Srixon ZX7 Mk II Irons Review: 2023 PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway DAY 11

The new Srixon ZX7 Mk II irons ruled the roost on professional tours this year.  ZX7 Mk II won multiple times on the PGA and LPGA Tour.  They won major championships on both tours.  If you've hit the ZX7 Mk II chances are damn good your contentment is all-consuming.  And I'm telling you from experience there's all kinds of Yippee-Ki-Yay in these babies.

And so for DAY 11 of my PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway one of you is going to win a full set (4-P) of the ZX7 Mk II irons, LH or RH.

So what makes the Srixon ZX7 Mk II irons so special?  Pull up a chair and I could talk with you about this for for days.  But maybe the best and most succinct thing to say here is that ZX7 Mk II are like a sports dynasty of irons.  Building on the core success of the previous ZX7 gen, Srixon hasn't changed the heart of these irons.  Instead they've complemented the important pieces ensuring ZX7's continued ascension.

First let's talk about the ZX7 Mk II sole.  The V.T. sole is designed to let you hit any shot imaginable with relief on both the leading and trailing edge of the iron.  Hence the "V" shape.  Lead edge relief creates more bounce to help prevent digging.  And trailing edge relief allows you to manipulate the irons for more creative shotmaking.  Essentially this is a sole with dynamic versatility to help ZX7 interact with the turf in different ways depending on the shot you need to hit.

ZK7 Mk II irons also feature progressive grooves that are wider in the long and mid irons and narrower in the scoring irons.  This is Srixon fine-tuning control and consistency (and even giving you a tad of forgiveness).  Wide grooves help to generate more spin in the long irons.  While the narrower and deeper grooves in the scoring irons helps move debris away from the face for cleaner contact.

Srixon added PureFrame to the ZX7 Mk II irons with a stabilizing ridge behind the sweet spot.  Still a single piece forged iron but now you get more mass for more powerful strikes and at the same time a softer, more solid feel.  In fact, ZX7 Mk II is one of the softest, most solid feeling players irons I've ever hit.  And if you're a player who demands immediate feedback on face strike locations ZX7 Mk II lets you know almost to a near certainty yet in no way feels harsh on misses.

ZX7 Mk II has a small blade length, narrow sole, and little offset.  Everything you'd expect and want from a players iron.  And yet there's s a remarkable consistency and degree of forgiveness you don't usually see in irons like these.

Keep in mind when I'm talking forgiveness here I don't mean misses where your face is wide open or hooked closed at impact.  I'm talking about where your face is reasonably square but your misses are towards the toe, heel, or low on the face.  How stable does the head remain and what are the performance results compared to flush strikes.

To begin let's paint a forgiveness picture for you.  ZX7 Mk II doesn't give you game-improvement iron forgiveness.  But on misses halfway between center strikes and the end of the scoring lines out towards the toe and in towards the heel (as well as down low to about the second groove) this entire area is what I'd call an "I'll take it" zone.  And the flight and decent in particular are consistently good on misses.

For misses straight out towards the toe I saw five yards of distance loss (on average based on GPS readings) and a barely detectable to the eye lower flight and decent.  I'm talking so negligible here that height and decent are almost identical to center strikes.  Misses down by the second groove were even more impressive with only a few yards distance loss and heights and descents again just like toe misses.  Freaking insane really.

Heel misses were the worst misses losing more like 8-10 yard of distance on average.  And seriously I don't BS you, similar kinds of miss heights and descents like toe and low misses.  Maybe just a tad lower.  But even with more roll out into greens these misses retained enough stopping power to pull out the putter.  See now why I'm calling this area the "I'll take it" zone?

Shaking my head as I write this.  And I don't blame you if you don't believe me.  I might not have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes.  ZX7 Mk II do a remarkable job keeping launch, spin, descent angles, and even distance control very consistent and close to center strike performance.

As a reference I'm swinging my 6 iron about 87 or 88 mph on average.  And if you're a slower swing speed player and wondering if ZX7 Mk II are for you I'd say it depends on what's most important for you with your irons.  Srixon didn't design ZX7 Mk II to have the hotter or springier face over a larger area like they did with the ZX5 Mk II irons.  So if you're looking to maximize distance both on pure strikes and misses ZX5 Mk II is the way to go.

Keep in mind however the ZX7 Mk II have more traditional lofts so you'll still get launch and spin to get the ball in the air and keep it there for some solid distance.  You won't be getting ZX5 Mk II kinds of distances, but you will be getting miss-hit performance that consistently maintains control and delivers extremely playable results.

Finally, let me vent for a moment to wrap this all up.  All of you out there calling Srixon irons underrated?  Stop it.  First of all it seems like everyone who's played a Srixon iron for the last handful of years absolutely loves them.  Passionately.

The level of satisfaction with Srixon irons is through the roof, as high as any other iron or brand.  You guys tell me this almost on a monthly basis on X/Twitter and Instagram.  The praise for Srixon irons isn't merely there, it's effusive.  And if you ever hear or see me say Srixon irons are underrated, seriously just sweep the legs.  Take me out.  The Srixon ZX7 Mk II irons are straight-up elite.

Remember you always have three different ways to win the daily gifts in my giveaway this year.  On X/Twitter just repost my giveaway announcement and follow all; on Instagram repost or mention in your story, like, and follow all; and here on my blog leave a comment in the section below in the daily review/giveaway, Jingle Bam, Letters from Santa, Jingle Bam Bigger, Santa Dared Me, and Flash Kringle Gonna Kringle articles.

These gifts are great prizes of course, but also some of the best equipment and gear in their class that I played and reviewed this season.  And I hope these mini reviews and recaps give you an idea of why I rate them so highly.

Merry Christmas all!