Submitted by Bill Phillips on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 15:43
The Callaway X-22 Irons took 3rd place in the 2009 Rankmark.com irons testing. They’ve also received rave reviews from players. For high handicappers, the X-22s took 2nd place, and they took 4th place for low handicappers. An additional bonus is that you get a free Callaway wedge with the purchase of these irons until June 30th, 2009.
One of the important design features that Callaway is bragging about in their marketing material is the perimeter weighting. They’ve notched out some of the material from the middle of the rear of the club head, and moved it out to the edges of the club. This increases moment of inertia, which makes the club more forgiving.
A high moment of inertia (MOI) simply means that it resists twisting on off-center hits so that your bad shots are less likely to head off into the woods. These are called “game-improvement” irons, which means that they’re generally designed for higher handicap players. Game-improvement is the polite way of marketing to players who desperately need their games to improve, so they’re not slowing down play at the course by always having to hunt for their ball in the high weeds. That being said, The X-22s have also performed well for lower handicap players.
One reviewer who has a 3 handicap said that he’s always favored TaylorMade irons, but after trying the X-22s, he found them to provide a workable, consistent, ball flight and solid feel.
One limitation of the X-22s is that the only steel shaft available is the stock uniflex shaft. Uniflex simply means that the shaft was designed to fit the widest range of golfers possible.
Golfsmith has a lot more info about these clubs, and they have a cool interactive presentation, which I recommend. Should you decide to pull the trigger on these, you can try entering BBAC710 as the coupon code for free shipping. It is reported to work 90% of the time.
