I’ve been planning to change my irons for a while now after a number of years but before going straight to a club fitter to test out all the latest and greatest 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 are using, discovered the most used iron brand and most popular individual set of irons, found out how many of the pros are using cavity backs or blades before finally seeing what has changed since we last carried out this analysis a couple of years ago.
Titleist are the most played irons by the top 100 on the PGA Tour with 29 using them. Callaway, PING and Srixon irons are each used by 14 with TaylorMade played by 13. PXG irons are chosen by 5 with Wilson used by 4. Ignoring utility irons the most common set up played by 42% of this elite group is 4-iron to pitching wedge.
What is very clear after analyzing in detail the iron setups of the best players on the PGA Tour however is that there is now no such thing as a ‘standard’ set of irons.
Because the world’s best players are always aiming to find whatever advantage they can to help them gain an edge on their competitors they are constantly experimenting with those options to find the best combination that suits their individual game and the particular course they are playing at 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 pros on Tour are seemingly getting closer and closer to almost choosing each iron individually and not as a set.
Most Popular Irons Used on the PGA Tour. Titleist Win Again!
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 or 7-woods in preference to long irons while others are opting for utility/driving irons. So for a good number of 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 though we were still able to put together a complete breakdown of the irons used by the top 100 golfers on the PGA Tour to find out what are the most played irons among this elite group.
Titleist’s T100 irons are the most used irons by the top 100 PGA Tour pros with 20 playing them. Titleist’s 620 CB are the next most popular with 9 using them. Srixon’s ZX7 irons are chosen by 8 pros with Callaway’s Apex TCB model played by 7. PING’s iBlade’s and TaylorMade’s P7TW irons are those brands most used models.
When we did this analysis a couple of years ago Titleist was again the dominant iron brand and given now in 2023 their sets occupy the top two most popular iron slots among the top 100 ahead of all other irons suggests a lot of the top players on the PGA Tour consider them to be the best golf irons.
PGA Tour pros are of course very particular about the irons they play and are forever tinkering in an effort to find that little bit extra that will help them score lower.
We therefore found the top 100 PGA players using 12 different brands and 55 different models of irons from all the top manufacturers including Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade, Srixon/Cleveland, and PING to newer and smaller golf brands such as PXG, Wilson, Mizuno, Cobra, and Miura.
Some of the top 100 we also found unwilling to give up irons made by Nike even though they pulled out of the irons market and stopped making golf clubs a few years back.
The top pros are very particular when it comes to their irons but for now it seems there is a bit of consensus among them that Titleist irons are a bit better than the rest.
| BRAND OF IRONS | NO. OF TOP 100 PGA TOUR PROS USING BRAND | MOST USED IRON MODEL |
| Titleist | 29 (inc. Will Zalatoris, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, Max Homa, Jordan Speith, Billy Horschel, Cam Smith) | T100 Check eBay |
| Callaway | 14 (inc. Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Jon Rahm, Adam Hadwin, Chris Kirk, K.H.Lee, Si Woo Kim) | Apex TCB Check eBay |
| PING | 14 (inc. Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland, Corey Conners, Sahith Theegala, Corey Conners, Seamus Power, Tyrell Hatton) | iBlade Check eBay |
| Srixon | 14 (inc. Hideki Matsuyama, Shane Lowry, Brooks Koepka, Sepp Straka, Keegan Bradley, J.J Spaun, Matt Kuchar) | ZX7 Check eBay |
| TaylorMade | 13 (inc. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Aaron Wise, Denny McCarthy, Tommy Fleetwood, Lucas Herbert) | P7TW Check eBay |
| PXG | 5 (inc Joel Dahmen, Luke List, Jason Kokrak) | 0311 ST GEN4 Check eBay |
| Wilson | 4 (inc. Kevin Kisner, Trey Mullinax, Kevin Streelman) | Staff Model CB Check eBay |
| Nike | 3 (inc. Tony Finau, Maverick McNealy, Brooks Koepka) | Vapor Fly Pro Check eBay |
| Cobra | 2 (Gary Woodland, Justin Rose) | King MB Check eBay |
| Miura | 2 (Adam Scott, Abraham Ancer) | TC-201 Check eBay |
| Mizuno | 2 (Keith Mitchell, Paul Casey) | Pro 221 Check eBay |
| New Level | 1 (Chez Reavie) | 623-CB Check eBay |
Cavity Backs vs. Blades on the PGA Tour
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 were often 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 players on the PGA Tour it is clear however that such views are a long way from reality.
65 of the top 100 PGA Tour pros use cavity backs and that number rises to 88 when taking into account the players who use at least one cavity back iron in their mixed set. Just 12 of the top 100 only use blades with 35 in total using one blade or more in their set. None of this elite group uses a blade lower than a 4-iron.
Analysing these numbers therefore it is clear that 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 the last time we did this analysis 2 years ago even fewer pros are using blades with the number of players only playing blades dropping from 20 to 12 over that period.
“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
In addition 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 not still some very traditional blades around today being used by some of the best iron players on Tour – Taylor Made’s P7TW’s being played by Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler 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 not one of the top 100 pros on Tour today is prepared to use blades.
World No.1 Scottie Scheffler for example may use very unforgiving P7TW blade irons for the main part of his set from 5-iron to pitching wedge but 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 iron!
And he’s not doing too badly as a result!
| TYPE OF IRONS | NO. OF TOP 100 PGA TOUR PROS | SELECTED PLAYERS |
| Blades | 12 | Scottie Scheffler, Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Tommy Fleetwood, Keith Mitchell, Joel Dahmen, Lucas Herbert, Gary Woodland |
| Cavity Backs | 65 | Will Zalatoris, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Matt Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm, Jordan Speith, Viktor Hovland, Kevin Kisner, Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler |
| Cavity Backs + Blades (Mixed set) | 23 | Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Justin Rose |
Combo Iron Sets Are Increasingly Popular on the PGA Tour
Our 2023 analysis of which pros are using cavity backs and which are using blades again also threw up a clear trend amongst the top 100 on the PGA Tour.
And that is the ‘mixed set’ of irons that many are now choosing to use.
Long gone are the days when the pros would have a consistent iron set from a 2 or 3-iron all the way through to a pitching wedge and today it seems clear that the best players in the world are looking at almost every individual iron to see if there is a better alternative.
We found 42 of the top 100 PGA Tour pros (up from 27 a couple of years ago!) are opting for a ‘mixed set’ of irons where they use more than one iron model and indeed some of them are actually using 3 separate models of irons.
Cameron Young for example uses a cavity back Titleist T200 4-iron and 620 CB 5-iron before choosing 620 MB blade irons from 6-iron through to 9-iron.
2020 USPGA and 2021 British Open Champion Collin Morikawa meanwhile uses a Taylor Made P770 4-iron but then switches to TaylorMade P7MC irons for his 5 and 6-irons before opting for the P730’s from his 7-iron to pitching wedge.
This trend of opting for more forgiving cavity or ‘hollow head’ irons for longer irons before choosing blades for shorter irons seems to be a clear one in the pro ranks and as such we can again see that the question about which irons the pros use is not as clear cut as it once was.
Indeed pros including Tony Finau, Maverick McNealy, Daniel Berger, and Brooks Koepka even mix the brands of irons they use in their combo sets.
[Editor’s note – ‘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.]
When you add ‘driving’ or ‘utility’ irons into the picture also the idea of the ‘mixed/combo’ set becomes even more evident as in addition to the 42 pros we noted who have an identifiable mixed set amongst their standard irons a further 22 players, add a 2, 3, 4 or even 5 utility iron to their bag.
So if we consider driving irons as ‘standard’ irons we can see close to two-thirds of the top 100 players on the PGA Tour opt for a ‘mixed set’ of irons.
We put utility irons in a comparative bucket with hybrids and high-numbered fairway woods – and you can see what individual driving irons the top 100 are using here – but what is also fascinating to see among the best players on tour is the multiple different combinations of numbers of irons that 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 and Billy Horschel and Brooks Koepka, there are two more popular setups within this elite group.
42% of the best 100 on the PGA Tour prefer to start their iron set with a 4-iron and carry irons all the way through to a pitching wedge while 28% choose instead to use only a 4-iron through to 9-iron before switching to specialist wedges.
These percentages are again up on a couple of years ago, when we found 29% chose 4-iron to pitching wedge and 22% played 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 which interestingly also include a few anomalies.
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 while Lucas Herbert doesn’t use a 5-iron at all playing with a 4-iron and then a 6-iron to pitching wedge.
Hudson Swafford meanwhile has two different 5-irons in his bag – one Titleist T200 and one Titleist 620 CB.
Taking all this into account one thing seems crystal clear therefore when it 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.
Breakdown of Irons Used on the PGA Tour
When looking at your clubs it is always natural to wonder what the best pros in the world are using by comparison.
Discussions about which tour players are using the latest PING or Callaway or Mizuno or PXG irons for example are common throughout the golfing world and knowing some pros are using the same Titleist T200 or Srixon ZX7 or TaylorMade P770 irons as you is a good feeling.
So to satisfy that curiosity we’ve listed below the complete breakdown of all the irons being used by the top 100 PGA Tour players, including golfers who only use one individual iron of a particular model.
| IRONS | NO. OF TOP 100 PGA TOUR PLAYERS USING THEM | |
| Callaway Apex TCB | 7 (inc. Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Sam Burns) | Check eBay View at Callaway Golf |
| Callaway Apex MB | 4 (inc. Maverick McNealy, Chris Kirk, Talor Gooch) | Check eBay View at Callaway Golf |
| Callaway X Forged CB | 3 (inc. Si Woo Kim, K.H Lee – 5-iron to PW) | Check eBay |
| Callaway Apex Pro | 2 (Chris Kirk – Apex Pro 21 – 4-iron, Alex Noren – Apex Pro 19) | Check eBay View on Amazon View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| Callaway Apex | 2 (K.H.Lee – Apex 19 – 4-iron, Christiaan Bezuidenhout – Apex 21 – 3-iron) | View at Callaway Golf Check eBay View at PGA Superstore |
| Callaway Apex CF 16 | 1 (Daniel Berger – 3-iron) | Check eBay |
| Cobra King MB | 2 (Gary Woodland, Justin Rose – 7-iron to PW) | Check eBay |
| Cobra King CB | 1 (Justin Rose – 5-iron, 6-iron) | View at PGA Superstore |
| Cobra King Tour | 1 (Justin Rose – 4-iron) | Check eBay View at PGA Superstore |
| Miura TC-201 | 1 (Abraham Ancer) | View at PGA Tour Superstore Check eBay View at Scottsdale Golf (UK) |
| Miura AS-1 | 1 (Adam Scott) | |
| Mizuno Pro 221 | 1 (Keith Mitchell) | Check eBay |
| Mizuno JPX919 Hot Metal Pro | 1 (Paul Casey – 3-iron, 4-iron) | Check eBay |
| Mizuno MP-5 | 1 (Paul Casey – 5-iron to PW) | Check eBay |
| New Level 623-CB | 1 (Chez Reavie) | Check eBay |
| Nike Vapor Fly Pro | 2 (Tony Finau – 3-iron, Brooks Koepka – 3-iron) | Check eBay |
| Nike VR Pro MB | 1 (Maverick McNealy – 3-iron to 6-iron) | Check eBay |
| PING iBlade | 6 (inc. Corey Conners- 5-iron to PW, Sahith Theegala – 4-iron to 7-iron, Seamus Power – 4-iron) | Check eBay |
| PING i210 | 5 (inc. Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick – 4-iron) | Check eBay |
| PING S55 | 4 (inc. Matt Fitzpatrick – 5-iron to PW) | Check eBay |
| PING Blueprint | 3 (inc. Tony Finau – 4-iron to PW, Sahith Theegala – 8-iron to 9-iron, Seamus Power – 5-iron to PW) | View at PGA Tour Superstore Check eBay View at Scottsdale Golf (UK) View at The Golf Warehouse |
| PING i230 | 2 (inc. Tyrell Hatton, Taylor Moore – 4-iron) | Check eBay |
| PXG 0311 ST GEN4 | 3 (inc. Luke List, Cameron Tringale) | Check eBay |
| PXG 0311 ST GEN3 | 1 (Hudson Swafford – 4-iron to 5-iron) | Check eBay |
| PXG 0311 T GEN4 | 1 (Jason Kokrak) | Check eBay |
| PXG 0211 ST | 1 (Joel Dahmen) | Check eBay |
| Srixon ZX7 | 8 (inc. Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry – 6-iron to PW, Keegan Bradley – 6-iron to PW) | Check eBay View on Amazon View at PGA Tour Superstore View at The Golf Warehouse |
| Srixon ZX7 Mk II | 3 (Matt Kuchar, Lucas Glover – 5-iron to PW, Brooks Koepka – 4-iron to 9-iron) | View at PGA Superstore Check eBay View on Amazon |
| Srixon Z-Forged | 2 (Hideki Matsuyama, Matthew NeSmith) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| Srixon ZX5 | 2 (Shane Lowry – 4-iron to 5-iron, Keegan Bradley – 3-iron to 5-iron) | Check eBay View on Amazon View at PGA Tour Superstore View at The Golf Warehouse |
| Srixon ZX5 Mk II | 1 (Lucas Glover – 4-iron) | View on Amazon Check eBay View at PGA Superstore |
| Srixon Z945 | 1 (Anirban Lahiri) | Check eBay |
| TaylorMade P7TW | 4 (inc. Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood) | Check eBay View at The Golf Warehouse |
| TaylorMade P770 | 3 (inc. Collin Morikawa – 4-iron, Denny McCarthy – 5-iron to 6-iron) | View at The Golf Warehouse Check eBay View on Amazon View at Scottsdale Golf UK |
| TaylorMade P730 | 3 (Rory McIlroy – 5-iron to PW prototype, Collin Morikawa – 7-iron to PW, Denny McCarthy – 7-iron to PW) | Check eBay |
| TaylorMade P7MC | 3 (inc. Collin Morikawa – 5-iron to 6-iron, Kurt Kitayama – 4-iron to 6-iron) | View at The Golf Warehouse Check eBay View on Amazon View at Scottsdale Golf (UK) |
| TaylorMade P760 | 2 (Rory McIlroy – 4-iron, Adam Long – 5-iron to PW) | Check eBay View on Amazon View at Scottsdale Golf (UK) |
| TaylorMade P750 | 1 (Aaron Wise) | Check eBay |
| TaylorMade P790 | 1 (Adam Long – 4-iron) | Check eBay View on Amazon View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| TaylorMade P7MB | 1 (Kurt Kitayama – 7-iron to PW) | View on Amazon Check eBay View at PGA Superstore |
| TaylorMade MC 2011 | 1 (Daniel Berger) | Check eBay |
| Titleist T100 | 20 (inc. Will Zalatoris, Jordan Speith, Cameron Smith, Justin Thomas, Max Homa, Scott Stallings, Sungjae Im) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| Titleist 620 CB | 9 (inc. Cameron Young – 5-iron, Billy Horschel – 3-iron, Tom Hoge – 4-iron, Brian Harman) | Check eBay View at The Golf Warehouse |
| Titleist T200 | 7 (inc. Wyndham Clark – 3-iron, Cameron Young – 4-iron, Scott Stallings – 4-iron) | Check eBay View at PGA Superstore |
| Titleist 620 MB | 5 (inc. Cameron Young – 6-iron to 9-iron, Max Homa – 6-iron to 9-iron, Billy Horschel – 4-iron to 9-iron) | View at PGA Tour Superstore Check eBay View at The Golf Warehouse |
| Titleist 621 JT | 1 (Justin Thomas) | |
| Titleist T100S | 1 (Max Homa – 4-iron) | Check eBay View at PGA Superstore |
| Titleist 712 MB | 1 (Matt Jones) | Check eBay |
| Titleist 718 AP2 | 1 (Patrick Cantlay) | Check eBay |
| Titleist 718 CB | 1 (Brendan Todd – 6-iron to 9-iron) | Check eBay |
| Titleist 718 T-MB | 1 (Brendon Todd – 5-iron) | Check eBay |
| Wilson Staff Model CB | 2 (Kevin Kisner, Trey Mullinax) | Check eBay |
| Wilson Staff FG Tour V4 | 1 (Brendan Steele – 4-iron) | Check eBay |
| Wilson Staff FG Tour V6 | 1 (Kevin Streelman) | Check eBay |
| Wilson Staff Model | 1 (Brendan Steele – 5-iron to PW) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore View at Scottsdale Golf (UK) |
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