Srixon ZXiR Review

Game improvement irons are usually cast from 431 stainless because it is cheap and holds a shape, and they feel like it. Srixon went and made a different alloy. i-ALLOY is roughly a tenth softer, which sounds like a detail and is not: the strike reports back through the hands with a dullness that belongs to a forging rather than the sharp click a cast cavity back normally gives. Nothing else in the class feels like it, and feel is why golfers leave the class too early.

The rest is Srixon being quietly competent. MainFrame milling thins the back of the face in a pattern aimed at low strikes, which is where a mid handicapper actually makes contact, and the V shaped sole keeps the leading edge moving through soft turf. The long irons use the alloy in the body with a thin separate face for speed, the short irons use it front and back for control. The topline is thinner than the class allows itself and the short irons blend with a set of ZXi5 or ZXi7 without looking borrowed.

Distance is normal for the lofts rather than a headline, which is the honest description. One thousand and ninety nine dollars for seven in steel is level with TaylorMade and under everything else here, and no rival feels close.