What Is A Game Improvement Iron?

Game improvement irons are nothing new in the world of golf, in fact, the first game improvement club was developed in 1959 by the founder of Ping, Karsten Solheim.

The first design was, in fact, a putter, but just two years later, he brought out the first forged game improvement irons.

And simply put these irons are made with the intent to increase forgiveness and consistency for golfers who don’t strike it pure every time.

Technology in these clubs has improved over the years and found a home in golf bags around the world.

But what are they, do they actually improve your golf game, and who should use them?

You will discover the answers to all these questions and more below.

What Makes Game Improvement Irons Different?

Larger Than Usual Sweet Spots

If you’re a real golfer, you know that there are few feelings better than catching a golf ball flush in the center of the clubface. 

This is where the sweet spot is. Unfortunately, you won’t always catch it in the middle and the further you stray from the center of the face the worse the results will be.

Missing the center by a couple of centimeters will cost you distance and accuracy.

The likes of players or forged irons (muscle backs) have a much smaller sweet spot. Making them ideal if you very rarely miss the center. But this isn’t the case for the majority of golfers.

Game improvement irons, however, have a larger sweet spot for this very reason. So if you catch it a little towards the toe or heel you’re not completely screwed.

You should still be able to maintain similar distance and accuracy most of the time.

But how do they make the sweet spot larger, and why don’t they do the same for other iron types?

Weight Distributed To The Outside

Game improvement irons can have larger sweet spots, which in turn provides more forgiveness because of how they’re made.

These irons are made with weight distributed towards the edges of the clubface.

By doing this, it means when the golf ball comes off the clubface a little towards the toe, there is now more weight behind the ball.

This extra weight helps maintain distance and accuracy. Well, why don’t they do that in all clubs?

It comes down to how they’re made. Forged irons are made from one solid piece of steel and is then hammered into shape.

Making it a difficult task to evenly distribute weight without affecting the overall design and performance of the club.

However, game improvement irons are made by casting multiple pieces of steel and bringing them all together. 

Since it’s made of many pieces and not just one, it’s easier to select where you want to add the weight to the club, which makes it ideal for game improvement irons.

For example, some game improvement irons will position more weight at the bottom using this process, and others won’t. 

The additional weight in this location helps the ball to launch higher in the air.

What Can Game Improvement Irons Help With?

Improve Your Consistency

First things first, what does consistency mean to you? 

Does it mean hitting perfect shots all the time, or does it mean your bad shots aren’t as bad?

When I think about consistency, it means making my bad shots less sucky. Many pros share this viewpoint.

Game improvement irons won’t automatically turn you into a ball-striking machine that never misses greens or fairways from the tee.

But they can help you hit more of them and even stay out of the trees. Because of the weighting and larger sweet spot, a mishit that would fly OB with a blade or player’s iron will now stay in play.

Unless you slice the crap out of your ball, then nothing can save you. 

I myself have tested out purposely trying to hit big slices or hooks using game improvement and forged irons. 

The result was that the dispersion for the game improvement was tighter than my forged player irons. 

So, it’s not all marketing tactics by manufacturers there is some truth behind their claims of more forgiveness.

Now, of course, there are going to be certain models of irons that will perform poorly than others, and you may find a set of players irons that perform better than game improvement irons.

But the vast majority of the time, this will not be the case.

Help You With Your Average Distances

I’d like to start by saying no one type of iron is going be the longest in terms of distance for all golfers.

But if we’re talking about hitting the same distance consistently over time game improvement irons will win every time.

What I mean by this is if you hit 100 shots with a distance, players, and game improvement iron, at the end the game improvement iron would be the most consistent distance-wise.

This is because of the increased forgiveness you get from these irons. Which makes your mishits not as bad.

However, a mishit with a players iron can cost you so much more distance. 

But like I said at the start this doesn’t mean everyone will get the same results as it’s all dependent on ability.

A scratch golfer will find they get the best results with a players iron because they are designed to suit golfers at this level.

But the average golfer will find more consistency in terms of distance and accuracy with game improvements.

Okay great, so how do you know if you should be using these irons or something completely different?

Who Should Use Game Improvement Irons?

Anybody can use these irons but the golfers who will benefit the most from them a mid or high handicappers. 

If you’re not sure who’s included in this range I would say anyone with a handicap of 12 or higher. 

Technically speaking mid handicappers are considered to be around 10 and higher but there is a reason I left these out.

It’s because if you’re floating on the edge of single figures to level up trying out some player irons or just irons tailored for lower handicaps can help.

That’s what I have done, and it forced me to work on my swing as I wasn’t being saved by the club tech anymore. 

I got lessons, hit the range, blasted through golf balls and in the long run got down the single digits and became a better golfer overall. It was painful initially but worth it in the end.

It’s like taking off the training wheels of your bike, you’re sure to fall a couple of times, but you have to do it eventually.

But if you’re still grinding and not quite there yet then these irons are perfect for you. 

What’s The Difference In Super Game Improvement Irons?

Now these irons are tailored towards golfers with handicaps in the mid to high 20s and above with a below average ball speed.

They are designed to have the largest sweet spot among all the irons, come with offset, graphite shafts upon request, and have larger heads too. As you get further from the long irons towards shorter irons the heads get smaller typically.

These irons at times look closer to being hybrids than irons but this design helps to get the ball launchin higher, longer, and straighter.

The additional weight can also help with popping the ball out of the rough for golfers who don’t have the swing speed to cut through the grass.