This is our review of the best cavity back irons on the market in 2023.
I’m an avid golfer, an 8ish handicap on my way to a 2 (been a 5.6) and frequent tester of golf clubs and equipment since 2015.
I’ve been lucky enough to practice and play every iron on this page, plus a few more.
In this best cavity back irons review, we discuss, the benefits and features of each and our recommendations.
Our #1 Recommendation for 2023: Mizuno JPX 923 Forged Irons
- Best Feel in Golf
- Superb Distance & Forgiveness
- Gorgeous
- Reasonable Price
- Still looking
Best Cavity Back Irons in 2023
- Best Feel in Golf
- Superb Distance & Forgiveness
- Gorgeous
- Reasonable Price
Best for 0-10 handicaps
- Exceptional Feel
- Accurate & Consistent
- Great Launch & Trajectory
- Player Looks & Profile
Best for 0-5 Handicaps
- Unbelievably Soft & Solid Feel
- Plenty Distance & Forgiveness
- Premium Looks
- Great price
Best for 8-12 Handicaps
- Same Buttery-soft feel as 921s
- Loads of Distance & Forgiveness
- Absolute Eye Candy
- Great Price
Best for 8-15ish Handicaps
- Long & Forgiving
- Superb Feel & Sound
- Easy Launch with Great Trajectory
Best for 0-10 Handicaps
- Exceptional Feel & Performance
- Classic Elegant Titleist Design
- Surprisingly long
- Scoring MO-chines
Best for 0-5 handicaps
- So... so easy to hit
- High trajectory
- Great distance & forgiveness
Best for 10-15ish Handicaps
- Long & Forgiving
- Good Sound & Feel
- Elevates ball easily
- Easy to hit
Best for 10-15ish Handicaps
- Easy to hit & Elevate
- High trajectory & Straight Ball Flight
- Great distance & forgiveness
- Can shape & flight the ball as well
Best for 15ish handicaps to beginners
Best Cavity Back Irons Reviewed
Mizuno JPX 923 Forged Irons
- Best Feel in Golf
- Superb Distance & Forgiveness
- Gorgeous
- Reasonable Price
- Still looking
Mizuno JPX 923 Forged irons are on our list for best cavity back irons for a few reasons:
- You get every bit of the playability you expect from low-handicap irons.
- Best feel of any iron I’ve ever put my hands on
- Loads of forgiveness & distance
- Compact clubhead & clean lines
- Best price for new premium irons
Mizuno took everything that was great about the JPX 921 Forged irons and shoved it into a more compact and better-looking clubhead.
We had 20+ mph winds for one of the rounds I played with them. I was able to flight them down into the wind and elevate them with the wind with relative ease. They perform exceptionally well in all conditions.
Customer Reviews: Mizuno doesn’t collect reviews, but everything I’ve read on the clubs themselves is 100% positive.
Recommendation: Go to your local golf store and get your hands on them or demo a set from Global Golf. You’ll know
Mizuno JPX 923 Tour Irons
- Exceptional Feel
- Accurate & Consistent
- Great Launch & Trajectory
- Player Looks & Profile
- Bring your distance
The JPX 923 Tour irons are our favorite pure “player” iron from Mizuno and a solid step up from the JPX 921 Tour irons for me.
- Improved feel
- I found the long irons easier to hit – and hit well
- Better looks and profile
- Just forgiving enough on slight mishits
My strength is iron play, but not long iron play. I was able to hit solid long irons with good trajectory at my target time and again during my round with the 923 Tours.
I’ve improved my ball striking since testing the 921 Tours, but Mizuno has incorporated more performance in the 923s.
Customer Reviews: Early days.
Verdict: I think you should consider upgrading or at least testing the JPX 923 Tour irons if you own the 921 Tours. You may find the difference in performance worth the switch.
Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro Irons
- Unbelievably Soft & Solid Feel
- Plenty Distance & Forgiveness
- Premium Looks
- Great price
- Nada
The Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Pro irons perform similarly, if not exactly, like the JPX 923 Forged irons. Just in an even more forgiving (larger) package
- Best-in-class feel
- Exceptional forgiveness and distance
- All the playability better ball strikers look for but can just fly high and straight if that’s what you need.
Conclusion: Awesome-feeling and performing irons.
Recommendation: Just try them. You’ll thank me.
Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Irons
- Same Buttery-soft feel as 921s
- Loads of Distance & Forgiveness
- Absolute Eye Candy
- Great Price
- Nada
Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal irons are the best irons for mid-handicappers and our #1 Recommendation for a few reasons.
- Buttery, marshmellowy, unbelievably soft (yet solid) feel.
- Incredibly forgiving and easy to hit. Great contact is not needed for good results.
- Exceptional distance.
- You can play any shot you want if you’ve got the game.
For this year’s JPX 923s, Mizuno combined Chromoly and Nickel to form Nickel Chromoly which allowed them to make the clubface 8% thinner, yet 35% stronger than last year’s JPX 921s.
So, the sweet spot is bigger for more forgiveness and distance over a larger portion of the face.
ALLL the good things I had to say about the 921s apply to the 923s.
Conclusion: Continued exceptional feel, performance, forgiveness, and distance out of the JPX line.
Recommendation: Just try them. You’ll thank me.
Ping i230 Irons
- Long & Forgiving
- Superb Feel & Sound
- Easy Launch with Great Trajectory
- Price
Ping i230s are my favorite low-handicap irons from Ping.
- They’re solid at impact for good control
- Have nice sound and feel with excellent feedback
- Get the ball up easily & send it on a high-penetrating ball flight
- Have just the right amount of forgiveness
Ping optimized launch, spin, forgiveness, and MOI for the i230s. And did it in a smaller clubhead than the i210s (which I also like).
I love the consistent loft gapping between clubs too. 4 degrees in the pitching wedge through 7-irons. Then, 3.5 degrees in the 7-iron through 3-iron. (I’m not sure why the change from 4-degree gapping to 3.5 degrees, though)
I prefer the i230s over the i59s and i525s because of their superior sound and feel. Not to mention I hit them better. The heads are larger than the other two, but not large. Hitting them reminded me of the G425s, which I also loved.
I was on or around the green all day during my rounds with the i230s.
Customer Reviews: 11 reviews with 100% 5-stars
Recommendation: Give them a try. If you like their looks, you’ll love the way they play and feel.
Titleist 620 CB Irons
- Exceptional Feel & Performance
- Classic Elegant Titleist Design
- Surprisingly long
- Scoring MO-chines
- Nada
Titleist 620 CB irons are our #2 low handicap irons for a few reasons
- They perform precisely how you would expect premium low-handicap irons to perform.
- They feel and play as good as they look…and they look GOOD.
This is the second set of Titleist irons I’ve ever tested. The first being the T200s from a couple years ago, which I loved. So, I had high expectations for the 620 CBs. They were exceeded.
Online images don’t do justice to how beautiful these irons are. From their minimal, elegant design to their perfectly sized compact head. Titleist knows how to do player irons.
I loved them on the range and I loved them on the course. The long irons are a bit much for me, but you can order any iron combo you want. So, no worries. I play hybrids starting with 4-hybrid anyway.
Customer Reviews: There’s not a whole lot out there on the interwebs, but the few I found had nothing but good to say about them.
Recommendation: Try them. I bet you’ll want to keep them. I did.
Ping G425 Irons
- So... so easy to hit
- High trajectory
- Great distance & forgiveness
- Nada
Ping G425 irons are our former Editor’s Pick for best mid handicap and average golfer irons for a few reasons:
- Supremely easy to hit and elevate
- All the distance you need
- Can hit good shots all day long without needing perfect contact
- Awesome feel and sound for a mid handicap iron
- You can play any shot you want if you’ve got the game
I was not expecting the G425s to perform as well as they did. I play soft carbon-steel low handicap irons and I thought the 425s would feel harsh and wooden. No sir. I’m a low handicap ball striker with my irons and these did anything I wanted.
Center contact feels great and slight mishits feel about the same, with no very little loss of distance. There’s a ton of forgiveness built into these irons.
The lofts are already jacked, but Ping offers even stronger lofts if that suits your game.
Conclusion: The G425s are one of the best irons for the average golfer I’ve tested this year.
Recommendation: You’re going to want to at least test these. My money is on you keeping them if you do.
Taylormade Stealth Irons
- Long & Forgiving
- Good Sound & Feel
- Elevates ball easily
- Easy to hit
- Looks...not the best
The Taylormade Stealths irons are our 2nd Runner up for best mid-handicap irons.
They’re just not quite as good looking as the G425s. Yes, that’s a silly thing, but it’s the only differentiating factor from my testing.
I first fell in love with Taylormade irons when I tested the M5s. These are them, but newer and even better… maybe. The M5s were and are awesome game-improvement irons.
Stealth irons feel great in my hands. Look great at address. And, hit the ball a ton. You can hit ’em high. You can flight them down. You can play any shot you want with these irons.
Taylormade Stealth irons are money and exactly what you want out of game improvement irons. They happen to be better looking than the SIM or SIM2 irons too.
Conclusion: Neck and neck with the G425s. Ever so slightly behind in feel and looks.
Recommendation: Need to be on your shortlist if you’re in the market for new mid-handicapper irons.
Ping G430 Irons
- Easy to hit & Elevate
- High trajectory & Straight Ball Flight
- Great distance & forgiveness
- Can shape & flight the ball as well
- Looks, not the best
Ping G430s have all the playability, performance and feel of the G425s, but in an updated package
- They’re easy to hit and elevate.
- They want to fly high and straight.
- You can still work them left or right, flight them down, or take off distance if that’s part of your game.
- Same great feel.
- Same forgiveness.
The lofts are stronger in the G430s and they’ve added more tech for distance. Well-struck shots were about half a club longer for me on the course and I got a couple of crazy-long numbers on my launch monitor.
As with the G425s, center contact is stellar, but slight mishits will get you good results too. I was on or around the greens all day.
Conclusion: Not a significant improvement over the G425s. I don’t think that would be realistic. The G425s are too good.
Recommendation: Keep your G425s. Test both sets if you own neither and you’re in the market.
FAQs
Do any PGA pros use cavity backs?
Yes, quite a few PGA pros use cavity back irons – Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Jon Rahm, etc.
What is the best cavity back irons for mid handicappers?
The best cavity back irons for mid handicappers are Mizuno JPX 923 Hot Metal Irons.
Do blades or cavity backs go farther?
Cavity back irons go farther than blade irons. They have better MOI and more forgiveness, thanks to their construction.
Can you shape shots with cavity back irons?
Yes, you can shape shots with cavity back irons. I’ve shaped shots as long as I’ve been playing golf, and I’ve used cavity back irons most of that time.
Verdict on the Best Cavity Back Irons on the Market in 2023
Read this site for long and you’ll quicly figure out we love Mizuno cavity back irons. So, they’re well represented on this page.
But, we feel you can’t go wrong with any of the irons on this page.
My #1 suggestion is to get your hands on them before you buy. Either at your local golf store or take advantage of Global Golf’s Utry trial program. I use it and recommend it.
Thanks for checking out our review of the best cavity back irons in 2023.
- Best Feel in Golf
- Superb Distance & Forgiveness
- Gorgeous
- Reasonable Price
- Still looking
