 (Aaron Rai)
Titleist	8 (inc. Patrick Cantlay, Matt Fitzpatrick, Denny McCarthy, Brendon Todd, Patrick Rodgers, Mark Hubbard, Davis Thompson – 5-PW, Ben Kohles)

[Editor’s note – We have included Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick in the list of equipment ‘free agents’ despite both having endorsement deals for their putters. They however have the flexibility to play whatever clubs they want to throughout the rest of their golf bags.]

Mixed Iron Sets Are Now Dominant on the PGA Tour – Top 100 Player Breakdown

As we have already noted PGA Tour pros are very particular about the irons they play and many tinker to find that little extra that will help them score lower.

This leads some not only to test out and switch to the latest models of their current irons, or entirely different sets of irons, but also to players such as Patrick Cantlay getting custom grinds on the leading edges of their irons to achieve the precise turf interaction at impact they want.

Matt Fitzpatrick meanwhile switched away from his 2022 US Open winning PING s55 irons to a set of T100 irons because alongside his switch from a 2019 Titleist ProV1x to the latest version they gave him ” … a little bit more flight and a little bit more spin.“

Others prefer to stick with an iron model once they find one they like and that can mean sticking with a model of irons that were released many years previously.

Adam Schenk for example plays with a set of 2017 Mizuno MP-18 irons and even on occasion swaps those with an even older set of 2013 MP-4 irons.

Despite all this tinkering and testing by the top PGA Tour pros however Golfing Focus’ yearly deep dives into the most used irons on the PGA Tour has thrown up a clear trend amongst the top 100 players.

And that is the ‘mixed set’ of irons that many are now choosing to use.

It is therefore important we consider this in the context of looking at the topic of the most used irons on the PGA Tour.

Because while Titleist’s T100 may indeed be the most common iron model among the top 100 certain players like Cam Davis and Tom Hoge are only using one individual T100 iron – a 3-iron in Davis’ case and a 4-iron in Hoge’s – before they switch to the 620CB and 620MB models respectively for the remainder of their iron sets up to pitching wedge.

In 2021 Golfing Focus uncovered 27% of the top 100 PGA Tour pros opting for a ‘mixed set’ of irons where they use more than one iron model.

In 2023 we found 42% of this elite group doing so but today we discovered that percentage has risen again to a whopping 60% of the top 100 opting for a ‘mixed set’ of irons.

And of that 60% seven players, including Justin Rose, Cameron Young, Byeong Hun An, Patrick Rodgers and Collin Morikawa, each use three different models of irons in their set ups from 3 or 4-iron up to 9-iron or pitching wedge.

As a result, Golfing Focus found the top 100 PGA Tour pros using 10 different brands and 53 different individual models of irons in total from all the top manufacturers including Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade, Srixon and PING to newer and smaller golf brands such as PXG, Mizuno, Cobra, and Miura.

This ‘mixed sets’ of irons trend then got us thinking about the reason behind it and it pointed to another trend which we then spotted.

And that was players opting for more forgiving cavity or ‘hollow head’ models for their longer irons before switching to less forgiving blades or ‘players golf’ irons for shorter clubs.

Indeed pros including Tony Finau and Davis Thompson even mix the brands of irons they use in their combo sets of irons.

[Editor’s notes 1. hollow’ head/body irons have an ‘internal cavity’ to remove inefficient weight and therefore increase forgiveness without the need to make the club head the size of a large cavity back. 2. And do you use a mixed set of irons yourself? Are you considering changing to a mixed set? Get involved and let us know in the comments below! ]

We can therefore again see that the question about what are the most used irons on the PGA Tour is not as clear cut as it once was. As also is the query of whether pros use cavity backs or blades which we cover in more detail below.

When you then add ‘driving’ or ‘utility’ irons into the picture too the idea of the ‘mixed/combo’ set becomes even more evident as in addition to the 60% of the top 100 we noted who play with a mixed set of ‘standard’ irons a further 18 players, add a 2, 3, or 4 utility iron to their bag.

So if we consider driving irons as ‘standard’ irons we could argue that over 3/4 of the top 100 players on the PGA Tour opt for a ‘mixed set’ of irons.

Golfing Focus puts driving/utility irons in a comparative bucket with hybrids and high-numbered fairway woods – and you can see what PGA players use utility irons here – but what is also fascinating to see among the best players on Tour is the multiple different combinations of irons they carry in their bag.

While 10% of the top 100 on Tour stick with the traditional 3-iron to pitching wedge iron setup, including Tony Finau, Tommy Fleetwood and Jason Day, there are two more popular setups within this elite group.

Xander Schauffele is among the 40% of the top 100 on the PGA Tour who prefer to start their iron set with a 4-iron through to a pitching wedge while 33%, including Rory McIlroy, choose instead to use a 4-iron through to only a 9-iron before switching to specialist wedges.

These percentages are up on a few years ago when we found 29% chose the 4-iron to pitching wedge set up and 22% playing 4-iron to 9-iron, so it seems an increasing number of the best pros on the PGA Tour are settling on one of these two iron set ups.

The chart below shows the full range of iron set ups currently being used by the top 100 on the PGA Tour which interestingly also includes a few anomalies.

Former British Open Champion Brian Harman for example doesn’t start his ‘traditional iron set until a 6-iron choosing a 4 and 5-iron Titleist U-500 driving iron.

World no.1 Scottie Scheffler meanwhile opts to play not just one but two Srixon Z U85 driving irons before he joins a minority of the top pros who start their main iron set with a 5-iron.

Taking all this into account one thing seems crystal clear therefore when looking at the iron set ups of the top 100 players on the PGA Tour.

There is no longer such a thing as a ‘standard’ set of irons.

BRAND OF IRONS	% OF TOP 100 PGA TOUR PROS USING BRAND	MOST USED IRON MODEL
Titleist	37% (including Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa, Russell Henley, Brian Harman, Jordan Speith, Justin Thomas, J.T.Poston, Cameron Young, Byeong Hun An, Brendon Todd, Ludvig Åberg, Patrick Rodgers, Cam Davis, Billy Horschel, Will Zalatoris, Robert MacIntyre)	T100 Check eBay
Callaway	16% (inc. Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Emiliano Grillo, Chris Kirk, Adam Svensson, Adam Hadwin, Harry Hall, Hayden Buckley, Erik van Rooyen)	Apex TCB Check eBay
PING	15% (inc. Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau, Corey Conners, Sahith Theegala, Harris English, Seamus Power, Stephan Jaeger, Davis Thompson)	Blueprint S
Srixon	12% (inc. Hideki Matsuyama, Shane Lowry, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley, Matt Kuchar)	ZX7 Mk II View at PGA Superstore
TaylorMade	6% (inc. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood, Aaron Rai)	P7TW Check eBay
PXG	6% (inc. Eric Cole, Kuke List, David Lipsky, Justin Lower)	0311 ST GEN4 Check eBay
Mizuno	4% (inc. Adam Schenk, Ben Griffin, Keith Mitchell)	Pro 241
Cobra	4% (inc. Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose)	King Tour View at PGA Superstore
Miura	1% (Adam Scott)	AS-1
Nike	1% (Tony Finau – 3-iron)	Vapor Fly Pro Check eBay

[Note – Just so you know, and we are upfront as an affiliate program participant, Golfing Focus, at no cost to you, earns from qualifying purchases made through links on this page.]

Do Any Pros Use Cavity Back Irons? More and More

Because the best pros in the world are so good many amateurs often assume that the vast majority must use blade irons.

For as long as I can remember blade irons have been seen as a right of passage for better players and once a golfer had reached a certain standard they would graduate from cavity back irons to blades.

Looking in detail at the iron set ups of the top 100 pros however it is clear that such a view is a long way from reality when it comes to the kind of irons PGA players play.

62% of the top 100 PGA Tour pros use cavity backs and that number rises to 89% when taking into account the players who use at least one cavity back iron in their mixed set.

Just 11% of the top 100 only use blades with 38% in total using one blade or more in their iron set. And only Tommy Fleetwood uses a blade lower than a 4-iron.

Analysing these numbers therefore the majority of even the best players in the world choose the extra forgiveness and distance which is afforded to golfers using cavity back irons.

And compared to the numbers we found when Golfing Focus did this analysis in previous years even fewer pros are using blades with the number of players only playing blades dropping from 20% of the top 100 in 2021 to 11% today.

“I joke around, ‘I’m not good enough to play the blades,’ but in reality, I think we’re just being smarter. I think we’re just like, ‘Oh, we can actually hit every shot that a blade can hit.’ But that chance that we mishit them – which we’re going to mishit a few shots in a round, even in a great round, the idea that it does carry that bunker and you make birdie on a hole where someone has to get up-and-down for par – I mean, it could be the difference in a tournament.”

Jordan Speith, 3-time major champion

Also when it comes to the blades being used by the top pros today modern iron technology means that these irons are a far cry from the ‘blades’ of years past which would look no thicker than a knife and give your hands a ‘sting’ on a cold day when not hit correctly out of the middle of the face.

Huge advancements in golf tech have meant that many of today’s ‘blade’ irons are more forgiving and closer to a cavity back iron than they used to be with the result that the distinction between the two club types is no longer as clear as it once was.

By putting more metal behind the hitting zone golf club designers are now creating ‘blades’ which have picked up the nickname of ‘muscle back’ irons.

So when you hear people talking about ‘blades’ nowadays it is likely that they are talking about ‘muscle back’ irons which are a bit away from the thin pieces of metal that were called ‘blades’ back in the day.

That is not to say that there are still some very traditional blades around being used by some of the best iron players on Tour – Taylor Made’s P7TW’s being played by Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood are a great example.

It is just that they are not used by a lot of players and when it comes to the longest irons in particular very few of the top 100 pros on Tour today are prepared to use blades.

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, the best iron player on Tour by a distance at the moment, may use very unforgiving P7TW blade irons for the main part of his set from 5-iron to pitching wedge.

But as we’ve already noted when it comes to his 3-iron and 4-iron he is more than happy to go with the much greater forgiveness offered by Srixon’s Z U85 cavity-backed driving irons.

And he’s not doing too badly as a result!

That being said if we break down iron categories again and use Today’s Golfer‘s superb and detailed classification of the iron types available on the golf market today it is obvious that the top pros are very much the elite ball strikers in the game.

Over 70% use at least one blade iron or what are known as ‘Players Golf Irons’. This is a ‘category of iron that is a ‘cavity back’ and although not quite as small and thin as blades don’t offer much more forgiveness.

However when we look at all the irons in all the mixed sets of the top 100 PGA Tour pros a good number are happy to embrace the increased forgiveness, ball speed and distance that ‘Players Distance’ or Mid-Handicap irons offer.

Mid-Handicap, or ‘game improvement’ irons as they are also known are the most sold in the general golf market and are ones with which regular golfers will be most familiar.

Even regular major championship runner-up Will Zalatoris is however happy to embrace the benefits of this category of iron in his Titleist T350 3-iron and as we can see from the data below over a quarter of the top 100 PGA Tour pros are using at least one ‘Players Distance’ iron in their bag.

So it seems fair to say, and especially when it comes to the long irons, the best players in the world are like us lowly amateurs looking for a bit of extra forgiveness.

TYPE OF IRONS	% OF TOP 100 PGA TOUR PROS
Blades	11% (inc. Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Harris English, Ben Griffin, Adam Scott, Aaron Rai)
Blades + Players Golf Irons	23% (inc. Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Corey Connors, Seamus Power, Byeong Hun An, Billy Horschel, Davis Thompson, Eric, Cole)
Players Golf Irons	37% (inc. Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Matt Fitzpatrick, Adam Schenk, Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Speith, Brian Harman)
Players Distance Irons + Blades	4% (inc. Tony Finau, Adam Svensson, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas)
Players Distance Irons + Players Golf Irons + Blades	4% (inc. Max Homa, Justin Rose, Cameron Young)
Players Distance Irons + Players Golf Irons	20% (inc. Keegan Bradley, Tom Kim, Jason Day, Brendon Todd, Matt Kuchar, CT Pan, Ben Kohles, Beau Hossler)
Mid-Handicap Irons + Players Golf Irons	1% (Will Zalatoris)

Before you go …

If you also want to know what iron shafts the top PGA Tour pros are choosing to put in their irons check out our comparative deep dive into the what’s the most used iron shaft on the PGA Tour.

What’s The Most Popular Shaft On The PGA Tour

Or if you are wondering how the iron choices of the PGA Tour pros compare with those of the best women and senior pros check out our studies of the irons they are using below.

Champions’ Choice: The Most Used Irons on the Senior Tour

Perfecting The Approach: The Most Popular Irons On LPGA Tour

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