New for 2008 are Callaway’s FT Irons. Like the older Fusion models, these are hollow, with a thermoplastic urethane filler called Sensert, which is designed to decrease vibration and produce a solid feel. They have a Tunite cradle designed to move the weight to the perimeter and a titanium face for faster ball speeds.

What makes them different is a thinner topline and more narrow sole. This is supposed to make them more appealing to the mid and lower handicappers. I didn’t think that the Fusions—and especially the second edition --- had the volkswagen-on-a-stick look of most of Callaway’s game improvement clubs, but these are supposed to have an even more traditional look.

I liked the feel of the Fusions and am looking forward to trying a set of these.

Interestingly, this set comes in 4-AW.

You can get them at ”Golf Galaxy.”

Acer XP 905 Pro Iron

Hireko Golf’s new Acer XP 905 Pro Irons are designeds for low to mid handicapper seeking reduced offset, low ball spin and high flight trajectory. The Pro features stainless construction and the same deep undercut cavity and heel/toe “notch” weighting as the original XP 905’s. The new XP Pro’s offer maximum perimeter-weighting and a high moment of inertia for ultimate shot shaping control. The low center of gravity creates a higher launch angle and more solid feel at impact.

You can get a set for as little as $180. And with Hireko Golf’s 60 Day Playability Guarantee, there’s no risk to try.

Nike Slingshot 4D Men’s Iron Set

Progressive iron sets are all the rage. They come from the obvious, but belated, realization that a nine iron is not just a shorter four iron.  Now in addition to varying loft and length, designers are repositioning weight, resizing soles and shifting offset to make each club as playable as possible.

When I started making clubs, the pro I worked with told me that in every set, there is one “favorite” club. That was the club where the length, loft, lie, swing weight, sole width and weight distribution came together perfectly. The goal of designers now is to make every club the “favorite” club.

The new Nike Slingback 3d Irons are a case in point. The slingback—which has been used in other successful Nike designs—is positioned differently in each club to create a specific ball flight. The long irons feature wider soles for a higher launch, while the soles on the short irons are thinner for greater control. Finally, progressive offset is designed to make each club as accurate as possible.

Revelation Hybrid Set

I think that the progressive hybrid-iron set is the future of the golf club set. Since so many of us are already buying hybrids to replace the long irons that came with our sets, it makes sense to offer hybrids instead of the three, four and maybe even five irons.

It makes even more sense to design a set with hybrids from the ground up. That way, there is a seamless progression of clubs and distances throughout all of the set.

That’s what GigaGolf has with its hybrid iron Revelation Golf set. Made from 17-4 Stainless steel, and coming with a variety of shafts, it has three head styles. The longest irons are more of a traditional small headed fairway or hybrid style; the mid irons are hollow body, and the short irons a standard size and shape.

REID LOCKHART Forged Combo Iron Set 3-PW - Melonite Finish

I sometimes find the number of different golf companies astounding: in addition to the big boys like TaylorMade, Ping and Callaway, there are a dozen mid level players and innumerable third tier productions. Golfsmith, for examplecarries thirty different brands of irons: Adams, Ben Hogan, Bridgestone, Callaway, Cleveland, Cobra, Element 21 Golf, F2, Golfsmith, Hippo Golf, Lynx, MacGregor, Magique Golf, Maruman, Mizuno, Nickent, Nike, Orlimar, Paragon, Ping, Precept, Purespin, Reid Lockhart, Snake Eyes, Srixon, TaylorMade, Titleist, Tommy Armour, Tour Edge, Wilson, XPC and Zevo.

Reid Lockhart is one I’d never heard of before, but I was attracted to because of the black finish (I love black finish irons).

The Lockhart irons are forged, designed as a progressive set. The 3 adn 4 irons are full cavity backs, the 5 - 7 mid irons are half cavities, and teh 8-PW are blades. The clubs have a b lack melonite finish with copper underplating (that’s a new one one me), a milled face and machine engraved modified U grooves. I can only assume that the copper is there to offer a softer feel; the melonite, perhaps, has a more harsh feel.