Ten thousand MOI, printed irons and faces that are not titanium
Drivers have stopped being made of one metal, irons have started coming out of printers, and forgiveness has hit a number that used to be theoretical. A plain-English guide to what has actually changed in 2026, and which parts are worth paying for.
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Gear tip
What MOI actually means
MOI is simply a measure of how much the clubhead resists twisting when you miss the middle. Higher is more forgiving. Ten thousand was treated as a ceiling for years, and both the Ping G440 K and the TaylorMade Qi4D Max now sit at or near it.
What is genuinely new is that you no longer trade adjustability to get there. The Ping has a movable 32 gram weight and an adjustable hosel, and is still at the top of the forgiveness table. That combination did not exist five years ago.
Get measured for a shaft, not guessed at
TaylorMade built a fitting system called REAX on eleven million recorded shots, and it sorts golfers by how quickly they rotate the face through impact rather than by swing speed alone. Three profiles: active, balanced and hold.
This matters because shaft fitting has always been described in terms of speed, and speed was never the whole story. If you have been handed a stiff shaft because you hit it a long way and it has never felt right, this is likely why.
Deal roundup
New technology is not where the value is
Cobra now sells 3D printed irons at around $330 a club. Printed from stainless steel rather than cast, with an internal lattice that no other manufacturing method could produce. It is the most interesting thing on a shop wall this year.
It is also roughly $2,300 for seven irons, against about $1,100 for a set of Srixon ZXiR that will do more for a mid handicapper. Buy the printed irons because you want them, not because they will lower your scores.
- Srixon ZXiR, about $157 a club, and the first genuinely easy-to-hit iron Srixon has made since 2015.
- Ping G440 irons from about $143 a club, the cheapest entry into a big-brand fitted set.
- Mizuno JPX 925 Hot Metal at about $165 a club if feel matters to you more than the last few yards.
Trending in golf
Titanium is no longer the whole face
Every 2026 flagship driver does something different with the face. TaylorMade uses a carbon composite. Callaway bonds titanium to carbon fibre using a polymer mesh between the layers, which is a first. Titleist covers about 60 per cent of the head in a polymer instead of metal and relocates 40 grams of titanium where it does more good.
The marketing around this is deafening. The honest summary is that these are real engineering changes producing small gains, and the difference between any two of these drivers is smaller than the difference between a fitted club and an unfitted one.
Equipment designed for launch monitors
TaylorMade now sells driver heads with reflective markers built into the face so launch monitors read them more reliably, and golf balls designed to be tracked the same way. Consumer launch monitors run from about $499 to well over twenty thousand, and fitting has moved indoors, so equipment is being designed for the machine as well as the swing.
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What we would actually buy
Two irons that represent good value, and the printed set for anyone who simply wants the most interesting club on the range.
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Srixon
ZXiR
About $157 a club
Srixon's first proper easy-to-hit iron since 2015, and the one to look at if getting the ball into the air has become hard work. Wide sole, low weight, strong loft. There is also an HL version with even more help if you need it.
Ping
G440
$143 to $164 a club
The cheapest entry point of the big-brand easy-to-hit irons, and Ping fits properly for lie angle as standard. If you have never been fitted and are buying off the rack, this is the set most likely to still suit you in three years.
Cobra
3DP Tour
About $330 a club
Printed from stainless steel rather than cast, with a lattice structure inside the head that could not be made any other way. It is the most interesting iron on the market and it is priced accordingly, so this is a want rather than a need.