Gear: PXG 0317 CB irons
Price: $169.99 each
Specs: Forged 8620 carbon steel with milled back and adjustable swing weight. Available in chrome and dark finishes
Who It’s For: Accomplished golfers who want to shape shots but need more forgiveness than a muscleback blade offers.
The Skinny: Forged for a soft feel and featuring classic looks, PXG’s newest better-player offering is a cavity-back designed to deliver excellent feel and control with a touch of forgiveness.
The Deep Dive: In March, PXG released the 0311 GEN6 P and XP irons, which can be classified as a better-player’s distance iron and a game-improvement club, but last September, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company released the 0317 ST, a blended-iron set that combined cavity-back 3- and 4-irons with muscleback blades in the 5-iron through pitching wedge. The idea was that the game’s best players want the ultimate in precision and feel with their mid- and short-irons, but they will gladly accept a little forgiveness on long-iron shots.
Now PXG is breaking that set apart and releasing the new 0317 CB as a stand-alone set of cavity-back irons for low-handicap golfers and players with a powerful, repeatable swing who are looking for control and feel around the course.
Like the previously released clubs, the 0317 CBs are triple forged using 8620 carbon steel, and the back of each head is milled to precisely create the shapes the designers intended. PXG engineers have also added a weight in the back of each head that can be changed during the fitting process to allow golfers to try different swing weights. It is a unique way for golfers to feel the difference between heavier and lighter versions of the same iron and discover which performs better. Once PXG installs the weight during the clubs’ assembly, it is not designed to be removed or swapped.
While the 0311 GEN6 irons are hollow and then filled with a polymer to soften the feel and enhance the sound, the 0317 CB irons are solid metal. They have a shorter blade length, thinner topline and narrower sole than the 0311 GEN6 P irons.
The 0317 CB irons can be purchased as a set or bought individually, making it easier for control-oriented golfers to work with fitters and create a personalized blended set of 0317 CB and 0317 ST muscleback blades.
The 0317 CB irons are available in chrome and Xtreme Dark finish.