What Are Game Improvement Irons And Why Should You Use Them

Game Improvement Irons have been developed to help you do just that – improve your iron play.

When attempting to improve your game and lower your handicap most golfers focus on two aspects – the drive and putting. Next comes the short game and after that the long irons.

However, the fact is that over 60% of your shots in any round involve the use of an iron – whether it’s off the tee on a par 3 or short par 4, from the fairway on a par 5 or a long par 4 or on the approach to the green.

Game improvement irons, the concept for which originated in the 1980s, take this important part of your game and provides you with a set of clubs that have the sole purpose of combining forgiveness with playability...to enable you to hit the ball further, straighter, more consistently and hence with more confidence so that you can make real improvements in a much shorter period of time than you would if you were trying to progress using a professional level set of blades or a more traditional iron.

All of the different iron sets available on the market incorporate the same fundamental core technological features like perimeter weighting, a large sweet spot and a low center of gravity.

The purpose of these features is to counter any mis-alignment on contact with the ball (ie to prevent or reduce the severity of a hook or a slice), to give you the largest contact area possible so that maximum distance is always achieved and to prevent or reduce “topping” as loft and hence height of the ball after contact plays a significant part in the end distance of any particular shot.

The trade off for using such irons that are “corrective” in nature is that you do lose some of the ability to manipulate the ball – you lose some of the “feel” as it is often referenced.

This is often said as a criticism of the entire “Game Improvement Iron” genre but it misses one important point. As a mid to high handicapper (who these iron sets have specifically been designed for) you do not yet have the skill set to manipulate the ball as low handicappers do.

The aim at this stage of any golfers “career” is consistency, concrete progress and the confidence these two things generate which in turn facilitates more consistency and further progress.

We’ve seen many examples of golfers who’ve switched from more traditional irons to one of the well respected game improvement sets drop their handicap by as much as 10 or 12 in a single season.

The irons themselves won’t do this as it is you who takes to the range and the course to practice but every one of these golfers swear by the fact that switching to a set of irons which have been specifically built for their “current” level has played a significant part in this progress.

As their confidence and skill set continued to grow many of them end up trading “up” to musclebacks or blades so that they can further refine their skills.

The point is that these things are layered – like driving a fast car or riding a powerful motorcycle – you start with the equipment that is right for you now.

If you have a high handicap (over 20) we recommend you first research the Super Game Improvement Iron Sets as these offer the most forgiveness for players in the early stages of learning.

If you are a mid handicapper (11 - 20) and are aiming to get down to single digits over the next couple of seasons read and compare the different Game Improvement Iron Sets.

If you find the right set for you, you’ll very quickly find yourself having a completely different experience both on the range and when out on the course.

The bottom line - we know of many golfers that have switched between different Game Improvement Irons sets as they find what is right for them, but none that have gone “back” to a more traditional iron. What happens is they go “on” to a set of blades or musclebacks when they have become "ready" – a very real difference.

For our part, we’ve reviewed the best irons in this category from the past three years (2006 to 2008) and for each review have aimed to give an honest appraisal of the iron, what the manufacturer hoped to achieve with it and whether they met that aim. We've also partnered with eBay to bring current offers for each of the reviewed irons direct onto our site and hence to you. Huge savings can be made by buying either new or used on eBay and the relevant product listings should give you a clear idea of how much you'll be looking to spend for the different sets.

We hope you find our opinions insightful and our website helpful and wish you the best in your own efforts to reduce your handicap.

If you’re unsure where to start we recommend the following overview pages:

Full List Of Game Improvement Irons (2006 - 2008)
Full List Of Super Game Improvement Irons (2006 - 2008)
The Best Game Improvement Irons For Mid & High Handicappers (Our Top 5s)