Ram Golf has released to market a new forged blade iron, the Axial. Looking to sit amongst the best blade irons, I took the Axial out onto the golf course and practice ground to put it through its paces and see what it has to offer…
The first thing that caught my eye with the Axial Forged iron was the price tag. You can purchase a seven-club set (4-PW or 5-GW) for a mere £439.99 with a number of premium shaft options in both steel and graphite from manufacturers such as KBS, True Temper, and UST. Furthermore, there are some high-quality grips to choose from too with Lamkin and Winn both on the drop-down menu of the website. These are some impressive names on offer for this price point, but that’s only relevant if the clubhead itself is good.
In terms of the technology, what we have here is a forged head which is finished off with some CNC milling as opposed to hand polishing. In my experience, this method can make clubheads feel a little firmer, but we will get to that later. There is very minimal offset and a small muscle pad has been added low at the back of the clubhead to drag CG down a touch and build in some launch. There is also what Ram refers to as a ‘Multi-surface sole’ which has been designed to improve turf interaction in a variety of conditions.
In terms of the looks, I really like these irons. From a shelf appeal point of view, I think they provide a far more premium aesthetic than their price tag warrants, with some minimalist branding and some lovely detailing in the cavity from the CNC milling machine. In the address position, they are also excellent, framing the ball beautifully with some really neat and tidy head profiles. To be honest, in the playing position, they are incredibly similar to the Ping Blueprint S irons that have proved so popular this year.
Performance-wise, the Axial did a really nice job for me in terms of the data. I gathered my numbers from grass at Saunton Golf Club using my FullSwing KIT launch monitor and TaylorMade TP5 golf balls, and from a base 7-iron loft of 31 degrees the performance was strong. While they felt a touch firmer than some of the other best blades on the market as I was expecting, the numbers were where I would expect them to be, and more importantly, they were consistent. The lofts are on the strong side for an iron that is essentially a forged blade which produced some impressive distance output and this could be a good niche for the model. Only really the Vega Mizar Pro that I can think of offers strong lofts in a blade package so that could be something to consider if you are looking to play blades but struggle with too much spin.
Turf interaction was nice and smooth which only served to enhance the feel. One slight negative I found was with the finish of the clubface. It is very reflective, and when I tested these irons on a fairly sunny day the glare did become a little off-putting although I would imagine this would soften and dull down over time.
Overall, factoring in the price point, I think that the Ram Axial Forged iron is a really strong offering and one that surprised me. You could easily spend a thousand pounds more in this category of iron and I honestly don’t know how much more performance you would see. Great looking, excellent value, and consistent performers. Good work Ram.
