Like their big brother the MacTec NVG2 Driver, the NVG2 Irons have an unusual look. In the 2006 Golf Digest Hot List, they were described as “borderline malformed,” but were praised for being “ridiculously easy to hit.”

The irons are a Frankenstein monster of technologies. The cup face design eliminates welds from the face, and stretches the high rebound surface over as large an area as possible. MacGregor says that this gives its clubs the largest possible “sweet spot.”

The clubs also feature maraging steel, variable face thickness, and a tungsten weighting system that moves the weights around to maximize each club.

MACGREGOR MACTEC NVG2 Iron Set 3-PW w/ Steel Shaft

The TaylorMade r7 CGB Max is probably the best looking of the Super Game Improvement Irons on Golf Digest’s 2006 Hot List. I spent a long time at the local pro shop the other day, standing over the various irons and quietly swinging them. The CGB Max looked the least like a game improvement iron.  I guess I really just don’t buy into the standard golf manufacturer’s line that a thick topline “promotes confidence.”

Personal preferenes aside, the TaylorMade CGB Max has a lot of high tech features to help you improve your game. At the heart of it all is TaylorMade’s pull face construction, in which a thin 455 stainless steel face is welded to a hollow topline frame. The large, thin, unsupported face produces an extremely high Coefficient of Restitution for an iron, resulting in more distance.

Pull face technology also allows TaylorMade to use the same ‘inverted core technology” that has made their drivers and fairway woods so easy to play. TaylorMade says that they spent three years trying to find a way to incorporate the inverted core technology into irons.

With the largest steel clubface TaylorMade has ever made, the CGB Max also has the largest moment of inertia, making it very stable on off-center hits. Tungsten weights and a hollow topline allowed TaylorMade to shift even more weight to optimize launch conditions.

TAYLORMADE r7 CGB Max Irons 3-PW w/Steel Shaft

The weirdest looking club in golf has had an update. Lauded for its playabilty in its first incarnation, its the 2006 Golf Digest Editor’s Choice in the Super Game Improvement category.

The slingback moves the weight further back and lower, and the new cryo steel face is lighter and hotter. Twenty nine grams of weight have been moved away from the face to the perimeter and into a wider sole. The club also featues what Nike calls 3_D flow weighting, which essentially accomplishes what Callaway is doing with its Variable Face Thickness technolgy—it moves the weight around to optimize each club individually.

NIKE Slingshot OSS 4-AW w/Graphite Shaft

In its Big Bertha 06 Irons, Callawayhas packed just about everything you can think of:

• Callaway’s S2H2 (Short, Straight, Hollow Hosel) design, which takes cuts weight in the hosel and allocates it to mroe useful areas. The hosel also has Callaway’s trademark bore through design.
• Notched weighting, which lets Callaway move weight to the perimeter of the club.
• Variable Face Thickness (VFT) technology, which Callaway says lets it raise and lower the center of gravity depending upon the club.
• A 360 degree undercut channel design which lets Callaway move even more weight to the perimeter, and thins the face to create a larger sweet spot.
• A constant width sole design which helps to eliminate fat shots and drive the club through different turf conditions.

Is that enough? It sounds like these things do everything except swing themselves.

I also think that it’s a pretty sharp looking club. This is a set that I’d really like to try.

CALLAWAY Big Bertha 06 Iron Set 3-PW w/Steel Shaft

If you care more about the price-performance ratio than brand names, you might want to check out products from Pinemeadow Golf. Pinemeadow is one of a growing group of “clone” manufacturers who offer recent technology for cut rate prices. The difference is that they are followers in technology, not leaders. They don’t have R&D budgets. Instead, they let the big boys do the work.

Don’t like clones? Think about this: Dell and Compaq computers started out as cloners, as did many other computer manufacturers that now are considered mainstream.

One good example of how last year’s breakthrough product has been copied is in Pinemeadow Excel Hollow Core Ti Irons. These have lifted their technolgoy right from Callaway’s Big Bertha Fusion Irons. And they make no bones about it, saying so right on the product page.

So if you’ve lusted after the Fusions, but couldn’t handle the thousand dollar price tag, you could have a clone at just $229. And they’ve got a 30 day money back guarantee, so if you don’t like them, you could send ‘em back.